The Nature of Expansion

The Federation arrives

[Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic]

Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136

--==O==--

Judging from what our sensors were displaying, there was an entire armada of Federation warships shooting towards Venlil prime at blistering speed. Every few seconds they would resend their communication request. Never before had I seen such a hurried response, but it made sense.

Venlil Prime was quite the strategic location, nestled into the galaxy's outer arm, and a fair distance away form Arxur space impeding any attacks, surprise or otherwise. Not to mention it was also a key supply route for troops and a launch-point patrols. Losing such an outpost would deal quite the blow to the Federation.

As we accepted the hail I recognized the face on the screen, it was Captain Sovlin a commander from the powerful Gojidi Union. He'd risen to galactic fame after leading a valiant charge to break an Arxur siege on his home world. Usually the Federation would send whatever fleet was nearest, but this time they'd sent someone competent.

"Governor Tarva," The relief splayed on his was visible, as he realized that we were in fact still alive, "We're here to assist, what was the reason for your distress?"

I could see Gabriel standing in the wing of the room, just out of view of the camera. He stared at the screen intently, Cheln was still unconscious on his shoulder. It was unsettling the way he stared at the screen, his head tilted slightly...it was sickening.

"I see that the Federation sent their finest," I spoke, "The Venlil Republic expresses our sincere gratitude for your response, unfortunately you've come all this way for no reason."

"By galactic law, that signal is only to be used for an extinction level event, you owe us an explanation. A good one," Sovlin growled, "Did you deal with manage to deal with the problem...on your own?"

"There was no problem"

He blinked several times, "I'm sorry?"

"It was a false alarm, caused by a sensor malfunctioning due to a software update."

"What did you think you saw?"

"We'd thought a pred-uh, Arxur ship jumped into orbital range."

"And you figured it was a false alarm because?"

The Gojid squinted at me, I could tell he wasn't buying my story. Sensor malfunctions made themselves clear quite quickly, due to the lack of immutable evidence. He knew we should've rejected fault data much faster then the speed at which we did. The sharp glint in his eyes told me he intended to sniff out the truth.

"Kam, you're awfully quiet," the Federation officer noted, "Do you have anything to add?"