There were days when Yuulik preferred an archaeological dig. She could conduct her research at her own pace. Her own methodology. Everything in her space, in her way.

This was one of those days.

Because at a dig site, the people couldn’t talk back. They were already dead.

After the away team were beamed to the provided coordinates aboard the throneship, Dabari attendants rushed them through an interminably long corridor. The nave extended the breadth of the Celestane’s central tower. The narrow space smelled musty, like a tunnel sealed decades ago. Before she could even see their destination, Yuulik was already huffing and puffing, out of breath.

Compared to the ceremonial tiles aboard Vanthen’s Promise, these passageways were lined with slabs of glossy stone, embedded with violet filigree. The designs looked narrative or symbolic, maybe. She couldn’t make out much more detail when another attendant gently nudged her shoulder to speed her up. Nasty little thing. But there was nothing to be done. Elbon had promised the away team’s best first contact behaviour, and Yuulik wouldn’t be the loser of that game.

Given his long legs, Captain Elbon easily marched ahead of the robed Dabari attendants. Commander Ache and Counselor Turro flanked the captain at a quickstep. Doctor Nelli’s motion was too alien to assess their level of exertion.

Only Lieutenant Dolan, from her science team, looked offended by the expectation of a brisk walk. He wiped perspiration from his forehead with a webbed hand and stepped closer to Yuulik.

“They couldn’t have provided coordinates inside the reception hall?” he asked rhetorically.

Yuulik smirked at him. This was why Dolan was on the away team. He had been raised by parents who viewed social niceties as anathema. He was her walking lie detector, noticing subtle dissonance between a being’s own desires and social requirements.

The hallway opened up into a larger hall, easily three decks high. Yuulik had to crane her neck back to take it all in. The panorama of viewports signalled to Yuulik that they had reached the opposite end of the ship. But the view of Constellation hanging in space looked dull in comparison to the tall, semi-transparent column of marble-glass positioned upright in the centre of the hall. The column was etched with hieroglyphs that looked unlike any Yuulik had studied before.

The throneship turned under the power of its thrusters, Yuulik surmised, as the stars began to glide sideways. Constellation Squadron drifted out of sight, and the movement continued until the Dabar sun took point of pride. The faster the ship moved, the more the attendants dragged mallets through sound bowls positioned at equal intervals around the room.

They filled the room with a discordant hum, like the whistling winds through Mound Oamon. They had been so careful to place Elbon upon a golden tile, and the reason quickly became clear. The refracted sunlight through the column played patterns across Elbon’s face. He squinted at the sun in his eyes, but he didn’t turn away.

Taking advantage of the cacophony swirling around the chamber, Yuulik raised a hand to the crystal column. Having left the tricorder on her hip, she clutched a small sensor probe within her fist. All it took was the flick of a fingernail to activate its scanners. Despite keeping her hand wrapped around the probe, Elbon took hold of her outstretched forearm.

In an accusatory undertone, he asked, “What are you doing? We’re guests here.”

“You’re doing it again,” Yuulik hissed back. She shook her head without looking at him. “Whether she admitted it or not, I’m doing exactly what Taes expected of me.”

He released his grip. “Don’t get caught,” he ordered.

His words were drowned out by the sound of doors parting from the balcony on the next level up. The Ascendant glided out onto the balcony. She wore a mauve tunic that billowed in flowing silk, but was cinched at the waist with a metalwork belt. The garment’s most striking feature was a dramatic collar that rose behind her neck and expanded behind her shoulder, studded by pearl-like baubles.

“Root your feet to the ground, Captain Elbon,” the Ascendant demanded. Her voice was amplified by an unseen mechanism, making her easily heard above the hum of the sound bowls. “If you’re no star beast, on what foundation do you stand?”

For all the staged dramatics, Yuulik caught a childish lisp in her enunciation. In the openness of the Ascendant’s expression, Yuulik observed a dress rehearsal of a trial, rather than a well-practised ceremony.

Elbon raised his chin. “The wisdom of the United Federation of Planets laid my path. We believe in self-determination. Every person, every planet deserves to be at choice.” –He amplified his own voice with the resonance of his body– “And mutual-aid is how we choose to exist as a federation.”

“I see you stand taller, Captain Elbon,” the Ascendant, repeating his name like a refrain. “What brings strength to your spine? What do you stand for?”

“For self-betterment,” Elbon said, and then his timbre went softer. His words trickled out less like a declaration. “I joined Starfleet when I was personally lost. Rejected. Despite the bounds of my service, I was granted space to re-explore what mattered to me. I expanded my mind with education, and I found a husband who expanded my heart.”

The Ascendant gripped the balcony railing, turning her eyes down on Elbon. Her posture remained stiff, and Yuulik couldn’t tell whether it was because of her cultural importance or the awkward collar she wore.

“The crystal canticle sees some truth in what you say, Captain Elbon,” she remarked. “But not all. I can hear it. There is something more you believe in.”

Taking her moment, Yuulik gripped the shoulder of Dolan’s field jacket, squeezing the slick fabric in her hand. She whispered, “There’s no bystanders in science. Get in there.”

For once, Dolan didn’t hesitate. Yuulik recoiled her hand, leaving him to it.

“Ascendant, how do you interpret the sight of a crystal obelisk?” Dolan asked. For any perceived rudeness of the interjection, there was a genuine curiosity that buoyed his words. “Psychedelics? Psychometry?”

The Ascendant responded to Dolan as directly as she had done to Elbon: “My short lifespan has been spent in studying the interpretation of light patterns and harmonics. A gift from my late mother.”

“Your interpretation rings true,” Dolan added. He swung his arms when he spoke, an act of simple pleasure at a magic trick. “Captain Elbon was once a monk in the most common faith on his planet.”

At that, the Ascendant blinked. “Once?”

“Leave the diplomacy to me,” Elbon snapped at Dolan.

For his moment of fervour, Yuulik didn’t look at his face. Too many times, she had seen Elbon’s brow furrow in frustration at her. She could draw it from memory.

No, what caught Yuulik’s eye was the tremor in his hand.

Dolan simply asked, “Have I done something wrong?”