Stardate: 80405:2100
Title: Journey's End
Author: Captain Abigail Winters
Time: Current
Scene: Home Universe


It was not the usual jubilant mood that followed the end of a mission as Maxine confirmed that they were indeed back in their universe and, judging from a local relay beacon, they had only left this universe three weeks ago.

Their losses were significant though; in the universe with the Life Alliance Command and where the population was dying through infertility, casualties had been sustained and the emotional damage to those who had been impregnated was going to be tenfold now they were going back home. Other losses in the Observer’s universe would long be felt by everyone.

Damien Zaro reported from the operations station that the CEO had fixed the problem in the forward communications array and a message had been sent to Starbase 9 announcing their return. With Keller at the helm they would be arriving the next day.

Dr Proctor hadn’t been brave enough to order the Captain to medical to investigate her new advanced years, but he had dispatched Lin to ‘work’ on the bridge. Abby, however, was not yet ready to talk about the six years of her life she had lost and was instead keeping everyone busy with operational tasks.

She had tasked Ravien Lox with the job of recording how the jump drive had transported them to a different dimension within a universe, asking Relly to work with him and explain the functionality.

“Captain, I am picking up a lot of activity,” said Synder from Tactical.

“From the pattern the ships are forming it looks like some kind of patrol,” Duncan commented. “They are all Federation vessels.”

“Slow us down Mr Keller, I want all available data on this area.”

After an hour of gathering local information a worrying picture was being painted - high energy weapons of Federation and unknown design had been used and debris of many classes of vessels had been logged by the sensors. Accessing the Federation Network News channel the main lead story was of border skirmishes and raider attacks on the Federation. It didn’t take long before a low-level panic started to spread among the crew and the communications channel being jammed with crew trying to get of hold of their loved ones.

A quiet nod in Browning's direction brought both the news channel access and comms system temporarily down under the guise of essential maintenance. As they approached Starbase 9 they were advised that they were being put into a queue and to maintain their position. The other vessels waiting showed signs of damage and the chatter between ships was filled with damage reports, losses and areas of the Federation that were now 'no-go' zones. As they approached the front of the queue Abby issued a directive to the crew.

All but a few crew members were granted shore leave for three hours; there were many grumbles at the short time, but the Captain was firm in her instructions that at the end of that time everyone was to report back to the ship.

As the Captain left the ship she was greeted by two security officers

“Ma’am, we are to escort you to see Admiral Foster.”

As one journey ended, a new one was no doubt just about to begin.


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Captain Abigail Winters
Commanding Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
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