“Who knows, Mr. Jovanović,” Jackson chuckled, “maybe they’re more right than you know. Now … if you gentlemen will excuse me.” He turned and walked away quickly from Jovanović, Pitt, and the administrator whose name he’d purposefully neglected to ask for. It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for among all the damaged and forgotten Phage War equipment; it was the only thing in the cavernous room that looked as pristine as the day he’d taken it aboard the Ares, the last ship he’d commanded before leaving Starfleet. He felt a momentary pang at the thought of his old command as he’d been forced to leave her, stricken and adrift in an uncharted region of space. She’d been too damaged to survive a warp transition to leave and they had a limited time to get the crew evacuated and onto the ship that would bring them home, so the ship still floated through space in a state of limbo that bothered him to this day. There had been no time to properly scuttle her and a recovery effort was out of the question.

“So … who’s behind the voice this time?” Jackson asked as he approached the Cube. “Setsi?”

“I do not know who that is,” the Cube replied immediately.

“He was our Vruahn liaison during the Phage War.” Jackson, surprised at the instant response, approached closer and peered at the display, seeing if there was anything there he could decipher. “So if you’re not Setsi, who are you? I’m assuming you’re using the Cube as a com relay again to get in touch with us, but why not just open direct lines with humanity? Why go through all this trouble?”

The Vruahn were an ancient and highly advanced species that had found themselves unwilling allies of humanity during the war. They had been inextricably involved with both humans and the Phage when things had spiraled out of control and, grudgingly, had accepted their responsibility in the matter. They had provided technological support and a squadron of light attack ships to help end the Phage threat, but once the war was over they had made it quite clear that further contact with humans was not something they were interested in.

“Captain Jackson Wolfe,” the Cube said, the words rushing out in what sounded like a sigh of relief. It disturbed Jackson greatly. “You have come as I asked.”

“Who are you?” Jackson asked, this time more sternly.

“I … do not know,” the Cube said. “My thoughts are so disjointed … memories that aren’t mine.”

“Let’s take this step by step since there can be no misunderstandings where our two peoples are involved,” Jackson said. “Are you a Vruahn operative using this machine as an open com channel to talk to me?”