About thirty minutes ago, we picked up a distress call from an unidentified, non-Federation science vessel. The call was broadcast in multiple languages, including Federation English, and claimed that their vessel was under attack by a heavily-armed starship. The message didn’t name any species we recognized, but was, most definitely, a plea for assistance.
The Enterprise immediately stopped our system survey scans, and went into response mode. We jumped to warp 9 for a few seconds, and arrived at the source of the call about 2 billion kilometers away. Because communication cannot travel faster than warp 1, however, the distress call we received had been sent about an hour and half before we received it.
When we dropped out of warp, the distressed vessel was already in poor shape, having been through a serious fight. The armed vessel appeared to be damaged as well, and was cutting open the distressed vessel with some sort of laser. We likely startled them, because they immediately shut down their laser, and fired upon the Enterprise. Our response hails went unanswered, so Lieutenant Commander Mallaidh (the Beta Shift commander) returned fire, damaging the pirate vessel even further. The hostile ship then turned, fired upon the science vessel, destroyed it, and then attempted to escape. Another phaser volley from the Enterprise intended to disable their engines, but the blast must have been too much for the pirate vessel, and it too exploded.
Now, for the last twenty minutes, the Enterprise has been scanning the debris of both vessels. We haven’t found any sign of survivors, nor anything among the debris that the attacking vessel may have been trying to obtain. Both crews are dead, and we know nothing else about the incident.
Deep space is full of unexpected moments like these. It also goes to show just how lawless the unclaimed space outside the Federation can be. Who were those scientists in distress, and what was the pirate vessel, tearing them apart with a laser, looking for?
Sadly, we may never know.
-Lieutenant Sam Archer
-------------------------------------------------------------
September 14, 2364 -- (Original Devron Timeline)