name this rogue planet after someone in the crew, but Federation
cartographical records show that the planetoid was officially designated as
Xena almost a hundred years ago when it was orbitting a star close to the
edge of the galaxy. So warrior princess it is. With that in mind, I beamed
down with a geo-science team. We found an environment rich in surprises.
Xena was home to an advanced civilization that seemed to have found that
rare balance between nature and science. This is evident in records stored,
somehow (as my science team tells me) within biomatter. Where we might learn
about terrestrial creatures from fossils, Xena's indigenous population has
stored it's entire history within the perfectly fossilized biomatter of the
planet. In order to maintain the integrity (and presumably honor the
intentions of Xena's population) of these findings, we transported down a
portable bio-imager to record every microdetail available. This was done
with scanners only. At no time was any fossil even exposed to space.
So what do the fossils tell us about the population that existed on Xena?
Our best linguists determined that the civilization on this planet was
remarkably advanced and peaceful (judging by the incredible amount of
undisturbed records, and the lack of any apparent reference to major
conflict), perhaps due in part to it's distance from major space going
civilizations that we're aware of. That is mainly supposition on my part,
and I have to admit to not being the top cultural scientist on the ship. And
of course, linguistic experts at the Sato Institute will make sense of all
the data we collected and tell us more about the civilization that once
flourished on Xena.
Supplemental entry. Xena's mysteries continue. A deep scan, as we pulled
away from Xena, showed the growth of crystalline structures kilometers below
the surface. Something is still alive within that planet. This seems to me
to justify further attention from a dedicated science mission. I've made
that recommendation to Starfleet Command. Initial projections show that Xena
should make it through the Cardassian frontier with no interference from
natural objects. Given the serious and sometimes downright depressing nature
of our assignment, Xena has been a very positive interlude, and I'll keep a
close eye on her progress.
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