Captains Log:

Everything had been running smoothly; all our systems had been operating well within their expected parameters.  Then yesterday we hit a brick wall, both physically and metaphorically.

Warp 3, is not the kind of speed anyone would wish to rapidly decelerate from, the da Vinci’s Inertial Dampeners were unable to cope, resulting in a number of injuries, one of which is critical.  May be it had been rather naive of me to believe that having not come across any of the weird anomalies that had plagued other sectors; that we’d possibly found somewhere in space without them.

But you know what they say about famous last words.

Our Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Sunny and his team are dealing with those that got hurt: so Sickbay is currently full.  So we are endeavouring not to add to the current casualty list as we figure out our next course of action.

We are expecting the arrival of our sister ship, the USS Grus; which is coming direct from Starbase 86.  However our limited sensor range and totally lack of communication; mean we are unable to assess their arrival time or warn them of the danger that may also render them immobile if they approach our position.

<End Log>

Commander Mary Anacostia-Bolling, leaned back in her chair, hands laced together around the back of her head.  The meeting she’d had with the senior staff, a little under an hour ago, had not gone exactly smoothly.  When she’d been First Officer under Captain Eglin, everyone followed his orders without question: even the wrong ones.  When he said jump, they asked how high!   Mary didn’t feel she was getting anywhere near that kind of loyalty.  Though to say the senior staff were against her, would be completely untrue.  It was all just a work in progress.

Lieutenant Yolanda her Chief Engineer, was being his usual awkward and dismissive self.  For every idea anyone came up with, he had a reason as to why it wouldn’t work; yet never seemed to offer a viable alternative.  Having no engineering background herself, she found it hard to question the objections and obstacles, Yolanda placed in the way of each suggestion.

The door to her ready room chimed and she bid whoever was there to enter.  As the door swished open her First Officer walked in.  “You look down.” The Trill Lieutenant-Commander commented, trying to sound upbeat as she did so.

“Is it that obvious?”  The Commander replied.

“It’s about as obvious as you wanting to shove your Chief Engineer out the nearest air-lock.” Alara Ley smiled back.

“Oh, so he’s my Chief Engineer, is he? The Commanders tone had a hint of sarcasm about it.

“You are the Captain.” The other women stated.

“Didn’t you once say one of your previous hosts was an Engineer?”

“Dordan Ley was Civil Engineer.” The Trill corrected.  “If you want a bridge or a hydro-electric dam building, I think I could manage it.”

Anacostia-Bolling pondered that thought for a moment.  “Let me get back to you on that.”

“What about our Logistics Officer?”

The Commander noted the difference in how her XO referred to this member of the crew, compared to the Chief.  Ensign Artin Dravid was a bit of a puzzle.  A young man with an absolutely Phenomenal IQ and a near photographic memory; he could read, understand and remember, almost anything put in front of him.  Ensign Dravid could literally be on the fast track to any role he set his heart on; and yet he’d chosen the mundane and often overlooked role of Logistics.  He had however been rather enthusiastic about joining the da Vinci’s crew.  So maybe there was an adventurous spirit in him.

When he’d come up with a plan to us a spare phaser for the shuttle craft as a way of cutting through the collapsed rocks in a mining tunnel that had trapped the away team, including the First Officer; he’d given them a glimpse of his immense talent.  However this current predicament had even got him stumped.

“He hasn’t been forthcoming with any ideas yet.” She looked up at the Trill, finally bringing her hands from behind her head.  “Any way, you must have come in for something?”

“Just checking on a friend.” Alara smiled. “And it gives Beriev a few minutes in the big chair.”

Beriev was one of two Saurian on the crew manifest; he was the Assistant Science Officer, working directly below the XO.  His main focus was Biochemistry, but like everyone else in the science team, had some knowledge in other fields to.

Mary was about to offer her Trill companion a drink; suspecting it would most likely be black coffee, that little quirk she’d picked up after the joining.  The Bridge contacted her, just as she was about to stand. “Go ahead.” The Commander replied.

Ensign Phillanie informed her of a number of distress calls the ship was picking up from various freighters, transport vessels and a passenger liner, called the ‘White Rose’.  When the Commander and XO burst on to the Bridge a moment later she requested more details.

“We currently have six vessels including the White Rose reporting unidentified hostile ships attacking them.” Ensign Phillanie announced.   “There were seven, but we appear to have lost one.”

“Can we send any communications back to them?” Anacostia-Bolling asked. Ensign Phillanie merely shock his head.

Both Lieutenant-Commander Ley and Lieutenant Beriev had moved over to the Science station at the back of the Bridge when the Commander had taken her place in the Captain’s chair.  They were trying to establish the location of the vessels under attack.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is the liner White Rose, with 318 passengers and crew.” The voice of an unidentified male rang out across the Bridge speakers.  “We are under attack from unidentified small craft. Requesting immediate assistance.”

Over the sound of the alarms sounding, he ran through the ships coordinates and the damage they’d so far suffered.  But a loud rumble indicated an explosion somewhere on the ship.  The gasp of shock and what he uttered next was enough to tell them that it had been something serious.  Communication ceased a moment later.

“Based on those coordinated and any other data we’re receiving, all those vessels are within the vicinity of Samson III.” Beriev announced in his slightly flat voice.  The XO ran through a few details on the planet itself, a mixed agricultural and resort planet known for helping its guests get back to nature by offering them the chance to work on a farm, using the methods and equipment their ancestors would have done.  The planets population was listed at roughly four and a quarter million.

For now they had no idea who the aggressors were or if Samson III was in any danger itself; they also had no way of reaching the planet without a functioning warp field.

Fifteen minutes after the first distress call had reached them, there was only silence.