Disclaimer: I don't pretend to own any of the Star Trek series. The credit of creating these fascinating worlds belongs originally to Gene Roddenberry, may he R.I.P.

Author's Notes: I am still baffled by the Star Dates. I hope I have calculated them accurately, with some help of course. This takes place within and between episodes from the end of season 3 (right before The Best of Both Worlds part I) to the beginning of season 4, a span of about 6 months. The main story takes place within the gap between The Loss and Data's Day. What the Ensign documents in her personal logs may not fit exactly with what happened in the episodes because they are solely from her point of view.

I was also anxious to post this chapter, it being only my second fanfic, so I apologize in advance for any grammar and spelling errors I may have overlooked in my haste.

Since these start out as personal logs, let me describe what Julia Chapman looks like: she's mid-20s age, very pale skinned but with lots of freckles, brown eyes and long auburn wavy hair that falls to about her waist, which she prefers to keep down. She's 5 foot 3 inches tall and weighs just over 100 pounds, a fact that Dr. Crusher is always commenting on.

"You're too skinny. You need some meat on your bones."

I always laugh. "I've tried for years to gain more weight. It doesn't work."

Chapter 1: The First Few Weeks

Ensign's personal log star date 43970.2

"Hello, my name is Julia Chapman.Ensign Chapman. I am from the planet Earth, North American continent, the former USA, New York State to be exact. And proud of it? You better believe I am.

I just graduated from the Academy, number 7 atop my class on star date 43925.4. I am now aboard," I pause to add a dramatic effect, my grin widening in apparent suppressed glee, "NCC1701D USS Enterprise." I squeak excitedly. "I can't believe it! My first galactic assignment and it's aboard the Enterprise under none other than Captain Picard himself. Oh, I am so nervous. I begin helm duty tomorrow at 0800 hours. I hope I don't screw anything up my first day.

I just met my roommate briefly a few minuets ago. Ensign Andrea Masta. She seems very … nice. Perhaps a tad strange. Not that I'm entirely normal, mind you. In fact, I strive not to be and I would be the first to admit otherwise. I hope we can become friends. I have already met a few other crewmembers. I had to report to Cr. Crusher for my physical before I began duty. She has the most vibrant red hair I have ever seen. I love red hair, I sometimes wish mine were redder.

Anyway, she said I was in perfect heath, only my weight seemed to bother her. I understand that. Lieutenant Worf met me in the transporter room when I beamed over from Starbase 129. I have never seen a Klingon in person before. He's rather intimidating, but I'm sure it's only because I haven't worked with him yet. I've come to realize first impressions are never quite accurate. They're important, of course. It's best to make a good first one yourself, but one cannot portray themselves entirely within the first few seconds of introduction. Sometimes, even to attempt proves to be ill judgment." I open my mouth to continue, then stop and roll my eyes at myself. "Huh, listen to me, I'm rambling. I tend to do that sometimes. I suppose I find it important to explain myself so thoroughly in my logs for when I have children and grandchildren of my own, so that they can see what type of a person I was when I made them.

But I am so tired. I need to unpack and then get some sleep and I should probably try to meditate a little bit tonight to calm my nerves, but I am hesitant to, what with my roommate and all.

I should be all right. But first, I think I will have myself some chocolate. Mmm." (end log)

Ensign's personal log star date 43971.4

"Just got off my first day on duty. I got to meet the rest of the bridge crew." I count them out as I name each person, careful that I don't leave anyone out. "I had already met Lieutenant Worf, of course, Ensign Crusher, Data - he's an android, but if it weren't for his unnaturally pale skin and yellow eyes, you would never guess. Commander Riker - he is so tall, or rather I am so short. Counsellor Troi, she's half human, half Betazoid. Commander La Forge down in engineering - he has this thin band across his eyes but I'm not sure what it's for. And, of course Captain Picard. He even welcomed me aboard personally.

I was so nervous all day my hands shook. I was constantly afraid I was going to press the wrong button or hear the Captain's heading changes wrong, or report something incorrectly. I knew I should have meditated. Experience has taught me this same lesson time and time again, but do I yet listen?" I sigh. "Of course not. Perhaps I could do it on a holodeck, create the ideal environment. But I'm not sure how that would work, everything being created by force fields and holographic projections. I don't think my tools would have the same effect. I wish I could have brought them with me, but I was afraid of the questions they'd bring up. I could always replicate what I need and bring them with me into the holodeck. That might work. I'll have to give it a try. In fact, I think I will do it now. I don't want another day like today." (end log)

Ensign's personal log star date 43989.4

Tomorrow will complete my first week on duty and I haven't made any big mistakes … yet. Ha… knock on wood, right?" I search around for something made of real wood, then I remember my incense holder and I run to the drawer next to my bed and knock on it. "One can never be too careful.

Well, I really like it here." I adopt a sarcastic, overly cheery tone. "Working the helm on the main bridge can be very interesting when something exciting happens." I revert to normal speech again. "At least, that's what I'm hoping. So far it's been rather boring. We had been monitoring a Federation colony on Jouret IV. We arrived there today. The away team reported that the colony was gone. All those people, nearly a thousand. I hope we can find out what happened. What can we do about it, though?

Ah, well. We'll just have to wait and see. At least I'm not as nervous anymore. I've been making it a point to visit the holodeck for about a half hour every day before duty and it's really helping.

It also gives me a chance to record my dreams from the night before while they're still fresh in my memory. They have been very strange lately. More so than normal for me anyway. And I've noticed a definite recurring image: a white groping hand with black … vein … things, but I haven't the slightest idea what it could be referring to. I think it means something is coming, reaching for us…maybe. I think the colors are significant, though. I know, very helpful. Oh, well."

I hear the door to my quarters open and I turn in time to see my roommate walk in.

"Andrea, come here for a second." She walks over and bends down next to me in front of the panel. She is about my age and height with shoulder length, very curly brown hair. Her skin is as fair as mine, but without the freckles. "I am making a log entry. Say "hi" to everyone."

She looks at me, her eyebrows slightly raised. " 'Everyone'?"

"Watching my logs. In the future. You know, for when I become a famous Captain or Admiral and everyone watches my early logs as Ensign to see how I started out." Her eyes widen and she stares at me as if I have lost my mind, which sometimes I even admit openly that I never had one. I laugh. "Just kidding."

"Hi!" She waves energetically at the panel. She then talks to me. "You will have to explain that one later. I have to run. I'm already late for my big date with Daniel."

"That's right! I forgot." She walks away. "Have fun tonight!" I call after her. She peeks her head around the bathroom door and gives a sly grin. I laugh and return to my entry. "Andrea and I have become very quick friends, it almost seems to both of us as if we've known each other all our lives." I give a big yawn. "Huh, I need to get to bed." (end log)

Ensign's personal log star date 44001.5

I am very adrenaline-pumped excited as I begin this log. "I want to make this entry real quick before getting some sleep, if I can sleep at all after what all just happened. Oh, I can't believe it! The Captain is gone. We are currently undergoing some repairs after our recent battle and attempted fire from our main deflector dish so we can go after him and save him, if at all possible. He was abducted by the Borg and …"

I take a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. "I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.

Well, now I know what my recurring image meant: the Borg. That's what was responsible for the destruction of that colony. I don't know too much about them, only that they are part human, part machine beings who are all linked into what is called a collective. The Enterprise first encountered them over a year ago in, I believe, the Delta Quadrant. I could be wrong.

I got to see them firsthand a few days ago, though. I was on duty on the bridge. We had gone to investigate a sighting of the Borg cube, that's the shape of their ship, an enormous, gray … block. I don't know how else to describe it.

They hailed us, well, the Captain specifically. They wanted him to beam over. Needless to say, he refused. They don't seem to like the answer 'no.' They locked on a tractor beam. We were just able to get away by disabling their beam emitter, but not before they breached our hull in engineering. We then entered a nebula cloud and used it to screen ourselves against the Borg's sensors. It was an effective strategy, it gave us the time we needed to make repairs and examine the attack for any weaknesses we could use to our advantage.

I'm not sure exactly how long we remained concealed. I had been relived and went to my quarters for some sleep, I knew I wouldn't be getting much for a while and I was right. Suddenly we started getting bombarded by some kind of energy charge. I'm not sure if it was something done by the Borg or if it had to do with the nebula, but we had to get out of there fast. Unfortunately, the Borg were still out there, waiting for us. They locked on their tractor beam again. Suddenly I heard phasers being fired, I turned around and there were a couple of, what I can only assume were Borg, standing on the bridge.

Strange looking creatures, they are. Their skin is deathly white and they have like," I hold my hands up and look at them as if I'm seeing on me what I saw on the Borg, "this black circuitry all over their bodies. One hand on each had been either replaced or covered by a weapon of some kind.

Worf was firing at them, but it wasn't doing anything. It's like they were blocking it. So Riker attacked one of them, but they just threw him out of the way like a doll. I ran over to see if he was alright. The blow seemed to have knocked the wind out of him, but he assured me he was fine. When I turned to return to my station, Worf was lying on the ground and the Captain and other Borg were gone. I can't believe they took the Captain.

Riker sent an away team over to the Borg ship to try to get them out of warp. Whatever they did, it worked. Just as they were about to return, they reported that they had found the Captain. He had been made into a Borg, I heard them telling Riker once they were back onboard. Shelby wanted desperately to go back, she argued with Riker about it." I grin. "Not a very smart thing to do. I wouldn't want to cross him.

The Borg hailed us again and the Captain addressed us as Locutus … of Borg. He said something about 'we would serve them.' I'm not sure what that meant. They want to conquer us? If they had wanted that, why didn't they do it earlier? Why did they make such an effort to capture the Captain and then to make him into one of them?

But then, Riker ordered Lieutenant Worf to fire on the ship. I couldn't believe it! We were going to kill the Captain! But fortunately - unfortunately? not sure which really - it fired, but didn't seem to have an effect. Then the Captain hailed us again and said that our resistance was futile, that all his knowledge of Starfleet and the Enterprise was stored in the Borg's collective.

The next thing I knew, Commander Riker was informing everyone onboard that he was taking over as Captain. Starfleet must consider Captain Picard dispensable. We're not even going to try to get him back? It's horrible, to have lost such a great captain in this way. I can't even begin to imagine what he's feeling right now. Is he being coerced? Is he still even Jean-Luc Picard? He called himself Locutus. What does that mean?"

I sigh. "It's going to be nearly impossible trying to fall asleep with all these questions floating around in my mind. But I have to try. We only have about … well no less than 7 hours until repairs are complete, then Captain Riker will need all hands on deck. I just hope we can find an alternative and save Captain Picard." (end log)

Ensign's personal log star date 44012.3

"Well, we have Captain Picard back, alive, in one piece, and as a human again.

Once repairs were complete, we immediately set a course to meet up with the fleet assembled just outside sector 001, in which Earth is located.

It's strange, from what I was overhearing, everyone on board expected this encounter to be disastrous. Either we would be destroyed by the Borg or captured and assimilated - made into a Borg, that is - just like Captain Picard. At one point, I entered a turbo lift on my way to the bridge and there were 3 officers - one man and two women, I'm not sure of their names - all talking about it. One of the women, a lieutenant, asked me what I thought. I said I honestly didn't know.

'Commander, sorry, Captain Riker seems like a man who is strongly motivated and driven. I can't see him easily giving up the Captain. Why? Don't you trust him?'

She replied, 'Of course I trust him. I just doubt that anyone can truly protect us from the Borg.'

I hate now to admit it, but I felt the same way. The Borg do seem exceptionally strong and incredibly strategic.

When we had reached the coordinates of the fleet, all we found was a graveyard of destroyed ships left in the Borg's wake.

But that's not to say Riker didn't have a few tricks of his own up his sleeve.

He made Shelby his temporary first officer. I have noticed some … tension between Commander Riker and Lieutenant Commander Shelby. She originally came on board to aid in creating a defense strategy against the Borg. She seemed a little cocky, in my opinion and she completely ignored me. I hate it when people overlook me as insignificant.

Anyway, he took command of the battle bridge and she of the saucer section, which they then separated. I remained onboard the main bridge on the saucer section. Both sections fired on the Borg ship, their plan was to keep the Borg ship occupied so that a shuttle carrying Worf and Data could penetrate their force fields, beam on board and retrieve the Captain.

The battle disabled our section, but when we expected the Borg to attack and destroy us, they just … left.

Once we reconnected the two sections of the ship, we followed the Borg toward sector 001. Unfortunately, it was predicted that we would arrive too late. Meanwhile, Data was attempting to gain access to the Borg's collective consciousness via the Captain's Borg subspace processors. He succeeded. That got the Borg's attention. They were still dependant on him. Dr. Crusher, who was with Data in his lab, suggested that the Borg couldn't cut off their link to the Captain. Riker suggested Data try to plant a command into the collective. He tried, but couldn't gain access. As a last resort, Riker ordered to set a collision course. At the last possible second - a very close call - Data succeeded … in putting them to sleep.

I'll tell you, those few minutes when they were slicing into our hull again - with the computer's multiple warnings and distracting beeps, the ship almost constantly quaking under the strain … seemed to drag. We were all afraid we would be destroyed any second. I could hardly think straight. All that kept coming to mind were thoughts of my friends and family. I know, pathetically typical, but when you think you're about to die, you can't exactly control your thoughts and emotions. At least I can't yet, considering this was my first ever brush with death.

The quiet that followed - a sigh of relief, I guess it could be described as - was slightly eerie. We all seriously wondered if that was really the end. Riker sent over an away team to confirm that the Borg were indeed asleep, then left the bridge to check on the Captain.

Once the away team was back, we moved away just in time before the cube exploded. I guess what happened was that it activated a self destruct sequence in response to it's malfunction. Who would have thought that it would be as simple as putting them to sleep?

So," I sigh, "the Captain has resumed command, Riker is first officer again and Shelby has disembarked. I was honestly not sorry to see her leave.

We are now docked at McKinley station undergoing repairs. Some of the crew have taken leave of the ship to visit friends and relatives on Earth, my roommate being one of them and the Captain too from what I hear, but I am staying on board. I am not homesick yet. I barely left Earth a few weeks ago.

I am excited though, because my Mom is beaming aboard. I haven't seen her since my graduation from the Academy on star date 43925.4 and I'm eager to show her around the ship."

Over the intercom, I hear, "Chief O'Brien to Ensign Chapman."

I tap my badge to respond, "Ensign Chapman here."

"Your mother has just signaled to beam aboard."

"Thank you! I'm on my way."

"Would you like me to wait until you're here?"

"Please! That would be great! Thank you." I tap it again to end the transmission.

"I'm so excited! She has never been off the North American continent before, let alone aboard a galaxy class star ship. I gotta go!" (end log)