The gate focused, equations collapsed and the scout ship Phoebe IV appeared in a burst of light and excess velocity.

"Close the gate!" was the pilot’s first transmission.  "Raise shields.  Go to battle stations!" was her second.

But there was no time.  Something massive and ominous followed her through, and alien data bursts conveyed its purpose: vengeance and interstellar genocide.  It crossed our orbit on its way to Earth.

We hardly had time to debrief the pilot, but once onboard we solved the mystery rather quickly.  Keeping with the mission profile, she met the Slissish leader on the lifeless, ice-encased moon of Crag.  Her environmental suit was unable to keep up with the cold, so she hand stitched a beautiful, fur-lined jacket.  It really was a nice jacket. Unfortunately, such fine material was hard to attain, so she used the only thing available—the soft, supple hide of the Sliss.