CHAPTER 5
Science officer's log, stardate: 62497.55
"Circumstances unknown seem to have prevented me from being assimilated by the Borg just moments ago. While quietly boarding this massive cube and surveying the corridors with my tricorder in search of the strange readings that led me here, my search came to an abrupt halt as I was found out by a unimatrix of seven drones. All hope seemed lost as I was chased and apprehended, but soon let go of by the drone who had me in his grip. He dropped me to the ground as easily as he had picked me up by my neck. They all stared at each other for a few seconds and fell in single line before marching off down a hallway to God knows where.
I can easily fall into a moment of regret right now, given the fact that I ended up in this predicament after disobeying a direct order from Captain Monroe that prohibited me from commandeering a shuttle from the Takuza to this cube, but the energy readings we were detecting aboard our ship led me to believe that while yes, approaching the cause of the source required exceptional caution and yes, it being aboard a Borg cube compounded the danger of this excursion out here, there was no telling when we would have had the chance of attempting to study this phenomenal find as traces of tachyons around this vessel indicated that the cube darted around at warp speeds within a considerably spread out amount of space in highly unpredictable patterns. Out of fear of losing the chance to explore the cause of my findings once and for all, I decided that consequences be damned, that I was going to find out what the meaning of this was, head on. Were my actions a court-martialable offense? Most likely yes, but is exploration of strange phenomena with sometimes total reckless abandon not Starfleet at its core? It's debatable and when the time comes for me to answer for my actions, I will hope I can succeed in using that argument to my advantage. Besides, if there's any validity to my speculation of what I've possibly discovered, the Alpha Quadrant may even thank me for taking these first steps of unearthing such a find.
There's an old Earth saying: 'Well-behaved women seldom make history.' I believe that there is no family whose lineage of history relates more to this quote than my own. Dating back hundreds of years, my family's name has often teetered on what many would call obsession or sticking our noses in where it doesn't belong. I call it the true explorer's vigor and I wouldn't have gotten to my discovery here if I'd have played it safe all these years. This tenacity in our blood and drive to do the right thing are ultimately what pushed me to study this Lament Configuration that's haunted and puzzled Starfleet's greatest minds for decades. And now I'm on the cusp of not only knowing of the box's whereabouts, but bringing it to Starfleet's possession for firsthand research, and I should now second-guess my course of action? Not on my watch, or my name isn't Lieutenant Justine Merchant."