The stars look very different
Posted on Wed May 27th, 2026 @ 1:13pm by The Commander & Commander Alex Flynn & Zayin Theta-108 & Lieutenant Tahoma Nez & Lieutenant JG Jason Koloamatangi & Lieutenant JG Ako Olahan & Cadet Senior Grade Ratheil Plin
Edited on on Wed May 27th, 2026 @ 2:10pm
4,233 words; about a 21 minute read
Mission:
UnderMind [4]
Location: USS Excalibur - Intergalactic Void - Universe K-11
Timeline: MD04 - Evening
Lieutenant Jason Koloamatangi's excitement about being assigned the alpha shift helmsman on the Excalibur during its multiversal exploration mission had quickly dissipated. He'd expected exotic worlds, beautiful alien women, technology the likes of which made his mind hurt. Instead, void. Extragalactic void. A great excuse for the advisors to test their hyperdrive technology they couldn't use back home, but for a helmsman, it was basically death by boredom. But he was a professional, and he didn't share those thoughts.
He assumed he was imagining it when he noticed something suddenly appear on his scopes. He looked at it for a moment, like in a dream where you know you're dreaming, but don't have the faculties to properly process it. Finally he looked around, and almost jumped out of his seat when he noticed the Commander leaning against the back of his chair looking over his display.
"Commander! Sir, you startled me." He said, trying frantically to regain his composure.
"What do you suppose that is?" The Commander asked, without taking his eyes off the Lieutenant's display.
"Unsure, sir. Just appeared."
"I expect we'll want to have a closer look." The Commander stood back up, and turned to the comms station. "Lieutenant Nez, please contact Commander Flynn and have her join us." He instructed the human, who nodded diligently as he did as instructed.
A couple of minutes later Flynn appeared in a uniform she still seemed to be fastening in the turbolift. Her pupils were dilating as a result of the d-tox shot she'd taken to sober up, having helped herself to something relaxing when her shift had finished. "I hope this is good." She told the bridge as she took the central seat.
"Unclear what it is we're looking at, ma'am. Some sort of.. anomaly." Ensign Olahan explained from the science console. Sensors indicate it resembles a wormhole, or some other manner of spacetime bridge.
"I concur." The Commander said, standing watching his arms folded near Flynn's seat. "There's something else to it though, something..."
Before the Commander could finish his thought, Olahan called out urgently. "I'm reading a ship emerging - correction, two ships. One smaller vessel, likely a transport, and one much larger, configuration resembles a battleship."
"Oh, Jesus. Here we go. Full stop." Flynn said, checking the readings on her vintage armrest, confident they'd be not far from the event in question when they stopped.
"[EXPLETIVE]", Zayin said grimly to the tiny reptilian next to him, whose talons were wrapped tightly around the ship's manual flight stick; the t'sa chirped mournfully and licked her eyeball in response.
"[EXPLETIVE]," Zalin said again, as a mini-singularity from one of the Exeat battlecruisers sharply wrenched the Sticky Wicket off-course, forcing her into a nearly sixty-degree turn faster than her small inertial dampeners could compensate for; debris from the ship's hull and some of her external systems floated away, into and out of orbit of the enormous temporary mass. "[EXPLETIVE]! [FACT] They are still right behind us. [PREDICTION] We are not going to survive. [EXPLETIVE]! [EXPLETIVE]!"
When the little tsa did not respond, Zalin spared a glance at her, slumped over in the pilot's seat, blood trickling out of her nostrils and the external ear-hole behind her cranial frill. Zalin took control of the ship's gravitic drive from his conn, and reached out with a few cabled filaments of his hair and gently tightened them around the pilot's elbow and listened for the frantic thrum of her heartbeat.
Zaylin's heart sank; one of them already hadn't.
"[EXPLETIVE]. [PLEA] May you shine in Ch'Nakan's eyes, K'vrkna."
Zaylin almost missed the gigantic, gleaming ship that had just come within visual range–its sleek lines and massive hull unfamiliar to him, to any culture or any species he recognized, larger and emitting more ambient energy than any vessel he believed possible in the Orion Arm or the Persean Arm. Not at the turn of the 26th century, and not likely by the end of it, either. He pondered that Old Earth saying that Wilhelm–Wili–had chided Zalin and little K'vrkna with hundreds of times in the years they'd flown together: "Better the Devil you know..."
"[EXPLETIVE][NEGATION]," he muttered under his breath, and threw the Sticky Wicket into a steep, plunging dive towards the Excalibur–a near-interception course that would miss the much larger ship by a fraction of a degree, by a fraction of the smaller vessel's own radius, and pushed the sublight gravitic engines as hard as he knew his other living shipmates could withstand.
"[GREETING] Unidentified Vessel. [IDENT] This is Free Trader Sticky Wicket registered out of Corrivale. [INTENTION] We are not hostile, REPEAT, we are not hostile. [FACT] We are pursued, outnumbered and overpowered, by Exeat Forces and require immediate assistance. [REQUEST] M'aidez! M'aidez! M'aidez! [INTENTION] Message repeats. [GREETING] Unidentified Vessel..."
Zayin's hand trembled as he deactivated all of the Sticky Wicket's weapons systems, as his Credan programming triggered warnings up and down his spinal column not to relinquish weapons when surrounded by enemies and potential enemies, but he shut them down. If this new player in the Exeat War proved to be hostile, the weapons wouldn't save him. He primed the stardrive for an emergency short-distance starfall, just in case–if the Exeat, or these mysterious, powerful aliens killed him and his crew today, at least they'd leave their own mark in return.
The bloodthirst howling in his circuits abated; with either survival or vengeance promised, the atavism–the cykotic, as the humans would call it–coiled around Zayin Theta-108's ethical and emotional subroutines was satisfied, even enthusiastic, to find out which it would be.
"Taking evasive action!" Koloamatangi announced without an order, taking the ship sharply back suddenly with enough force to rock everyone forward.
"Commander, they're hailing us." Lieutenant Nez said with impressive calm, even as he struggled to remain in position.
"Open the channel." Flynn ordered. Nez did so, and the strange message played. Alex wondered if the universal translator wasn't struggling a little with it. It didn't take her long to figure out that the big ship was the Exeat vessel.
Zayin's comms screen opened, and he saw four human faces staring back at him. Microexpressions of confusion and relief weren't humanly visible, but identifiable on slow-motion playback of the recorded conversation. He was approximately human-shaped, and could pass for nearly any humanoid species under the weight of his cybernetic implants; his eyes were obviously replaced with artificial sensors systems, his hair was operating touchscreens on his conn, and he had synthetic armor plates covering most of his body. The only things distinguishing from the Borg were responsible cable management and a deep, healthy-looking bronzed complexion... though his skin did appear to be... glittery.
"[EXPLETIVE][QUERY]? [EXPLETIVE][THANKS]! [GREETING] Unidentified human vessel. [IDENT] I am Zayin Theta-108. [IDENT] I am a Concord citizen. [QUERY] Identify self-persons? Identify self-ship? Identify self-polity? [IMPERATIVE] Protect me. [FACT] I am carrying Precursor artifacts. [ASSERTION] They are valuable. [OPINION] The Exeat should not have them. [PREDICTION] You will agree with my opinion. [IMPERATIVE] Quickly! [REQUEST] Quickly?"
The Exeat vessel continued closing, and hailed the Excalibur.
"Yellow alert." Flynn ordered, her finger on the mute button. She released it and spoke to the being on the screen, overlaid against the view of the approaching ship. "I am Commander Flynn of the USS Excalibur, United Federation of Planets. We're going to open a dialogue with your pursuer. Please position yourselves on the other side of us. We're not taking a side here, but we want to help you work this out if we can."
The small freighter changed course to starting maneuvering around the Excalibur.
"Exeat ship, this is the USS Excalibur. We ask that you please take a moment to explain this situation, we'd like to help mediate whatever conflict is unfolding here." Flynn said as Nez opened a channel at her gesture.
"USS Excalibur, this is the Dawning Moment of Clarity in pursuit of an unlawful combatant, blasphemer, and desecrator in possession of sacred thaal relics which we are oathsworn to recover. We do not recognize you as a participant in our crusade; mediation is not required. Do not interfere in the deliverance of divine justice, and we will depart in peace and return to our own space."
The speaker was an avian-like creature, more than 2 meters tall, with two pairs of eyes–arranged for binocular and wideview vision– with blue-black feathers that appeared to have been treated with some kind of external wax, and wearing a uniform that looks somewhere between a naval officer and a ceremonial priest. There were beings of another species on the bridge, meter-tall grey-skinned humanoids with large dark eyes and bulbous heads, wearing sandals and short skirts and nothing else.
"This private matter need not concern you, but this space is well outside of Known Space for my civilization. We are curious about your presence here, the coordinates of your defined borders, and whether or not your people have intentions towards the two nearest arms of the nearest galaxy. I would propose an exchange of non-classified information in the interests of future diplomacy."
Alex was quiet for a moment. They had orders to maintain good relations with anybody they encountered, but also not to reveal the existence of the anomaly to those unaware of it. And besides, these people were talking about blasphemy. That sort of thing didn't usually lead to rational discussion. "If you'll agree to stand down and give us a chance to sort things out with the Sticky Wicket, we'll be happy to have further dialogue about our respective homes. I'm sure this can be resolved peacefully. Do I understand correctly that what you seek is artifacts they carry? If they return those artifacts, are you willing to allow them to leave peacefully?"
The avian creatured turned to look back at one of the smaller ones, titled its head, and turned back to face the screen.
"That is unfortunately unacceptable, Bishop-Commander. Retrieval of the artifacts is of secondary priority. The sapients aboard that vessel are war criminals who invaded one of our worlds, and thereupon trespassed and defiled one of our sacred laboratory-temples, before murdering clergy and civilians. Their execution is mandate. Interference with divine justice will be interpreted as hostility and blasphemy."
The avian tilted its head to regard Flynn, similarly to the way it had regarded its assumed superior.
"You are innocent, Bishop-Commander, you and the crew of your vessel. You are far from our home and presumably far from yours, unless your vessel is a world-ship. We have no cause for quarrel with you. Your vessel is technologically and militarily superior to ours. We do not desire quarrel with you. I am authorized to offer you the artifacts and the rest of the ship's contents if you will agree to permit us our sacred duty without interference and operate the artifacts to facilitate our return to our home space."
"Alright, that's progress. Quarreling is the last thing on our minds too. I'm going to have a word with the Sticky Wicket, please hold here. In the meanwhile, if you could please provide any documentation and records substantiating what you've said about the crimes they're alleged to have committed, that would help us." Flynn said to the Exeat.
"As you wish, Bishop-Commander. Negotiations may continue at your convenience."
The viewscreen cuts.
"Excalibur to Sticky Wicket. Your pursuers claim that your crew are responsible for murder and trespass in their facilities. Is this true?" Flynn asked the smaller ship.
"[OPINION][NEGATION]. [FACT] Their claims are factually true. [FACT] The Exeat are engaged in a aggressive total war against the Galactic Concord. [FACT] Their causus belli is unknown to Concord diplomats and they have offered no terms. [OPINION] Exeat religious facilities are legitimate military targets. [OPINION] I am a partisan in a war of survival."
Zayin shuttered his eyes and hung his head.
"[IDENT] I am Aleerin; I am a pacifist. [OPINION] This war has made me bad at it."
He opened his eyes and looked at Flynn. "[VOCATIVE] Commander Flynn. [REQUEST] May I make multiple queries about your identity? [OPINION] The queries are impolite. [PREDICTION] The answers to my queries will help me provide context for this conflict. [PREDICTION] You will choose to side with me out of both moral obligation AND/OR self-interest IF you believe my account."
"Okay, go for it." Alex said. They didn't seem to be a rush, the Exeat people weren't looking to barge their way through, despite Zayin's claims. Alex wasn't sure what to think just yet.
"[OBSERVATION] You and your crew appear to be human according to my display. [THEORY] You are not associated with the Galactic Concord. [FACT] All human polities descended from Earth are members of the Galactic Concord, and most non-Exeat polities. [QUERY] Is your self-species human? [QUERY] Is your self-polity human? [QUERY] Are there human polities outside of the Orion Arm? [QUERY] IFF affirmative, what is their origin?"
Zayin sighed.
"[PLEA] Pardon nature and number of queries."
"You're right, myself and a number of my crew are human. What I can tell you is that we are from another universe, we are not native to this reality. A lot will likely be the same between humans as you know them, but a great deal may be different, too. It's generally our policy not to interfere in the affairs of others, but exceptions do exist. How did you and your pursuer come to be this far outside of your galaxy? We don't detect any technology that would be capable of bringing you here." Alex asked.
Zayin thought for a long moment, resting his shuttered eyes between the obviously reinforced and weaponized ridges of his knuckles. His voice, when he found it, was soft and hoarse.
"[OPINION] Your response asks more questions than it answers, Commander. [FACT] Precursor artifacts are beyond the capacity of Concord science to measure or understand. [SPECULATION] The Exeat are technologically superior to us in many fields, but not by this much. [SPECULATION] Their religious fervor does not seem like devotion; their mythology seems to regard the Glassmakers and the Stoneburners as adversarial figures. [OPINION] The Concord needs to understand their religion better to survive this war."
Zayin unshuttered his eyes, the protective coverings sliding back into their sheaths at this temples. He sat up straight, straightened the lapels of his grey duster coat.
"[REQUEST] Permission to address you by given name? [IDENT] My given name is 'Zayin'; [FACT] 'Theta-108' is a categorial designation most other cultures find irrelevant."
"Mr Zayin, I don't doubt that you believe fully in the rightness of what you're saying and doing. What I have to do is determine the facts in order to make a decision that aligns with the standards of my people. So please answer the question directly; how did you and your pursuer come to be here?" Alex asked.
Zayin sighed.
"[FACT] I can not explain further. [FACT] Precursor technology does not conform to known scientific principles. [OPINION] It is maddening mystical garbage. [FACT] Except it works."
He looked down, away from the viewscreen.
"[INTENT] I will surrender. You may board the Sticky Wicket. I will give the artifacts to you, IFF you promise not to return them to the Exeat AND you do not allow them to board. [PLEA] Destroy this vessel with all hands AND/OR witness the Exeat do so before you leave. [OPINION] This is not your battle. [OPINION] I am prepared to die. [OPINION] I would prefer quickly to slowly. [PLEA] Allow our deaths to mean something."
Zayin held up a dull grey sphere the size of a softball.
"[PLEA]."
Alex reflected on the response and realised it wasn't an exact answer to their question, but it was close enough. For all the strangeness of his communication, perhaps he was trying his damndest to say it straight, but his language just didn't allow it. "Your terms are reasonable, Sticky Wicket. Please give us a moment to work things out with the others."
"Mr Nez, the Exeat." Flynn instructed, and the other ship appeared.
"Excalibur to Dawning Moment of Clarity. We have discussed the matter with the beings aboard, and they've agreed to let us send a team aboard so we can inspect a little further before we make a decision. Can you please confirm how you came to be in this area of space?" Alex asked the same question again.
The bird-like captain looked up at the viewscreen and regarded Flynn... inscrutably, its alien physiology and body language unfamilair to her.
"Of course, Bishop-Commander. The fugitives we are pursuing used the holy relics in their possession–our relics, stolen from their rightful bearers–to generate an otherwise irreproducible spatial anomoly through which they transported hundreds of thousands of lightyears instantaneously. We pursued them through the anomoly, which has since dissipated. We are bound by oath and mandate to avenge the desecration of our sacred cathedral; we would take it as a gesture of peace and friendship if you would return the artifacts to us, or by some other means returned us to within 100 lightyears of our territory within the designated area."
It flicks its wingfeathers at something off-screen and transmits a map of the Milky Way galaxy, with a portion of the Orion Arm highlighted in yellow, and a potion of the Perseid Arm highlighted in purple.
"We are eager to report peaceable first contact with a reasonable and civilized civilization outside of the boundaries of our galaxy; it would mark a massive shift in our understanding of spatial topography and the origins of sapient species. We would be saddened to have to report anything else, Bishop-Commander Flynn."
"We happen to have a handful of experts on strange phenomena and ancient artifacts aboard. I understand that these artifacts, while precious to you, aren't a creation of your people. I think in this circumstance, it might be best if we take custody of them until such a time as we can figure out how to get everyone back where they belong." Alex said. The bird was polite, but the zealotry in his words made her want to see what happened when others weren't complying with the holy mandate.
"You are correct, Bishop-Commander. The artifacts are beyond ancient; they predate the formation of my species' earliest ancestors, the formation of the planet upon which I was born and the star around which it revolves. Objects such as this have been discovered in prehistoric ruins across all of space known to Perseid civilization, and our intelligence indicates many such objects have been discovered by the unfaithful and warlike civilizations of the Orion Arm."
It tilts its head.
"You are also, however, intervening quite a lot for someone who claims not to wish to intervene in our internal matters. I believe you are stalling; do you intend to allow us to apprehend these blasphemous terrorists, or do you not?"
Flynn's yeoman Slar appeared behind her and showed her something on a padd that wasn't visible on the screen. She nodded and he withdrew it. "Non-interference is our highest directive. But we're not in the habit of refusing requests for aid. Respectfully, having reviewed the information you've provided, we don't see any evidence of a trial. It's not our custom to interfere with the affairs of others in their space, but at the moment, we're not in your space. We'll assist you to get home, but we won't turn these people over for summary execution." Alex said.
"So be it, Bishop-Commander. May we meet again as comrades in the next life."
The avian made a sharp, angry gesture with one of its wings and the viewscreen cut off.
The Exeat battlecruiser's gravitic weapons fired again, causing the Sticky Wicket to warp and stretch and slowly implode.
"Damn it, beam them out of there, now!" Alex ordered.
"Trying ma'am, trying!" Came the voice of the transporter chief, currently wrangling with a weaponised singularity that was obliterating the ship they aimed to retrieve the crew of.
"The second the transporter cycle is complete I want us cloaked and headed away from the anomaly. Take us to warp long enough to throw off any trail, then take the roundabout route back to the anomaly."
"Transport complete, ma'am." Came the chief's voice.
"Alright, get us out of here." Flynn ordered. She didn't want to abandon these people, but their willingness to open fire on the unarmed gave her little choice. "I'll be in the transporter room."
As Alex reached the room, she was surprised to see security assembled within.
"What the hell is going on? We're trying to help these people." Alex asked, slightly irate.
"Person, ma'am. We only got the one. There was too much interference." The acting transporter chief Cadet Plin apologised.
"Then what's with the knuckle-draggers?" Alex asked with the sort of affection that only a former security officer could get away with.
"We detected integrated circuitry and mechanical components. Code Green quarantine is protocol, ma'am." Plin said.
"Right. Good work, Cadet. All but one of you, wait in the hall. If you hear yelling, come back in." Flynn said. The security crew looked at each other with concern for a moment, then did as they were told.
"I'm sorry that we have to keep you contained for a moment, but you've got a lot of mechanical components. Where we come from, beings that heavily integrated with machinery can pose a threat to our security. A collective of them was once they greatest and most persistent threat to sentient life in our galaxy. I'm also sorry that you're the only one we were able to get out. I'm afraid your ship and the others are lost." Alex said.
Zayin didn't make eye contact with Flynn; he was watching Security impassively, languidly swaying back and forth as his eyes slid from one cautiously retreating officer to the next to the next. His hair was coiled defensively around his head, locks standing up like vipers poised to strike until all but one of them–as ordered–had left; then his hair reassembled itself into the messy topknot with only a few loose strands fidgeting against the rough fabric of his longcoat. With only one security officer left pointing a weapon at him, Zayin disregarded him to focus entirely on Flynn.
"[NEGATION]. [VOCATIVE] Flynn. [OPINION] It is a reasonable precaution. [SPECULATION] Your ship could have extracted us two minutes ago. [FACT] All but one of my crew were still alive two minutes ago. [OPINION] That decision merits more regret than this minor inconvenience. [VOCATIVE] Flynn."
There wasn't a twinge of sorrow or anger in his voice. Zayin accepted Commander Flynn's apology as if she might have bumped into him in the corridor or delayed his turbolift by an additional deck. He appeared more awake and alert than he had at the conn of his own vessel, but beyond that, the switch from Flynn's rank to her family name was the only change in his demeanor.
"[OPINION] Casualty outcome was suboptimal. [ASSERTION] But within acceptable parameters. [ASSERTION][THANKS] You spared my crew from less desirable outcome. [ASSERTION] I am in your debt./[INTENTION] And at your service."
Zayin bowed deeply and formally, crossing his arms over his chest.
"[QUERY] What is your self-intent?"
"My intent is to ask you for your cooperation. We're going to store you in our brig for the time being, for want of better options. This ship is structurally about a century behind our current designs, even if the technology is up to date. A pair of my colleagues would like to ask you some questions once you're settled, to better understand you and figure out if your... features pose a threat to us. Will you comply?" Alex knew it was a very Borg question, but he had a certain Borg vibe to him.
Zayin regarded Flynn silently for a moment, then spoke quietly. "[INTENT] I surrender unconditionally; I will permit myself to be confined. [SPECULATION] A ship this size would have guest quarters. [OPINION] I would be more comfortable there. [ASSERTION] And no more of a security threat. [INTENTION] You have my unconditional surrender. [INTENTION] I will answer questions." Zayin reached into the pocket of his longcoat and pulled out the colorless sphere, the alien artifact this whole conflict had been about, and carefully put it on the ground at Flynn's feet. He took two steps backward, keeping his palms pointed at the floor.
"[FACT] I am incapable of powering down my internal weapons systems while I believe I am being held prisoner. [REQUEST] Classify me as a passenger; [SPECULATION] Your ship's systems can confirm that my weapons are powered down and detect any attempt to power them back on. [OPINION] This offers more security than confinement IFF the guest quarters can be sealed from the outside."
Alex let out a long sigh. What would Rovak do? "Alright. We'll take you at your word. But if you try anything, you'll end up somewhere a lot less comfortable than the brig." She took a few steps back from the transporter pad and folded her arms. "Plin, beam him into guest quarters."
"Aye ma'am, transporting." Plin said, and Zayin once again disappeared in a champagne coloured cloud of particles, with the distinct eerie whistle of 23rd century transporters.
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