Stardate: 203363

Stratton says he has conducted an enquiry and is satisfied that no protocols have been breached. I want to give everyone awards and he is satisfied that no one need be punished. Humans are fascinating.

Stardate: 203362

I’m not quite sure how he’s managed it, but Hanson seems to have got us going faster than we were before the blow out. He estimates arrival at the end of next week.

Stardate: 203361

In a feat of manpower and efficiency, we’re moving. I don’t care what happens, what mayday calls we receive, what planets explode in our path, we’re going home.

Stardate: 203360

Stratton wants an enquiry into how Mr. Wilson ended up floating free. I’m more concerned with getting us moving again, but I do have to let him have his own way sometimes. For now, Hanson is fixing the plasma issues and getting us mobile.

Stardate: 203359

So, having calmed down, allow me to explain. All we saw was the plasma flooding out of engineering, closely followed by a floating airlock suit. In one of the quickest and smoothest operations I have ever seen, Chief Engineer Hanson overrode the safety lockouts and expertly beamed the loose crewman back into the ship. It was, quite honestly, phenomenal.

Stardate: 203358

>error-indistinguishable speech, please repeat

Sorry. I’m still shaking. That really was very, very close. Our floating crewman owes his life to Chief Hanson. Let me calm down and I’ll report back. Wow.

Stardate: 203357

Credit where it’s due, one of the trapped men has volunteered to make the walk outside the ship. I was never happy with spacewalks. The simulators always made me feel nauseous. Still, it’s not me, so here we go.

Stardate: 203356

What is it with this ship?! Hanson can’t redirect the override controls, presumably as the plasma has burnt out a necessary junction. So one of the men will have to go out a small airlock and make their way round to the manual release. We’re talking about going back to plan A – just vent the plasma internally.

Stardate: 203355

The trapped men are happy for us to flush engineering through open bay doors. It should get us back moving within a couple of days, but it will be a rough ride for them. Hanson has gone to override the doors.

Stardate: 203354

There are two ways of getting engineering back. One allows the plasma to gently flow away, but will take days. The other gets done in seconds but is a little more dangerous with personnel inside. Hanson is talking the options over with the crewmen.

And, as a note to any non-technical staff, no, we can’t just ‘beam’ them out. It’s a well known fact that plasma gives false readings for a transporter lock. We’d ending transporting half a person and a crate load of plasma.

Stardate: 203353

OK, bad news first. There are people in there. Two crewman. Good news, both are well. We know this because Hanson has hacked into one of their logs. He said it’s taken him over 24 hours to do it after the junior lieutenant blocked him at every turn, but he’s in and passing messages backwards and forwards. Let’s get this fixed.

Stardate: 203352

Hanson says he has an idea but doesn’t want to elaborate until he has proved it works. Tommy would have told me anyway, but you have to respect the man.

Stardate: 203351

Hanson has been running diagnostics and says that a weakened plasma conduit has probably ruptured and taken out the largest sensor processor on board. He’s redirected flow away from the leak, but that has shut down the engines. We need to resolve this, but can’t get anyone in to engineering until we clear the plasma. I hesitate to say it, but I almost hope someone is in there.

Stardate: 203350

The ghost of the Storm attack continues to haunt us. Engineering has just gone into emergency shutdown. All the blast doors have shut, effectively sealing it off. We’ve also lost internal sensors, so we can’t tell who, if anyone, is in there. We didn’t deserve this.

Stardate: 203349

I’m just setting off to the Sports Lounge for the TDC final. Those who can are meeting in the holodeck after for…let’s say, a debrief. Let’s not call it a party, eh.

Stardate: 203348

There’s a very positive atmosphere amongst the personnel at the moment. Heading home, a real sense of camaraderie, we seem to be going a little bit faster every day. Roll on that gorgeous blue planet.

Stardate: 203347

For the record, Gwen Garroud and Herman T are in the final, to be held the day after tomorrow. It was wonderful to hear everyone shouting and cheering. I am so proud of this crew.

Stardate: 203346

We’re making quite a big deal out of completing the SLC, or TDC. The crew desperately need something to focus on, so we’re going to operate a skeleton crew while everyone else is ‘strongly recommended’ to attend. Semi-final tomorrow.

Stardate: 203345

Sometimes, I enjoy being surprised. Commander Stratton suggested that we complete the Sports Lounge Championship. What a good idea! Then he suggested we rename it the Thomas DuMond Cup. That just knocked me off my feet.

Stardate: 203344

We’re making best speed home; still, it’s a steady stride rather than a sprint. Captain Smith is giving us regular updates on the Delta’s search and most of the crew are just trying to keep busy. It’s incredibly frustrating to be on a ship that’s capable of so much more.