During the senior staff meeting today, Captain Zal informed us we've been ordered to join the search for the U.S.S. Voyager which has been missing for two weeks as of yesterday.
DS9's crew have been searching the badlands using their Danube class Runabouts but they lack proper shielding for those intense storms. The Defiant has been out on patrol in the Gamma Quadrant and doesn't have the time for any extended search. Starfleet command believes our experimental sensor array may be helpful with cutting through the interference.
The problem is that the array hasn't been fully integrated with our systems yet, so I'll be pushing my teams around the clock to get it ready before we arrive. I've been in contact with DS9's Chief Engineer Miles O'Brian who has experience with the type of interference seen in the badlands. I promised to buy him a drink when we arrive and he suggested we meet up at a place called "Quarks".
I've asked Lt. T'Shel to assist with calibrating the new sensor array to compensate for the interference. Lt. Commander Dax from DS9 is sending over their most recent sensor recordings. It's all hands on deck for the next 3 days as we prepare. I'll make sure the teams get some extra holodeck credits after this mission is complete.
Mission Summary
The U.S.S. Rutherford, an experimental Starfleet vessel equipped with a high power sensor array, was dispatched to the Badlands with the mission of locating the missing U.S.S. Voyager.
Upon entering the Badlands, the Rutherford detected a distress signal emanating from a starbase located on a nearby asteroid. The signal was traced and the ship set course.
Commander Tallmadge, led an away team to the starbase. The team consisted of Lt. T'Shel, a Vulcan Science Officer, Ensign Joril, a Bolian engineer, and K'Larn, a Caitian Science Officer.
After landing on the starbase, the away team discovered that the starbase's systems were heavily damaged and malfunctioning. The issue was traced back to a nearby subspace anomaly which was emitting an unusual type of radiation.
During our investigation, we met a previously unknown species called the Vireen. The away team, with the help of the Rutherford's crew, implemented a software patch that stabilized the starbase's systems and also coordinated repair efforts to address the structural damage caused by the anomaly.
After the repairs were completed, the away team returned to the Rutherford and the ship broke orbit to go investigate the subspace anomaly which was giving off strange energy readings.
As the Rutherford moved to investigate these readings, the ship was pulled violently into an unknown region of space. It is suspected that the transit was caused by an unexpected reaction between the energy readings and the ship's experimental systems.
The transit resulted in heavy damage to the Rutherford and caused many casualties among the crew. Among the casualties were Captain Zal and First Officer Rackham.
With the death of the Captain and First Officer, Commander Tallmadge, as the highest-ranking officer left, was granted a field promotion to Captain. His new mission, and the mission of the Rutherford, is to navigate the unexplored Andromeda galaxy and find a way to return the ship and her crew to the Milky Way galaxy.
Closing Log
The ship has sustained heavy damage. The crew have been hurt. I've lost my mentor and friend, Captain Zal.
Teams are working round the clock to stabilize our systems. We have hull breaches on multiple decks and sickbay is overflowing with the wounded. I've order the holodecks to be use as temporary infirmaries as they have their own independent power systems and are still online. We are also using several shuttlecraft as power stations to maintain life support throughout the ship.
Sensors are mostly down but it appears we are in an unknown region of space. The computer tells us we are located in the Andromeda Galaxy, but I think it's too damaged to be accurate.
Right now I can only focus on survival and keeping the lights on.
