This writer does not own Star Trek or any of its affiliates. He only owns his own story line and ideas

Chapter Three

Against All Odds

"Captain's log August 20th 2407: this is the third week of our isolation in the delta quadrant. The crew seems to be accepting the idea that they may not be able to see their families for a couple of years as long as we can remain in contact with fleet command through the wormholes. Again the Q entity has requested that I allowed him to set the computer so that we can get back in one jump, but I am just not comfortable with allowing him near one of our computers again. Him getting hold of our computer is what has stranded as in the delta quadrant in the first place…." About that time Logan heard "Captain to the bridge" on the ship's 1MC. Logan picked up the receiver and pushed the button for the bridge and heard Commander Meyers say "bridge." "What is it Commander?" Logan asked. "Sir, sensors have picked up high radiation readings dead ahead." Commander Meyers reported. "All stop" Logan said. He listened as he heard the engines come to a stop, he picked up his jacket and headed towards the door. When he reached the door his two marine guards snapped to attention, "as you were, take me to the bridge." As he walked through the passage ways going up one ladder through one hatch and on another he finally came to the elevator for the superstructure, the three of them boarded the elevator and headed to the bridge.

As he entered the bridge he heard "Captain's on the bridge," Logan said in a low voice "as you were." He looked at Shelley who was sitting in the captain's chair and said "what do you got?" Shelly said "The radiation readings are high, too high for us to go through we're going to have to go around." Logan picked up the receiver or the sound powered phones and hit the button for SCIFF "bridge to Sciff." "Go ahead bridge" came the reply. Logan came back and said "prepare an Alpha class probe and let me know when it is ready." "Yes sir we'll let you know Sciff out." Logan took his seat and patiently waited for the call from Sciff.

20 Minutes later…

"Sciff to bridge." "Go ahead" Logan replied. "Sir, the probe is ready to be launched" came the call and Logan replied "launch." Logan heard the dome above the bridge opening up, he could hear the electronics as they began working in the room behind him. He then heard a short blast and saw the probe heading off towards the radiation field. He sat back and waited, he wanted to get all the information that he could before making a decision on how to proceed. Everyone stood still as if waiting for some catastrophe to happen when Logan looked around and said "Did we take a work day off that I was unaware of? Get back to your jobs; whatever this is we'll figure it out, but we all still have jobs to do so turn to." The phrase "turn to" was an old phrase which was widely used in the Navy even as far back as the 20th century. It simply meant to get busy or get to work; something every sailor knew full well. With that phrase coming out of the Captain's mouth everyone went back to work.

Logan looked at Shelley and she grinned that devilish grin of her's and said "A little mid-morning snack?" Logan chuckled and said "Nah, I just don't want them spending time worrying about something they can't change one way or the other. The decision on how to proceed will be made by you, me and dad. The rest of the ship needs to know that we still have a chain of command, and that there is still a work structure here." Shelley nodded her head and said "I couldn't agree with you more."

Logan heard the whirring of the 1MC and he picked up the receiver and said "Bridge." "Captain," came the reply "the first readings for the probe have come back, and I think you had better come down here." Logan looked at Shelley and said "Get dad, tell him to come to Sciff, and you join us there." He looked at Lt. J.G. Hardin and said "Hardin you have the bridge until I return." Hardin stiffed up and said "Ssss…sir?" Logan grinned and said "Nothing to it, just sit her and look important, everyone knows their jobs." Hardin was fresh out of the Academy and he was shy anyway, and to be placed in the Captain's seat unnerved him, but he did not want to disappoint the Captain so he sat down." As Logan started to walk away Hardin said "Captain?" Logan sighed and asked "What is it Hardin?" Hardin said "What if we have an emergency, or what if we have to go to general quarters?" Logan said "do you know how to use the 1MC to reach Sciff?" "Yes sir!" Hardin replied. Logan nodded his head and smiled and said "If something like that should happen you just pick up the phone, and call me, I'll walk you through whatever you need to do." With that Logan disappeared down the ladder towards CIC.

Bakker stood with the captain, by the console, waiting for the Admiral and first officer to arrive. He was one of the few non-military personnel that worked on the ship. He was actually attached to the CIA and it was normally his job to gather intel on an enemy, but there wasn't much of a need for that at this time and place so he, and others like him that worked in Schiff, gathered intel on their location and where they could obtain supplies.

When Jack and Shelley arrived they all gathered around the console to look at the readings that the probe had sent back. Bakker said "The radiation is very high so we will need to go around it, but the real problem is not that it is radiation, but where it came from." Logan looked at him inquisitively and asked "where it came from?" "Yes sir" Bakker replied. "According to the readings that were sent back to us the radiation came from a nuclear reactor made by us" Bakker added. Logan looked around the room for a moment and then asked "How do you explain that?" "Sir, the reactor came from the Intrepid" Bakker replied. Logan slowly shook his head and said "Nooooo, the Intrepid and the Yorktown were both destroyed months ago in the Omega quadrant." "I don't know what to tell you sir, but I do know that this radiation came from the number two reactor of the Intrepid."

Shelley looked at Logan and asked "Is it possible that the Yorktown also survived that explosion and is out here somewhere?" "Let's not get ahead of ourselves Shelley" Logan said "the Intrepid has been destroyed, so we don't know anything about the Yorktown, or even if it survived the explosion. It is very possible that the Intrepid was blown into the delta quadrant through a worm hole and then exploded." "I don't think so Captain" Bakker cut in. "Why not?" Logan inquired. "Well…because we can only find radiation from one reactor and the Intrepid had two and it also had nine nukes. It looks more like a scuttle than anything else, and if the Yorktown was with the Intrepid they could have taken the first reactor apart along with the nukes and everything that they needed to fix up the Yorktown and scuttled the Intrepid to keep anyone from using our technology" Bakker replied.

Logan stood for a moment than he asked: "Dad, Shelley, do you think we should continue to make jumps or do you think we should stay at sub-light speeds to look for the Yorktown?" Jack said "If the Yorktown is out here, I feel that we should look for it." Shelley added "I agree, I think we should make sure before moving on. Logan thought about it for a few minutes then picked up the receiver and hit the button for the bridge, and when Hardin answered Logan said "Lt. I want you to have the navigator to plot a course left of the radiation field and when that is done, I want you to follow that course at full speed. Do you have that?" "Copy that Captain" Hardin said and Logan then said "I'll be back on the bridge shortly. Engage." Logan could feel his ship tilting to the port side slightly then heading out. He had gotten used to hearing the roar of the engines, and they always had a calming effect on him.

He looked at Bakker, Shelley and Jack and said "if they survived out here they've done it against all odds. There is no telling what they are facing now, so let's see if we can find them and help them out."