Captain’s Personal Log:

  I miss family. Like many races, Humans notable among them, Edosians have several distinct cultures. I am from the plains and forests of the Starlit West. Hunters, woodsmen and foresters for millenia, this has left a mark on my branch of the Edosian people that has lasted to this very day. One of these marks is the closeness of clan and family. Self reliance is only trumped by reliance upon family and sometimes I feel alone.

The people of the Starlit West are known for their reserve and quiet ways. Not for us are the raucous festivals and gatherings of the city dwellers from the Northern Sprawl. Yet we talk, we gather strength and perspective from each other. I have a good crew full of good people but they are not Edosians from the Starlit West. They would do their best of course, but certain subtleties of spirit and thought would be missing. To be fair,  few of my people join the paths Starfleet offers.

Exhaustion is making my mind wander. However, what else can my mind do but wander. We sit here, powered down and silent. We wait for wanderers in the dark and hope that wanderers are the ones we are waiting for as opposed to the ones who apparently wish us ill. The fate of the Najm Almusafir weighs heavily upon me. The San Diego isn’t completely without fangs, but we are not a powerful ship in the grand plan and without more knowledge I am wary of fighting, especially with our charges safety in the balance. We’ve been laying here in wait for six hours now and it already feels like an eternity.

End Personal Log

Day of Trial 1: 1431 Ship’s Time

Orex passed a weary hand over his face and slumped in the chair behind his ready room desk.

I should rest, Orex chastised himself. 

There always seemed to be one more detail to attend to, one more plan to make. His head jerked as his ready room door chime sounded.

“Welcome.”, Orex straightened and sharpened his expression as Commander Adrijana Grkovic strode in.

“Good morning, XO….or is it evening? I seem to have lost track.”, Orex gave a slight smile to add levity to the statement.

“It’s actually afternoon, sir.”, Grkovic replied straight faced.

Orex grunted, “And how can I help you, XO?”

Grkovic’s tone was somehow respectful, sharp and reprimanding at the same time.

“Well sir, I came here to tell you that we have made definite contact with another of our lost freighters, but that’s not really why I came in here. I came in here to tell you, and truly with the sincerest respect, to go to bed. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard.” 

Grkovic stared unflinchingly at Orex as his skin turned a deeper shade of orange-red and he looked for a moment as if he was going to snap at his first officer. He caught himself and suddenly his skin turned a paler shade of orange, an Edosian sign of chagrin and embarrassment.

Wasn’t I just telling myself this very same thing? Grkovic is not only correct, but she is doing her duty by reminding me of mine.

Orex sighed heavily, “You’re right of course, XO.”

Inwardly, Grkovic breathed a sigh of relief. She knew her directness could rub both superiors and juniors the wrong way. She was glad that Orex seemed to really be the man and commander he looked to be.

Orex looked at the daybed in the corner of his ready room. He really had never imagined he’d have much use for it. Looks like he was wrong on that count.

“Let me finish up this last-”, Orex saw his executive officer’s eyes harden and he didn’t need to be an expert in Human facial expressions to see his executive officer’s displeasure, “Are you trying to bully me into bad like some child, Commander?”

Grkovic didn’t even bat an eye, “I doubt you’re one to be bullied, sir. I’d still try though in this particular case. You’ve been on extremely minimal sleep since before this whole fiasco started. Edosian sleep needs aren’t so different from a Human’s for me not to know how tired you are. Trust me, sir,  I checked.”

Orex suddenly burst out in gravelly laughter, “You of all people I believe that of.”

Still chuckling, Orex shook his head in defeat.

“I will get some rest starting now, XO.”

“Very good, sir.”

“And XO?”

Grkovic turned, “Sir?”

Orex was already crawling into the daybed, “Don’t you dare tell anyone that I let you bully me to sleep.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Captain.”, Grkovic replied straight faced.

But Orex was already asleep, his last conscious thought was how his executive officer had raised herself several points in his estimation.

Day of Trial 1: 1526 Ship’s Time

Back on the bridge, no one had questioned Grkovic coming out of the ready room alone and striding to the captain’s chair. The ship’s counselor, Jackson Carstairs, sitting in the seat to the left of the captain’s chair had given a slightly grateful nod, his tanned face serious as always.

Grkovic now stared unseeing at some sensor reports on the small armrest console of the captain’s chair. They were telling her the same thing they had been. Nothing much.

“Engineering to Bridge.”

Grkovic blinked and responded, “Grkovic here, go ahead.”

The chief engineering officer, Victor Massaquoi’s voice sounded tired but had a sort of cautious optimism to it.

“Well, Commander, I have been thinking and working on a couple of things to help us in our current predicament.”

Grkovic had been in Starfleet long enough to know when an engineer spoke such words, the results could range from wondrous to frightening.

“I don’t suppose you’ve found a way to improve our speed or allow us to see further have you?”

“ Speed? No. Improving our vision, yes. Sort of. I don’t suppose you and the Captain could come down to Main Engineering so I can elaborate?”

“The Captain is indisposed at the moment.”, Grkovic replied firmly.

“Ah, so you finally got him to get some rest, I take it.”, Massaquoi’s tone held amusement.

“Something like that, Commander.”, Grkovic’s reply was a bit stiff, “I will be down shortly.”

As Grkovic strode to the turbolift she said, “Mr. Abercrombie, you have the conn.”

Day of Trial 1: 1531 Ship’s Time

Lt. Commander Massaquoi, Lt. T’Prenn and Lt. Jessica Rivers met Grkovic at the large blast doors leading into Main Engineering. 

“This should be interesting.”, Grkovic spoke, noting the presence of the ship’s Vulcan chief tactical/security officer and Rivers, an astrophysicist and the commander of the ship’s small science division. She was a petite, blonde Human and the tall, raven haired Grkovic couldn’t help but feel slightly awkward as she towered over the science officer.

T’Prenn replied in her normal measured tone, “We have been industrious, sir.”

Massaquoi gestured to one of the side workshops, indicating that Grkovic should follow. As they walked into the workshop, Grkovic noted a round, metal device with a few blinking telltale lights dotting its surface.

“What am I looking at, Commander?”, Grkovic asked as she studied the device.

Massaquoi replied, “A way for us to somewhat improve our vision, sir.”

Grkovic simply stared at the engineer with a hawk-like gaze, willing him to get on with the explanation. Massaquoi cleared his throat hurriedly and continued.

“This is a sort of signals booster we came up with. Honestly it was Lieutenant T’Prenn’s initial idea and Lieutenant Rivers here has been helping with some of the math. We make these boosters and place them in our probes and send out several probes as a sort of sensor net.”, Massaquoi began to warm up to the subject as he noticed the executive officer’s growing interest.

“We can even recover the probes when we leave an area by placing them on a timer or even sending a recall code that will hopefully get through. It won’t eliminate wastage completely but it’ll help. We only have so many probes after all.”, the chief engineer’s face darkened a bit, “ There is a downside however.”

“They will scream loudly and as far as we know, whatever is out there doesn’t have our problems seeing and moving around?”, Grkovic replied.

“That part.”, Rivers confirmed.

T’Prenn spoke up then, “Commander Massaquoi does have a possible solution. A proximity setting on the probe will keep them dormant until there is something present to see.”

“But the probes themselves will only be able to see half the time. Something can slip past easily.”, Grkovic said, not entirely convinced this was worth the effort.

Massaquoi spread his hands in front of him and shrugged, “Half an eye is better than none.”

“Plus the boosters themselves will help with the sensors as well as the transmissions. I estimate a forty four percent detection rate.”, Rivers added.

Grkovic frowned in thought as she considered, ”It’s going to take the engineering crew a good amount of time and effort to build enough of these boosters.”

Massaquoi smiled as he put a sly finger on the side of his nose and grinned, “Ah but commander, we do have a pool of engineers to pull from.”

Massaquoi’s meaning was not lost on Grkovic. The civilian crews. She thought for a moment and said, “That is a conversation best led by Captain Orex.”

Grkovic noted Massaquoi’s slightly crestfallen look, “Trust me, he’s much better suited to dealing with the civilians. We’ll split the difference, how many more of these boosters can your crew put together in the next few hours?”

Massaquoi considered and said, “Four more.”

Grkovic nodded, “Do it. That way we have a head start if the captain agrees with this and we haven’t wasted too much time and material if he doesn’t”

As the three subordinate officers were giving signs of agreement a call came in.

“Bridge to Commander Grkovic.”

“Grkovic here, go ahead Mr. Abercrombie.”

“Got some good news for a change, commander. We’ve made contact with Captain Corrin of the Bardan’s Folly and what’s more, he’s brought three friends with him. They should be in the system in a little over an hour.”

“That is indeed good news, Mr. Abercrombie. I will be back on the bridge shortly.”

With a nod to the others, Commander Grkovic left Engineering.

“Remind me to not get on the wrong side of that one.”, Massaquoi said with a smile, then looked at T’Prenn who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, then at Rivers who looked at him wide eyed.

“Never mind.”, he said as he shook his head.

Day of Trial 1: 1643 Ship’s Time

“I have to say it is great to see Starfleet, and I usually don’t say that.”, Captain Corrin, a Deltan and the commander of the Bardan’s Folly said with a laugh. This sentiment was echoed by the other three civilian captains on the screen.

“So when do we head to Starbase 93?”, another captain asked.

“We aren’t yet.”, Grkovic replied and the good cheer from the civilians evaporated like a raindrop under the desert sun.

Corrin sputtered, “What? Why?”

Grkovic replied with utter unflappability, “Because there are still ships heading this way expecting to find us here.”

The civilian captains bristled and Grkovic answered the unspoken question.

“Two more days and then we head out.”

“TWO DAYS?!”, yet another captain replied in an outraged voice.

“You heard me. We are giving everyone we’ve contacted every chance we can.”, Grkovic’s tone brooked no argument.

Corrin pulled a face of distaste, “So we sit here out here in the open, blind and deaf?”

“Of course not Captain Corrin, we have several other ships like yours taking shelter in the magnetosphere of Ramilles VI. They are under the nominal command of Captain Kanok of the Silver Runner. Not because we said so, but simply because everyone else is scared to argue with the man.”

All four captains unexpectedly threw back their heads and laughed and Corrin spoke, “That old ironheart? Well you definitely have the right of the situation. I certainly won’t argue with him. If there was anyone I would pick to be stuck with in this nightmare, it’d be him. Lead on Commander.”