#StarDate 240108.14 

While he sat there in his quarters having a peaceful dinner overlooking the orders, he had just received from Commander Uzoma Ekwueme, asking if I would take the USS Gilroy to the Delta Quadrant via the Barzan Wormhole to do a supply run to the Markonian Outpost.  

So they have tasked me to make a second contact with the races there, to establish stronger relations with them and see what we can learn from there. To pass letters from family and friends to Starfleet members to any other ship still in the Delta Quadrant.

I put down my PADD from which I was reading my new orders, tapping his badge to pause his recording. I stared outside, looking into the darkness of space, wondering what may happen on this next assignment, and what things we will come upon when there. Looking down at my meal, I picked up my glass of juice, took a sip, and then continued eating my steak meal.

A short time passed, and he finished his meal, tapping his badge to carry on his captain’s log, but not having anything else to add to it, he just ended his log and continued to look out the window of my quarters. Getting up to place my plate back in the Replicator, I called on the comms, “Commander Danvers, can you come to my quarters, please?” A few seconds went past “Yes Captain, I just finish off here and make my way down I be about 10 minutes” With this the Captain replied “OK see you soon, Telkir out” he tapped his comm badge and sat back down tapping a control panel on his table, which indicated to tell the computer to carry on playing music he had last asked for days before.

****

Almost to the dot of 10 minutes, Commander Danvers turned up at the Captain’s quarters. Relaxing in his quarters, listening to music, Telkir heard the comms of his door beeping. He sat up and said, “Enter” With that, the doors opened just as he muted the music. There stood a strong woman with strong Denobulan forehead riggers, standing at 5.7 with amazing emerald green eyes. She was one of the first Denobulan officer, Captain Telkir had ever served with. She dressed smartly and was always punctual. “Thank you for coming, Commander. We have some new orders” With that he held out the PADD to the Commander. Danvers made her way into the quarters more, took the PADD off Telkir, and took a seat on the sofa across from her commanding officer. Danvers put the PADD down in front of her a few minutes later, stood up, and walked toward the window. She expressed her surprise, “The Delta Quadrant! I never thought I’d get to go there. Are we still picking up Ensign Tior?” Taking a quick breath, she continued, ‘What about picking up our replacement Chief Medical Office in two weeks” With this, she turned back to the window and went quiet.

“I had this conversation with Commander Ekwueme. We have a 6-week deadline to prepare the crew and travel to the Barzan Wormhole, where we will start our journey to the Delta Quadrant. To inform the crew, I’m going to do a ship-wide message soon I just wanted you to hear it from me here and get your views on the mission first” walking over to his desk across from the windows and not far from the Commander.

There was a quiet period between the two that lasted a few minutes and the Commander then walked to the Replicator and said “Earl Tea, white one sugar 35° degree temperature” With that, his order appeared on the pad of the Replicator, and she picked it up and made her way to sit opposite Telkir while taking a sip of her drink. “What do I think about the mission? Well, it will be something different for us all, but is this type of ship the best to send there as we are not a warship or one of the state-of-the-art ships we now have in the fleet, we only a support ship that is designed for resupply and the occasion second contact missions when there are no other ships available for it.” Commander said her piece and then continued to drink her Earl Grey Tea.

A short while passed and the turbo-lift to the bridge opened up and out walked Captain Telkir and Commander Danvers, walking to their positions on the bridge. “Lieutenant Commander, open the ship-wide channel please,” said Captain Telkir. “Channel Open captain” Replied Lieutenant Commander Sharpe.

“This is your captain speaking. We received orders a short while ago, and I have been talking it over with Commander Danvers. We both decided that you all need to know, and I understand if any of you would like to take any holiday you have saved up. Our mission is to be at the Barzan Wormhole in 6 weeks to collect supplies from Starbase 38 and take them to the space station in the Delta Quadrant. From there, we will be doing second contact missions in the Delta Quadrant for about 2 to 3 months and returning to the annual opening of the wormhole.”

Taking a short break, he then continued to say “So like I said anyone that wants to leave, please say so to your department’s Commanding officer” With that, Lieutenant Commander Sharpe closed the channel at the sign of Captain Telkir nodding to close the comms.

****

A few weeks passed since the announcement from Captain Telkir, and only one crew member asked for leave due to a family member close to passing. Otherwise, the USS Gilroy has been on route from Planet Acamar near the Romulan/Klingon Border, not far from Starbase 86 heading toward the sol system to drop the crew member off, then they are to head towards Betazed to collect their replacement Chief Medical Officer Danielle Arias. “The crew’s morale over the last two weeks has been quite good considering that they are going to be travelling to the Delta Quadrant and not seeing or hearing from any of their friends or family for almost 2-3 months,” said Commander Danvers to Telkir while they were sitting having a nice drink after their last shift. “That’s good to hear, commander, and how do you feel about this assignment?” Said Captain Telkir. 

She took a sip of her drink as I asked her the question. She put her glass down to reply “You do it every time I go to drink, you ask me a question” With that they both giggled a bit and then the commander carried on talking 

“As I said two weeks ago in your quarters, it’s an assignment I never expected to be doing, but how I feel, I’m excited about it, it is nice to meet a new race that no one has met and it will be a change of pace instead of all these supply drops,” said Danvers.

****

A few days passed, and they finally made it to Betazed to collect their new Chief Medical Officer. Commander Danvers was on the bridge while Captain Telkir was in his office on the side of the bridge going over paperwork. The comms in the captain’s room went. It was Danvers. “Captain, we have arrived at Betazed. We contacted Commander Arias, and she said she would be ready for transport in the next hour. She’s just finishing off some last-minute paperwork for a while. She was there helping out.”

“Acknowledged, Let the Commander know when she’s aboard and store her stuff away to please report to me in my ready room.” With that, the captain ended the communication between him and the bridge. A short while passed, the turbo-lift doors opened, and Commander Arias walked down the left side of the bridge toward the captain’s ready room. Pushing the panel on the wall to activate the door chime and waiting to enter when told.

“Enter” comes out the door intercom from Captain Telkir, and with that Commander Arias entered. She walked up to his desk and said, “Commander Arias reporting as requested Captain” With that Captain Telkir waved his hand to sign to take a seat, and with that, the commander did.

“Thank you for coming as quickly as possible. I don’t know if you read the brief for our next mission, but we are heading to the delta quadrant. We won’t be able to just drop by to a starbase for any extra medical supplies,” taking a sip of his drink on his desk and then carrying on to say “So I need you to double-check our stocks and make sure we are fully equipped and if there is anything else, you can think you might need please put a request into Starbase 38 for collection on the way back from where we are to pick up Ensign Tior he’s on loan for a mission there”.

“Yes, Captain, not a problem. Is there anything else you need me for?” Telkir replied to the commander, 

“No, that’s all, and welcome aboard the Gilroy. I hope you enjoy your time here.” With that, the commander stood up, exited the ready room, and backed up to the turbo-lift.

A week passed, and they were coming up on Starbase 38. The captain was sitting in the conference room waiting for all his senior staff to arrive. Moments later, the entire senior staff came in, entering from both doors depending on where they were coming from. With everyone taking a seat, the Captain started by saying,

“Thank you, everyone, for turning up, and thank you to Dr. Arias for coming aboard the ship and taking the position of chief medical officer. I have asked you all here to ask you to do a total systems check, do a total inventory of everything we have, and get a report ready to broadcast to the starbase within the next two days. So they can get all we need readily for our return.” Ransom then stood up and took a look out of the window. Moments later he continued to say, “I want this mission to go as straightforward and by the book as much as we can, as we won’t have the chance for much backup when we are in the Delta Quadrant”. The meeting went on for a short while, not just for mission details, but just for a general chat after with them all, saying how they felt about their current and future mission.

Almost another two weeks went by, and all the senior officers had completed their reports and inventory requests and sent them to Starbase 38 as they went past almost two weeks ago. Since then, there has been nothing to report or do apart from travel to pick up Ensign Jabir Tior from Galadkail Minor, and still have another two weeks until they travel to the Delta Quadrant.

Time soon flowed past, and they had collected the Ensign from Galadkail Minor and made their way back to Starbase 38 with two days to spare. Captain Telkir gave the whole crew shore leave till it was time to leave, as they didn’t know when they would get the chance again.

****

The day soon came, but like always, all ships and even Starbase 38 went to yellow alert, ready for anything that might happen. This was the standard procedure for when the wormhole opened every month. Not knowing what was going to come through and if it was a threat to Starfleet or any of the races in the Alpha Quadrant. Standard orders from Starfleet were to implode the wormhole if any threat came through, but with this, it meant cutting any ship and personnel off from home and taking a long trip home.

“Captain, the wormhole is open and we had word from Starbase 38 that it’s clear to start our mission in the Delta Quadrant and they wish us good luck,” said Lt Commander Sharpe. “Thank you, Commander. Message back and tell them we see them in a few months and we radio back through when we reach the other side,” replied Captain Telkir.

“Captain, all stations report in ready. All supplies have been received and stored away from the station. All hatches are locked, and we have been cleared. As the Lt Commander said, we can leave standard orbit around the station,” said Commander Danvers.

“Thanks, number 1. Helm set our course to enter the wormhole and take us in at full impulse please,” said Captain Telkir.