"A Prayer."

[FredM 0]

"A Prayer"

Captain's Log

Stardate 0310.03

 

      "I'm beginning to get something, Captain. Give me a few moments," calmly stated Kroells from his science station. Captain Michaels glanced around again, still noting the static on the forward viewer. The last several minutes had been somewhat....puzzling. It was clear to Fred the probe had returned home. The question was...had they followed it?

 

      The entire situation didn't make too much sense as far as he could tell. When the probe arrived, it seemed to do so in a very orderly fashion. Yet, it's departure seemed to degrade into something of an erratic spatial event. Was that the way this technology functioned? Did the "side" sending the object have such massive erratic energy patterns and shockwaves? More concerning was the question the Captain couldn't get out of his head...had the creators of this apparently new technology had a malfunction when attempting to get their toy home?

 

      Fred's thoughts were interrupted by the clicking sound common with the main viewer coming to life. Looking forward, much to his delight, there were only stars. No massive Borg cubes, nebula or other catastrophic spatial anomalies. These feelings of security were quickly replaced with the realization the void itself was gone. Hearing some mumbling from several officers nearby, the Captain looked to Lieutenant Kroells for an answer.

 

      "Has the void dissipated?" said Michaels. Travis, for his part, was not quick to reply. His focus remained on his station, where calculations and other work was taking place. After a few seconds, he looked up and shook his head slightly. "I'm unable to tell you that, sir," reported the acting Chief Science Officer. Having a feeling where this report was leading, the Captain glanced at the forward station and Lieutenant Junior Grade Revelone.

 

      Without missing a beat, Geovanie turned to face the Captain as if on cue. "According to what the computer's showing sir, we've traveled 25,347 light years from where we were," he said in a calm voice. That was somewhat surprising, given the circumstances and possible panic such a report could cause. Fred simply nodded slowly and glanced up towards the science area on his right, "Get me a map...."

 

      As Kroells and his team worked to follow the Commanding Officer's orders, Fred glanced at Ridire who held a reserved look on his face. As Michaels sat down in his chair, he sighed and awaited a picture to confirm his suspicion. While they weren't stuck in the Delta Quadrant aboard a small Intrepid Class Destroyer, they might as well have been. Holding the Reaent's maximum speed, it would take an easy ten years to get back to Earth....give or take a month or three. While the figure meant they were still within the Beta Quadrant, it wasn't much comfort when one took into consideration the fact less than eleven percent of it had been explored.

 

      His concerns about just becoming another version of Voyager were quickly replaced by more worries when the Captain saw the viewer. Most others on the bridge didn't seem to take and concern to the graphic, but Michaels look turned into one of grave concern. "According to this, we're about two days away from CAR 238/A and CAR 312," Kroells started motioning to the viewer. The rest of the report the Captain failed to hear.

 

      He wasn't certain, but Michaels was almost positive he'd seen a map of this area before. It had been in one of the high level engineering courses he'd taken while looking to work on the experimental projects team at Pluto. Maybe it had been during the numerous reports he'd gone through before assuming command of the Reaent. Tilting his head back, the Captain started to shake it slightly. "It can't be the same....," he said softly. His words would be more of a prayer than a statement of fact.

((To see the image itself, check out the ship's website at www.ussreaent.com,

click on images and take a glance at the "Current Mission Status" graphic.))