Council Leader Vorik stood on the bridge, watching the planet co into view. It had a soft green tint to it that glowed slightly. It looked identical to when he had left it to head toward the blue planet to invade it.
Fleet Commander Lerian stood beside him, staring in awe at their ho planet. "It looks the sa as I rember it," he stated quietly. "I think Aleigha was correct in her theory. We won’t know for sure until we scan the planet and see the data for ourselves."
Vorik slowly nodded, unable to speak as he gazed at their ho planet. After watching the planet slowly approach, he turned to Fleet Commander Lerian. "Have her brought to the bridge. She should see it. She can bring her sisters if she would like."
Fleet Commander Lerian nodded, then sent one of the bridge officers to find the three girls. They stood in silence, watching their ho get closer as they waited for the girls to arrive.
When the doors to the bridge slid open, there were four girls instead of three. Jada was with Niki, Aleigha, and Jess. Two of the girls carried their infant sons with them. Council Leader Vorik nodded to them, acknowledging their arrival before turning his gaze back to the soft green planet they were approaching.
The girls walked as a group up to Council Leader Vorik. "Is that it?" Aleigha asked him quietly as she looked at the light green planet. Its soft glow around it shined as if magical.
Council Leader Vorik nodded. "Yes. It looks the sa as when we left it. It looks exactly the sa."
"It’s beautiful," Aleigha breathed. "It doesn’t look uninhabitable."
"No, it doesn’t," Vorik responded quietly. He was srized like everyone else as they watched their ho co closer.
"Can I ask what happened to the Bormn and all those he listed in his interrogation?" Aleigha asked quietly. She didn’t want the whole bridge crew to hear. "Did anyone say the planet was not dying?"
"None of them knew for sure. When the serum wore off, they rembered nothing of transporting the population to the ships," he told her quietly, still not moving his gaze from the light green sphere that was getting larger as they approached. "Everyone one of them admitted to still being loyal to Tosh. I had no choice but to execute them all."
"I’ve been thinking about the connection between Bormn and Tosh. About why the serum didn’t allow him to control everyone after Niki killed Tosh. I don’t think he was really his son. I think Bormn believed he was, but I think it was just another lie that Tosh told," Aleigha told Vorik quietly.
Vorik nodded slowly. "I wondered that too. I have dic Renn looking into his DNA scans. Tosh’s are on file, so he’s comparing the two to see sets of DNA to see if there are any real blood relations between the two," Vorik explained. "I didn’t make the connection until you took over the questioning. I hadn’t thought of that. Frankly, that’s why I always have you and Niki in all my etings. You seem to co up with things that I don’t. You see, things that I wouldn’t have even noticed. This connection was one of them."
As the massive mothership arrived at the planet, it hovered over it. "Scan the surface?" Council Leader Vorik ordered. His gaze did not waver from their ho planet.
Bridge Officer Remmy scanned the planet. The entire bridge crew waited in silence, still staring at the planet. The beeps of the computer pulled their gaze away from the planet’s surface. Everyone turned to Remmy. They all wanted to hear the verdict.
Bridge Officer Remmy looked at the screen. Everyone waited in silence, watching him. His face suddenly paled. He looked up at everyone, scanning their faces. "The planet is perfect. There is nothing wrong with it. We can go ho to the surface," he told them in shock.
Niki turned to the bridge officer. "Scan for intelligent life. There has to be a reason why Tosh wanted everyone off the planet."
Remmy looked at the Fleet Commander, then at Council Leader Vorik. Vorik frowned. "Niki has all the authority I do. Rember, she did win the challenge with Tosh."
Bridge Officer Remmy nodded. "I apologize. I had forgotten that we have two Council Leaders."
Bending down to the panel, he scanned for life. His face paled further. "There are lifeforms on the planet. One’s not from Rasia. There is a small cluster of life near the lake."
Jada looked at Council Leader Vorik. "It looks to like he sold your ho," she said evenly. "There shouldn’t be anyone on the planet this soon after you vacated it."
"We have no use for wealth. Our replicators give us everything we need. We don’t even have to deplete the resources of the planet. It can’t be that," Vorik stated, confused. He then turned to Remmy. "I need a visual scan. I want close-up visuals of the inhabitants living on our planet."
Bridge Officer Remmy scanned the planet again. When the computer beeped, he put the visual recording on the screen. There was one cluster of beings. They looked similar to the Rasians, only their skin was a deep mauve. They had black horns that curled like a goat but were smooth. Their eyes and hair were also black."
"How many inhabitants are on the planet?" Niki asked. "Is it a large population or just a few?"
Remmy looked at the screen, pressing a button. The screen flashed. "It is only a few. The computer shows it’s thirty in total. That includes several children."
"Are they near the dos?" Niki asked the bridge officer.
"No, they’re by the lake," the bridge officer told her.
Jada smiled. "That ans we can go to the dos. There aren’t very many of them. If they don’t try to attack or anything, that only gives us another race to add to our population." Jada suddenly frowned. "If they do attack, then I don’t really know what to do. Children are involved. I don’t want to harm anyone innocent."
Remmy was studying the screen. "Sir, there is a ship near them. I scanned it. It has been damaged. I believe they might have crashed. It’s possible they crashed and are now unable to fix their ship, so they are stuck here."
"I think we can start sending shuttles to the dos. We can go to speak with these people. Try to help them get their ship started again so they can go to wherever they ca from. They might want to go ho." Vorik stated.
Aleigha suddenly spoke up. "Scan the dos and make sure there are no traps set for us. Tosh didn’t want you to go back. He might have done sothing to ensure you don’t."
Niki nodded. "Yeah, I agree."
Council Leader Vorik nodded to the bridge officer. Remmy scanned the dos. His face suddenly paled. "If we try to open the do, it will explode," he said in shock. He looked at Aleigha and Niki. "You were right. He did set traps. There are explosives at all entry points."
"Then we find a location away from those by your lake and build another do. We can’t use the dos on the planet until we figure out how to remove the explosives safely," Niki said, folding her arms. "As for those other people, we need to stay away from them until we figure out how to deal with them safely. We don’t know why they’re here. They may have crashed, or they may have made it look like they crashed. We don’t know. The dos will protect us if they turn out to be hostile.
"And if they are?" Fleet Commander Lerian asked her. He was wondering how she would handle it.
Niki smiled. "This is your planet. Fight for it if you have to. I do think that we need to figure out what their story is. On Earth, when humans ca to the do, they were sedated, stripped, and sent to the cells to be interrogated before they were released into the population. I believe the sa scenario is needed. If you can get the DNA of their kind, you can develop a truth serum. We need the truth. There are too many of us to take the chance they could be here under false pretenses."
Lerian nodded, satisfied with her answer.
"I also think we should make sure to constantly scan the area near where the do is being built in the event they send soone to watch us. I don’t want any of our people being taken off guard and hard," Niki added.
Remmy studied Niki. "When you say our people, who do you an? Rasians, Humans, or Kreq?" he asked.
Niki smiled. She knew she was being tested. It was obvious. "We are one community. All of us. When I say our people, I an all of us. That includes Rasians, humans, and Kreq."
Council Leader Vorik nodded. "I agree with Niki. We need to ensure the safety of everyone sent to the surface to build another do. We need to make sure there are blast shields intact as well. We don’t know what kind of weapons they have. I believe we should complete the do first and then add the dwellings after. I don’t want the dwellings unprotected for even a mont. If we build the dwellings first, they will be unprotected until we have a chance to get the do in place."
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