"We're dropping out of warp now, Captain, for final approach to Sefus IV," said the helm officer.

“Hail the facility,” said Kirby.

“Aye, sir,” said Hok at tactical. He tapped the console, sending the standard hail. “No response.”

“Try again.”

Silence.

“Still no response,” said Hok.

“Haia,” said Kirby.

“Scanning now,” said Haia. “That's odd.”

“Lieutenant?” said Kirby.

“There was a ship orbiting the planet, but it was there for less than a second.”

“A cloak?”

“No, sir. Cloaking takes several seconds as a ship fades from view,” said Haia. “With this, it was there, then it wasn't. I've never seen anything like it.”

“Helm, take us in carefully,” said Kirby.

“I recommend yellow alert,” said Roger.

“Agreed,” said Kirby.

“Going to yellow alert,” said Hok.

The Eagle moved forward, reaching the planet.

"We're in geosynchronous orbit over the science facility," said Helm.

"Hailing again," said Hok. "Still no response."

"Captain!" said Haia. "I did another scan. There are no life signs in the facility, there's no blood dilithium, and there are chroniton particles off the scale."

"Senior staff to the observation lounge," said Kirby. “Mister Hok, you have the conn.”

=====

“Sefus IV is class M, with no sentient life, though it has an extensive animal population,” said Haia. “An independent group of nine civilian scientists established a presence here to study the blood dilithium. A facility was built and supplied, with the funding coming from Milton Mining and Manufacturing. Since the planet is remote, no one else staked a claim.”

“You said your scans indicated there's no blood dilithium here,” said Roger.

“That's correct,” said Haia. “Since there are chronitons and no people, we have a mystery on our hands.”

“Are we looking at some sort of temporal event?” said Lori.

“That would be my initial opinion, but we would need to go to the facility to be certain,” said Haia.

“To be safe, I recommend taking a shuttle instead of using transporters," said Nick. ”I wouldn't want to beam down and end up one million years in the past."

“That's unlikely, but I agree about taking a shuttle,” said Haia.

“We need to investigate this,” said Kirby. “It's obvious something is going on down there. I want this to be volunteers only.”

Allen, Saunders, Weaver, and Ohtani all raised their hands.

“I see,” said Kirby with a chuckle. He knew they would all choose to go. It made him proud to be their commanding officer. “Ask Ensign Hok if he wants to go, too. This is his first mission, so he needs the experience.”

“Yes, sir,” said Roger. "Everyone grab your gear and meet in the shuttle bay in fifteen minutes.'

“Be careful,” said Kirby.

“Always, Captain,” said Roger.

As the senior staff filed out, Lori was the last to leave, her eyes saying to Kirby that she would be okay. Sitting alone in the observation lounge, he hoped she was right.