Changes

Deciding to investigate we diverted our path to the strange signature. Once we arrived in the area there was a gaseous anomaly floating in space. It looked like a giant gaseous amoeba at first, and the probe we sent showed that it was made of particles that the Federation had never encountered before. Sensors showed were having trouble penetrating it, and the probe gave a better then we lost contact with it. We still we needed to take more direct action to complete our investigation. I ordered the shuttle USS Spock to prepare for launch and take a closer look at the cloud. As the Intrepid was ready to launch the shuttle, something unexpected happened. An unidentified ship emerged from the cloud and opened fire. The ship shook as the shield absorbed the incoming attack.  With the Spock primed and ready, I gave Orano her orders to continue to investigate this cloud and recover our probe. As the data and samples it had gathered might be the key to understanding the true nature of the cloud. The plan was that after the Intrepid had chased down her attacker, she will come back to pick you up the Spock as soon as possible.  Soon after, we discovered that that attacking ship was none other than the USS Renaissance, a light cruiser from reporting MIA wile on patrol near the Romulan border in 23rd century. Her last report sited a strange cloud that they were going to investigate. She was under the command of Captain Robin Martin.  We established communication with the Ren, and it quickly became clear that they was fighting going onboard. We offered her assistance, and to help find a way to send them back to their correct time. At this point, the Spock dropped off our sensors. At the advice of my tactical officer, Lieutenant O'Neill, I have chosen to do the prudent thing, and ordered the Spock to aboard it's mission and meet up with the Intrepid. In the meantime, Captain Martin understood the situation, and dropped out of warp, and assumed a none threatening stance with weapon and shields down. We did the same. She explained that her crew were being influenced by their presence in the cloud but now the effects were going away. Still, she kept herself and her crew under quarantine at the advice of her CMO. At this point, we had reasons to believe that there the shuttle Spock was trapped inside the cloud, and we asked the Ren how they got out. Martin explained that her Engineers were working on trying to change the properties of a unique molecule that seems to be part of the cloud.  They were working on a means of trying to use the excited particles to form a bubble around us that would let them permeate the cloud's membrane.  The Engineers thought they were making progress but something hiding within seemed to give them a strong assist.  At the anomalytime, her Engineers thought it might have been a probe launch but it might have been our shuttle. To be continues...