"Captain's Log. We have been in this universe too long, in my opinion. But now it seems we have problems getting home. After tracking McKay to the Warp Facility on Mars, we engaged in battle, lost our best squadron of fighter pilots, and I now wait for a meeting with my senior staff to discuss our journey home."
The senior staff entered the conference room and took their seats.
First to speak was Bronski, "The ship got pretty beat up by those two cruisers, plus the damage from the Battle of Batazed. What that amounts to is that though warp isn't too dangerous right now, judging from the first cross over here… well the Destiny will fly apart. I need to get us to McKinley Station and maybe a week of repairs before we are able to make the jump."
"And we don't have that long." Watson reported, "The Warp Facility took some irreversible damage. The field will be soon to destabilized to handle the Omega Particle charge properly. The Tabernacle is in orbit with us, and has the necessary particles to charge the Warp Facility, but we have a day to do it, tops."
"A week to repair, a day to create the rift. Once the rift is open, ho long will it stay open?" Starwind asked.
"Two or three hours." Watson replied.
Starwind nodded. "Bronski, Talara, get the Tabernacle into position. West, prepare the crew for evacuation to the Normandy and Stragger. Seionor Staff will all transfer to the Normandy. This is our only way out. We have to abandon ship. Take everything of importance off board immediately. VonBach, supervise the movement of McKay and his men to the Normandy's brig. Dismissed."
The Senior Staff exited, with exception to Amy West. She walked over to where Starwind sat. "Captain-"
"Amy." Starwind closed his eyes and motioned for her to stop speaking, "The decision to abandon the Destiny is mine alone. Sure, it's a weighty one… but be a Captain someday. You'll understand what I mean by 'I can handle it'. I have been trained to deal with loss of ship and crew."
"Vic, it's still a hard thing to do. It's not like Destiny is facing a core breach or anything like that. It's not like you activated the self-destruct. Destiny is fixable. Destiny can fly, just not far enough. Vic, let go of this whole 'I'm trained to handle it' thing and admit this is difficult for you. It's eating you up inside and I can see it." West sighed. "No one expects you to be without sadness or fear. We expect you to be a leader. Nothing more or less than that." West walked out.
Starwind stood, staring out the window in the conference room. "Computer, begin recording; Captain's log, supplemental. If we go home, we have one shot. We have to do it today. Sadly, Destiny is in no condition to make a cross-dimensional jump. The Destiny will not be coming home with us. As this is such, this will be the final log entry for the U.S.S. Destiny. We will leave the Destiny in orbit of Earth, for Zeon to analyze and backwards-engineer. As for myself, I will take command of what is left of our squad from the Normandy. All supplies and important materials are being transported off Destiny… but I still am saddened by the loss of my first command. Questions haunt me, like will they build another? Will my actions here lead me to a hero's welcome or a dishonorable discharge? While in this universe I have shown brazen disregard for the Prime Directive, as well as done things that are downright treasonous. Not to mention nearly lost three crews before even trying to come home and commissioned a weapon so destructive the blood may never wash from my hands. Saying my acts are questionable, that puts it mildly. But I do believe, in my heart of hearts, that I did the right thing. Maybe I am a bad person for doing what I did. Maybe the death toll is too high. But I do believe I did the right thing. End recording and transfer all Captain's Log entries to the Normandy's database."