Game was 4/2/20.

As dinner continues, Jessa remains uncharacteristically silent, as she is embarrassed about the hallucinations. Thal’tirian keeps pumping Zug for more information, while Shan’taar and Threy’shaan keep a wary eye on the captain. Armina remains calm while K’tral surveys the room. Fal listens as he starts mentally cataloging the information they’ve accumulated so far, while Mel chats pleasantly with Zivan. Phillip remains silent, but Ssleestak is curious about these ravagers Zivan warned them about. The implication is that the main force of these ravagers won’t be here for a decade, so he mentally adds them to his enemies list and asks Zug what they know about them.

Grateful to get away from the Andorian’s stream of questions, Zug quietly admits everything they know is second- or third-hand at best. There are no first-hand accounts as these ravagers don’t leave survivors, but from what the Tizit have been able to ascertain from N’Dari stories and Dai’Loq sensor scans, the ravagers are warp-capable but not especially fast. Their ships are so saturated with radiation that accurate sensor readings of their life-signs and technology are impossible. Ssleestak realizes these ravagers are like the Borg to the Federation; the Tizit – and presumably, the other local species – subconsciously treat them as an unknown boogeyman.

K’tral also picks up on this undercurrent of fear and she realizes the Tizit are desperate for this alliance. She also hears the faint hum of machinery from under the table, so she drops her fork and crouches down to retrieve it. Zug moves to help her, but Thal’tirian pounces with more questions. K’tral sees a slim box attached to the underside of the table and suspects its communications equipment but wants another set of eyes. She reaches out and gently pokes the closest person’s leg with the fork. Phillip looks down suddenly, and K’tral crooks her finger and says, “I dropped my fork and then knocked it your way. Can you get it for me?” Confused beyond measure, Phillip crouches down to retrieve the fork while K’tral gets to her feet. Phillip sees the equipment and realizes it is a communications hub, with a transceiver and a holo-matrix. He gets up and passes the fork back to K’tral; she eyes him with a penetrating stare and declares, “Thank you, ensign.” Phillip nods, which K’tral takes as confirmation of her theory, and sits back down.

As this is happening, the server is clearing the dinner plates and soon returns with dessert, a collection of round orange pastries with a drizzled glaze, and glasses of pink wine. Zivan proudly announces, “This is koril, a native dish. Quite the delicacy.” Phillip and K’tral abstain, while Jessa skips the wine but tries the pastry. Fal digs in unabashedly while Mel samples both. Shan’taar, Thal’tirian, and Armina sample both while Threy’shaan also abstains. Ssleestak grabs a pastry to chew and dig out one mill-worm stuck squirming in his teeth. The Starfleet crew finds the pastry is light, with a sweet-citrus taste, and resembles a Terran cinnamon bun. The wine is heavier, with a sweet taste and a higher alcohol content. Mel mentally classifies it as a dessert wine and sips it carefully.

Zivan’s demeanor changes instantly and she starts flirting with several officers, especially Fal and Phillip – the latter because he’s inadvertently presented himself as a challenge. Phillip does his best not to respond, but Fal returns the flirting but doesn’t go further. Zug suddenly blurts out, “Captain Deline, I have a question about your ship, NCC-72409 USS Solstice.” Zivan shoots her son a murderous glare, but surprisingly he doesn’t notice. Mel replies, “Well, I suppose you’ve earned one question, for being so attentive. What do you want to know?” Zug looks uncertain, but asks, “Uh, where is it going?”

Mel’s smile turns brittle as she says, “Excuse me?” They then hear the reverberations and look up to the sunroof to see their ship zip over the mansion, heading for orbit! Mel jabs her combadge and practically snarls, “Deline to Saval.” Static mars the reply, but Saval states – through the Vulcan equivalent of gritted teeth – “4A in progress. Stand by.” Mel frowns as she tries to recall whatever a 4A is, while K’tral and Ssleestak have utterly no idea. However, Shan’taar groans as he immediately remembers his rule 4A: If Ensign Kras’s eyes are a swirling blue when she’s staring intently at something, find the nearest Bajoran and smack him or her upside the head. It won’t solve the immediate problem, but it is cathartic.

Saval adds dryly, “At least, I think it’s a 4A. Whichever one also involves lightning.” Mel suddenly remembers Shan’taar’s rules as Jessa stands up, leans over, and gently smacks Fal in the head. All three Andorians follow suit, leaving two Tizit, one Vulcan, and one Gorn very confused. Zivan demands, “Captain, what is going on?” Mel says flatly, “There’s an incident occurring on my ship.” Zivan retorts, “Is Kordikar in danger?” Mel frowns as she seriously ponders the question before replying, “Unlikely, in all honesty.” Zivan frowns but settles down and taps a command. The holo-matrix activates, and the Starfleet officers see a 2-D representation of the Solstice as she suddenly engages her impulse engines – while still in Kordikar’s gravity well!

Phillip, K’tral, Ssleestak, and Mel start in shock as the Solstice shoots up through the busty orbital docks, zigging and zagging to avoid everything in their way, but Ssleestak and Fal activate their tricorders and discover their ship is saturated with verteron particles. Ssleestak taps his combadge and orders an emergency beam-out, but Chief Edgly replies frantically, “I can’t get a lock on your position!” Mel swears under her breath, and then realizes in horror her ship is barreling towards a fat-bellied freighter that can’t get out of the way fast enough!

The Starfleet officers can hear Saval order her bridge crew to regain control of the conn by any means necessary, but it is too late. They watch in shock as the Solstice plows into the freighter – and passes through it unscathed! The freighter ‘ripples’ briefly to reveal a much smaller ship, and Zivan snarls, “A Wabai holo-ship!” She jabs a control panel and howls, “All weapons, target that spy ship!” The Solstice reaches orbit, and then her nacelles flare as she prepares to go to warp! Mel lurches forward as if to try and grab her ship, but they hear Thri’shayn call out, “Commander, some sort of quantum singulari-“ and then the Solstice jumps to warp – and stretches across the entire solar system for a split second! The ship ends her ‘slide’ right at the gravitational eddies that surround the outer reaches of the Kordikar system!

Ssleestak exclaims, “It worked! Captain, it worked! Faster than warp nine-point-nine!” Mel drawls “I’m so happy for you,” but Zug interrupts to inform her, “We are now receiving a visual signal from NCC-72409 USS Solstice.” The 2-D hologram splits to show her bridge and Saval leaning forward as she rasps, “Captain, please inform Lieutenant Ssleestak if he ever does that without proper consideration given to those species onboard with sensitive inner ears, I will not stop the Andorians from stabbing him to death.” Mel notes Thri’shayn also looks ill, but Ssleestak muses, “Well, it was never meant to cross an entire star system. Wow, it crossed an entire star system!”

Jessa edges away from the screen, still embarrassed by her earlier hallucinations, but the others then see Jen Kras steps into view. Her eyes are the swirling blue of the Bajoran wormhole, but now blue corposant dances across her hands and she is backlit by the same light. They suddenly flinch as she lifts her hand and lazily arcs lightning from her fingers to the ops panel! Ensign Aurora Lo’vak cries out, “Commander, the main defector dish! She’s reconfiguring it to… emit charged tachyon particles?” Fal takes a gamble and asks, “Jen, my best friend, are you ok?”

To everyone’s surprise, Jen stops the lighting arc, turns to look Fal directly in the eyes, and utters, “No,” in a sepulchral tone that is her voice – and something else’s. Mel notes her ship’s master system display is riddled with blue, which is definitely not the normal colors. She asks the Prophet bluntly, “Why are you here?” Jen replies, “We are fulfilling the pact.” Mel blinks in surprise as the others try to figure out what’s going on, but she asks tersely, “Has this pact been sworn yet?” Jen cocks her head and stays silent for a few seconds before uttering, “No?” Mel grumbles, “Well, at least I was right,” as she remembers the Prophets don’t comprehend linear time.

Fal begs, “O’ great Prophet, is there any way to communicate that bypasses my friend Jen Kras? So that she remains free of Your touch?” The Prophet replies flatly, “No,” and Fal sighs and mumbles, “Well, I tried.” Mel demands, “So what is this pact?” although she doesn’t really expect an answer. To everyone’s surprise, the Prophet replies, “The price demanded by The Kras to secure her assistance in this. To save one hundred thousand lives first.” The Starfleet officers look to each other in confusion, but Mel concedes dryly, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Suddenly, Zug utters a string of Tizit profanities as he types furiously on his padd before looking at his mother in fear. He says hoarsely, "The N’Dari. The Dai’Loq are escorting four N’Dari refugee ships through the eddies now. They should emerge… right by the NCC-72409 USS Solstice. Each ship carries over one hundred thousand refugees. If something goes wrong on one of those ships…” Zivan swears as well, but then over the channel Lieutenant (J.G.) Trina at science calls out, “Commander! I have those ships on sensors! Four massive vessels escorted by a Dai’Loq dreadnaught and several Gauntlet-class destroyers.” She then gasps and yells, “Explosive decompression on the port side of one of those ships! She’s been pushed out of formation and deeper into the eddies! She’s being crushed!”

Saval snaps, “Ops, whatever Jen did, activate it now!” Aurora complies and charged tachyons fire from the main navigational deflector dish – and negate much of the gravitational pressure! Saval orders Lieutenant (J.G.) Virgil Thon at tactical, “Tractor beam. Now!” Virgil’s hands fly across his station and the Solstice snags the N’Dari vessel in a tractor beam. The tractor keeps the N’Dari vessel from falling deeper into the eddies, but the gravitational force still in play means the Solstice can’t pull the other vessel free – and she’s slowly being dragged towards the eddies as well!

Phillip, Ssleestak, Shan’taar, K’tral, and Fal all assist their subordinates as the Solstice struggles, and with their help the ship manages to stop her slide into the eddies. Jessa leans over and snags the plate of koril to munch on, but then another hand darts in to grab a pastry! Jessa looks over to see Armina unapologetically snacking as well, and she smirks. Mel curses as a new problem suddenly presents itself: the three Dominion vessels suddenly swing out from the fourth planet and head right for the Solstice! Ssleestak growls, “And the Dominion came here to make friends?” Virgil calls out, “Commander, they’re arming weapons!”

Mel sweeps the holographic battlefield and she swiftly realizes the Dominion is using the fourth planet as a screen against Tizit orbital weaponry, and she says sweetly, “Zivan, my dear?” Jessa snarfs as Zivan retorts playfully, “Yes, my love?” Mel drops the banter and asks, “Can your weaponry reach the Dominion vessels?” Zivan also gets very serious as she replies, “No, I’m afraid not. Our orbital weaponry only reaches out to the fourth planet.” Mel frowns and asks, “What happens if we shoot the fourth planet then?” Zivan gapes at her and turns peach as the color drains from her face. She sputters, “No one… no one has ever considered to do such a stupid thing!” Mel offers, “What about a ricochet?”

Zivan gurgles in shock but Fal starts running calculations. He frowns and reports, “Theoretically, we could bounce a laser shot off the metallic exterior, but the problem is distance. It will still take light-minutes to reach the Dominion, and while they are slower, they have enough time to get out of the way.” Mel curses as Ssleestak leans in and asks Fal, “Can’t you just ask the Prophet for help?” Fal shrugs and asks Jen, “O’ Prophet, can you provide assistance to us in this, so you may fulfill the pact?” The Prophet utters a very human-sounding grunt of exasperation, and then Jen lazily waves her hand. The three Dominion ships suddenly vanish completely!

Everyone in the dining room and on the bridge suddenly goes very silent as they process what just happened, but the Dominion ships suddenly reappear in normal space – by the third planet! Mel snaps to Zivan, “Shoot them now?” Zivan jabs a button and snarls, “All citizens of Kordikar, the Dominion has flouted our neutrality, and as such has spurned our friendship! They are no longer welcome in Tizit space!” Suddenly a mass exodus of vessels rips free of the orbital docks and powers towards the Dominion vessels, weapons powering up!¹⁾

Simultaneously, the Dai’Loq fleet plows out of the eddies, escorting the three remaining N’Dari behemoths. As soon as the N’Dari vessels are free of the eddies, the dreadnaught executes a precision turn and powers towards the Solstice while initiating an audio hail. The archbishop in command snarls, “Federation vessel, stand by to cut your tractor beam and focus on your tachyon stream. We will extract the refugee vessel.” Saval nods and they coordinate with the dreadnaught to cut their tractor beam a split-second before the Dai’Loq establish a tractor lock. Several minutes pass in tense coordination as the N’Dari vessel slowly exits the eddies. Mel winces and several other officers groan when they see the vessel’s ravaged port side; everyone realizes hundreds of people died in that explosive decompression.

The Solstice cuts the tachyon stream and pivots. To everyone’s surprise, the Dai’Loq vessels pull back slightly, allowing the Solstice to lead the flotilla back to Kordikar. Mel smiles briefly at the sight, but Ssleestak rumbles, “And now we’re friends?” Mel shrugs and replies, “It’s like our relationship with the Klingon Empire.” Ssleestak concedes that point and asks, “Captain, can we lend assistance to the N’Dari?” Mel swiftly agrees as she grabs a koril for herself.

Zivan happily transfers all the data they have on the N’Dari to the Solstice, and then opens a channel to the Dai’Loq dreadnought. She spins a tale of heroism and the need to continue the work for the refugees before the archbishop snarls, “Enough! We will transmit everything we have to the Federation ship.” Mel says sincerely, “Thank you,” but is surprised when the archbishop growls, “You’re welcome.” She cuts the channel but does honor her promise a few second later.

Now armed with data and an hour before the flotilla reaches Kordikar, the Starfleet officers settle in and start work. Everyone contributes, even Zivan and Zug, and after half an hour they have a much better picture of the N’Dari. They are a tall, muscular species that resemble Terran triceratops, complete with orange skin, black markings, and a horn. N’Dari Prime was a hot, very humid world with a unique mixture of gasses the N’Dari need to breathe; this air is slightly toxic to most other species. N’Dari family units are matriarchal and descend from clutches of eggs, each clutch has unique black markings.

Technologically speaking, the N’Dari are on par or even ahead of the Federation, especially in defensive systems. Their shields and hulls are a few decades ahead of Starfleet, but their engines are about five years behind. However, one aspect of their technology that is definitely ahead of the Federation by a generation is their EVA suits: N’Dari suits are flexible and fit seamlessly, and possess air, food, and power reserves that far outstrip current Federation technology. The suits also possess defensive shielding, powerful thruster engines, and even miniaturized tractor beams to lock on to whatever surface they stride across. Mel muses, “Not to generalize, but there’s definitely a reptilian streak here. Safety first, speed later.” Ssleestak agrees.

They learn that politically, the N’Dari had an authoritarian monarchy that evolved into a parliamentary, constitutional monarchy over the centuries. They explored local space but only expanded into a few uninhabited systems close to N’Dari Prime, and typically the N’Dari came to you, not the other way around. As they were matriarchal and not expansionistic, the Dai’Loq considered them – on paper at least – as a protectorate state but never actually enforced anything. However, in the wake of the ravager assault, N’Dari Prime is now an uninhabitable radioactive hellhole, and her entire population slain and consumed. The only survivors were those offworld, and even their refugee ships were ancient colony ships in an orbital museum that were quickly refitted and pressed into service.

The Starfleet officers do pick up on a strain of ingrained condescension to mammalian species in N’Dari culture. Since the destruction of their homeworld and the splintering of their race, the N’Dari have an enclave in the Dai’Loq Sphere, a massive floating city set aside for their use here on Kordikar, and several smaller, scattered enclaves in local space. Unfortunately, in some N’Dari, this anti-mammalian prejudice has grown into outright fear or even aggressive xenophobia, especially in some of these isolated colonies. Ssleestak takes a break and checks on the status of the three Dominion ships. They’ve evaded the flotilla sent against them and are now powering towards the core-ward fringes of the system to escape. However, they are redlining their engines to keep ahead of their pursuers.

Ssleestak snickers but returns to his work. Together, the Starfleet officers come up with several plans to assist the N’Dari and relieve the burden on the Tizit. Jessa assists Fal in cataloging the data collected, while Phillip applies his experiences growing up on a starbase in designing new environmental systems. As her officers continue their work, Mel receives a private text message from Saval; it reads: “We are not to land.” Mel covertly texts back, “Why not?” The reply takes a few seconds, and reads, “The Solstice must remain in orbit and the away team must remain on the surface. Further information is not forthcoming.” Mel sighs but doesn’t press the issue for now.