The weekly Project: Voyager log entries made by members of the Project team will be recorded and posted here. Each month, the log entries will be archived for your retrieval.
Week Four Report -- Stardate 53710.9
Lieutenant Franklin Harris reporting
Well, it seems as though Starfleet has certainly taken an interest in our project. Yesterday, Admiral Hayes assigned a Vulcan Commander from Starfleet Security to begin perusing Voyager's database. They've begun to isolate certain files to higher security levels, as they believe they are vital to the security of the Federation. Of course, I've already seen most of the files, and I'm surprised at how overly thorough Stafleet is being. I think it's a little excessive myself, but it is most likely as a result of the breaches in security during the Dominion War: Starfleet doesn't want to repeat it again. Most of the files isolated have to do with the Borg, and a new alien species encountered, known simply as Species 8472. From Voyager's logs, it appears that Species 8472 invaded our galaxy with the intention of purging it. Nevertheless, Starfleet is concerned. Of course it all seems a little excessive like I previously mentioned as Voyager was able to obtain a "truce" with Species 8472 just last year. There were several other alien threats that concerned security, including another alien species known as the Vaadwaur (they apparently have sophisticated 'subspace corridor' technology).
It's been difficult to get much done on the Project lately. We all seem to be far more interested in reviewing Voyager's files. They've managed to accumulate a massive amount of data in very little time. One item of particular interest to me was that Voyager found the Ares IV capsule (from the first Mars mission) several weeks before communicating with Starfleet! History is already re-writing itself to accomodate the new discovery. I'm eager to review the logs recorded by John Kelly when Voyager returns.
Last week myself and Lieutenant Cooper travelled to the MIDAS array on board the USS Jackson to make a few modifications. They took several days, and we expect to be able to communicate with Voyager within the next few months. Garin has already begun to work on the hundreds of message files that family and friends have been sending to Starfleet to be sent to Voyager. By narrowing the confinement beam and increasing the signal strength, test messages aren't decaying very quickly, thus allowing them to be sent at hypersubspace speeds without degradation.
It should be interesting to see what happens with the Vulcan Commander. She's cold (have you ever met a Vulcan who isn't??), and is constantly standing over your shoulder. Luckily, she's spent most of her time in the Paris office (poor Garin), but she makes daily visits to our San Francisco office (poor us). Barclay gets very nervous around her, to the point where he can only mumble. The man's a genious, but needs a psychiatrist to give him shock therapy or something. Well, maybe that's a little too excessive.
Week Three Report -- Stardate 53669.5
Ensign Richard Garin Reporting
Week three at Project: Voyager is going very well. I've been stuck in the Paris bureau of our research lab, and I've been mostly preparing for possible contact with Voyager within the next three months or so. Lieutenant Cooper and Lieutenant Harris have taken a Runabout to the MIDAS Array to begin some modifications which they believe should boost the containment field of the message, as well as boosting the signal output so messages can be pushed into subspace and remain there, without crossing the threshold back into normal space. If so, this may be the first step to permanent communication with Voyager.
In the meantime, I've been assigned to put together "communication packets" to the members of Voyagers crew. These packets contain messages as well as data from relatives and friends to members of the Voyager crew. In order to ensure that the packet maintains its signal strength, I have to make the message file as small as possible so it doesn't degrade over the distance of thousands of light years in which it has to travel. Perhaps one of the more bizarre packets that I've prepared to date is one to Voyager' Emergency Medical Holographic Program (EMH) from Louis Zimmerman, the creator of the EMH programs. Apparently, Zimmerman has become deathly ill during the past few weeks. There is also a large message from Admiral Paris to his son, Tom. If the messages wasn't protected by a level four security barrier, I would certainly love to read the Paris message. I've reviewed much of the Voyager crew history during the past few weeks, and I found it interesting how Tom has been disciplined on several occasions, particularly during one mission where he disobeyed orders and was demoted to the rank of Ensign. But if my son was the first human to break the warp ten threshold, I think I could easily overlook the discipline infractions here and there.
Speaking of reviewing Voyager's logs, I have recently found myself becoming more and more attached to this stranded crew. I can certainly see how Lieutenant Barclay felt about them. Although I still have quite a bit of reading ahead of me, I've found some interesting leads that might bring us one step closer to bringing Voyager home. On several occasions, Voyager has used a new type of warp drive called a Quantum Slipstream Drive, that has the capability of getting them home in minutes. In fact, according to log entries by Ensign Harry Kim, Voyager was destroyed in an alternate timeline due to the Quantum Slipstream Technology. The reason the technology won't allow for a successful trial is due to a variance in the slipstream, which results in chaotic effects. I'm going to prepare a proposal to Admiral Paris and Lieutenant Barclay to allow me to continue research into the Slipstream Technology, in case this technology will allow us to get Voyager home.
To sum things up, although the Project has had a fairly successful week, I feel somewhat out of place. Harris and Cooper have really bonded, and I don't see Barclay regularly as he has spent most of his time in San Francisco. However, according to Admiral Hayes, Admiral Paris is looking into bringing two new officers to work with me in the Paris Research Office for Project: Voyager. I almost wonder if this is an attempt to eliminate me, and if they are not happy with my level of work to date. Thus, I've decided to truly make myself valuable to the team, so I'm trying my best to devise new ways of getting Voyager home.
Eng Log Entry
Week Two Report -- Stardate 53513.2
Lieutenant Alicia Cooper Reporting
My apologies that this log entry is a day late! I've been advising some of the members of the Starship Development Committee lately, as they attempt to develop new starship designs to replace the losses due to the Dominion War. This has put me slightly behind towards my duties with Project: Voyager, however, Lieutenant Barclay hasn't made any objections. So far, the Project is slow going. We are still in the initial stages, and we are all still getting to know one another a little better. The crew is enjoyable and I believe I am going to enjoy my time working on this project. The team leader, Barclay, is a bit eccentric, but his devotion to the Project is truly refreshing. Apparently while working on the Pathfinder Project, Barclay became quite attached to holographic representations of the Voyager crew. For the past two weeks, I've run into him countless times in the lab after hours, pouring over the Voyager database. I guess it is like getting to know the people you thought you knew a little better. Harris is a little quiet, but very bright. He has devised some fascinating new projections for the hypersubspace technology: with him on the team, I believe we could be in regular contact with Voyager in less than a year. Garin comes off a little strong. He is definately a player, and I've heard about his "reputation" from a friend that served with him on board the Intrepid. However, he does fine work, and certainly pulls his share on the team.
What have I been up to with the Project? Well, I've been looking over the current schematics of the hypersubspace communication technology. Although we haven't had a successful test as of yet, we are still in the process of making some modifications. I believe that we have to extend the range of the STA (subspace transceiver assembly). As well, although the messages sent through the MIDAS Array are radially polarized and highly focussed, the message is still decaying as the message is forced across the subspace threshold to become slower EM. This is limiting the range and speed at which the signal can be sent. Myself and Harris are attempting to work on a way to decrease the message degradation. I believe that if we can conduct the message at higher energy levels, driving the message signal into deeper layers of subspace, the message should travel significantly further before it begins to decay. We are still testing our theories, with promising and encouraging results. If our tests continue to be successful and approved by both Admiral Paris and Lieutenant Barclay, Harris and I could travel to the MIDAS Array and make the modifications ourselves in the next couple of weeks.
End Log Entry
Week One Report -- Stardate 53440.1
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay Reporting - Project Leader
Things have been very exciting lately! Federation citizens are thrilled after our successful communication with Voyager, thus raising morale which plummeted after the Dominion War. I was a guest of honour at the celebrations held in the San Francisco Heritage Section.
Very little has been done with the Project this week, just establishing and setting up the Project. The other three project members, Cooper, Harris and Garen are fantastic and easy to get along with. They are very bright, and Admiral Paris made the right decision to assign them to the Project.
I've been pouring over the Voyager database received during communication with Voyager on stardate 53320.2. It is absolutely amazing how much Voyager has accomplished in the Delta Quadrant! Although I've just begun, I was fascinated to see that Thomas Paris was able to break the warp threshold and make it to warp ten on stardte 49373.4. I'm sure his father, Admiral Owen Paris, would be very proud. As well, Voyager has had many encounters with the Borg, as well as the Borg Queen herself! I was still serving on board the Enterprise-E when the vessel went back in time to stop the Borg from altering history. However, Captain Picard was able to kill the Borg Queen, so I find it curious that Voyager was able to encounter the Borg Queen, even though she should be dead. I imagine that Starfleet Intelligence will find this information very interesting.
I plan to continue studying the information received by Voyager...crew logs, mission logs, astrometrics charts, etc. This new crewmember, Seven of Nine, seems like Voyager's version of Lieutenant Commander Data, with whom I had the pleasure of serving with on board the Enterprise-D & E. She has made numerous log entries, and I am eager to read them.
On a personal note, I plan to celebrate the New Year with Hope. So far, we seem to have so much in common, and I look forward to our evening together at the celebrations in San Francisco.
End Log Entry
