[Bridge]
Dylan got a notification on the arm of his chair that the last of the ground teams were aboard, which was good. It meant that finally, the Challenger could depart to their next destination. The ship had received new orders, and would be departing immediately. Dylan turned to the Helm. "Lieutenant, once the object is aboard, have it sent to Cargo Bay Two. Then set course for Deep Space Nine, maximum warp." he ordered, as he looked down at his datapad again.
[Engineering]
"Someone is playing a deep game and the fewer who know the better."
Dylan tapped out a quick reply. "Understood. Purge system with prejudice. Keep it contained. Your discretion." he said. Crew roster indicated everyone was aboard- everyone excpt one Chief of Engineering. Why was unknown, but he'd simply disappeared.
Finally, Dylan stood. "Lieutenant," he said, obviously distracted by something on his PADD, "You have the bridge... Inform me if you need anything..." he said, his voice suddenly not stable as he made his way to the turbolift. On his PADD, the last few lines of a report flashed. "na... Lost with all hands. Search parties recalled".
Captain's Log...
The Challenger has just had another encounter with the black ship. Whoever they are, they are quite impressive. This time, they left us a taunting note. This is the third such appearance of a kind of vessel, and this time they've managed to compromise the entire Universal Translator system. The superb efforts of Mr. Lek and the combined efforts of Dr. Vaughan and Ms. Weir were instrumental in finding the source of the breach, and contain it.
I am informed after our next excursion back to the wormhole, we'll need to head to the Qualor system, to salvage parts from one of the Challenger's less functional sisters, necessary for some overhauls that have been designed for the shield grid. I hope we find what we need.
On other news, we've set course to meet the USS Tempest, where we will be seeing off Commander Briggs, who is returning to the Tempest as, what I can only hope is, the voice of reason. Time will tell how things end up... sometimes the shortest gifts are the best ones.
(OOC Post restored due to server outage - ShranLahr ch'Verret November 2021)