[snip]

It was January 1st, 2152, the morning after the Earth celebration of the new year. With that new year came new surveys. It was with this in mind that the crew of the Bonaventure found themselves around a system roughly 12 light years from the Sol system. Designated UES-11 (for unexplored system 11) they were coming up on approach to the system which had drawn their interest. Long range scans the night before had picked up strange gravity anomalies not common to a system like this and finding their source would no doubt be of interest for the science and engineering crews. For the rest of the crew it was a day to so far relax and enjoy the holiday spirit.

A beep for the helm station would indicate they were nearing their destination.

GM CockRoach

Ari and Baumann had spent the night before in a private celebration of the turn over of another year. It was a nice night of dinner, and companionship they had been lacking in the last month because of missions. But just before they had settled to dinner, the night watch had informed her of the off readings. With nothing else currently on their schedule, Ari had changed course to check it out. A new year, a new section of space. It seemed fitting.

Since it wasn’t anything imperative, she hadn’t bothered to rouse any of the other Department Heads. She was going to let them sleep off the reverie of the various parties that had scattered the ship and filled the halls with ruckus laughter and partying well into the night. She was grateful to the designers of the ship that the Command Rooms were set apart from the main crew bunks. The noise and carousing hadn’t spilled over into her relatively quiet evening.

So it was, a rare, real cup of coffee in her hands, that the Captain came onto the bridge at the beginning of first shift. The Lieutenant Commander rose from her chair with a start. “Ma’am… I didn’t realize you would be here. Is everything all right?” Daniel had volunteered to take the morning shift for her to allow her to sleep in. But her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she’d slid from their bed with silence and left Baumann sleeping. Or at least, she hoped he was still sleeping. He deserved a break.

“It’s all right, Michealson. At ease. Go ahead and have a seat, I’m just observing this morning. Those gravitational anomalies had be curious, was all.” To give credence to her words, she took up the XO’s spot and tapped on his chair console to see what the readings were. For gravity to be this readable at such a distance, surely something was here. “Do we have a black hole in the vicinity we need to be aware of or anything?” She glanced back at the science officer on deck and hoped they had been as inquisitive and already a step ahead in finding possibilities for the readings.

The Lt Cmdr sat back down and smiled. “Something told me you wouldn’t stay in bed with this on your mind, Ma’am.” He laughed lightly and enhanced the coming section of space on the view screen to see if the telltale signs of the dark black hole were visible.

Captain Arialla Bovar CO

There was no visual sign of any black holes, though curiously sensors did report rising levels of gravitic anomalies patterns opposite in orbit from the system’s third planet. More details were still coming in.

Jonathan chuckled as he made his ways through the hallways, doing his morning rounds. There were definitely a few crewmen moving slower this morning then normal, definite signs of their long nights partying. Back in his day he could have partied with the best of them, and been at his duty post the next morning. Probably with a strong cup of coffee. He still had the coffee, which he carried in his right hand, but he wasn’t able to stay up all night anymore.

So between that, and being new to the ship, he had volunteered to take the early shift that morning. Let some of the young officers sleep in instead.

He figured he’d check in with the bridge before heading down to sickbay and engineering on his rounds. “Commander Michaelson, how goes…” he trailed off as he turned the corner and saw the Captain sitting there.

“Captain, good morning. I didn’t expect to see you up here this early. I thought you had the morning off.”

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Once someone from science peered into the scanner viewfinder they could report the following to the Captain. The system held at present three planets. The first innermost one was not much bigger than Mercury in size, an airless rock which scans showed in passing was rich in copper, zinc, and iron deposits. The second planet was one the size of Neptune, and like that planet was a gas giant. Again, like said giant the planet’s atmosphere was made up of hydrogen, helium, and methane, giving it a similarly strong blue color. Interestingly though this planet had a ring of ice particles and microasteriods which spun in an orbital pattern in a counter clockwise pattern. The third and final planet was in the ‘sweet spot’ for life, yet no signs of intelligent life seemed to have evolved on the planet. A big stand out on the mineral scan was rich dilthium deposits. Also evident around this planet was a small moon rich in assorted deposits.

But what was really the stand out of the system and had drawn them here was the pulsing eddies of gravitic anomalies which were rising in sudden strength on the opposite side of the system from the third planet! As the Bonaventure would drop from warp to enter said system and proceed on impulse, the was a sudden and unexpected change in the system. A swirling grey ‘fog’ like anomaly which defied the sensor’s understanding other then to show signs of massive gravity wells pulsed suddenly and then vanished! In its place was an amazing sight a FORTH planet in the same orbit as the third had appeared!

This one too was Class-M but the atmosphere was a dark murky color and sensors were quick to point out rising levels of ash and nuclear fallout as well as even in flight nuclear missiles crashing down into cities or other places on the three large land mass planet! As this all was abosrbed a final, and yet the strongest yet, gravitic anomaly pulsed out from the planet’s orbit, sending the Bonaventure shuddering on its course. Readings showed this pulse had created an anomaly formation almost 4 light years in span! This was disrupting the ability for the ship to form a warp bubble and send out long range comms. Effectively they were now stranded in the system!!

GM CockRoach