Game was 10/29/20; once again we were without a Heidi.

The Varich drops out of warp without issue at the edge of the target system. Unfortunately, due to intense gravimetric waves, the long-range sensors are offline. These gravimetric waves also mean traveling at impulse is very turbulent. Phillip does his best to guide them into the system smoothly, but even he struggles to keep the Varich on an even keel. A few moments after entering the system, Fal detects a nearby planet with the short-range sensors. The initial sensor sweep tells him that the planet is a compressed Class-J gas giant, one that likely should have developed into a star. His curiosity peaked, Fal asks Phillip, "Can we fly a little closer?" Mel nods in agreement, so Phillip complies.

Once the Varich nears the gas giant, Fal can detect seams of pure neutronium in the atmosphere. This is an incredible find, as neutronium is extremely rare and one of the hardest, most durable substances known to the Federation. Fal wonders what forces are at work keeping this planet in a spherical shape; he runs several scans and posts the results on the main viewscreen. Ssleestak also scans the planet and compares his results with Fal's scans. Looking at both sets of scans, Ssleestak theorizes that somehow different realities are applying pressure to keep this planet spherical and contained; a feat of engineering he freely admits would be unimaginable if they weren't looking right at it. He wonders if the Androkai are responsible.

The Varich heads deeper into the system and finds another Class-J gas giant. However, this gas giant is compressed, and is much, much smaller than it should be. Once again, Fal performs sensor sweeps and posts the results on the main viewscreen, alongside the visual image of the planet in question. Ssleestak asks Fal if the sensors are calibrated to detect Dominion power emissions and the like; Fal frowns and then recalibrates the sensors. He immediately detects the ion wash of a Dominion vessel, but the trail is inconsistent. The ion wash will be strong for a few thousand kilometers, and then weakens to almost indetectable levels, before strengthening again. This makes estimating the age of the trail to be impossible.

The Varich follows the ion trail close to the very edges of the system's Green Zone, but then crewmembers go flying as the inertial dampeners briefly fail; reacting purely on instinct, Phillip violently jerks the Varich hard to port as a Class-L ice planet suddenly appears in front of them! Phillip manages to retain control, but several members of the bridge crew can feel their stomachs flip-flop inside them. Ssleestak, Merek'miir, and K'tral all feel sick, while Jessa is flung to the ceiling! She bruises several ribs on impact, but Ssleestak catches her safely when she falls back to the deck.

Phillip stabilizes their flight pattern, but the crew is dumbfounded when the planet follows them deeper into the system! Stunned, Ssleestak calls out, only half-jokingly, "Don't run, you'll trigger its predator reflex!" Fal scans the surrounding space and announces, "Captain, somehow we're generating the strongest gravity right now. The planet is following us, like it would its parent star." Ssleestak looks down at Jessa and asks, "Are we asleep?" Jessa shakes her head furiously, as her bruised ribs prove they're very much awake. Ssleestak then announces, "I shall name this place Camelot, because it is a silly place." Although Ssleestak said this in jest, Commander Hall shrugs and enters the system into the database as the Camelot System.

As Mel does not want to drag an entire planet into the Green Zone, she tasks Fal, Ssleestak, and K'tral with finding a way to return the planet to a proper orbit. Thankfully, Fal's scans show the planet is uninhabited. Working together, and with Phillip, they devise a plan to slingshot the planet! They run several simulations and refine their plan to the point that they are confident of success. Mel approves the plan, so Phillip shifts course slightly and increases speed to get the planet to follow. The initial maneuver is successful, and then Phillip gradually increases speed to full impulse until he hits the sweet spot and violently shifts the Varich starboard! The plan works, as the planet shoots past the Varich into an elliptical orbit!

With that insane problem dealt with, Phillip resumes course deeper into the system. They get into the Green Zone proper, and then everything seems to settle back to mostly normal - until the short-range sensors show three more planets in a stable orbit around a blazing purple star! Fal states firmly that the star should be a G3V star, and he is at a loss to explain why it is purple. Any further speculation is halted however, as a Dominion starbase appears on an intercept course! Phillip successfully evades the base and Ssleestak declares, "It's unpowered, and going on inertia!" Mel orders, "Tractor beam!" Shan'taar complies and snags the base with the tractor beam. The base's greater mass immediately wrenches the Varich forward, but Phillip anticipates this and gradually applies the retro-thrusters to gradually slow the Varich until the starbase comes to a halt.

Fal scans the starbase thoroughly while the crew examines it on the viewscreen. The base appears unfinished, with several exterior hull plates missing. Fal announces, "It's a giant shell. I detect no power emissions whatsoever." Ssleestak observes, "It's been stripped. The intergalactic equivalent of being left on cinder blocks in the front yard." Working together, they are able to determine that the Dominion base consists of a central structure of about twenty levels, with three large armatures radiating out. Each armature can comfortably support a Dominion battle cruiser, or waves of Dominion attack craft! The structure is prefabricated, and the crew estimates that it can operate in open space or in orbit of an occupied planet. Mel assumes that thousands of similar starbases exist in Dominion space, and wonders if whoever stripped it deliberately pushed it towards the edge of the Green Zone to destroy it.

Wary of booby traps, Mel orders several probes be dispatched inside the starbase. Shan'taar again complies and launches a small fleet of probes. Thirty minutes pass as the probes transmit their findings back to the Varich until they have completed their task. All technology has been stripped from the structure, leaving nothing but bare bulkheads. The holes in the exterior hull are where sensor pallets and weapon emplacements were installed. The probes also find no organic remains whatsoever. Mel is deeply concerned, but at the moment the Dominion base is inert. She orders Phillip, "Resume course, but fly casual," and he obeys. As the Varich disengages the tractor beam and turns around, Shan'taar points out, "This looks too much like the NX-07; stripped bare, with everything of value taken." Mel, Armina, and Fal nod in agreement, but the rest of the bridge crew looks confused. Mel briefly summarizes the discovery of the NX-07 Solstice, and how the Dai'Loq stripped it bare.¹⁾

As the Varich proceeds deeper into the Green Zone, the more the star exerts normal gravity, restoring a bit of normalcy to their travels. Ssleestak performs a spectral analysis on that star, but comes back with all of the same data Fal discovered initially; all readings indicate that this should be a hot, yellow, main sequence star, but for some reason it's purple. Fal declares, "Captain, I've found a Class-M planet nearby; one million kilometers from our current position. It appears uninhabited." Mel assumes this planet is the source of the faint subspace signals Merek'miir mentioned two days ago, so she orders Phillip, "Change course to investigate. Fly business casual." Before Phillip can comply, Fal's sensors ping and he declares, Captain! Another vessel just entered the Green Zone! I don't think they've detected us yet."

Wary, Mel orders Phillip to belay the course change, and to fall back so they can see the new arrival before they detect the Varich. The alien ship does not appear in any Federation database and is a central bulb with two pylons extending underneath to a secondary hull. Five radials jut out from the primary and secondary hulls and form a ring around the ship. Multiple stubby warp nacelles are attached to this ring, and appear to be able to move freely, allowing for an impressive amount of finite control over the vessel's warp shell. The hull is a matte black with lighter striations running alongside like a tiger's stripes. Fal states, "Eighty life signs, unknown species. The vessel carries phasers and one photon torpedo launcher but proposes no tactical threat to us."

Philip frowns and says, "That secondary hull, it looks like the one you'd find on an Oberth-class vessel." Fal and Ssleestak run scans and Ssleestak declares, "Phillip is correct. Although the composition is different, the secondary hull matches the size and shape of an Oberth-class exactly." Mel decides to continue observing, and Phillip evades the other ship's sensor scans. They then catch a glimpse of the other ship's hull, and stare in shock as they clearly see the name of the vessel emblazoned across the hull in English: the U.S.S. Valiant!

Fal calls out, "Captain, the Valiant appears to be running silent as well. Flying business casual, just as we are. If they were at full power, they would detect us easily. They're heading for the Class-M planet and are scanning it carefully." Mel frowns, but decides to take the bull by the horns. She orders, "Fal, scan them to make sure they're from our universe. Shan'taar, open a channel." Fal and Shan'taar comply and Mel announces, "This is Captain Mel Deline of the Federation starship Sol - Varich." She winces at the mistake, and Fal informs her quietly, "I've confirmed they're from our universe."

The Valiant answers the hail, and the Starfleet officers lay eyes on the alien species for the first time. They appear humanoid, albeit hairless and with symmetrical ridges splitting at the top of their foreheads and running down the sides of their faces to meet again at their chins. Skin tones seem to vary greatly, with salmon-pink ranging to purple-black, but all have striations in complementary colors; presumably an evolutionary holdover when it served as camouflage. Their uniforms resemble ones from late 23rd century Starfleet; jackets over colored shirts with black trousers and boots. However, this variation appears sleeker and more like a wetsuit. Fal detects vestigial gills in the ridges and theorizes this species may have evolved from amphibious stock.

The captain of the other vessel announces, "I am Guardian Galeb Shi'szor of the Urathi scout ship Valiant. You… You're real. You're really real, and you're here. Captain, whatever happens next, please understand we meant no disrespect, and we have been honored to treat your ancestors as if they were our own." Although confused, Mel nods and replies, "We are on an exploratory mission. We were not looking for you specifically, although we are glad to meet you. You have encountered a Federation ship before?"

Galeb nods and explains, "The Urathi discovered the U.S.S. Marie Curie eighty-five of your years ago, drifting in the Rupture Zone. We found every member of the crew predeceased." Shan'taar calls up the records of the U.S.S. Marie Curie and informs Mel," Oberth-class, she was launched in 2279 to travel to the Typhon Expanse to hunt for the missing U.S.S. Bozeman. They carried specialized equipment to scan subspace; The Typhon Expanse has similar subspace distortions to the Rupture Zone. However, the Marie Curie vanished as well, leaving Starfleet to declare the Expanse to be hazardous. No Starfleet vessel returned until four years ago, when the U.S.S. Enterprise rescued the U.S.S. Bozeman from a temporal loop."

Mel nods and thanks Galeb Shi'szor for his people's respect for their dead. She declares, "We would be honored to bring them home." Galeb scans the bridge, clearly mentally tagging the humans, the Gorn, the Andorians, and the Vulcan. He looks slightly confused when he spots Fal, but he explains, "For many years the Urathi were a client of the Consortium. Have you met them?" Mel asks, "The Tizit?" Galeb nods and replies, "Yes, precisely. Although they called it an economic alliance, the Tizit occupied Urath Prime. The Marie Curie gave us the key to our freedom."

Mel asks, "Is this your home system?" Galeb shakes his head and says, "No, this is not a Urath Prime. This planet is a mystery to us, as it sometimes appears to be occupied by members of your species, captain; humans who claim to be part of the Roman Empire." Mel stares blankly at him, and Ssleestak mumbles, "I thought Kirk was making that stuff up." Mel asks, "We found a starbase drifting in the system. Did you destroy it?" Galeb shakes his head again and replies, "No, we did not. An unfamiliar species attacked and destroyed it. Matte-black ships, very fast and very deadly; they attacked ruthlessly and stripped everything. Massive forward hulls, with engines attached directly to their spaceframes."

Mal frowns and transmits an image of a Questoria vessel. Galeb looks down and nods, he replies, "Yes, that is them." Mel declares, "That ship belongs to the Questoria of the Dai'Loq Sphere." Galeb admits, "We have heard of the Dai'Loq Sphere, but we've never met them before." Mel says firmly, "If you see one of these vessels approaching, run." Galeb frowns but seems to take her advice seriously. He reveals, "While we were occupied by the Tizit, we warned a bit about other species. Urath Prime was favored by the Tizit as at the time it was close to both the Rupture Zone and the border with the Wabai Unity. However, the Tizit were masters of informing without actually providing information. For instance, we've never actually seen a Wabai and have no idea what one looks like." Merek'miir raises her hand and Galeb blinks with surprise and replies, "I thought you were in an Orion." Mel snorts and replies, "The Wabai are a fragment of the Orion race, the Orions had a large empire a few thousand years ago but it fell." Galeb nods furiously and offers, "Captain, would you like to meet in person?"

Mel nods in reply, but before any arrangements can be made, Fal detects some sort of subspace distortion surrounding them! Mel snaps, "Full sensor sweep!" Suddenly, the Valiant and the Varich are targeted by an extensive network of orbital defense platforms around the Class-M planet! Structures and cities appear, all showing the Roman eagle! Then, the distortion fades, and the Class-M planet reverts to being uninhabited! Ssleestak theorizes, "They must be fading in and out of other dimensions! Captain, I bet you a nickel that the Dominion just gave up setting up a base here. The Rupture Zone is too damned weird!" Shan'taar interjects, "Perhaps, but the Roman weaponry is disruptor-based, and significantly advanced."

Mel decides to move away from the Class-M planet, hopefully out of range of any weaponry if the Roman Empire returns. Galeb agrees, and the Varich and the Valiant move off together more than a million kilometers from the planet. Galeb is eager to meet on the Varich and says he will bring one other. Mel agrees and the two ships draw close together to allow for a beam-over. Fal, Armina, Jessa, and Christopher head down to transporter room one while Mel preps the conference room for first contact.

Ssleestak immediately heads to Two-Forward and asks Paj for cinnamon buns for the meeting. Ssleestak assumes the request is a shot in the dark, but is pleasantly surprised when Paj retorts, "How many dozen do you want?"²⁾ Ssleestak replies, "Three dozen should be enough." A few moments later, three dozen cinnamon buns materialize in the conference room and Mel mutters, "What the hell? Computer, where did these come from?" The computer replies, "Two-Forward." Mel grunts and imagines a note of impatience in the computer's voice.

The Urathi beam over to transporter room one using their own technology; they materialize on the pads safely. Galeb is accompanied by a female Urathi, with a strong familial resemblance. They also notice that the Urathi are relatively short species; Galeb is only three centimeters taller than Jessa and the woman is the same height as the diminutive Trill. Both Urathi have a faint coral smell, and Galeb introduces her as his daughter Ileeya. The Starfleet officers realize that Thal'tirian is hovering just outside the door, as Galeb tentatively identifies Christopher and Armina as human and Jessa as Trill. He admits he does not recognize Fal's species; Fal replies, "I am a Bajoran from the planet Bajor in the Alpha Quadrant." Galeb muses, "Yes, by your mapping system we're in the Beta Quadrant, yes?"

Fal nods and Armina gently interjects, "Actually, I am not human. I'm a Betazoid from Betazed, also in the Alpha Quadrant." Jessa informs the two Urathi, "Ensign Thal'tirian, an Andorian, is waiting outside to ask you a lot of questions. Do you mind if she joins us?" Galeb mutters, "This is a trap… daughter, deal with this." Jessa snickers as Ileeya raises her hand and extends her thumb perpendicular to the floor at her father, a gesture that the Starfleet officers immediately recognize as the equivalent of a middle finger. Galeb smirks, further confirming their theory.

Ileeya allows, "She may join us, but with an understanding. For every question she asks, I get to ask one in return." The Starfleet officers swiftly agree, and Thal'tirian comes bounding in, peppering the Urathi with a series of rapid-fire questions in Andorian. Jessa sighs and reminds her, "English, please. And remember the deal." Thal'tirian reins herself in visibly, and soon the two women are swapping questions back and forth. It soon becomes obvious that the Urathi have studied the information in the Marie Curie's databanks, as Ileeya asks questions about Thal'tirian's keth and her ushaan-tor. Thal'tirian eventually admits that she has never been in an official Ushaan duel.

Commander Hall leads the group up to deck one and into the conference room, where the rest of the senior staff has gathered to greet their new guests. Before Mel can intervene, Ssleestak bounds up to Galeb, smiles showing all his teeth, and introduces himself as he hands the Urathi a cinnamon bun. Galeb accepts the treat, and then the Starfleet officers discover that the Urathi still retain some characteristics from their aquatic ancestors as he unhinges his jaw, and a very long tongue lashes out to swallow the cinnamon bun whole! He seems to enjoy it, so Ssleestak passes one to Ileeya, who consumes it much the same way.

As they take more of the treats, Galeb starts explaining some of the less savory details about the Tizit occupation of his home world, including the work camps and strip-mining. Fal steps away as too many similarities to the Bajoran Occupation come bubbling up. Jessa asks Ileeya if the Urathi species evolved from aquatic life forms; Ileeya nods and replies, "Yes, we did originally. We still retain the ability to breathe water for about thirty minutes, and there is a mutation that strikes roughly one in one million Urathi; these people are born with the ability to breathe water indefinitely." The Starfleet officers swiftly discover another unique physiological quirk of the Urathi; apparently cinnamon is an intoxicant! Mel quietly removes the cinnamon buns, although K'tral keeps a few on hand to feed to Ileeya as she asks questions about Urathi religious practices. Ileeya freely explains that her descendants viewed the Rupture Zone as the Maw and it featured heavily in their religions.

Meanwhile, Phillip keeps a low profile until Galeb tells him, "I have stuff for you!" He holds out a 23rd century data rod and tells him, "This contains various upgrades we have made based on the technology from the Marie Curie to allow our ships to travel safer in the Rupture Zone!" Phillip never even touches the data rod, as Ssleestak darts in and snatches it away. The only clue Phillip has to what just happened is he sees a green tail quickly exiting the conference room! Lieutenant Merek'miir follows Ssleestak back to the bridge as he accesses the data rod after some fiddling with the LCARS.

They examine the data together and find several shield modifications that can help repel subspace tears! They also discover that Urathi vessels carry multiple warp nacelles partially due to expected loss within the Rupture Zone, but also to have one or two on hand if they need to make an emergency detonation to close a subspace tear! Ssleestak is intrigued but concedes the Varich needs both her warp nacelles to function. Merek'miir offers, "We could use the auxiliary craft instead if we needed to. Your Thunderbird would be the best option, although the captain seems inordinately fond of that shuttle." Ssleestak agrees, and muses, "I think she'd sacrifice the yacht before the Thunderbird!"³⁾

Back in the conference room, Galeb explains how the Urathi discovered the U.S.S. Marie Curie drifting at the edges of the Rupture Zone in 2287, and how they secretly took the ship back to Urath Prime to examine her without notifying their Tizit overseers. Cross-referencing calendars, he and Mel realize that the Marie Curie vanished eight years before the Urathi discovered her, but Galeb insists that the corpses of the crew were freshly deceased. Whatever happened to them, it happened very quickly. Considering the unstable temporal nature of the Rupture Zone, Mel is content to assume that somehow the Marie Curie vanished in the Typhon Expanse in 2279 and was hurled here, to the Rupture Zone, eight years into her future.

Galeb explains that the Urathi labored for four years, using the technology found on the Marie Curie, to reverse-engineer it and find a way to escape Tizit control. They settled on a plan to isolate the inner core of the Urathi system inside a subspace pocket, and raced to set things up while the Tizit, led by Overseer Zilbet, tried to discover whatever secrets the Urathi were hiding. Unfortunately, the Tizit discovered the Marie Curie after four years, and threatened an all-out invasion. The Urathi issued an ultimatum for the Tizit to leave their system, but the Tizit ignored it and massed for an assault to claim this alien craft.⁴⁾ The Urathi triggered the subspace beacons they had secreted throughout the system, intending to plunge the inner core into that subspace pocket. However, the Tizit's early discovery of the U.S.S. Marie Curie meant that things weren't calibrated properly, and a massive subspace distortion occurred, causing the Rupture Zone to expand! The Tizit fled the system as quickly as they could, although much of their material was left behind as the Rupture Zone swallowed the entire system!

He admits that this fate was predicted by many of his world's religions, but the gambit was not totally a failure. The inner core of the Urathi system was in fact preserved in a subspace pocket, while the outer two planets were completely destroyed. Mel quickly realizes that Urath Prime is the first system accessible in the Rupture Zone, and the shattered outer system is what's inhabited by pirates like the Raa'kuul. Galeb goes on to explain that Overseer Zilbet was executed by the Tizit Consortium for his failure, and his name has now become a byword for colossal stupidity and catastrophe in the Tizit language. Using the Marie Curie, the Urathi were able to retrofit their vessels to exit the subspace pocket safely after about three years. They have traveled the Rupture Zone ever since, engaging in trade and scientific exploration. They have encountered the Tizit, but both sides do not desire a war, so relations remain very frosty, but no armed conflict has broken out yet.

Galeb passes two more chips to Mel and explains, "These are for you. The first is the logs from the Marie Curie, the ones recorded on the way to the Typhon Expanse but never transmitted to Starfleet Command." Mel immediately thanks him, as this information is invaluable and personal. Galeb smiles and adds, "The second one is our records of the Questoria attack on the starbase." Mel immediately hands that data rod to Fal, while Galeb insists the Varich must come back to Urath Prime to collect their dead. Mel immediately agrees as she accesses the personal logs of the Marie Curie's crew. She scans the list of the crew and is startled to find the ship's navigator was one Ensign Erica Edgly! She checks Chief Edgly's personnel file, and realizes that this was his grandmother, and he was named after her!

On the bridge, Lieutenant (junior grade) Virgil Thon announces, "Incoming transmission from the Urathi vessel." Lieutenant Then'taan nods and Virgil routes the signal to the main viewscreen. Ssleestak and Merek'miir watch as a female Urathi appears and identifies herself as Executive Officer Koradi. She asks if Guardian Galeb Shi'szor is all right and if the meeting is proceeding smoothly; Ssleestak declines to tell her about the cinnamon intoxication effect. Koradi informs them, "We have detected a series of subspace ripples approaching. These tend to indicate the inversions that bring these humans from the Roman Empire into reality."⁵⁾

Lieutenant Then'taan immediately calls for yellow alert, as Koradi sends along modifications their sensor grid to allow them to detect the same ripples. Lieutenant Trina uploads the modifications immediately, much to Ssleestak's pleasure. The yellow alert immediately switches to red alert as suddenly multiple warp-capable ships, all bearing the Roman eagle, appear surrounding the Varich and the Valiant! Both ships are targeted by multiple disruptor arrays, and Ssleestak taps his combadge and says, "Captain Deline to the bridge, please."