Captain’s Log April 10th 005 SDE,

We have finished our preliminary scans of the anomaly we find ourselves in. It seems this storm has pulled us into hyperspace. Not only that but we are picking up some type of unknown radiation penetrating the hull. So far we haven’t seen any harmful effects. Not wanting to take any chances with this radiation I ordered the shields raised to stop it. Which has revealed something interesting about this storm. Something about the storm is preventing the field generators from initializing, a problem I already have a science team looking into.They know a great deal more about energy shielding than we do and I’m hoping they will be willing to assist our science team in this endeavour. Our casualty and damage reports are also in, and could have been far worse. Mostly minor injuries to moderate injuries, but we have nearly two thousand confirmed fatalities. Most of those happened when the forward sections of the hull plating buckled.

Our flight has spoken with the Valorians they rescued and have been able to give us some information on this anomaly. It is apparently called a hyper-ion storm. These storms form in hyperspace and roughly every ten years they are apparently shifted into normal space for a brief period, that ranges from a couple of hours to a few days. During which time they swallow ships and anything else that happens to be in their path. Unfortunately the Valorians couldn’t tell us much about the insides of the storm beyond what we already know. This means we are going to be stuck with each other for a while. Hopefully if we pool our skills we can find a way out of this storm. As for the repairs, Megumi has revised her estimates thanks to the storm, which makes hull repair far more difficult than normal. Especially since work crews can’t stay out their as long as they could in normal space. Although the storm itself is quite beautiful in odd sort of way, with the way the blue violet and green hued gases swirl together, we are already finding its dangers. I plan on talking with the Valorians personally tomorrow.

Captain’s Log April 17th 005 SDE,

Our shields continue to remain inoperable in this environment. Only one of the Valorians we rescued actually knew anything about shield operation. Unfortunately they have not been able to determine what it is interfering with the shields either. Hopefully it is only a matter of time until they find the problem. As for the radiation we have started seeing effects from the exposure. General radiation treatments have managed to ward off the worst of the effects so far, but they are only a temporary solution. I have ordered the med labs to work on a more permanent solution in case we are unable to reinitialize the shields or if the shields prove unable to block the radiation. Internal repairs have gone smoothly and we will be restarting the sublight engines later to today. Repairs to the port nacelle have been hampered by the storm degrading the power connections. We have encountered similar problems with replacing the hull plates, which will make restoring the hull plating difficult if we can’t find a way to shield the hull from the storm.

Fortunately the plating itself is largely unaffected by the storms gases. While the forward weapons array is still offline. Engineering expects to have the forward weapons restored by tomorrow. In other news we have conducted a few long range scans, and while we can’t see much further than we could in the Velosa cluster we have identified a number of debris fields and other solid objects in the storm. Among these objects, we have also detected other ships in the storm. None are currently headed our way, but thanks to our scans I feel it would be better to avoid them until we have finished our repairs. We picked up a large asteroid about four hundred thousand kilometers from our present position and plan to set course for it as soon as the engines are back online. Hopefully we will find a nice sheltered crater or hollow in which we can safely repair the ship without worrying about the effects of the storm to much.

Captain’s Log April 21st 005 SDE,”

The asteroid we found seems to be made almost entirely out of heavier metals, and based of the readings it appears to have been a fragment of a larger space rock, before the storm swallowed it. It has a number of craters and a few deep hollows. We have anchored the ship in one such hollow and are sealing the exit with a makeshift door. Once we have this door in place we can then filter out the harmful gases in this hollow. In effect we are making ourselves a nice little makeshift port here in the storm.

Once that is done, it shouldn’t take too long to finish the repairs we started. These repairs however are making a serious dent in our material reserves. Hopefully we won’t need to make to many additional repairs, but we have already seen some type of sub anomaly strong enough to rip a ship apart. We have been unable to predict where and when these will occur. Our science department has named them as hyperspatial eddies. As near as we can tell they are coming from a deeper layer of hyperspace and when they erupt into this layer the results are rather violent. I have assigned a team of scientist to see if they could enhance the sensors. That way we can detect them before they erupt into the layer.

Captain’s Log May 15th 005 SDE,

We have completed our repairs to the ship, but the radiation is getting worse. Our general radiation treatment is losing effectiveness. As for the shields, we have found the problem. Not that we can do anything about it. The cause has to do with the storm itself, interfering with the generation of the energy field. Exactly how they are being interfered with though eludes us. The observed interference violates known physical laws. I have increased the number of personnel and resources the med labs have for their anti radiation project. Hopefully they find a solution before people start dying.

Anyway since the repairs have been completed. We are going to explore the local area. Investigate some of the debris fields in the area, and maybe make contact with the others we have seen in the area. Not that I expect that to go well, every time a pair of ships get close we picked up the energy readings of heavy combat. Still it might be useful to make contact with the others in the storm, and we might learn something about this anomaly that will help us survive here.

Captain’s Log May 17th 005 SDE,

We had a minor encounter with a hyperspatial eddy, fortunately it was a small one and didn’t directly encounter it, and our hull plating held. The aliens we had made contact with weren’t so lucky and their ship was ripped apart. Not that I feel anything for them. Not the friendliest of people in fact they were trying to intimidate us and give them our fuel reserves. Which has told us a little about the storm, and that fuel is precious enough that the ‘locals’ have resorted to piracy to get it. As for the debris fields scattered around the local area, some of them contain materials that could be useful. Salvaging them will present some difficulties, especially given the difficulties of getting a lock with a mag tractor. We have that salvaged tractor beam we took from the Cathamari, so I have raised the priority on figuring it out. We hadn’t really needed tractor beam technology until now, so it had been a low priority item.

Captain’s Log December 14th 005 SDE,

Our radiation problems have been getting worse, today we had our first death from the radiation. The hyperspatial eddies have also been causing problems, so I’m not sure which will kill us first the radiation or the eddies. The last eddy ripped open a three hundred meter long gash in the hull. Repairing all of this damage has proven difficult, especially given the difficulties the storm adds to recovering materials that have been ripped from the hull. Worse our general radiation medicine is no longer effective in countering the radiation. Regular nanite injections though seem to help slow the damage the radiation is causing. Hopefully we can find a solution before we run out of medicine. Solving these two problems have become our number one priority. Unfortunately interrogating the locals has not been of much help. The locals have a more sophisticated shield design that is not only incompatible with our systems, but actually functions in the storm albeit barely. Still our science teams are studying those generators best they can to find a solution. However they are worried it will take years, if not decades to figure out a why to fix the compatibility issue.

Captain’s Log March 3rd 007 SDE,

The radiation sickness we are all suffering from has been a real damper on morale for the last few months, but we finally have good news for our suffering people. Our labs have finally found a promising lead on solving it. The latest solution, a special fluid mix containing a new breed of nanite successfully protected the test cells in the latest medical test. We don’t really have time to perform all of the proper medical procedures or check for all the possible side effects, so we are going to skip straight to human trials and synthesize as much as we can. As it is we have already lost a third of our population. Mostly from the older members, younger people have held up better.

Captain’s Log March 29th 007 SDE,

The human tests seem to have worked and no side effects have been observed so far, so we have begun widespread distribution of our new serum. It will take a couple of weeks to distribute it to everyone, and a couple more to make sure it had worked on a wide scale. Although while no side effects have been seen so far, I fully expect something to manifest. Especially considering our solution involved manipulating our dna. This isn’t the first time we have modified our own dna after all. Sometimes with success and others with unwanted side effects or complete failures. The changes are apparently minor, but I’m not a genetic scientist so I don’t fully understand what this involved. Which is why I have decided to read everything we have on genetics and related science branches.

Captain’s Log April 4th 007 SDE,

We had another encounter with a hyperspatial eddy. Engineering tells me it will take two weeks to patch the hull damage it caused. To make matters worse, we have run out of Titan alloy, forcing us to use whatever materials we can salvage from the storm instead. On the brightside science labs have figured out how to modify our mag tractors into the better tractor beams. However they expect it to take a month to reconfigure all the emitters into tractor beams. Since the shield project is no longer needed and is just draining our resources I have suspended the project indefinitely. Instead we are now going to focus on figuring out those Valorian force fields and enhancing the sensors. The force fields are going to be of great help in conducting open bay hangar operations. As for the sensors we have a few promising leads on enhancing them, and each encounter gives us a great deal more information about these eddies. Our last modification attempt helped in predicting them slightly. We can now detect the big ones, one point three eight seconds, before they erupt, which is not even close to enough time to avoid them. Especially given how big the large ones can be. Small ones however are still beyond our ability to detect prior to their eruption in this layer.

Captain’s Log April 18th 007 SDE,

We have been seeing a spike in couples of late. Sickbay has also reported a large spike in pregnancies. Both of these are good things. I hope this trend holds we need the people. As it is losing a third of our crew has hurt us rather badly. We have lost people in every department, and keeping things at full efficiency has been difficult. Not only that, but having young children to care for will hopefully help morale. The most interesting pairings are the human-valorian pairings. Even more interesting is that we are apparently compatible physiologically. Requiring only minor medical intervention in order for conception to occur. Speaking of the valorians, not all of the ones we rescued have been able to integrate smoothly into our society. Some of them have though. Which means we don’t have to keep as much of an eye on them as we did at first.

As for our solution, we have seen a few minor side effects. None of these unintended effects so far have been detrimental so far. In fact they mostly trend towards being positive. All of them are minor. I have a medical team looking into this effects, to see if they can’t anticipate changes to come. Also of note, is that we finally have the time to study the cloaking device that landed us in this mess. I have assigned a small team to study it. We have also been looking into creating android crewman to fill vital roles.

Captain’s Log October 13th 007 SDE,

The solution to our eddy problem continues to elude us, but our scientists are getting much closer. We finally have some theories on how and why the storm has prevented our shields from working. Ruri has given me a very interesting scientific proof on hyperspace. Hyperspace is a rather complicated realm, that can in an odd way be compared to the ocean. Unlike the ocean however here the laws of physics change as you go deeper. With the physical laws being slightly different near the surface, and downright bizarre the closer to the bottom you get. Using her proof we have found that we are deeper in hyperspace than most hyperdrive capable ships normally go. Using the equations derived in the proof we now believe we are in the third layer of hyperspace. Most ships go no deeper than the first layer, because while you could go faster by going deeper it also makes travel more dangerous because of the anomalies that can be found in hyperspace. Regardless this proof is a massive step forward in our understanding of hyperspace. Using it our scientist believe they can create a new type of sensor array that can detect the hyperspatial eddies as they form in the deeper layers of hyperspace.

As for the mutations, we have been seeing we have seen an alarming number of them over the past few months. Including a few that were detrimental, but any detrimental one seems to disappear after a couple of days. In effect we have been seeing a pattern. We have also determined these mutations were only partially caused by our solution to the radiation. Our solution changed the way the radiation is affecting us. The pattern is not dissimilar to evolutionary changes, and yet unlike evolution it is all happening within a generation. As for stopping these changes from occuring every attempt so far has failed.

Captain’s Log January 3rd 008 SDE,

We have completed our prototype of a new form of sensor array. The test was successful and we are now upgrading our sensors to the new standard. Finding the materials for the upgrade was difficult, but we found enough in the local area to get it done. With a defense against the hyperspatial eddies we have decided to head deeper into the storm. There are more people there, and most of the debris is pulled into the deeper regions. We will likely need the resources especially considering that our new multi-spatial sensors as Ruri has designated them require all most as much power as our weapons array at full power.

Unfortunately in order to get a sufficient warning about a hyperspatial eddy in time to avoid them we have to run the array at full power. We have reconfigured our hull plating to draw power from the storm, and shunt it to our systems instead of the field. Not a difficult change, since it was designed with the option in mind. We did have to make some adjustments to the absorbers to compensate for the slight alterations to the physical laws here. This helps a bit, but we are still burning through our fuel at an atrocious rate. I have assigned several labs to find ways to improve the efficiency of our power systems. An added bonus of running these new sensors at full power is the wealth of scientific data we will be gaining.

Captain’s Log June 17th 008 SDE,

The deeper parts of the storm have been interesting these past few months. Our repeated encounters with the “locals’ has taught us a great deal about the society built here by the others that have survived the storm. Many have formed small groups called factions that fight each other over territories and resources. Most of the larger factions have at least one base in the storm to maintain their ships and store what they have salvaged from the wrecks of dead ships. Most of these bases come in the form of hollowed out asteroids. Some of these asteroids are quite large like the one we built our own makeshift port in. Some factions have taken control of planetary fragments, which are likely the remains of rogues that were torn apart by the storm.

Which reminds me the data we have learned with our new sensors has been invaluable. We have learned a great deal about this hyper-ion storms. Including the fact that seem to avoid stars. These storms rarely enter star systems and instead they tend to follow paths through deep space. We are still pouring over the data, and learning new things about hyperspace with each passing day. We have even learned where the energy fueling this storm is coming from. The deepest layers of hyperspace are a source of immense energy in a constant state of flux. The storm is drawing energy from this region. Fluctuations in the deeper layers cause an eddy to form and when it erupts up here it causes the currents and flows of the storm to intensify. These eddies are only where some of the energy comes from. Near the center of the storm, we have learned of an different type of sub anomaly that is almost like an energy well. An intense barrier of sorts surrounds this well and is responsible for most of the storm currents.

Back to the factions, we have begun to compete with them for resources. Most of the factions aren’t really a threat to us. Shields aren’t as big a factor in battle here, since the shields of those ships here in the storm are often already heavily taxed shielding their crews from the radiation. Anyway today is likely to be interesting. Our young prisoner Sali had her case review yesterday, and has been given the chance to integrate into our society. It was supposed to be last year, but we were busy and it was delayed. I’m going to talk to her later today about her options.

Sali was looking forward to going out on her own. She had to wear a damn tracker, but she could live with that. The last five years had been mostly boring for her. Her work in the factories had given her something to do, but she knew that spending her entire life there wasn’t for her. Right now she was waiting for Reia. Reia had told her yesterday that they had a lot to discuss today. Apparently most of it involved her future on the ship and what to expect after being let out. She was hoping to find an opportunity to go home, especially since she missed her clan. She hadn’t been too unhappy with the Humans mostly since they hadn’t hurt her clan. Although she didn’t expect them to let her just leave the ship, so her hopes were not all that high.

A couple moments later she heard footsteps. Coming down the corridor was Reia, alongside a guard. When Reia reached the door, the guard opened it. After a brief exchange she started to follow Reia out of the brig. Reia than handed her something.

“What’s this?” asked Sali.

“Your ration card, don’t lose it. The council has issued you six hundred credits, which is enough to get you through the month and get you a wardrobe to start with,” said Reia.

“Wardrobe?” muttered Sali briefly confused.

“You don’t want to keep walking around wearing a prisoner’s slip do you?” asked Reia.

“I kind of forgot about it,” said Sali after being reminded of what she was wearing. Four years of only being allowed to wear them, she had also gotten used to them and the way they felt. “Anyway, why am I getting a ration card?” asked Sali.

“With your new status, and privileges comes the card. It is a part of their society, and they’re trying to integrate you into society. You have technically been placed in the reintegration program, and the captain has made me your supervisor. By the way your card has a few extra restrictions on it, I’ll tell you about them later,” said Reia.

“Restrictions? What kind of restrictions?” asked Sali only to not receive an answer. Something she had gotten used to and so she didn’t press further. Instead Reia began to tell her a bit about what she could expect out in the ship. Most of it was cultural and protocol for various situations, but the conversation eventually shifted to language.

“I assume you have noticed by now that the humans speak multiple languages?” said Reia.

“Yes, I have. I studied and learned one of them,” replied Sali.

“I noticed that you learned the common tongue. For the most part that is the only one you will need, since it is used in most shipboard encounters and in the work environment. However, you might want to learn one of the others as well. The others are used mostly in social situations, that you might encounter if you enter the civilian sector,” siad Reia as they reached their destination. Which was the nearest of the observation decks to the brig. It was currently empty and the view ports were closed.

“What is this room?” asked Sali looking around.

“This is just one of the lower deck observation rooms, it doubles as a theater. There is a movie scheduled later today, many of the guards come here during their break,” said Reia.

“Observation deck? In that case can we look outside?” asked Sali.

“There isn’t much to look at,” said Reia as she activated the virtual viewport. She wasn’t going to test how well the actual viewports would hold up to the storm. Almost immediately a view of the storm was projected onto the transparent screen that was the viewport.The gases of the storm swirling around and washing against the hull in forceful currents. Every once in awhile they could see an energy discharge resembling a lightning bolt. Occasionally these bolts would strike the ship. For Sali it was absolutely beautiful.

“Are kidding, it is beautiful,” said Sali.

“At first it was, but it four years of nothing but this storm has gotten old,” said Reia.

“Four years? Where are we?” asked Sali.

“Remember how you got sick and were miserable for years? That was because we are in a hyper-ion storm. Have been for the last four years, having you body suddenly change on you though is annoying,” said Reia. Sali remembered her own experiences with her body changing on her as well.

“I was told it was just a side effect of the cure for whatever I had contracted and it will stop happening eventually. But are you saying the storm is responsible for our bodies changing?” asked Sali not that she had entirely believed what she had been told.

“Well what you were told is partly right. Their ‘cure’ protects us from the radiation, but not entirely. Hence the mutations, which they can’t stop,” said Reia.

“Can’t stop? Correct me if i’m wrong but isn’t their medical knowledge superior to ours?” asked Sali.

“Yes, apparently they don’t fully understand why the changes our occuring. The way they stopped the radiation from killing us is proof in and of itself how superior their medical knowledge is. It apparently involved genetic manipulation designed to improve our bodies ability to deal with the radiation,” said Reia.

“Why did they do that, and not something simpler like beef up whatever they use to protect the ship from radiation?” asked Sali.

“They use a special lining in the hull that blocks most types of radiation, but this particular radiation passes right through it. They did have another idea for stopping it, but the storm itself made that solution problematic,” said Reia.

“I’m guessing you aren’t going to tell me what that other solution is or why it didn’t work?” asked Sali.

“I can’t tell you why it failed, but as for what it is well they were trying to raise their shields,” replied Reia.

“I thought this ship didn’t have shields,” said Sali.

“Well, we wouldn’t even call them shields ourselves. Their shields can provide some protection against radiation, but are of little use against weapons. Which is why they use them so little,” replied Reia.

“There is a weapon they are useful against, but we are the only ones that use said weapon,” said Countryman who had just entered the room, referring to the ship’s cutting beams. The two greeted the captain, and he sat down in a seat next to them.

“So has Reia gotten around to telling you about your options?” asked Countryman as soon as he was settled into his seat.

“No, she hasn’t,” said Sali.

“Well, since you are now in our reintegration program, you now get to choose the department you work in. For example, if you wanted to, you could return to your old job in the factories,” said Countryman.

“No, I don’t want to go back to the factories,” said Sali, while suppressing a shudder. One caused by a brief memory of her supervisor there surfacing.

“I didn’t think you would. Anyway Reia can tell you about your other options if you want. The council and I however have a position in mind for you. While normally your status would bar you from the department we have waived those restrictions for you. We want you to join the ship’s pilot corp,” said Countryman. Sali almost didn’t know what to say. She didn’t really need to hear her other choices, she had loved piloting. She had been worried that she would never get to fly again, but now she was being offered a chance to fly again.

“I accept,” said Sali.

“Are you sure? You don’t want to hear all your options first?” asked Countryman.

“Yes, I am. I love flying, and would like to get out there again,” replied Sali.

“Alright in that case I will tell you how things will go. Because you have prior piloting experience, but aren’t certified on our craft. We will be putting you through an accelerated training program. Starting with simulated flights, to familiarize you with our control schemes. You will also be trained to read the data outputs of our multi-spatial sensors, and trained to fly in the storm,” said Countryman.

“Multi-spatial sensors? I believe the confederation has been working on those,” said Sali remembering something she had overheard.

“Yes, they were. We got some scans of a prototype on their newest dreadnoughts. Their design was incomplete and barely capable of peering into hyperspace. Ours are not so unfinished, and yet we already have ideas to improve them. Being stuck in hyperspace has its advantages for research. In fact we have more projects in mind than we have resources and people to pursue them. Anyway once your training is complete you will be allowed to fly, but not unsupervised. You will have a supervisor on every flight,” said Countryman.

“I think I can live with that,” replied Sali.

“In that case I leave you to get settled. Speaking of settled, you should consider settling down,” said Countryman as he got up and left.

“What did he mean by ‘settling down’?” asked Sali.

“He was suggesting that you find someone that you like and form a family with them,” said Reia.

“A family!? Why?” said Sali.

“They are an endangered race. Which is why they have been encouraging their population to have children. Their ration credit system, gives parents an extra forty credits a day for each child and an additional ten if the number exceeds three. Which is more than enough to ensure that their children enjoy decent living standards. A child gets to join a department as a cadet at fourteen, and receive their credits directly at that age. They are free to switch departments at any time, and can graduate to crewman at eighteen. This is intended to give them a chance to learn and figure out what they want to do with their life,” said Reia as the two began to talk. After awhile Reia took Sali down to the market, so that she could get a wardrobe, before getting her settled in quarters of her own.

Captain’s Log July 1st 008 SDE,

Sali seems to be doing well so far in her program. She had some difficulty with our craft, but those difficulties were ones we anticipated. Her instructors tell me that if she keeps up the pace, we will have another pilot for our salvage missions in about two months. Which is good since, all of our departments are desperate for resources for one project or another. The science labs have a number of projects that they would like to do that need materials. More pilots on salvage duty, the faster we will be able to fill those orders.

Our scientists have put forth new theories in energy absorber design. Some of these seem quite promising. I have already authorized the testing of these new theories. Increasing absorber efficiency will have numerous benefits across the ship, but most importantly will allow us to draw more energy from the storm. Which will reduce the amount of fuel we need to burn on a daily basis.

Captain’s log July 3rd 008 SDE,

Sickbay continues to report a high rate of pregnancy. If this trend continues we expect that we will hit our soft cap in about ten years. In about fifteen years at the current rate, we will hit the hard cap. The space issues can be dealt with by having people bunk up. They won’t be happy about, but the storm is not the place to be building ships. The other issue will be a bit harder to deal with. The other is going to be a little harder, but our science teams have already put forth a project to enhance the output of our hydroponics bays. There are also a few places in the storm that we could use to build hidden farms to help grow food. In any case we will have some options, when our population grows large enough to stress our resources. Also we will have more people to get things done by then.

Captain’s Log January 3rd 011 SDE,

Our children are getting old enough, that we need a proper school. The facilities we set up during the refit aren’t enough for all the children we have that need to go to school. To fix this problem we have converted a couple of smaller cargo bays into a school. The items in those bays were transferred to a larger bay with the space for them.

Captain’s Log May 3rd 013 SDE,

A faction war ignited recently, and we have been caught in the crossfire between three of the larger factions. We have been engaged multiple times over the past couple of weeks and our heading to a quieter part of the storm to lick some of the wounds. Our labs have also made use of salvaged materials to make useful android crewman. We have begun to use them in less desirable occupations, letting people do the more important jobs. We have also seen a drop recently in pregnancies, which means that our little breeding frenzy is finally over. The children seem to be doing well in school. I’m looking forward to when they start joining the workforce in a few years. Although, there is a certain amount of fun in playing with them now. I had quite a bit of fun when I visited them yesterday.

Captain’s Log June 24th 013 SDE,

Ruri just showed me the results of one of our major projects. Our labs have managed to produce a more efficient energy absorber and reactor design. The improvements are quite welcome since we have already burned through half our fuel reserve. The other factions have picked most of the debris in the storm clean of fuel, so getting more fuel is quite difficult. Preliminary analysis indicates the new design, will reduce our fuel requirements by ten percent. As high as that is though, I would like another twenty to feel comfortable.

Also of interest today is the report I received from the med lab. Predicting how we are changing has proven to be difficult. However a pattern has emerged, that is of some interest. Also of note is the changes have started to slow as well. So far we have seen that our very genetic structure has rearranged itself into a remarkable sturdy and resilient structure that is resistant to most forms of radiation. We have also seen signs that these mutations have enhanced our lifespan. Increase cellular regeneration, and lower levels of genetic degradation during cell division. We have lost a number of vestigial organs which have been replaced with new ones. Some of which have no discernable purpose. We have also begun seeing signs of increasing neural tissue densities, and increasing brain activity as well. Which has already led to people experiencing increased intelligence. It has become quite clear that we are changing into a new species, and interestingly enough our Valorian guest are changing in a manor parallel to our own.

Captain’s Log October 23rd 013 SDE,

We had another encounter with one of the factions today. It seems we got too close to one of their ports and they got antsy. They were one of the larger factions and sent twelve ships to engage us. We managed to sink eight of their ships before they retreated. Raiding there port proved quite profitable. We gained four fuel pods and large stockpiles of useful materials to supplement our reserves. We were even able to salvage a couple of alien particle cannons. The design of the cannons are quite interesting. While most of the components are either comparable or inferior to our own cannons, the particle accumulator is of superior make allowing for a quicker recharge. Also of note is our labs recently completed our research into photon torpedoes.

Not that these new torpedoes help much. The storm makes it very difficult to hit anything with a torpedo often throwing them of course and occasionally ripping them apart. Still they will be useful when we get out of the storm. Our particle weapons have been far more useful here and it has become apparent that we need better ones.

Captain’s Log January 14th 014 SDE,

There has been a massive spike in storm activity of late. Normally we only see four to six hyperspatial eddies a day, now we are seeing dozens. The upspike has made avoiding them difficult and we have taken some damage as a result. As for what is causing the up spike we are not entirely certain.

Captain’s Log March 3rd 014 SDE,

The storm activate continues to increase. We have also noticed that the storm is shifting in the subspace layers. We believe the storm is about to exit hyperspace. However we have not yet been able to predict when. Fortunately we have managed to find a calm spot in the storm that isn’t being hit as hard as other parts of the storm by eddies.

Captain’s Log March 29th 014 SDE,

The storm has transitioned out of hyperspace. Escaping the storm however is not within our current capabilities. The outermost layer of the storm is quite thick and the currents their are terribly strong. It is actually easier to enter the storm through the layer than it is to exit. Going through the layer we will be fighting the current. Even in perfect condition getting through would be hard, in our current condition it will be fatal. However where we are has been a nice lull in the storm. I have chosen to take advantage of it, and get some repairs done, before we head back to our hidden port in the storm.

Captain’s Log November 8th 023 SDE,

We have noticed a large reduction in our rate of mutation. One of the new abilities we have developed recently is a highly efficient form of photosynthesis reducing the amount of food we need by seventy percent. A fact that has partially alleviated our food concerns. Which has effectively tripled our food supply. As for our current population we have about eighty thousand people mostly young kids. Of course the firstborns have already entered the workforce as cadets and some are already dating. The average family on the ship has four kids, which is why our population has managed to get as large as it has.

Other changes in our physiology have given us, an innate natural defense in the form of an electric discharge ability. We have also developed telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Along with improved intelligence and reactions. These new telepathic abilities have led to a new form of crime that we call mind rape. A terrible crime that involves violating the most sacred parts of another's mind. So far the incidents have been few, but we have people looking into ways to discourage such actions.

Captain’s Log April 3rd 024 SDE,

The storm activity has started to spike of late. Which means the storm will be exiting hyperspace soon. It hasn’t gotten as bad as it was last time yet, so we have some time till it emerges from hyperspace. Unfortunately we still have no way to actually exit the storm without tearing the ship to pieces. The greatest irony is that we now know how to beef up our armor and engines enough to get the ship through, but lack the materials. Another note of interest is that we have picked up an automated distress signal. Not entirely uncommon in the storm, but the truly interesting part is that the signal is Krall. Which is why we have changed course to intercept the signal. We expect to reach the signal in three days, and will be in range to identify the source later today.

Captain’s Log supplemental April 3rd 024 SDE,

We have identified the source of the distress signal. It is coming from a Krall cruiser, the design is not known to us. The ship is roughly twenty two hundred meters in length and has two hundred decks. The ship is being partially protected by a low level energy shield and our scans show it has taken heavy damage consistent with multiple run ins with a hyperspatial eddy. Clearly they had been hit by a couple of big ones and were now adrift in the storm.

Three days later, Countryman walked on to the bridge and took his seat surveying the bridge. Not for the first time he was glad that the storm had spared his senior officers. Still like any department he had new faces, mostly junior officers and a new navigation officer. The new navigator was one of the valorians they had rescued, a young girl named Arla who proved to have a natural talent for navigation. On the forward screen the Krall cruiser was coming into view. Half shrouded in the gases of the storm, as the occasional energy discharge shrouded her bruised hull. The ship was mostly intact, but large rips were visible in the hull. Their engineering section already looked to be in shambles.

“How does she look and have we been able to make contact with her yet?” asked Countryman.

“No, sir. As for the ship, she has taken a beating. Her engines have been disabled and large sections of her outer hull have been exposed to the storm. Her shields, while still active are not protecting the whole ship, only the core sections. Most of her systems have been damaged including her comm arrays. Which appears to be why she has not answered our hails. Unfortunately we are not the only ones to have picked up the distress call. We have detected twelve ships, bearing down on our position. They will be close enough to detect us in two hours and intercept us in four,” reported Misaki.

“Any lifesigns on the cruiser?” asked Countryman.

“Yes sir, all in the central core of the ship. Give the ships size it looks like most of the crew survived,” reported Misaki. Countryman thought a couple moments and then gave his orders.

“Disable the distress beacon, and lock a tractor beam on the cruiser. Lets not waste resources fighting whatever faction is after our friends,” said Countryman.

“Aye, sir” responded Misaki. A second later she focused a pulse on the beacon and it fell silent having been disrupted by the high intensity em pulse. A couple second later the tractor beam had been established.

“Krall distress beacon offline, tractor beam established towing connection is stable,” reported Misaki.

“Arla, plot a course back to port. Eri get us out of here full sublight,” ordered Countryman. The two acknowledged the order, and moments later the ship came about and began to tow the damaged cruiser back to their little port in the storm. Something that would take awhile, since the highest speed one could safely reach in the storm was normally full sublight. There were of course highways of a sort in the storm, where it was possible to reach ftl speeds The ship was currently a month out of port, and they had been planning on crossing to the far side of the storm to chart it. A journey of nearly two years using the highways of the storm. The storm was after all multiple lightyears across.

Meanwhile over on the cruiser a young Krall woman was fixing a console when the ship was jolted. Someone asked what was that, when it happened. A moment later her ship-leader told her to find out. Making the last connection, she restarted the console and activated the sensors.

“We are caught in a tractor beam, ship-leader,” said the girl.

“Are you sure? Whose?” asked the ship-leader.

“One moment,” said the girl as she looked over the data. Then her eyes widened when the computer identified the ship that had them in a tractor beam. “Sir, it is the Enterprise. She found us and has us in a tractor beam. She appears to be towing us out of the area.

“Well, Talki it looks like we finally found the ship we were looking for. What is her status?” said the ship-leader.

“Overall she appears to be in far better shape than we are. However she looks to have taken a beating over the years. Roughly forty five percent of the of the outer hull appears to have been breached and patched with whatever they could find over the years. Her port nacelle is heavily patched and the engines look like they were patched back together. All the damage that was repaired there looks consistent with what we know they took during their last battle with the Valorians. It seems they have also upgraded a number of systems as well, I am picking up force field generators in her hangers and shuttlebays. The odd thing is that, I am picking up just under eighty thousand lifesigns, but nothing to suggest how they are protecting themselves from the radiation,” said Talki.

“Wait are you saying they have managed to survive here without shields!?” said the ship-leader.

“Yes, sir. The data indicates they are running with shields down. Oh this is interesting, their sensor array is drawing a massive amount of power, practically equal to their weapons array when active,” said Talki.

“Why would their sensors need that much power?” asked the ship-leader.

“No idea,” replied Talki. The ship-leader than barked orders to focus on getting the communications array back online.

Several hours later, in the Enterprise’s starboard hanger bay, Sali was conducting a routine check of her shuttles flight systems. She had long since graduated to the status of full pilot and was no longer in the reintegration program. Which meant she could fly without a supervisor now. She was one of several pilots that was to transport teams to the Krall cruiser. Once docked with the cruiser she was to remain on standby, while the teams made contact with the Krall. Their were to be four teams, two groups from engineering, one medical team in case it was needed and some marines. The entire mission was a search and rescue type. She wasn’t looking forward to the wait though. There was nothing more boring than remaining on standby with nothing to do. In fact she had found that she hated having nothing to do. Which is why she had brought something along.

She had just finished the check, when the marine leading this mission entered the cockpit. It was a young woman, that Sali wasn’t all that familiar with. She was one of the lower ranking marines and the only reason she was leading the squad is because the rest were cadets. The reason for the cadets being on this mission, was to give them a learning experience. There was no reason to expect combat since they had good relations with the Krall. This group of cadet were training to be combat engineers, and a search and rescue mission makes for excellent live training for combat engineers.

“The cadets are strapped in, we can depart when you are ready,” said the squad leader.

“I already finished the systems check, we can’t leave yet though. Still waiting for the bay doors to open and the go ahead signal,” replied Sali, then she said “Kira right? Why don’t you sit down and strap in.”

That is my first name, but we aren’t that close. Call me by my family name, Maru,” said Kira.

“Sorry, Maru,” said Sali just as the greenlight for the mission came in. The hangar doors split apart in the middle moving to pocket on either side of the bay. While at the same moment a shimmering blue energy field sprang into existence. Getting the force field to work had been difficult, because of the slight differences in the physical laws. Still having a fully working example had been a great help for reverse engineering the technology. Unfortunately force fields and shields worked on somewhat different principles. Which meant they had not been able to apply what had been learned by reverse engineering to their shields. Still it had led to some hints, but resources meant other things were being prioritized. Sali spent minute waiting for the door to open, before she took off. The shuttle gently lifted of the deck and the catapult launched it out into the storm.

The shuttle easily passed through the field, just like it was meant to. The field was only designed to keep the storm out and the atmosphere in. As a result physical objects trying to pass through would only encounter a small amount of resistance. Like trying to pass through a piece of paper. Like the paper a low energy object would bounce off it, but a high energy object would punch through. Unlike the paper though, instead of a hole being punch through the field would wrap around the object and close as it passed through. Thereby allowing a shuttle to pass through, but not the air it was meant to keep in. It also prevents someone from walking through the field and into space. Of course high energy particles and high velocity projectiles can still pass through with little resistance. In other words the field did little to stop weapons, although it did provide some protection against cosmic radiation, but not much.

Entering the storm, she alter course and headed towards the cruiser. She had to change course three times, to avoid debris and high velocity currents in the storm. Occasionally a discharge would strike the shuttle and she would watch the armor strength drop. Fortunately the armor could recharge fairly quickly and was charging almost as quickly as it was being drained. Something that Sali remembered didn’t happen with the shields she used to use. Those shields were pretty strong, but they could only charge between cycles. This armor was actually a little weaker, but the ability to recharge while in use made it more valuable. As soon as they reached the cruiser she and the other three shuttles did a quick flight around the ship, before latching onto four docking ports on the port side of the ship. Once docked Kira and the other team leaders disembarked their teams on deck fifty nine of the cruiser. While Sali stayed behind to watch the shuttle. After they left, she setup the sensors to alert her if anyone boarded the shuttle and pulled out the gamepad that she had brought along. The game was one that Reia had recommend to her, and was recommended to Reia by the captain.

Kira and her cadets made their way into the depths of the ship. The majority of Krall lifesigns were concentrated on deck eighty two. Reaching that deck however was going to be difficult. The entire tram lift system was offline and a number of bulkheads on the way down to the deck had also collapsed. Behind her team of cadets was the medical team in case they were needed. From the shuttle the group first headed towards the fore of the ship. They walked nearly a hundred meters towards the front of the ship and passed two blocked corridors and a fire that was being contained by a forcefield. The fire was already dying, when they passed it. Clearly it was starting to run out of air.

Then they reached an access point to the ships maintenance tubes, where they began to make their way through a maze of tunnels to the lower decks. Often being forced to change direction to avoid collapsed bulkheads, or being slowed by locked doors that they had to bypass. Which often meant sitting there for five minutes with a plasma cutter to get through the seal. Eventually they manage to make to deck eighty two, where they found the Krall moving about in a frenzy. Most ignored them, but one of them approached their position. She was one of the younger females in the room, with beautiful red and silver scales and purple eyes. She was only about a hundred and fifty centimeters tall, and had a lovely figure.

She came to a stop near Kira and introduced herself.

“Good day, I’m Talki chief subspace specialist and grade three engineer aboard the Hyketh, and you are?” said Talki.

“I’m Kira Maru, squad leader, I brought some medics with me. We also have some engineers, who went off to access the damage to your engines,” said Kira. Talki signaled someone to show the medics to the injured as they were short on medical staff.

“It would have been of more help, if they came to help with the shields. Which are failing. Speaking of shields, we are wondering how you managed to survive the radiation without shields,” said Talki.

“I don’t really understand the how myself. We never could get the radiation shields to function, don’t ask me why either. The med labs came up with a thick silver fluid that seems to protect a person from the radiation indefinitely,” said Kira.

“Wrong person to ask. Anyway what is with the tractor beam? This part of the storm currently seems to be stable,” asked Talki.

“You’re right about the area being stable for now, but the storm is entering its active phase. So that could change at any moment. We are taking you to our own port in the storm, its local area tends to remain stable, although it has been hit by a couple of smaller eddies. The main reason for the tractor beam is that command wants to avoid unnecessary conflict, since we aren’t the only ones to have picked up your distress call. Twelve other ships were closing on your position when we arrived,” said Kira. Talki was surprised to hear about the distress call. A quick check on the console, and she found the beacon had been activated, earlier. However someone had disabled it. The system showing signs of being burned out.

“Why is our distress beacon burned out?” asked Talki.

“Command disabled it remotely. Also the captain would like to talk to one of you,” said Kira. Talki briefly conferred with the ship-leader and decided she would go to talk with the captain. Before leaving the ship, she grabbed a personal shield belt. The shield would protect her from the radiation for a few hours. Before following Kira through her ships corridors, to the shuttles docked on deck fifty nine. Talki was quite surprised to find that the pilot of the shuttle was a Valorian. So the flight to the ship, she chatted heavily with the Kira and Sali to learn what to expect on the ship.

The bay was already open with a glowing field keeping the air in, when they approached the hanger. The shuttle came in, and landed gently on the deck. As soon as she was secure on the deck, the passengers disembarked from the craft. While Sali went back to standby and pulled out her game to pass the wait.

Talki and Kira left the bay to young children running by. Clearly the youngsters were playing a game.

“Looks like you have been busy,” commented Talki.

“Yes, our population has been growing at a fair rate. This way it the lift,” replied Kira while using her helmet comms to contact operations. Where she learned the captain had gone down to deck one hundred and two. Visiting the labs on those decks for some reason.

She lead Talki down to the deck and found the captain outside lab 2357. The lab was one of the labs set up for next generation armor research. The captain waited for them to arrive and then said, “Talki is it, are you by chance related to Tika?”

Talki stopped in her tracks, with a bit of surprise. Countryman already knew her name, because it was mentioned to operations, by Kira, who then mentioned it to him. Talki was not very surprised by him knowing her name, what surprised her was his guess.

“I, uh am, but how did you guess,” replied Talki. Countryman dismissed Kira and then replied, “There is a family resemblance.”

They had a brief conversation about the storm, and what each party was doing. During which time he learned about the Krall plan for getting the Enterprise out of the storm.

“Unfortunately, the spare hyperdrive was in one of the cargo holds that is now flooded with gasses from the storm. Worse the one we are currently using is damaged. Hopefully it can, be fixed and we can recover the spare,” said Talki.

“That is unfortunate, I hope you kept it in a sealed crate. The storm has a detrimental effect on all technology. If we didn’t have a port in this storm, repairing our hull wouldn’t have been possible. Unfortunately, it also makes finding the materials needed to repair damaged systems difficult. Hence our current hull state, and why only a little over half our hull is actually armored. Which you no doubt already know,” said Countryman referring to the fact that he knew they scanned his ship.

“We did have it in a crate, but it may have been thrown around when those eddies hit us,” said Talki.

“I’ll have my engineers keep an eye out for it then. Hopefully it is still in good shape,” said Countryman.

“I have been wondering, you seem to have figured out force fields, so shields shouldn’t be too far off. Why don’t you have them, yet?” asked Talki.

“We are working on something, even better and it is looking quite promising,” said Countryman.

“What could be better than shields?” asked Talki.

“I’ll show you,” said Countryman opening the door to the lab. She followed him into the lab. He led her behind a transparent screen. On the far side of the room, was an experimental plate of armor. The plate was designed to be far superior to the plating they were currently using. Employing everything they had learned by studying alien technology, including incorporating components from alien shield generator designs, and some elements from force field generators.

“The cannon you see there in the middle of the room, can punch through our standard plate. This new plate, uses a new type of structural reinforcement field. This new field employs gravitons, which allow it absorb significantly more energy and support thicker plates than before,” said Countryman as he signaled the tech to fire. A short burst of blue particle bolts, slammed into the plate. Which glowed slightly as a particle ripple moved across the surface, to little effect.

“How strong is that plate?” asked Talki.

“That plate is about three times stronger, than our standard plate and as a bonus the energy field has some of the same properties as shields. Allowing it to stop radiations that would normally pass through our hull. It still has a few flaws to work out though, but nothing all that crippling. Since we have the time, we going to keep working on it until we have ironed out the flaws. No reason to rush it into service just yet,” said Countryman.

Over the next few days, the two crews worked to repair the Hyketh. Her main engines were fortunately repairable, along with her hyperdrive. The spare hyperdrive she was carrying however had been damaged and exposed to the storm. The drives delicate components had been badly degraded by the gases. Still it looked like the drive was salvageable, and it was transferred over to the Enterprise.

“Here, you will need these,” said Talki handing over a set of notes, “those are my notes on hyperdrive technology. You will need them to salvage the drive, hopefully it isn’t to badly damaged.”

“If not we can try to leave in a month when the storm surfaces,” said Countryman.

“Wait, did you say a month? How can you be so sure?” asked Talki.

“We were here last time the storm surfaced, and we took quite the number of readings when it happened. With our enhanced sensors, we noted a few things about the storm. The storm is entering its hyperactive phase, which immediately precedes the storms emergence in normal space. We weren’t sure of the pattern though until a few days ago,” replied Countryman.

“So are you sure you will be alright on you own?” asked Talki not yet willing to just leave, with the Enterprise still in the storm.

“We will be fine, but the Hyketh needs to return to port. If you don’t go now, you risk being trapped with us,” said Countryman.

“I guess, I wish the drive could produce a window that could allow two ships to pass through,” replied Talki.

“Well, it doesn’t and it doesn’t really matter to us where we leave the storm. We will return to our homeworld eventually, but not until our numbers have recovered and Earth has had time to recover. Which is why I want my descendants to take us home, in a little under ten millennia,” said Countryman. He knew the changes meant he would live longer, but he doubted he would live that long. They were still trying to figure out what their new lifespan would be, but no one thought it would be more than a few hundred years longer.

“So you’re not returning to our little part of galactic quadrant one?” asked Talki.

“Not any time soon. When we leave the storm, we are going to find ourselves a nice isolated place to repair, and build some new escorts. After that we will resume our search for a new homeland. Oh, take this, that pad contains our data on hyperspace, and some of our hyperspace equations,” said Countryman. She took a look at the pad, and found that the sheer amount of data dwarfed their own on the storm, and they had been taking continuous readings for years.

“This data is amazing! Why are you giving it to us?” asked Talki.

“It is our thank you for the drive, hopefully that data will help cover the cost of your little expedition,” replied Countryman, before seeing her off. A few minutes later he stepped onto his bridge just in time to see the Hyketh open a window and leave the storm. The shuttle transporting Talki already returning to the ship.

Captain’s Log May 23rd 024 SDE,

The storm has surface again, and with it the eddies have subsided. We have returned to the border of the storm and are running intensive scans of the outer shell. We need more data on the outer shell, before we can attempt to leave the storm. As for the hyperdrive, we are lacking in a rare element needed to repair it. Studying the damaged drive however has given us valuable insights into hyperspace technologies. Some of which we are already applying to our research, and to some existing technologies.

Captain’s Log May 29th 024 SDE,

The storm has sunk back into hyperspace, as for leaving it through the shell. We have determined that it would be difficult. The problem lies in our port warp engine, while we patched the drive their, by transferring the backup starboard into the nacelle. The backups weren’t as resilient as the larger more powerful primaries. This means we suffer a burn out in the port engine, during every simulated attempt. The burnout causes the warp field to unbalance, and the ship is torn apart by the spatial stresses incurred. While we could move the starboard engine, the ship is simply to large for a single engine to generate a warp field big enough to encompass the entire ship. If our hull armor was actually intact, we might be able to pass through it at sublight speed, but the shell is a highly turbulent region of the storm that can easily rip our damage hull apart. We will continue to investigate the shell, and work on methods to leave the storm however.

Captain’s Log October 13th 027 SDE,

We have had some problems of late mostly with some of the younger children having nothing to do. Other people have been complaining about the fact that we don’t have any new entertainment material and that they have seen everything in the library. To solve these problems, the council and I have sponsored the start of an animation and games studio. We have plenty of labs on board, so I had one of them converted into the studio. Their goal will be to create new shows, movies and games for people to spend their free time on. With new things to occupy our young children, I hope to see a reduction in pranks. In other news the flaws with the council have become apparent. The council has a number of empty seats, and filling them has been nothing but endless debate. The council has other little issues as well that people have been complaining about as well. We have been debating how to fix, them for a while, but the council was never intended to be more than a temporary government. So we have decided to replace the current council, however we are going to take our time about it. Which of course means years of debate, before anyone ratifies any new council.

Captain’s Log May 15th 38 SDE,

The Officer's Council has finally been disbanded, it only took ten years of debate. The new Elder’s Council that is taking its place, will serve much the same role. However her powers and structure are much better defined. It has eight seats, seven standard council seats and the chairman. Along with a special seat that will be filled by me. I will be the Supreme Protector, leader of the fleet when we get around to building it. In matters governed by the council, I will only vote in the event of a tie. Mostly the council will manage fleet resource applications, make and enforce our laws, and other tasks. The members of the council, have already been chosen and they are Richard Greyman as head, First Seat Eriko Dykes, Second Seat Ruri, Third Seat Ashley Drakes, Fourth Seat Misaki, Fifth Seat Megumi Richards, Sixth Seat Kaori Airi, and Seventh Seat Samantha Greyman. In other news we have stopped seeing mutations in our populace. Some people have been complaining about the ship being overcrowded, however morale is mostly positive. Our shipwide entertainment network has become quite popular, that everyone uses the network. Which helps, quite a bit with morale on the ship.

Captain’s Log June 21st 38 SDE,

Our continued research has yielded some new technologies. Studying the Krall hyperdrive continues to have benefits, even if we haven’t been able to find enough of the rare material we need to repair it. The latest breakthrough from it, allowed us to create a more powerful and efficient energy absorber. Which is already showing benefits, shipwide. The most important of which is that we no longer have to worry about fuel. Which is good since the last couple of years really ate into our reserves, with the poor pickings. The new absorbers are powerful enough that we can draw all the energy we need from the storm itself.

Our labs have proposed a new propulsion theory. If it works, we will see a significant improvement in FTL maneuverability. Along with a general improvement in all areas. I have also had the honor of witnessing the test of our new generation of energy weapons. The new generation particle weapons fire faster and hit harder than the current generation, but the most impressive improvement is the range. We have also made a great deal of progress in improving the old Electro Cannons, getting better range and power.

Captain’s Log December 17th 049 SDE,

We have begun observing a general weakening in the storm as of late. Our latest propulsion theories have panned out. We can now maneuver much better at translight velocities, so we are going to attempt leaving the storm in a few years when it leaves hyperspace. Our simulations show the ship will take some damage breaking through the outer barrier, but we will make it in every simulation. Their is unfortunately still a high chance of our warp drive burning out, but not fatally in the simulations. Thanks to the safeties we have devised, that help increase response time to warp field collapse.

Captain’s Log January 14th 055 SDE,

The storm has finally left hyperspace, and we are near the outer barrier making ready for the jump out of the storm. We have battened down the hatches and reinforced the hull, best we can. We have double and triple checked the engines, and made sure they are as up to spec as possible. We have also evacuated and braced the outer sections in case of hull breach.

Countryman walked down a corridor heading for a lift. Young children and crewman walking by to their emergency stations. The red alert lights flashing on every wall. As a general announcement was coming over the speakers. Countryman himself had just finished a final inspection and was heading to the bridge. He passed a mother and her two girls as he entered the lift, both girls while young were acting like adults already trained to handle the current situation. Their expressions revealed they were anxious and uncertain however.

The lift took only moments to reach the first deck. Exiting the lift Countryman headed to the bridge and surveyed his domain as he took his seat. The faces of his bridge crew had changed little over the years, a fact that he noted, but had long gotten used to.

“Eri, take us out of the storm maximum warp,” ordered Countryman. Eri smiled and acknowledged the order, then worked at her controls. The ship responded instantly, the old girl came about and accelerated to warp speeds. The ship slammed into the outer shell at high speed and the hull began to groan and buckle as she went through.

The ship was only in the outer shell for a few seconds, but it was long enough for the engines to redline as they fought the storm. The patched sections of the outer hull were the first to buckle, but a few other sections buckled as well. The ship burst from the storm at high speed, the gases of the storm trailing behind the ship in a massive wake. Just as the port engine burned out and the safeties kicked in. The ship was still damaged by the sudden strain, but nothing fatal.

“Report!” barked Countryman.

“Heavy damage to the outer hull, hull breaches on all decks emergency bulkheads are in place and holding. We have lost power on thirty nine decks, forty percent of the weapons array is non responsive. Warp drive is offline. Number three engine is non-responsive, and fourteen sub engines have been disabled. Minor structural failures detected on decks forty three, seventy nine, and one hundred seven. Estimated structural integrity has fallen to thirty four percent. Our engines have been damaged beyond repair, and must be rebuilt. Good news is that other than a couple of minor failures our star frame is generally intact which means the ship just needs a proper refit,” reported Richards from the engineering console. The star frame she mentioned, being the central part of the ship’s structure that the entire ship was built around. The starship equivalent to the keel of old seafaring ships. Star frames can be repaired, but there's a limit to how much damage can be done to one, before it is cheaper to just build a new ship. In other words the star frame is the skeleton of the ship. The Enterprise being a capital ship originally designed for war had a highly robust star frame so it was no surprise that it held up better than the hull.

“Long range sensors, scan for a nearby system with the materials we need to repair the ship,” ordered Countryman. The ship sat there floating in space for the next three and a half hours until they found a minerally rich system that fit the bill. Countryman ordered a course and the ship headed for the system at maximum sublight. It would take the ship eight years to reach the system. A system that would later be called Salvation.