Captains log, supplemental.

We remain on our long journey to Deep Space Seventeen after our time in the Deneb sector assisting Zaedar-three. Approximately three hours ago, we encountered the Boslic freighter with power supply issues. I elected to partake in a power transfer to the vessel to give them enough of a jump start to reach their destination. It’s one of those decisions that, although it was the right thing to do, has left me a little uneasy. Our mission in the Deneb sector took us to the outer limits of what this class of vessel should pull. I know I’m likely being overly cautious, as we are only a little over a day away from our own Federation resupply and refuelling station. I’ll feel better, though, once we’re out of the red and in the green again. 

A faint electrical hum reverberated across the bridge as the lights dimmed. The shadow silhouettes of those working on the bridge seemed to shrink. Even the lighting on the consoles dimmed slightly, proactively preventing strain on the eyes of those working in the bridge.

“Captain, power conservation mode level two is now active.” Raiem’s gaze shifted to Jahl, who confirmed the successful execution of his orders. He couldn’t help but admire her efficiency as she effortlessly navigated between multiple control screens, a true master of her craft.

Raiem leaned closer to Mayvilis, his trusted Executive Officer, and whispered hushedly. “Do you think that was a bit overkill?” 

He noticed Mayvilis start forming a controlled grin, which almost turned into a smile. “You haven’t shut down the holodecks yet, so I would say not – Captain.” Her own tone was hushed in return. 

“Please don’t do that by the way. We are only…” Mayvilis continued in a hushed tone and paused for a moment to double-check her data before continuing, “Twenty-nine and a half hours away from our resupply and refuelling check-in.”

“I might be overly cautious, but it’s just my nature – ingrained in me,” Raiem concluded as he pulled himself back from Mayvilis and settled into his command chair, finding the right spot. Perhaps his medical training was influencing his decision-making. As a physician, he was trained to anticipate the worst and have a solution ready, a skill particularly relevant in maintaining safe anesthesia during surgical procedures. Despite knowing they had enough power to reach their destination, his mind insisted on taking precautionary measures and preserving a little extra, just in case.

“I’m only being selfish. I have holodeck two booked in forty minutes during my break time. Have a date with a shuttle and an obstacle course.” Mayvilis chuckled, not holding back her own reasoning. She resumed glancing down at her small control station, reviewing some low-priority reports coming in from departments.

Sometime later, Raiem stood up, turned his neck right and left, and embraced a satisfied stretching feeling. He made way for his ready room. “Commander. The bridge is yours.” He looked back and smiled at Mayvilis, and she gave him a nod in confirmation.

The doors to his ready room swished open, and just as he was about to step into the space, a sudden force threw him into the door frame. Raiem groaned as he felt the right side of his head, in particular, smack against the corner of the entryway before another force pulled him to the ground. The bridge seemed to be spinning. He could hear alarms sounding and a number of his officers shouting back and forth at one another, but it seemed like a haze. A warm feeling trickled down the side of his forehead and onto his cheek. A small amount teased his lips, and his taste buds soon confirmed an iron-like flavour.

‘I’m bleeding… I’m on the floor… I need to get up…’ He collected his thoughts and tried to focus on his statements. His attempt to get up was thwarted by another sudden jolt, which tossed him back down onto the deck plating. 

“Severe gravimetric distortions…. Losing helm control…. Captain – Are you okay?…. Emergency power to shields, engines and inertial dampeners…. Compensating… I can’t gain control….” Raiem took note of the various voices of his senior staff, Mayvilis, Sinclair and Nahl. 

The force that had been keeping him grounded seemed to lessen for a moment, allowing him to push himself up and survey his surroundings. The lights had dimmed even more, with red blinking indicating that the ship had moved to red alert. Smoke had built up in the ceiling area from what appeared to be some ruptured consoles, but no one else appeared to be injured. “Good… They’re okay,” Raiem thought as he eyed his command chair and quickly made his way to secure a seat. His senses seemed to be returning to normal – the haziness he had experienced was now just a light fog.

“You okay, Captain?” Mayvils asked him with a concerned look. Her own hands clasped her armrests tightly, countering the turbulence that was being experienced.

“I’ll be fine. Report!” Raiem used the sleeve of his uniform to wipe away the blood that streamed down his face. 

“Some sort of gravitation anomaly pulled us out of warp – no idea the primary source. We’ve entered some subspace conduit of sorts. Sinclair is barely keeping us on a controlled trajectory…” Mayvilis’ voice was stable, but there was a strained tone to it. Raiem noticed a sudden shift in her body language, and her eyes grew wider as they took in the site of the viewscreen. 

“Eddie!” Mayvilis shouted. Raiem looked at the view screen, too, and his eyes widened as he saw a large piece of what visually appeared to be a derelict ship right in front of them. 

“I’m trying, Commander… Hold on!” Eddie’s own hands flew across his console in a desperate fury as he attempted to thrust Calistoga out of the way. His attempt managed to clear them from part of the vessel, but there was a loud crashing sound and another forceful thud that almost sent Raiem flying from his command chair. Several more sparks erupted from various areas across the bridge, and they now appeared to be in some sort of spin from the drunken-like stupor that the viewscreen was showing.

“Situation report!” Raiem shouted some to overcome the chaotic ambience of the bridge.

“I’ve lost attitude control…. Engines are barely responding.” Eddie held on to his own console while tapping away with a free hand in an attempt to regain some control over their trajectory.

“Shields are barely holding on, Captain. That debris hit us directly on the port side of the ship our nacelle included. No hull breaches, but structural integrity is strained.” Callisto added.

“Reports of EPS grid failures. We are running on auxiliary power. Engineering reports warp drive offline.” Jalh’s own stressed voice reported in as well.

“Medical is reporting around eighteen injured, only a couple of those that are moderately so.” Mayvilis paraphrased the report coming in from sickbay.

“Transfer all available power to engines. Eddie, try and get us under control.” Raiem tapped a couple of controls on his own armrest, mainly because he needed to get his vision off the spinning viewscreen.

“Captain. We’re experiencing another round of gravitation sheer… Sensors are a mess but I think our trajectory is pulling us to an uncontrolled exit of whatever this is!” Jahl shouted as the ship began to shake violently once more. Raiem noticed Eddie continuing to move his hands across the helm at rapid speed, doing his best to try and regain control. 

“I’ve reduced the spin we are in, Captain, slightly. It’s the best I can do—” Eddie tried to give his report, but the ship rocked heavily again, and several more eruptions of sparks and flickering lights filled the bridge. Several crew members were once again tossed to the floor, and the room went dark. Only the creeks and hums of structural stress could be heard, along with groans from the several officers who had fallen.

It took a few moments longer than it should have, but emergency lighting activated, bringing an eerie red hue across the entire bridge. Raiem opened his eyes and looked around. He squinted in an attempt to help himself compensate for the darkened space.

“My console isn’t responding Captain.”

“Mine neither, Sir.”

“I have no control of the ship.”

“Everyone- Take a breath. Let’s trust that Commander Stramm will have some power back up here shortly. Is everyone okay?” Raiem checked his own forehead, which thankfully appeared to have clotted over and was not actively dripping blood anymore. 

The crew members on the bridge checked on each other. Some of them had grabbed emergency flashlights to illuminate the space. There was still an eerie creaking of Calistoga’s hull, suggesting further stress. Raiem could only assume that they were still in some sort of uncontrolled flight, but fortunately, some inertial dampeners remained online, as there was only a slightly heavier pull on his body than normal.

After a few moments, some of the consoles lit up across the bridge. The crew immediately began working away.

“Captain.. This is Commander Stramm… Auxiliary power is limited presently, we are supplementing with backup battery. We’ve done all we can for now…. And yes – I know – we need to do more. Stramm out.” The voice of their Chief Engineer came across the internal comms but left no room for a response from the Captain before it shut off.

Raiem chuckled to himself, Stramm did good work but her attention to professional protocol certainly never dissapointed. “Can anyone tell us where we are? What’s our situation?”

One of the consoles began a soft proximity alert sound. “Captain… I cannot tell you where we are but…. I can tell you what situation we are in….” Jahl spoke, her voice seemed shaky and distrbued.

A static view appeared on the screen but was clear enough to show what everyone immediately recognized as a large black hole. 

“We’re caught in the pull of its gravitation wake, Sir.” Jahl continued.

“Impulse engines are offline, Captain. I’m trying to counter the pull with thrusters, but we need more than that. I just don’t have enough power.” Eddie chimed in with a frustrated tone.

“Captain. I estimate even with Lieutenant Sinclair’s attempts to counteract… We are three-point-two-five hours away from being pulled past the event horizon of the black hole…”

Raiem nodded as he absorbed the seriousness of their situation. “Alright. No power. Damaged ship. Black hole. Event horizon. Think Raiem…. Think….” He did his best to control his breath as he had some internal dialogue with himself. He embraced the power of silence and tried to lean in on his training and background as a physician.

“I don’t know what the hell to do… What the hell are we going to do….” His usual calming internal dialogue betrayed him as the anxiety of the situation hit him hard.
 

“Captain. You should probably get that checked out.” Mayvilis pointed to the clotted wound on his head, which was somewhat swollen and egg-shaped now. She had a genuine expression of concern and was respectful in using a low voice to maintain privacy between them in their shared seating area on the bridge. 

Raiem’s initial instinct was to immediately decline the suggestion, but there was a part of him that knew there was merit in completing a quick examination, if nothing, to prevent symptoms of concussion. 

“Listen. It shouldn’t take any more than a few minutes, really. I’ll oversee things up here. There’s not much we can do at the moment besides continuing with repairs and attempts to understand where we are exactly.” Mayvilis continued as she noticed the hesitation from the Captain. 

“Very well, Commander. The Bridge is yours. Please let me know if anything changes.” Raiem gave her a thankful nod and slowly rose from his command chair, taking care as he made his way to the turbolift. 

“Administer twenty-five milligrams of bircaridine, please” The soft voice of Doctor Caade instructed one of the nurses at the main surgical biobed area. A young lieutenant junior grade officer from engineering was the guest of honour and had been screaming in discomfort upon arrival. He was stable but had an aggressive femur fracture from a fall sustained in the rough turbulence Calistoga had endured earlier. 

The familiar hiss of the hyposray sounded and the lieutenant’s painful cries subsided rather quickly, replaced with softer and more shallow breaths. 

“Apply the osteo-regenerator and administer zero-point-seven-five milligrams per kilogram of anetrizine for the next twenty minutes while it is as work. Repeat the bircaridine in another ten minutes.” Caade, who was at the head of the surgical bed, lightly touched the young engineer’s shoulder and gave him a soft reassuring smile. 

“You’re going to be just fine, lieutenant. You should be feeling sleepy any moment. Just rest, and we will see you shortly.” Caade took note of a decreased respiratory effort and monitored the biometrics closely. “Decrease the anetrizine by zero-point-two-five…. Perfect.”

Satisfied with the tremnd of where the lieutenant’s vital signs were, Caade passed over care to his capable Nurse for monitoring. As he stepped away from the primary surgical biobed area, he noticed the captain enter Sickbay. 

“Captain. Over here.” Caade gestured to an empty bench along the wall that had been set up for triage.

Raiem had entered Sickbay, and a part of him immediately felt at home. Certainly – he did not enjoy seeing it full of crew members being tended to, but there was a visceral comfort that the space brought back for him. He nodded to Doctor Caade and swiftly took a seat on the bench. 

“Please. Don’t worry about me doctor, if there are other people that need your attention more.” Raiem added.

Caade waved that comment away as he flipped his tricorder order and quickly scanned the apparent area of concern. “Everyone is doing just fine here, captain. This should only take a moment.” He tapped a couple of buttons on the tricorder, acknowledged some beeping noises and then quickly holstered it once more. “You lucked out. Almost enough damage to cause a subdural injury but the area is intact. I suspect it looks and feels worse than it is. We will get you fixed up quickly.”

“I don’t want anything that…” Raiem started to add his own comments, but Caade quickly interjected. 

“That will impair your ability to command us out of this situation we’re in. Yes. I know, captain. We’ll give you a mild analgesic as part of the cocktail and something to calm down the inflammatory process too. You’ll still be in fine shape to do your commanding.” Doctor Caade grinned and reached for a few tools. He activated a dermal regenerator and waved it over the affected area, he then grabbed a second device and waved it over the area too. 

Raiem chuckled to himself as his senior staff member made way to one of the medication preparation areas. The man was quickly on his feet and clearly knew what he was doing. It did provide a sense of reassurance to him, being a fellow member of the profession. 

“I’m giving you a mild analgesic as discussed, an anti-inflammatory and twenty-five milligrams of furozemitidine that should help prevent any chance of concussion symptoms.” Caade listed off what he was going to administer and then as Raiem nodded in agreement, he pressed the hypostray to Raiem’s neck and injected.

Raiem instinctively rubbed his neck post-hypospray, not that it hurt. “Doctor Caade. Curious about something. You used furozemitidine. Wouldn’t it be better to have used erithylodiazemine?” 

“If it were two years ago, maybe.” Caade grinned. “There have been multiple studies out these past few years on the greater efficacy of furozemitidine in the prevention and maintenance of concussion symptoms. Showed a twenty percent better prevention rate, so best practice on that changed.” He explained in a very non-confrontational tone, not wanting to spite his commanding officer, who was a little out of practice. It would happen to anyone who got out of the field for more than a year with how things continued to advance.

“Oh. I see.” Raiem nodded in a reflectionary way. 

“You’re free to go, captain. Please still monitor yourself for any signs of concussion – I don’t need to lecture you on what that is. The risk of such at this point is practically negligible but not impossible. I’ll be staying a silent prayer to the prohpets to get us out of this situation…” 

Raiem nodded in thanks but seemed a bit awkward in his reply to the ending comment that Caade had made. “Yes… You feel free to do that.” 

Caade eyed him strangely for a moment but quickly gave his captain a friendly couple taps on the shoulder in dismissal before he moved on to check on the other customers in Sickbay.

“Commander Mayvilis… I’ve got some sensory capacity back now. I still can’t ascertain exactly where we are at present. Lieutenant Yuzar from astrometrics is trying to figure that out for us but…” Nahl announced with some hesitation and clearly was perplexed by something as well. 

“I need a bit more than a ‘but’ on that one lieutenant.” Mayvilis stood from the command chair and made her way over to Nahl’s station. She looked intently over her shoulder at the readings on her screen. 

“There is an object approximately two hundred fifty-five thousand kilometres off our starboard bow and closer to the event horizon. It’s emitting a massive energy signal.” Nahl continued to move her hands across her console rigorously, compensating for gravimetric interference from the black hole and the limited power to sensor pallets that Calistoga currently had. 

“Is… Is that a planet, lieutenant?” Mayvilis’ expression appeared just as perplexed now as Nahl’s.

“It is… But it’s a planet in what appears to be in stationary orbit of this back hole… It’s resisting the gravitational pull of the black hole somehow. Commander – there is also no life signs either.” Nahl confirmed the readings her console was sharing, and was double checking with Yuzar from astrometrics as well. 

Mayvilis stood back up as she noticed Raiem re-enter the bridge. “Captain. You’re going to want to take a look at this.” She pointed at Nahl’s station. 

Raiem joined the two of them and looked at the readings, which showed what Nahl had reported to Mayvilis moments before. “Is that a planet?” He asked out loud. 

“It is, sir…. As if this day couldn’t have gotten any weirder…” Nahl confirmed and added her own comment. 

“Perhaps weirder, but I think this is just what we needed… Commander Mayvilis, rally the senior staff for a meeting in fifteen minutes in the conference room. Nahl – bring everything you have on this mystery planet.”

“Prayers and prophets….” Raiem muttered to himself as he returned to his command chair to review some situational updates from departments that had come in during his trip to Sickbay.

Most of the senior staff had arrived in the small conference room as requested by their Captain. Raiem finished reading a PADD he was holding and then glanced back up at his team. He could see a mixture of tension and exhaustion on their faces, a glint of determination in their eyes, and a hunger to escape their current predicament. He shared in all those emotions but especially the last. 

“Sorry I’m late, kids.” Hilga’s voice was muffled as her face popped up on on of the viewscreens in the room. She had a cylindrical tool in between her teeth and was obviously in the middle of doing something important. “Figured I’d multi-task this one. The EPS grid isn’t going to get itself back in order.” She finished, sounding clearer as she had grabbed the tool out of her mouth and put it to use. 

“That’s just fine. Thanks for joining, Commander.” Raiem stood from his chair and lightly paced with his hands clasped in front of him. “You’re all aware of our current situation. To say it is desperate would be underscoring. Any chance we can get enough power back to the engines to get us out of here?” 

Jezria shook her head but it was Hilga who spoke up, “Despite our current troubles with internal power management, which I should have fixed within the next twenty minutes, we just don’t have enough left to allocate the needed push to escape the current level of gravitational pull.”

“And that pull is only getting stronger, Captain,” Jezria added as she made eye contact with the team in the room, seeming to take her read on things before continuing. “Say we did manage to pull enough energy together in twenty minutes, as an example. We would need even more power to break free at that point.” 

“Even if we managed to break free, we would have enough energy to keep the ship habitable for another twenty hours at most. And considering we don’t even know where we are…” Mayvilis chimed in.

There was an audible grunt in the room. All eyes pinpointed on the short Evora, Lieutenant Yuzar, who had done so to garner the group’s attention. “Where we are is still quite a mystery. I’ve been trying ever so hard to solve it, but with power allocation the way it is at the moment, long-range sensor pallets and astrometric systems have not been a priority. Whatever we were thrown in and out of has put us in the third outer quarter of the gamma quadrant, many thousands of light years from where we were.” 

“Is there no way you can better pinpoint, Yuzar?” Hilga was the one to ask this on behalf of the group. 

Yuzar rolled her eyes. “Perhaps the powers that be should have thought twice before downsizing the astrometrics lab to a third of the size it used to be, with much less resource capacity. I believe it was something about needing more space for a larger sickbay, since this is now a medical variant vessel. I can’t work with what I don’t have. Simple as that.” 

Raiem raised his hand and arm forward slightly, taking control of the room. “That’s quite fine, Lieutenant. Please keep at it as best as you can. I would argue our more pressing matter is stopping our ship from sinking.” He got his science officer’s point, but now was not the time to argue the finer details of starship refit practices. 

“What about that planet, Captain?” Eddie now spoke but immediately gave a retreating look. He often looked up a lost puppy at times. 

“Yes – the planet.” Raiem finally finished pacing and resumed sitting in the chair at the head of the conference room table. “That is the main reason I called you all here. Lieutenant Nahl?” He looked to the trill and gave her a gesture to take the room. 

Jezeria tapped some controls in front of her, and it brought up some telemetry of their immediate area and positioning. It showed the black hole, Calistoga and this rogue planet they had discovered. “I am not sure why or how this planet remains in stationary orbit of the black hole. There are no life signs that I can detect, but there are massive power emissions from the planet. From what we can tell, it appears to be class D.” 

“Are those power emissions the cause of this planet’s ability to resist the gravitation pull of the black hole?” Callisto asked.

“Perhaps. Truthfully – all we have is suppositions at this point. It is unusual – but…” Jezria paused but was ushered on to continue by Raiem. 

She nodded and continued, “If there is an energy source there, it could be something we could use to potentially restore power. Not only that, but it could be a way for us to slow our own decent.” Jezria hit a couple more controls, and the image changed to show Calistoga maneuvering to intercept the planet and then maintain an orbit using the planet’s gravitation pull as leverage. 

Raiem’s eyes lit up, as did the rest of the room. It was a bold plan that would take some skilled piloting. There was also the question of if they even had enough gas in the engine to pull this off. 

“Can you fly that course, Eddie?” Raiem asked, making eye contact with the young pilot. 

The flyboy smiled and gave one of his staple chershire grins. “If you can give me enough juice to make those maneuvers and adjustments, I can use the black hole’s gravitation pull to our advantage and skirt us alongside the planet. I can do it, Captain.” 

“Commander Stamm?” Raiem and the room looked at Hilga on the monitor. 

“Oh. So you want me to scrounge together more thrust we don’t have?” She raised a brow and then groaned. “I’ll get you your engine power, but that’ll be it, Captain. We’ve got enough for one shot at this. I’m out of miracles for the rest of the week.”

Raiem clapped his hands together and gave a thankful nod to everyone. “All right, folks. We fly in fifteen minutes. With any luck, we’ll be out of the frying pan and onto the cutting board here shortly. Thank you, and good work.” 

The group all broke away from the table, save Mayvilis and Raiem. He leaned back into the chair and sighed after it was just the two of them. Mayvilis leaned into the elbows which were placed in the table. “You doing okay, Captain?” She asked in a genuine way. 

“If we do manage to even get out of this, we’re still apparently a long way from home in a California-class vessel. We won’t stand a chance out here this far alone for a sustained period of time, especially in our current shape.” He was beginning to think too far ahead, even after having coached his own team to focus on the present. 

“You’re right. We’re probably screwed even if we do manage to avoid being crushed and pulled apart into tiny bits by this black hole, but, we have a fighting chance at least. Let’s get this done.” Mayvilis stood and placed her hand supportively on Raiem’s shoulder. She had a fierce look of determination on her and managed to be the support he needed. 

“Let’s… Thank you, Commander.”

“That should work Eddie… Good job.” Mayvilis patted the young fly boy on the shoulder before she made her way back to her chair next to Raiem. She leaned into him before continuing in a whisper. “He is good. I didn’t even need to correct anything.” 

Raiem smiled. He knew she was referring to the very precise flight path that Eddie had thrown together quickly after their staff conference had wrapped up only moments prior. It was high praise coming from someone with such a flight record of their own.  Everyone had mobilized with a passion after they had solidified their plan to match the orbit of the rogue planet and leverage its gravitation pull to maintain an orbit, which would prevent them from sinking further toward the event horizon of the black hole. 

“Everyone ready?” Raiem straightened out his posture and looked around the room, ensuring he took a moment to make eye contact with those who were facing him. There were nods from the officers at their stations, and there seemed to be a unified and palpable determination between them. Raiem couldn’t help but feel proud of how well everyone had come together to face their predicament. That in itself gave him bolstered confidence that they could pull this stunt off.

“Hilga. Were you able to dig up what we need?” Raiem voiced this after he had tapped his comm badge to establish a connection with engineering. 

“You’ve got it, but I will remind you that this is it, Captain. We will have enough to maintain orbit around the planet if we successfully align ourselves as planned–for some time anyway.” Hilga’s reply was to the point but also reminded everyone how important it was to get this right the first time. 

“Alright. Lieutenant Sinclair – prepare to engage your flight path on my mark. Lieutenant Atraix and Nalh, maximize deflector output to counteract gravitation pull in coordination with Sinclair’s waypoints.” Raiem gave his orders in a confident and firm tone. 

“Ready to fly on your mark, Captain.” Eddie replied.

“Deflector calibration pattern alpha, ready.” Nalh confirmed her readiness too.

“Deflector calibration pattern beta, ready.” Atraix gave the final confirmation, ready to alternate patterns in coordination with Eddie and Jezria as planned. 

Raiem turned his head to the right and made eye contact with Mayvilis once more, she gave him a nod in agreement and he gripped his armrests. It was one of those few moments in life where time itself almost seemed to slow down, where one becomes acutely aware of their own breathing, their own muscle tone, where every sense is heightened and elevated. 

“Engage!”

Eddie locked in the engage button, and a responsive chirp seemed more audible than normal to everyone on the bridge. The Calistoga lurched forward, no longer fighting the gravitational pull of the black hole. Instead, the impulse engines roared to life once more and provided several bursts of forward momentum. The thrusters engaged to cause some degree of tilt, which put the vessel in an angled approach to the event horizon. Calistoga looked as if an old earth automobile was tilted and driving on the front and back right sided tires.

“Forward momentum is more than expected. Adjusting to compensate. I need more deflector power.” Eddie called out, intently moving his hands across his console. 

“I’m cutting alpha pause short. Callisto, you should be good.” Nahl called out.

“Aye. Taking over now.” The deflector power spiked again, helping to counteract the pull once more. “Momentum should be slowing down some Eddie.” Atraix confirmed. 

Raiem remained silent and worked on controlling his breath. He could almost taste the tension he was feeling on the bridge but understood that things appeared to be under control. His team members communicated well with one another, and he didn’t want to add a voice to the mix unless needed. They were leading this well.

The next ten minutes or so went pretty smoothly. Atraix, Nahl, and Sinclair had continued to communicate well and adjust where needed. The final stretch of the plan approached, and it seemed as though things would work out until Eddie looked back with a panicked expression. 

“I’ve lost impulse engines. Captain. I need one final burst in order to align us up properly.” Sinclair reported.

“Hilga.. What’s going on?” Raiem had established a communication link with her once more. 

“I can’t maintain the power requirements… I need more….” Hilga replied but Raiem cut in before she could finish. 

“Take what you need. Shut down life support from lower priority areas and decks and evacuate those sections. Just get us what we need Commander.” It was a bold move and probably would do little to help with morale, creating even tighter quarters for the crew, but the alternative was worse. 

It was another tense minute, but Raiem sighed with relief when Eddie reported that he had the power to use impulse engines again. “I got it. We are entering a secure orbit now!” Sinclair practically cheered as he provided verbal confirmation of their success. The rogue planet had become larger on the viewscreen, and it looked like they were in a low stationary fly-by in a high orbit. 

“We did it…. Great work, everyone!” There were some audible cheers from folks, and the mood lightened immediately.

The celebratory spirit was interrupted by a proximity alarm, which immediately caused Raiem to look up at Lieutenant Atraix. “Captain. Something is coming towards us from the planet. An energy formation of some sort, about the size of a standard torpedo. Sensors cannot distinguish what it is. It seems to be in some sort of spatial flux.” 

“I thought there were no life signs on the planet.” Eddie chimed in, recalling the discussion they had during their conference. 

“There still isn’t,” Nahl confirmed after verifying the scanning data she had and confirming it with current readings. 

“It’s picking up speed, Captain. It’s on a direct collision course for us.” Callisto updated everyone with urgency. 

“Red Alert!” Raiem called out in response to Callisto’s report.

The lights darkened further on the bridge of Calistoga, and a familiar and unwelcome red hue illuminated around the consoles and in the corners of the room. Red Alert had activated as ordered, which caused the officers on the bridge to have an even more heightened focus. 

“Eddie… Try and evade it as best as you can. I know we don’t have much chance, but give it your best – Callisto… Will weapons have any effect on the object?” Raiem gave his orders to their fly boy and figured the answer to his weapons question was a no, given this energy ball was in some sort of reported flux. 

“I’ll try, Captain. All I’ve got are thrusters.” Sinclair replied, his voice sounding a bit defeated.

“I don’t think so, Captain. I only have minimal level phasers at the moment too.. Impact in ten seconds.” Atraix’s voice, too, seemed helpless sounding in its tone. 

“Divert power to shields and try and maximize output there. A weapons shot isn’t worth the effort at this point.” Raiem gripped his armrests even harder somehow. He was surprised his hands had not cramped with all the white-knuckling he had been doing the past while. 

“All hands… Brace for impact!” Mayvilis had called this for him, she grabbed her armrests too and looked at Raiem. Her face still showed a determination and optimism which was somewhat catching still.

The Calistoga became enveloped in a strange spiderweb-like covering when the spatial flux ball made contact with the hull. There was no shaking, but the air seemed to develop an electrical static charge, and all the consoles started blinking on and off with some sort of electrical current travelling across the surface. All of the officers had removed their hands from the consoles proactively. Within moments, the lights flickered on and off, as if power distribution was being tampered with.

“Captain. Something has accessed our systems and is taking full control of the vessel. I have no response from any systems. It’s like we’ve been locked out.” Nahl reported, navigating the current state of her console to try and get a better understanding of their current situation. Immediately after her report, all the consoles on the bridge went dark. 

“Why have you come here?” The standard computer voice, although with a lower, more metallic reverberation, sounded across all decks of the Calistoga, creating an even more ominous vibe.

“Why have you come here?” The voice repeated once more. Mayvilis and Raiem looked at each other. 

“We were in trouble and needed help. We did not come to this region on purpose.” Raiem spoke back to the computer voice. Along with many others of his bridge crew, he had concluded that some sort of lifeform was trying to communicate with them. 

“You intend to invade our home. You need our energy.” 

“We mean you no harm. We could not tell that there was life on your planet. There were readings which did show that there was a power source that we had hoped to use to help us. Please. We mean you no harm. You must believe us.” Raiem’s voice was both genuine but desperate in its tone. 

The viewscreen showed a beam of blue and pink light shooting straight up from the planet at them. A loud and piercing sound took over the senses of everyone on board when contact with Calistoga was made. Raiem’s head felt as if it was suddenly ten times the size it normally was, this lasted only around fifteen seconds before he returned to normal. 

“You tell the truth. You mean us no harm. You are lost. You need power. We will help you.” 

Raiem could only conclude that their minds had been probed.

“Thank you…” Before he could utter anything else, the lifeless planet on the viewscreen became enveloped in the same blue and pink coloured light and another beam emerged struck Calistoga. A blinding whiteness preceded everyone on Calistoga losing consciousness. 
 

Some time later….

Raiem noticed the soothing sounds of engines and the slight vibration of the deck plating as he came to consciousness. His eyes felt heavy and tired, and he rubbed them as he sat himself up. As he opened his eyes, he could see other officers on the bridge in a similar state. Everyone had ended up on the floor and was coming around just like him. 

“Report… Where are we?” Raiem asked. The lighting on the bridge seemed normalized, and the consoles were all lit in normal power mode. 

Some other officers had come around too and taken position back at their stations. “Activating viewscreen.” A familiar dark brown fluxing space appeared – the same looking space they had been in that landed them in the void of the black hole. “We’re back in the space corridor that we were in last time,” Nahl confirmed what they saw. 

“Captain. Somehow we have power… Not fully but impulse engines are online and our reserves are back to full charge.” Atraix reported in, sounding perplexed but relieved. 

“Gravimetric distortions are not nearly as substantial as they were, I am finding it easier to pilot through.” Sinclair had taken back the helm and was piloting Calistoga with ease this time around. 

“We have a large amount of data missing from the computer banks. In fact, everything from right before we were pulled into this phenomenon is missing. Sensor logs, reports… Everything. It’s as if someone erased the events entirely.” Mayvilis stated as she worked away on one of the wall consoles. She checked and triple-checked to ensure she was not misleading in her report. 

“That’s not all, though. It’s…. Captain – if the chronometers are correct on this ship, nearly a week and a half has passed since I last remember viewing them. It aligns with the gaps in our data recorders as well.” Mayvilis’ voice seemed confused and perplexed as she continued to update the bridge crew. 

“How?” Raiem didn’t quite have the words. The last thing he remembered was the ominous voice of the computer telling them all that they would receive help and the blinding light that surrounded them. Now somehow they had power once more, were back in the subspace phenomenon corridor, had their data completely wiped and were in the now in the future. It was a sequence of events he himself couldn’t quite believe, even though he was experiencing it.

A proximity alert sounded on the bridge and Atraix reported in immediately. “Captain, there is a small flotilla of Klingon vessels that just emerged into the corridor a few thousand kilometres off the port bow. They are headed away from us.” 

Raiem took a deep breath. “Emergered into. It doesn’t sound like they have been thrown in like we were. Could it have been a controlled entry?” He looked back at Atraix who nodded in agreement with his question. 

“It must be an entry point of some sort.” She answered. 

“Which means it could be an exit point too. It’s our best shot. Eddie, lay in a course at best possible speed and engage. Prepare to transfer auxiliary power to deflectors and shields to counteract any gravitational stress.” Raiem gave his orders and sat back in his chair, bracing himself for more possible turbulence. 

There were many unanswered questions but there would be at least time and a chance to figure things out. If this lucky streak they had experienced continued, perhaps they would see home before the eventide.

Captain’s log…

It’s hard to believe that it has been over two weeks since we returned to Federation space from what we now know as Underspace. The Calistoga is once again headed for Deep Space Seventeen as originally planned a few weeks ago. While I cannot speak entirely for my crew, I for one, am looking forward to settling down for a bit in our new home port before heading out on our next assigned mission. 

I’ve reflected a lot on our particular encounter with Underspace and the mystery and intrigue behind the non-corporeal life forms we encountered. The exact location of which we will never know at this point. We were quite unprepared to be thrust into Underspace through a new and formed aperture, in fact, we were lucky to have not been torn apart by the gravitation forces we encountered. Calistoga, at that point, was in no shape to be put in such a situation, and it is a credit to her crew for making it through that situation in one piece. 

We all were faced with our own mortality in those hours leading up to the help we received but despite that, I believe everyone acted with determination, professionalism and did their best to problem solve with the little resources we had at the time. Some impressive flying and coordination amongst various divisions saw us take safe haven in orbit of that rogue planet which was an unknown home to our saviours at that point. 

I’m not afraid to admit it was sheer luck that we encountered lifeforms with such power that did decide to take pity on us and our situation. They could have just as easily throw us into the void of that black hole. Their help did come at a cost though, as many of us have been struggling to process a missing week and a half of our lives. It comes up in conversation a lot these days and it’s almost as if we are all missing a piece of ourselves. It’s hard to describe beyond that. I’ve requested some extra counselling support for our arrival at Deep Space Seventeen for those who want to take advantage of it. I’ll be encouraging everyone to participate. 

The Klingons we encountered briefly in the Underspace did lead us to an aperture we were able to escape out of. We landed in Klingon territory near the Federation border, not too far from Providence Fleet Yards. We headed there with haste to further resupply and report in and thankfully did not encounter any hostility from the Klingons, who appeared distracted with their own intentions for Underspace.

Coming back to Federation space, it almost feels as if the entire alpha and beta quadrants have changed. Many other ships have had remarkable experiences and encounters in Underspace and I think we are on the edge of another golden age of exploration for Starfleet. For myself and the crew of the Calistoga, there is no evidence of our experiences other than what we can remember. This entire situation did bring us closer together as a crew though, as any near death experience would. We may not have contributed to science or advancements in discoveries like some of our colleagues out there but… We are alive and grateful to continue to be of service. 

I’m still left wondering though… What happened to us during that week and a half….