From: Capt. Banderia

To: Anyone

Re: Hope

The black starry expanse is as black as the repilicated coffee I'm

drinking. What I wouldn't give for a real cup of coffee. Our rations

of "real" food is nearly gone. We've been stranded somewhere near the

center of the galaxy after a black hole knocked us off course. Six

months. Our navigation system is broke and we don't have the parts to

fix half the ship. Somehow our 3D printer was destroyed in our near

death experience with a super massive black hole. No communications

either. Stuck.

Thankfully there is nobody worried about me. When you sign up for this

gig, you have reasonable expectations you might never go home. I could

never put someone through that. I might not have anybody, but the crew

does, and that worries me. We're a scientific ship; not equipped for

battle. Thankfully we've managed to stay undetected from alien races

using high pulsed neutrinos from our warp reactor to look like a

quasar. My chief science officer concocted that one. Damn brilliant.

While I may have nobody, and as dire as this situation is, I'll try

one last time to send a communication and hope for a response. My crew

is desperate for many things, but most desperate for hope.