Departure into the unknown

Posted on Sun Oct 11th, 2026 @ 8:18pm by Commander David Wallace & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Veran-Dallas

Mission: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 09/26
Location: Docking Bay three - USS Cascade
Timeline: Mission Day one -- 0945 hrs

On:

The massive viewport at docking bay three showed the Cascade like a framed picture or a video image, a work bee was towing six cargo containers into the shuttle bay, looking onward David kept his steady pace as he walked over to the docking ambilocal David took off the station duty coat draping it over his arm, as he approached the airlock he saw Hannah on the other side. "Report." was the only word out of his mouth.

"Last of the cargo is on board and being stored." Hannah started as the walked the hall "Commander Veran-Dallas is on the bridge, engineering is happy to report all systems are ready and our new medic seems to be settling in, Ensign Bear has a mission plot figured out for the Roswell, we added the rifles you asked for to the armory."

"Good, How many ships are potentially joining us?" David asked next.

"The VanZandt is thirty-six hours away, the two support ships from outpost three three Seven are enroute and should arrive eighteen hours after, USS Hudson is two days away." Hannah reported

"So we're on our own." David said

"Yeah." Hannah said as they approached the turbo lift

As the lift door opened David saw a degree of calm and order on the bridge, David stepped on to the bridge someone called out "Captain on the bridge!"

"As you were, Report number one!" David said.

Isabelle stood up from the centre seat to greet David. “All crew have checked in, the last of the cargo is loading now. On a personal note my family will be remaining on the station, since we don’t know exactly what we’re facing. Apart from that we’ll be ready to go as soon as the worker bee finishes.”

"Soon as the bee and cargo are fully secured on the flight deck we'll depart." David spoke, "Departure in twenty minutes." he finished his thoughts.

Hannah spoke "Sir, I have the Admiral on subspace for both of you." her voice said with some puzzlement.

David gave a puzzled look to Isabelle, "We'll take it in the ready room."

Isabelle was just as puzzled as she looked at David. “This could be interesting.”

"Understatement of the day Commander..." David said as the pair main their way too the ready room, "Open transmission, Code Alpha one seven Kilo six zero three."

=="Sorry about the vagueness of this Captain, Commander, but I'll be honest, I'm drawing a blank, This looks to be a patrol mission gone bad."== The elder Wallace started =="I've redirected two Lamprey Class ships your way they'll be at best ten to twelve hours behind you when you arrive, but if we're dealing with new hostilities in the corridor this is the opening volley and at whom?"==

"Is there anything closer?" David said knowing that the six decade old class of ship wasn't going to have enough fire power in the event of a fight, "What about the VanZandt or the Lacombe?"

=="VanZandt is thirty hours away right now, Lacombe is three days away and they're having engine trouble, I'm readying the Asia but at best we can be there in thirty two hours, you're it."== The Admiral said.

“Terrific!” Isabelle shook her head. “What about the Peel? She’s a sabre class would she have enough firepower to back us up if needed?”

David said something that could cause a problem, "What about Dawnstar?"

The Admiral's face showed a rare smile =="I figured you would ask..."== he paused =="You'll still be on your own for about seven hours, they're better equipped than the Peel."==

“The Dawnstar?” Isabelle looked at David curiously. “Can’t say I’ve heard of that one.”

=="Good luck Captain, Commander."== The screen went blank

"Seven hours..." David said stretching, "If this was a hostile action, we're on our own, but we're not down."

“No one answered my question” Isabelle responded. “What is the Dawnstar?”

David smiled, "Dawnstar is a new class of ship, a large number of the systems integrated into Cascade make up the design, along with some stuff I haven't learned about myself yet, they've been developed in secret for about two years."

Isabelle nodded. “Well I can’t wait to see that when it arrives, should we need it of course. Let’s hope not.”

"Let's get going." David said as he walked to the ready room door.

Isabelle nodded with a sigh. “Next time we leave this station I’m bringing my family along, it’s hard keep leaving them.”

"The next time is a long haul to earth, a vacation compared too this." David said as they stepped on the bridge "Begin departure sequence, set condition blue." he said as he sat down in the command chair "Once we're clear of the nebula punch it up to slipstream speed on course to the Nyberite corridor."

Isabelle took her seat alongside David. “Then I’ll be bringing John and the kids along for that one.” She relaxed back in her seat. “Right now I’m going to need to concentrate on the job at hand, let’s hope this is something simple.”

End