On the hunt for old friends...

Posted on 03 Dec 2016 @ 4:15pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant JG Paul Akron & Commander Paul Toddman & Lieutenant JG Alexandra DuQuesne

Mission: Episode One: Back on the Highway to Hell
Location: Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: MD 5: 1020 hours

The USS Arizona coasted slowly through the small Aether star system that contained the wormhole that would take the ship and her crew into a part of space that hadn’t been traversed by Federation vessels since the USS Voyager first ventured into the Delta Quadrant well over a decade ago. The massive Sovereign-class vessel navigated the void between the system’s outskirts into the very heart of it unmolested and unchallenged by the native inhabitants of the region. Not so much as a transmission was sent their way, which suited the Arizona’s Captain just fine.

Captain Nathan Cowell sat on the Bridge of his ship, watching the image feed being displayed on the main viewer intently and with great interest. He hadn’t actually gone through the Bajorian Wormhole before, even during the Dominion War. He’d seen it from the Promenade a time or two, but hadn’t ever been given orders to traverse and explore beyond it. It was one of the few things on the short list of things the Old Man hadn’t done yet in his life, and he’d soon be striking that off the short list.

“Mister Akron, time to contact with the wormhole?” Nathan asked, his hand curled beneath his chin.

“Two minutes, Captain,” the newly appointed Chief CONN officer replied.

Nathan’s free hand began drumming rhythmically on the arm rest of his chair as he watched the ship grow ever closer to the alien wormhole. Unlike the one residing in the Beta Quadrant, the Aether anomaly remained perpetually open during its active cycle. That small difference was really the only thing that separated the two spacial anomalies apart from one another.

The Arizona approached the event horizon and slowly but surely penetrated the boundary between real and normal space. The entire ride through the folded and twisted up space took roughly a minute, but in that minute the ship had traversed hundreds of thousands of light years, a distance that would have taken them years to cross even with the best warp drives in the Federation. When the ship crossed back into normal space, the ship was greeted by an open star field.

“Mister Toddman, get us a bearing if you would,” Nathan said after the Universe stopped moving around him.

Paul waited a moment for the sensors to normalize and produce data on the Arizona's position. His console beeped as the information came in and calculations were made.

"The reported coordinates for New Talax are on a bearing of 170 mark 2," Paul reported.

The Captain nodded at the information before turning toward their resident Science Officer, “Miss DuQuesne, based on where we are, how far would you say we are from the last known Talaxian colony Voyager recorded?”

"Based on our current coordinates, we're about 112 lightyears from the Talaxian asteroid colony. Should take us about five days at about maximum warp."

Nathan turned to back toward the fore of the Bridge, “Mister Akron, set your course for the position Miss DuQuesne outlined, maximum warp.”

“Aye, Captain,” Paul nodded and began making his preparations to launch the ship into warp.