Stardate 24001.07.28 

When setting course to rescue Captain Jurev and his XO, who had vanished after putting in an unexpected notice of their retirement, the Cupertino was encountered a phenomena that later was discovered to be a subspace aperture. Unable to navigate past it, the ship was dragged into what we now understand to be Underspace. 

The shock of being in wholly uncharted region of space had the crew anxious and suspicious, which climaxed upon the discovery of B.L.A.D.E – a computer program the Cupertino encountered on a previous mission, that had lodged itself into the computer and appeared responsible for Captain Jurev’s sudden departure. As an ever-evolving artificial intelligence, B.L.A.D.E drew information from Academy training programs, and decided that it, too, was part of Starfleet. Lieutenants Morishita and Vargas were able to convince it to work together to earn its place in Starfleet, and  B.L.A.D.E has been an asset ever since. 

Within the subspace tunnel, we encountered the remains of the SS Belladonna, and have informed authorities of our finding. According to what we were able to find out, the ship disappeared two years ago and I hope the families of the passengers can find closure. 

We also encountered a Cardassian vessel in need of aid. The commanding officer, Gul Dan, seemed cooperative until a misunderstanding had him hold the away teams we sent over hostage. With B.L.A.D.E’s aid, we were able to return them to the Cupertino, and render the Cardassian’s following attack harmless. B.L.A.D.E was damaged in the process and is currently in hibernation mode until it can be repaired reliably. I don’t know what will happen to it, but I will advocate for it to be integrated into the crew, even if just in the capacity of a science officer on the holodeck. Seeing these first steps of an artificial consciousness has been a lifelong dream of mine, and I intent to keep my promise of not allowing it to be harmed. 

The tides of battle were turned when a piece of the USS Mariner damaged the Cardassian vessel. We are still waiting for to hear if they made it out of the aperture – even if evidently not in one piece. The Mariner’s involuntary help allowed us to call a truce and work together. In particular Doctor Trova appeared very much appreciative of that. 

We discovered that the Cardassians were laying buoys and calibrating them to manipulate the tetryon flows of Underspace and collapse the apertures. We don’t know the background of this plan, but the crew’s quick thinking allowed us to collapse the network before it could trap us within the subspace tunnel. I am sure Gul Dan will not be pleased when he discovers it, and I am glad we are already out of immediate reach. 

That said, it appears we have kept a keepsake – from what Doctor Trova tells me, one of the Cardassians was mistakenly pronounced dead and has not been retuned to his vessel. I suppose we will have to deal with that once he wakes up. 

Lieutenant Keller, who was injured as the Cupertino entered the aperture, will be extracted from her stasis unit shortly. Her husband and children are en-route to rendezvous with us, and I am confident she will make a full recovery. 

As the ship needs repairs and the crew needs the opportunity to process what happens, we will be entering a few weeks of shore leave shortly. This morning, I received a message letting me know that Captain Jurev has been located – it appears B.L.A.D.E seemed to try and send him to an early retirement to Risa. He is eager to resume command of his ship, which means I am due for another transfer. I’m not yet sure how to communicate that to the crew, but I have learned that communication is key – so I will have to find a way sooner rather than later. 

This hasn’t at all been how I envisioned my first command, but I am grateful for the things I learned. 

I will miss the Cupertino.