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C                                                                          Captain’s Journal

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                                   Captain’s personal journal: Theta 12 -12

     “For the first time in months I sit again in command of the Third Fleet and the captain’s chair of the starship Parras. I find it ironic, with my recent experience with the battle wagon, I have a new understanding of the term ‘Captain’s chair’. The quest I undertook all those years ago has now come to fruition and though it is the fulfillment of a decades-long search there is nothing like being in command of this vessel. It feels like, it feels like home. It feels safe. This journey I have taken, the trials I have undergone is nothing I could ever have imagined. The twists and turns of circumstance, the highs and lows have been staggering as it has taken me from exhilaration at the fleet’s decisive victory at Tor Dunlaw over the Lorilon yet forced me to examine my career and my self-worth in the bloody aftermath and my capture at the hands of my enemy.
     I have never doubted my abilities as a soldier, as a commander, as a captain, yet my entire career has been haunted with this quest to find my ghost ship. She has been my nemesis. I have let her specter haunt me for over two decades and it nearly brought my career to an end. But my ghost now has a name and the Ark Royal is no longer a haunting figment of my imagination; she is tangible, a starship of such immense power that nothing the Lorilon has in their arsenal, even the newly discovered Omega vessels are able to withstand her onslaught.
But what will come of it? Surely the Ark Royal is now the savior the Home Worlds have needed to bring this war to an end. But what can one vessel do no matter its power? Our fleets are barely space-worthy as it is. Have I unleashed the one weapon that will give hope but ultimately bring defeat to our worlds? Will my quest to find the Ark Royal in reality end in failure? All those many years ago the flights of fancy of a young ensign have finally come to roost. But will that inadvertent phrase at last come back to haunt those who tried to bury her existence?
     Perhaps I will know when we reach New Caledonia and Fleet Main Headquarters. She could be our savior, or the final nail in my coffin.”

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“Close journal.”

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