"Captain's log, stardate 2293.2. This is Captain Samuel David Cho of the U.S.S. Legend, embarking on its maiden voyage. It's mission: to scout out a section right on the very edge of Wild Space for uranium. My crew are doing well, with occasional bouts of leisure, however. I'll give it to them. Every now and then, they do need the time to let go. Our Chief Engineer, Joel White, is certainly a wizard at repairs. He managed to complete repair of one of our four nacelles, powerful engines, in less than three days. Anyway, now I must go to check on the bridge. It seems that my bridge crew have exceeded their rest time of three hours by six point three nine five seconds."
"Captain on the bridge!" Captain Samuel David Cho of the U.S.S. Legend walked through the swishing metallic grey doors and onto the bridge. He was 25 years of age, one of the youngest captains in Starfleet. His ship, the Legend, was the newest in the fleet, and it had more powerful phasers, warp nacelles thrice as fast as the usual ones, and its shields were "smart", meaning that they would automatically shift shield power to the part of the shields that the attack was coming from. Instead of being a sterile white, the corridors and bulkheads were a metallic dark grey and the lights were a cool electric blue.
The teleporters were almost instant, needing only two seconds to transport a crew member from place to place. Each crew member was also armed lightly but impressively. An advanced phaser with four modes (kill, stun, energy beam and hack beam), and a communicator. For the Legend's first mission, she was to scout out an unmarked section of Wild Space. Long-range sensors had detected minute traces of uranium vapour emanating from nebulas nearby, hinting that this section of space might hold valuable rich deposits of uranium. The Legend flew through space, warp nacelles pulsating with red light. The main engine thrummed steadily. All systems were at their maximum. Everything was going smoothly. All the crew members stopped their leisure time and got back to work.
"Mr. Kenny, how do the security readings go?" Sam asked his Security Chief Kenny Green, sitting down in his command chair and folding his thin legs over one another. "All good, Captain. So far, none of my security teams report threats, but since this ship is a Combat-Explorer class starship, one of the most powerful in Starfleet, and second of its kind. In terms of firepower, we are second only to the ancient Vengeance, so space pirates will be delighted to get their hands on us. Therefore, we will need to be on our guard. Space pirates always use undetectable small ships to leech on to massive starships, then will spring a surprise attack." Finished, Kenny turned back to his station and observed the vast expanse of glittering stars on the blackness of space that was displayed on the huge viewing panel. "It's indeed beautiful." The science officer, James Harrison observed, gazing at the stars. "Yes. A pretty galaxy, one that we have to protect." The helmswoman, Sam's twin sister, Jael Dinah Cho, said. A nod of agreement went around the bridge.
The Legend tore through space at warp speed, going three times as fast as what the legendary Enterprise could do. Suddenly, a few dozen black shapes flitted past the Legend, startling many. "Prime and lock phasers, Captain?" the trigger-happy First Officer, Ben Sawyer, asked. "No need. They are simply gas mantas. They are creatures that can fly faster than warp speed. They are harmless, feeding only on waste gas that starships produce. See, a few are going behind our exhaust vents." Sam pointed to a pop-up display on the viewport, showing several of the mantas positioning themselves behind the Legend's exhaust vents. "Interesting creatures. I just hope that none of them causes waste gas to divert back to the engine. That would be disastrous!" The voice of Chief Engineer Joel White came over the comm.
"Captain, we are dropping out of warp in a few minutes. Should we fire flares to scare the gas mantas away, such that we don't harm them when we drop?" Navigator Alexander Olson asked. "Permission granted." Sam said, pressing a few buttons to properly seal all hatches. Alex nodded at Ben, who deployed the two trigger handles on his console. Priming the rear phasers, Ben took aim and fired a salvo of flares. With loud screeches, the gas mantas shied away from the blinding light and shot off. "Heh, heh. Easy." Ben said, stowing the triggers. Alex began the countdown a few moments later. "Dropping out of warp in five...four…three…two…one…drop!" The Legend dropped out of warp speed in the middle of three nebulas. "Uranium." Jael observed, pointing at the silvery clouds wafting among the nebulas. "A wealth of radioactive minerals." Sam said as he directed a drone to fly out and take a sample for inspection. The drone came back, bearing a sample of the uranium in a sealed container. While James processed the uranium, everyone worked to direct the ship away from the beautiful but lethal nebulas and towards the blackness of space that they were supposed to chart. James gave a small "hmm" of surprise. "Everyone. This is pure, untainted uranium in its cleanest form." Everyone gasped as James projected the chemical properties of the sample onto the viewport. "It is…truly a wealth of resource." The Communications Officer, Susan James, breathed. For safety's sake, James then sealed the uranium in a containment field. With shaking hands, Sam contacted the Federation Headquarters. He calmly reported all that they had found. "All right. Park yourselves there and await the extractors. I'm sending the Rear Admiral to oversee the operation. Remember, if it is dangerous, pull out. We cannot risk our own ships." New Federation Admiral John Johnson said.
Five weeks of patient waiting followed, and soon, many light extractor ships flew within sight for the section of space, now charted as "Uranium Region". The extractor ships were then followed by larger starships, including one of the most important ships in Starfleet, the U.S.S. Firestorm, which was the personal starship of Rear Admiral Justin Blake. Justin, despite his subordinates' warnings, was eager to have a large share in the uranium and boarded the extractor ship that was first on the schedule to enter Uranium Region. He refuted the warnings that Uranium Region might be dangerous, saying that it was uncharted, and if the Federation had not charted it, it was not inhabited. He refused a security team, taking with him only his phaser rifle and some extractor tools. The last anyone saw of the Rear Admiral was his extractor ship flying into Uranium Region and disappearing behind a gas cloud. More extractor ships and fighter craft were sent to search for Justin, but they too, vanished. In the Legend, which had been completely forgotten and cast aside by the more experienced starship crews, Sam was formulating a plan to investigate. He instructed all the remaining ships to fall back while the Legend went into the section to investigate. The other ships, obviously relieved, agreed, and in a matter of hours, the Legend was flying into Uranium Region, without the slightest clue of where they could be venturing into.
Three hours, and Jael suddenly shouted. "Proximity Alert!" The Legend's smart shields diverted power to the right shields, near the nacelles, and a green torpedo crashed into them, followed by another. "Unknown assailants!" said Kenny as he yelled for the security teams to man the turrets along the sides of the Legend. "Ben! Fire at will!" Sam shouted as Ben seized the controls and squeezed the triggers. The Legend's enhanced weapons flashed, firing at where the barrage of torpedoes was coming from. "Unknown assailant hit, and their shields are at 98%!" Susan reported as klaxons began to wail.
Then, suddenly, a monstrous ship appeared out of the blackness of space. "It's a Romulan* attack cruiser! Its speed exceeds ours by factor of ten! And its size exceeds ours by factor of fifteen!" yelled James as he ran off the bridge to the engine room. "We can't outrun this ship! Our only option is to fight!" Sam concluded. The next hour was filled with near-misses, solid hits and the sky was lit up with phaser blasts. But at last, the Romulan ship was weakened, and stopped firing long enough for Sam to give the command "Engage the payload!". The Legend then fired its entire arsenal of advanced long-range photon torpedoes at the enemy ship. Dozens of explosions on the Romulan vessel were seen by the crew of the badly damaged Legend.
Sam acted quickly, formulating a plan. "Kenny! You take three security teams and guard all the access hatches. Jael, Ben and Alex, you three follow me to the ship. We are going to try and investigate. The rest of you, try and keep the ship moving away while Chief Medical Officer Marcus tends to the wounded and Joel works his repair magic. Clear? James, you take over temporarily as First Officer. Susan, you replace Jael for now. Marcus! Get Nick Ferguson to take over as Navigator! Now, people, remember, if there is any danger, for goodness' sake just get the ship out of here. Forget about us; we will take care of ourselves. Clear? Now, everyone, move out!" He and his three selected crew members rushed to an away ship while Chief Engineer Joel quickly directed his red shirt division, beginning the repair works. Marcus treated the injured crew members, and Kenny stationed his security teams around the access hatches, trying to ensure that no intruders would jump on the ship.
The four crew members of the Legend armed themselves with a modified phaser rifle each, and a powerful phaser pistol. Then they jumped into the away ship and took off for the heavily-damaged Romulan ship that completely dwarfed the Legend. As the ship streaked through a burning tunnel of debris, a string of words was faintly visible on the enemy ship's hull: NCC-1900 – U.S.S. LENIN. Unaware of the enemy ship's potential Starfleet nature, the away ship landed in what seemed to be a burning hangar. There were a few charred corpses, but Sam was shocked to see that they were dressed in Starfleet uniform. "This is strange." Alex remarked as he saw dropped standard-issue phasers in the hands of the wounded. There were a few survivors, and all except one were sorely wounded. Sam gripped the uninjured survivor and asked him, "Who are you? What have you done with the Rear Admiral Justin Blake?" The survivor laughed incredulously. "Rear Admiral? So, the old boy Blake managed to claw his way up. It is indeed pitiful that he is not with us here, safe! But let me warn you, my man, he is definitely not going to see another sunrise as himself!" Immediately, the survivor lost consciousness and fell to the deck.
Sam dropped the survivor and mulled over his words. He will not see another sunrise as himself. What could that mean? Sam called his three crewmembers who were poking around a wrecked shuttle. Jael informed her brother that the shuttle was a Starfleet light inspector craft. "Strange…" Ben thought out loud as they progressed through the burning ship on foot. At last, they came to a door. It was silver and undamaged, which was surprising. Sam opened the door, and the four were stunned to see a wholly undamaged starship inside a vast hangar the size of the ancient Vengeance. The starship was one and a half size of the Enterprise, and there were huge lengths of cable running from the ship to power outlets around the hangar.
Now the four Legend crewmembers understood. This starship, apparently named Lenin, from what could be seen on the ship's hull, was operating a huge Romulan starship from within. The huge ship had actually been nothing more than an outer shell and weapons systems. Sam activated the energy beam function on his phaser and projected the beam at the main access hatch, cutting it open. They were greeted by volleys of phaser fire and quickly took cover as the crew of the Lenin defended their starship, pouring out laserfire. Sam, his sister and two friends fought back as well as they could ever possibly hope to fight, but soon, they were surrounded.
The four crew members of the Legend were held at gunpoint until the Captain of the Lenin arrived. He was a tall Russian man in a Starfleet uniform, although their uniforms were inlaid with plates of lightweight flexible titanium mesh. "People! Lay off! Can't you see that you are threatening a Starfleet Captain? Greetings, Captain Samuel D. Cho, Ms. Jael D. Cho, Mr. Ben Sawyer and Mr. Alexander Olson. I do apologise for my crew's belligerence, but they were merely doing what they deemed right. I am Captain Mikhail Andreievich of the U.S.S. Lenin, and I must say, for a Combat-Explorer starship, you put up more of a fight than what we expected. However, I can see that you are heavily damaged. How interesting. Come and I shall tell you of my tale." Mikhail led the four to the bridge, where he sat them down and started his story.