The Change in the Stars

Posted on Wed Oct 4th, 2023 @ 3:32am by Commander Michael Murphy & Captain Jackson Adams & Lieutenant Steve Ryan & Lieutenant Stuart Mann & Lieutenant Wallace Wilson

Mission: Home Sweet home.
Location: The Sol System

After days of traveling at high warp, the ship entered the Sol system.

Lt. Mann was at the helm, "Captain, we are entering our home system" he said happily.

"Very well, drop out of warp" came the response.

Looking over at Murphy he said, "Commander, I will need a preapproach scan, please. See to it."

"Yes, sir," Murphy nodded to Lieutenant Wilson at the science station. He moved over to see the results as they came up.

They both read the readout, but Murphy deferred to Wilson for the report.

"Captain, all scans come back normal. Nothing out of the ordinary." Wilson said. "Is there anything specific you want to hear?"

"I just don't know what we are looking for Commander, just keep an eye out. Why are there not more Starfleet ships in the patrol area? We should have been queried by now."

"Communications from and to Spacedock seems normal, Sir" Ryan reported as he was manning his communications console.

"Alright now, open a Channel to the dock master, please."

"Yessir" Steve replied while tuning into the docking frequency and diverting the full-duplex audio to the main channel of the Bridge.

"Channel open, Sir" he acknowledged the Captain.

"Dock master this is the U.S.S. Montana, Captain Jackson Adams, Commanding, requesting permission to dock."

"Permission granted, Montana. We are locking on beams now, we have control" finished the dock master.

"Very well, control, we will enjoy the ride into the dock" replied the Captain.

Lt. Mann then turned his control over and sat in his chair waiting for final docking orders.

The ship flew into the dock but as they entered it was noticed that only one or two other ships were actually in the dock. That was unusual because (at any given time) at least five to ten ships were in dock and, of course, they were not on patrol. So where were the ships?

As soon as the ship made its way towards the belly of the docking bay, Lt. Ryan raised a eyebrow. He had never seen so few ships in there.
"There's quite some room in here" he commented out loud "Seems to me many vessels are not berthed. I.." he gave another peak at the viewscreen "..I think the USS Electra and the USS Genesis are not here, they usually are" he concluded.

“Maybe that’s why we’re here. To make up for their absence?” Murphy mused aloud.

OFF:

Captain Jackson Adams
Commanding Officer
USS Montana

Commander Michael Murphy
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Steve Ryan
Chief Communications Officer

Lieutenant Stuart Mann
Navigator

Lieutenant Wallace Wilson
Assistant Chief Science Officer