Captain’s Blog

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34903.9

We have reached SB12 and station’s technicians have begun their work.

“Could I have a word with you in private, sir?”, Jerry asked.
I replied: “Sure! What’s on your mind?”
“I was just thinking about our hyperwarp trip.” - “What about it?”
“What if there is a way, that we can do such jumps from time to time, in a more controllable manner.” - “I always thought, that speed beyond warp 9.9999 was theoretically impossible”, I asked. “Theoretically yes, but…” Jerry paused.
Somehow I couldn’t get rid of the feeling, that I would regret the next word rather early: “But?” - “We know Orion can do it. Request permission to search the sensor logs for anomalies which could have caused our hyperwarp speed.” - “Well, we should be stuck here for a few days. If you have nothing better to do?” -  “No, sir.” - “Permission granted!” - “Thank you sir.”

With Ens. Taylor researching our trip, everyone is covered in work. Solak, Jade an I will be assisting Lt.Cmdr. Jefferson in restoring maximum warp efficiency.

“Solak, could you please deactivate the force field on that conduit?” Jefferson was pointing at the door to the conduit on his left. With a short blink of blue light and a silent buzzing noise, the force field was disabled. Tom opened the door and slid inside. “The high warp capacitor we replicated after the attack, could make it another month or two, but we’d better have it replaced.” - “I’ll tell station’s personnel, that we need one. When do you think, we can resume our course?”, I asked. The chief engineer told me, that it would take another three days to complete the repairs. He also mentioned that we would have to go an additional day at impulse speed, until all of the new upgrades were integrated into Orions systems and fully calibrated.

All of a sudden, we experienced something, we still had to get used to…

“Attention all decks! Red Alert! This is not a test! All hands - Battle Stations! Captain Martin to the bridge!”

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34901.2

Once we cleared Klingon space, it felt just like we were flying home to earth. The course would have brought us home, but we were due for an inspection at star base 12. This was the first time ever, I experienced something like homesickness. I would never mention something like that in front of my crew, but as I came to discuss with Alexa, she confided in me, that she was a little homesick too.
I mean, it is not as if we were crying home for our mummies, but we clearly felt the urge to call someone, just to know if everything was alright.
With our first month in space to look back upon, I would say, that we were doing a pretty good job so far.

I hope that we will be getting some of the new upgrades on our dilithium matrix, as well as on the isolinear chip banks in main engineering. Altogether the upgrades should make Orion a bit more aggressive and agile.

I am also looking forward to meeting one of my friends from the academy. He should be with the sec-staff at SB12. We went through some crazy times together and I had him lined up for my own sec-team, but he turned me down, for SB12.

Looking back on our visit to Q’onoS, I’d have to say, that I would not dare that again. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to have missed one single minute of the adventure. Except for the part where I was unconscious, but I missed that already, didn’t I…

I hope that the repairs will not consume to much time, so we can be ready, when our next assignment comes in.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34895.7

After arriving at Qo’noS we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Shakespeares’ Hamlet in the Klingon original.
The show had nearly cost me two of my crew-members, who were engaged in a fight, after they had complained about the English the actors were speaking. After we had made it clear to them, that it wasn’t English at all, but Klingon, we all had a good laugh.

Chancellor K’mpec although held us responsible for his son in law’s H’egh baT. “If humans were just a little like Klingons”, he said, “you would have sent him to Sto’Vo’Kor the first chance we had, to open fire.” He also complained, that we would have made him apologize, which was the reason for his suicide in the first place.
I thought it would be best to let him speak his heart and be done with it, because if I even mentioned, that we did no such thing as “make him apologize”, it would only lay the light of cowardliness on us, and more dishonour on his beloved family. At the end of his speech he demanded, that I shall be held responsible in persona and therefore deserved to be punished.
At least I could decide between a Bat’leth fight to the death with a member of the chancellor’s own house and the traditional ceremony, which is normally held off, when young Klingons come of age: The rite of ascension.
I chose the latter.

So there I stood in the midst of all these Klingons holding their painstiks. The odds were quite against me living through this ritual, but nevertheless, I had to try.

“Today I am a warrior. I must show you my heart. I travel the river of blood”

It was a kind of pain, I had never experienced before. Almost agony fell  over my body, as I stumbled between the lines of Klingons. Always repeating the same words:

“Today I am a warrior. I must show you my heart. I travel the river of blood”

Shakespeare’s words suddenly came to my mind: “To be or not to be”, “taH pagh taHbe”. They never seemed so real as in this very moment.

I don’t know how I got through that ritual, but I was now an official adult and I had to swear upon my honour, that the next time we met a Klingon ship in battle, we would guide them to Sto’Vo’Kor to meet Kahless the great warrior.

Doc Sorenstrom had me restored within no time and we were leaving for the Orion.

Upon our arrival Jade and Alexa had arranged an authentic Klingon snack, to welcome us back to, what we call home, from time to time.

Q’pla and eat your Gagh.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34893.1

Now that we have our warp reactor back, we are travelling at maximum warp towards Qo’noS, the klingon home world. The captain we encountered lately has felt it necessary to take his life as self justice and follow the great warriors to Sto’Vo’Kor.
Unfortunately the honourable young man was the son in law of the klingon chancellor K’mpec, who holds us responsible for the death of his son and now demands to know, what exactly happened.

As we are travelling, we take chances to test our core to the limit, and so we will push it a little beyond suggestions. Although Tom advised us not to go beyond 9.5, for we won’t know how stable our dilithium matrix will be, after our recent incident.

Personal Log - Lt. Thomas Jefferson

I felt a little strange about pushing the warp engine to the limit, without having it examined at a space station first, but orders are orders and so I did the best I could. Up to 9.3 there was nothing worth mentioning, but suddenly I felt very uneasy in my stomach. As we were approaching 9.5, I called the bridge and advised them not to go any faster, but who ever listens to what an engineer is saying? The logical consequence would have been, to simply shut down the engine and use the momentum to ride all the way to the klingon home world. I am proud not to be vulcan, so to hell with logic and go as fast as it goes. Suddenly the acceleration took a leap, which I could not explain. The readings were off the scale, and the computer calculated, that we had to travel at a momentous speed of warp 13.7. No humanoid being ever travelled at such a speed. I can’t tell why our warp field remained stable and our warp nacelles still were attached to the ship (for that part: Thanks to the stable construction of the Nebula class). All that I could tell from observations that we passed Qo’noS by at a mind blowing speed of a couple of thousands lightyears per hour. We left our galaxy within minutes and were en route to the next one, which we left behind in a time not worth mentioning. It seemed we were heading for the outer most rim of the universe. According to starfleet’s motto: “To boldly go, where no man has gone before”, we were just about to find out, if the cosmos has a boundary, and if so, where is it.

Personal Log - Lt. Solak - Science officer on board the U.S.S. Orion

Never since the days of Surak has a vulcan had the opportunity to travel to the rim. Surak himself told us in his teachings, that one should be aware of the rim and every vulcan should avoid it, for there is no logic beyond this boundary.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental

We’ve come to a halt.

According to our sensors we were travelling a couple of billions of lightyears within half an hour. That what seemed impossible is now proven to have it’s rightful place in our universe. Solak will be analyzing the data, we’ve collected during our “trip around the block”. Hopefully Tom can find out what was causing this behaviour in our engines, so that maybe we can reproduce it at some time in the future.

Personal Log - Lt. Jefferson - Supplemental

I have no idea why the engine went nuts. I hope the captain doesn’t want me to explain everything, because I…, well what could I say?

Personal Log - Lt. Solak - Supplemental

After examining the sensor data, I have come to the conclusion, that there will be a logical explanation to all this and I am going to find it. After all it is proven, that one can look on the back of his own head, if he looks long enough in the same direction of space.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34890.3

Thank god our computer core is up and running again. While we were in the battle tests with U.S.S. Galaxy, a coincidentally crossing klingon battle cruiser, thaught we were actually attacking the Galaxy, and in return attacked us. They fired upon us, with all they had, before we could convince them, that we are just simulating. Thanks to Galaxy’s captain, we were not completely blown out of the skies. It took Tom nearly two days to bring the main computer back online and we are still missing some parts of our database, which will be restored next time, we will be at a space station.

While we were restoring our own ship, Jade and Solak and Alexa went over to the Galaxy to discuss the outcome of her performance tests.

I think we can expect great things from this new class.

The klingon appologized for his overhurried attack on our ship (which was the first time, I heard a klingon say something that sounded a little like “I’m sorry”). At last we wished the klingons Q’pla and let them resume their course.

 As hopefully will we, once our warp core is back up.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34890.3

We are due for a rendezvous with the newly commissioned U.S.S. Galaxy. She is supposed to be the prototype for the new exploration vessels which can hold up to 1400 people.

We will test her abilities in combat and pursuit. Since the Galaxy-Class and the Nebula-Class are not so different in construction, apart from the overall design, we should be more than a match for Galaxy.

I am also very eager to take a look at the new warp 9.5 engine.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34887.8

After hours, the message that came out of the universal translator, was not what we expected it to be:

“We are the Borg! Existence, as you know it, is over! We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own! Resistance is futile!”

What was that all about?

As we demanded answers from federation headquarters, they told us, that the U.S.S. Raven, a Scientific vessel, which is in private hands and belongs to Magnus Hansen, was reported missing, while following one of the Borg ships. He and his wife have claimed to be experts on the Borg. They have followed the Borgs trail and tried to find out more about these Borg.
From what they told us, Orion was the first ship, which was presented with, what Mr. Hansen used to call “The Speech”, and still lived to tell. The Borg are a hybrid race, who have made much effort to integrate computercurcuits and mechanical parts into their bodies and nervous systems. Federation commanded us to not follow the sphere under any circumstances.

It seems after all, that we were very lucky to escape “humanoid and fully biological”.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34884.9

We were investigating the debris of a vessel, which was obviously blown out of the sky a few hundred years ago. Oddly enough, that the cloud of debris did not drift apart as expected, but stayed rather were it had formed a starship of enormous size. It had to be five times Orion’s size and ten times it’s weight. The hull was constructed out of mostly unknown materials, which our scientists could not wait to get in their hands. The findings they made are remarkable. If Orion would be built with that material, we would crash on the first planet we would come across, because the gravity would not allow us to maintain a steady orbit.
Lt. Solak and Lt. Lantrys called to meet, to discuss something urgent:

“Captain, we received a distress call!”, Alexa told me rather nervously. I answered: “So, what is the problem? Starfleet ships receive distress calls all the time. What should be so different about this one?” Solak told us in his unemotional vulcan voice: “The call originated in the center of the debris field, Captain.” “Is there another ship in there?”, I asked. The answer was no. There was no other ship within the next two lightyears. “So who sent the distress call?”, I demanded to know. They told me, that the signal seemed to come from “some sort of emergency escape pod”. I was startled. “What? An escape pod? How long is has this thing been out there?” “Approximately threehundred and thirty years.”, according to Solak’s calculations. I wanted to know, if there were any lifesigns. Solak said:”Our sensor cannot penetrate the pods hull.” “I would suggest, we prepare the ship for a security alert, Captain.”, added Alexa. I told her to do so, but to also keep in mind, that who ever sent the signal, might require our assistance.
We put together an away team, to do further investigations by shuttlepod. The debris field was more than eighthundred miles in diameter, so we knew that it could take a while to get to the distress calls source.
Jade led the team, consisting of Lt. Lantrys, Dr. Sorenstrom and two security officers to the main shuttle bay and they left the Orion.

Log of the shuttle Gauss - Cmdr. MacKinnon reporting

It took us nearly three hours to get through to the escape pod. Obviously something in here was interfering with our sensors. As we established a tractor beam to the pod, most of our energy resources where drained. We could cut the beam just before complete discharge. We were about to give up the rescue mission, as something happened inside the pod. It sent out the kind of blink and beep, that always had made me nervous, even in cinema. Shocked by that experience, we headed back to the Orion.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental

While the away team was heading back for the ship, some strange things happened inside the debris cloud.
All of a sudden, all fractions of the ship started to move toward each other and together they aimed for the center, where the rescue pod had been. As the shuttle reached the Orion, the spectacle was speeding up. Parts hurtled through space converging in one point. There was a series of loud clanking noises, when, as it seemed, maglocks were put into place and something was forming in the middle.

It tool a few minutes for the whole ship to assemble and in the end, it didn’t look like anything I had seen before, but it clearly had become some kind of spaceship. Our comm system recorded a short message, which we are still decoding and just seconds later the ship went to warp and out of our sensor range, literally at the same time.

I wonder who they were and if we will ever meet them again.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34879.5

Yesterdays events are still reverberating in our minds. Was that ship really there beside us? For the official report to starfleet, we gave her the name “Defiant”, after the phasing ship on which Captain Kirk nearly was lost on Stardate 5693.2.
We all are excited as to what the fleet headquarters have to say about our findings.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental

The answer from starfleet was a shock for us.

We were pulled of from our current assignment and we were ordered to leave the sector immediately.

So we are bobbing around in space again, until we get our next assignment.

Needless to say, that we are all frustrated.

Captain’s Blog - Stardate 34876.7

I swear it was there. Some of the others had seen it too.
We were flying at half impulse in the vicinity of a binary star system, when I had noticed just a short flicker on the view screen. It had been barely there, so I discarded it immediately. Then the sensors picked it up and we had got messages from all over the ship, that others witnessed the same blink not only from screens, but also through windows.
After a few seconds Solak perceived a pattern. He was able to calculate, where the next occurrence was to be, and we focused our sensors and the view screen on that particular area. It happened; just as Solak had anticipated.

First there was nothing.

Then we all were startled, just to observe the vastness of nothing a moment later.

For a split second it had been there and our sensors had detected it.

From what I had seen, it was a space ship, furthermore it looked like a federation ship.

But we ought to be the only federation vessel in this region and this ship … was it even really there? It had sent neither its designation, nor could we detect its shield or weapons configuration. From the looks of it, it had to be an Oberth class ship. From one shot out of the recordings, we were able to get a glance at the registration number NCC-53847. That’s  were the odd things had reached their climax. According to our database, there is no ship bearing that registration.

We watched the appearing, disappearing and reappearing for nearly 3 minutes, before it faded into nothingness for the last time.

It sure was a great show, but I doubt that we will ever find out, what this was all about.