“Maybe somebody’s trying to ruin people’s vacations!” Demora said, alarmed. “That’s terrible!” Demora took vacations seriously. If not for the vacation on which her father and mother had briefly met, she wouldn’t exist.

Uncle Pavel stepped closer and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Demya. I promise that Captain Terrell and I won’t let any more vacations be ruined.”

She knew Uncle Pavel was humoring her. After all, she was almost seven and three-quarters, and thus she was not easily fooled. Still, she appreciated the gesture. It was his way of saying he wouldn’t forget about her while he was gone.

If there were more people as considerate as him in Starfleet, she might just consider joining.

U.S.S. Reliant

Altair system

“As you can see, the signatures of the vacuum flares from Argelius and from your system have numerous commonalities,” Pavel Chekov told the parties assembled in Reliant’s briefing room. Seated on opposite sides of the table were Gon Curi, the ornately robed and hooded ambassador from Altair III’s indigenous nation, and Yoko Sasaki, Altair VI’s current defense minister. Captain Terrell sat at the head of the long table, which was at an angle to the wall screen by which Chekov stood, so that the captain’s large frame did not obscure the view.

“Reliant’s own scans confirm the accuracy of the initial measurements, and thus the similarity,” Chekov went on. “As the flare at Argelius was judged to be a natural phenomenon, there is no reason to suspect anything different in this case.”

Curi’s head shifted emphatically, though Chekov could barely make out the ambassador’s features under his voluminous hood. “How can your ship have made scans? You were not yet here. It’s highly suspicious that you have your own separate readings of a phenomenon you claim not to have anticipated.”

Chekov strove to remain patient, looking to Captain Terrell’s calm as a model. “Naturally, you are aware that light travels at a finite speed. Though starships generally rely on faster-than-light subspace sensors for instantaneous detection, we can sometimes use the speed of light to our advantage. Since the phenomenon occurred twenty-eight hours before our arrival, we simply made observations with conventional optical and gravitic sensors when we reached a distance of twenty-eight light-hours from the site of the outburst. Thus, in a sense, we were able to watch it as it happened, just as the astronomers of history did on both your world and mine. I was personally able to confirm the same electromagnetic and gravimetric signatures I scanned at Argelius several weeks ago.”

Minister Sasaki smiled. “And tell me, Commander, was there any hint that the Argelian incident involved any form of weapons testing?”

“Not at all, ma’am. The Argelians are well known for their pacifism.”