Captain Gar’rath stepped out of the turbolift onto the bridge of the USS Century, taking a moment to survey the compartment before heading to the center chair. The officers manning the stations around the compartment carried on their duties as if the Gorn had always been on the bridge, his presence merely part of the overall aesthetic of the space rather than an unusual addition to it as with most other departmental areas aboard the ship. As he settled into his chair, he looked over at the chair meant for his Executive Officer, who was occupying it.

“Anything to report while I was in Sickbay?” Gar’rath asked, his voice a low rumble that barely broke through the din of the bridge’s usual ambient noise.

Commander Abigail Peters shook her head in the negative, “Everything has remained nominal. So nominal that I’ve managed to finish reviewing all of the flight logs from the away mission and provided some QA remarks for our flight crews.”

The Gorn nodded and returned his gaze toward the forward portion of the compartment, “Good.”

“Captain,” the somewhat nervous voice of Ensign Thalia Zinith interrupted the exchange between the command officers abruptly, “I’m picking up a faint signal. At first I thought it was unusual background radiation, but it appears to be a deliberate transmission on a very primitive wave frequency. It’s barely above 1 megahertz, but there is a discernible pattern to it indicative of message transmission.”

“Can you pinpoint its origin?” the Captain asked, swiveling slightly to the side as he spoke.

“I can try,” Zinith turned back to her console and began to run the appropriate calculations. As she worked, Peters slid the PaDD she’d been using between herself and the armrest before leaning toward her Captain.

“Do you think we might have found someone out here?” she asked with a small smirk.

Gar’rath couldn’t help but consider the question for a moment. Though he wasn’t as well versed as a communications officer was, he’d seen enough incoming hails from his tactical stations in the past to at least consider the prospect.

“Perhaps,” the Gorn admitted before mentioning a detail that had caught his attention, “But at such a low frequency, there’s a chance that whoever might have sent it is still in their culture’s industrial age, or perhaps just approaching the cusp of their space age.”

“Or the signal has simply degraded that far after traveling through space for countless centuries,” Abby remarked.

“If such were the case, we would be flooded with transmissions from the heart of the Federation right now, given where we are,” Gar’rath countered.

Peters tapped her chin with a finger as she mulled over the Captain’s retort, “You have a point. It probably isn’t some long traveled message from the distant past, then.”

“The transmission is four years old,” Ens. Zinith remarked, turning around to face the two officers in the center of the room, “It appears to have originated from a binary star system two light-years from our current position.”

“Looks like we were simply in the right place at the right time to intercept it then,” Peters commented as she sank back into her chair.

Gar’rath mulled over the information for a few seconds before reaching down and tapping the intercom command on his chair’s armrest, “Bridge to Lieutenant James, you are needed on the bridge.”

“Aye, Captain. I’m heading up.”

The Gorn tapped the command again to end the transmission before looking back to the young comms officer, “Compile everything we know about the transmission so far and send it to the bridge science station so that Lieutenant James can review it when he comes up.”

“On it,” the Betazoid nodded and again faced her console.

“Are you thinking of investigating it?” Abby asked, a hint of mirth in her voice.

“I am,” Gar’rath nodded, “Even if it is a species not yet capable of warp travel, making such a discovery is part of why we’re here in the first place. We would be remiss in our exploratory duties to ignore it.”

“As long as Brian doesn’t come up with a compelling argument against it, I’m all for taking a peek at who’s out there,” the XO said with a smirk.

As if summoned by her words, Lieutenant James stepped off the turbolift and headed for the station he generally manned while on bridge duty. He sank down into his seat and pulled up the data packet that was waiting for it, giving it a read through before turning to face the Captain.

“This planet wasn’t on our initial survey route, our initial scans didn’t show anything so out of the ordinary that it demanded our attention. Looks like we missed something.,” Lt. James admitted, “Judging by the signal we picked up, we’re just on the cusp of the radio waves deteriorating into the ambient background radiation. Pure luck that we caught this signal. I’d say it’s worth the detour to investigate it.”

“Lieutenant Connor,” Gar’rath turned toward the ship’s duty helmsman, “Redirect the ship to the outskirts of the star system that sent this signal. Keep us just outside the heliosphere until we verify their level of civilization.”

“Acknowledged, Captain,” the Lieutenant Junior Grade responded, making the course corrections required to bring the ship to the position indicated by the Captain. At the ship’s normal cruising speed, it took the ship very little time at all to reach their destination. When the Century dropped out of warp, the view screen became dominated by two small solar objects that, from their current distant, were the most luminous of the stars among the field visible to the ship.

“Lieutenant James, begin a survey of the planetary bodies to pinpoint which of them harbors the civilization that transmitted the signal,” Gar’rath ordered before turning toward the opposite side of the bridge, “Ensign Zinith, sweep the frequency bands above and below the one that we picked up, see if you can collect enough data to run it through the universal translator. I’d like to know what they are broadcasting.”

The two officers nodded, turning to their respective stations to carry out the tasks they’d been given. While they carried out their tasks, Cmdr. Peters again leaned over toward the Captain’s chair.

“What do you think we’ll find out there?” Abby asked, flicking a finger toward the view screen.

The Gorn folded his massive arms across his equally expansive chest, “If I were to make a guess, I would say we’ve found a developing civilization that has yet to reach their upper atmosphere, if the signal is anything to go by. While that limits our options in terms of how we can investigate them, it’s still a find worth making. It would be my first newly discovered species, at the very least.”

“Are you telling me you were never stationed on a vessel that’s made a discovery like this?” Peters asked, a hint of doubt in her tone.

“My time aboard the Hades was spent behind a tactical console or a phaser, doing border patrol missions and combating piracy. When I took command of the Repulse, our missions centered around logistical transport missions to outposts and colonies that were already very well established. This is no just my first exploration mission, but my first time encountering a previously unknown species. What about you, Commander?” Gar’rath recounted, then turned the question around on her.

“It’s not my first deep space mission,” Abby said, throwing her left leg over her right, “But it is my first new civilization. Best I’ve managed was a… third contact? Maybe fourth… I can’t remember exactly. I was still a shuttle pilot back then, so all I really did was play chauffeur to diplomats going to and from their orbital station. Can’t even remember their names off the top of my head. Don’t think they’ve joined the Federation either.”

“It is still impressive, from a milestone standpoint,” the Captain offered.

“A small feather in my cap, yes,” Peters chuckled.

“Captain,” Brian said from his seat, “I’ve pinpointed the location of our new friends. The fifth planet has all of the environmental hallmarks of a planet somewhere between the late industrial age and the early space age. Long range images of the planet are obstructed by the planet’s celestial twin, which I’ve designated as the sixth planet. They appear to be in a tandem orbit, and unusually stable for planets of their size. It would appear that both planets are capable of sustaining life, but only one is showing signs of industrialized civilization.”

“Have you detected any objects in orbit around this fifth planet?”

Lt. James returned his attention to his console for a moment before responding, “I’m reading what might be orbital debris from either attempts at space launches or the remains of artificial satellites that have decayed from extended exposure to solar radiation. Currently there doesn’t seem to be any active orbital satellites or space stations.”

“Can you get a reading on what sort of power generation they’re using?” Gar’rath followed up.

“Until the sixth planet moves out of the way, we can’t get any solid readings,” the Lieutenant reported.

“Should we get a little closer, perhaps?” Cmdr. Peters offered from her seat, “Maybe a few million kilometers, maybe at the Lagrange point for this binary?”

Capt. Gar’rath’s lips tightened as he considered the suggestion, “Would we be risking detection at that range?”

“Unless they have significantly advanced ground based detection systems, we will most likely go undetected,” Brian responded to the question, “If you’re looking to be exceptionally careful, we could position ourselves at a quarter of their orbital arc away. At that distance, even if they did manage to catch a glint from the hull, it wouldn’t look any bigger than the shine you’d catch from a small meteor. It’s not a zero percent chance that we’ll go unseen, but it’s so close to zero that it’s acceptable even from the Prime Directive’s perspective.”

Gar’rath ran the claw of his thumb along the underside of his maw in thought, debating the merits and dangers of penetrating deeper into the star system. Though the assurance from Lt. James seemed reasonable, it wasn’t without risks. From where they currently sat, the risk of discovery was basically nil. Any closer than the fringes of system invited exponentially more risks of a possible first contact with a species not yet ready for one.

“For the time being, hold position here and conduct what investigations we can from this distance. If another position along the outer edge would grant us a better view of the fifth planet, then you may recommend it, but we will not breach the heliosphere until we have a clearer picture of who these people are and how advanced they might truly be,” the Captain finally announced his decision to his crew.

“Alright, then can I ask that we move the ship 25 degrees to port relative to our current position, and forward twenty million kilometers?” the Science Officer requested.

“Lieutenant Connor, move us to that position.”

“Aye, sir.”

Gar’rath turned to his XO, “I’m going to draft our initial findings report for the logs. You have the bridge.”

“I’ll keep us out of sight, Captain,” Abby remarked with a smile as the Gorn headed to his Ready Room.

“You do that, Commander.”