Chief Engineer’s Personal Log
Stardate 891.7

That was a closer call than I would have wanted to experience. I checked the reports from the structural integrity fields, once we were out of the subspace rupture. If we’d been travelling even 0.2 faster there would have been only an expanding debris field stretching approximately 3 light-hours from the boundary to show that a ship had ever been here.

The navigational sensors should have picked up some trace of the rupture, but the sensor logs showed nothing, right up until the point that we hit the edge. There must be some way to detect anomalies like this. Perhaps some of the higher frequencies would reflect off the boundary. It is not something I can test, but we should be able to model the boundary with sufficient accuracy based on the readings we took.

My initial concerns regarding the combined reactor design were confirmed. With the two reactors sharing shielding, containment systems and cooling, a problem with one becomes a problem with both. With a containment failure, as happened when we hit the rupture, the safest approach is to scram both reactors and leave the ship on battery power, rather than scramming the primary and running on auxiliary, as would happen with other engine designs. On paper, emergency power should last 7 days, however I have found that reality seldom agrees with the design documents. I would not like to have to rebuild any major part of the reactor in such a short time.

Chief Engineer’s Personal Log
Stardate 889.8

Vosk is dead, and it hurts more than I would have expected. I didn’t know him as well as I should have. He was quiet and dependable, always the first to volunteer for any assignment no matter how unpleasant. One occasion I remember well, Talia had mentioned that she wanted to learn to play chess. Vosk patiently tutored her for several evenings. They must have played over 20 games before he was satisfied with her game.

As for Vezerc, I don’t know what to think about that. I didn’t agree with him often, but I never would have suspected him of being capable of murder. What was he even trying to do?

Chief Engineer’s Personal Log
Stardate 887.8

Why?

Of all the questions that remain unanswered around the recent events, that is the one I keep coming back to. Why blow up an unarmed freighter? The Dubozians say they were chasing pirates, but if they were, why attack a freighter? Even if they thought that the crew were in cahoots with pirates, there’s no justification for blowing up an unarmed ship without warning.

There is something we are missing, and I suspect that whatever it is will be important in the days to come.

Balducci, R^(a1), T’Laan^(a2)

Received: stardate 845.2
Published: stardate 920

Abstract

A recent ion storm on Ego⁽¹⁾ interacted with previously unexamined rock substrata to produce a form of radiation detrimental to living creatures. The radiation resulted in a variety of rapid-onset mutations, ranging from apparent devolution of advanced life forms to simpler point-mutations in more primitive life forms. In this paper, we will examine the the rock structure and composition, storm conditions and both observed and projected effects upon living creatures, and present an argument on how the radiation may have contributed to the extinction of the Ego civilisation.

Chief Engineer’s Personal Log
Stardate 837.7

I should not have fired. It has deprived us of crucial information and destroyed any chance we have of understanding how that item came to be aboard the Onik.

But in that moment, all I could think of the face of that Earth First terrorist, of what I did to him, and whether it could happen again.

“Greetings from Thuln”, it had engraved upon it. That much I do remember. Wood and glass, filled with vegetation and the slug oscillating through rainbow colours, and a presence in my head trying to take over.

Did the crewman we found outside the bridge die from fighting against the slug’s control? Or did he succumb and die unaware? Did the one who turned off all the internal systems do it of his own accord?

We will go to Thuln, perhaps not immediately but we will go. The mystery and the potential threat to the Federation demands it.

But I would rather cross the Fire Plains alone at midsummer than venture within 5 light years of that planet.