Messier Report # 1 (MD 1)

Posted on Sat Dec 8th, 2018 @ 12:29am by Stephen Spires
Edited on Sat Dec 8th, 2018 @ 12:33am

Starfleet's never-ending mission is to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before.

And then chaos ensues. Second only to the Prime Directive, Murphy's Law applies its hijinx seemingly to every Starfleet expedition. The second launch of the ambitious Long Jump Project has been no different.

Canopus Station, a Spacedock class starbase, was launched across the Galactic Barrier in three separate sections. The Command module in which this reporter traveled did arrive more or less as predicted within the local system of the Federation's first accidental colony. The two other modules, which respectively contain the Engineering department with its vital components to run the power grid and a little thing known as Life-Support, were flung elsewhere into the void of space. Station personnel are now scrambling to make attempts to retrieve them. Without either of the two other modules, the lifetime of Canopus Station will run short indeed.

As of the time of submitting this article, Commander Benjamin Ingram has been unavailable for comment, but Chief Engineer Mara Ricci did issue a statement.

"I'm modifying [several] shuttles to act as communications buoys. It's temporary, but will allow us to keep in touch over a longer distance."

Should Canopus Station's Command Module be destroyed, at least Starfleet will be notified through proper channels.

The Chief Engineer has been unable to pinpoint the precise cause of the miscalculation. When asked, her only explanation was to say, "I didn’t miscalculate anything! The jump was not my responsibility."

Whatever means the Canopus crew intend to attempt the retrieval of the missing station modules has not been revealed. One only hopes that there is indeed a plan in the works, otherwise the Carpathia colony below the orbiting Command module may see a sudden population surge while the upper decks of a Spacedock burn up on atmospheric entry.

There have been no projections yet of cataclysmic damage on the colony world should the worst case scenario be realized, but the lives of an estimated 20,000 souls on the Command module literally hang in the balance. Daily updates will be provided as events continue to unfold.

This is Stephen Spires reporting on location from the Messier 4 globular cluster aboard Canopus Station.

Or, rather, what's left of it.