USS Za begins deep space voyage with mission of mercy

ZETA PYXIDIS — A species called the Deep have made contact with the USS Za to request emergency medical assistance.

After launching from StarBase 118, the USS Za made its last stop inside Federation space at Deep Space 32 to pick up most of its senior staff. After a final evening at the station, the ship launched toward the star Zeta Pyxidis, where Fleet Captain Zalea Solzano had been ordered to lead the Federation’s first contact with a species called the Deep.
First Officer Trellis Vondaryan beamed with a team to the Deep’s starship, while Lt. Cmdr. Alexander Williams led a group that toured a visitor from the Deep around the Za. A third group, led by Lt. Cmdrs. Maxwell Traenor and Kaitlyn Falcon, used one of the Za’s scout ships to catalog the system itself.
However, the routine first contact was anything but, and the contact teams learned simultaneously that the Deep had sought out the Federation in order to seek help with a deadly disease. The Za’s personnel pledged their help just as a Klingon Bird-of-Prey decloaked on the scene. One of the Deep’s negotiators revealed that the Deep had also requested assistance from the Klingons, and the Klingon commander did not seem happy to find the Za there, apparently “intruding” on a mission that ought to have been the Klingons’ alone.
“We could’ve gotten to the bottom of that disease, no problem,” said Dr. Nic del Vedova, the Za’s Director of Medical Research. “But throw a hostile ship into the mix, and I don’t know what we can promise. Aren’t the Klingons our allies?”
More developments to come.