“Captain’s log, USS Helios, Stardate 78790. I am lucky to be able to record this entry, Helios was almost lost to us and it was only through the dedicated work of our crew that she found her way home to the Alpha quadrant. In the interests of clarity, I will be including extracts from the ship’s First Officer, Commander Biban Th’erhilnon as the officer in command during this period.” Tanek took a bite of a crunchy cookie, allowing the crumbs to fall on his uniformed chest. “10 days ago the ship and crew were deployed to the Badlands to act as a technical platform for a new sensor system being developed by the Corps of Engineers, during these experiments a spatial anomaly was encountered, a portal that we now know led to the Underspace network.” Tanek motioned with his hand to Bib, indicating he should continue as the Captain lifted another couple of cookies from the jar and looked on. 

“The transit was…” Bib paused, looking out through the ready room’s windows to the stars that slid by, slower than normal due to Helios’ heavily damaged warp drive. “… rough. Whilst we didn’t suffer casualties the ship was heavily damaged and several systems disabled including main sensors and the matter-antimatter power systems. It was at this time Commander Helena Tyll was recorded as MIA, her Valkyrie being separated from the ship during transit. Computer pause.” Bib turned back to Tanek. “Do you really need me to do this sir? I’ll do it all at DS47 when we debrief.”

Tanek brushed the cookie crumbs from the corner of his mouth. “Record it for later Bib. By the time we get to DS47 your thoughts may have changed. Your heart may have hardened. Record it now whilst it’s still raw.” Tanek smiled paternally, “Computer resume.”

Bib sighed, and picking a cookie from the pot, leaned back into his chair. “We elected to launch the Heliades squadron alongside several runabouts to provide remote sensor feeds, the main array forced offline due to the polarising effect of the portal. What we saw was jaw-dropping, a debris field the size of a small starbase, a conservative estimate of at least a hundred different vessels from over 20 different species, some of which were not known to the Federation. All of them appeared to have suffered through the transit, but Helios remained in one piece and after identifying a safe harbour from the ongoing EM radiation bombardment from a nearby star, we limped through the system on impulse power.” Bib’s mouth went dry. “By the time we arrived in the safety of the tidally locked planet’s shadow, the Heliades squadron and Commander Anyok had identified wreckage belonging to Helena Tyll’s vessel and she was declared KIA. It was also at this time that Ensign How identified our location on the edge of the Beta quadrant, on the distant trailing edge of the galaxy. It became clear that return via warp was not an option and I instructed the science teams to find a way to reopen the portal.” 

A comfortable silence wedged itself as they silently munched, reflecting on the Commander’s story. Tanek broke the silence first “The Kazon?” 

“Whilst in orbit of the marshy planet the crew had begun to call Helike, after a drowned city on Earth, we viewed several torpedoes, launched from a wrecked Devore vessel, exploding in low atmosphere. It was my choice to dispatch Anyok and Theta Squad to stop the weapons fire and secure the ship from possibly explosive consequences. Whilst on the planet they found a village of Kazon who informed us they had been lost there after travelling through the portal, they also informed us the wrecks we found we the remnants of others who hadn’t been so lucky.” Bib’s skin turned dark blue as he became flustered with anger, he continued to beat himself up that he had been so blind to the Kazon’s deceit.

“But that wasn’t the truth was it?”

“No. We attempted to return through the portal with haste after discovering a large amount of tetryon interference was destabilising the Underspace access.” Bib’s visage was overcast as he remembered what had come next. “The Kazon raiders attacked us as we attempted to undertake detailed scans with our limited sensor systems to calculate the appropriate warp field. After consultation, I opted to remain in a fixed position to improve our chances of identifying the field frequency. It was my choice and what followed was my responsibility.” Tanek nodded for him to continue, this was a struggle every prospective captain had to go through. “We took heavy damage and casualties during the combat but discovered Commander Tyll to be alive aboard the lead raider. It was through her heroic efforts that we gained access to the Kazon sensor data and completed our research into the required field frequencies.”

Another silence hovered between the two, tears edging at Bib’s eyes, saying what they both knew to be true was almost too hard. “With the data, we re-opened the portal long enough to pass through and return to the Underspace network. Lieutenant Mitchell was able to retrace our route via the plasma remnants drawn in from the Badlands during our outward transit and we returned to the Alpha quadrant to find Captain Tanek and the Starfleet search ship.”  

“With the help of the Rattigan, Helios has been secured and we are en route to DS47.” Tanek lifted a pair of glasses from a discreet shelf beneath his desk and poured a tipple of blue liquid into each before pushing one towards the Andorian across the table. “Unfortunately-”

“-Unfortunately…” Bib interrupted, Tanek gave the man the floor with a nod“ Commander Tyll did not make the return transit, her ship was heavily damaged and she was destroyed by the gravimetric forces of Underspace.”

“We commend Helena to the stars she loved. Fair winds and following seas.” the two men lifted their glasses in salute. “End Log.”