“Sir, we’re in position directly above the pole,” the helm officer turned his head slightly towards the center of the bridge.

“Between the strong magnetic field coming from the pole and all the ionizing radiation in the planet’s upper mesosphere, we should be completely invisible to sensors,” Zemess clicked out of his Saurian mouth.

Jerok stood from his command chair and walked towards the center of the bridge. The tension was beginning to build. The captain could feel it. As the ship approached, the Romulan stood behind the helm station, placing his hand on Ensign Thomas’ shoulder. The helmsman was visibly nervous, but the captain had a stoically calm demeanor about him.

“Captain, the ship is in range. There is a lot of interference from our positioning, but it appears to be a Klingon Vor’cha-class cruiser,” Zemess reported.

Commander Branson stood from her chair and took her place next to the captain. Jerok could also sense her nervousness, but it was much more heavily steeped in frustration. “Concerns?” the captain asked.

“Just… a Klingon battlecruiser this far out? And clearly not a KDF cruiser – they knew exactly what we were doing out here and why,” the first officer elaborated.

“Are you thinking D’Ghor?” the Romulan shot back, almost playfully challenging his first officer to defend her position.

“There is one way to find out,” Ensign Thomas blurted.

The captain and first officer took their respective positions in the command chairs again. As the captain crossed one leg over the other, he agreed, “There is only one way. Ensign Thomas, please pull us to a higher orbit and set an intercept course for that cruiser.”

“What if it is a D’Ghor cruiser?” Branson asked bluntly.

“Red alert.”

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In this release:

• The Yorktown hides in the atmospheric pole of the planet they put the deep space array on, waiting for the incoming ship.
• The ship arrives and appears to be a Klingon battlecruiser investigating the strange readings coming from the array. However, the KDF was aware of Yorktown’s mission and would have no need to investigate something they already knew about.
• Red alert.