FEDERATION NEWS SERVICE
USS DISCOVERY MYSTERIOUSLY RETURNS AFTER FOUR MONTH ABSENCE
San Francisco, California -
Starfleet quickly mobilized its Central Defense Fleet today when a transwarp conduit suddenly appeared near Earth. Instead of an attack by the Borg, however, only a single ship emerged. Drifting and heavily damaged, the USS Discovery has come home.
Four months ago the Discovery, Starfleet's flagship of the Delta Quadrant, was listed as MIA (Missing in Action) after reports indicated it had been pulled into a transwarp conduit of unknown origin. Within two weeks the ship was presumed lost with all hands aboard. The news had come at a difficult time, when the alliance between the Cardassians, Breen, and Talarians was beginning to gain momentum in the war. Many, in fact, suspected the Cardassians were somehow involved in the disappearance. No single vessel had done more to disrupt the enemy than the Discovery, and it was no secret the ship was one of their primary targets.
Captain R.J. Reynolds, commanding officer at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards, has confirmed the Discovery has been drydocked for "extensive repairs," but refuses to comment on the condition of the crew.
"Information on that matter will be made public once the families have been contacted." Reynolds stated amid rumors that less than half of the ship's complement survived. One source indicated that perhaps as few as sixty are all that remain of a crew that numbered four hundred
before the disappearance.
Copyright 2407
Federation News Service