"Captain's log, stardate 1105.7." She hoped the sarcasm in her voice wasn't coming through to the log. "We are exactly one year into our 10 year journey, and thus far, absolutely nothing has happened. However, we have reached a vital point in our mission." Her voice strengthened, as anticipation threw off the cloak of boredom that had covered her in the past months. "Approximately two hours from now, the USS Endeavor will be further into deep space than any federation starship has ever gone. We are not sure what to expect, but I have faith in my crew, and in this ship. Whatever challenges should come our way, I am confident that we will overcome them, and discover new life and new civilizations." She paused for a moment, as the irony of her previous words hit her. "For the first time since the legendary captain Kirk, we are truly going where no man has gone before. End log."
Captain Tara Cusick absently pulled down on her uniform, straightening it. She had let her logs drop off over the past few months, with nothing out of the routine to report. Technically, she should receive a minor reprimand from Admiral Hawke when she returned to federation space, but she suspected that 9 years after the infraction, no one would really care.
"Commander Tankersley to Captain Cusick." The voice came out of the small communications device that she wore as a bracelet on her wrist.
"What can I do for you, Commander?" She responded cheerfully. With nothing else to do, drawing her Vulcan First Officer out of her shell had become one of Tara's personal goals. Over the past few months, the woman had shown slightly more interest, agreeing more often to games of scrabble and holodeck excursions. Though, that may have had more to do with the excruciating boredom than anything else.
"I have assembled the final reports before we pass Deep Space Station 14." Came the woman's dry response. "They have requested that we stop for a few days before moving onward. To quote their Captain, 'We don't see fresh faces very often, and my crew could sure use a morale boost.'" Tara couldn't help but chuckle at Elizabeth's obvious incredulity at the station-Captain's mannerisms. The young woman had spent most of her Starfleet career as liaison to Vulcan, and had never dealt with humans on a regular basis. She had been made first officer for political reasons, despite lack of experience, and the relationship between them had been rocky until each had come to the conclusion that the other was worthy of respect. Despite her lack of experience, the Vulcan was obviously intelligent, well-educated, and well-spoken… she would gain her experience long before the mission's end.
"We might as well stop." She responded cheerfully. "Who knows when we'll get another opportunity for shore leave? Let's see… what resources does the space station have?" She pulled up the information manually on her desktop, to keep from interrupting her conversation with Elizabeth.
"The space station has a small shopping center, a bar, and several holodecks." Her first officer responded. "Nothing particularly unusual in the way of scientific resources. Their main project is to analyze metal-content in incoming asteroids and comets, calculate their trajectory and appraise their system of origin, and put together a hypothetical map of element concentration throughout the galaxy."
"Yes, that's all I'm really finding about it too." Tara agreed absently, scanning through the information in front of her. "Now hang on… this is interesting."
"Captain?"
"What was the name of the captain you spoke to, commander?"
"A Captain Jessica Whitaker, Captain."
"That's what the computer says too… but, I served with Jessica Whitaker just two years ago. She was an ensign, barely out of the academy." Tara tilted her head, trying to remember details about the young woman other than the basics listed in the profile she now had pulled up on her screen. "There wasn't anything special about her… no reason at all why she should be promoted so quickly."
"Space Stations set this far out of reach of the federation do not receive new personnel, or even have regular contact with the fleet. If high-ranking officers needed to be replaced, lower-ranking officers would have to be promoted, regardless of their level of ability."
"You're suggesting that EVERYONE above the rank of ensign on this station is dead?" Tara made a skeptical face, and then realized that it was wasted on her communicator.
"No
Captain, merely that they have been incapacitated."
"Wouldn't
it be in our records if that were the case? It doesn't say ANYTHING
on here about previous captains…"
AN: This first chapter was written by Ari during Bio 122. We have a running joke that she's Bones, my roommate is Spock, and I'm Kirk. She was bored and wrote about half of this as a kind of one-shot. After encouragement from myself and Elizabeth, she wrote the rest of this chapter. The round robin starts in the next chapter when I borrowed Ari's laptop for my programming class and wrote her a note before continuing the story line. At the beginning of all other chapter there will be an author's note in italics, and in one case the notes continue through out the chapter. It's all in good taste, I promise ; )
