Captain's Log, USS Enterprise, Captain James T Kirk
Stardate 1644.2
On receipt of a mayday distress signal from the CIV
Lady Grace, identifying the ship as running under
Starfleet colours and announcing damage to the ship
and emergency conditions on board, we responded with
all speed.
The USS Gallant intercepted us as we approached the
Grace, refused communication and fired on us.
Lieutenant Chekov disabled the Gallant's weapons
systems with targeted fire under difficult
circumstances, whereupon the Gallant attempted to ram
the Enterprise. Lieutenant Commander Sulu evaded the
Gallant's repeated attempts to force a mass proximity
situation while bringing us to within transporter
range of the Lady Grace. We beamed medical teams and
repair crews aboard the Lady Grace and a security team
to the Gallant to ascertain the situation aboard and
bring the ship under control. The security team,
despite outstanding efforts, were unable to secure
control of the Gallant due to computer sabotage by
persons unknown aboard the Gallant at some time prior
to this incident. When the Gallant attempted to ram
the Lady Grace I ordered that she be fired on and
destroyed to prevent loss of life aboard the Grace.
According to manifests, two hundred thirty people were
aboard the Gallant.
We were able to beam nine to the Enterprise.
Dr McCoy has diagnosed them to be in varying stages of
severe psychological shock and as yet I have had no
opportunity to question them on events aboard the
Gallant.
The Enterprise security team observed only a small
area of the Gallant in their attempts to secure
control of the ship. Their reports will be
incorporated into a full report to Starfleet when
circumstances allow, to avoid the necessary
inaccuracies of a premature and incomplete account.
The Lady Grace has suffered severe damage to her
internal systems and appears to have embarked from
Starbase 18 with refugees aboard in a very precarious
condition. We have completely evacuated her and taken
her in tow. I will make a full report to Starfleet
when I have ascertained the full circumstances.
Personal Log, James T Kirk, Stardate 1644.3
Lying to Starfleet always makes my palms sweat.
The trick, of course, is not to lie but not to tell
them anything either. I've had years of watching
Spock do it to me and it's certainly improved my
official report writing.
My palms still sweat when I'm doing it, though.
There's no way in hell I'm going to file an official
report until I've heard what the crew aboard the Lady
Grace have to say for themselves. Bones tells me that
none of them are in a fit condition to be interviewed
yet, as they were suffering not only from the failure
of their life-support - emergency equipment kept them
from suffocating, but the cold was severe - but in
addition, that all are in a state of exhaustion.
The Lady Grace logs are patchy, but they record
Lieutenant (j-g) Corrina Larssen as commander of
record under an impoundment order that Spock assures
me is genuine. Neither voice logs nor the black box
have been sufficient to fully establish the sequence
of events, although Spock has proposed a tentative
time-line which places the fire on board, the sealing
of the section doors, and the damage to life support
as more or less contemporaneous.
Furthermore, Dr McCoy tells me that some of the
injuries to the civilians found scattered around decks
one and two were the result of violence rather than
accident. The perpetrator, or perpetrators, of this
violence have not yet been established. Without
further information from Starfleet on the 'incidents'
in Sector 34 and surrounding areas, Spock's hypothesis
that the events aboard the Lady Grace are somehow
related to the reports of ship disappearances and the
disturbing transmissions can't be proven. I hope that
the crew will be able to shed further light on
matters.
I also hope the crew from the Gallant will be able to
shed some light on what happened aboard *her*.
Tomlinson and her team report a bridge full of dead or
unconscious bodies and helm command locked out (which
must have happened shortly before they reached the
bridge). That in itself is bizarre on a Starfleet
vessel, but the rest of it -
Walls and ceilings bleeding. Screams and laughter
echoing through the corridors. Bodies not just dead,
but mutilated and dismembered.
Spock is in charge of both investigations, and as far
as the USS Gallant is concerned he is exploring the
hypothesis that some hallucinogenic agent caused both
the behaviour of the Gallant's crew and the phenomena
that the Enterprise security team observed.
How Ingrit Tomlinson came to return to the Enterprise
drenched in human blood is yet to be explained.