USS Avandar responds to deep space disaster

L’HEIA SECTOR – Investigating an explosion in deep space, the USS Avandar discovered something of troubling evidence.
Resuming routine duties after the events at Telden, the USS Avandar, in conjunction with the USS Halo, detected a large explosion in deep space. Moving to investigate, the Avandar was informed by the Halo that there had been a message transmitted to the Galaxy-class ship at the same time as the blast – a message that, whilst fragmented, suggested the involvement of Starfleet personnel.
Scans of the area revealed that the explosion had not been natural in origin. In fact, the battered wreckage of a civilian freighter was discovered, along with evidence of the use of tricobalt explosives in the area and warp trails leading toward a nearby system. Long range scans of that system showed the presence of a settlement on a supposedly uninhabitable planet, though no explanation as to why it was there.
Of more immediate concern to the Avandar‘s crew were the survivors still aboard the stricken freighter – survivors that turned out to be slaves, though no sign of their captors could be found in the limited time available before, despite the best efforts of the team sent over to investigate, the ship’s warp core went critical and exploded.
According to Captain Della Vetri, the USS Avandar‘s Commanding Officer, “Someone who’ll use weapons like that against runaway slaves is someone that bears watching – so we’re going to have to find out just who they are before they decide to use them against someone else.”
A task that the data apparently recovered from the freighter before its destruction, plus the testimony of the rescued survivors themselves, will hopefully make a good deal easier to accomplish.