Just two days later, something happened that astonished Annie and all the crew members who had stayed behind aboard the Orville.
When they received a signal and hurried to its coordinates, they discovered that the plan Captain Ed and helmsman Gordon had come up with two days earlier—disguising themselves and infiltrating an active Quellian warship to seize the book called the Ankana Codex—had actually succeeded, against all odds.
Even more ridiculously, the two of them hadn't just pulled it off. They claimed they'd captured an entire Quellian warship, along with a group of Quellian child prisoners!
When they first received the secret signal, no one aboard the Orville believed that outrageous report. That included First Officer Kelly, who was serving as acting captain, and Second Officer Bortus. Even the robot Isaac had run billions of simulations and arrived at an extremely low probability.
Ed and Gordon simply weren't capable of doing something like that by themselves. They weren't that powerful; they were just two ordinary people. If it had been Annie, that would have been another matter.
So!
After discussing it, everyone aboard the Orville prepared for the worst. Little Annie, who was at the helm, had already sharpened her claws, ready to face a Quellian trap and fight one or more of their warships for three hundred rounds. Who could have guessed that, instead, everyone aboard the Orville would end up getting "slapped" in the face?
In any case!
When the Orville reached the orbit of the "Lana III" planetary colony without incident, they found an entirely undefended Quellian warship quietly floating somewhere in orbit. The other ship had even lowered its shields and showed no reaction whatsoever to the Orville's approach.
At last, after a hesitant and utterly astonished Kelly received a communication from Ed and Gordon aboard