“All security personnel, report to your station immediately. All non-security personnel with security as secondary positions, report to the security station. Everyone else except bridge, life support, and engines report to your quarters and go into lockdown. No questions.” Paul barked into his ear piece

“Solid copy”

“Bridge reporting, we have re-established communication with the Mules. They’ve lost power to all systems except life support and are drifting but they report that they are safe for now” Came a different voice

“Noted, report back if they encounter any danger. And I want a one member of response team by each of the boarding airlocks, I have airlock 3. If something comes to board, tell me right away”

“Roger, response team is gearing up, ETA 5 mikes”

“Copy” Paul replied as he started to run towards the airlocks that had been built in to allow for peaceful boarding. Peaceful. Hopefully.

Four airlocks had been built, two on each side, one up front and one near the rear. Each had been built to be as “universal” as possible to accommodate every possible latch that scientists could imagine. However, they anticipated trouble so several measures were taken to ensure that total takeover of the ship would be difficult from the airlocks. First, the airlock led directly into a room where meetings between boarders and the crew would take place, one entrance, one exit. Second, the walls and doors of the airlock, rooms, and the surround area are the thickest of any part of the ship to prevent any hostiles from burning through. Last, the wall of the meeting room which is attached to the outer hull can be rapidly opened to vent all things in the room and halls into the vacuum of space.

Paul hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

“Paul, two ships breaking off near airlock 1, looks like they’re heading your way”

“Copy. Response team, once I confirm that they are docking on this one, take your positions.”

“Roger, we are locked and loaded” replied the team leader

Out the window Paul saw two ships approaching his airlock, one hung back and the other came in parallel to the Endeavor.

“They’re docking” Paul said

“En route” came the reply

The ship that was parallel twisted and contacted the ship with it’s belly with a thud that reverberated through the halls. Paul moved over to the airlock and looked through the small glass panel. He saw three figures, two looked similar to the wolves he had encountered earlier in terms of armor and weapons. The third one in the middle was different. It was shorter, they shoulders were less broad, and it was more graceful in it’s movements. It was also unarmed.

When the exterior airlock was sealed, one of the figures placed a circular device on the seam of the interior door which was then forced open by unseen forces. The two figures flanking the third rushed in with weapons drawn and scanned the area over the top of their weapons. Paul noticed that the way they entered the room was similar to the way SWAT teams would clear a room. Different race, same method of entering. The thought amused him as he stood under the gaze of the third armor clad figure which had entered after the first two had cleared the room.

“Your second encounter with us within a short span of time I believe” The third spoke with a surprisingly feminine voice

“Welcome aboard the Endeavor” Paul said in a warm tone, brushing aside the shock of the feminine voice “I represent this ship”

“We know what you are” the female -for lack of a better term- replied “what we don’t know is how you are among the stars so soon. We cataloged you as a class 5 species”

“May I ask what class 5 is?”

“You were not expected to reach among the stars more than your immediate system. But here you stand further than any expected you to achieve”

“When and why did you categorize us as such?” Paul asked almost offended that she did not expect humans to explore the stars

“Your species is fragile, prone to kill among yourselves, divided, and are more like parasites than other species. As for when, we cannot tell you. Our time system would differ from yours.”

“Ok then.” Paul was surprised with how correct that analysis was “As the head of security and first encounters, it is my duty to determine your intentions as well as if your pose a threat to the crew”

“Both of those depend on your actions. The first encounter you had on the room was with a group of criminals which we were tasked with apprehending. By blocking their warp with your ship, you covered their direction and the intensity of the warp making it impossible to track them. As I doubt you knew that they were criminals, your will not be executed. But you, your crew, and your ship will come with us and be questioned and inspected, will you comply?”

“I have to discuss the matter with the other crew before we make a decision.” Paul replied as the gravity of the situation hit him

“You do not have a leader?” the figure replied

“No, we all have a say in the decisions of this ship”

“That is inefficient and could get you and your ship destroyed”

Without replying, Paul patching himself into the PA system and informed the crew of their situation. He then tuned into the department heads and they unanimously decided that they had no choice other than to comply as most of the systems were still offline including the engine and the warp core.

“What about the Mules that we sent out? They are still drifting”

“Aw shit” Paul had forgotten about them “We have two smaller vessels drifting right now, what about them?” Paul asked

“They will be brought to the destination” she replied “Any other questions?”

“Do we have your word that none of us will be harmed?” asked Paul

“If we wished you harm, your ship would be drifting in every direction in numerous pieces” she replied coldly

Paul simply nodded in reply. “What about getting to where ever we are going? Our warp, engines, and just about everything else is offline”

“We will deal with getting you there”

Behind the figure, Paul saw the ship detach from the airlock and fly away. Before he could ask about it, another ship shimmered into view. This one was bigger than the others and was fatter and looked more like a flying box than a ship. It flew out of view and headed towards the top of the ship and after a few seconds he heard a faint thump. Before he could ask a question, the view of all the ships and stars outside shimmered and distorted before changing to pitch black. The sight startled Paul, they couldn’t have warped far enough away for there to be no stars! But as the ship drifted away from the exit of the warp, he saw the curve of a planet come into view. It was breathtaking. The planet’s edge lit up and from beyond he saw the blinding light of a star crest over the curve. The parts that were illuminated had large amounts of different shades of green and the occasional spot of blue. Then he saw it. A small stick jutting out from the planet’s surface connected to a small object that looked like a top.

“A space elevator” Paul gasped

“Correct” the female replied without averting her gaze from Paul “The defense platform is where you, your crew, and your ship will be inspected”

“What kind of inspection should we expect?” Paul asked

“A few questions about intentions, capabilities, and how a class 5 race have achieved warp technology”

Concern hit Paul as he realized that their warp core was scavenged from something that they still don’t understand completely. What would they do? Would they confiscate it? What would happen if they did? In the few seconds that passed, the Endeavor had closed in on the station. He could see that the station looked like multiple plus signs impaled on a stick. The bottom part that was closest to the elevator looked like a plus sign inside of a circle. The elevator itself looked like the concepts that Japan had for space elevators: numerous rings connected by lengths of wire that stretched all the way to the planet’s surface. On a couple of arms at the ends of a “plus” were ships docked with the station. As the Endeavor approached the station, Paul saw the immense size of it. One arm was the size of the Endeavor! Humanity’s largest ship is tiny compared to what the docking arm was meant for!

“Is this station large compared to other stations?” Paul asked as a terrifying thought entered his mind

“No, this is an average station, the largest belong to our race and is located on our home world” the figure replied as she turned to the airlock as the arm came in contact and docked

Their ships must be massive! Paul thought as he stared at the size of the other docked ships in comparison to their respective arms. With a tiny hiss, both airlocks open simultaneously. How are they opening our airlocks? Before he could inquire, all three of the boarding team had turned and were heading towards the airlock.

“A crew member of this station will be along shortly to inform you about what you are to do” she said without facing him “until then, the station security is set to eliminate anything that comes through this airlock. I would suggest you inform your crew to prepare for a brief stay. Also, I suggest you secure anything that is loose, the inspection teams have been known to steal.”

With that they walked down the imposingly large hallway towards a door and left Paul alone.
________________________________________________________________________
“How come you can’t just use the scanners to get all this information?” Paul asked. He was seated in an uncomfortable seat that was designed for something with a tail, which he did not have. It had been about an hour since the inspection team had greeted Paul and the crew and told them to go to the end of the docking arm. The walk alone took twenty minutes through endless halls with the occasional door which were all locked. When they arrived at the end, another group of wolves had led them to a room that resembled a large lounge, there they reunited with the crew from the two Mules. From there, the crew was taken in groups of 10 to be interviewed on different subjects before being returned to the lounge. Paul had been with the second group. He was led towards the center of the station where a wolf would sit with a crew member and ask them questions. So far, the questions had been simple: what is your ship called? What is your intentions? What offensive capabilities does the Endeavor have? And others along those lines. It was getting old.

“Because it is unethical to use the bio scanner for anything other than language calibration, and medical diagnosis. Aside from the ethical stuff, it is also against pack law” his interview replied. The wolf that he was paired with was about five and a half feet tall. As for physical appearances, he had full gray fur and had the looks of a wolf you would find back on Earth, paws, muzzle, pointed ears, and a tail. One ear had a little clip on the side of it and on the end of his muzzle near his mouth was a mouth piece that Paul assumed was the mike which probably made up the translator that allowed them to talk. Aside from the fact that he was looking at an alien that didn’t look alien, the most disturbing thing was that the wolf didn’t have a single piece of clothing. In fact, none of the wolves he had seen aboard the station had any clothing, but nothing was revealed as everything was covered in thick fur. It was still a little unsettling.

“Pack law?” Paul asked with sudden interest. Was it possible that these wolves had the same pack system that the wolves on Earth did?

“I told you when we started, we will explain everything about our species and some other species along with everything else you need to know about the rules of space travel when we are done with everything here.” the wolf replied. As with the other wolves, when Paul asked for a name, they had simply said they were called “wolf” because their names would be unpronounceable to humans. Paul noticed that as the interviews progressed, their English was getting better. At first, their grammar was decent, but their speech sounded unnatural, now they all spoke like they were from an English speaking country. He even noticed that the wolf picked up on some idioms. The whole situation was surreal to Paul. He felt like he was going to wake from this strange dream at any moment and return to the boring life of jumping from one star system to another without discovering anything. But it never ended, he never woke.

After Paul had answered more questions, he was dismissed back to the lounge where the crew was nervously talking amongst themselves. Of course, there were few that were worried about their situation and decided that the best course of action would be to spread that fear and doubt amongst the others. Paul picked them out of the crowds and stopped them before panic ensued. Then there were those that were excited and spouted endless possibilities about the wolves and space travel. As Paul roamed the room listening to various conversations, he also scrutinized the room that they were in. He was scanning and planning. He looked for the different entrances, he looked for cameras or any mode of observation, he couldn’t find anything aside from the three doors, one to the arm that leads to the Endeavor, one to the interviewing area, and one to who knows where. As he wandered towards the middle of the room he saw a large group huddled around something and steam coming from the floor. Worried that they had broken something, he pushed his way to the center and found a rectangular table that was spewing mist. In the center of all the mist was a ball that was suspended from the ceiling and was projecting images into the steam. He was looking at a three dimensional picture of the planet in the mist, it even showed the day/night termination line and a number of space elevators and stations that he hadn’t noticed on their flight in. The half of the planet that was in the dark was mostly green with a few specks of blue, the side that was facing the sun was blue with a few specks of green. With a cautious hand, he reached into the steam and swiped his hand. To his amazement, the hovering planet spun. This set off a child-like reaction in the others that were watching as multiple hands tried to interact with the hologram.

After some time, the interviewers wrapped up by telling the crew to return to the ship until told otherwise. As the crew filed back into the ship through the single airlock, they started noticing that some things were missing. Most were small and replaceable, but some were missing pictures or other trinkets that held sentimental value. After scouring the ship, they came to the conclusion that the objects were stolen. Nothing that was taken was worth very much so it left the crew to wonder why. Shortly after their arrival, power was restored to everything except the defenses, engines, and the warp core, which allowed people to eat a warm meal, wash up, and rest until the wolves returned.

[Translated]
Inspection report: “Endeavor”

The ship is built of mostly an iron/carbon combination that the humans call steel. It is relatively weak compared to other materials but it does it’s duty. Some areas that were marked as important (their command center, propulsion, and life support) were also surrounded by a thin layer of titanium which made them more durable but still weak in our standards. A flaw with their command center is placement and design: it is placed on top of their ship and juts out into space, it also has several panels of a silica/sodium oxide/lime compound with traces of other material to enhance it’s strength, however, it is still incredibly fragile and would expose the crew to light, laser, and if exposed for long enough: heat based weapons. The engines use decaying radioactive material to generate heat which in turn evaporates water. The steam is used to turn turbines which generate the power to propel the ship. Verdict: inefficient and dangerous. In terms of weaponry, it would not even be classified as a scout. Attached to the outer hull are 20 multi-barrel ballistic weapons that the crew call Phalanx CIWS (Close In Weapon System) which fire metal slugs propelled by expanding gases caused by a controlled explosion. The rate of fire is 4,500 rounds per minutes (Earth measurement of time). The main purpose appears to be intercepting and destroying other munitions by sheer volume and rate of fire. Imbedded in the hull are 8 multi-chamber explosive missile systems (2 on each side: top, bottom, left, and right). Each system contains 21 missiles each, each missile is propelled by burning solid fuel to move the explosive payload to it’s target which explodes on contact. The explosive power of a single missile would fail to breach even the thinnest bulkhead aboard our scouts. Aboard the ship are two types of personal weapons, all of which are ballistic. Firing method is similar to the Phalanx but the rate of fire is substantially slower. In addition to the slower fire rate, each weapon can only fire 30 slugs before the user has to physically reload (smaller model can only fire 17 before reload is required). The smaller weapon would not even dent our personal armor. Overall verdict of their offensive capabilities is laughably pathetic, the only scenario where any of these weapons would be able to over take one of ours would rely on surprise, sheer number, and luck. Additional systems for communication and ship operation are primitive at best, they rely on wiring that is not shielded sufficiently enough and do not even have a simple AI aboard their ship meaning everything is done manually. The ship holds several smaller vessels which are not armed nor do they have any defenses. However, two things shocked us upon discovery: First, their personal armor is surprisingly effective at stopping most forms of weapons in different combinations (most seem to block different weapon types in groups of two or three). Second, their warp drive is of draconic origin, as surprising as this discovery is the fact that they have created a harness for it and can effectively use it. Further investigation into this matter is required. Extreme caution is suggested for the crew. Supplies of food were dried, frozen, or grown on board the ship in one of its two farms. Other items aboard were cataloged but due to their uninteresting nature, they will be listed elsewhere.

Entry 5
Days since departure: [data missing]

Well that’s new… Guess turning off the power on all the computers fucked up it’s ability to track how long we’ve been out here. I hope someone on the crew has a watch that wasn’t affected and a calendar. Probably should check to make sure everything else is good to go. Ok! On to other stuff! The wolves seem friendly enough, and by that I mean they haven’t killed us yet, they certainly could have. I don’t know anything about what they have yet, but I do know that we are still outmatched in every aspect, definitely shows how the human mindset of “humans are the smartest animal” is wrong. They have bigger ships, they have space stations, they have space elevators, they are wolves… It is overwhelming. I wonder why they needed to inspect the ship. What were they looking for? Why did they take such useless items? Guess we will find out after they let us back off this ship… or let us leave this station. Crew moral seems to be doing fine, security is cautious as always but the eggheads are going nuts, pumping out different reports almost daily at the possible relationship between these wolves and the ones back home.

As Paul thought of other things to write, a head popped into his room and said “Hey Paul, wolves are back and they want to talk to the captain. I am gathering the section heads.”

Before he could respond or see who it was, the person left down the hallway presumably to find the other section heads. Paul got up and walking towards airlock 3. As he got there, he noticed that the other 6 section heads were already there and were waiting for him. The head of science, Halim, stood at the head of the group, Andrei, head of maintenance, Katrina, head of operation, and Lev, head of innovation were all there as well. There were no wolves to be seen.

“Did they leave?” Paul asked

“They wanted to speak to an alpha. We explained how the ship runs, but they won’t talk to all 7 of us. They want one person to represent the ship” Sophia replied

“Then have you guys decided?” Paul asked as he looked around the group

Katrina stepped forward “We chose you to be our representative because that‘s your job. We also decided that in the event of a battle, you will act as captain because you are responsible for the safety of the crew”

Paul thought it was a joke for a second before he noticed the seriousness of all 6 faces. “And I assume that outside of combat and representation, we will keep the system we have now?”

“Yup” Katrina said as the other 5 nodded their heads “We will tell the rest of the crew about this”

“Ok then, why did they want to see an… uh… ‘alpha’?”

“They wouldn’t say. They sounded a bit more hostile then usual, so it’s probably not good” Halim said “Do you think we broke laws or regulations?”

“If we did, then I hope they can see that we committed them without knowing about it” Paul said “Did they say if I am to go to them or will they come back?”

“You go to them, they said someone would be waiting at the end of the arm.” Halim said with a hint of worry in his voice “are you going alone?”

“They wanted a captain… Not a group. It would probably be for the best if I did… Stay here until I come back.” with that, he stepped towards the airlock and stepped into the long docking arm.

Eventually, he reached the lounge that he was at a short while ago. It was eerie now that the rest of the crew wasn’t surrounding him. It was empty and the other entrances were closed. He approached the hologram table in the center and examined the globe again while he waited. He spun to a random station and extended both hands towards the mist and pulled them apart. It zoomed in on the station. With a surprised grin, he scrutinized the station, each arm with a different ship, and the elevator. When he got tired of it, he moved onto another station. Almost identical except for the ships attached to the arms. Then another station. Then another, but this one was the one he was looking for. On one of the arms was a tiny ship. Puny compared to the others he had seen. It was the Endeavor. He almost laughed at how small it was compared to even the arm of the station. He heard the door behind him open and spun around to greet whoever it was. The sight he saw was a fully armored wolf step through the door with his weapon at the ready against his shoulder. It was pointed at him.

“Through the door” the wolf said jerking his head towards the door that Paul had seen closed during the interviews.

Paul complied without asking any questions but his head was already churning with the different escape routes and possible methods of which to fight the wolf. As he stepped through, he saw the corridor curve inward both to his right and left. He was in the center of the station. Another armored wolf was in the corridor and near an open door. Paul guessed that was his destination and walked to it under the close watch of the wolves. In the room was a table, half of it was spouting mist and the other half was just a table. On either side of the table was a chair, one was empty, the other was occupied by a dull red colored, female wolf. The only way he could guess that it was a female was that she was smaller and more petite than the males he had seen. Without a word being exchanged, Paul sat in the chair opposite the wolf, shifting to make it as comfortable as possible. When the door behind him closed, the wolf tapped a panel on the hologram side of the table and an image of the Endeavor showed up.

“This is your ship correct?” She asked while pointing at the floating picture

“Yes. Before we begin, what should I call you? It would make this process easier” Paul replied

“You should know that we don’t have names that you could use. I am a liaison-”

“Fine, I’ll call you Lia then” Paul interrupted

“Then I will respond to that” She said with a bit of frustration in her voice “Let’s get back to the subject. This is your ship, and from what you and your crew told us, it is the first human ship to manage warp.”

“Correct” Paul replied

“How did you get the warp drive?” Lia asked and she zoomed into the engine room of the Endeavor which was incredibly detailed

“We probably invented it?” Paul said as he realized that he had no clue where it came from

“Probably?” asked Lia

“No one ever told us about who made it, NASA announced it out of the blue” Paul recalled the announcement and his decision to join

“What is NASA?” Lia asked

“The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, it is the group that handles a large chunck of Earth’s space related things”

“Ah, I see” Lia zoomed into the engine room further to the warp core near the center of the room and as it floated in the mist, she divided it into it’s parts “Do you want to know where this came from?”

“Um… sure” Paul responded. He had always thought the warp core was a secret government project. That is why China attacked! Right?

“Your warp drive. Is an ancient artifact. In fact, it is probably worth more than your ship and everything on board including the personnel” Lia said as she spun the warp drive on the hologram table

“Wh-what?” Paul stuttered.

“The question is: How did you get it?”

“I told you, I don’t know”

“Dragons haven’t been seen in over 10 Cae and suddenly you have one of their warp drives. How did you get it?” Her voice rose slightly, but she kept her composure “Do you know when the last drive was found? In the wreckage of the last dragon ship we saw.”

“I don’t know! If you want answers, you need to talk to NASA, not me!” Paul said. He was worried, she said dragon. They were myths, they had to be! Giant lizards that can breath fire, ridiculous!

“That is what we plan to do. Until this is sorted out and the origin of your core is discovered, you, your ship, and your crew are now under my authority. You will be escorted back to your ship and a small team of us will accompany you back to your home planet.” Lia shut down the hologram and stood up

With a sigh, Paul consented “Guess we’re at the wolves’ mercy again… Will you need space aboard the ship or will your bring your own?”

“Both, make room for 3 of us. Also, tell the crew of what transpired here” With that, she went to the door, opened it, and stepped out into the corridor.

A armored wolf stepped in and waited to Paul to rise before escorting him back to the Endeavor where he told the whole crew that they were, once again, at the mercy of the wolves.