“Be well and be safe, Captain and I’ll see you when you return. Dismissed.” Stone said as he rose to walk Glen out.

Captain Glen made his way back to the USS Merrimack. An Exploration Priority One mission, but with full tactical discretion, thought Glen. This was going to be tough, but vital obviously. He was aware that most of the crew were on shore leave, and they sorely needed it after the recent missions, but Admiral Stone would be expecting them to leave as soon as possible, so Glen would probably have to curtail their leave. The ship might be away in the Caradthian Expanse for a long period, so he thought he would give them 24 hours more to enjoy the hospitality of Deep Space K-5. That would also give the Merrimack to take on supplies of fresh food, and for Engineering to source the materials to retrofit the Jefferies Tubes with ladders, and the other repairs and modifications that he wanted from them. After that time, he could really defend them staying in this Sector for much longer.

After Glen left his office, Stone lingered a moment, the faint echo of the door hiss fading into silence. He returned to the small seating area, collecting the two coffee cups that sat cooling on the low table. Glen’s, still half full, he slipped into the recycler with a soft hum. His own, he refilled, the aroma of strong brew filling the air once more. Cradling the cup, he crossed to his desk and settled into the chair, the familiar creak of the leather underscoring the quiet.

For several seconds, he stared at the stack of reports waiting for his attention—status updates, fleet directives, intelligence summaries—all demanding, all irrelevant to what truly occupied his thoughts. Instead of reaching for them, he slowly turned his chair toward the viewport.

Beyond the transparent aluminum stretched the sleek profile of the USS Merrimack, her hull gleaming under the artificial lights of Starbase K-9’s main docking arm. Tiny figures moved across her outer decks, all scanning the hull for damages to complete repairs that were so needed before she went out again. Stone sipped his coffee, the warmth doing little to ease the chill of unease that crept in.

The Merrimack was heading into the unknown—toward a region tangled with dangers no one fully understood, and now, to confront an alien power that had already shown aggression. Would she come back intact? Probably not without scars. Few ships ever did from the frontier.

He exhaled slowly, his gaze hardening with resolve.
“Bring them home, Glen,” he murmured quietly to the glass. “Just… bring them home.”

GM Nosferatu
Your Darkest Nightmare

After making various arrangement, Captain Glen made his way to the Bridge.

The turbo lift doors swished open and Glen entered. He sat in the vacant seat of the Captain’s Chair.

“Helm, I will require you to plot a course for the most thorough and effective search of the entire Caradthian Expanse at an optimum Warp factor. We will be the only ship involved in the search and the location of the search object is unknown. In addition, I can’t give you a target visibility range for the search object. Given the dangerous nature of the Expanse, both from hostile threat ships, and from natural phenomena, there is a possibility of getting thoroughly lost inside it, so my best suggestion would be to choose a search pattern that only has ninety degree course alterations, and which could be easily reversed. In my own experience, that means we will be looking at being limited to doing parallel track searches. The starting point may be wherever you think best, I’ll leave that entirely at your own discretion. You have twelve hours, starting now. Any questions?”

• Glen, CO