Observe and Honor

ATLANTIS NX-05

UNCLAIMED SPACE NEAR THE ROMULAN BORDER

EARTH CALENDAR DATE: JANUARY 3, 2157

          Atlantis gently shuddered from stem to stern as she dropped out of warp, the bright azure glow of her nacelles dimming ever so slightly as the great vessel slowed almost to a complete stop in the blackness of space. On her bridge, Captain Jack Greene leaned forward in his chair in the center of the room and gazed beyond the helm station at the sight before him.

         

         "Blackness." Greene's mouth contorted in an expression of anxious disappointment as his eyes scanned the main viewscreen. "Nothing. Mister Thompson, are you detecting anything unusual on the scanners?"

         Sitting off to Greene's right at the tactical station, the young and lanky Ensign Samuel Thompson danced his fingers across his control panel, punching buttons and reading the information scrolling down the screen in front of him. Narrowing his eyes to take in the data, he shook his head in acknowledgement that there was indeed nothing but blackness surrounding them. "No, sir. Sensors are picking up no unusual activity in the immediate vicinity. It's quiet out there. No sign of anything."

         Greene rarely believed that there was "nothing out there." Ever since the first NX-class starships ventured out into deep space less than six years ago he'd learned that there was always something out there and it was best to stay alert and be wary of that something's intentions. The Xindi probe had come out of "nowhere." One moment there was tranquility and silence. The next seven million people were dead. The Romulans were known to use an invisibility screen - a cloaking system of some kind - that allowed them to hide from other ships until the last possible moment, a fact that had unnerved many at the heart of Starfleet Command ever since Jonathan Archer's log entries made within a cloaked Romulan minefield had been read and studied back in San Francisco. Just because Ensign Thompson's sensors weren't picking up anything of interest didn't necessarily mean they weren't in danger.

         "Keep alert. Widen the scan range. Scan for any subtle distortions and variations in background images and radioactivity. Romulan ships have invisibility technology. Enterprise didn't even know they were there until the enemy was practically right on top of her."

        "Aye, sir." Thompson ran a new scan and once again shook his head to signify the negative. "Nope. Nothing out there. Background radiation levels normal. No spatial distortions detected."

         Balthazar Edison had been standing behind Greene's chair ever since he'd been called to the bridge to be present when the ship arrived at her first coordinates. With his arms folded at the wrists and a stern expression on his face as he eyed the viewscreen he projected an image of stern strength on the surface but underneath was a roiling cauldron of nerves. He'd been a soldier for almost twenty years but he never found an effective method to completely calm the stomach and mind just before heading into battle. And there probably was no such method. Combat and war always had the same effects on soldiers no matter in which century of history they found themselves. From Babylon and Sparta to Gettysburg and Stalingrad warriors and men in uniform felt the same cold waves of fear and terror even if they refused to display them in front of their comrades-in-arms.

          Greene turned to look over his left shoulder and made eye contact with Edison, granting him a slight smile. "Well. We're here, Major."