— USS Andromeda, Captain’s Temporary Quarters —

With the USS Andromeda’s saucer section several solar systems over, and out of range of their communications not only did Captain Olivia Carrillo have to use temporary quarters, but it also meant that she could not contact anyone. Her world had winnowed down to the crew aboard the star drive section. HHer husband, their adopted daughter, and most of the science staff including the ship’s chief counsellor were lightyears away and currently beyond contacting.

As she took off her duty boots her commbadge beeped. Hitting it she initiated the communication.

“Romulans say they’re green to go in the morning ma’am,” the voice of Lieutenant Claudia Jara the Chief of Security came through crystal clear.

“Okay, get some rest lieutenant, we leave at 0800,” Carrillo said, not quite sure what would happen when she set this into motion. She was risking her ship, and her crew for the sake of Romulan colonists, some of which had already fled a home that was being destroyed. 

Ending the transmission she removed her command tunic, black with red at the top where the shoulders were. She unfasten the pips from her shirt and set them on the desk next to the Starfleet insignia which was also her commbadge. 

“Computer,” Carrillo said, “commence Captain’s Log.”

The perky female voice of the Andromeda’s computer chimed in, starting the log. Carrillo poured herself a glass of wine, from her former captain’s vineyard back on Earth on the outskirts of Mexico City. She normally did not drink much, and she was not exactly about to get plastered as a form of celebration tonight, but something that was not the Starfleet developed synthahol seemed like a good idea, if only to toke the edge off.

The computer would clean up the recording, editing out the long gap between comencing the log and actually saying something. She took a sea and leaned back, staking a sip of her wine.

“We are nine hours out from the Romulan D’deridex-class warbird leaving, the’ll travel at warp three back to colony. Since we have outfitted the Andromeda with a trans warp drive we can get there in a fraction of the time. They’ll wait for us, cloaked and hidden and we’ll arrive, all gun blazing,” Carrillo said.

“The Andromeda will offer cover for the warbird, allowing it to decloak and launch a combination of our shuttles and their own. Once it recloaks we’ll disengage and depart, allowing our combined assault teams to launch an attempt to retake the Romulan orbital defence grid,” Carrillo said. It was possible, given the current inability to contact anyone in a different solar system, that this log would never make it back to Starfleet Command. If she died, if the limitations on warp speed and communications were not lifted then she was just sitting in a strange bedroom talking to herself. 

“I have taken a risk, leaving our saucer section far from the battle, and taking this on without many of our crew, the civilians and other personnel that we left behind. We could be back helping Federation worlds, and Starfleet defences, but this was what was closest to us. We have a duty to help, even if one gets the feeling that the Romulans are only begrudgingly accepting our assistance. We may be destroyed above a colony world that they only cared enough to send one warbird to defend,” Carrillo said.

The negative consequences of her actions were far more easy to foretell than the positive ones. She was not to blame for their situation, but she was to blame for them being in Romulan space defending a Romulan world. The Vaadwaur had brought the war to them, and now it was on them how they wanted to push back.

“I joined Starfleet to explore,” Carrillo said, “And this rest, well I ended up being better at it, and circumstances just wouldn’t let me explore the way I wanted to. The days of Picard’s Enterprise are over, we’re constantly at war. The Borg, the Dominion, and now the Vaadwaur.” 

“I’m afraid I won’t see my husband again, my little girl,” Carrillo sighed, “I’m afraid we’ll all be forgotten, lost out here beyond Federation space and any record of what we tried to do or why we never came home.”

Carrillo sighed and drained the wine glass in one long gulp. She stood, “In the morning we head out. Hopefully there’ll be more logs in the future. Hopefully I’m not just talking to myself in the dark of the night.”