A young woman approaches you. Her hair is long and straight, a rich light brown with auburn highlights in the bright sunshine. Her blue-grey eyes sparkle with enjoyment as she takes in the expression on your face.
"Yes, it's untouched wilderness. But it's not as problem-free as it looks. About twenty years ago, the battle with the Marsx spilled over into this solar system. They destroyed one of Tiran'Dira's moons, Icthys. This has had a terrible effect on the climate and weather, which is only now starting to show signs of re-establishing equilibrium. It's a good thing that Tiran'Dira has 5 more moons, or it might not have been able to recover this way."
You start to smile as you take in the beauty of the wilderness before you. She catches your look, and you see her face is serious.
"Some of the creatures that have primary niches in the ecosystem here were very badly effected by the changes," she says, her voice a warning tone. "We finally realized that unless we intervene, there are going to be extinctions from this. Usually we would leave a planet's ecosystem alone, but the problems that have plagued this planet have been, at least partially, our fault. We owe the planet to try and set things right again." She looks out to the mountains, and sighs.
"As a result, Tiran'Dira is the site of one of the Confederation's largest endangered species recovery programs. We not only have programs here designed to propagate the species of this planet which are in trouble, but our facility is so high-tech and top of the line it's attracted attention from other planets as well. So, we have breeding programs here for non-native species...kept carefully confined, of course, unless they are among the few sentients or are psi-bonded to a human or sentient who works at the facility. We can't have these non-natives running free on the planet, they could do more damage to the ecosystem than the destruction of Icthys."
Her eyes sparkle again. "That's why we send for offworld help. The breeding programs are expanding very rapidly, and we need help. Only the best help, of course. Would you like to come and see the facilities?"
She takes you by the hand, and leads you to a hovercraft over the next rise. "This thing is kind of noisy, but it's easy on the vegetation," she explains as you climb in and fasten your seatbelts. She starts up the engine, and the craft lifts off the ground, flattening the grass but leaving it unharmed. As the hovercraft moves off, you watch the grass slowly spring back up in its wake.
Fifteen minute later, you catch sight of the compound.
