“Captain’s Log, stardate 76485.9 — we’ve been searching this sector of space for a while now and about three days ago astrometrics reported a new supernova, only about twenty years old, on long-range sensors. I’ve ordered us into a distant orbit around the neutron star it created and fired off several probes to measure the size and extent of the supernova’s impact on the surrounding space. It seems the shockwave has been traveling at about thirteen kilometers per second since the supernova, which means that the shock wave itself has traveled slightly less than a light-year at this point. The crew is busy analyzing the data, and I should have an update soon. But it is official: we are the furthest any Federation member starship has ever been. Truly where no one has gone before. End log.”

After finishing his log, Alexander stood from behind the desk in his personal quarters, stretching as he rose. Tugging his uniform back into place he made his way out of his quarters and down the corridor of the ship. Weaving through its halls he passed a bustle of people as he went. This was his third tour of duty as captain of the Venture, but this was also the first time that the crew had topped over two thousand souls which made the ship seem more lively.

The captain made his way into one of the science labs of the Venture where he slipped into a corner as he often did and watched the bustling science team work on the problem before them. In this instance, it was the Chief Science Officer of the Venture, Lieutenant Commander Enzia Leis, leading a team of a dozen other scientists investigating the neutron star they had discovered. The captain kept quiet and mostly out of sight as he observed, one of Starfleet’s premier scientists and explorers in his own right, to see the process that the team was using.

His observation wasn’t selfless, however. The Venture had been on assignment in this area for a couple of months, including travel time, exploring and mapping the area of space on the leading frontier border of the Federation. Star systems were not particularly dense in this area, and while the assignment has been a bit slow to get started for officers accustomed to more adventurous postings, the scientists aboard have been thrilled with the constant stream of new data. Most of the crew has had plenty of time recently to work on their own projects and hobbies, which Alexander was even growing bored of by this point. However, now that the Venture was truly beginning their mission, he knew from experience that the excitement was just about to begin.

He dipped out of the massive science lab as easily and discreetly as he slipped in. As he walked down the corridors he wondered how the rest of the senior staff of the Venture were holding up with their newfound excitement of this neutron star…