Strange New Readings
Posted on Fri Dec 5th, 2025 @ 2:21am by Captain Zseeq & Ensign Fa Blemni & Lieutenant Commander Eve Hall
Edited on on Fri Dec 5th, 2025 @ 2:22am
980 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Life
Location: U.S.S. Saratoga
Timeline: 2401-07-04, 03:30
The bridge of the Saratoga was bathed in the low ambient glow of night mode, most of its illumination coming from the soft pulses of the LCARS panels manned by the skeleton crew. In the command chair, Commander Hall cradled a fresh mug of raktajino, the steam curling upward as she reviewed a data padd filled with departmental updates. The only sounds were the subtle thrum of the warp core and the occasional chirp from a console; routine echoes of a ship in motion while most of the crew slept. The calm was interrupted by a soft chime, followed by the measured voice of Ensign Th’rou from the operations station.
“Commander, preliminary results from the gravimetric sweep are still processing but we’ve already picked up anomalous readings. It appears it is our runabout.” Without waiting for a command, Th’rou transferred the data to the main viewscreen, the telltale distortions blinking into view.
Hall narrowed her eyes at the display. “Well, that’s not something you see every day,” she murmured, then gave a brief nod toward ops. Her tone shifted, more clipped now. “Saratoga to USS Tenet Mountain—hold your approach. Maintain current position until further notice.”
She didn’t wait for acknowledgment. Whatever was out there, it wasn’t routine and her instincts knew better than to ignore a disturbance that chose to reveal itself in the quietest hour of the ship’s day. "Let's wake the Captain up early," she spoke to no one in particular.
"Bridge to Captain," she spoke to the internal com. Hall expected that Captain would still be asleep at this hour, but this was not something that could wait. She waited patiently for a response.
There was a momentary pause, "Commander, it's three in the morning. This better be important..."
"We've detected the missing runabout." she said matter of factly.
"I'm on my way," the channel closed.
"Captain," Eve rose from the centre commander chair, vacating it for its rightful owner. "As I informed you earlier, we have detected our missing runabout."
Captain Zseeq stepped out of the port turbolift, his uniform tunic still open as he walked across the Bridge toward his chair. He hoped that he didn't fall asleep when he sat down in the chair, but fortunately it wasn't all that comfortable for the Captain's Chair.
Looking up at his XO as she stood at her console next to him, "Did they explain why they've been missing all this time, or did they just leave us to wonder about that?"
"I asked them to hold their position while we investigate further Sir," she walked towards the Operations Officer, "Ensign, overlay the scans and current runabout visuals on the view screen". As she arrived at the console, she took up a position alongside the Th`rou, manning the console with them.
"Initial scans aren't throwing up any obvious red flags Captain," the Ensign spoke, "We were completing the standard gravimetric scans of the sector and she just appeared. She currently 1.5 light years from our position."
Zseeq yawned as he sat in the Captain's Chair, leaning slightly forward toward the viewscreen as he looked at it. Looking at the Helm, the Deltan quickly realized he wasn't as familiar with the night shift crew as he probably should be. "What's our intercept?"
The Xindi Arboreal looked at the curved console's readouts, "At cruise speeds we could intercept in 1 day and 9 hours, Captain."
"I'm not exactly comfortable waiting that long, Ensign," Zseeq hesitated, "Ensign..."
"Chuhk, Sir," the Xindi answered. "Begging the Captain's pardon, how long would you like it to take?"
Zseeq smirked, "Yesterday, if possible."
Ensign Chuhk shook his head, "Not possible without breaking a bunch of laws that I don't think either of us would like to break."
"How about by breakfast?" The Captain questioned.
Checking the readouts, "If we travel at Warp 9.8, we could be there in 5.75 hours, Captain. There are risks to sustained travel at that speed." The Xindi explained as he watched the readouts on his console.
"There are risks when an away team are overdue as well, Ensign," Zseeq explained. He looked at the XO, "Can you see to the Engineering side of it, Commander?"
"Aye Sir," The Commander responded, "I'll head down to engineering. I'll see what I can do to mitigate some of those risks."
The Deltan nodded, "Then it's settled. Warp 9.8, full steam ahead."
"Alright then," the Xindi at the Helm answered with a suppressed sigh. Turning back toward the main controls on the Helm, the alien took the Saratoga to Warp as directed.
Ensign Blemni interrupted, "Captain, Commander, we may have a problem."
Zseeq looked to his right, "What is it, Ensign?"
"Sensors are detecting a pod of life-forms not far from our current location. They're gormagander, Sir," the young Napean woman explained as she monitored her sensor screens.
"A what?" The Captain questioned.
"Gormagander, Sir," she repeated. "They're a spaceborne life-form that's been placed on the endangered species list. They're so consumed by feeding on the alpha particles in solar winds that they ignore all their other instincts, including reproduction, which has led to their almost being extinct, Sir."
The Captain looked at the Helm, "Chuhk, plot a course around the gormagander, Ensign, let's give them some distance."
Blemni interrupted again, "Captain, Federation law requires that we transfer the gormaganders to a protected facility."
"We have an away team missing, Ensign, that we've been looking for for days," Zseeq protested.
"Sir, if we ignore the gormaganders I have to report it to Starfleet Command," the Ensign reported somewhat tepidly.
Zseeq rubbed his forehead, "Fine. Helm, lay in a course for the damned space whales. Number One, alert the away team that they're to set course for our location at maximum speed. We have to go hunt space whales," the Deltan announced, annoyed.
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