Captain Saffiya Nassar reclined in her chair. It was a good chair, but she had been sitting in it far too long over the past days in which the Valkyrie had been given time for the crew to unwind, and the Captain to get aquatinted with her new assignment. And ‘getting aquatinted with her new assignment’ in this case mostly meant mountains of PADDwork that had Saffiya reconsider whether she really wanted to be the Captain of anything – more than once. 

But nothing lasts forever, and this brief shore leave wasn’t an exception. They had received new orders, and while Saffiya was sure that she wasn’t the only one who would have minded the break to be extended just a few days, the crew had sprung into action. 

Captain’s Log, Stardate 2401.11.02

The Valkyrie is en route to investigate a signal believed to be of extragalactic origin. Civilian vessels have reported encounters with a ship, though those reports are inconclusive and range from the reasonable to the widely fantastical. There has been no successful attempt on communication, and Starfleet Intelligence suspects that any new lifeforms or occurrences may be tied to the subspace apertures that appeared following the recent surge in cosmic activity. It is possible they were caught in one of these anomalies and are stranded here, and if so, they could pose both an opportunity and a danger.
Our primary objective is to make contact, ascertain the nature of this visitor, and determine how to safely return them to their region of space.

It would be a good opportunity for her new Executive Officer to prove herself, and for the new members of her crew to learn to work together. It would also have been a great opportunity for their diplomatic officers, but a recent shift in the department had left it in a bit of disarray. Not a terribly great starting point, but they would manage. 

And, after all, who of them wouldn’t be excited at the idea of a first contact with a brand new species?