“Captain’s log, stardate 76461.3: the Yorktown has been everything I imagined when I first came to the Federation and loaned my efforts to Starfleet. We’re six months into our five-year mission and I can’t help but be grateful for the trust that Starfleet has put in me, a Romulan former warbird commander who defected almost two decades ago, to captain one of their premier ships of exploration. The crew has been settling in well and are truly the best at what they do. We’re currently on course for a type-O blue hypergiant that our long-range sensors picked up some strange readings. Hopefully, this will be something worth mentioning in my next report. End log.”

Captain Jerok took in a deep breath as he laid the PADD down on his ready room desk. Indeed, he felt fortunate to be where he was in life, considering not even twenty years previous he was considered a defector. But times had changed, and the Federation welcomed him, albeit cautiously, with more welcome arms than he had expected in the wake of the Shinzon coup d’etat. His place in the Federation was elevated even more when his homeworld was threatened, and his experience as a scientist was invaluable to Federation efforts to bridge the gap with the Romulan Star Empire to attempt to solve the problem. In the end, the attempt failed, but Jerok felt like the Federation was and had been home for a while and where he would stay.

Now, two decades after his arrival in the Federation, Jerok found himself the captain of a Starfleet vessel. The Yorktown wasn’t a new ship, but it was still one of the premier explorers in the fleet with state-of-the-art technology and the best sensor suite in all of Starfleet with a crew to match.

After a few moments of reflection and letting his good fortune really sink in, his concentration was interrupted by the comm, “Bridge to Jerok. Sir, we’re about to drop out of warp at our destination. Thought you’d want to know.”

“On my way, commander.”

As Jerok stood and made his way to the bridge it was bustling with activity as sensors came to life with the Yorktown inching closer to the star they came to investigate. “Report?”

“We just dropped out of warp,” Commander Aylen Branson, the Yorktown’s first officer, explained. “We’re holding distance. The star is giving off large amounts of radiation as well as gravimetric and magnetic disturbances, all to be expected with a type-O.”

“What about the anomaly we picked up?” the captain asked as he walked towards his command chair in the center of the bridge and took a seat.

Ensign Thomas, the operations officer, cleared his throat, “I’m picking it up now.”

“On screen.”

The view was astonishing and almost indescribable compared to anything that anyone on the Yorktown’s bridge had ever laid eyes on. It appeared to be a creature with a bulbous body and long legs, immensely large, with its legs planted firmly on the surface of the star appearing to consume part of the surface, revealing the bare solar surface underneath.

“What the hell is that?” Commander Branson finally blurted out.

Jerok put together a few words, “Not like anything I’ve ever seen before. Scans?”

The young ensign at helm finally was able to put together what his sensors were reading, “It appears to be biomechanical. Definitely not a natural spaceborne creature.”

“A ship?” the captain asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” Ensign Thomas responded.

“How about an educated assessment, ensign?” the first officer barked.

Ensign Thomas sighed and looked over the scans again, “If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it’s some sort of really advanced starship of some kind. Far beyond Federation technical capabilities.”

“What is it doing?” Lieutenant Zemess, the Yorktown’s chief of security, finally chimed in with a Saurian click of the tongue.

“It looks like it’s devouring that star,” Jerok surmised by what he was seeing before him, as unbelievable as it may be. “Open hailing frequencies.”

“Sir?” Thomas asked.

Jerok stood from the command chair and took a few steps forward, “If it’s a ship, maybe there is someone on board.” The hailing chime filled the bridge for a brief second before the captain announced himself, “This is Captain Jerok of the Federation starship Yorktown. Is anyone receiving us?” After a few seemingly long moments of silence the captain continued, “We’re here on a mission of peaceful exploration and have never seen anything like your… ship… before in our journeys. We’re just interested in getting to know more about you, please respond.”

After another few moments of agonizing silence, Jerok surmised, “Seems no one is home.”

Finally, without notice, the bridge flickered with light as a hologram appeared before them in the appearance of a Human male, creating a sea of puzzled looks among the bridge crew’s faces. Immediately the hologram introduced itself, “Greetings, I am Companion, a sentient AI created to interact with you. I bid you greetings from the Zadmeen civilization.”

As the captain materialized in the chamber of the Zadmeen ship it took a few moments for his eyes to adjust. The bright lights mixed with the explosion of white colors all around him were disorienting at first. As his eyes finally caught up to their surroundings, Jerok nodded his away team of Lieutenant Zemess and Dr. Benner.

Dr. Benner spoke up over the sound of her tricorders scanning, “Looks like the ship’s atmosphere is picture perfect for Human life.”

“Interesting,” Jerok calmly said.

As two doors swooshed open, previously hidden in the sea of white, a young looking man stepped out wearing a long white robe. He smiled as he walked towards the away team and explained, “Not as interesting, Captain. The ship scanned your ship’s database as you approached and was able to create an approximation of your homeworld’s atmosphere.”

The young man looked both Jerok and Zemess up and down as if criticizing them for existing. Realizing that he was staring he finally said, “Sorry, I don’t mean to judge. But you two do not appear to be of the same species as your vessel’s origination?”

“I’m a Romulan. This is Lieutenant Zemess, he is Saurian. Neither of us are from Earth, but Earth is a member of a peaceful coalition of many worlds called the United Federation of Planets. Zemess’ world is part of the Federation, and I have called it home for many years now,” the Captain elaborated. 

“Peaceful coalition structure. Interesting,” the AI responded plainly.

“Do you… your people have some sort of structure? A leader?”

“Presumed hierarchical structure when none exists. Fascinating. No, I was created by the ship to interact with you,” the AI explained briefly.

Jerok sighed lightly, “What is the purpose of this ship? We’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“This is the last great bastion of the once powerful Zadmeen Sovereignty. A species that originated many galaxies away from here many eons ago,” the AI continued to explain as a holographic image of a humanoid adjacent life form flickered to light next to the AI. “They fell prey to a colossal cataclysm. When it became apparent that they couldn’t save themselves, this ship was built as their ark. Their chance to build anew. It contains the genetic material and technology to rebuild the Zadmeen civilization on exactly one planet.”

Jerok’s interest was fixated on this explanation, and judging from the other two away team members they were as well. This was exactly the sort of thing that Starfleet officers dreamed of encountering. Collecting his thoughts Jerok asked the next logical question, “And the star?”

“Ah yes,” the AI turned as one of the glaringly white panels on the wall of the ship slid open to reveal the surface of the star. “This ship uses an enormous amount of resources leading up to the terraforming process. Based on required parameters, the ship will finish consuming this star in three days at which point it will move onto a planet approximately 2 light years away and begin the terraforming process. Unfortunately, it appears that the planet is now inhabited, which was not the case when it was originally scanned 3,000 years ago.”

The wall panel came to life even more as a holographic representation of the planet appeared along with a charted course for the Zadmeen ship to reach it from its current position. The captain was sure to take a mental note of where the planet was. It was one the Yorktown had passed only a few days before.

“Three thousand years ago?” Zemess asked with no hesitation and was filled with shock.

“This ship is very old and the processes it goes through take many millennia. The terraforming process itself will take approximately 5,000 years until complete, at which point nature will take its course,” the AI further explained.

“Surely the ship won’t terraform a planet that has been inhabited?”

The AI looked over a small panel on the wall, “Unfortunately, once the final sequence is locked in to begin terraforming it cannot be undone. The ship has already prepped too many biological samples to begin the process elsewhere.”

“Will it kill the inhabitants?” the captain asked.

“Not if they’re able to breathe an argon-based atmosphere,” was the cold response from the AI.

“Most people in our part of the universe can’t do that,” Dr. Benner quipped.

Turning to his away team, the Romulan began to game plan, “We need to get to that planet and warn them.”

“What about this solar system?” the doctor asked.

“Uninhabited. The star dying shouldn’t affect any life forms,” Jerok said as he turned back to the AI, “Don’t go anywhere and don’t start terraforming yet. We’ll be back in two days.”

With a nod, the away team bunched up and the captain tapped his comm badge, “Jerok to Yorktown, we’re ready to return.”