“He recorded…everything.”  Cadet Catrin Williams sat at the main table in the project control center on the USS Nova.  Examining all the data from the console they had taken on board fell to her by order of Captain Walton of the Perseverance. Catrin was coming up on day three of long hours of inputting his logs into the computer and examining them while the computer worked to cross-reference with any known ships that had gone missing in the area over the last ten years.  The Chief Medical Officer from the Perseverance, Jordan Reid, sat across from her, working through the scans and photos coming in from both ships.

Reid muttered, “He thought himself lord and emperor over this system.  If you were deluded enough to think ownership fell to you by the divine right of you and you alone – you’d build up quite an ego in ten years.”  She moved several photos to the screens surrounding the room and proceeded to stand at one, moving the various crash sites into an arrangement, “At last count, five merchant or civilian ships crashed here.  Nova’s running over the surface to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

Catrin rubbed her eyes and swiveled to watch the lieutenant work, “I need a break from his narrative.  Did we find his ship?”  In the last 72 hours, she had begun to get to know Reid and had found her a surprising encouragement.  She didn’t panic around the women like she did everyone else.

“That’s the enduring mystery.  Any of the five could be his, or he could have hid it well.”  She set the computer to analyze the crash sets. She slid back into her chair at the table, “I understand the Nova’s been assigned to investigate the sector and, specifically, this planet.”

The young cadet couldn’t help but smile, “I am quite excited.  Nova class ships stay in place for extended periods to examine and investigate. There is so much to examine.  I’ve only begun to scope out cave locations for possible old settlements.  If the emperor found it appealing here…there’s a chance others did.”

Jordan admired the cadet.  There was this natural ache to keep searching that seemed built into the foundation of every inch of her instincts.  She had watched and listened to her seek answers to questions barely asked in the logs she had been digging through.  The compilation of the report had become a thesis-level project for Williams.  “You got the luck of the draw being assigned to Nova, Cadet.”  She sipped her cooling tea, “You given any thought to where you want to land once you graduate?”

Catrin chewed on her bottom lip.  Ever since she’d been assigned to the Nova, she had thought about this question.  “I don’t know, lieutenant.  I mean, I do, and I don’t.  Stations are massive with many possibilities of positions, opportunities, and experiences…but a ship is out among the stars searching for the next thing to catalog and figure out…you know?”

Reid chuckled and shook her head at the young woman’s furrowed brows in reaction, “Not laughing at you, cadet.  I’m laughing because I’ve been in those same shoes – wrestled with ship, station, and civilian life.”  The memories of the last year played in the back of her mind as she spoke, “The journey of a Starfleet officer is not an easy one…you do a lot of second-guessing sometimes.” The cadet eyed the lieutenant for a moment in the silence that followed.  She opened her mouth a few times to ask a question and then closed it again.  Reid said, “Ask it, Cadet Williams.”

After a long pause, Williams dug deep for the courage to ask, “Are you where you’re supposed to be now, lieutenant?  I mean…do you second guess moving to the Perseverance?”

Jordan let the question hang in the air as she considered the answer.  She replied, “If you had asked me a week ago…I might have told you my doubts were giving me pause about it…but after all of this…and you…I’m where I’m supposed to be.”  She stood, loading the data onto a PADD, “I should take this to Commander Park.  You keep working at it, Cadet Williams…you’ll find where you belong.  Lots of time to learn here on Nova.”

Catrin watched as the door slid shut behind the doctor.  She returned to the backlog of data from the man’s logs.  Something was in here, waiting for her to find it.  Her hands hovered over the console keys.  “Tell me everything, emperor,” she whispered as she went to work.