Personal Log, Stardate 40887.34: "Accidents"

Posted on 25 Jul 2020 @ 9:37pm by Commander Jaya Raj

Jaya yawned as her eyes glazed over the reports the Science Department had sent her regarding the initial scans of the incident earlier yesterday. After she finished her yawn, she rubbed her eyes before returning to the data she was reading.

“Gravitational anomalies… energy discharge from the other Romulan vessel…

She rubbed the side of her neck as she reread the passage, beginning to realize that she was at the point where she was beyond understanding what she was reading. Giving up, she closed the computer for now before looking at the ceiling.

“Computer, begin personal log, stardate 40887.34.”

She waited for the confirmation beep before beginning.

“Vrius and his crew are presumed-...” She paused, before continuing, “they are dead. But I can’t get it out of my mind that they might be alive. That they should be alive. It seems too simple an ending for Vrius to have been killed that swiftly. He didn’t seem like a foolish man. He foresaw his own doom, and yet he readily faced it and lost. That is, seemingly lossed. I’m still not convinced he did.”

She bit her lower lip for a moment, before continuing.

“It’s that experiment, if I had to bet my money on it. We never did get that much data on it. Vrius must have found a way to use it to survive. If not… she couldn’t think of the alternative. There had to be another answer. Everything has to have an answer.”

She sighed and was just about to continue when her computer beeped at her.

“Computer, pause log.”

She tapped her computer screen and it flashed brightly, informing her she had a priority message from Starfleet. Accepting it, an Andorian woman in a red Admiral uniform appeared on screen.

“Admiral zh'Phehl!” Jaya quickly said, the Rear Admiral frowning at Jaya in turn. “This is a surprise. Aren’t you on Andoria? Why are you contacting me, all the way out here?”

“I’m not here on good business, sadly. In fact, I’m here on the worst business. A shuttle has gone missing in the Andorian mountains. 4 people were on that shuttle. A pilot, a copilot, and your parents. They were on vacation in Andoria. We are currently investigating the reasons for the shuttle's disappearance as well as searching as far as we can for it, and are doing this as quickly as we can. However, the Andorian mountains are treacherous enough, and this time of year even worse. I'm sorry to say that I don't believe there's much hope in finding them. I cannot express how sorry I am to convey this information to you.”

Jaya didn’t even know how to respond. Her eyes went left and then right across the computer screen in front of her. How was she supposed to respond? She could barely process it. They were gone? Presumably dead? It had been months since she had last seen them. Right before she had left for the Boston. And now that might be the last time she would speak with them. She…

“Thank you, Admiral zh’Phehl. Really. I can’t thank you enough for telling me.”

“Don’t worry, Commander. It was the least I could do given the gravity of what has occurred. Rest assured we will do our best to ensure this never happens again.”

The screen blinked away, revealing the Federation seal. She stared at the stars that dotted the interior of the logo. An accident. A crash. Whatever it was. The universe was a cruel mistress. It could bring about life in a happy accident, and it could cruelly take it away. A shuttle's disappearance. The destruction of a warbird. It didn’t matter.

She was too stunned to get up, her body glued to the chair. It was already nearly 3 in the morning by the time she got up from her spot. She didn’t have any other family. Any other family that she knew, at least. Her parents were disconnected from the rest of their family as far as she knew, and Jaya herself had never married. In fact, she had never had any interest in the pursuit of a partner whatsoever. But now she regretted it. She felt desperately, hopelessly, and incurably alone. She was now kneeling on the ground and hugging herself, nails clutching tightly against the skin of her arm, barely stopping herself from shaking as if she were buried under the snow of Antarctica. Or the snows of Andoria. For the briefest of moments, she wished she was. She wished she had crashed with them. But it was a brief moment, and it passed.

“Computer, end my personal log for the day.” She finally managed.

The computer beeped in response.

What the hell was she going to do?