The guys where working feverishly on their consoles gathering as much data as possible about the creature. Joe was extrapolating the course of the creature - so far it was in a wide orbit of the star - when the noise at OPS rose quite a bit.

„Energy levels are rising!" Smyke shouted.

„Look at the readout! This amount of energy in a living creature should be impossible!" Dr. Schmitz interjected.

„It is changing it's course, out of the system. It is accelerating." Joe announced. „Changing course to follow."

The Captain came sprinting to the Bridge.

„Keep on it Ms. 9, but give it some room, I don't want to scare it." She ordered.

The creature was slowly gaining distance as Joe had not accelerated the Hermes.

"Energy readings are leveling out, it seems to be stabilizing." Pet'l announced.

"Acceleration has stopped, it now moving at about ¾ sublight." Joe managed to report. "I'm staying with it, distance is now at 80 thousand km."

"Should we try hailing it?" The Captain asked.

Dr. Schmitz and Pet'l looked at each other. "We simply don't know how it communicates. We could scare it off, we could maybe talk to it."

"I would advise caution, any action on our part could be interpreted as aggression, we don't know what this creature is capable off." Pet'l added.

"Really? You think it could hurt us?" The Captain was clearly not convinced.

"I don't know. But it's reaction indicates that is most likely aware of our presence. A lot of creatures try to avoid a potential threat first before they attack." Pet'l replied calmly.

"I'd first like to gather as much data as we can before we try something new." Dr. Schmitz concluded.

"All right. Keep scanning. Ms. 9, hold our Position relative to the creature." The Captain announced and settled into her chair to study the readout on her console.

After quite some time the silence was disrupted by a cheery voice.

"Never fear, coffee is here!" Exclaimed Sarah. She entered the Bridge carrying a small tray with 6 insulation cups of – what could only be presumed to be coffee!

She distributed the coffee around earning remarks of thanks and gratitude. Pet'l first declined, but gratefully accepted a cup of tea. Joe accepted her cup with thanks, noticing that it was a bit stronger than this morning, chief was getting the hang of it.

"I heard about the creature, this is really exciting. A space-whale." She exclaimed cheerfully.

Dr. Schmitz and Pet'l where looking at each other.

"Totally inaccurate." Dr. Schmitz exclaimed, Pet'l raised an eyebrow. "Indeed."

"Space-whale it is then!" Sarah announced again.

"I suppose, until we come up with a more accurate name." Dr. Schmitz conceded. Sarah grinned broadly, warming the room.

"I'll head back to the lab, we're all going over the data, it's fascinating."

After 2 more hours of keeping the distance and course, the autopilot was doing just fine, Joe finally got of her shift and headed to her quarters. Tired but woo wound up to sleep she decided that it was time to work out. That she hadn't done so in a few days was just adding to the case. Joe changed into her workout gear, sweat pants and a tank top that showed her Abs quite nicely, grabbed a towel and water bottle and headed out. First to the mess for some water and directions.

"The gym is at the lowest deck, should not be very crowded by this time." The chief informed her with a smile. "Be sure to check in when you're done, I'll safe some of the last strawberries for you.

"Thanks chief!" With a smile on her face she climbed down the ladder to the lowest deck. This deck was mostly quarters for the deckhands, a small cargo bay for spare parts and supplies and – among other things – a gym. The gym was just a small compartment with as much workout gear packed into it as was feasible if people should still be able to operate it. As Joe entered two deckhands where lifting weights and one guy who could only be one of the scientists on one of the treadmills. He was far to smart looking to be a deckhand.

Joe started her routine by warming up and stretching for some minutes. She had her back turned to the room but was still aware of the stares she was receiving, she was used to it. Joe was quite tall for a woman, but with 1,7m not a giraffe. She was always described as being wiry, which she always thought was accurate. After her warmup she went over to the treadmill. Setting the speed to a comfortable 12 km/h she set the timer to 30 Min and started jogging.

After some time science-guy was done with the treadmill and headed over to the dumbbells where Joe would have a good view. He selected quite a heavy set and started to work out, occasionally glancing in Joes direction. She could easily tell he was trying to impress her. The weight was obviously too heavy for him as he was doing his set very slowly and was struggling and was quite unsuccessful at hiding it. Joe grinned to herself, obviously she did not hide that too good as he was grinning back.

Joe was saved by the deckhands who came strolling by and stopped in front of the treadmill.

"Gentlemen". She greeted them. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Is this guy bothering you, Ms?" The right one pointed a thumb at science-guy.

Joe managed not to laugh – barely. "Don't worry about him. He is just exercising. I'm fine."

"Is it true that we found a space-whale?" The other one asked.

"You already heard? News travel fast! We did find a creature that apparently lives in Space. How that is even possible, I have no idea. We're currently trailing it on a course out of the system." Joe answered them.

"Is it any dangerous?" The first one asked.

"Truth is, we don't know. But I'm not overly worried. We have quite some distance between us and it and so far there were no aggressive moves made." Joe tried to calm them. She was interrupted by her alarm clock.

"All right, might one of you gentleman be my spotter?" Joe asked as she stepped down from the treadmill and headed over to the weights. She could have lifted them by herself but it was always better to have a spotter. She also didn't want to give science-guy any ideas.

"How much do you lift?" The first one asked as we where navigating workout equipment.

"Today I'll go light with 40 kg, it was a long day." He looked at his compatriot. "Ok, lets set you up."

They set up the weights and Joe got onto the bench, both of them positioned themselves at each end of the bar. Joe started and did a set of 10 repetitions followed by another one. She set down the bar.

"Would you please add another 20 kg, that was way too light." They looked at each other and complied.

Joe started again, that was better. The next set of 10 was still not taxing but she did start to work up a sweat. After another set she put the bar down and got up.

"Thanks guys. Appreciate it." Joe helped them put away the weights and toweled off the sweat. Then she went over to a rack to do some pull-ups.

It took her about one hour to get through her normal workout routine, she added some extra sets of burpees as she had skipped a few days. After that she was done and was looking forward to some strawberries and a hot shower.

As Joe climbed up the ladder she decided that she'd hit the shower first, strawberries later. Entering the corridor that let to her quarters she noticed someone lurking outside. It was science-guy, not a big surprise. He had already showered and changed, compared to his tidy looks Joe felt extra grimy.

"Hello there." He smiled at her.

"Hi, can I help you?" Joe answered tiredly.

"I was hoping. I watched you work out and wanted to introduce myself. I'm Rick."

"Joe, nice to meet you."

"Would you care for a drink, Joe?"

"Thanks, but all I want now is a shower, maybe later. Ok?"

"Of course, I'll stay in touch." With that he turned and left back to the ladder.

Joe managed to enjoy her shower, the hot water feeling so good, relaxing now tired muscles. She changed into some clean clothes and headed out to hunt for some strawberries.

Arriving at the mess she noticed the same guys from the gym enjoying some late night snack and waving her over. Joe retrieved her bowl and headed to their table.

"Please join us." They started to raise as she took a seat. "Gentleman, I'm flattered." They looked at her strawberries.

"Where did you get these? Chief told us he is all out, the little weasel."

"Don't beat him up just yet, he was saving them for me. We had a little run in on my first day so he is trying to make it up a bit, he does not have to, still feels nice. Feel free though, I can't eat them all anyway."

They did not hesitate and quickly they emptied the bowl. The three of them spent almost an hour talking. They introduced themselves as 'Serge' and 'Tony', which Joe found a bit odd. Turned out they were brothers who did pretty much everything together. Coming from a small town in eastern Europe they where very glad to be in Space. They were fascinated with Joe growing up in Space, that was a long time impossible for people outside the African union. After quite some talking Joe managed to call it a night and headed to bed. She managed to get into her quarters and strip out of most of her clothes before falling asleep.

Joe woke up refreshed and ready to take on the Space-whale, which was quite a silly name if you thought about it.

Before she got up she checked her PDA for any news while she was asleep. Apparently a briefing was scheduled later today to present the first findings on the space whale. She then went and got ready for her shift. After getting dressed she headed to the mess for cereal and coffee. The mess was quite crowded with some deckhands, she also spotted Smyke and Sunblast. With cereal and coffee she went over to them. They were already discussing the whale.

"How does it move? I mean it is moving in space. That should not be possible!" Sunblast was quite curious.

"What does it eat? Does it eat?" Smyke added. "We have no idea."

"Ms. 9, have a seat, join us." Sunblast added, noticing me.

"What do you think of this, space whale?" Sunblast asked.

"It is amazing! I never thought something like this would even be possible. Can we commnicate with it?" Joe answered during spoons with cereal.

"Again, no idea. The Scientist must have spent the whole night with the Scanners, but I don't think they know much more. This 'whale' is different to any life form previously recorded. We just don't have any basis of reference." Smyke explained while sipping his coffee.

"The Vulcans have never encountered anything like it before?" Sunblast asked

"Pet'l is not sure, but he did not recall any space born life forms." Smyke answered.

"You'd think this is something that you'd remember." Joe put in after her cereal was gone.

Just as she got started on her coffee they were interrupted by the Com. "Senior Officers to the Bridge, now!"

they all sprinted to the next ladder and hustled to the bridge. The bridge was close to chaos, Joe almost ran over the rating that was manning her station.

The screen at the front bulkhead displayed the end of the whale now glowing brightly.

"Energy levels are still rising. There seems to be some reaction on the surface." Dr. Schmitz informed.

Before anyone could react it was gone. The Bridge felt silent as we all sat in shock. After 2 seconds it erupted into Chaos as everyone was speaking at the same time.

"Quite!" The Captain shouted. "Did that creature just go to Warp? Do you still have it on Sensors?"

"Scanning, Captain. So far I don't detect anything." Smyke answered.

"That energy signature did not look even remotely like a Warp-Signature. It might be something completely different. Fascinating." Dr. Schmitz added.

"I agree. Briefing in 2 hours. We need to decide our next steps. Ms. 9, hold our Position."

Joe nodded while the Captain left the Bridge again. With nothing left to do she brought up the last course data of the creature and ran an extrapolation, let's see where you are going.