One Year Earlier - The Rescue Mission

Posted on Sun Feb 8th, 2026 @ 3:10pm by Captain Steven Jenkins

831 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: One Year Later…
Location: USS Yorktown Main Bridge
Timeline: T-27 Hours Until Frontier Day

Steven sat in his chair, pressing controls on the arm of it and reading the manifest details for the Kurlyakin. It was a civilian freighter, apparently named for a 20th century television character. It was known for it's Captain's preference of taking the road less travelled. Apparently, in this instance, that instinct had backfired, and now Yorktown was flying headlong into a class four ion storm to save the ship from that instinct.

"You're tense, number one." Captain Shrak said quietly "Relax. Take a deep breath."

"I am relaxed, Captain." Steven replied unconvincingly before adding "Okay, I'm not relaxed, but I don't think I should be under the circumstances."

"Maybe not, number one, but a Command officer must project an air of confidence and self assuredness or they risk demoralising the people who serve under them." The Captain noted "You'll understand this when you get a Command of your own one day."

"Maybe, but I think that day is a long way off yet." Steven said matter of factly "For now, I'm grateful to you for your tutelage in Command."

"My tutelage?" the Captain cocked an eyebrow and smirked "Number one, I seldom tell you anything you don't know already."

"A Command officer must project an air of confidence and self assuredness or they risk demoralising the people who serve under them." Steven parroted the Captain's words back to him "Captain, you're a natural born teacher and you don't even realise you're doing it."

The Captain sat there for a moment, a quizzical look on his face. Finally, it softened into a small smile.

"Coming from an aspiring Academy Commandant, I take that as high praise." The Captain spoke warmly, before instantly switching back into Command mode as he spoke up "Lieutenant Peters, what's our ETA to intercept?"

"Ninety seconds, Captain." Peters replied as he manipulated the controls "I'm going to need Commander T'Lek to keep an eye on that gravimetric sheer and give me some advanced warning when we head into the storm."

"Make it so." The Captain responded "Lieutenant Dhanc, I need shields on standby. We're going to take some hits."

"Aye sir, shields on standby." Dhanc nodded at the Tactical station.

"Thank you, Dhanc." The Captain said "Number one, what's our next course of action?"

"Hail the Kurlyakin." Steven said "We couldn't get a message through the interference when we got the distress call but we should be in range now."

"A class four ion storm will almost certainly have disabled their communications systems, Commander." T'Lek spoke up.

She was, of course, right, but the idea still made sense to Steven. Those people deserved to know they weren't being abandoned, that help was on the way.

"Dropping out of warp now." Peters words cut the tension in the air like a knife through butter, Yorktown shaking violently and consoles sparking as they dropped out of warp right into the edge of the storm "Sorry about the rough landing."

"T'Lek, try to beam as many people over from the freighter as you can." The Captain said "Dhanc, can you get a tractor lock on the freighter? Make things easier on T'Lek's side?"

"I am trying, Captain. It's proving to be-" Dhanc began before his console sparked violently in his face as the ship rocked again, the man falling to the floor, the left side of his face covered in burns.

Steven leapt up from his seat, staggering as the ship continued rocking. He looked at the tactical console as one of the junior officers picked Dhanc up, dragging his limp form to the turbolift. The readings were erratic, the storm was interfering with every sensor he had. All he knew was one point. He hit a control on the console before speaking.

"The freighter has a warp core breach in progress." He said grimly "Raising shields."

Yorktown was buffeted once more, this time by a combination of the storm and the shockwave caused by the freighter's warp core detonating. Steven slammed his hands down on the console in front of him.

"Were we able to get anyone?" The Captain asked.

"No, Captain." T'Lek replied coolly "Suggest we fallback to a safe position."

"Already on it." Peters said as his hands danced over the console "Is Dhanc okay?"

"Doctor Klein will do everything she can." The Captain said, looking back to Steven "Are you alright, number one?"

"I'm fine." Steven replied, not giving the Captain a chance to probe further before calling "Lieutenant Peters, resume course to Earth. Warp five."

Peters nodded in response, keying in commands before a whining beep of rejection emitted from his console. He tried again. Same response.

"Problem, Lieutenant?" The Captain asked.

"Yes sir." Peters replied "The system reads functional, but I can't engage the warp drive. We're stuck."

Steven grimaced, watching the storm continue moving off in the opposite direction on the viewer. Apparently, they weren't going to be at Frontier Day after all.

 

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