Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.23.2402

Captain Kirok Skyrunner recording…

It’s been three days since we rescued Commander Lionel and Chief Engineer Catersha from that alien jungle moon and acquired two experienced Jem Hader soldiers as part of my security staff. I’m still leery of having them loose on my ship, but they pledged their lives to my First Officer and I trust her decisions completely. Only time will tell if that high risk gamble was worth the risk.

All ship systems are fully operational and we are approaching the only stable transwarp conduit. Finally, we can start our mission in the Shackleton Expanse. Once we travel through the conduit, we will need to dock with Framheim Station for supplies and mission details. After that, we will start our exploration mission.

After dealing with the Vaadwaur for months, a good slow exploration mission is what the crew can use. I look forward to seeing what this new region holds.

End Log Entry.

Captain’s Kirok Skyrunner and Sophia Rodriguez were sleeping very cozy in bed after they had a late night date night. As they enjoyed their slumber, the intercom woke them.

“Bridge to Captain Skyrunner.” Several seconds went by with no response. Lieutenant Commander Bradley repeated himself. “Bradley to Skyrunner, respond please.”

Both Skyrunner and Rodriguez stirred and groaned at being woken up. Kirok reached to the end table on his side of the bed and slapped the comm panel.

“Skyrunner here. What is it?”

“Sorry to disturb you sir, but we are approaching the transwarp conduit. The estimated time of arrival is twenty minutes.”

Kirok fought to focus his eyes.

“Understood Tom. We will go to the Bridge shortly. Skyrunner out.”

Kirok rolled out of bed, intentionally pulling the blanket with him, leaving Sophia with no cover as they both slept in the nude.

“Wake up sleeping beauty,” Kirok said to his wife, as he walked to take a sonic shower.

Kirok heard a whine come from the bedroom as he started the shower. Sophia padded to the shower and bumped Kirok out of the way as she took her shower. Kirok lightly laughed as he exited the sonic shower and got dressed in his duty uniform. As Sophia was taking her shower, Kirok went to the replicator and ordered two double strong coffees and a bowl of strawberries. Sophia marched out from the bathroom, dressed in her uniform as well and looked at her husband, as if he eyes were phaser banks. Kirok offered a small smile and her cup of coffee.

“A peace offering love,” he said softly.

She took the coffee, closing her eyes as she took a big sip. When she opened her eyes, she gave him a smile.

“Got you,” she said warmly. “I love teasing you.”

Kirok stood there, stunned for a second, looking at his wife as she grinned at him while eating a strawberry. Kirok shook his head and laughed, eating a strawberry too.

“Are you ready to get this day started,” he asked her.

Sophia downed the rest of her coffee and finished off another strawberry, nodding as she chewed. Kirok finished his coffee, putting his cup on the table next to hers. They both walked out of the Captain’s quarters together, headed to the Bridge.

***

Lieutenant Commander Soraya Amara was at the science station on the Bridge with her two new additions to her science department. Crewmen Sorvath and Aximo stood next to Soraya as she was walking Aximo and Sorvath through the Bridge’s main and auxiliary science stations.

“From here, you can conduct short, medium, and long range sensor scans…up to a max range of ten light years in high resolution detail. This station can also do other types of scans, from UV, infrared, and subspace,” Soraya was explaining as the turbolift doors opened and both Captain’s Skyrunner and Rodriguez stepped out. “Good morning Captain’s.”

Both Kirok and Sophia nodded to Soraya as they walked to the center command area.

“Status report Tom,” Captain Kirok Skyrunner requested as he walked to his command chair, taking his seat.

“We are approaching the coordinates of the transwarp conduit, Captain,” Tom said, as he looked up from his Tactical station.

“Helm, slow to impulse power,” Sophia ordered as she stood behind the night shift helmsman.

The helmsman tapped commands on his panel and the USS Carlsbad dropped out of warp speed. The star streaks turned into star pinpricks. When the USS Carlsbad slowed to impulse speed, the viewscreen showed a massive Borg-like structure at the mouth of the galaxy’s only known stable transwarp conduit. The California class starship, USS Carlsbad, slowly approached the Jurati-Borg station.

“Captain, we are being hailed by the Jurati-Borg station,” Tom said.

“On screen,” Kirok replied.

The image of the Borg like station was replaced by the image of the Jurati Borg Queen.

“Identify yourself and your purpose.”

“I am Captain Kirok Skyrunner of the Federation starship USS Carlsbad. We are on a mission for Starfleet to use this transwarp conduit to go to Framheim Station at the edge of the Shackleton Expanse. We request permission to travel through the conduit.”

“Permission granted. Good luck Captain Skyrunner.”

The viewscreen changed back to an image of the station.

“Helm, align our course for entry into the conduit. Speed to one half impulse power. Yellow alert. Shields up,” Kirok ordered.

The shields powered up as the yellow alert klaxons and yellow alert panels went off across the Bridge. Sophia walked from the helm station to take her seat on Kirok ‘s right.

“Shields at full power, sir. Weapons standing by,” Tom reported.

“Ship speed is at one half impulse power. We will reach the mouth of the conduit in sixty seconds,” reported the helm officer.

The USS Carlsbad moved through the void, its hull shimmering with Cerenkov radiation as it approached the mouth of the transwarp conduit. The stars ahead distorted, bending and warping like reflections on rippling water, as if reality itself was twisting to accommodate the ship’s passage. With a burst of energy, the Carlsbad plunged into the conduit. Colors swirled around the vessel, a maddening vortex that seemed to both pull it forward and tear it apart.

For an instant, the ship existed everywhere and nowhere, its particles stretched across the fabric of space-time like threads on a loom. Quantum fluctuations danced across its hull, releasing pent-up energies in brilliant flashes of radiation. The universe narrowed to a thin sliver, compressing the ship into a needle-like projection hurtling down a tube of supercompressed reality. Then, with a jolt that rattled every molecule of the ship, the USS Carlsbad was through.

The colors dissipated, revealing a new patch of stars. The ship’s systems stabilized, its hull ceasing its shimmer as it coasted past the end aperture. Turbulence whipped space behind it, dissipating like storm clouds after a gyeon. Distant stars snapped into sharp focus ahead, configured now into an alien constellation.

The Narendra-class space station hung in the blackness, its massive toroidal hull a dark gray monolith against the starfield, its metallic surface etched with fine cracks and worn by countless impacts. Faded blue accents marked docking bays, life support modules, and maintenance access hatches, while navigation lights winked steadily along its rim like a string of faint blue diamonds.

The station’s central axis terminated in a blunt cylinder, housing deep-space communications arrays that rotated so slowly, as they tracked distant stars. A weathered insignia, the United Federation of Planets emblem, was emblazoned on the cylinder’s side, a testament to the station’s purpose in the far reaches of unexplored space.

“Welcome to the Shackleton Expanse everyone,” Captain Skyrunner said. “Tom, contact the commander of Framheim Station and request our duty assignment. I’m eager to get started.”