"Landing Party to Reuben James, come in. This is Lt. Montier. No sign of scientists. Picking up life signs, but alloys in the ruins make sensor readings difficult. Proceeding with search." Three hours ago, the frigate USS Reuben James slid into orbit around the small planet Omega Epsilon. Diverted from its survey mission, the vessel was to check on a group of archaeologists studying alien ruins on the planet's surface. Their scheduled communication was overdue and the Reuben James was to find out why. Now the small landing party picked their way through the crumbling alien ruins as they continued their search. "Reuben James, still no sign of the archaeologists. We are getting conflicting lifeform readings but are unable to pinpoint. Standby. We think we hear something... standby."