Far from Federation space, and several hundred light-years from the Archanis Sector, the starship Yorktown orbited a small class P moon. Although still within the first few months of her multi-year, deep space assignment, the Yorktown received word of what was going on back home and was given, of all things, a mission to complete. Captain Jerok sat in the command chair watching as his officers put the finishing touches on their assignment.

Commander Branson, sitting next to the captain, leaned over, “The away team reports that they’ll be ready to return to activate the array and beam back in about ten minutes.”

“Excellent,” the captain responded.

“How is this going to help again, sir?” Lieutenant Zemess asked with an almost dismissive tone.

“The Hunters of D’Ghor keep destroying defensive infrastructure in the Archanis Sector. Faster than Starfleet can put new ones back up. The idea is that with this deep space array so far out, Starfleet will be able to point it towards the Archanis Sector. The resolution won’t be the same, but they might at least get some advanced warning,” the captain elaborated.

“And with the Hunters attacking civilian targets, any warning is better than none,” Commander Branson added.

“Indeed. And hopefully with it under a kilometer of ice, it’ll go undetected this far away,” the Romulan captain added.

“That’s assuming the Hunters aren’t this far out. Starfleet has no idea where they’re coming from, where they operate out of… nothing,” Ensign Thomas interjected with a worried tone.

“Easy, Ensign. For now, let us just finish the assignment and continue our own mission,” Captain Jerok smirked at the young ensign’s seemingly irrational fear.

The first officer, with impeccable timing, noted, “Sir, the away team just beamed back and everything is good to go. Ensign, activate the array.”

“Yes ma’am,” Ensign Thomas responded as his hand slid across his console punching in commands. “Array active, and link established with relay stations. Starbase 27 should be getting live sensor results in right now.”

“Good. Helm, get us back on course,” the captain ordered.

“Hold on, sir. I’m picking up a contact on sensors heading straight for us. Can’t make it out quite yet,” Zemess surmised.

“Well, that can’t be a coincidence…” the first officer trailed off.

Jerok looked at her in agreement, then let out a little sigh. It looks like the exploring would have to wait for another day, yet again.

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In this release:

• The Yorktown is diverted from its normal mission, a multi-year deep space mission, currently several hundred light-years from the Archanis Sector.
• The ship is ordered to construct and deploy a deep space telescope/array, hidden under a kilometer of ice on an uninhabited class P world. The goal of this array is that it’ll be able to give Starfleet some eyes in the sector without it being in the direct path of the Hunters wrath.
• After the array is activated, a ship is detected on sensors heading right for the Yorktown/array. Clearly not a coincidence.