Unexpected arrival at the starbase

It started as a routine day on Starbase Lotus. For the people of the headquarters of the elite division of Starfleet in the Hromi sector of Federation Space,  this meant that something unexpected happened.

"Fleet Captain Sir," called out the chief sensor officer.

Allen Samji interrupted his conversation with the quartermaster to walk up to the impressive sensor station of the starbase which was monitoring all activities within the entire twenty cubic light years of the sector.

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"A vessel, Sir, on direct course to us. It just dropped out of warp; distance one billion kilometers,  closing at full impulse. ETA three point seven hours, standard speed."

"Identify."

"Transponder code reads USS Asimov, Nova class."

"Admiral Ross' daughter command? They were assigned to study the Sarabande asteroid... They're not due to report in for R&R and resupply for at least three months. What are they doing here?"

"Unknown, Sir; they're not answering standard hails."

"Is their signal jammed? Any damage?"

"Undetermined; no residual energy discharges on their hull nor debris trail, no interference field in their vicinity... We get no return message but... we do get some short static discharges of a peculiar intensity from the comm channel."

"Define peculiar, lieutenant."

"Well, Sir... It sounds like they are trying to answer, but then, each time, it's as if their frequency was suddenly overloaded with excess output and fries out."

"Any power surge from or near them?"

"Negative, Sir; power emissions are standard and steady. Only their comm system seems defective."

"Not enough to justify returning to base, especially for a science ship filled with master technicians and researchers." concluded Samji with a frown.

After a moment, he turned towards the tall dark-haired woman coming to join them.

"Commander, which ship do we have nearby?"

"None, Sir," instantly responded Kathleen Schmidt, also frowning as he did. "The Spectre is still escorting the Romulan squadron of Admiral Tomalak back to the Neutral Zone, the McKenzie is investigating a possible Klingon incursion near the border and the Pittsburgh is back guarding Kzinti Space while both the Republic and the Wisconsin are transiting new officers and supplies to sector 001. The Aurora is out training our new cadets in the Paulson nebula and is therefore out of contact. The Alsea is ongoing full reengineering work on her three warp cores. And both the Phoenix and the Horizon are still on their exploration and colonization mission beyond the Azimuth Horizon."

"You would think this fleet has enough ships..." grumbled the starbase commander. "Send a class XI shuttle with a full complement to intercept the Asimov and provide both technical and medical assistance... and some security as well."

"Aye, Sir."

"Mister Sangliar, feeling up to it?"

The compact, heavy bearded black Tellarite that turned to respond looked like he would jump at his throat.

"Do I look like I'm loitering here... Sir?"

"You always look busy, Lieutenant... You're quite good at it."

The small stout officer grunted as he squared his wide shoulders.

"What did you break this time?"

Samji, with a wry smile, thumbed towards the comm station.

"Were you asleep again the whole time?"

This time, Sangliar chuckled despite trying to hide it under another grunt.

"Good one, Sir... Alright, give me a few runts and I'll go see that mystery ship of yours."

And so saying, he nodded with respect to the fleet captain who could trade barbs so well in the Tellarite style and left the command center for the main hangar where several junior officers were called to meet him there.

"I can never play that insulting game of theirs," commented Schmidt to her commanding officer.

"Takes a bit to get used to, I admit... But just like Klingons respect and demand honor and bravery, Tellarites respect and demand wit and caracter from those they are expected to interact with. And they make for the best engineers in the Federation."

"And excellent taskmasters to get young officers to shape up," agreed the woman.

Samji's gaze went back to the comm station, his face now pensive.

"Hopefully... because there is more here than meets the eye."