Captain Austin Blackburn lied in his bunk, contemplating whether he was really needed on the bridge. He was the captain of of possibly one of the most powerful ships in the galaxy, and stuck helping some science vessel that had gotten lost on, ironically, a mission to chart a star system.

His ship, the Intrepid, was a new design, and the first of its class. It classified as a command cruiser, also known as a smart battleship, able to operate alone or at the head of a fleet. Like most Union vessels, it was mostly automated, and had extremely redundant systems. Six fusion reactors, and computer systems spread out through dozens of nodes throughout the ship, made it very hard to kill indeed. It also had a prototype antimatter reactor, allowing it to punch well above it's weight class.

They had been able to find the science vessel easily enough, and now were making there way to it at FTL. Given the option, he would have stayed in bed and let the computer sort it out, but protocol required he be on the bridge.

With a moan, he pulled himself from the warmth of his bed, and into the uncomfortably cold air of his room. He rinsed himself off in his personal shower, one of the benefits of being captain, before throwing on his uniform. He considered turning off the artificial gravity so he wouldn't have to walk, but decided he would rather not, partially because it would increase his reputation of being lazy. Which was false, he might add. He had just worked his way through the ranks on ships stationed far from civilization, were protocols were a bit more lax. As he was leaving his quarters, an alarm trilled, accompanied by a small blue light. "Well, looks like we're here already" he said to no-one in particular. "Computer, when are we dropping out of FTL?"

"Five minutes sir"

"Thanks. And make sure my coffee is on the bridge when I get there."

"I have already prepared it, sir."

"Good. And you don't have to call me sir. Just call me captain, or Austin."

Captain Austin quickly made his way to the bridge, greeting the occasional officer. He knew almost everyone on the Intrepid by name. While the ship was 4.5 kilometers long, most of its systems were automated, meaning it only had a crew of 200, 100 marines and 100 officers.

As stepped onto the bridge he was greeted by the officers already present.

"I see you're on time as always", chuckled Commander Parris, the ship's first officer, as she stepped away from her station..

"Hey, I've got a reputation to keep", responded Austin. "And besides, it's not like we're saving the galaxy or anything." Austin grabbed his coffee, stepped up to his chair, and looked around the bridge.

The bridge was actually deep inside the ship, for obvious reasons, so the walls and parts of the ceiling and floor were covered in screens, which were currently displaying the distorted view available through the FTL bubble around the ship. Parris, Sat next to him, in a similar chair. The weapons officer, Lieutenant O'Neill, and Navigator, Lieutenant Spearing, sat in front of and slightly below them.

"Dropping out of FTL in ten seconds" called out Spearing.

Everyone who was not sitting quickly grabbed a seat. With a lurch, the Intrepid came free of the FTL bubble, immediately unfolding its radiators, and began venting super-heated coolant that had accumulated during their time at FTL. They had burned before they had made the jump, nearly a day before, so they were already matching velocity. Austin noted that they were within 10 kilometers, pretty impressive considering the size of the Intrepid. Even at this range, the science vessel, the Prometheus, was clearly visible. It was much smaller than the Intrepid, only 700 meters long, and was much more utilitarian, looking very much like a flying brick compared to the Intrepid's sweeping lines and streamlined Engine pods.

"The Prometheus is hailing us" called out Parris.

Austin tapped his console, opening the line to the Prometheus. After a second, an image a the Prometheus's bridge popped up, showing the Prometheus's captain, Abner Black. Abner was one of the older captains in the navy, and was almost as old as the Prometheus. Unlike Austin, he wasn't a true captain, just a scientist who had stuck around long enough to find himself the highest ranking person on the ship.

"Oh, hello Captain," said Abner, looking up from his a book."I presume you were sent to assist us."

"Yes, we heard you have some issues with your computer"

"Of course. Our navigation system seems to have given out, which, considering it's older than me, isn't to surprising."

"Well, I'll see what I can do. It shouldn't take to long to fix."

Austin turned on the intercom to engineering. "Hey, Victor, we need to fix our friends navigation system."

"Do not worry captain, I can send engineers over right away," responded Victor over the comms. " I believe it is old model, should be easy to fix."

Soon, several engineers boarded one of the Intrepid's shuttle's and loaded up the required spare parts. Austin watched it launch from one of the tubes along the side of the ship, and cruise through space to the Prometheus. He sat back in his seat, pulled out his tablet, and began waiting for the repairs to be finished. The other officers went back to their stations, continuing working one what they had been doing previously.

"Captain," called out Parris, interrupting him a couple minutes into his book."Something is showing up on the long range comms. I don't recognize the format or encoding, although it is fairly degraded."

"Where's it coming from?" Asked Austin.

"It seems to be coming from the galactic west, although I'm having a hard time getting a lock."

"So, pretty much the middle of nowhere," pointed out O'Neal.

"Well, it would be further than any know ship has gone, and I don't see stars in that direction." Replied Parris.

"So, the middle of nowhere." Repeated O'Neal.

"How about we use the Prometheus to help triangulate the signal." Said Austin

Austin was about to call the Prometheus when a call appeared onscreen. "Hello again," said Abner. "I presume you detected the same signal we did."

"Yes, i was hoping you could help triangulate it." Responded Austin.

"Of course, I will get to it as soon as the navigation systems are finished being repaired. I wonder what the signal could be. I mean, this sounds overly optimistic, but it could be an undiscovered race of aliens."

Abner was interrupted as Victor walked onto the Prometheus's bridge. "Captain, we have been able to repair part of navigation system, but it is more heavily damaged than expected, and it cannot generate stronk enough signal to safely jump more than a light year."

"Well, could we link the Prometheus's navigation to ours to make a long range jump?"

"Yes, that would be possible"

"Then get working on it right away, we may have found something actually interesting out here."

Soon, the Prometheus was able to make a short jump, only a couple dozen AU, but enough to triangulate the signal, orbiting something small about 15 light years away. The Prometheus quickly returned, and aligned with the Intrepid. After a short issue with compatibility, they were able to activate FTL, and head for the signal.

The jump was relatively short, but it still gave Austin enough time to start on his monthly report he had been putting off for months. He quickly compiled a list of systems and maintenance, but was unsure of what to put down for the rest.

His thoughts were interrupted by Lieutenant Spearing "We are dropping out of FTL in thirty seconds sir" she called out.

Is that the only thing she ever says, thought Austin. With a lurch, they slowed to subliminal speeds once again. For a second, something large flickered past them. Spearing responded by turning the Intrepid and lighting up the engines. A column of plasma erupted from the ship's engines, bright enough to blind anyone not behind 4 inches of leaded glass. The Prometheus followed, carefully staying well away from the Intrepid's exhaust. The object that had passed them soon began to stop shrinking into the distance and started growing.

Spearing shut off the main engines and began slowing the ship again as they grew closer to the object, skillfully matching velocities. As they got closer, it became clear as to what the source of the signal was. An ancient looking and battered freighter, floating in the inky blackness.

"Turn on the lights, I want to see if we can identify it." Said Austin.

The floodlights on front of the Intrepid came to life, illuminating the decrepit freighter. As it slowly rotated, a registry number became visible.

"Parris, run that number through the system, see if you can't find anything."

After a second, Parris responded. "If this is correct, this freighter has been missing for a hundred forty six years."

"Damn, that's pretty long." Said Austin. "I wonder how it got all this way."

Before anyone could respond, they were interrupted by another call from the Prometheus. "Captain," said Abner."There seems to be a rather Earth like planet orbiting this star."

" if you're asking for permission to check it out, go ahead" said Austin.

"Of course" said Abner. "I will leave immediately."

Once the Prometheus left, they began investigating the freighter once more. After several attempts to download the freighters logs, they managed to learn that it was, attacked by pirates, and found its way to this system when it malfunctioned. Unusual, but not impossible.

As they were finishing up reviewing the logs, they received yet another call from the Prometheus.

"Has that old man managed to get lost again." Muttered O'Neal under his breath.

"Well hello again," said Abner. "I have found something, well, rather interesting."

"Define interesting" responded Austin.

"Well, I'll let you see for yourself." After a second an image popped up onscreen. Showing a 19th century looking city. Full of pastel colored horses.

"Well, my monthly report just got a whole lot more interesting."

Author's Note

So far so good, although I'm still stuck righting this on my kindle. I think it's gone well, and things are about to get much more interesting.