Captain's Log: "It's Good To Be Home"

Posted on Mon May 4th, 2026 @ 3:07am by Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: Die Hard: Chimera Edition
Location: Captain's Ready Room

"Captain's Log, Stardate... Oh, who cares, these things are in chronological order anyways. Why does Starfleet even care if I say what the stardate is? It's embedded in the recroding!"

A heavy sigh is heard before the voice continues.

"Chimera is finally back over the semi-official border of the Federation, you know, that area where it isn't 'officially' Federation space, but no one else has claimed it and we have ships that go through. But either which way, we are a LONG way away from Starbase 634, where we started out from, and Commodore Everly doesn't control anything out here. In fact, our next destination was initially supposed to be Deep Space Sixteen, which is a relatively newer starbase in the northern part of the Federation, maybe a bit closer to the Romulans than they'd like, but it has a full set of repair yards and we're expected to be laid up there for two to three months for a complete refit of the ship. We're getting phaser upgrades to the newest model, a full structural evaluation, brand new deflector dish and I'm sure JJ is going to be excited about the new warp core we're getting, supposedly will increase efficiency. Likewise, a brand new set of Luna-class dilithium crystals, already with initial attuning, with a spare set for our storage."

There were a few beeps and a small noise as if a PADD were being picked up.

"Unfortunately, it looks like my Razor is going to be taken off, because we're getting a full small-craft reorganization. New shuttles, a couple runabouts and an assault shuttle for the Marines. Maybe Nat'll let me fly it when she needs to drop her troops... Our sensor suite is being upgraded as well, with a new mission pod that is a refinement of our current one: Two forward and one aft torpedo launchers, point defense pulse phasers and an entire rotating array of specialized sensors."

"A full armory upgrade, fresh ablative armor, Chimera's going to be a whole new ship inside and out when they're done, just with her original bones." The sigh returned, "But we've been redirected on our way back, over to a world called 'Orgrann'. Apparently, Command is concerned that we've been out for so long we may have picked up some organic substance that could spread within Federation space, so they want us to go through a Baryon Sweep at Orgrann's Space Elevator Station prior to going to Deep Space Sixteen. And, of course, since we're already going to be there, Starfleet has assigned us to handle another problem at Orgrann."

More noises, one PADD being put down, another being picked up, "There's a local disturbance with the government on the planet. As stated, they have a space elevator which is their primary avenue to their orbit, because their atmosphere is heavily ionized, which makes transporters exceedingly unreliable and dangerous and shuttles are under an advisory not to fly in-atmosphere under a hundred-thousand feet. Not sure I'd even be that bold.." A rustle of hair being toyed with, "So the major issue is environmental: The space elevator is being used to launch the planetary waste into the solar system, ostensibly towards the sun to burn up, but according to environmental groups on the ground, the trajectories are irregular."

"So, since we're going to be there for forty-eight hours ANYways, we've been tapped to handle the situation. I've got a meeting already scheduled on Starbright Station to mediate the situation with government officials and representatives of the environmentalists to try to come up with a middle ground. In the meantime, the bulk of the crew will be taken down by the elevator to the surface for some minor R&R and in some peoples' cases, to follow up with local law enforcement and some of the environmentalists to do some research on their claims. If I can't find some compromise or solution within 72 hours, I'm authorized to impose my own findings pending an actual diplomatic team arriving."

The creak of a chair sounded, the clear sign that the woman speaking had stood up, "Since accommodations on Starbright Station are minimal, I'm going to keep a diverse team up with me: The Lieutenants Kally Kellerman, Valleroy, Rala, Jeffries and McMillan will be with me, along with Petty Officer Benvenuto to try to get into their computer systems to dig out things they may be hiding." She pondered for a minute, "I'll keep Tessa and her boyfriend up here too, I don't want her getting into trouble on the ground on a new world with no warning." There was another few seconds of silence, "Commander Espersen will lead the on-duty contingent on the ground, with Major Markova handling any security concerns around the ground station with Bosun Enor and PO Draven to back her up. Lieutenant Windancer I'm going to have pair up with Katie Kellerman and Ensign Vaux perhaps to investigate the situation with the environmentalists."

The sounds of feet pacing on the floor were heard for the next several seconds.

"We've been out of the Federation for a year and three months. We've done our share of exploration, rescued a princess out of slavery, returned her home, defeated pirates, privateers and found some wildlife that no one would believe. I think we've earned our trip home to go visit friends and family. I just hope this goes smoothly so we can all get back home."

"End Captain's Log."