“Sensors are coming online,” the lead science technician reported from the crew cabin as the two junior members went to work.  Lieutenant Sadie Fowler sat on the operations side of the cockpit while one of the lead shuttle pilots expertly carried them through the atmosphere and into a search pattern.

She tapped the commands on her console, “Let’s start with the Alpha One pattern and work our way down.”  Her display echoed the readings being analyzed by the team in the back, and it was encouraging.  “Showing…thousands of plant life variations and hundreds of animal life variations.  Plant, water, and air-based are being detected.”  She was in shock, “This planet is alive.”

One of the junior team members said, “Lieutenant, I’m detecting an unusual energy reading on an intercept course…similar frequencies to what the probes detected.  Arrival in three minutes…but probably sooner as whatever it is is moving awfully fast.”

Sadie shifted her display, her eyes overwhelmed with the data.  “These readings are higher and more intense than what the probes were picking up.  Get us back to the ship, now.”  The instinct to wait and see what it was had vanished.  Whatever it was, it had killed the probes.

The helm officer was already in motion, and the shuttle started to climb.  Suddenly, it rattled and began to shake as the engine’s alarms warned, “We’re being held in place by…an unknown force!”  The lead officer’s face wasn’t holding anything behind a mask.  Panic was written across her eyes.  The runabout shook harder now as the alarms became danger klaxons.  “We’re going to lose impulse if we keep it up!”

Sadie slammed her fist on the console, “Shut it down.”  As the engines cooled, the runabout was pulled backward hard and fell fast towards the ground.  The deck now clattered as more alarms and klaxons warned about impending doom.  She shouted above the din, “Use maneuvering thrusters to slow us down!”  The pilot nodded as hands moved to correct their wild and wayward course.  It did some good.  Sadie made one last shout, “Brace for impact!”

The New Atlantic Runabout slammed into the soft earth, pushing up mud and grass while snapping small trees into splinters that rained down as it careened to a slow stop.  Fowler looked up and crawled out of her secured seat, checking on the others.  They held up their hands and confirmed they were uninjured.  They were all shaken up, including Fowler.  She walked down to the shuttle door and activated the emergency exit.  Stepping out, she was greeted by the land they knew.  Several desperate attempts at her badge did nothing to raise the Douglas.  She glanced back as the lead tech reported communications were functioning but not reaching anyone.

“That is intentional.”

Fowler spun and found a tall, broad-shouldered woman staring at her from twenty feet, her face blank.  The science chief felt all her reflexes fighting within her.  “Who are you?”

The woman walked slowly forward, and Sadie could now make out her appearance more clearly.  She was older, grey-haired, and had dark brown skin.  Her eyes were the striking part of her – they were yellow and as bright as a sun when they stared at you.  “I am Vocast.  You have lasted longer than most of those who have come to my home.  I wanted to see with my own eyes who it was before I removed them.”

Fowler gulped, “Please don’t kill us.  I’m Lieutenant Sadie Fowler from the Federation Starship Douglas…and we’re not here to cause harm…we’re just here to discover what makes this plane…your home so unique.”

Vocast did not stop staring at her. “I know of your Federation and your Starships. I have seen you and others parade through this quadrant like wandering spoiled children who can’t keep their hands to themselves. Children must be disciplined. The others came to understand why they should never come here and others before them. This is my home.”

Fowler felt the cold realization of how her story could end flood her body.  “I’m sorry.”  It was the first thing she could think of at the moment, and she led with it when the alien woman cocked her head to the side.  “I’m sorry we didn’t know about you.  We…those that came before had a…great and terrible war they fought against us.”

Vocast rolled her eyes, “I am aware of The Dominion War and the second iteration.  Do not think me a fool.”

Sadie waited for their death, but the tall mystery seemed willing to listen. She continued, “We saw a mystery that might help us keep the Federation safe, and we wanted to understand how it worked. We’re explorers first.”

Another roll of the eyes, this one less pronounced: “For explorers, you seem to have quite the weapons arrangement on yourselves, the little shuttle, and the ship above. If you were committed to such a thing…you would not bare your teeth and wave your pistols as you sought out strange new worlds and new civilizations.”

“It’s a dangerous universe out there.  What must I do to convince you we’re not worth killing?”

Vocast stared at her in silence before she walked closer. A comforting hum grew with her getting closer. “Everyone who steps foot here must be cleansed and removed. It is the way of things. My sisters made the mistake of trusting.”  She looked skyward for the first time. “They were killed for their kindness.”

“Sisters?”  She pulled out her PADD, accessing the astrometric scans they had conducted when entering the system. Three other planets were in orbit around the sun, but the readings had come back as dead planets.  “You had three sisters.”

“I was the oldest.”  She returned her attention to Fowler. “The Dominion took advantage of them and their resources, began to strip the planets of everything, and enslaved my sisters to do their bidding.  I watched and heard their cries.  The horned ones and their master had not yet come to visit me.”

Fowler was getting the picture, “So when they landed here…you took your revenge.”

Vocast’s lips curled into a sadistic smile, “They came to me…and I took them for my own.  I took all of them for my own…and brought the judgment of my family upon them.”

Sadie gulped.  She wasn’t sure she wanted the details of how that looked.  She asked, “And of your sisters?”

“They begged me to kill them.”

She waited for the alien to answer, but no further explanation came. Sadie stared back at Vocast until she could no longer wait: “Did you?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to kill us?”

“That remains to be seen.”