Executive Officer's Logs

[LtCol Kiele Christienne]

Personal log

One can be successful and yet fail. We achieved our mission objectives however, it was not the result of my personal leadership. The end does not justify the means and whereas Captain Shran can truthfully report that we were successful, this was my team and the fact that we failed to do as we should carries more weight than our ultimate victory.

Lt. Marshal Collins poses a particular problem. There is no doubt that he consciously and purposely ignored an order I gave him. Prior to this, I had believed he respected my position but I don't see how it's possible for him to justify his actions if that is the case. I don't know that it requires formal disciplinary action be taken but I need to speak with him, if for no other reason than to understand why he made the decision he did.

[LtCol Kiele Christienne]

With some difficulty I've left Lt. Peers on her own to find the message I'm certain Captain Shran has left in the shuttle. He knew that it would have returned to us and that it was the one sure way that he could communicate. He would not have missed the opportunity.

I've sent my report to Starfleet Command along with my request that we be allowed to continue our search for the captain, exclusively. They have agreed for now but if we are not soon successful in bringing Captain Shran home, he will be considered officially missing in action and Aryes will have to be reassigned. I wonder too how long I will be allowed to remain in command until a new captain is brought aboard.

For now, I'm pinning my hopes, perhaps foolishly, that whatever we find on the shuttle will give us a clue to the Captain's whereabouts.

[LtCol Kiele Christienne]

*********Personal Log**********

I must find Captain Shran. Not only for his sake but for my own. Since it was his order that I be placed in command and because he is not as yet considered officially missing by Starfleet Command, I have been allowed to remain as acting captain. I can imagine clearly the voices of so many junior officers out there, envying my rapid rise in position, but they would not wish it either, under these circumstances.

I am at odds with myself. I want to and must do well in leading the crew of the Ayres but I don't want to accept that it is the captain's disappearance that has placed me in this position. I have seen myself fail to follow protocol, place undue emphasis on the shuttle and the message while neglecting to consider the possible danger and exposure of the crew to radioactivity and in general act every way that is contrary to wise leadership.The crew however, has performed in an exemplary manner. This is more an indicator of Captain Shran's leadership than of mine.

With no clear indicator as to where to look next, I'm still grasping at straws. The radiation that was found, though not harmful, may provide a way to track or at least a way to "see" where the experimental ship has been. I suspect the Romulans have already created a way to track it but it would be unlikely they would share their knowledge of this with us. What would happen if they were to find the captain first? Despite the fragile alliance we currently have and their cooperation in allowing us to witness the trial of the drives, I feel the disappearance of the ship with the captain aboard might be viewed by them as intentional and Captain Shran charged with espionage.

[LtCol Kiele Christienne]

Personal Log

Before I had even touched the plant, I knew it was a bad idea, but some feeling compelled me to, with poor judgement the stamp on the seal. In an attempt to defend those foolish actions, the end in this case, may have justified the means.

I was pulled into a nothingness. I saw nothing, heard nothing and felt nothing, at least not in the conventional sense. As in a dream when one can see, but not with the eyes, I could detect images around me. At first it was difficult to discern. Fleeting shapes and colors. Sometimes those images evoked the wisp of a memory that flew away like a scent on the wind before I could recognize it . The images began to coalesce and it was as if I was seeing moments of my life, one frame at a time, superimposed upon the mist. There was no particular order. I thought, if I was about to die and my life was passing before my eyes, that it was strange that I wasn't seeing it in linear fashion, from beginning to end. I had begun to look for the tunnel and the light that would lead me to the next world.

Then I saw Aryes. It seemed to glow with a sort of silver aura. I reached toward it and found my hand and arm shimmering with the same substance. A stream of particles lifted and drifted from the ship; the particles from my hand responding and streaming forward to form a bridge of tiny stars between us. I closed my hand around it, imagining it as a lifeline and immediately felt a tug. The pinprick stars became arrows of light and suddenly I was aboard Aryes, aboard the El-Aurian woman's shuttle.

My skin and the ship had lost their shimmer and I would have written the entire experience off as one of oxygen deprivation, but for the arrival of Lieutenant McKenzie and then of Major Greathouse and Doctor Devoroh. Now however, as I reflect, I believe I may have experienced a metanatural event that allowed me to travel within and see the temporal particles, then use them as a guide to return to the ship. They appear to be attracted to one another. The plants have been attracting these particles from other sources within the ship and somehow converting them organically to allow them to access the temporal space these particles reside in. Further, the static sources of these particles attract one another like beacons. In theory, one could use such a beacon to provide guided travel and if a safe, shielded source could be created, it might be possible to built a "lighthouse" so that a lost ship could find it's way home.

[LtCol Kiele Christienne]

The Canarans have been informed of the anomalies affecting the plants and our inability to deliver them. We have been allowed to keep the stabilized plants on board for further study since it has been determined that they are not a threat. As there was no way of knowing that the temporal particles would react in the manner they did, we have not been found at fault in this incident and have been given a new mission.

Topaline mining rights on Capella IV, as secured by the Federation during the time of Captain James Kirk, must be renegotiated and renewed every 20 years. A Federation representative is required to be present at these negotiations, although they are considered a simple formality. I will be holding a briefing prior to the meeting.

[LtCol Kiele Christienne]

Acting Captain's Log

Grey areas, as the Doctor calls them, are places I would prefer not find myself. The antidote is going to be placed in a low yield torpedo and exploded in the atmosphere. When it is either breathed or ingested by the Capellans, the disease will be cured. It will be done without their knowledge or consent but in this situation it is being used s a preventative to war.
History has shown us that sometimes a few deaths may prevent a greater number dying. Here, by curing those with the disease, we can remove the basis for conflict. As a consequence, many lives can be saved that would have been taken by both the disease and the ensuing war.

I don't know if it's the correct decision but I feel it is the right one.