First Officer's Log

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

(looks like I forgot to post this one)

 

I'm pleased to say that it's looking like we won't need to turn around and head home. Despite yet another sabotage attempt, we've resolved the two issues that were putting the Challenger mission in serious jeopardy and have continued our stroll through the stellar neighborhood. Unfortunately, we suffered our first casualty in the process.

 

An intruder, likely Suliban, managed to infiltrate engineering and plant a device on our warp core. The device was feeding off power from the core, the result being the drain which was limiting our velocity. The saboteur was, of course, thwarted in his supposed attempt to blow up the ship. I can't imagine what sorts of idiots he took us all for, but we've tossed aside one sabotage attempt after another and this one, despite not being quite so overt as the "Klingon Invasion of Docking Bay 4," was no different.

 

The cost, this time, was the life of Ensign Nott Seo Lucky. The engineer was unfortunate enough to find himself in the path of the escaping saboteur and was taken completely by surprise by the invisible assailant. The cold-hearted bastard probably could have made his escape without touching a single member of the crew, but I can see the logic... having failed to take out the entire ship, he fell back on a plan to kill as many individuals as he could. It's too late to turn back and pick up a replacement; this loss of crew will be a sore blow to our engineering department.

 

On the bright side, we finally made it to Warp 5, even if it wasn't in a way that the Commodore envisioned. After being discovered, our intruder used an engineering station to increase the velocity and lock up the navigation controls. He was obviously aware that the ship was hastily constructed and that the stress tests were never completed to my satisfaction. That we maintained Warp 5 as long as we did comes as both a shock and relief to me, but also a testament to how well constructed the ship and the engine truly were.

 

We've also determined the source of the protein store contamination, and the science team is optimistic that they can restore resenquencer access within a week. Hopefully the crew won't become too spoiled on eating nothing but the chef's "home-cooked meals." Whether our intruder was also responsible for the contamination is yet to be determined. The saboteur could have been busier than is apparent; for all we know at this point, he may have come aboard during the construction phase. The engineers and security force are scouring the ship for more signs of sabotage.

 

Setbacks aside, we now make our way to the next star system, one which has yet to be explored by mankind. Preliminary scans are showing hospitable planets. Like most of the crew, I've never stepped foot on a planet outside the solar system, so I'm looking forward to this next stop. Deep space frontiersmen claim that danger is always to be found on newly encountered planets... but frontiersmen have a tendency to exaggerate...