Stardate 0088.6 Updated 09/26/08 Star Fleet
Personal Log of Captain Jaxon C Flynn,
Commanding Officer
USS Endeavor NCC-1716
SFSN-SC0426-5804
Stardate
6199.0 I am at fleet repair dock Bravo 9 with orders to serve aboard USS
Endeavor, NCC-1716. I must say that when I was promoted to Lieutenant, that
something good was going to happen. I gladly got booted off the Ptolemy, the
grand old dame that she was. My tour on her was weeks of boredom and one day
of excitement. When we were jumped by the group of Orion pirates I managed to
get us out of harms way while getting off a lucky shot and took out the lead
pirate ship. I wasnt
aware of it at the time but we were carrying a VIP and her group to a very
important rendezvous. Once the rendezvous was
done, we then headed back to the Sol system until we arrived at Jupiter
Station where I was forced to wait while the Ptolemy took on supplies and
personnel for the Endeavor. Let me tell you
something about myself. My name is Jaxon Corneilus Flynn. Im
a Fourth generation Texan from
I graduated from
Stardate
1604.5 my orders right out of the Academy were to report to the USS Hannibal
for a two year posting as an Ensign. A Federation Light Cruiser, Patton
Lieutenant junior grade on Stardate 3168.3 I
was then given orders to board the USS Ptolemy; NCC- 3801 on Stardate
3420.7 The Ptolemy I found out was a galactic tug transport that was really
older than me. The nice thing was that I was the chief helmsman for this grand
old lady. In fact I thought of the immortal bard when I
first saw her. To
me fair friend, you never can be old. For as you were when first your eye I
eyed. Such seems your beauty still.
I really liked the captain, Commander Hirosama Kazanaki. He was just getting
ready to retire when I came on board. I felt that I learned a lot from this
quiet confident man. This proved to be a very boring time except for one day
near the end of my tour. I was on the bridge
playing sheepdog to three cargo pods when we were jumped by some Orion pirates
that managed to sneak in under the sensors. The first thing I realized was
that we were being attacked and I was trying my damnedest to not get shot at.
I managed to execute a high energy turn as I thought to myself, such
as we are made of, such we be. When I came out of the
turn, one of the pirate ships was right in from of our bow and I made the shot
and took it out. When this ship exploded right in front of us, the remaining
ships lost heart and retreated. I thought to myself, much
ado about nothing.
Stardate
5828.9 within a matter
of days I had received my new orders and posting, along with my promotion to
Lieutenant. I was to attend immediately to board the USS Endeavor NCC-1716.
Its commander is Captain Vincent Storm, a fellow Texan. A Federation Heavy
Cruiser, the rumour was she was out on the frontlines involved with the
Klingon war. As I had been told to expect lots of action, I was looking
forwards to it. Then again, there
is history in all mens
lives.
Stardate 5848.4 Much to my surprise, just before we got to Jupiter Station, I was called to the bridge by the Captain. When I arrived on the bridge, I was definitely surprised to see Commander Kazanaki waiting for me. He gave me my new orders along with my promotion and also said that there was going to be a small ceremony once we got to Jupiter to award me a medal for my actions in the battle. He also gave me a shock when he told me that I had command of the Ptolemy as we came into dock. I managed to sit in the command chair and basically told the ensign piloting the craft to take her in almost on auto pilot. After docking, I was then told to report to the commanders office at Jupiter Station where the VIP that had been aboard during the battle presented me with a Meritorious Service Medal presented by the Deian Ambassador to the Kzinti, Chal dHar. She was a gorgeous blue skinned human and was very pleased to give me my medal. I was then told to board the Ptolemy and take the cargo and meet Endeavor. I found out later that Commander Kazanaki was instrumental in my getting the decoration. We then took off for sector 2608 and met up with Bravo 9 the fleet repair dock that had just received the Endeavor from her encounter with the Klingons.
Service Medal Endeavor Command Badge
Stardate 6198.2 my first sight of her was not a good one. It looked like the ship had been in a major battle as one of the warp nacelles was not functioning and there was major damage to the saucer section. Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined, Lawless, winged, and unconfined, and breaks all the chains from every mind. Image taken from Bravo 9
Stardate 6198.5 the Ptolemy docked with Bravo 9 and started offloading supplies. I was then given a message from Commander Andrews that he would be hosting a dinner for all senior officers of the Endeavor at 1700 hrs. I then took my leave of Commander Kazanaki and wished him the best as I moved on in my career. I got aboard Bravo 9 and waited until 1700 hours to make my way to the dinner. There I met my fellow crew members and Captain Vincent Storm, my new commanding officer. When we are born we cry that we are come. To this great stage of fools. It was a surprise to see that the Captain was a red shirt. By the looks of things he had been a marine at the start of his career. I also met my fellow crewmembers starting with my new ops partner, Lt William Lancer the navigator. Also at the dinner was Lt Edmonda Zenebe, new head of the Science dept, a female Alpha Centauran. Lt TPel was the female Vulcan Security Chief, along with Lt Jg Rinoco Whitedeer, a female nurse in sick bay. The chief engineer had been killed in the battle with the Klingons and most of the engineering department were suffering from radiation burns. So needless to say the dinner was a small gathering indeed. We were given a briefing by Commander Andrews as to the situation of the front. We were told that as soon as the Endeavor was repaired we would be returning to resume patrols along the Neutral Zone. He also showed us some intelligence on a battle involving a Kzinti frigate taking on and destroying two Klingon vessels, one of them a battle cruiser. The Kzinti looked to be formidable opponents. We were then given orders by Captain Storm to be on board the Endeavor at 0700 the next morning.
Stardate
6200.0 I was up bright
and earlier and joined the rush of people that were trying to board the
Endeavor. I met up with Bill and walked with him onto the Endeavor. We then
proceeded to the bridge and found Lt TPel
there. She told us that the Captain was in the briefing room on deck 7 and we
were told to attend there. We returned to the turbo lift just in time to meet
Whitedeer and Edmonda and told them to follow us. We attended to the
briefing room and had a meeting with the Captain. We were then told to
familiarize ourselves with our new responsibilities. I found out that as young
as I was, I was now chief helmsman and armoury officer of a Constitution Class
Star Ship. Well Hoody Hoo! That,
if then I had walked after a long sleep, will make me sleep again; and then,
in dreaming, the clouds me thought would open and show riches ready to drop
upon me; that, when I waked I cried to dream again.
I then started
exploring the ship to find the stations that I was now responsible for. This
took some time as I found out that the Endeavor now carried drones and I had
no idea how they operated. Luckily I found a crewman that knew where they had
to go and I ordered him to carry out loading them in the drone racks. I also
found out that I had 5 crewmen that had helm responsibility. They were Ensigns
Rosario Gonzalez, Charles Nelson Smythe, Kasi Singh and crewmen Ronald Jones
and Emilee Watson. I then delegated Rosario and Kasi as my relief on the
bridge while the others became responsible for auxiliary helm control. I then
barely made it back to the bridge on time to start my shift. My first thought
when I finally sat down was
be
not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and
others have greatness thrust upon them.
I also
realized that I wouldnt
be doing much until we were released from Bravo 9 after the repairs were
finished. I knew that we were currently in warp to get back to our patrol zone
but it was still going to take a while. I then thought I better get prepared
for lots of drills and simulations to come, as this crew was still quite
green. In fact most of the junior members were coming right out of the academy
or had graduated last year. I think this tour is going to be very interesting.
Lord
we may know what we are, but know not what we may be. After my duty shift was
done I then headed down to auxiliary control to make sure that everything was
running smoothly. While I was down there, we got into combat with what
appeared to be an Orion pirate again. This time the ship took some serious
damage and I immediately went to damage control and helped with starting
repairs to the damaged systems. It was about
The Captain then wanted to know where the Tribble was and I didnt have a clue. He then told me that my quarters were going to be searched. I didnt have a problem with that as I had just left my quarters and there was nothing there that I had to hide. He then called for two security members to meet us outside my quarters and we proceeded there. On arrival outside my door we met the security team. I was then asked to open the door and I did so. Boy was I ever shocked to find a small box wrapped with a bow lying on top of my bunk. It was not there when I had left an hour before. I turned to the Captain and said This wasnt here when I left sir. He just looked at me strangely and asked the security team to investigate it. They checked it out and said that it contained a life form. The Captain then asked sick bay to send up a technician to further investigate this. Whitedeer soon arrived with a medical tricorder and scanned the box. She really looked surprised at the readings and turned and informed the Captain that the stasis box contained one Tribble. The Captain then turned to me and ordered me to open the box. I did so very carefully. I didnt have to be so careful. The box started breaking down as I opened it. And indeed inside was a small furry blob that started purring at me and tried to crawl up my arm I was trying to remove it when a female crewman walked by and said isnt it cute. The rest of us were distracted for a moment and when we turned and looked the Tribble had disappeared. The next thing I knew the security team had me in an arm bar and I wasnt moving. The Captain looked at me with disgust and said, Lt. Flynn you are confined to quarters until further notice. He didnt look very happy when he turned and left. The two red shirts looked at me and seemed to be enjoying my discomfort with the situation. Oh, what a bitter thing it is to look into happiness through another mans eyes. The fun started soon after when the medical and security teams started looking for the Tribble. By the time they found it however, it had already given birth to a whole lot of little Tribbles. The Captain then ordered me to help the Security Ensign in locating the Tribbles before they took over the ship. Soon afterwards we started having a problem with what appeared to be a ship on long range sensors that was following us at extreme sensor range. The next thing I heard over the intercom was the Captain ordering me to the bridge. I headed to the bridge and took my duty station at helm. Next to me was Bill and he told me that they were picking up a faint contact. I also noticed two new people on the bridge. These were introduced to me as Dr. TLoc the new chief medical officer, a female Vulcan, along with Crewman Dezba, a female from Alpha Centauri. She appeared to be a Petty Officer from Security that was currently serving in the Ordnance division. We tried getting a better fix but were unable to.
The next thing we knew, the contact had multiplied with smaller contacts breaking away from the large contact and approaching rapidly. While this was happening, Deck 11 had been vacated and vacuumed so that the Tribbles couldnt get out of the saucer section down into the engine compartments. Bill and I had our hands full trying to keep track of the now multiple contacts coming from what we had finally identified as an Orion ship that ultimately launched 8 drones at us. We were forced to deal with them and the ship managed to flee out of sensor range. Meanwhile the medical staff was having fun trying to catch Tribbles. There was only one left when Edmonda finally tracked it to the Impulse Engine room when she saw it explode into 17 little Tribbles. Then Whitedeer ordered everyone in the compartment to set their phasers on wide beam stun and ordered whoever was in the compartment to fire. The next thing we knew, impulse was off line and there was chaos in the Engine room. I think we managed to recover all of the furry little bastards and if I never see another Tribble as long as I live it will be too soon. We then continued on our original course towards Straven IV. I also realized that our main computer had seriously glitched while we were engaged with the Orion and had gone into auto diagnostic while we were trying to use it. It looked like Edmonda had done something too it while trying to get sensor readings about the vessels and the Tribbles. By this time I was trying to figure out who had set me up and why. The Captain had left me the files that had been generated in my name and I was now going to have to try and find out whom or what had set me up with this Damn Tribble. I think I might need some help with this one. I think I will have to study up on Federation Law to figure out if Im on the hook for this or if I can prove that someone else did this too me and why. I still had some time before we arrived at the planet and the Captain informed Bill and me that we were now going to take drone training from PO Dezba, as she was the one who had launched the drone yesterday when we were involved in combat. I also found out that the Orion ship had come trying to arrest Lt Lancer on what appears to be a serious charge. He now had to deal with an enemy. Mine, I didnt have a clue who or what it was. We took a couple of hours training with Dezba and she was very effective in her instruction. The two of us picked it up and were now ready to use drones in combat if it comes to that.
Stardate 6203.0 Started shift in the morning still an hour away from Straven IV. I put us in a standard orbit around the planet when we arrived. The Captain informed me that I was being put in command of the landing party and that I was free to take any members required.
Stardate
6205.0 my first landing party report has been given to the Captain at the
completion of our mission. It was somewhat successful in as we destroyed the
shuttle we used to get down there with. We also only saved 51 of the 212
colonists that had been there. I also had to report to the Captain the death
of Ensign Quinlan in the line of duty.
All
that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.
The
fact was he was only a red shirt and sometimes people have died on missions.
Acceptable loss as far as Im
concerned and to be honest he had ticked me off when he put me in that
headlock in my quarters during the Tribble incident. Now we are warping back
to the nearest Starbase to get these people some help and the Endeavor a much
needed overhaul. Maybe I will have time to try to contact someone to help me
with this paper trail I got when the Tribble arrived.
The
plays
the thing wherein Ill
catch the conscience of the king.
I think I will try to
contact Professor Sara Davidson back on earth. She had been my law instructor
at
Stardate
6210.0 we left Straven IV on route to Starbase 12. In fact that night I
managed to compose a message to the Professor concerning my problem involving
the Tribble. The captain told us that it would be a month heading back to the
nearest Starbase and that he was recommending me to attend
Stardate 6243.0 She told me that an audio file had been found in the computers at Mudd Star Base and this file contained the name Mr Zoltan, Every why has a wherefore. At least now I had a name to go on and that I was going to see if the Professor could track down this person in question. I then was told to immediately depart planet side to start my intensive course in command school. In fact I knew that most of the crew would be going down to the planet while they were repairing the ship. Everyone except for Bill Lancer, his involvement with the Orion pirates and subsequent demand of his arrest under warrant had forced the Captain to confine him to quarters after speaking with Star Fleet Command. It looked like Bill was in serious trouble and I was going to be the only line officer attending command school. Why, then the worlds mine oyster, which I with sword will open. Playing with the simulators is fun. My first scenario involved me in command of the Endeavor along with a base station and freighter with my opponents being a Klingon D7 Cruiser along with an Orion pirate. I made the mistake of not guarding the base well enough. The Orion destroyed the freighter and then managed to beam some boarding parties onto the station. I destroyed the Orion pirate and left the Klingon virtually destroyed, dead in space. I then had to expend all my boarding parties to retake the station. The commanders only comment after the scenario was done was that I should have taken tactical command of the station and used it more effectively before it was boarded. Oh well we will see about the next scenario. In such business action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant more learned than ears. The next scenario was absolutely brutal. I was in command of a heavy cruiser and the enemy was some sort of alien ship called the Juggernaut. The other ships in the scenario were a Klingon D7 along with a Tholian cruiser and in front of the Juggernaut was a hidden Orion smugglers ship. We didnt coordinate our efforts well and soon found out that the Juggernaut was packing some massive weapons along with a rotating shield that stopped four overloaded photons like nothing. We did manage to slightly damage this massive ship before it brutally destroyed me along with the Tholian and the Klingon. I tried to get close enough to hit it one last time but the massive phasers on it finally blew my ship to bits. There was nothing left when it left the scene of the battle with only the floating remains of three ships to say that there had even been a battle here. Oh well I think I finally had my Kobiyashi Maru event. The instructor did tell me that sooner or later a Star Fleet Captain may come across a scenario where it is impossible to win under the conditions presented. The better part of valor is discretion. Other than this horrible failure on my part, my instructor was impressed with my current knowledge and tactics that I used and he was quite happy with my performance during the three weeks of intensive training that is called command school. Quiet consummation have, and renowned be thy grave. While I was working my butt off, I also heard some rumors about the Captain. Starfleet Command was not happy with him and the one rumor I heard was that he was up in front of the Sector Admiral doing some major explaining about something. I think it has to do with him still wearing his red shirt on the bridge. You would think that he would have learned by now that you cant buck Star Fleet Command. When is he going to drop this stupid charade of being a marine in charge of a star ship? I also heard through the grapevine that Edmonda put on a presentation at the science conference about her first contact with some sort of rock creature that she encountered a while ago on her previous ship. I heard that her speech was not as good as it could have been due to some junior officers heckling her from the back row. From what I have seen of her, if she got mad enough she might have done something physical to get back at them. Oh well as long as she doesnt take it out on me I should be OK. Poor William on the other hand, the rumor on him is that his arrest warrant might be legitimate and he could be in a lot of trouble. In fact the next thing I knew about Bill was he was in front of a review board on Starbase 12. The rumor I heard was that I might be inline for the executive officer position on Endeavor. Star Fleet Command is not happy to have two Red shirts as the top line officers on board a Constitution class vessel. Boy wont that surprise the folks back home if I get promoted up to Lt Commander after only six months on board the Endeavor. The games afoot.
Stardate
6260.3
Stardate
6260.5 Captain Storm officially informs me that I have been promoted to
Lt
Cmdr and assigned the position of executive officer along with my posting of
Chief Helmsman. ENS Nimuri has been promoted to Lt Jg and assigned as the new
Chief Ordinance Officer, relieving me of that duty. Looks like I will now have
to study the duty rosters and familiarize myself with all the personnel on
board. As if I dont
already have enough paperwork to deal with. Looks like Im
going to have to move my quarters again. At least I will be able to put a
better security system on the access to the executive officers quarters.
Uneasy
lies the head that wears the crown.
He then informed me
that we were getting some new crew members including another engineer Lt
Lawrence Piercy and our communications officer Lt Iquvrek Diego, whom I think
I will call Quick; it will be much easier to remember. Piercy
was to become the assistant chief engineer. He also told me that Lt Cmdr TPel
would become the second officer. Lt Lancer was still on Starbase 12. Hey! I
just remembered that my birthday is coming up soon. I will be turning 25.
Oh
shame, where is thy blush? I was then told to
report on board and make ready to depart within the next twelve hours. Our new
staff members arrived and were immediately put to work. Piercy was put into a
vac suit and sent outside the ship to assist in repairs of the outer hull in
order to make ready. When the Captain put him on a deadline he quickly told
the captain that in order to expedite the repairs he would require the
assistance of people who knew how to use an arc welder or in this case a
phaser. He was told to speak with Lt Cmdr TPel
about using security personnel for the work. When I arrived on the bridge I
met young Quick the Comm Officer. He seemed to know what he was doing and was
processing signals and dispatches as they were coming in. When I next spoke to Lt Cmdr TPel
she told me that she had agreed to Lt Piercys
request for assistance and mumbled something about humans and their strange
mating rituals. I found out later that Piercy considers himself something of a
ladies man and tried to impress the Lt Cmdr by slicking down his hair and
putting on cologne. I think I will start having to check the backgrounds of
all our crew members so that I dont
find any more surprises in their records. Soon afterwards the Captain arrived on the
bridge. This was another surprise as he was wearing a regulation gold tunic
instead of his favourite red one. Maybe the Admiral at Starbase 12 managed to
get him to see reason. I dont
know Im
just glad that hes
now wearing yellow. Quick then told him that a Priority
One message had just arrived for Captains eyes only. He then told the crew
that I had been promoted to Lt Commander and was the new executive officer on
board. He then told Quick that he would take his message in his quarters. The engineering crew
was still finishing what they had to do in order to get Endeavor ready to sail
as soon as possible. Minutes later the captain returned to the bridge and told
the crew that we had orders to depart immediately. He told
the crew that we had orders to meet up with a Federation fleet that would be
commanded by Admiral James T Kirk. He then showed me a communication from the
Orions
about a battle in the edges of Federation space in which USS Excalibur, NCC
1705 had been destroyed by this alien vessel.
Theres
villainous news abroad.
The Captain then contacted Piercy and gave him 15 minutes to finish and he
managed to get the job done by not completing the hull in the dorsal section.
It looked a little strange being able to see through the ship at this point
but the Captain was firm in his orders. We set sail with orders
to meet up with the Admiral in sector 2816. While in transit the Captain
ordered all senior officers and department heads to a meeting in the briefing
room. One of the security crewmen, Sgt Smith came up with an idea to try and
beam security personnel onto the vessel in order to try to assist in
destroying it. The Captain agreed it was an interesting plan and would bring
it up with the Admiral. While in transit, Quick managed to pick up some
distress calls from some colonies including the colony at New Denver. They
were all being bombarded by a large alien vessel.
Stardate 6264.3 we arrived at the rendezvous point and there we met up with the Federation fleet. Our first sensor contact shocked everyone, even the Captain. When the fleet appeared on our main viewer and we managed to get a look at the fleet waiting for us we saw a ship that was brand new. The flagship was USS Federation NCC-2100. It had three warp nacelles. The extra one was mounted at the rear of the saucer section. How Star Fleet Engineering figured this one out is beyond me. The Captain then remarked that he had heard something about this vessel. It was the new Dreadnaught Class of ship and it appeared it had been rushed out of space dock in order to deal with the Juggernaut. The fleet also contained one heavy cruiser USS Essex NCC-1727; and seven destroyers. These were USS Lucifer NCC-521; USS Samson NCC-543; USS El Cid NCC-534; USS Ahriman NCC-513; USS Hathor NCC-523; USS Tyr NCC- 526; and USS Hamilcar NCC-518. Admiral Kirk ordered all senior staff from each ship to attend the Federation in one hour for a briefing on what was about to happen. I accompanied the Captain along with Sgt Smith who had suggested the idea of landing marines on the vessel. I wont bore you with the details but it was decided to try Sgt Smiths idea and the Lucifer was picked to go in advance to try and land a small squad of marines on the surface. The remaining ships were to deploy in two fleets to attack it from the flanks. The only vulnerable side to this vessel appeared to be the rear where the engines were. So that was the plan. Get a ship right behind it to attack it while it was defending itself. The attack went off without a hitch. However we did sustain serious casualties from the attack. Endeavor performed up to the Captains standards. It was just my luck that he left the bridge leaving me in command when he heard word that the marines on the vessel were about to be cooked when the attack started. He left the bridge at a run ordering me to take command. Cry Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war. I was doing alright for my first war time command until I was forced to go to the secondary bridge down on the main deck when one of the massive phasers shot at us during the battle and did some serious damage. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more. Or close the wall up with our English dead! I was going through the turbo lift when the doors partially opened going through the dorsal section. I just managed to get the door closed before the vacuum of space killed me. I was still a bit fuzzy and I was having trouble seeing from the burst blood vessels in my eyes when I finally got to secondary bridge. The blast had been strong enough to knock out the circuits to the main bridge and most of the crewmen were unconscious when I entered. ENS Martindale and PO MacIsaac were still at their stations and proceeded to help me with getting repairs going. We managed to get the firing circuits back on line just in time for us to get off a major shot at the vessel. It helped as the Federation was taking a massive pounding from being in so close. We were way too close to the vessel when it was finally destroyed in the fight. When it blew up all I saw was a flash of white on the viewer and then everything went black. Fight till the last gasp. When I awakened a few hours later, I found myself in sickbay with the rest of the crewmen from the secondary bridge. When the Juggernaut had exploded, sec bridge had taken a direct hit from the debris scattered across space. It appeared that when I fixed the problem and managed a last attack that it had been instrumental in destroying the vessel. Dr TLoc was saying something about my receiving a medal for my efforts but I wasnt too sure. The doctor did inform me that the Captain and Lt Cmdr TPel had managed to save the marines that were on the vessel just before it was attacked. I was also told that Lt Cmdr TPel had impressed Admiral Kirk so much that she had been given an instant promotion to Cmdr and had already been transferred over to the Federation and was being made the executive officer of the Federation as ordered by Admiral Kirk. In such business action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant more learned than ears. The rest of the crew had also been busy during the battle. Quick was recovering from flash burns he received while at his station. One of the consoles blew up almost in his face and he was forced to make emergency repairs while suffering from burns on his arms. Edmonda was busy with sensors trying to keep track of what had happened while on the bridge. She had also been the one in command when I had to leave my duty station. Now thats a scary thought. Two women placed together make cold weather. Our chief engineer whom I had never met was injured during the battle and was transferred to one of the destroyers that had taken all the casualties on board and was in route to Starbase 12 at maximum speed to get help for the severely injured. It was a nice surprise to see that we had suffered no deaths while engaged in this battle, lots of injured though. Lt Piercy had impressed the Captain so much that he was promoted up to Chief Engineer with our alien friend gone. I also heard a rumor that he was also in line for a medal. In fact I heard that a few other people had performed heroically in the battle and were going to receive a medal. This included the whole secondary bridge crew with ENS Martindale and PO MacIsaac getting Bronze Star Medals while the others got Meritorious Service Awards. The crew that was in the secondary bridge also received medals for their actions. The other Bronze Star Medal recipient was Lt Jg Evita Morales. Also looks like our new acting Security Chief is Lt Jg Chavena a female Andorian. Well see how long this lasts for, I wonder if we will be getting a more senior officer for that posting or if the Captain will be happy with her. I then asked the doctor if I had recovered enough to return to duty and she said that I was cleared for light duty for the next 24 hours. As I didnt plan on doing any heavy lifting or heavy thinking I thanked her and returned to the bridge to find repairs still going on and everyone working hard to get the ship back to working order. This was getting to be a habit of having to repair battle damage once a week from combat. Care is no cure, but rather corrosive for things that are not to be remedied.
I then took back command from Edmonda who was in charge while the Captain was going through out the ship dealing with all the problems that had arisen upon starting repairs. I made him aware that I was now on the bridge and he informed me that my presence would be required tomorrow on board the Federation for medal ceremonies being presided over by Admiral Kirk. He told me that I would be receiving a medal for my act of heroism while fighting the Juggernaut. He wouldnt tell me what I would be getting, just that the Admiral was most impressed with the crew of the Endeavor. At this point it was time for me to finally sit in the Seat. I sat down in the captains chair and waited out the remainder of my shift. While I was in the chair, Piercy came onto the bridge. I could smell the cologne as soon as the turbo doors opened. When he stepped up to speak with Edmonda she started sneezing before he could say a word. She screamed at him to get off the bridge and told him that she was allergic to perfumes. Piercy ran back to the lift and left. As we were still in formation with all the destroyers along with the Essex and Federation, I decided to find out the final casualties. I was saddened to find that we had lost three vessels and their crews. USS Lucifer NCC-521; was commanded by Cmdr Suvek. USS Samson NCC-543; was commanded by Cmdr Combs. USS El Cid NCC-534; was commanded by Lt Cmdr Saylock. They had been destroyed during the battle. We were fortunate to recover Lt Cmdr Saylock from all the debris of the battle. He had somehow managed to get into a vac suit in time before his ship was destroyed. Further information told us that indeed the Juggernaut had destroyed every planetary system it had come across including New Denver and the 500 000 colonists that had lived there. I spent the rest of the day dealing with the administration that was required of the executive officer. This meant that I had to coordinate with the other vessels in trying to see if we all had the necessary parts and equipment to facilitate repairs and to note any personnel that had acquitted themselves with honor while fighting the Juggernaut. Now I know why TPel had wanted to be relieved as the Endeavors executive officer, looks like she will be doing even more paperwork as exec on the Federation than I am now. One of the unhappy things I had to do was to formally reprimand an engineering crew who left engineering during the battle. I was forced to place a letter of reprimand into the file of PO Igor Datsyuk for deserting engineering when not ordered to do so. His crew got a severe tongue lashing from me but they all said that PO Datsyuk had ordered them to leave with them. As it is he takes the blame. The nature of bad news infects the teller.
Stardate 6266.7 the ceremony on board the USS Federation was brief but stirring. I will always remember that Admiral Kirk was the one to pin the Silver Star on my gold tunic along side the Meritorious Service Medal that was pinned there. Captain Storm and Commander TPel also received Silver Stars and Lt Piercy received a Bronze Star. The other rumor was that Edmonda was in line for promotion to Lt Commander. There were also many members from the other vessels that received medals and even Staff Sgt Smith received a commendation for his efforts. All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
Silver Star Medal Serious Wound Badge
We were then given our orders to back track the trail of the Juggernaut and give relief and aid to any Federation personnel that we came across. Admiral Kirk also ordered the destroyers USS Tyr and USS Hamilcar to accompany us with Captain Storm in command of the task force. I was also able to use my free time to get more information about my enemy Zoltan. I think I have narrowed it down to when I was on the Ptolemy and was attacked by the Orion pirate. It seems that incident disrupted shipping and travel for a time along that favored route. It looks like I pissed off a lot of people when this happened. Maybe I will have to start talking with some of my friends and see if they can help in finding out more for me. I think a classmate from the Academy might be able to help me. I think I will try to contact her. Delays have dangerous ends.
Stardate 6267.0 we were now back tracking the faint ion trail when Quick started receiving a distress call from the CV Europa. The signal was repeating in an endless loop so we moved to maximum warp in order to get to the vessel in time. The Tyr and Hamilcar were to continue going deeper towards Klingon space investigating further. We came out of warp to find a cargo vessel dead in space leaking coolant and radiation. We could only find one life sign on board and it appeared to be human. We tried to get a lock for transport but were unable to due to the radiation.
Stardate 6268.7 The Captain then ordered me to assemble an away team and investigate further. I took Piercy and Edmonda along with Dr TLoc and Whitedeer and two medical technicians. We boarded a shuttle and launched from the shuttle bay and slowly approached the Europa. I managed to get close enough to check out the ship and it appeared that the master was not going to last long. Piercy said that he might be able to hook on a power cable from the shuttle to get power restored to at least the life support systems. I ordered everyone into vac suits so that Piercy could head out into space to do his thing. It took him only a few minutes to rig up something that worked. This guy seems to know his stuff when it comes to mechanics and engineering. He managed to get life support up and running and even made it oxygen rich for the air flow and it quickly revived the master. He managed to tell us where the docking hatch was and we managed to board the vessel. He was very ill and the doctor managed to bring him on board while Piercy was doing something to vent the engines to purge them of the radiation as the Captain would not let us bring it aboard while it was a danger to the crew. We left him outside when the doctor ordered me to return to the ship immediately as we couldnt beam him on. We left Piercy still outside and he was then beamed onto Endeavor with the transporter.
Stardate
6268.9 we rendezvoused with USS Nelson NCC-546, who transported eleven
personnel, one officer Lt William Hannah Eng, and ten marines, Sec. to us and
continued on its way. The Europa was then
brought into the shuttle bay by the tractor beam. As they were unloading him
from the shuttle, the doctor was running some tests with her equipment. What
ever they found alarmed both of the women. Whitedeer said something about
viruses and yelled
Red Alert. The Captain instantly went to
Red Alert and was asking what the hell was going on in the shuttle bay. Whitedeer said
something about some serious anomalies in this patients
medical scan. She said something about possible air borne contaminants and the
Captain ordered that all decks be sealed off and shuttle bay be totally
sealed. I am lucky that I was just landing the shuttle when the doors started
closing on me. I managed to land amongst all the noise of
Red Alert. We were lucky that none of
us had removed our helmets yet as we started to get out of the shuttle. The next thing we had
to figure out was how to get the patient to sick bay. We finally had to stuff
him into a vac suit and seal it in order for the Captain to allow stand down
of
Red Alert. While this was happening, I was investigating the ship along
with Piercy and Edmonda. When the patient was in the vac suit we were able to
vent the shuttle bay to vacuum as we were all suited up. After the shuttle bay
was restored to pressure, we were able to remove our suits and started to
investigate this curious vessel. Most of the vessel was one large cargo hold.
Underneath the helm of the ship I found another cargo hold. This one was much
smaller than the other one and had been very hard to detect. It appeared that
the helm and lower cargo hold were surrounded by a crystal lattice work of
some sort of shielding. Upon first glance, this
ship was a pig sty. The smell was none too good even with life support back on
line. We were finding piles of empty ration bars and garbage from this guy
living on the ship alone. It looked like he had been drifting for quite some
time from the look of things. Edmonda was having no luck with the computer
logs and when I took a look the only strange about it was that this ship
should not be in the location it now was. The log had it a few light years
away for this Stardate. The lower hold contained three crates that had weird
crystalline stuff in them. My tricorder could not make any sense out of what
it was seeing. I ended up putting the scans into the computer and Quick said
that the language on the crates was Tholian. Strange?
Double,
double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.
It got more interesting
when Piercy showed me some crystalline disks that appeared to be some sort of
data disk. It had been a few hours and the Captain now wanted to know what I
had found. I told him what had come about from our investigations and he told
us to finish up for the night and continue further in the morning. I then
ordered Diego to post a security team to the shuttle bay. When they arrived I
then ordered them to prevent anyone from entering the shuttle bay unless they
were so ordered by me or the Captain with written orders to do so otherwise.
They went Yes
Sir!
And I proceeded to leave the area. When the master of the
vessel was finally was coherent enough to talk, he told us his name was Leon
Napo, Master of the CV Europa. He was very evasive in his answers and finally
demanded to speak with legal counsel. As we are a Federation vessel, the
Captain had to agree to his request. He was given access to a radio and Quick
was ordered to contact whoever Mr Napo desired. It was a few hours later when
the Captain received a demand from a Legal Services Officer that he release Mr
Napo at once and that his ship be returned to him intact with nothing missing
or the Captain would be put up on charges. As this woman
identified herself as Coleen Phoenix, Legal Services Officer & Dock Master of
Starbase 10; Superintendent Merchant Fleet Federation South-Western Sectors
UFP/ITA Grade 8 (equal to Fleet Captain) we were going to have to release him.
Right now we had the authority of Dr TLoc
on our side in that until she was satisfied that Mr Napo was not a danger to
us or anyone else he would stay in quarantine until further notice. Lets
hope this could be stretched out for a while longer as I still wanted to
investigate the ship further. Now that I was finished with my bridge shift it
was time to put my time to use. I am going to contact my friend from the
Academy, Lt Jg Lucinda Calderon, or as I know her Lucy. We grew up together in
Stardate 6270.9 with the captains knowledge, I now called a meeting for all department heads in order to discuss the situation over about Mr Napo and the CV Europa. After we had discussed what had become known about Mr Napo and the Europa, it was thought that further investigations might be warranted. The doctor was still running tests and had Mr Napo under sedation because of the irrational behaviour exhibited from Mr Napo. At this point the Captain told me that he was going off shift for the next nine hours and his last words to everyone was that he was off shift and I had the conn. At this time Edmonda chose to inform me that the Science department had a piece of the Juggernaut and were trying to analyze it. I asked her where the piece had come from and she wouldnt tell me from whom, just that they had acquired it after the battle. I thought to myself that it must have been one of the engineers who would have had the time and knowledge to do it. I then turned and told the following people to accompany to the shuttle bay, Edmonda, Bill, Quick, Dr TLoc, and Whitedeer. When we arrived I told the security detail at the doors to assemble a security team to accompany us to investigate the ship further. Strong reasons make strong actions. Edmonda and Quick went with me and started looking into the computers and navigational logs. The others started scanning the outside and inside of the vessel and looking into the cargo bays and engineering systems. I guess we spent the good part of six hours going over the ship and found a lot of curious things. For one, Quick managed to crack the code Mr Napo was using in his computer and we found that he had been deep into Klingon and Romulan space. He started his career in Orion space as a free trader. He had worked for the Pharaoh Clan. He was known for taking on cargoes of a dubious nature with no questions asked. The doctor found that the enlarged waste reclamation chamber was much larger than needed for this size of a vessel. In fact the doctor managed to find the remains of Romulan ale inside along with shards of glass. This was the most unkindest cut of all. The three crates were taken off the ship and scanned out on the deck. They contained empty bottles of Romulan ale. We could only pick up traces of the ale in the bottom of the bottles. Strange dont you think? We were just packing up when Whitedeer found some residue leading from the ship out into the hall. It looked like it was from the ship. A valve to the waste reclamation chamber had started leaking from the turbulence suffered when we brought it on board. It looked like someone or thing had stepped into this stuff, left the ship and walked out into the corridor with the tracks leading to the nearest turbo lift. Whitedeer then mentioned something about possible intruder and the security team immediately responded with Red Alert. This soon got the Captain asking me what was going on and I had to respond with a possible intruder alert on the ship. I then ordered all crewmen back to their stations and told the security team to put everything back into the ship and I personally made sure that everything was back where it should be. Out, damned spot! Out, I say. The medical team quickly realized that the residue they had found had come from Piercy the day before when he had tracked the stuff outside the ship after leaving. Red Alert was soon cancelled and we proceeded to figure out the information we had found. Mr Napo was now awake and demanding to get something to eat, demanding for a drink and screaming about calling his lawyer. The Captain finally returned the message to Coleen Phoenix at Starbase 10 about Mr Napos medical condition and the captains concerns about him being contagious with the virus he was carrying. It was unfortunate that during his conversations with the Doctor and Whitedeer that he seemed to infer that we had violated his rights when it seems that we had searched his ship against his will. Whats done cannot be undone.
Stardate 6271.7 I called another staff meeting to get all the facts from the teams as to what they had found. The sensor logs that Quick had pulled up were very strange indeed. Sixty three days ago he had been deep in Romulan space. Thirty three days ago he had stopped at Denev 7. He had found the population dead and dying. It appeared that we would require some ordinance specialists to take a look at the sensor logs to make some sense out of what happened. From what we could figure out, Denev 7 had been attacked by Klingon drones from outside the Denev system entirely. It had been saturation bombing at its finest. With what ever had been in the atmosphere infecting Mr Napo when he arrived for a delivery. That was the contagion that was moving through his system. It appeared similar to the virus we had found at Straven IV. By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. The captain then ordered the staff to rig up some tracking devices to put in the Europa. The four technical people put their heads together and designed two devices to hide inside the Europa. By this time Coleen Phoenix had demanded to speak with Mr Napo privately and got very angry at the Captain. He deflected some of the blame to me, something about his first officer not following his exact orders or something like that. Et tu Brute? Then fall Caesar. So now I have the IFA branch of the UFP mad at the Captain and in part me. What else is new? We have scorched the snake, not killed it.
Stardate 6272.4 now all we are waiting for is the doctors authority to let him go. It appeared that the virus was dormant in Mr Napo. He was a carrier but was not contagious to humans. After he was medically cleared by the Doctor, he was escorted back to his ship. He then asked for an item that had been removed and I was forced to retrieve it for him. It was a navigational aid that was older than I was. Once it was back in his hands he turned and said I could have it as he handed it to me. Once he was shown the improvements, he was told that he was free to go and continue on his current course. He climbed into the Europa and proceeded to leave Endeavor. I was glad to see him go. I thanked him and wished him a safe journey. Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are gone. The bridge then started monitoring the devices installed. Only one of them appeared to be working.
Stardate
6272.6 at this time Quick received a transmission from USS Federation and was
told to standby for a message from Admiral Kirk. It took a few more minutes
until they could contact the USS Essex before Admiral Kirk came on and
commended everyone who had participated with the
Stardate 6273.2 notification from Star Fleet Command of crew evaluations along with promotions of personnel that had shown merit during the battle, also on record was the authority of Star Fleet Command regarding the possible promotion of Lt Zenebe to Lt Commander? The final authority in this matter was the command staff of Endeavor. This being myself and the captain, now we have to have a formal interview with her in order for her to understand what would be happening in the event she is promoted. She had been talking about doing a shift as the officer in charge on the bridge. Brevity is the soul of wit.
Stardate 6273.3 file my report on Juggernaut Battle to the Captain with all new changes to the duty roster noted as filed in both reports. At this time the Captain informed me that we would be holding the interview with Lt Zenebe to confirm her promotion and the possibility of her becoming the 2nd officer in the command structure.
Juggernaut Medal
The interview was held and although Lt Zenebe was put off by some of the questions asked of her she was honest and forthright about her answers. It even looked like she was having a difficult time in not losing her temper when I tried to get some answers from her about her having to work under me as it were. Beauty is a witch, against whose charms faith melteth into blood. The Captain then told me to create a duty roster for the command structure on the bridge revealing that he would be happy to not be included in the standard watch shifts for the bridge. This meant that I needed to find another officer to be in charge during a duty shift as the Captain felt he no longer had to be required to hold a bridge shift at all. He then left the staffing to my discretion and his authority as to who would be in charge. This was fine by me.
Stardate 6273.4 award ceremony held on Deck 8 for all crew involved with the battle of the Juggernaut, we were all presented with the Juggernaut Battle Medal. At this time Lt Zenebe was informed of her promotion to Lt Cmdr, effective immediately. The officers on board this ship are starting to collect some serious hardware and the crew are going to benefit when they start getting promoted off this ship onto others. Why, then the worlds my oyster, which I with sword will open. This may even get me noticed for the possibility of commanding my own vessel very soon. Though I doubt it will be as fine as the Endeavor.
Stardate 6274.5 still back tracking the Juggernaut while I was on watch the ship received an incoming transmission for the Captain. I was directed to send it to him and I did so. A few minutes later the Captain then ordered me to rendezvous with the USS Messier, NCC-3830 and to increase speed when doing so. I ordered the helm to the new heading and speed of Warp Five. Helm changed course and speed. I then sat there for a few minutes wondering what was going on. The Captain arrived on the bridge after awhile and when I asked what was going on, he just looked at me and said orders. I resumed my station at helm while the Captain sat in his chair while we continued on.
Stardate
6274.9 we arrived at the rendezvous point and proceeded to wait as the Messier
was not there yet. Suddenly Edmonda picked up a ship on sensors. She informed
the Captain that the Messier had arrived and he then left the bridge heading
for the transporter. While he was gone, Edmonda looked up at me and said that
I should come over here and see what she had just scanned. I was very
intrigued as to the sensor readings. We noticed a transporter signal coming on
board. It was taking Edmonda a
lot longer to get readings of this ship. We then realized that the light
pattern and coloration of the ship were not Federation standard. In fact the
engines were giving off a warp signature that Edmonda swore was Klingon. We had collected quite
a bit of data on this unique craft when we sensed a transporter signal going
over to the Messier. Moments later the Captain appeared on the bridge. I
caught his eye and had him come over to the science station to show him what
we had analyzed. He looked at it for a few seconds and then told us to delete
all records and data on this craft. Edmonda looked shocked and said,
But
Sir. The Captain then said,
Thats
an order.
She looked at him and said,
Yes
Sir.
Then she proceeded to delete all the data that pertained to the Messier. The
Captain then turned to me and ordered me to return Endeavor to the last known
co-ordinates of the Juggernaut trail and to resume scouting the back trail. He
then mentioned that Lt Hannah was on official leave at this time.
He then turned and told me that I had the bridge as he left. This was
getting stranger by the minute. Moments later Edmonda left the bridge.
Something
is rotten in the state of
Stardate 6275.4 we arrived on station following the Juggernaut trail and continued with our sensor sweeps. It was now time for shift change. Lt Cmdr Zenebe then returned to the bridge and relieved me of the watch. I left the bridge and headed to my quarters. I was too frustrated to sleep so I decided to head to the gym and work out some of my frustrations before I retired for the night.
Stardate 6288.4 we were still patrolling the trail when we picked up a signal from a shuttle that contained Lt Hannah and five other people. He requested that we pick them up and the Captain told me to do so. I then asked Bill if he had enjoyed his vacation time. He just looked at me and said very funny. The nature of bad news infects the teller. He also instructed Quick to contact the Messier and inform them that we now had the crew. He then left the bridge heading to the shuttle bay. Edmonda was scanning the shuttle and told me that this shuttle was just as weird as the Messier. I ordered her to stop all scans of the shuttle.
Stardate 6288.5 the shuttle landing in the shuttle bay and then Quick then had a reply from the Messier. He was ordered to put it through to the Captain. Moments later he ordered me to change course and rendezvous with the Messier again. He then said that the shuttle bay was now under quarantine and I detailed a security team to the shuttle bay. I then had the ship change course and speed.
Stardate 6288.6 Edmonda then informed me that a ship was now shadowing us from the neutral zone. It appeared that it had come from Klingon space and was now on an intercept course. I asked her how long it would take for the ship to enter Federation space and she said at current course and speed about five hours. I ordered shields up as a precaution and Edmonda convinced me that we should go to at least Yellow Alert. After a moment I thought that was a good idea and ordered it. Moments later I had the Captain asking me what was going on. I informed him that we had pick up a Class One Klingon Star ship on sensors that was now in the neutral zone and following us. He said that he would be there right away. He arrived on the bridge a few moments later and asked what was going on. Edmonda then showed him the sensor reading and he ordered us to increase speed to Warp Six. We did so and the other ship also appeared to pick up speed. Quick then informed the Captain that the ship was sending a signal back to Klingon space. All he could get was the carrier wave and it was almost static. The Captain then ordered a course correction to more inside Federation space and the other ship then continued on its previous course. Moments later the Messier contacted us and a Commander from the Security Branch appeared on the view screen. He introduced himself as Commander Wenlo Hij. Captain Storm then basically told this gentleman to come on board as he wanted to have a discussion with him. The Commander agreed to and the Captain then left the bridge. Edmonda then told me that the other ship had stopped while still in the neutral zone and was now turned around and was heading back to Klingon space. Quick then informed me that a person had just transported over. We now waited for whatever was to come next.
Stardate 6289.2 after having his discussion with the Star Fleet commander, the Captain then informed me that Lt William Hannah was being transferred to waste reclamation on deck 23. His new superior officer would be PO Diego Morales. There were three crew members in his section. Lt Hannah would be doing double shifts as his new assistant until further notice. This transfer was duly noticed in the ships log by order of the Captain. The Captain then informed me that we had taken on a passenger of interest. He then told me that Mr Leon Napo was a guest until we could rendezvous with a supply vessel and get rid of him. I hope that I dont have the misfortune of having to talk with him at all. Well said: that was laid on with a trowel. I was also putting the finishing touches on the current duty roster. I found myself pulling two shifts, the first as helmsman and then as the bridge commander. I think now is the time to talk with the Captain about holding an in-ship production of the great bard. I think Hamlet would be a good idea. All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.
Stardate 6296.0 it has now been a week of double shifting and I think I am getting enough sleep. All I know is that the administration involved with the smooth running operation of a Class One Star ship takes a lot to get used too. All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players. I discreetly inquired to our chief engineer Lt Piercy about Lt Hannah. He told me that he seemed to be holding up but time will tell. Mr Napo was thankfully dropped off without any incidents. The funny was is that he was doing a lot of talking to people. His inquiries were about Lt Lancer who was back on Starbase 12 and me. Very curious indeed, he also was trying to find out what had happened to that small navigational device he had given me.
Stardate 6304.1 after two weeks, Lt Hannah finally was forced to go to sick-bay. Afterwards I had Dr TLoc send me a formal message asking that Lt Hannah be relived of some of his double shifts. I said that I would bring it up to the Captain. I also bucked up one of my helmsman to take my first shift as helmsman. Being a bridge commander was enough. Though I think Kasi is more than ready for the prime bridge shift as helmsman. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. The other bridge commanders were Lt Cmdr Zenebe and after some thought; Lt Diego agreed to man the third watch as the duty officer. The message from the Captain was to relive Lt Hannah of one of his double shifts once a week. I relayed this message to the Doctor and to Lt Hannah. I have started putting something together involving Hamlet and some of the young engineers have already volunteered. Two of them are from waste reclamation. I was also trying to put some time in solving the mystery of Zoltan. This problem is not going to go away and I am going to have to do something about it soon.
Stardate 6319.4 There was a group of us in the hanger deck including a bunch of the engineers, discussing the idea of using the tractor beam to move the sets around when there was a message over the intercom for one of the engineering crewman to attend Deck 23. Moments later I heard the call for a medical team to Deck 23 for an emergency. I decided that I should investigate this further and dismissed the group. It took a few moments for them to disperse and I then went down to Deck 23. The first thing I saw when the turbo-lift opened was Lt Hannah on a stretcher and the medical team preparing to take him to sick-bay. Alas, poor Hannah, I knew him, Horatio a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Standing behind the medical team were the Chief Engineer and the PO2 Morales, along with some other crewmembers. The crewman immediately came to attention and announced, Officer on Deck. The remainder of the people that were there came to attention as I asked the crewman what had happened and Mr Morales stated that Lt Hannah had collapsed onto the ground and fell unconscious. I allowed the team to remove Lt Hannah as I continued watching. After they had gone, PO Morales turned to me and said that it couldnt continue with him pulling double shifts. I said that I would bring it up with the Captain and privately thought that poor Bill had suffered enough for whatever transgression he had done. By this time I had also received my new security clearance from Star Fleet Command, so now I was cleared the same as the Captain. I had successfully argued with the Captain that as the Executive Officer on board, I needed to know the information he was getting so at least he could talk to me about it.
Stardate 6326.2 I attended sick-bay when it was time for Lt William Hannah to be released and returned to active duty. The Captain had relented in his punishment of a sort, when he agreed to reduce him to one shift a day for the duration of his exile. I walked into sick-bay just in time to see PO Morales signing off the paperwork to remove him from medical leave. I informed Lt Hannah that he was still in waste reclamation until further notice and that he was now working only one shift a day. I stopped PO Morales and told him to find the dirtiest jobs for the Lt to do. Any extra work or shifts were his responsibility to take. I then dismissed him and the Doctor, who was also the ships Dentist smugly informed me that I was getting late for my annual check up. Seeing as I was already there, I sat down on the chair and let him do his thing. This only took a few moments and I was free to go with no oral or dental problems of any sort. Small things make base men proud.
Stardate 6340.1 we are now en route to Battle Station K5 for some major work to the warp engines. Something about swapping out the dilithium crystals in the engines. This is estimated to take at least a week so the Captain will be allowing shore leave on the station while we are there. I have now taken the time to get to know the people that are serving with me on a daily basis. Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust. At the helm is Kasi Singh, she has just been promoted to Lt Jg and I know that she certainly deserved it. Sitting beside her at navigation is our newly promoted Lt Walter Berkeley who is now the Chief Navigation Officer. At the science station is Edmondas executive officer for science, Lt Kilbert Calloway. He seems to know what he is doing. At the communications station is Lt Jg Willard Wattenberg. This is another fine young officer who is newly promoted. At the engineering station is Lt Jg Marie Black. She is a no nonsense kind of girl. I could really like her if our situation was different. The security station keeps rotating officers by order of the Captain. I was sitting there in the Chair reading through the latest dispatches from Star Fleet. One of them caught my eye. It was the disappearance of the USS Galilei, NCC-3808. She had been towing a Star-liner pod full of trade delegates and diplomats. The tug had disappeared along with her police corvette escort. I looked up the co-ordinates and it was quite a ways from Orion space but you never know. I filed it away for further reference in case something comes up. I am also doing more studying about my enemy Zoltan. I think I have it narrowed down to five possible candidates. These people were all in the area when I had the encounter with the Orion pirates while on board the Ptolemy. They are as follows. The first is known as Zoltan the Magnificent, real name of Mervin Alfred Puodzius. He is a magician and stage performer. It seems that he missed a performance due to the disruption in the shipping at the time. The second is Zoltan Thrav. He is a merchant captain who missed an important deadline for a shipment and was outcast from his family in shame. He is also a Rigellian. The third is Albert James Zoltan, an Ensign with Star Fleet who never liked me and the feeling is mutual. He was known as a nasty prankster and is right now piloting a tug in the sector where I was last year. The fourth is Hamish Zoltan. He was a wanted felon who was captured during my incident. He is a rather nasty sort of fellow. The last one is Hiithu Zoltan, an Andorian whose ship was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he had it confiscated by the UFP/ITA.
Who steals my purse steals trash; tis something, nothing; Twas mine, tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.
Stardate 6345.8 we have arrived at Battle Station K5 for repairs. The Captain is allowing shore leave for all personnel not required for repairs. This means that everyone except for the engineers will be allowed some time off. I will have to see if I get enough time off to get off the ship for a while.
Stardate
6349.2 repairs are proceeding as planned. The dorsal section has finally been
finished while the engines were being worked on. We have also lost our newest
chief engineer Lt Piercy. I had to get the story from Edmonda about the
situation. I found out that he had managed to beam a piece of the Juggernaut
onto the ship during the battle we had been in. Somehow word got out that he
had it and it came to attention of Star Fleet Command. Orders came in
transferring him to Star Fleet Intelligence with his piece of equipment for
further study. Now we have another
chief engineer and that is Lt Aluienn.
He has just been promoted to Lt. He had been
Stardate
6353.1 while I was on the bridge, we received a Priority One message from Star
Fleet Command. I ordered it sent to the Captain who was currently in his
quarters. A few moments later he requested my presence in his briefing room. I
arrived at the briefing room about a minute later to find him in conversation
with Admiral Cartwright of Star Fleet Command, Head Quarters in
Stardate 6353.2 we are now en route to the colony. It is expected to take five days to get there.
Stardate 6357.5 ordered by the Captain to hold a senior officers briefing for all personnel that would be involved with the following mission. Organize the number of crewmen going down to the facility. I had thoughts of putting Lt Diego in command of the mission and quickly realized that the scope of this investigation was more than he should handle and I put myself in command of the mission. The Captain concurred and it was decided to leave Lt Cmdr Zenebe in charge of the ship when we arrived. In such business action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant more learned than ears.
Stardate 6358.3 at this time the science station announced that multiple ships were departing colony Moralez. They started taking readings and came up with 32 different warp signatures departing in all directions. We are still a few hours away. Engineering is finalizing the teams to send down along with the security escort. At least I can sneak the security detail down as engineers. I also had to deal with Edmonda wanting to send down some survey teams to the surface. The Captain had approved her request for the survey, seeing as it was a Class K environment. This was going to give her teams some much needed experience in dealing with this type of environment.
Stardate 6358.5 arrive at independent colony Moralez. I get the feeling that they are not happy to see us. Captain Storm and Lt Diego along with a security team beam down to the surface. I start getting everything ready. All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
Stardate 6358.8 Captain Storm contacts the ship and gives us permission to inspection the lithium cracking facility along with the science teams investigation. I send down the nine teams required for the inspection and then head down to the planet. I was met at the main dome by Quick and he told me that he was to take me to the Captain. We were proceeding there when I was contacted by Edmonda about a problem in dome three. Lt Hannah was being denied access by four workers there. I proceeded to get there after a few minutes and the situation rapidly escalated and shots were fired. I chased one of the men into the grav tube and was forced to stun him with my phaser. I then returned to the dome to find the other three workers in custody. We also recovered what appeared to be a data crystal from a Federation ship. How quickly nature falls into revolt when gold becomes her object. Quick then attempted to open the door but was denied. Looking at the door we realized that it was reinforced with some heavy steel and the only way we were going to open it was by cutting it with a Type I phaser. I ordered the four men we had arrested to be taken back to the ship and a support team to beam down to assist Lt Hannah in opening the door. I then proceeded to return to the main dome where we then travelled to the habitat dome to meet with the Captain and Administrator Rongo. Quick and I finally arrived at the main dome. We opened up the doors to the site to be surrounded by dancing girls and the sounds of music. I looked for the captain and spotted him off in the distance. As I started walking across the floor I was intercepted by a beautiful woman who took my hand and proceeded to dance with me. O shame where is thy blush? I was then surprised to find the woman handing me something very carefully. It was a small data crystal. I think I managed to hide it but Quick was not so lucky. One of the other girls had done the same thing but was spotted by one of the guards. He didnt seem very happy. Quick then came up to me and handed me what he had just received. I told him to sniff around and see if he could pick up something. He said he would and he then headed for the exit. The next few hours seemed to drag on. I had a quick check in with the security detail that was here, the four of them were on guard. We were soon joined by Dr TLoc, Lt. Jg Whitedeer and Lt Chantrelle the ships dentist. They were all in dress uniform. Also there were some of the colonists and others, including a one armed doctor. We soon settled down for dinner. Our host started acting peculiarly strange. He seemed to be talking to himself if not actually arguing. Soon after this I felt an explosion happen off in the distance. The next thing I knew, my communicator was going off. When I answered, Edmonda managed to tell me that there was a massive fleet of Orion ships inbounds and that Endeavor was leaving. Then all I got was static.
Moments later the doors burst open and a bunch of men ran into the room and pointed disruptor rifles at us. I looked to the Captain and realized that he was looking a little flushed. The mercenarys came up and forced us up against the wall. The Captain said to do what they wanted. Soon we were all relieved of our equipment, including Dr TLocs and Rinocos. They started protesting strenuously to Rongo about their treatment. I was standing there trying to figure out what to do next. Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are gone. By now the Captain was starting to look ill. I then remembered that he suffered from a rare virus and had to be inoculated once a day to prevent it from affecting him. Dr TLoc was asking for her bag back so she could help the Captain. Rinoco was now hounding the poor man. She just wouldnt shut up about getting the hypo-spray and medication for the Captain. Rongo was now acting very strange. I mean really strange. He kind of jumped when one of the guards mentioned that Nox was coming. I quickly gathered that Nox was the guy in charge of the mercenaries. In fact looking at them, I could see that some of them appeared to be Orion. A short time later we heard the sound of the entrance doors opening. A man dressed in black followed by two other was seen approaching. It was amazing in how all of the guards turned to look at him. I sprang into action at the same time as the four red shirts. One of our dinner guests, a slender woman also contributed to the fight. The fire fight lasted only seconds. When it was over, three of the security details were now dead and the last one was unconscious. I had unfortunately struck the woman with a blast from a disrupter rifle that I had wrestled away from a guard. My shot at the guard missed and struck her instead. I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
I also was witness to
one of the guards firing through the smoke and debris and striking the
Captain. He had just started to stand up when he was hit and knocked down.
Rinoco turned and saw this and just freaked.
Come
not between the dragon and her wrath.
We managed
to get the medical kits back along with the rest of our equipment. I then put
Nox and the other two men under guard. In the confusion it seems that Rongo
had run away. I then asked the people there if there was a medically facility
here. They directed us to the left and we headed there. I then used my
communicator to contact any other Endeavor personnel. Lt Diego was the only
one to answer me. He told me that most of our inspection teams were dead as
the Orions
had used the ships to bombard parts of the planet. He also told me that the
Orions
had been using the communicator signal to find us.
The
nature of bad news infects the teller.
I told him where we were and to rendezvous with us as soon as possible. He
agreed and I continued following the others. We managed to get to
the med-bay and put the Captain on the table. He was barely alive, how the
disrupter didnt
kill him I will never know. I
am dying,
In front of us were Captain Sloan, a large man with a bald head and multiple guards. We were forced to give up the disruptor rifles and the other Orion gear but allowed to keep our own. He seemed quite upset to find out that his lucky charm the woman who had sacrificed herself earlier was dead. I managed to blame Nox and he didnt look very happy when Captain Sloan looked at him. He then ordered all of his crew over to him and proceeded to tell his ship to energize. It was at that point that the ship said something about not being able to lower shields as they were in a fight with some Federation ships. I smiled to myself and was hopeful that they could do some serious damage before they fled. Men of few words are the best men. A few moments later Captain Sloan and his party were gone. I then got on the communicator with Quick and told him where we were. I then contacted Endeavor and ordered them to beam us on board as soon as possible and to have a trauma team waiting at the transporter.
Stardate 6359.9 I waited for all the remaining crew to be beamed aboard before I allowed myself to beam up. I then immediately went to the bridge and asked for a report from Edmonda. She told me that the Orions had fled but not before they had damaged Captain Sloans flagship, the Violet Valkrie. Damage report as follows, we lost one science person, fifty-one engineers and nineteen security guards. All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity. During the space battle, the USS Hamilcar was destroyed. Endeavor lost a torpedo tube along with some of the science bulkhead along with the number one shield. Endeavor had managed to rescue ninety personnel from the ship. Sadly the commander and first officer were killed and we had recovered ten command, twenty science and medical, and fifty engineers and communications people along with ten security personnel. Looks like I am going to be making some serious roster changes. All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Also noted in the ships log at this time was the recommendation from Dr TLoc on the promotion to full Lt for Rinoco. I confirmed this pending Star Fleets final approval.
Stardate
6360.1 contacted by USS Yorktown, I am ordered to attend a briefing with
Captain Merrin Hunter. I attended and met her in the main briefing room. It
was decided to transfer Captain Storm on board along with Lt Whitedeer and Lt
Ulrich Jacobs MD, one of our doctors. They were now going to transfer him to
Shresha-Cygnus, a Federation World. This was expected to take two weeks.
Captain Hunter also said that she was tempted to promote her first officer to
commander and put him in charge of Endeavor but she decided that she had too
much respect for Captain Storm to do so. She then gave me a stern talking too
about commanding a star ship and dismissed me back to Endeavor.
Uneasy
lies the head that wears the crown.
I returned to find the
Captain and the other two transferring over to the
Stardate 6360.4 the Captains yeoman, Ensign Caron now brought to my attention a small problem that had popped up. It seemed that Quick had gone into the transporter station and ordered the crewman on duty to leave. Saying something about only senior staff needing to be aware of what he was doing. My next duty is clear; Edmonda is going to become the acting first officer. I dont have anyone else that I can trust to be honest enough. I then think that Lt Walter Berkeley will be slotted in as the acting second officer, he definitely has the seniority. I then contacted Edmonda and asked her to come see me in the briefing room. When she arrived I got right to the point and asked her to become the acting first officer. She came right to the point and said yes. I then gave her the file that Ensign Caron had given me and told her to take care of it. I also wanted an away team put together to continue with the investigation. It was decided to put Edmondas assistant Lt Calloway in charge with a cadre of officers to assist him. She also agreed to Walter being the acting second officer. Glory is like a circle in the water, which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, till by broad spreading it disperse to nought.
Stardate 6360.5 Lt Calloway beams down with a staff of twelve to assist him. Almost immediately he has problems dealing with the colonists on the surface. They are almost harassing him. One of my orders was to bring them all up to sick-bay and have Dr TLoc check them for any problems. It seems that some of them dont want to leave. Dr TLoc then agrees to go down to them. The scope has widened enough now that a senior officer should go down there to oversee things. Edmonda saved me the trouble of asking her by volunteering to go down and deal with the colonists.
Stardate 6360.6 Edmonda comes to see me about Quick; after giving me her recommendation about the incident she leaves to attend the colony. Quick had confessed to using the transporter to beam up some rocks and gemstones. They were not that valuable and I couldnt figure out why he had done it. At this time I removed him from bridge watch command status and reassigned him to my watch on the Comm Station. He is also confined to quarters when he is not on the bridge until further notice. He will still need to be punished more but I will have to wait and see what happens down below, I think his talents might be needed down there so I will wait for now.
Stardate 6360.7 Edmonda beams down and soon the fun begins; it seemed that she had some serious problems with two males, one of them a Tellarite named Trutchlip and the other Herwig, the new administrator. They were not too happy to see us still there and let Edmonda know about it. She quickly lost her temper and arrested both of the individuals for interfering in a Star Fleet investigation. She had them beamed up before I knew what was happening.
Stardate 6360.8 this was not going well for Edmonda; I dont think she realized how damaging this could be for her career to be treating two independent citizens the way that she was. Oh well, I guess that she will have to live with it. This just means that I will have to produce a very good reason to detain them for the record. I think I will go have a chat with them and see if I can make them see reason. If so! Then I will release them tomorrow as long as they promise not to antagonize Edmonda later. The first thing we do, lets kill all the lawyers. Lt Calloway then calls up to the ship and asks for another duty team to be sent down and start excavating the debris below the habitat facility. There are signs of extensive tunnels underneath the dome. It looks like the Orions tried to destroy what was down there but were unsuccessful. Permission is granted for a second team to go down to start work. Included in the team are some of the scientists that had been aboard the Hamilcar. I was glad to put them to some use.
Stardate 6361.4 Edmonda formally asks for the help of Quick on the surface. He is needed to get into the programs that the Orions had encrypted in the computers. He is sent down with a security detail of two men with him at all times.
Stardate 6363.6 Lt Carla Davis, one of the Hamilcars officers and now at the science station on my watch, reports that an explosion has just gone off where the recovery crew is digging. By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Lt Jg Wattenberg then tries to contact the team down there and is unable to do so. I then order him to contact any personnel down there to assist in the damage control. We were lucky in that Dr TLoc was on the surface dealing with some of the colonists at the time. When she headed to the site she was shot at by an Orion that had been at large. She then shot back and forced him to flee. When I was notified about it I immediately tasked a security team to locate and apprehend the individual. They followed him outside the dome where he disappeared from sensors. Next we picked up the trail of a vehicle that was now headed towards the cracking facility. A security team was sent there to await his arrival. When the machine arrived they found it empty, looks like he has got away for now.
Stardate 6363.8 by now we had regained contact with the away team. Lt Calloway reported that the tunnel had been collapsed above them and at this time three personnel had been killed. These were Lt Jg Donald Wallis, science from the Hamilcar and crewman Gerry Ambrose, science along with PO Billy Renswick, medical technician. To weep is to make less the depth of grief. Damn thats more people killed here at Moralez. The Orions will have a lot to answer for when they are finally brought to justice.
Stardate 6377.8 it took until now to finally clear out all of the debris and get to the first set of reinforced doors. When they were finally opened we found 400 drone racks; one hundred were Klingon, two hundred were Federation and one hundred were empty. This was quite a surprise seeing the stockpile of weapons here. It looks like the Orions might have been planning something nasty and we managed to interrupt them. Good thing too. We have scorched the snake, not killed it.
Stardate 6381.9 Ask Lt Jg Willard Wattenberg to contact Starbase 16 and ask for Commander Willard, Vice Admiral Nelsons chief of staff. He finally responded and I informed him of the drone find. He was a little bit worried to find that amount of weapons here and ordered us to continue investigating. I then told him that we would inform him of any new developments while waiting for the task force to arrive.
Stardate 6386.8 the next discovery was on level three and that was a medical laboratory that had been used to experiment on humans. Here the team found the majority of crew members from the USS-Galilei. It appeared that all of the bodies had been operated on and some of them had already been destroyed. It took Quick awhile to break into the computers here and download the files. In it we found the complete crew roster of the Galilei. Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound upon a wheel of fire; that mine own tears do scald like molten lead.
Stardate 6388.1 a recovery team is sent to the current mine to recover all the bodies that were there. These were then confirmed as members of the Galilei. It looks like most of the bodies have been recovered, all except the Captain and first officer.
Stardate 6390.5 contact Commander Willard at Starbase 16 and inform him of the recovery of most of the Galilei crew. He is saddened by the news and asks us to continue the investigation. He then confirmed that Commodore Trudeau was en-route and was expected to arrive on time. We were requested to send along the reports on our investigation. I then ordered Lt Jg Wattenberg to do so.
Stardate 6392.4 informed by Dr TLoc that one of the colonists wishes to speak to her privately about what he knows about the Orions. His name is Thiemo and I informed the Dr that I would like to sit in on the conversation. She agreed and I met with the two of them in the main briefing room. He was a little surprised to see me but agreed to talk after he learned that all I wanted was information about the Orions. He really didnt say much except that they had arrived about nine months ago and had taken over the mine and cracking facility and had restricted some access to the habitat facility. They hadnt seen much else, they werent allowed to.
Stardate 6395.7 Willard reports a beam up from the surface from one of the security detail to transporter pad 2. The next thing we knew, weapons fire was reported from that section and moments later an explosion was recorded. I ordered the ship to Red Alert and dispatched a security team to the transporter room. They got there moments after a disruptor had overloaded and destroyed transporter pad two. The next thing we knew the subject was reported in Engineering and the security team managed to get him before he could sabotage anything in engineering. I never even got a chance to interrogate him as he had taken some sort of poison and died moments after being taken into custody. The only good thing is that it was the Orion that had been wandering around on the planet. It looks like he managed to overcome the guard on the planet and forced him to call up to the ship for a beam up. When they materialized, the Orion then shot Team Sgt Nordberg Larsson and the transporter tech PO Miguel Mara Donna to death. He then tossed his overloaded weapon onto the pad and had run to Engineering. More deaths involving the Orions, this is getting depressing. Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Stardate 6397.1 the cracking facility was now investigated and thats when Edmonda found a hidden door outside the facility. When they finally got inside they found some hidden chambers where the renegade Orion had been living. They also found the body of Rongo stuffed inside a locker. It appeared that he had been scalped and evidence of metallic treads was found in his scalp. Dr TLoc then performed an autopsy on the body and found that he had been the subject of mind control using something that had been created almost a century before. In fact she had never come across this technology as it had been banned from the Federation. The last bit of good news was from Quick, he had managed to find the last known location of the star-liner pod that was missing. It was in Sector 2710B. At least we now knew were to look for it. Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.
Stardate 6429.1 finally contacted by Commodore Trudeau, they are on schedule to arrive on time. I make him aware of all of our findings and we await his arrival.
Stardate 6440.1 we are contacted by Commodore Trudeau, ordered to investigate the last known location of the USS Galilei, inside a nebula and report back outside and meet at Stardate 6444.6; when we are done. Orders understood and we proceeded to the location.
Stardate 6441.2 we entered the nebula; it was rough going even with shields at minimum settings. We proceeded at impulse the trip there was fairly rocky with the ship shuddering occasionally until Stardate 6441.6; when helm announced they had found the remains of the USS Galilei lying adrift and empty.
Stardate 6441.9 it was agreed to send an away team consisting of myself along with Dr TLoc, Lt Diego, Lt Hannah, Lt Jg Chu from medical and Ensign Newsome from Engineering. Once we got on board the ship we realized that it didnt have long to last. It was starting to tilt back and forth and atmospheric controls were almost gone along with the batteries appearing dead. We found the remains of the commander and first officer on the bridge but no other life signs. Endeavor was having a problem with the transporter signal, something about an unusual wave form and Diego ended up using a phaser battery to engage the back up systems in the transporter room. Endeavor then said they had the signal. I could feel myself breaking apart in the transporter stream just as the bulkheads started drifting apart around us.
The following log entry has been classified Security Clearance Black by order of Star Fleet Command and removed from log
Security clearance ends
Stardate 6442.9 the next instant we were standing on the platform and in front of us were PO Dezba and two young security Ensigns with phasers who were none too steady holding on to them. I stepped down off the transporter as I handed the startled ensign my phaser. I then looked right at Dezba and asked her bluntly for a report on the condition of My Ship. I heard one of the ensigns saying thank god as they realized that we had returned. Turning to look behind me, I could see Ensign Newsome down on his knees kissing the deck in gratitude. I think I can over look the lack of weakness this time. The ground that gave them first has them again. Their pleasures here are past, so is their pain. At first the news was not good. Edmonda was in sick-bay and the doctor was required to attend immediately. She then ordered us to follow her so she could do a medical check up on all of us. I first had to find out who was in charge; I guess I wasnt surprised to find out that the current bridge commander was Lt Calloway from the science department. All the other senior officers were dead, injured, or unavailable for duty. I then asked Dezba to accompany me as we headed to sick-bay. It seems that every time I turn around, something is being blown up around the ship. I was getting reports of four major incidents that caused the fatalities. I was shocked to get a total of 117 dead officers and crew while we were in the mirror universe. To weep is to make less the depth of grief. Most of the Security dead are from a false call to the Hangar Deck by Dark Diego who then opened the deck into space and killed them in vacuum, a shuttle is still missing from this incident. The engineering ones are mostly transporter ones killed by the support engineer, Dark Newsome who caused a Dilithium crystal incident that killed many. The Dark Flynn killed the Captain's Yeoman, and did some more damage in ordinance. Dark T'Loc set up a number of very sneaky & deadly experiments that did in many in the medical section, when challenged by Edmonda she was poisoned. Then a large number of the crew were trapped in the secondary hull and gassed. After that Lt. Calloway and PO Dezba took actions of their own to secure the ship and send the Dark 6 back to where they came from. There is some soul of goodness in things evil, would men observingly distill it out.
At this time I am requesting that Lt Calloway and PO Dezba be recognized for their actions during this difficult situation. Both these people showed uncommon bravery in an unusual situation. I suggest a Silver Star for Calloway and a Bronze Star for Dezba. At this time the current roster for USS Endeavor is less than 300 crewmen. I just hope we dont get into combat while waiting for the Commodore; we might be in serious trouble. I am troubled in thinking how these people can be so brutal and barbaric. I dont know how they have managed to survive by back stabbing and killing without a second thought. I think that in hindsight, I have been treating some of my subordinates in much the same way. For slander lives upon succession, for ever housed where it gets possession. At least I havent tried to kill somebody for not agreeing with me. I will have to temper myself and try to show that I can be a leader of men, not just another officer to be hated by his crew. It was soon apparent that Ensign Newsome was having serious medical problems. The Doctor had to put him in an isolation chamber as he started to hallucinate soon after we got to sick bay. I noted with interest that Lt Diego was having some injuries treated, including multiple scratches and what appeared to be a numb arm. Nurse Chu had a broken leg while Hannah and I were OK. Our lost members will have to be remembered by us. Let their deaths not be in vain. I will make sure that all the surviving crew has a chance to pay their respects to our fallen comrades in arms. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Stardate 6443.2 after being released by Dr TLoc, I then proceeded to the bridge and relieved Lt Calloway and told him to get some much needed rest while we started making repairs to the ship. I ordered the recovery of the shuttle and bodies of 30 crewmen found floating around the shuttle. Engineering and Security were in a shambles. It looks like we only have about 35 guards left out of the 90 we are supposed to have. I have a lot of thinking to do, and some promotions to think about. By the looks of the reports, six senior NCOs distinguished themselves enough that I cannot overlook their accomplishments. PO Ripley from Navigation is promoted to Ensign. PO Jones, PO Watson from Helm along with PO Dezba from Ordinance; they are all promoted to (brevet) Lt Jg. Chief of the Boat Sgt Major Gina Ferguson and Mst Sgt William Strongbow are promoted to (brevet) Lt. It will be up to the Commodore to make them official.
Stardate 6443.4 I have notified all the personnel about their promotions and at this time I am getting notification from 12 officers on board of their desire to transfer. Four are Lts and the rest Lt Jgs. I will pass on their requests to the Commodore when he arrives. Good-night, good-night! Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
Stardate
6444.1 we are contacted
by Commodore Trudeau, The USS Lafayette will rendezvous with us. We waited for
the
Stardate 6444.9 all of the crew of Endeavor were assembled on the main deck for the memorial service for our lost crewmen. There were 117 coffins arranged around the room, all of them draped with the UFP flag. At this time the Commodore announced that Commander Cartwright was assuming command of Endeavor. His first act as commanding officer surprised me when he stepped forward and stated for the record that he would officially assume command once the memorial service was complete. O shame, where is thy blush. I think he appreciated all that I had gone through during the last couple of days and was gracious enough to allow me this one final task as the current commanding officer. My eulogy was short and sweet. I had found it very difficult to express my feeling on this matter. It was only my thoughts of Shakespeare that allowed me to do it. The worst is death, and death will have his day.
Stardate 6445.0 Captain (brevet) Cartwright takes official command of USS Endeavor; once he had finished his speech, the Commodore asked for the following people to step forward. These were Lt Calloway, Lt Ferguson, Lt Strongbow, Lt Jg Dezba and I. In such business action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant more learned than ears. Lt Calloway was then awarded a Bronze Star that was classified and a Star Fleet Commendation that was classified. Lt Ferguson was awarded the Bronze Star that was classified and the Command Accomplishment Medal that was classified. Dezba was awarded the Starfleet Commendation for Valor and Commendation for Service for rescuing the ship, these were classified. I was shocked to be awarded the Starfleet Commendation for Valor, this was classified and the Commodore finished by presenting me with my five year Service Medal.
Five Year Medal Commendation for Valor, Classified
Once the rest of the crew were dismissed I was asked to a formal interview with the Commodore and Captain (brevet). They brought up a few matters that were on my record and some comments from some previous subordinates that had served under me. I realized that being callous to my crewmates would become a serious detriment to my continuing career. I had been doing a lot of thinking and soul searching over the last couple of days and I knew I was going to have to temper myself in the future. Who is it that can tell me who I am?
Stardate 6445.4 Commodore Trudeau requests the presence of the six of us that had gone through to the mirror universe. Ensign Newsome is seriously sick and cannot attend. The rest of us do. We are then shown a record of an incident concerning USS Enterprise while under the command of Captain Kirk. It seemed that the same incident had happened to us. The Commodore was quite concerned about the advances that the mirror side had taken in the time between occurrences. The five of us were requested to put down all of our thoughts concerning the rival technology so Star Fleet Command could start formulating some planning. This whole discussion was classified SC Yellow as per my previous order.
Stardate
6447.1 Captain (brevet)
Cartwright then advised me that I would continue as executive officer and that
Edmonda was being relieved of her second officer duties. He also told me to
call him Richard when we were in private, he didnt
hold much to formalities when there was no superior officer present. He then
told me to prepare for formal interviews with all the officers on board over
the next couple days. He then asked me to help with the removal of Captain
Storms
personal effects from the captains
quarters. We also arranged for the personal effects from all of the dead crew
to be organized and prepared for transit home once we arrived at
Shresha-Cygnus.
Now
is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of
Stardate
6455.0 formal interviews begin in the captains
office. Richard had arranged the room sparingly. On his desk were an antique
laser pistol and the Star Fleet technical manual. Prominent on the desk was
the USS Endeavor plaque with the Juggernaut citation on it, along with the
other citations from before my time. In talking with him, he appeared a little
bit envious about that battle. First up was Edmonda.
Richard handed me a data file to read just before Edmonda arrived. I was
shocked to see that morale in the science department was at an all time low.
It seemed that Edmonda was being somewhat abusive to any male in the science
section. The three reports that stood out were from her yeoman and two petty
officers. One of them was Tony MacIsaac, a Bronze Star recipient. Thinking
about it I should have realized that she didnt
like men and it appeared that she was taking out her frustrations on them. Her
problem appeared to be her chauvinistic Alpha Centauran values in dealing with
any male. Edmonda entered the
office and was asked to sit down. I was sitting behind and to the left of the
skipper. The first thing he asked Edmonda was why she seemed to have a problem
dealing with men. He then gave her a copy of the reports to read and she was
rather shocked to read what some of her subordinates thought of her. She then
informed us of the damage done to her office during our latest incident. Her
computer had been wiped clean and all her data disks were now blank. There had
been a rude message scrolled on her screen that said,
Zenebe
is a bitch!
Luckily she had managed to recover all her saved files from the main computer.
Brevity
is the soul of wit.
The skipper then spoke
about the expansion of Star Fleet and the inherent possibilities that it
entailed. This included a report from Vulcan about integrating their
She was to also start getting training manuals and courses ready for the new additions to the science department; this means we were getting three dozen midshipmen and lots of raw recruits at Shresha-Cygnus. At least we had gotten all of the cadet files from Star Fleet; they had also informed us that we would be getting some local constables and a small contingent of Federation Marshals. This was to augment the new marines arriving into the security branch. I guess with the rumors of the Orions increasing presence in this sector, we will be glad to have the proper authority on board. Next up was Dr TLoc, the skipper was very happy to see a Vulcan of her abilities serving on board. The one area of concern she had was the very recent increase in the request for pharmaceutical assistance from the crew. I guess the incident had left a lot of people with nightmares and problems sleeping. He then told me to start tracking the problem to see if it persisted. The skipper then asked if there was a psychologist on board. Dr TLoc then told us that she was trained in psychology and would start making herself available to the crew in that capacity. Seeing as no one else in the medical dept was qualified I guess it would have to do. The skipper then asked her to start seeing Edmonda for therapy. She agreed to do so. She was then informed about our new crew coming on board and was requested to also put together a training curriculum. Dr TLoc then formally wanted to talk to the skipper about Ensign Newsome, he was not doing well and she asked for permission to use a Vulcan mind meld on him to see if she could recover further information about the other universe. Her medical report on him showed just how barbaric the other side was. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; but this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
Captain (brevet) Cartwright thought for a moment, by now the rumors had started floating around about his condition and how he had got that way. He turned and looked at me and said that he was not comfortable getting involved here and asked me to be present when she performed this meld on him. We then had to classify this procedure so that no one else would even know about it. Thus it was classified at level seven; CLEARANCE ORANGE; even the security guards outside the chamber would leave the room for the duration. Only the three of us would be aware that it happened. She said that she would contact me in a day or two when she was ready to do it. Next was William Hannah. The skipper made a point of standing off to the side of the room looking at the wall when William entered. He asked him to sit down and didnt turn around until he was sitting. He looked hard at him for a moment and then proceeded to sit down. The first thing he did was show Lt Hannah a report from Ensign Newsome that clearly blamed William for all damage done to him by the interrogation squad. I asked him why he hadnt tried to contact me. He replied that he attempted to but was unable to raise me. I think he just said that to make an excuse for his deplorable lack of action in protecting Ensign Newsome. I am falser than vows made in wine. That and I brought up the loss of two engineering squads under his command while on Moralez. Unfortunately his record over the last little while was not good. The glaring reprimand from Captain Storm stood front and centre. Lt Hannah was then given some options, which included him leaving the ship, or being demoted. The unfortunate thing was that since the incident involved was classified, it couldnt be put on his record. Finally the skipper decided that he would get a second chance, after chewing him out and recording it as a verbal reprimand. He was being put in charge of transporter operations of this ship. I sort of raised my eyebrows with that as I personally would have kept him on waste reclamation or worse. He was now told to prepare for his new duties and to be aware of the personnel under his command. His was then dismissed.
Next on the list was Lt Diego, when he entered, I saw that he appeared nervous. This was Quicks first formal meeting with the new Captain. Unfortunately the interview didnt go well. The skipper was not impressed at all with his illegal use of the transporter. He got more information out of him that I knew personally. It seems that he is from a very wealthy family and that he was usurped from power by an illegitimate older brother. I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched. The skipper was not happy but basically gave him the same speech he had given the others about opportunities in Star Fleet. Looking over the roster, the skipper asked about Brenda White the newest addition to Communications. I told the skipper that she was a recent transfer from the Hamilcar. She had been the chief communications officer on board. The skipper then turned to Quick and told him that he was getting a chance to prove himself. I was then ordered to run three exercises on the bridge dealing with communications. The officer that performed the best would be assigned as the new chief officer. Quick agreed to it as he had no other choice. He then brought to the Captains attention a proposed class on computer hacking. The skipper said he would think about it. The nature of bad news infects the teller. We then spent time with the various department heads. The skipper then asked my thoughts on a new second officer and he told me he would like that person to come from the command division. With that in mind in came down to two officers, Walter Davidson and Yosati Nimuri; both heads of their departments. I had to pass over Jeanette Cassidy as a possibility as she was still a bit rattled from the Hamilcar destruction. She was slowly coming around enough that we could officially assign her as the chief helmsman of Endeavor. After hearing my thoughts, he decided to name Yosati the second officer and would place Walter on the main bridge watch with him so that if he had to leave Walter could comfortably take command. Yosati was made bridge commander for C watch. With Calloway responding as he did during the crisis, it was decided to put him on my watch, I would be more than happy to have him on the bridge with me. I could easily leave the bridge in his hands. We finally interviewed Dezba; I think she was still in awe a little bit about her promotion. She was then put in charge of all drone operations on the ship and was told that she was going to start training as many people as she could in their operations. Secretly I think the skipper was pleased to be seeing people on board showing leadership and initiative in crisis situations. I think with the right encouragement she could be a rising star. She doesnt seem to have the same Alpha-Centauri attitude as Edmonda. I think I might have to look into their backgrounds. We continued on with the junior officers that were staying aboard. There was nothing unusual that popped up. The skipper then had a brief meeting with the officers that were leaving and thanked them for their contributions while on board. I then asked the skipper for his acknowledgement for giving all the surviving crew members a ships commendation for their thanks. He didnt hesitate in granting my request.
Stardate 6458.1 I attended sickbay to be present when Dr TLoc used a mind meld on Ensign Newsome. The two security guards there were ordered out of the room and told to wait outside and to prevent anyone from entering until it was complete. As Newsome was in an isolation chamber it wasnt too difficult. I entered the chamber and noted it in the official log that this event was classified under Security Clearance Orange. I then made myself comfortable off to the side. Dr TLoc then proceeded with her mind meld. After she was done and recovered from the procedure, she informed me that Ensign Newsome now had an intense hatred for William Hannah. He blamed Will for all the damage done to him. This interrogation chamber that he had been placed in was barbaric to the extreme. Newsome was still suffering from the effects almost four days after the incident. At least his body was recovering from the extreme salt depletion he had suffered. Unfortunately the doctor didnt pick up anything new do to his mental state. She told me that it had been difficult to contact him. He was very paranoid and hadnt believed the doctor when she first contacted him. She had found some new snippets of information dealing with this chamber and she would give me a written report on what he had told her. This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. Her recommendation was that he be shipped back to earth where qualified psychologists and psychiatrists could work on him for the next while. I concurred and said I would inform the skipper to get the needed transport available when we arrived at Shresha-Cygnus. We then left the chamber and I ordered the guards to resume their duties.
Stardate
6462.1 we have finally
entered the Shresha-Cygnus system. It is still going to take some hours to get
to the main planet. At this time we started getting transmissions from Shresha
dealing with our upcoming shore leave. I wasnt
too concerned about it as I was going to be busy while most of the crew was
down on the surface. One of the things that caught my attention was the
Starfleet Intership Super Surfing Competition. It seems that Shresha-Cygnus
with its four moons develops waves that can crest at over 50 metres in height.
I also noticed that there was a fairly good theatre that was performing
Shakespeare. Hey at least I will take the time to go down and watch a show or
two. The
plays
the thing wherein Ill
catch the conscience of the king.
I was on the bridge as
we traversed the system. Its
a good thing that Quick was at communications, there was a massive amount of
signals bouncing around. The amount of ships flying around the system was mind
boggling. We were given specific instructions to use in
getting to Shresha. I could see why when we identified at least two areas that
were military training areas, also an arid planet that was off limits due to
it being owned by a mining consortium. We were a few hours out when we
received a signal from USS Drake, a destroyer. Quick spotted the hidden code
inside the signal that would have crashed our systems if it had snuck through. When I told Quick to
open a channel, we were graced by the commander of the Drake, Lt Cmdr Adzo. He
was wearing some sort of bush hat and started bragging as soon as we made
contact. Well
said: that was laid on with a trowel.
It seems
that his ship is the current champion of the surfing competition and was
trying to get others to enter. I told him that I would let all of our crew
know about it and would see if any were interested in entering. He then looked
off to the side and told someone to contact the
Stardate
6462.6 we continued
into the system, helm and navigation had their hands full flying around all
the other craft in system. We were picking up signals from police cutters and
corvettes and merchant ships everywhere. It looks like Endeavor and
Stardate 6462.7 we have finally entered orbit around Shresha-Cygnus. We had a priority warp courier waiting for Ensign Newsome. He was placed in a stasis chamber and shipped over to the courier under guard. Even before the guards were returned the ship was heading for earth. As soon as it cleared the system it went to warp. I was informed that it was moving at warp nine and increasing speed as it went. Lets hope Newsome gets the help that he needs. It would be a shame if his career in Star Fleet is finished. I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched. I then contacted Rinoco at Canis hospital to find out the status of Captain Storm. When she finally appeared, she didnt seem too happy to see me. I asked on the condition of the Captain and she said that he was still unconscious but his vital signs were improving. The nature of bad news infects the teller. I then asked her when she was returning to duty on the ship. She wouldnt give me an answer. We next spoke with Star Fleet Command, seeing the amount of damage we had, they agreed to put us next in line for the repair dock. This was going to take about 8 days to complete needed repairs on the ship. This let us release over 70% of the crew for their shore leave. I was going to remain on board until we were in the dock; everyone was getting ready to go. William had convinced Dezba and Diego to go shark hunting with him. I guess a species of shark here makes a great white back home look like a guppy. He also managed to get three other members of the ship to join him in the surfing contest. They were crewman Oscar OReilly, ENS Miles Logan and Lt Tanya Spencer. I hope they have fun. In fact quite a few of the marines were talking about shark hunting. To each his own I guess. I have no desire at all to get anywhere near the water. Since we were in dock, Star Fleet held off on our new crewmen, they would officially board when we were ready for release from dock.
Stardate
6464.9 the ship is
ordered into the repair dock, Star Fleet Command now takes over care and
control of the vessel. The skipper told me to get off the ship for at least 72
hours; I told him I would be happy to do so. Edmonda was told to take a week
and hired a guide and went backpacking for her leave. With the extra gravity
of the planet it would be a good work out for her. The doctor even agreed to
meet with her to continue her therapy; she was introducing Edmonda to the
benefits of meditation. Captain (brevet)
Cartwright then left the ship to return to the
Stardate
6465.0 I stepped off
the pad at HQ and nodded politely to the Ensign on duty. He said,
Welcome
to Star Fleet Command Sir.
I gave my thanks and walked out into the hallway. I guess I walked around for
close to 30 minutes before I heard someone shout my name,
Hey
Flynn!
I turned around and to my surprise recognized Franklin Smith, one of my
classmates from the Academy. He was walking along in what at first glance
appeared to be a Lts
flight suit. Walking along beside him in the same gear was a
I wasnt
surprised to find this place was massive in size. It was all underground.
Squire led me in to the mess and proceeded to get drinks for us. I was
introduced to a lot more officers, I noted with interest that they were all
ENS and Lt Jgs.
Not many Lts,
in fact I was one of the highest ranked officers there. Everyone started
introducing themselves as pilots in the Screaming Eagles. The COs
were off doing what COs
do according to all these young bucks. I was proud of the fact that I could
say I was an executive officer on a Class One Ship. We started swapping
stories and I had them enthralled with my rendition of the Juggernaut battle.
At first they didnt
believe me when I said I had received a Silver Star in the battle and that
Admiral Kirk had given it to me. All
the worlds
a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
Squire then
spoke up and said it was true, he had seen it in one of the dispatches that
had been released by Star Fleet Command. I then told him that I had a new
skipper that was only three years older than I was, and that if I was lucky I
would have a command of my own very soon. Like I told them, flying one of
those shuttles was nice, but I wanted something that would take me all over
the universe before I was done. They all laughed at
that and we continued on with the next round, good thing I can hold my liquor.
Finally Squire said that we had to get back to Shresha-Cygnus and that I could
fly second seat with him back. That was fine by me. As we were leaving, I
spotted some new ships docked in the bay. At first glance the lighting pattern
was wrong. It reminded me of the lights on the Messier. A
He looked a little
surprised and asked if I had seen the Messier. I said that we had encountered
it about 4 months before and it had been one strange vessel. He then asked
what my call sign was and I answered,
Jax.
Just then Squire walked up and said we had to get suited up for the trip home.
I thanked the
Stardate
6484.2 the winners were
Adzo and team. They couldnt
help showing off the trophy and were already talking about the next contest at
Stardate 6482.4 I contacted the ship and was told that Rinoco had contacted the ship, Captain Storm had finally awakened. Captain (brevet) Cartwright then let everyone who wanted to visit him in the hospital before we got too busy. I then returned to the ship and waited while the remaining officers and the remaining marines took their turns going down and saying goodbye. We were not too sure what would to happen to him now. Even Richard went down and spoke to him.
Stardate
6485.3 I finally had
the chance to go down to the hospital and visit with Captain Storm. Honestly
he didnt
look too good. Most of his muscles had atrophied while he was unconscious.
Time
is a very bankrupt, and owes more than hes
worth to season. Nay, hes
a thief, too: Have you not heard men say, that time comes stealing on by night
and day?
He was very
thin but was alert. I actually was glad that I was able to say goodbye to him.
While we were talking he received a call from Starfleet Command Headquarters,
Commodore Wesley. He informed Vincent that he was being offered a chance to
teach at
Stardate 6485.6 I returned to the ship and spoke to the skipper about the new crew and what he had planned for training exercises. I was intrigued about his plans for the marshals. We still hadnt let any one know that they were coming on board. Richards idea was for me to use the marshals as bad guys against the science teams. In fact he wanted me to lead them. I quickly agreed to formulate a plan of action for this scenario. Also find out that Lt Diego has been given permission to hold a birthday party in his honor.
Stardate 6486.2 have a meeting with all the department heads and inform them of the midshipmen coming on board. Then find Lt Dezba and delegate her as the official greeter of the new cadets. She was enjoying herself at the party when I finally located her along with most of the senior officers on board. I stopped to have cake and a drink before continuing with my duties.
Stardate 6487.1 Thirty one midshipmen beam on board from Shresha-Cygnus. Lt Dezba directs them to the bowling alley on deck 20 for my first meeting with them. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor; suit the action to the word, the word to the action When I finally walked in and introduced myself I knew that I would be having problems with a Security Midshipman named Boris Ivanov. When I took the time to look at his file I was surprised that he had made it through the Academy. I then took the time to explain a few things to the cadets. Like the Starfleet Code of Conduct and proper chain of command on the ship and informed them all that they were expected to become full officers quickly and they would be finishing their final year of schooling on the ship. I think hands on training and the situations that we find ourselves in will be far better than what they could learn in school. Just as I was finishing the skipper made an appearance and spoke to the class about alien protocols seeing as we had a Vulcan and Alpha-Centauran on board. I then showed him the file on Boris and even he raised his eyebrows when he saw the record. This guy was going to be a problem. We will fix him or send him packing.
Stardate 6487.6 I meet the skipper in transporter room 3 and he beams me off the ship to a Federation Marshal Services Corvette. I then meet the ten Federation Marshals that will be coming on board. Men of few words are the best men. But first we are going to act as Orion raiders for the upcoming exercise. We are combining Zenebes request for three science teams to get some training on airless planets. I will take half the Marshals down to the planet and act as raiders trying to capture and take their equipment while the other Marshals will be on a derelict vessel in the training area acting as pirates when the landing parties come on board.
Stardate 6490.1 our training teams return to Endeavor after the training exercise. I had fun catching the one away team totally unawares when we nabbed them while they were out for their walk. Then I waited for Edmonda to react. Her first act was to send one of the shuttles up to try and spot them. I forced it back down with the marshal vessel acting as an Orion ship. She then co-ordinated her remaining people into teams and sent them out looking for the missing team. We finally got into a fire fight and she then managed to kill enough of us to force our retreat, but not before we had managed to relieve the team of all their equipment. So we managed to get away with something like the Orions always manage to do. Next the skipper hands me a report dealing with young Boris, including a written reprimand already. I dont know how that kid managed to get into so much trouble but he managed to piss the Captain off severely. By looking at the report from Star Fleet Command, things have got to improve. The skipper has replaced the chief engineer with the assistant chief engineer who had been the chief while on board the Hamilcar. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. The Cygnan is a great technical engineer but has problems communicating effectively with the staff. Lt David Williams is now getting a chance to see if he can do any better. I hope things improve because rumor has it that we may be doing convoy duty for some much needed supplies for the big bases out on the frontier. By the looks of the daily dispatches the Orions appear to be active everywhere.
Stardate 6490.2 the next thing I know the skipper is calling Midshipman Ivanov into a briefing and thats when things got interesting. A short time later I heard the Captain requesting Lt Hannahs presence in transporter room two for a sudden transport. I heard later that Captain Cartwright had personally escorted Ivanov to the transporter room and had ordered his transfer to Shresha-Cygnus. Get thee to a nunnery. When I looked at the paperwork that the skipper used to get rid of him, I was impressed. I guess Boris must have flipped by the descriptions I received about his appearance when he left the ship. Most of the enlisted crew were howling about what had happened. I managed to speak with Yosati later and he told me he had witnessed Boris departure from the ship. He had been wearing a womans science uniform with one leg completely shaved. How ill white hairs become a fool and jester! He was blowing kisses to everyone as he went to the transporter room. This now left us thirty midshipmen on board.
Stardate
6490.5 orders come from
Commodore Trudeau getting us ready for escort duty to a cargo fleet. By the
looks of the long range plans we may be doing escort duty for the next year.
Some of these shipments are vital for the continuing operation of bases and
stations out along the Klingon border. Captain Cartwright calls a meeting with
all senior officers. We set up a schedule for all personnel on board to
continue training and learning new skills. The Captain and Doctor TLoc
agree to start instruction for all personnel to learn how to teach in a
constructive manner. The skipper is also going to give a class for officers
only in leadership. Great business must be
wrought ere
Stardate
6491.2 as we were
leaving the Shresha-Cygnus system, we were joined by the 101st
Screaming Eagles. In fact we played host to four of the fighters with the
other vessels doing the same. The
wheel is come full circle.
They were
put on the shuttle deck as the Captain declared the shuttle deck off limits to
any personnel not required to be there and even posted guards to prohibit
access due to the technical nature of the craft. I heard later the Lt Hannah
tried everything he could to get a look at them but was denied. He even
approached Dezba seeing as she was rated for work on the drone systems. I hear
that she just blew him off and told him to speak with the Captain. The nice
surprise was that Squire was the commander; unfortunately I didnt
see much of him as he was on the
Stardate 6518.4 well the rumors of increases in Orion raids appear to be true. A large cargo fleet is confirmed destroyed south of the Shresha-Cygnus system. The nature of bad news infects the teller.
Stardate 6708.8 The USS Drake got into a conflict with three Orion light raiders and destroyed them all. Commodore Trudeau was so happy he promoted all the senior officers and gave the ship a commendation for their efforts. Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower safety.
Stardate
6927.0 this is when the
Screaming Eagles departed the fleet and headed towards ooLickie. You should
have heard the comments from the merchant vessels that we had been escorting.
Poor Diego and the whole comm. branch for that matter had been run ragged with
the demands from the merchants to use Star Fleets
high end communications.
To
have an ungrateful child.
This is
where the
Stardate 6941.4 receive a distress call from ooLickie; the Screaming Eagles are under attack. It seems like just moments later when we learn that eight of the twelve fighters have been destroyed with no survivors. To weep is to make less the depth of grief. USS Lafayette breaks away in support. By the time they got there the Orions were long gone and there now was only four fighters left. The Commodore wisely picked them up. At least Squire was still alive. He had been just preparing to take off when the others were destroyed in a matter of seconds.
Stardate
6941.5 the tug and convoy that had been escorted by the
Stardate 7145.4 USS Tyr rendezvous with us to pick up much needed supplies for station K-6; they are in desperate need for new parts for their life support systems. They pick up what is required and depart the system at maximum warp.
Stardate
7162.2 USS Lafayette
and USS Adad arrive in
Stardate
7179.0 the USS Kestral
arrives in the
Stardate 7183.9 the Tyr returns to obtain a second shipment of supplies. In fact they inform us that everything that can be stripped from the vessel has been in order to make room. The commander also thinks there is an Orion vessel somewhere in the vicinity. They take on the much needed supplies and head out of the system at maximum warp again.
Stardate 7184.0 merchant vessels in the ooLickie system report they are under attack. The USS Lafayette proceeds into the area.
Stardate 7184.2 USS Lafayette is attacked by the Orions. The first officer and ninety crewmen are reported killed in action. When the skipper heard this he immediately left the bridge and did not return until the next day. You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, as full of grief as age, wretched in both. By now most of the crew had been training like fiends. I had done my share by trying to pick up some new skills including how to properly use the communications systems on board the ship.
Stardate 7219.8 USS Lafayette rendezvous with USS Cassini, a tug and the USS Geronimo, a destroyer at New Paris for escort/transit to Shresha-Cygnus. Midshipmen prepare for final exams in four days time. Rumor has it that if they pass then I have a good shot at being promoted and the skipper confirmed as Captain. I want to make sure we get a passing grade.
Stardate 7227.0 report from USS Tyr that they are in battle with an Orion raider. We soon get notification that the Tyr was destroyed with all hands on board.
Stardate 7229.4 we finally arrive at Station K-7 and drop off the cargo to them. I officially inform our midshipmen that their final exams start in one hour. We are expected to be here for at least a day. Long enough to get everything done.
Stardate
7229.5 final exams
start for the Midshipmen administered by me. I then give them the exam sent by
Stardate
7231.8 Notification of
the USS Kestral and USS Adad encountering something in the
Stardate
7234.2 Arrive at K-6.
Results back from the Commodore about our class of cadets. I was very pleased
to see that all thirty of our cadets had passed, thus they were all promoted
to Ensigns as of this Stardate. Also included in the documentation were the
promotion of (brevet) Captain Cartwright to Captain and the promotion of Lt
Commander Jaxon Flynn to
Commander. The
games
afoot.
The next
thing I have to look forwards to my own command, and the way things are going
that may be sooner than I want. I was on the bridge when I
received a call from Lt Cmdr Emily Gufferson from Starfleet Planetary Sciences
Division. She wished to speak with Lt Diego concerning his home world. She was
having a problem trying to contact him and was now asking for official
permission to speak with him concerning the planet Diego. I advised her that I
would pass on her request to the Captain and we would get back to her. She was
quite determined to interview him and said that if she was forced to go
through official channels it could get very messy. Also at this time I ask
permission from the skipper to hold a ships
production of Hamlet. When I have my first meeting over 50 people show up
including Quick, Dezba and Edmonda, things look promising. We agree to meet
twice a week for two hours at a time. Its
still going to take a while before we are comfortable holding a production.
Stardate 7277.4 we are still at Station K-6 when we received word that the USS Lafayette along with the USS Cassini and the USS Geronimo along with a small fleet of other ships encounter a large Orion fleet including a carrier, light raider, and cruiser. The fight was furious and in the end the USS Lafayette and USS Cassini were destroyed with all hands including Commodore Trudeau. His last words to the Geronimo were to take out the carrier, which they finally did. Also on board was Squire; he had stayed with the ship all along. We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and well not fail. This is really starting to be a drag, the constant battles with the Orions and the massive casualties on both sides. Maybe wiping out this large Orion fleet might do something in cutting back on the attacks.
Stardate 7278.1 we are still in orbit at the station, by now we have lost some twenty officers and crew to promotions and all have transferred over to Station K-6. Included in the list is Lt Calloway from Science. He has accepted a promotion to Lt Cmdr and assignment as Chief Science Officer. A couple of the junior Lt.s from science has also transferred. Lt Carolina from the medical section has accepted the posting of Chief Medical Officer on the station along with some much needed med techs. With the state the station was in when we got here they are going to need some good luck to get things up and running smoothly again. Every thing needs repairing. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety; other women cloy the appetite they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies. I was then asked by the skipper to attend a meeting with Lt Diego concerning a request from Lt Cmdr Gufferson concerning questions she had about his home planet. He was told by the skipper and me that he should cooperate with this woman as she was willing to talk to him off the record as it was. He had been told that she could make it an official request and that might start some embarrassing questions regarding his family back home. He was very evasive in his answers to us about his home world. For slander lives upon succession, for ever housed where it gets possession. Moments after the meeting we received a distress call from the Space Vessel Green Drider. They were broadcasting a distress call that abruptly cut off. We got the coordinates and I ordered a general broadcast to all ships personnel to return to the ship immediately so we could respond. The skipper then inquired as to what was going on and I informed him that we were going to respond. He agreed and said he was coming to the bridge. Once we got underway the skipper ordered maximum warp.
Stardate 7279.9 we arrived on scene at the last known coordinates of the Green Drider. Using sensors, we quickly found the vessel some distance away slowly tumbling in space. There were some strange readings on the sensors as we arrived. The computer could not determine what they were at this time. We slowly moved up to the vessel using impulse as the Captain ordered me to organize a landing party to investigate. As we got closer we knew that some of the crew were dead and the others were close to dying. All personnel were ordered into vac suits before we even arrived on scene. Science was picking up some unusual readings as we arrived. As soon as we got close enough, the main teams beamed aboard the cargo ship. I managed to stabilize the ship while the medical teams did what they could to help the crew. Four of them were dead and the others were in critical condition. They were soon beamed back aboard Endeavor and we investigated further. We found that the computer core had been wiped out entirely. Only secondary back up systems seemed to still work and these were not working very well. Once we had the ship set up so it wouldnt blow up we left it where it was. No one was going to be able to steal it with no power or computers of any kind. Once we were back on board Endeavor the Captain ordered us to follow the trail of whatever had caused this. It took a bit of doing but we finally managed to track the faint trail and realized that it was moving towards a science station Omicron Tau 3. A solar observatory and stellar cartography institute. By the looks of things they didnt have anything that would prevent the same sort of damage that the cargo ship had taken. We finally managed to pick up a disturbance in space that appeared to be caused by an anomaly. The ships computer could not tell us what the disturbance was as there were no records of this type of creature in the data banks.
Stardate 7280.5 The skipper then asked me to head down to Aux Con and be prepared for anything. I got down there and joined Dezba and the other crew members waiting until we got close enough to engage whatever this beast was. We soon got close enough to engage it and we were in the middle of the fight when we watched the creature release some sort of pulse beam at the ship. I remembered getting a severe pain in my head and then everything went black.
To be, or not to be: that is the question: - Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; no more; and, by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream: ay, theres the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.
Stardate 7284.6 when I woke up I was in sick bay along with the skipper and half the Endeavor crew. I found out from official records that this monster or what ever it was called almost wiped us out. In fact the two Vulcans were still unconscious and we didnt know when they were going to wake up. Lt Whitedeer was currently in charge of the medical department. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety, other women cloy the appetite they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies. The only ones left on the bridge had been Lt Dezba and the newly promoted Lt Newton from science. They were both awarded commendations for their actions in defeating the monster. The doctor on the science station, one Carol Marcus recovered the crews memories by using our records from our transporter system on board the ship. It was the only way we could recover everyone. It was going to be more difficult to recover the cargo crew as we had to now find the last record of them using a transporter. As the skipper seemed more alert than I was, he ordered me to get four hours of rest before reporting for duty. I then headed for my quarters to try and get some sleep. It seemed like I had only closed my eyes when the intercom buzzed me waking me up. When I groggily acknowledged I was told to report to the computer core by the Captain. It seems as if something has corrupted the computer and we were starting to have major malfunctions. I managed to get dressed and made it to the core to find the skipper there along with Edmonda and PO Rose Spears who was her best computer technician. I was informed that something was trying to take control of the computer and had in fact managed to get us out of orbit of the station and we were now in transit. He also showed me some very strange orders that appeared to be issued by him and we both agreed that they were not. When we checked the command codes we found that all these strange orders had been issued under Vincent Storms code. Most of them were very strange indeed. To be furious is to be frightened out of fear.
Stardate
7285.1 Captain
Cartwright ordered the shut down of the main computer due to corruption and
that all systems were to switch to manual backups. We then tried to locate Lt
Diego and found him down on the lower decks where the visicoms are located. He
was ordered to report and seemed to be stalling. The Captain looked at me and
ordered me to go get him. I headed down to find him and had to order him to
accompany me when I found him. He was trying to do something in one of the
visicoms but wasnt
having any success. I also found this section of engineering in disarray as
everything looked like it had been taken apart to be used for something else.
I finally managed to get him back to the computer core and he recommended to
the skipper that we independently power up the consoles that were used to
access the computer. By now we were having
ship wide malfunctions and Captain Cartwright finally told me to take charge
here as he headed down to engineering. Diego then asked if he could go to his
quarters and get a program that was needed. I granted his request and Edmonda
also told one of the spare technicians to accompany him. Moments later we
started having problems with the gravimetric plates on the ship as gravity
started to drastically change. Soon after I was informed that Captain
Cartwright had been severely injured in Engineering and had been taken to sick
bay. I was then informed by Engineering that the warp engines were about to
overload and we had to shut them down. Then they started to vent coolant gases
and I had to do something that I hoped never to do in my career.
I
am dying,
I had to order the Engineering department to do what was necessary in order to shut it down, including killing some fine officers and crew in the process. Unless they were in vac suits the radiation was going to kill them. This may haunt me for the rest of my life. Then to make matters worse, the computer then vented the impulse engines into the compartment where twenty engineering personnel were at the time, killing them instantly. The ground that gave them first has them again. Their pleasures here are past, so is their pain. Edmonda then volunteered to shut down the impulse engines as her techs were better on the computer than she was I granted her request as she hurried off to get into a suit. She was helped by one of the engineers, Ensign Miles Logan. After a couple of minutes Diego still had not returned. I was forced to go looking for him and found him and the technician unconscious in one of the corridors. There were wounded people everywhere from the gravity fluctuations. I ordered the medical staff there to wake up Diego. The petty officer then shot him up and his eyes opened and he stood up. I then dragged him back to the core and he started working away as soon as the program he had brought back was installed. He soon managed to get the virus stopped in its expansion but couldnt make it get any smaller. At this point the computer started talking to us and started saying, Go and Light over and over. Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all; and thus the native hue of resolution is slicked oer with the pale cast of thought. By now Edmonda had shut down most on the impulse engines manually and had only one to go. We were operating under battery power as the computer tried again and again to break through Diegos codes. After negotiating with this thing for a while I figured out that we had no chance of eliminating it from the computer but it said that if we completed the orders it had issued it would leave. This also meant that we needed to travel to a near by system that it said it had to get to. I then ordered Edmonda to turn the impulse engines back on and did she ever grumble when I did so. She followed orders and turned them back on. I then looked at the orders and turned to the engineer that was with us in the core and ordered him to get the engineering department to finish what this thing wanted. I then continued talking with this thing and even had Dezba join us in speaking with it.
A few minutes later the Captain asked to speak with me out in the corridor. I went out to join him and he asked what was going on. I told him that the program appeared to have issued the strange orders and had told us that if we built what was required it would leave the ship. I told the Captain that since he had been unable to give orders to the contrary that I had decided it would be in our best interests to get this thing off the ship and quickly as possible. The nature of bad news infects the teller. He was not happy about what I had done but didnt see any other alternative. He then told me to carry on and asked to speak with Dezba. I returned to the core and Dezba went outside the room and did not come back. A little while later Diego started to lag and it appeared the injection he had got earlier was starting to wear off. I then ordered the medical department to attend and shoot him up again. Lt Whitedeer didnt want too at first and I had to make it an official order in order to keep him functioning for a while longer, when this stuff wears off he will probably sleep for a day. We then had to remove part of the outer hull on the starboard side where we were building a strange apparatus. In fact it took a few hours before everything was completed and the section of hull was open to space. It was facing a sun and we didnt know what to expect.
Stardate 7286.6 we finally got some activity from the computer when the apparatus was activated and abruptly had the virus leave the computer. I then ordered the technicians to reboot the system and hopefully the backups would work. Then I heard the sound of the ship launching a probe and then a torpedo. Who knows what will happen next. Almost immediately I heard a thump and a large explosion. It sounded like it had come from the bottom of the ship. The next thing I heard was a request from damage control to assist the Captain. He had been injured in the explosion. I then headed to the bridge to find out what was going on. There was some sort of vessel sitting just above the surface of the primary and I decided to get us the hell out of there. The crew said that when the thing had left the ship the Captain had fired at it and it had returned fire taking out the weapons bay and the bottom of the ship. I ordered a probe to be deployed and monitor and told helm to get out of the system now. Once the ship was underway, I started to check up on the Captain, I headed to sickbay and was detoured and delayed as I headed there. First it seemed that Diego had disappeared in the excitement and no one could find him. I ordered Security to locate him immediately. A ship wide alert was broadcast while I headed to see the Doctor. Medical was absolute chaos. Whitedeer had sent all of the walking wounded upstairs into the dining hall and was dealing with the most severe burn and radiation patients here. It was at this time that Doctor TLoc finally woke up to absolute bedlam. Good thing shes a Vulcan as it only took her a few moments to take over and send Whitedeer upstairs. I headed up there with her in time to see Dezba show up with a wounded red shirt who had been hurt from the blast. She told me that the Captain had been knocked out and had been taken to sick bay. It looked like his injuries werent too serious; he had just been unlucky to fall unconscious from the fall. I ordered her to carry on and help where she was needed.
It was an hour before the Captain woke up and by then I had the vessel well away from the alien presence. We had also found young Diego. He had got back to his quarters before he passed out from the drugs. It took an engineering team lead by Hannah to get into his room. He was out on the floor, it looked like he had tried to kick open the vent grate in the floor. His foot was torn and bleeding when the door was opened. I showed up just as they were opening the door. Open your ears, for which of will stop the vent of hearing when loud Rumor speaks? I ordered everyone to stay out as the door opened and I looked in. I then allowed a medical team to bundle him up and take him away. I then checked the vent and found a tricorder hidden in the vent. I picked it up and waited for a security detail to arrive and I told them to check the entire room and it would then be sealed and guarded until I said different. I then gave him the tricorder and told him to tag it as evidence. I then left and could see that Lt Hannah was trying hard to see inside but I wouldnt let him enter. I then finally got to see the Captain and told him that we were at the edges of this system awaiting further orders. He then told me to get the ship underway and head towards Shresha-Cygnus. The other bad news was that another dozen engineers had succumbed to radiation poisoning. This was leaving us severely shorthanded in engineering. At least we had warp back on line and were now headed away from here. The Captain then ordered me to make arrangements for a scout ship or destroyer to attend this sector to keep an eye out for the alien. I managed to contact the USS Revere; NCC-595, commanded by Lt Cmdr Eduardo Garcia, a classmate from the academy. He agreed to get close enough to monitor without danger. I also told the Captain that it appeared that Lt Diego had been hiding something and he then ordered Diego to be placed in the brig once he was cleared by medical. How quickly nature falls into revolt when gold becomes her object. The doctor said that his wounds had been treated and that he just needed bed rest to recover from the after effects from the stimulants. With that he was transported to the brig and put in a cell. The Captain then asked the security chief to check out the tricorder and found all sorts of alien programming that was the same as the program that had got us.
Stardate 7298.0 Captain Cartwright informs me that he will be convening a formal court martial for Lt Diego. The officers on the board will be Captain Cartwright, Lt Commander TLoc, and me. He showed me the list of charges and I counted over one hundred possible charges that the Captain thought could apply. Lt Dezba was then assigned as his counsel and Lt Commander Zenebe will be the prosecuting officer. This could be fun with two Alpha-Centauran females on opposite sides in more ways than one. If all the year were playing holidays to sport would be as tedious as to work.
Stardate 7301.6 Dr TLoc and I were going over procedures involved with Courts Martial when the Captain came into the room with a disgusted look on his face. He tossed me a data disk and told us that the case was delayed until we took care of something just ordered by Star Fleet Command.
I read the following; Proceed to Diego to investigate connections to files revealed in the Ehouse cleaning of the UFP/ITA which point to a considerable amount of illegal activities in connection with the planet. Diegan Nightside Station reports their geothermal detection satellites recorded a ship approaching night side of the planet Diego which matches the energy signature of ship which removed a prisoner from the Ponderosa penal colony. Planetside authorities claim they have no record of the ship in orbit or landing on the planets surface and no further information of any sort. We have also been reminded recently that one of your crewmembers Lt Von Diego is supposedly some part of the planets hereditary aristocracy. Including him in contacts with the planetary government may serve to smooth interactions with them.
Delays have dangerous ends. He told me to change course for the planet Diego, he then handed me a large data packet that was intended for Lt Diego. I t seemed that his being on board this vessel had got out to people living on Diego and now the ship had just got an absolute dump of messages, all for young Iquvrek Diego. I asked what we were going to do with them all and he told me to censer them before giving them to the prisoner. The captain then informed me that I would be going down to the orbital platform as the Federation representative and would be acting for all intense purposes as the Federation Ambassador to Diego. Oh joy!
Stardate 7349.6 we have arrived in orbit of Diego. I have spent the last month working my butt off. In between the major losses in the engineering department and having them running ragged trying to keep up with the repairs needed. The Skipper was also getting the run around from Star Fleet Command for needed parts and replacements for our weapon systems. We were missing most of our photon launchers and he was going nuts trying to find new ones. Diego was left in the brig until we arrived on station. I spoke with the Federation rep on the platform, one of those annoying Tellarites named Glenn Guiss. I had also spoken with a Federation representative about my status and responsibilities as the Ambassador. She told me that they wanted a report on the status of the planet along with their willingness to join the Federation and if they were actually ready to join the Federation or not. Frankly I wasnt impressed with the assignment but as an officer in Star Fleet I had to expect to get some nasty assignments. We would be going down with two shuttles as the Marshals on board had let us know that the vessel that had broken the Andorian out of prison from Ponderosa had apparently crashed down on the planet and they were requesting permission to execute an arrest warrant for mister Zoltan. The total list of people going down were six marshals, six constables, PO3 Brown for communications and Ensign Broadbent from science as he got permission to study the planet for a thesis he was working on, also along with me were Dr TLoc, Iquvrek Diego, and Dezba, as his guard and my assistant. As soon as we left the ship, it was off into space. The Captain was chasing the fleet tug USS Eratosthenes, NCC-3807, trying to get weapons off of it.
Stardate 7354.8 I am back on board of Endeavor. If I never go back to that god forsaken slime ball planet again in my lifetime it will be far too soon. I was kidnapped and thrown into a tiny cell on a freighter owned by Mr Diegos highly insane younger sister. She is a maniacal annoying woman and we have the misfortune of having her in the brig right now. Things did not go well while our party was there. One marshal was killed and four wounded. Two constables were killed and the rest were all wounded. Unfortunately we also lost Ensign Broadbent went he was trying to help the lawmen investigate the crash of the trader on the planet. The planetary defences started attacking my men and it got bloody. The only time I actually got to relax was at the formal dinner that was attended by Borsi Paulmino, the head advisor to the council of ministers. Also there was a gentleman named Favan who didnt say a word all night. He was still an interesting dinner companion. The one thing I noticed was lots of technology and cybernetic parts on most of the people. There also seemed to be several different factions here with groups clearly separated. I wont get into details about what happened over the next two days but I ended up sending people all over the planet looking for various things including the fugitive Zoltan. Even the doctor ended up going down to the surface under escort to help with a disaster. The rest soon turned into a comedy of errors that ultimately led to me being kidnapped right off the orbital platform by Iquvreks younger sister who attempted a coup while we were there. She first captured her elder brother and tried to convince Iquvrek to become the new king. Yet I do fear thy nature; it is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. He turned her down and ended up being thrown into a cell with the rest of us. It also seems that she was in an alliance of some sort with Captain Sloan and the Orions. We were lucky in that the alliance fell apart while we were there. We were saved by the appearance of Endeavor returning and the Orions leaving as soon as it was spotted coming into the system. Constable KLar apprehended Zoltan single handed and returned him to Federation custody. So we ended up on board Endeavor with Zoltan and Miss Diego in custody and people screaming at me seeing as I was still the Ambassador here. Finally I think one of the factions down on the surface got in contact with someone high up in the UFP/ITA. Endeavor was ordered to do nothing about the situation here. The Federation was going to send in a trade/diplomatic mission to see if anything could be salvaged from the situation. At this point we left orbit headed to Shresha-Cygnus. The skipper showed me orders that have us getting a cargo shipment organized and getting up to the Kzinti border and maybe beyond.
Stardate 7355.2 Captain Cartwright formally orders the court martial of Iquvrek Diego to reconvene in 24 hours.
Stardate 7357.6 Court Martial for Lt Iquvrek Diego convenes. On the board, Capt Cartwright, Cmdr Flynn, and Lt Cmdr TLoc; for the prosecution, Lt Cmdr Zenebe; for the defence, Lt Jg Dezba assisted by Lt Hannah. The formal list of charges is long and contains over one hundred separate charges. Things dont look good for Diego.
Stardate 7358.0 Lt Diego is found guilty on all charges. Captain Cartwright as senior officer goes way too lightly on him when he orders the demoted Ensign Iquvrek Diego to be assigned to a Star Fleet research facility to serve his sentence under the control of the Federation Justice Council. If you can look into the seeds of time, and tell me which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favours nor your hate. What got him off serving serious prison time was his research on the Juggernaut and the Captains order to continue doing research, albeit with a 24 hr guard at all times. This file is now declared CLASSIFIED by Captain Cartwright. He was then placed in the brig until we reach Shresha-Cygnus, which will take some time to get there.
Stardate 7358.2 the skipper then has a meeting with me and he gives me a heads up about what is to come. Once we arrive at Shresha-Cygnus he is ordering me to transfer to the USS Piazzi, NCC-3827; a fleet tug to expedite some needed changes to allow it to carry more pods than usual. We have been ordered to escort a cargo shipment into Kzinti territory. This might get a little hairy with the war still going on. Open your ears; for which of you will stop the vent of hearing when loud Rumor speak? At least I am getting some engineers to help. All I can say is that if Cmdr Adzo finds out I have been put in charge of a tug he may never let me live it down.
Stardate 7380.2 we have arrived at Shresha-Cygnus to see a massive array of ships throughout the system. Most of them are tugs and destroyers. It appears that Endeavor is the only heavy cruiser here at the moment. Almost immediately the lawmen we had on board were transferred to the planet. Star Fleet Command informed us that we would be getting replacements from the security division. Looking into the records further, USS Piazzi had arrived with close to 1500 security personnel for outfitting the various vessels here in orbit including the two dozen that we were getting. As I was going over to Piazzi soon I decided to look over all the log entries. It didnt look very good. Its officer commanding, Lt Cmdr Arnold Farneau had a difficult time keeping control with all the marines on board. The requisition reports were rather bizarre. How quickly nature falls into revolt when gold becomes her object. Another thing I noted was that at one point the tug had managed to travel at Warp 9.1 which is theoretically possible but almost never accomplished. I think Star Fleet Command had taken pity on Mr Farneau as he has been promoted to Cmdr and was going back to his old job as the Chief Comm Officer once I come on board.
Stardate 7380.4 the skipper informs me that he is headed down to a formal dinner with the marshals and I was in charge of the ship until he returns, then I am free to transfer to the Piazzi. I then started catching up on the paperwork while we were in orbit. The other thing the skipper told me was that Edmonda would be acting first officer while I was gone. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. I was still going over the paperwork when the Doctor contacted me and said that she was forwarding the medical reports of the marines that we were taking on board. By the looks of things they had run wild on the lower decks of the Piazzi and all of them were suffering from low level phaser hits. They had all been given furloughs on arrival and checking the status, all of them were currently on the planet. I informed the Doctor to give them full workups before letting them join the crew. She said that she would let Whitedeer take care of them and I had to smother an evil chuckle as I knew of Rinocos opinion of the marines we had been getting lately, and if any of them were still under the influence of drugs or alcohol they may regret meeting her for the first time. At this time we started getting dispatches from Star Fleet Command with promotions and transfers onto Endeavor. Lt Nimuri has been promoted to Lt Cmdr and assigned as commanding officer of USS Mars, NCC-525; a destroyer. Also promoted is Dezba to Lt and she has now been assigned as Chief Ordinance Officer of Endeavor. She has been temporarily assigned to Mars along with all of our drone specialists. Something is up here. Also promoted are some ensigns from communications, engineering and security. On the short list is Lt Berkeley our chief navigator, he is on the list for Lt Cmdr. I also promoted all of our security enlisted that were still on the ship. After everything they had gone through lately they all deserved it. If all the year were playing holidays to sport would be as tedious as to work. I then promoted some petty officers in most of the departments. Our replacements coming on board are mostly for security and engineering, almost 60 in total including three security officers.
Stardate 7380.6 Captain Cartwright returns from the formal dinner and tells me I am now clear to transfer over to the Piazzi. As their transporters are still off-line I was forced to use Endeavors to transport over. The transporter tech on duty made sure that the Piazzis deck was clear and he then sent me over. I arrived to find most of the panels around the pad taken off and wires and components were laying everywhere. There is some soul of goodness in things evil, would men observingly distill it out. The one engineer working here barely acknowledged me until he spotted my gold tunic and sort of jumped when he realized that I was a senior officer. He then told me that everyone had been given leave and that most of the people on the ship were local technicians doing the repairs and maintenance. He also told me that decks 7, 8, and 9 were off limits until the low level radiation and pollutants were removed. I thanked him for the notice and started wandering around my ship. I wasnt too impressed by the damage caused by the marines. This was relatively a new tug and shouldnt have to be repaired this much so soon. Looking at the ships roster, almost everyone was on leave down on Shresha-Cygnus. So anything I needed to find out I would have to do it myself.
Stardate 7380.8 I was still looking over the ship when I heard my name being called over the ships intercom. I soon found a working comm and was told that Cmdr Zenebe was trying to contact me. I spoke with her and she requested the access codes for Endeavors systems. I told her that I would get back to her as soon as I could. It took an hour or so before I finally had a chance to head for the bridge. I could see how interesting it would be around here when the doors to the turbo-lift wouldnt open for me when I arrived. The doors kept opening and closing as I stood there. I finally whacked the panel with my hand and the doors snapped open.
Stardate 7380.9 as I looked over the bridge of the Piazzi, all I could do was sigh quietly. There were four technicians working at various stations and the command chair was gone. The techs looked up and when they spotted my gold tunic they all jumped up to their feet. I asked the status on our communication system and the Cygnan told me that it would be back together in a few moments. The other techs told me it would be a few hours before everything would be put back together. As we were talking another tech walked out from where the head was and seeing me he immediately turned around and went back in. If you can look into the seeds of time, and tell me which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favours nor your hate. The tech then turned the comm system back on and it started cycling through the fleet. We ended up contacting the Messier and the tech said they were still repairing the system. I finally managed to contact Endeavor and gave Edmonda the required access codes and started waiting for the crew to start returning from the surface. The skipper has also assigned close to 20 engineers from Endeavor including Lt Hannah and most of the tractor specialists. I kept wandering around the ship until the lower decks had been finally cleared and went down and took a look.
Stardate 7381.9 most of the Piazzis crew have returned on board. I then ask Cmdr Farneau for a ship-wide broadcast to order all officers and crew to attend deck 8 for a briefing in one hour. I have spent the last few hours waiting for the needed parts to arrive. I know that Admiral Nelson really wants this shipment to get through because I am getting everything requested as fast as Star Fleet Command can send it to me. I have also had the crew on board removing everything that is not required in the operation of this vessel because we will need all the space we can get.
Stardate 7382.0 arrive on deck 8 and that new smell is prevalent all through the deck. You could tell that the whole deck had just been replaced. I greeted the officers and crew that snapped to attention when I walked through the doors. I introduced myself as the new officer commanding of Piazzi and told the crew what I expected to happen. I then asked for the chief engineer and warp engineer to step forward. Two Lt Jgs stepped forward and introduced themselves as Wesley Dobbs, acting chief engineer and Markon Delora, the warp engineer. I then looked at Lt Hannah and informed him that as he was the senior engineer on board, he was now acting chief engineer and to work with the crew to get the needed changes done. When Lt Delora was handed the specs for the needed changes he had to study then for a bit as he looked at 16 pods being attached to the tug. He finally said that it could be done, but he was going to have to do things on the fly as there was nothing in the Star Fleet database for it being done. He started talking about removing the deflector dish and all the weapons because he was going to have to use the conduits to rout power for the warp bubble. William and Wesley were now scratching their heads trying to follow what this guy was talking about. I finally asked Lt Delora if it could be done. He said it could but that the whole ship was going to be changed to do it. I then turned to Lt Hannah and ordered him to assist Mr Delora in every way possible to get it done. I then left and headed back to the bridge to co-ordinate the changes from there. I showed up and there was still no command seat. I guess I will be flying left seat for the tests. Im going to be piloting this thing because no one else on board has my experience.
Stardate 7382.4 we have finally got the modifications done. I have spent the time looking through the ships records checking up on the crew on this ship. Wesley Dobbs is junior to Markon Delora but was made chief engineer when Delora declined the assignment. It appears that Mr Delora is an exile from Alpha-Centauri. His record from the academy is very interesting. Anything mechanical or engineering wise, he passed with flying colors. He even did some things that surprised the instructors. Everything else was fairly average. He served his first cruise on USS Bridger, NCC-591; a scout ship that ended up near the Klingon border. He had been assigned to Piazzi almost a year ago. Looking at the engineering logs was very interesting as the chief engineers comments on Mr Deloras work when he came on board. The first couple of months the chief engineer had some strange comments on the work orders until finally he was just signing off on Mr Deloras work. Contact Endeavor and inform them that we are ready to perform the first test. We have stripped everything off the outside of the vessel and have limited communications. Endeavor is being forced to do the work.
Stardate 7382.5 proceed with first warp test. This young engineer, Markon has performed almost a miracle. He has managed to increase the warp bubble, but I dont know if it is big enough. Endeavor will precede us in the trial run. We slowly headed out to the test area. This thing handled like a pig, no I stand corrected; I can handle a pig. This is a massive slow slug. We slowly got up to speed and I engaged to warp one. Almost immediately things started to go wrong. The next thing I knew we were inside a wormhole heading towards a destroyer. I finally slowed down and had four of the pods snap off and continue streaking towards the ship. As we dropped out of warp I watched the ship launch multiple drones and destroyed all of the pods. I realized that this was the Mars, now I know why all of the drone specialists are over there. Its fully loaded with drones. I then contacted engineering and asked them how long it would take to fix the connections. They said a few hours and I told them to get to it.
Stardate
7383.3 proceed with the
next test. We got the ship up to warp five but realized that two of the pods
were being subjected to gamma radiation and were in danger of melting. It
looks like we need to generate a larger warp bubble but we dont
have enough power, that and the dilithium crystals almost fell apart under the
strain. Things
without all remedy should be without regard: whats
done is done.
We even had
Cmdr Zenebe come over and try and help in solving the puzzle. It was very
interesting when she met and recognized Mr Delora. Her attitude turned quite
frosty. Finally we came up with the idea to install an auxiliary warp reactor
to boost power. Mr Delora then came up with the idea of using the shield grid
to generate a bubble with the phaser conduits used to handle the power. This
meant removing the phasers and leaving this ship basically defenceless. As is
we would have no shields because we are using the grid for the warp bubble.
Endeavor is going to act as our sheepdog during this trip. Good thing because
we dont
have sensors or long range communications anymore with everything removed. The nice thing about
the plans for the reactor, they were signed off by Cmdr Scott of
Stardate 7383.4 contacted by Endeavor, informed that my presence and all senior officers are requested on board immediately as Admiral Nelson is arriving in person to inform us of our orders in one hour. I told the duty officer that I would be on board Endeavor if they needed me. I headed to the transporter and asked the crewman to beam me to Endeavor. I noticed that he seemed nervous and fumbled slightly as he set the controls. In nature theres no blemish but the mind; none can be called deformed but the unkind I beamed aboard Endeavor to be greeted by the presence of an honor guard. The detail was in full dress uniform and they relaxed as soon as they saw it was me as I acknowledged their salutes and stepped off the platform. I headed to my quarters to change into my dress uniform and put on the needed hardware. I then headed to the main conference room. The other COs and senior officers started arriving with Lt Cmdr Nimuri making it seconds before the Admirals party.
Stardate 7383.5 Admiral Nelson arrives on board along with a human and an Andorian. These were introduced as Derryk Keyes, a Federation Ambassador to the Kzinti and Lt Cmdr Toskain, from the Sciences division as his financial assistant. We headed to the conference room where we had a classified meeting about the Klingon Kzinti war. We were being tasked to deliver the Piazzi with its full load of dilithium crystals to a Kzinti outpost inside Kzinti territory. The hope was that the Organians would ignore us when we crossed over the border. We would stop at Zeta Omicron to drop off four pods before continuing on. Ambassador Keyes said we would be meeting up with some of his operatives before we got to the border. Also in the briefing was information on the medical aspect of the war. Dr TLoc was asked to give a presentation about the genetic warfare being engaged by both forces. She was doing OK until the Admiral told her that the whole fleet was watching and she froze. Honestly she looked like a deer caught in the proverbial headlights and it took her far to long to start speaking. I didnt think that Vulcans could have stage fright. She managed to give her presentation and everyone became aware that both the Klingons and the Kzinti were actively practising germ warfare against each other with horrendous results. Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end. Admiral Nelson then left immediately back to Starbase 16. After the meeting was over, the Ambassador asked the skipper and me to wait for a few moments and we then had a discussion about Piazzi. Cmdr Toskain then made us aware of the implications of the Piazzi falling into enemy hands. I had already realised that and was wondering what Star Fleet would do. He was also concerned about the repairs and modifications done to the tug. He then asked my permission to board the vessel to check out the repairs. I agreed and he then left. Captain Cartwright then ordered me to make sure that the Piazzi could be destroyed after we got to the Kzinti station. He then told me to tell no one of these orders other than the engineers required to set the destruct program. I headed back to my quarters to change out of my dress uniform and proceeded back to Piazzi. When I got to the transporter platform the duty officer informed me that the Piazzi had been set to auto receive which I thought was rather strange as a technician had been on duty when I left.
Stardate 7383.65 I beamed aboard Piazzi to find Lt Cmdr Toskain standing there looking at the transport records. He told me that it had been locked down almost an hour ago by the engineering department. This was rather strange but I couldnt do anything right now as we headed towards engineering. Things got stranger when we turned to corner to find panels open and tools lying on the floor. It looked like a mass coffee break had broken out but I couldnt see any technicians anywhere. Cmdr Toskain told me he could only sense 40 to 50 people on board. This was definitely strange as there had been close to 100 people on board when I left. O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible, as a nose on a mans face, or a weathercock on a steeple. We made it all the way to the warp reactor before we finally encountered some people. There were four Star Fleet engineers working away as we entered. I had to ask them where everyone had taken off to and they didnt know. Moments later a few more personnel came out of one of the turbo lifts including the Chief of the Boat PO1 Wallace. He was from the Merchant Marine division of Star Fleet. He told me of the rumour that had flown around the ship about the Piazzi been changed for a suicide mission and he thought that most of the crew, who were from the Merchant Marine had left the ship headed for Shresha-Cygnus. I sighed to myself as I heard the story. I was also told that the two shuttles were missing. I then told Cmdr Toskain that I had to deal with this problem and excused myself as I headed to Aux-Con to contact Star Fleet HQ. The nature of bad news infects the teller.
Stardate 7383.7 I finished speaking with HQ about our AWOL crew members and they said they would start rounding them up and would return the two shuttles that had been taken from Piazzi. At this time I was contacted by Endeavor to find out how the repairs were going and I had to ask for more engineers to be sent over in order to affect repairs in time. The skipper was quick to pull all spare engineers from Endeavor and all the destroyers. Almost sixty engineers were sent over and with everyone working it would take about six hours to complete. As I was not needed I decided to go get some rest while I still could. Before I did though I spoke with HQ about our missing crew and all of them had been rounded up but were requesting to speak with legal counsel. Looks like most of the crew will be missing when we leave system. At least with the engineers now on board, some of them will be staying on.
Stardate 7384.2 the red alert claxon woke me up from my nap to chaos in engineering. Something happened to the auxiliary warp reactor and a fire broke out. We ended up having to get a trauma team from Endeavor to attend to the dead and injured. Seven engineers were killed and five injured one of them so severely that he couldnt be moved off the ship. Dr TLoc agreed to leave a full medical team on board as ours had taken off with the others. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, and with old woes new wail my dear times waste. Captain Cartwright then contacted Piazzi and wanted to know how long it would take to complete repairs. After the fire was put out and the injured were dealt with it was going to take a few minutes to figure out what had happened and then a few more hours before things were completed. I told the skipper that we would need three more hours before we could fully test the new systems. I then asked Lt Hannah to tell me what had happened as he was the acting Chief Engineer. Lt Jg Delora had to give him the explanation of what happened. Someone cross connected a circuit and it overloaded and exploded. Most of the damage was from gamma radiation which had been dealt with during the emergency. I then ordered them to have repairs done and ready to go in three hours. I then headed to Aux Con to see what else was needed.
Stardate 7384.5 Engineering has reported in that all repairs had been completed and ready to be tested. I called Endeavor and informed them that we were now ready for a full test before heading out of system. Captain Cartwright then told us to do the test and if it worked we would be on our way. The test was a success; the warp bubble was barely big enough to envelope the ship. It was decided to keep only the minimum staff required to run the ship, thus most of the crew remaining were engineers.
Stardate
7384.6 Piazzi was
finally brought up to speed of Warp 5 and we left the system headed for Zeta
Omicron. It took ten minutes to get up to Warp 7 and Lt Delora said that it
would not be a good idea to go much faster. I tended to agree with him as the
ship felt it would rattle apart with more forces. We managed to get it up to
Warp 7.5 and that is as high as I wanted to go. It felt like this bucket of
bolts was going to shake apart.
Her
bed is
Stardate 7389.9 we have finally arrived at station Zeta Omicron and prepared to disembark four of the pods. We also had the Messier arrive with some of the Ambassadors people. Lt Delora then informed me that most of the dilithium crystals were about to burn out and he needed to swap all of them. I ordered him to proceed while we waited for Lt Hannah who had headed over to the station to assist in unloading. While we were waiting something happened on the station and they ended up going to red alert. Seeing as we couldnt do anything until we were unloaded, I felt like a sitting duck. The problem must have finally resolved itself as the station stood down from the alert a few minutes later. I also met the Ambassadors operatives that had arrived. They were his deputy Barlow Thun and the Kzinti advisor named Sirinda. She gave us a briefing on what to expect with the Kzinti.
Stardate 7391.0 we headed away from the station under impulse power as it would take the engineers another hour before warp was back on line. Lt Delora was concerned with the fusing of the conduits from all the power going through them. I ordered him to prepare a self destruct mechanism for when the ship got too damaged to repair. He said it was easily done and proceeded to set up a charge to drop the containment field on the anti-matter. That should blow the ship up nicely.
Stardate 7392.1 we have arrived at the border heading into neutral space between the Federation and Kzinti borders. So far the ship is operating well considering the load we are carrying. Mr Delora is concerned with the conduits as they are slowing degrading under the strain. We may be lucky to make the rendezvous in one piece.
Stardate 7394.4 we have stopped to meet up with a Kzinti frigate and for Endeavor to take on board the Kzinti Ambassador Kresaris Cree. Mr Delora then informed me that the crystals had to be swapped out again. I ordered him to proceed and informed Endeavor that we were under impulse power only until repairs were complete.
Stardate 7395.6 we have finished swapping out the crystals and are ready to proceed. The destroyers are now released from the convoy and our personnel are back on board Endeavor. The destroyers turned for home and warped out. Endeavor then gives us the coordinates of the Kzinti battle station KZar Dol. We proceeded to warp and headed that way.
Stardate 7396.8 we have entered orbit in sector 1805 around the battle station and are proceeded to shuttle the pods towards the station. Mr Delora then informed me that a couple of the conduits were now fused and could not be used any more. Men prize the thing ungaind more than it is.
Stardate 7397.1 once we had off loaded the cargo I started the tug on impulse towards the nearest sun. Once we got far enough away I ordered all personnel to Endeavor and activated the self destruct program. I waited until everyone was gone from the ship before I beamed over to Endeavor. We warped away for a few seconds to get far enough away as Piazzi blew up. We then turned around and confirmed that Piazzi was destroyed as the Captain informed me that we would be attending a formal dinner on the station hosted by the Kzinti ambassador.
Stardate 7397.3 we beam over to the station to attend the dinner. I accompanied the Captain along with the Ambassador and his staff. We spent the next couple of hours eating dinner as speaking with the Kzinti. I was careful to watch what I ate as the Kzinti diet was similar to earth cats. After the dinner we got into conversations with various beings while I tried to keep an eye on the Captain and the Ambassadorial party. Untune that string, and hark the discord that follows.
Stardate
7398.0 we returned to
the ship and the Captain told me to be prepared to leave orbit in a few hours.
He headed to the bridge while I went to my office and signed on all of the
personnel that had come from the Piazzi. The only thing the skipper told me
was that Cmdr Farneau was being assigned as Chief Communications Officer and
was being temporarily reduced in rank to Lt Cmdr while on board. He was also
assigned as
Stardate 7398.2 I finished the paperwork on the new crew and was pleased to be able to promote Lt Jg Delora to Lt and assigned him as chief warp officer on board, along with a bunch of promotions in the engineering department, mostly NCOs and crew. Also promoted is Lt Jg Adamchuk (Nav) to Lt.
Stardate 7399.5 I arrived on the bridge to find a slew of people around Sciences and Comm. The skipper was sitting in his chair rubbing the back of his neck. As soon as he spotted me he said that he had a headache and was headed to sickbay to see the doctor. He told me that we were currently heading towards sector 1806 to investigate a signal sent by the Ambassadors operative from that sector. He then headed into the turbo-lift as I logged on to start my shift. We were currently moving at warp 7 and it would take 2.1 star dates to arrive. There was a crowd of people around sciences and comm and I could hear them talking with the crew in Aux-Con. The error of the eye directs our mind. Among them was Mr Toskain and when I inquired about all the people at work he said they were trying to refine the signal to get everything out of it. He spent a few minutes explaining for the need for speed and finally convinced me to increase speed to warp 8. Moments later I had the skipper calling me to ask why the increase in speed. I told him that I had ordered the increase and he didnt say anything more. Mr Toskain then tried to get me to increase speed further but I just looked at him and said we were now moving fast enough for me and left it at that. Edmonda finally got fed up with the noise in the background and ordered everyone to either shut up or leave the bridge. I finally spoke up and informed her that she had said enough. She looked at me and shut up before going back to her station. I also told Mr Toskain if he didnt have anything else to say that he could leave the bridge. He turned and left without a word.
Stardate 7399.7 the Ambassador appeared on the bridge and asked me how things were going. I told him that we were maintaining course and speed and we would arrive in 1.2 star dates. He seemed satisfied with the answer and soon left the bridge.
Stardate 7399.9 Mr Barlow Thun appears on the bridge in a slovenly condition and tried to inquire as to when we would be arriving at our destination and started mumbling about going faster to get there quicker. I bluntly told him if he had nothing better to say than this, he could get off the bridge as his presence was not required nor desired at this time. He opened his mouth to say something else and I told him to get off the bridge and to stay off it while I was on shift. He then mumbled something about informing the Ambassador and I told him to do so. He turned and left the bridge muttering. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
Stardate 7400.8 we have arrived at Sector 1806 and started scanning the region. It is a trinary star system and we were finding evidence of a large space battle between the Klingons and Kzinti. I ordered sensors on full as we slowly moved through the system. First we had to move through the Oort cloud and found the remains of Klingon vessels and bodies floating through space. We slowly approached the main planet when the Red Alert claxon sounded. Sensors had picked up a drone approaching from the surface. We managed to destroy it before it got close enough to do any damage. Moments later the captain contacted me and asked what was going on. I informed him of the drone launch and destruction. I then ordered the vessel to close in with the planet and got Zenebe to do a full sensor scan as we rotated around it. We found evidence of a Klingon vessel crashed on the surface with no survivors. The atmosphere was thin, corrosive and hot with the average temp showing 100C. There was an anomalous reading down by the vessel that we couldnt penetrate. As we were picking up no life signs I ordered the ship to continue exploring the system. After two hours we found more evidence of the space battle with a total of six ships destroyed four Klingons and two Kzinti with no survivors. I then informed the Kzinti ambassador about our findings. He asked for communications to contact his superiors and it was granted. I then ordered the ship to return to the first planet where the strange reading was and started to figure out what we would need to do to investigate further.
Stardate 7401.2 we have entered orbit of the planet and our scans still cannot penetrate the strange shielding down on the surface. Meet with the Captain and Ambassador to discuss our options and Ambassador Keyes is not sure if his operative is down on the surface and wants it checked out. It is decided to send a shuttle down to the surface with a small team to investigate. Lt Cmdr Zenebe is ordered to put together a small team to head down and investigate.
Stardate 7401.3 the shuttle heads down to the surface with Zenebe and her team. Hannah is the pilot along with Whitedeer, Delora, a medic and a security guard in full vac suits. We lose radio contact soon after it penetrates the atmosphere. We manage to follow it with sensors until it reaches the surface. Now we wait to find out what is going on. I am also finding it strange that the Captain has not resumed his duties on the bridge. Looking at the ships log, Dr TLoc has taken him off active duty due to medical reasons. I decided to have a talk with the Dr and found out that the Captain had been subject to a mind meld while at the Kzinti dinner back at the station. The Dr was not comfortable with returning him to duty and had now confined him to quarters as his emotional state was too unstable to function properly. So as of right now I am in command of Endeavor again until further notice. This does not look good for the Kzinti. Old fashions please me best.
Stardate 7401.5 contacted by the Captain about the status of the away team, I told him that we had not been contacted since they had landed. He was worried about the team and ordered me to take a shuttle down on a rescue mission. I grabbed a security detail and two engineers and headed down to the planet. Going through the upper atmosphere was a rough ride; the heat was intense enough to burn off part of the skin. We got a reading of where the other shuttle was and soon approached it. Sensors showed that it wouldnt be able to lift off as it was too badly damaged from the entry. Hannah is not as good of a pilot as he seems to think. The scorch marks were horrendous. I made contact with Zenebe once we got close enough and told them that we would be picking them up in moments. She seemed rattled by what they had found and said that the team was ready to leave now. We made the rendezvous with them and proceeded back to the ship. It was rather crowded on the shuttle with all the people on board along with some boxes of samples of the stuff they had found.
Stardate 7401.6 we arrive back on board just as the Red Alert claxon went off again. I headed to the bridge as soon as the vac suit came off and entered the bridge in time to see a Klingon D7 cruiser entering the system. Scans showed that everyone on board appeared to be dead except for one person. I ordered the transporter chief to get a lock on the lone survivor and we got him on board and he was immediately shipped to Medical. Nothing else was alive on the ship. I then ordered Delora to take an engineering team over to try and figure out what had happened to the ship. I gave them one hour to investigate.
Stardate 7401.7 the next thing I knew there was an incident in Medical. A security team was ordered to attend immediately to arrest Lt Hannah. I decided to attend to find out what was going on. I arrived to chaos. Lt Hannah was under guard and Lt Whitedeer spotted me and demanded that I take him away. I asked what was going on and it appeared that Hannah had injected the Klingon with an unknown substance. The strange thing was that he had been suffering from a virus of some kind and the substance injected into him had stopped the progression and appeared to be helping him. I ordered the security team to take Hannah to the brig and watched while they worked on the Klingon. He was soon stabilized and I left Medical to go have a chat with Lt Hannah. He just seemed to be digging himself deeper and deeper holes. Theres small choice in rotten apples. I got to the brig and spoke with Hannah. I told him that he would be facing a variety of charges. I asked him where the hypo-spray had come from and he told me that there was a small metal box in his quarters. I asked where it had come from and he admitted getting it from Mr Barlow Thun when he was on the station at Zeta Omicron during the incident. I told him that things were not looking good and maybe it was time to start thinking about a new career. I then attended to his quarters with Lt Gordon and found the box exactly where he said it was. We opened the box and found it contained eleven vials with room for one more, presumably the one he had used. We made sure that we did not contaminate the box any further and I took it to Zenebe in sciences. Luckily Whitedeer was there and I ordered them to investigate the box and vials and to inform me of their findings immediately. They went to work and I left heading to the bridge. We continued analyzing the data we had gathered
Stardate 7401.9 Zenebe contacts me and asks me to attend sciences as they have analyzed the box and vials. I attended to find Toskain wandering around the science department. Zenebe shooed him into her office while we had a quiet discussion about the findings. The box contained DNA from various people including Lt William Lancer who had not been on this vessel for some time now and Lt Hannah. Also found was traces of Mr Barlow Thun and a couple other unidentified people. The vials all contained some sort of chemical formula that worked on Klingon DNA. Whitedeer then said it was tailored for the specific virus that was affecting the Klingons. The one thing they were curious about was the conflicting DNA concerning Lancer and William Hannah. A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! I then informed them that this conversation and corresponding file were now classified to the three of us along with the Captain and Dr TLoc. I then told them that Hannah was actually Lt Lancer and his identity had been changed by Star Fleet Command. I told them to continue their investigations and I would deal with Lt Hannah. We then noticed Cmdr Toskain looking at the file in Zenebes office. He must have a higher security clearance than I thought. I stopped and asked him what he was doing. He said he was curious about what was going on. I then informed him that this file was classified and that he was not allowed to talk to anyone about this file except for the Ambassador. I then told him that he was to inform the Ambassador about Barlow Thuns involvement in this matter. Toskain said he would be happy to inform the Ambassador about Mr Thun.
Stardate 7402.1 the Klingon woke up in medical and immediately attacked and incapacitated the guard on duty and headed towards impulse engineering. When the Red Alert claxon went off the Captain called me demanding to know what was going on. I had to inform him that the Klingon had awakened and managed to escape from his guard. He was not happy to hear that this guy was loose on his ship. The chaos that ensued was not nice. He ended up getting into a vac suit and getting out onto the outside of the ship. He managed to kill eleven engineers in the process. I ordered his recapture and waited for the security detail to recapture him.
Stardate 7402.3 we finally managed to get a transporter lock on him on the outside hull and got him back on the ship. When he rematerialized he managed to kill one of the security detail before he was stunned. The Ambassador was on the bridge with me as this happened and we were shocked to see the turbo-lift door open and the Captain stepped out wearing his pyjamas and carrying an antique phaser. He demanded to know what was going on and I informed him that we had just recaptured him with the ensuing casualties. He was taken to Medical and as soon as he was cleared he was put in the brig under guard. The Captain then asked if we had figured out who this Klingon was. The Ambassador spoke up and said his name was Koloth. You could have heard a pin drop when the rest of the crew realized that the Ambassador knew who he was. The Captain was not very happy to find out that the Ambassador knew this Klingon and had appeared to be expecting him here. I then managed to convince the Captain to return to his quarters as I contacted the Dr. As we were waiting a Kzinti ship appeared in the system and immediately destroyed the Klingon vessel. Our Kzinti Ambassador was unable to stop them from destroying the ship. I was happy that we had got all the information off of it before it was taken out.
Stardate 7403.0 I spoke with Dr TLoc and she informed me that the Captain was still declared medically unfit for duty. I asked her if I could speak with him and she agreed. I headed to his quarters and found a security detail outside his door. He was not allowed to leave his quarters. I then spoke with him concerning Lt Hannah and as per Star Fleet regulations informed him that we would have to hold a board of inquiry about the incident in Medical. He agreed to head the panel with myself and Dr TLoc. He appeared agitated and his demeanor was aggressive. I asked how he was doing and he hesitated before answering me that he felt unsettled. I told him that we were continuing our investigation of the system and I would keep him informed of the situation.
Stardate 7403.4 Dr TLoc visits the Captain and whatever happened during this event it forced her to go down to the gym and attempt to work out. I heard from the guard that was escorting her that she was in an aggressive mood after speaking with the Captain. After trying to punch out the dummy she ended up in the middle of the floor and meditated for a while. So what ever had affected the Captain was doing something to her whenever she had a discussion with him. Be not afraid of shadows.
Stardate 7403.6 I was debating what to do while sitting on the bridge when long range sensors picked up a large Klingon fleet approaching at warp speed. I ordered the ship to head away from the system immediately in a trajectory opposite the fleet. I also ordered the weapons systems on standby in case they got close enough. Once we got far enough away from the system I ordered a course change back towards the Federation border. We were also picking up another fleet coming from Kzinti space. I was glad to be leaving.
Stardate 7403.8 the Ambassador appears on the bridge and started arguing with me about returning to the system. I showed him the sensor log of all the ships now rapidly approaching and told him that we wouldnt have a chance of surviving if we were attacked as a lone ship. He spoke eloquently about the need for information and after a while I finally agreed to head back close enough to launch a probe. Talkers are not good doers.
Stardate 7404.2 we launched one of our last two probes. The last one was under the direct authorization of the Captain. The probe launched and shot away towards the system. I then ordered the ship to turn around and to carefully head back.
Stardate 7404.4 engineering contacts the bridge informing me that one of the warp nacelles is about to go down as the dilithium crystals have developed severe cracks. They tell me it will take two hours to replace. If we dont, warp will only last for about an hour. I authorized the swap out and told them to be quick about it. We then had to continue approaching the system under impulse power.
Stardate 7404.5 we finally got close enough to pick up the signal from the probe. We started picking up images of another battle between the Klingons and the Kzinti. I started getting annoyed when the images started blurring on us on the bridge and the names started vanishing from the ships. Zenebe started checking and soon realized that someone on board was classifying the images as fast as we were watching them. We soon realized that it was someone from the Ambassadors party that had a higher security clearance than the rest of us doing the classifying of the material. I wasnt too happy about this and Zenebe was getting livid. Truth hath a quiet breast.
Stardate 7404.6 helm reports a lone Klingon vessel rapidly approaching the system. Engineering is still swapping the crystals so right now we are a sitting duck. I ordered helm to try and hide and hoped that we could get warp back in time. Unfortunately the Klingons spotted us and headed straight towards us. The next thing I knew the ship launched a massive attack against us overloading the shield grid and knocking it out with lots of interior damage. Explosions were happening all over the ship. Then the view screen exploded and most of the panels on the bridge overloaded. I then felt the tingle of a transporter signal and decided to hit the deck. Its a good thing I did as a Klingon warrior materialized right on top of the command chair. Half of him was in the chair and he screamed in agony. I thought I had escaped being hit but I felt a sharp kick in my side. I looked down to see a dagger sticking me just under my ribs. I must have been in shock as I didnt really feel any pain. He had not been alone as the rest of them dropped grenades and then were transported off the bridge. I could hear people screaming in the background and realized that most of the bridge crew were now dead. Zenebe was crouched under the science station and I ordered her to get down to aux-con or the emergency bridge and try to get back control of the ship. She headed into the turbo-lift. Nothing was working on the bridge and the body stuck in the command chair looked rather obscene. I managed to get to my feet, strange I didnt feel the dagger anymore but I knew it was there. The only sounds were the fire suppression system going off putting out the fires. The smell of burnt wiring and plastic was strong in the air. The turbo-lift doors opened and Zenebe stepped out and said the lifts were down. I told her to use the access tubes and she headed down to the bottom of the ship. About this time we heard a Klingon voice over the ships intercom. He said his name was Kang and that he had control of main engineering and he ordered us to surrender. He then said that he would start shutting down life support in moments if we didnt comply. There was nothing left on the bridge so I headed down the access tube and got down to deck 4 and Medical. It was chaos. By now the bottom four decks had been shut down. At least Whitedeer was on the ball and had some technicians taking apart the panels that contained life support override and had people with tricorders overriding the commands coming from Engineering. I stood there for a few moments until she spotted me and asked where the doctor was, she said the computer core and then spotted the dagger sticking out of my side and ordered me to be treated. As there were far more serious cases that were coming in I just turned and headed to the core. The worst is death, and death will have his day. At this time we heard another Klingon voice coming over the intercom, he started clapping his hands as he congratulated Kang for taking over our ship. His name was Kor and he told Kang to stop being stupid and to get back to his own ship. We then heard something about a revolt on Kangs ship and I figured that maybe the Captain had taken action when the fight started. I got to the computer to see Dr TLoc and Zenebe working feverishly away at the computer. The Dr spotted the dagger sticking in me and before I could say a word she reached over and pulled it out. My last thought was that the damn thing hurt more coming out than it did going in. Damn that bloody Vulcan I thought as I fell unconscious. I am nothing if not critical.
Stardate 7404.9 the next thing I knew I was waking up in Medical, the place was packed with injured people. I managed to attract the attention of one of the staff, as I couldnt see either Dr TLoc or Whitedeer and he said I was healed enough to be released. I then asked where the Captain was and found he was in the main meeting room and that the Klingons were back on board but this time peacefully. I also asked about the butchers bill and was told that 61 officers and crew had been killed during the fight. Most of them from the explosions when the Klingons first attacked. I managed to make it to the meeting room and found the Captain along with the Ambassador, Toskain, Sirinda, along with Dr TLoc, Whitedeer, Zenebe and a man who was called Kirzon Dax, the Ambassadors Klingon agent. The Klingons were Kor and Kang. They were in the process of discussing the virus that was currently going through the Klingons like a wildfire. Dr TLoc thought she had an idea on how to cure it but said she would require a Klingon to use as a guinea pig. Kang said that he was infected already and volunteered himself for the treatment. He left with TLoc, Whitedeer and Zenebe as we continued our talks with Kor. He told us that the Klingon High Command had wiped out two systems that had been inhabited by infected Klingons and he was worried that the main fleet was also following them. Also during the battle, the Captain had managed to get across to the Klingon ship, Andruss and caused havoc thus forcing the Klingons back to their ship. He had made use of Lt Hannah and Cmdr Toskain in his endeavors against them. The discussion now was on what to do with these renegades from the Klingon Empire. I also asked about the Kzinti ambassador that was on board and found that he had engaged the Klingon dagger team that he had encountered and wiped most of them out before he was killed in the fight. It was decided that the Ambassador and most of his staff would continue to try and help the Klingons while the medical team was doing its thing. I also spoke with Dr TLoc and retrieved the Klingon dagger that she had removed from me; I wanted it to hang on the wall to remind me of the Klingons.
Stardate 7405.0 the bridge contacts us to state that long range sensors were picking up a massive Klingon fleet approaching and behind them was a huge anomaly that was totally alien to our sensors. The discussion now turned to the cure and the Dr wasnt sure if she had perfected one yet. We decided to leave the system before the Klingon fleet arrived and were forced to keep the speed down when Lt Whitedeer started screaming at us as she was working on a crystalline structure that would cure the Klingons. The other important piece on information we received from Koloth while he was watching them work on Kang was that we may want to get to station Zeta Omicron really soon as he had heard a rumor that it would be attacked by the Orions. When he was asked how he knew, he said that he had hired them to attack it. Comparisons are odorous. We were starting to get worried when the lead formation of the Klingon Battle Group approached close enough to engage us. The Captain then called on Lt Hannah to try and contact the Messier, both the Captain and I had an idea that they would be close by. Sure enough the ship appeared a few minutes later by de-cloaking in front of us. The Captain then spoke to Captain Hij and he agreed to help us but said to make it quick, the fleet approaching us was huge. Lt Whitedeer finally managed to create a cure for the affliction and we gave all the information to Kor so they could at least try and stop the genocide that their leaders were trying to inflict. The Ambassador agreed to continue on with the Klingons and went on board the Klingon Ship Andruss along with Kirzon Dax. At this time the Captain strongly recommended to Lt Hannah that he transfer over to the Messier before he was formally brought up on charges from Medical. He agreed to do so along with Sirinda, who was now asked to continue with the operation the Ambassador had started. The Ambassador then ordered Cmdr Toskain and Mr Thun to remain on board with us after he was gone but Cmdr Toskain had other ideas. As Hannah and Sirinda were being transferred, Toskain appeared in the transporter room with Mr Thun and in front of the Captain forcefully threw Barlow Thun onto the transporter pad and cheerfully waved goodbye as he was sent over with the others. Now he was the Messiers problem not ours. Most of the crew cheered when they found out he had been sent over to the Messier. We cannot all be masters.
Stardate 7409.6 we have now crossed the Neutral Zone back into Federation space. We have been trying to contact Zeta Omicron but have been unable to get through some serious interference; we think its from the Orions. Zenebe has come up with an idea to use the deflector dish to blast a signal through the interference but we wont know if it works.
Stardate 7409.7 sensors had picked up a vessel sitting dead in space, we have also received a distress call so I have ordered the ship to drop out of warp and investigate even though I am loath to do so. We are a Federation vessel so we must assist in any way possible if this ship is Federation. As soon as we dropped out of warp and sensors started picking up the signals coming from the ship it seemed strange. They had warp power but were not moving and a strange shield was active and shielding a lower deck in the hull of the ship. It took the computer a few moments to bring up the records of the vessel, the Molybdenum Mallard, registry CV-87445790. Before I had a chance to contact the ship, the Captain was asking why we had stopped. When I informed him that we had encountered a merchant vessel that was stationary in space and requesting assistance, I also told him that a shield was active and blocking access to the ship he ordered me to go to Yellow Alert. Then he ordered a security detail to prepare to board the vessel. He told me to keep the captain of the vessel occupied until they headed over. I then contacted the Mallard again and managed to speak with the Captain, one Fred E. Vegas. He informed me that they had no propulsion as their chief engineer had been killed in an accident and he had locked out the control system before he died. I then asked him about the shield that he had active and he tried to say that they didnt have a shield active. I informed him that our sensors on this ship were very good and that he was now lying to me, a Star Fleet Officer and that I had grave concerns about his vessel. I finally got tired of listening to his story and told him to drop the shield now or prepare to be boarded. He continued trying to stall me and finally I told him that I had heard enough and to prepare to be boarded by a security team. The Captain went over with the security team just as the strange shield came down and I was informed that we were now picking up the life signs of a dozen Orions and that the hold that had been shielded contained dilithium crystals. I managed to warn the Captain that Orions were on board and to consider the crew hostile. He managed to take over the vessel with minimum resistance and we arrested the captain of the vessel along with his crew. The Orions were segregated by themselves as they were considered hostile. I was then told to interview Mr Vegas and his crew as the Captain was now in the process of seizing the vessel under proceeds of war. I found numerous articles in Federation regulations that would justify us seizing the Mallard. I then had an interview with Mr Vegas where he protested most vehemently about his ships seizure. He wouldnt answer questions regarding the Orions and I told him that he would be arrested for conspiracy and suspicion of piracy in his association with the Orions. I pray thee cease thy counsel, which falls into my ears as profitless as water in a sieve.
When I asked him if he had spoken to the Klingons, he became very vague in his answers and finally admitted that he may had spoken with them a few days ago. When I asked if he had any record of this he finally admitted that their may be something in his computer on board the Mallard. By now Captain Cartwright was in the process of putting a prize crew on board and told me to make it quick in getting the information. I then accompanied Mr Vegas back on board and watched him pull up the files and indeed there was a log entry dated Stardate 7401.2 where the Klingons had met with Mr Vegas along with the Orions that were found on board and agreed to pay them to attack the Federation. By the looks of things, Koloth had been a very busy Klingon over the last little while. Im glad he had been removed off the ship before we left Klingon space. I downloaded all of the files that pertained to this incident and informed the Captain that I had found the information we needed. He told me to get back on board and to prepare to head to station Zeta Omicron with the Mallard in tow. Two dozen volunteers had stepped forward and were now on board. The Officer Commanding was Ensign Lassaminn, now promoted to Lt. The rest are ENS Olds, (Nav) ENS Grendle, (Sec) PO2 Jorgensen, L Crew Wing, Crew Allmer, PO3 Johnston, L Crew McLemore, L Crew VSheen, L Crew Zeller, PO3 Chopin, PO3 Deeringham, PO3 Greene, Recruits Wong, Yonkers, PO1 Mathers, PO2 Xavier, PO2 Kiley, PO3 Washington, PO3 Wyman, PO3 Evans, Staff Sgt Ford, Cpl Benjamin, Lce Cpl Brown, Lce Cpl Wilson, PFC Allen, Pte Wyeman.
Stardate 7409.9 proceed towards station Zeta Omicron at maximum warp with the Mallard in tow. I was now taking some much needed sack time as I had now been awake for almost a day.
Image taken of Endeavor and Mallard arriving at Zeta Omicron before combat
Stardate 7410.0 I had only been asleep for an hour when Cmdr Toskain from the bridge alerted the whole ship to a broadcast coming from Star Fleet Command. It was a signal coming from a station just outside the Klingon border and involved the large anomaly that we had picked up on sensors as we were leaving the Klingon system. The station was showing a sensor log of the Klingon fleet approaching the anomaly. I recognized the Klingon ship as one of the newest ones in the fleet. Much larger than Endeavor, it fired all of its weapons when it got close enough and they did nothing. Then the thing launched some sort of magnetic weapon and when it hit the closest Klingon ship it just disappeared, totally with nothing left. The flagship then launched a second attack and it also did nothing. Then the thing launched at the flagship and when it hit the flagship just vaporized out of existence. Star Fleet then said that the thing was now on course to Earth and was requesting assistance from any Star Fleet vessel. Toskain said that they had tried to get through but there was still too much interference ahead. The Captain ordered Zenebe to prepare to send a message via the deflector dish but we would have to drop out of warp in order to do so. This was going to take some time to prepare. There was never yet philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently.
Stardate 7410.1 we dropped out of warp and using the deflector dish sent a message burst towards station Zeta Omicron warning them that an attack from the Orions was imminent. We then continued on at maximum speed towards the station.
Stardate 7410.3 we entered the system around station Zeta Omicron and sensors picked up a half dozen enemy vessels. The Orions were already attacking. We headed towards the station with the Mallard and engaged the enemy. Imagine my surprise when one of the ships was recognized as the Violet Valkrie and Captain Sloan, he appeared to be in charge and I told Captain Cartwright that we had to capture him. We managed to destroy three of the vessels and drove the rest off but not before the Mallard was destroyed in the battle. We also made sure we captured the Valkrie and the only survivor Captain Sloan. He was taken into custody and placed in the brig. And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. We started looking for survivors and managed to find six that had made it to the escape pods before the Mallard was destroyed. The survivors were PO2 Jorgensen, PO2 Kiley, PO3 Chopin, L Crew McLemore, L Crew VSheen, Recruit Wong; we managed to pick them up while we were putting a medical team on the station led by Lt Whitedeer. We managed to get a team onto one of the enemy vessels looking for evidence and records and managed to pull some files out of the computer. They were brought back on board and we started analyzing them.
Image taken from Zeta Omicron
Stardate 7410.7 we finally finished analyzing the data and it appeared that the Orions had launched multiple attacks against the Federation. We realized that Shresha-Cygnus was another target and the Captain ordered us to head there right now. We didnt even wait for the medical team to get back on board. We tried contacting Shresha-Cygnus but were blocked by the same interference as before. The Captain then held a senior staff meeting and tried to figure out how to prevent the Orions from attacking and decided to use the financial records we had recovered to try and split up the forces attacking. We tried to disguise the signal we sent and were unsuccessful as the Orions still attacked in force. We also picked up the signal from Star Fleet showing the anomaly heading towards Earth and wiping anything out in its path that appeared to attack it. We watched in vain as a science station disappeared when it tried to communicate with the alien.
Stardate 7411.1 we arrived outside Shresha-Cygnus and attacked the Orions. The fight was furious and we were finally forced to retreat after inflicting some serious damage to the Orions. As they were not successful in penetrating the defences they finally fled empty handed. But men are men, the best sometimes forget.
Stardate
7413.5 we finally
entered orbit around Shresha-Cygnus and took stock of the situation. It
appeared the Orions
had launched multiple co-ordinated attacks and were unsuccessful in most of
them. By now the communications channels were jammed with traffic dealing with
the anomaly that was now rapidly approaching Earth. Star Fleet even launched
Stardate
7414.0 official orders
come in from HQ;
Stardate 7414.2 Captain Cartwright leaves Endeavor taking all senior staff the rank of Lt and above, other than Cmdrs TLoc and Zenebe. He wishes me well and congratulates me on my upcoming promotion and probable assignment as Commanding Officer of Endeavor. I assure him that I will keep in touch as he leaves for his new ship. At this time the science auxiliarys that were on board are reassigned back to Shresha-Cygnus. Cmdrs TLoc and Zenebe will leave for their new postings as soon as we reach Izar. Some of the remaining officers have also requested reassignment and will be posted when we get to Izar. I have been told that I will be remaining on board and the Engineer in charge of the refit will be Lt Cmdr Darryl Reynolds already waiting at Izar.
Stardate 7435.0 we have arrived in orbit of Izar and Endeavor arrives at dry dock and takes its place behind the three heavy cruisers undergoing refit. They are the USS Merrimac, NCC-1715; USS Monitor, NCC-1713; and the USS Hornet, NCC-1714. Also observed are four ships under construction at Izar. They are all the new heavy cruisers, USS Androcus, NCC-1738; USS Astrad, NCC-1739; USS Mondoloy, NCC-1740; and USS Alfr, NCC-1741. Lt Cmdr Reynolds the engineer in charge of the refit arrives on board. The paperwork he produces is signed off by the acting Chief Engineer, Lt Delora and Cmdr Flynn the OIC. The mass exodus of crew was amazing. Star Fleet has now dealt with the anomaly that approached Earth. The other note of interest is that Ensign Diego and his sister disappeared from the science and research facility when the anomaly wrecked its havoc when going through Earths system. My gut feeling is we havent seen the last of Mr Diego and his demented sister. Hopefully Im not the one that has to deal with them later.
Image taken from Izar
The anomaly is now code named Vger.
If I am lucky I might get some time off to rest and relax, but I doubt
it. As OIC I am expected to remain on board. The incident regarding
This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden, demi-paradise, this fortress built by nature for herself against infection and the hand of war, this happy breed of men, this little world, this precious stone set in the silver sea, which serves it in the office of a wall or as a moat defensive to a house, against the envy of less happier lands, this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
Stardate 7435.1 Star Fleet Engineering starts tearing down the warp nacelles. The remaining crew and I now have about six hours to remove all the personal effects before the ship is stripped down to the bulkheads in preparation for replacements. I am also told that the new crew will not be back on board for probably 4 or 5 months as the ship will not be habitable until then. I have been assigned an office to use in the Star Fleet annex on Izar and I think I will try to rent an apartment rather than staying in the Star Fleet barracks. I have also applied for official leave; I think I will head home to Earth to visit the family. I havent seen them for almost five years. I have also had some time to speak with the officers that will be returning to Endeavor when the refit is done or at least I hope so. First on my list was Toskain. During my interview with him I told him that he was my prospective first officer because no one else coming on board had his rank. I also recommended him for the Command Course that would be held at Izar in the next couple of days. Next on my list was Markon Delora, I met with him on the beach at one of the resorts as I had decided to take some time to relax before I left for home. We sat talking on the beach just before he left for Tellar to attend a demolitions course. He was looking forwards to the course and he was rather subdued when I told him that he was likely the senior engineer coming back on board after Lt Cmdr Reynolds was done and off the ship. I was expecting him to step forward and attempt to become the chief engineer on board. There was also a Shresha-Cygnan engineer being assigned but I wasnt expecting him for a couple of months yet. He would probably be here when Delora returned from course. The rest of my interviews will wait until I return from my trip
Stardate 7451.9 I am now headed home. Star Fleet has granted me six weeks leave so I am using them to head home to visit for a month before I come back here to Izar. All my stuff is now in storage waiting for me to return. I look for a place to live once Im back.
Stardate 7555.2 I have returned to Izar from my vacation and Im glad I went. It was a good holiday and I managed to visit a lot of old friends and family. I have taken a look at Endeavor and it is now down to the bare frame. Everything that could be taken off has been and now they start replacing everything with newer parts. Ive got two days before I report back to duty so time to move my stuff out of storage and into the condo I rented for the next six months. That and sit down and look over my prospective crew roster. That and maybe look into Zoltan. I havent heard anything lately. Star Fleet Command has finally released the list of medals and commendations awarded to USS Endeavor and crew for the Klingon and Orion incidents. Endeavor has been awarded three Unit Commendations for Diplomacy, Service, and Valor. Plus a Unit Combat Action ribbon for our actions against the Orions at Shresha Cygnus. Also Unit Ribbons for combat against the Klingons and Orions. The last was Federation and Star Fleet Unit Citations, the ship has two of these each now. I have been awarded an Intel Silver Star that has been classified so I guess I wont be showing it to other people. Its different from my other star as this one has only four points. That and all the ribbons and badges that the ship had got I have now too. The last was a Command Achievement Medal. The other officers that had been on board also got the same medals with the medical department all getting Life Saving medals. Unfortunately Star Fleet Command has classified the whole incident as Security Clearance GREEN
Intel Silver Star Command Achievement Combat Ribbon (hand to hand)
Stardate
7560.0 I have reported
in to Star Fleet Command Headquarters, Izar. As Endeavor is officially under
refit, my orders were to report to Commodore Ichiro Wong, the head of Fleet
Maintenance at Izar. I had a lively chat with Bettina, the Commodores
receptionist. She was quite friendly and a looker, a blonde with brilliant
green eyes and seemed to be able to natter on about nothing.
But
soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is
the sun.
She then passed me off to Lt Roberta Morris, the Commodores assistant.
She was a well built woman who looked like she worked out with black hair and
eyes. She reminded me of some of my native friends from
Stardate 7562.1 I have my interview with Lt Dinas Thieri. He is currently an instructor for jungle survival training at the Academy on Izar. He was quite old for a rookie line officer and he told me in his Italian accent that he was tired of being a Lt and seeing all his young students advancing past him in rank. He was easily in his forties and did quite a bit of muttering to himself. He was a student of the Klingon race. He was fluent in the language and knew quite a bit about their houses and customs. He wanted to see my Klingon dagger but it was at my condo and I said I would let him see it at the first opportunity. Looking over his record, he had skills in some sciences but more in communications so I decided to place him in the Communications Department and seeing he was a senior Lt more than likely the Comm Chief.
Stardate 7569.8 I have my interview with Lt Jg TAna. She is a female Vulcan recently graduated from the Academy but most of her file required a YELLOW CLEARANCE. This was interesting. I didnt delve too much into her background in my talk with her. Only that I expected her to speak Federation Standard while on duty, she did a lot of talking in Vulcan as she informed me that she found Standard to be much too confining of a language to express herself properly. She was not to forthright about her background but was highly competent in the Comm Dept so thats where I will assign her. She had a very good analytical background and she might be useful. I told her that Dinas Thieri would be her superior officer in Communications. When she would be needed she would be contacted.
Stardate 7602.6 Lt Rastus Rune my newest engineering officer arrives at Izar and is put to work immediately along with Lt Delora who has also just returned from Tellar. Markon is positively bouncing up and down from his successful demolitions course. Hes itching to blow something up.
Stardate 7605.2 I finally get to sit down and speak with Lt Rune about his duties on the ship and plans for the future. He was like the usual Cygnan, not to much personality but was a good engineer. I told him that when Lt Cmdr Reynolds was done and off the ship, that he would probably be assisting Lt Delora. I also told him to keep an eye out for problems getting parts for the ship. I had been hearing about shortages lately and didnt want to lose what was ours. Also showing up in my paperwork was a request from Lt Cmdr Toskain to be released from his assignment from Endeavor in order to take over command of one of the training vessels, USS Perseus, NCC-544. Looking further, the current CO was much older than usual and was looking to get out of space. He was one of Toskains instructors during the Command Course. Well, what do I do now? I was hoping to have him as my first officer but I guess I cant stand in his way for this. You dont get to many offers for command being from the sciences. The orders dont have to be signed off for a few weeks so I can wait for a bit yet. A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
Stardate 7636.9 Lt Whitedeer arrives at Izar from her round about the universe tour from Zeta Omicron. Looking at her service record from the last few months made for hilarious reading. When I speak to her next I will have to get her side of the story. Needless to say she had been assigned as CMO of USS Alva, NCC-531. It looks like she had hitched a ride and the CO decided to keep her. Then the ship headed the other way and she was hard pressed to get off. Lt Lee is temporarily assigned to the Monitor as a helmsman for trials and maybe the shakedown cruise. I hope I can get him back when I need him. The shortage of manpower is getting ridiculous. Every vessel is going to be short officers and crew.
Stardate 7746.1 had an interesting conversation with Neville Taves, the CO of Merrimac. He was an upperclassman to me at the academy. He was about to leave on the shakedown cruise and had just been promoted to Captain. He told me that the games that had been played at the academy were still going on but at a grander scale. Theres small choice in rotten apples. Soon after came the transfer orders of Lt Lee to the Monitor signed off by Captain Taves from the Merrimac. Thanks a lot Neville. I had to do some fast writing to get the orders reversed so I could hang on to him.
Stardate 7748.6 I called a staff meeting for all my senior officers still available to meet in four hours in the conference room Alpha, 3rd floor.
Stardate
7749.0 after the meagre
group of officers assembled, I was looking out at uniforms with one stripe or
less on the sleeve. I also spotted a young man standing by the door wearing a
grey midshipmans
uniform with no rank. He looked like a pilot. I asked him if he would like to
join us and he said that he had flown Lt Lee here from the Monitor and he had
to wait until he was ready to take him back. He introduced himself as Tavis
Trudeau. I asked him if he was a relation to Commodore Trudeau who had been
killed on the
Nina Carmichael looked a little dazed as he left as I informed her that she was now acting Chief Science Officer. She was the only Lt left in science.
Stardate 7924.5 the following message is sent by Star Fleet Command on all channels
MESSAGE TO THE FLEET:
STARFLEET COMMAND HEADQUARTERS, SAN
FRANCISCO, EARTH
IT IS OUR SAD DUTY TO INFORM THE FLEET THAT
ADMIRAL NOGURA HAS SUFFERED A MASSIVE STROKE ON STARDATE 7923.9.
HE IS STILL CURRENTLY IN A COMA.
MESSAGES OF CONDOLENCE MAY BE DIRECTED TO VICE-ADMIRAL THOMAS, DCOS,
STARFLEET COMMAND; TERRA.
VICE-ADMIRAL THOMAS, DCOS, STARFLEET
NOW ACTING COMMANDER IN CHIEF, STARFLEET
Stardate
7950.0 a contingent of
marine cadets have arrived from Earth. This is the first graduating class
taught by Commodore Storm, the new Commandant of the
Stardate 7957.1 Lt Delora has passed off some paperwork to me concerning dilithium and anti-matter. It still requires my signature along with Commander Reynolds. I signed off on it and then tried to contact Reynolds. He was inside the new station and could not be contacted via radio. I was making arrangements to get to him to get the paperwork done so we could start doing engine and reactor tests.
Stardate 7957.2 I was still trying to contact Reynolds when a request for a security detail for Lt Delora from my security chief came to my attention. I really didnt think much of it and let it happen. Then I was contacted by Cmdr Toskain from the Perseus. He had been asked to transport a marine detail under the direction of Lt Svensson on the surface. I asked him to assist and he had no problems doing so. This proved to be a big mistake as Svensson allowed a whole bunch of his trainees to take part in this mission. They overwhelmed the station personnel on Izar platform 323 and started causing havoc. I was in the emergency bridge on Endeavor, seeing as the bridge was not connected to power yet and aux-con was being converted for the Medusans, with Lt TAna working away when the radio went nuts. A marine screamed into the radio about locking his signal onto something and beam it out now. I heard the Perseus responding and moments later the deck shuddered on Endeavor.TAna then reported that an explosion had just occurred outside of dry-dock. The ship started to tilt. What the hell was going on? Alarms started going off on the ship and planetary defence systems started activating. The next thing I know, the station tells me to disengage and get the hell out of there as the station had sustained severe damage. Some of the support gantries were buckled and the whole thing was starting to move. You may my glories and my state depose but not my griefs; still am I king of those.
I ordered TAna to start emergency disengagement protocols and ordered the Engineers to get impulse on-line now! Thinking quickly, I ordered Perseus to get close enough and then tractor beam us out of the station. We would be alright once we were floating in space. The ship started shuddering underneath me as the support arms separated and the lights flickered as we switched to battery power. Impulse was going to take some time to start up. I fired up the emergency thrusters and started backing up. Perseus arrived and pulled us out and we were then forced to turn our attention to Vanguard. Once impulse was on line, I ordered our tractor beam to assist Perseus in grabbing Vanguard Station to steady it. We managed to hold it long enough for Hornet to return from trials to finally stabilize it.
Stardate 7957.4 by now the alarms had quit sounding and Admiral Pleath, head of Star Fleet Operations, Izar had ordered a full stand down from the emergency except for the medical teams dealing with the 38 fatalities and over 2700 injured from the anti-deuterium explosion. I was contacted by Star Fleet and ordered to attend Izar at 08h00 local time for an informal board of inquiry consisting of Admiral Pleath, Commodore Wong, and Captain Stern. Everyone was told to have a written statement of their involvement in this matter. I then spent the next couple of hours getting the story from the people involved. The next morning, hours before the inquiry, I had to ream out Lt Delora about letting things get out of hand. That is when he told me that Lt Rune was the one who had asked for assistance. I then tried to contact Rune and found he was in the junior officer quarters down on Izar. Once I finally got them to go wake him up, we found that he was soused. He had gotten drunk the night before and had to be given some tri-ox before he could answer me. As his name was not listed for the inquiry, I ordered him back to the ship and confined him there until further notice.
Stardate
7958.4 an informal
board of inquiry convened concerned the accidental explosion in space. For
now, all Star Fleet is saying was that it was an industrial accident. Admiral
Pleath convened the board and said that everything said from this point was
not being recorded by any means. Ultimately it came down to my authority as
the senior officer and how I let things get out of hand. The only good thing
about it was that there were no written orders produced from me and that
helped. After everyone had
given their statements, the Admiral then said there was someone who wanted to
address the board. He then told the ensign at the door to let the person in.
Moments later he walked in with an alien male. He appeared to be Rigellian and
if looks could kill, the glare he gave me would have fried me on the spot. He
introduced himself as Zoltan Thrav, a representative of the company that was
supplying the anti-matter and anti-deuterium to Star Fleet.
Yond
Cassius has a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much; such men are
dangerous.
This was the Core
Sector Co-Operative Group of Companies: Specifically Core Sector Co-operative
Refineries.
He was not happy with
me and my crew and started talking about going to court and lawsuits and the
Admiral had to placate him before he would calm down. When he finally left, it
was by glaring daggers at me as he was escorted out. Well! Now I know who my
enemy is. All the marines are
ordered to take 20 stardates worth of engineering training, specifically
protocols dealing with containment fields. The transporter chief of Perseus is
given a written commendation for an excellent field test of the new
transporter system. The junior officers were told to keep the enthusiasm to a
minimum as officers in Star Fleet. Finally it was my turn as the senior
officer present. Mr Thrav has been screaming for my blood and wants me thrown
out of Star Fleet. I guess I got off lucky when Admiral Pleath gave me a
verbal reprimand and ordered a counselling session with him within the next 20
stardates. Admiral Pleath then
ordered a formal board of inquiry about this matter on Stardate 7998.4. As he
continued speaking, I saw him turn to Stern and whisper something in his ear.
Moments later
Stardate 7958.8 I held a meeting with the officers in the security division, including the new marines. I chewed them all out about the incident and bluntly told them if it happened again I would have their heads. I also confined Delora to the ship and in fact Nina Carmichael happily put him and Rune to work in the science labs below the bridge.
Stardate 7960.0 I have decided to speak with TAna about my problem with Zoltan. I think she might relish the challenge of this.
Stardate 7964.0 I was asleep in my bunk when I finally awoke to a persistent buzzing sound. It was the comm officer trying to rouse me. There were unauthorized transports going on inside Endeavor. In fact whoever had beamed aboard was now on the bridge and loud thumps and clangs had been heard from there. I proceeded to get a security team headed that way as I proceeded to get dressed and headed up to the bridge. I climbed up the last access tube and finally got a look inside. The command chair was gone amid a whole in the deck. The chair had been removed. In its place was hung some mosquito netting and a lawn chair was sitting where my command chair should be! All around me were bouncing jacks. They were all over along with little rubber balls. In the netting was a small piece of black paper. I reached up and grabbed it. Written on it in bright yellow was, Beware of Bees. I just sighed to myself. I then contacted TAna who was sitting as the duty officer to find out where the transfers had come from. I then started moving towards the temporary bridge. When I got there, TAna informed me that the series of transporter signals had come from Hornet. I then asked her to contact the Hornet and was answered by a laughing Roy Stern. He then told me to keep on my toes as you never know when something might happen. He then warned me that I might want to check my quarters. I asked where my command chair was and he just shrugged. I guess thats the price I pay for my own stupidity. That was the end of that conversation so I headed back to my quarters to see indeed someone had been there. My bed was now short sheeted and a pile of jacks was on top of it. As I checked the bed, I felt something under the sheet and reached in to find a data disk. I put it into the reader on my desk and an audio file came up from Captain Stern warning me that Zoltan was up to something concerning anti-matter and anti-deuterium. He warned me to watch out; this guy was seriously trying to get me. A plague on both your houses! They have made worms meat of me. At this point, I logged in a standing order to keeps our shields on minimum power to prevent further unauthorized entries onto Endeavor. Lt TAna was then briefed in shield operations and she quickly understood them. I now had to contact Star Fleet Maintenance and requisition another command chair module. I will have to hide it in the rest of the requisition forms. I will have to wait and see how long it takes to arrive. Old fashions please me best.
Stardate 7978.2 I have a meeting with TAna and ask her to look over my file on Zoltan. I then want her to start checking records and transactions dealing with him and his companies. I also let her listen to the data chip that Stern had given me about him. She then presents me with her findings about the crew. A couple of them catch my eye and it looks like I am going to have to do some more reading. I also ask her to check into the background of Yoshee Lee. She agrees and leaves.
Stardate 7998.4 a formal board of inquiry is held over the incident. STAR FLEET OFFICIAL REPORT on incident at Izar Shipyards: The incident has been classified as an industrial accident involving a faulty anti-matter transport and containment pod. The correction procedure and training upgrade for all persons involved has been completed. File closed Truth hath a quiet breast.
I was somewhat surprised to see that my name was not removed from the promotion list. By the looks of things, Star Fleet needs all the senior officers it can get. They cant afford to remove me from command as they dont have anyone to replace me. If I keep my nose clean, I may be promoted yet. I have all my crew working their butts off getting this ship ready for trials. We are on target to leave orbit within three weeks. The new cruisers are projected to start leaving dry-dock a month after we leave.Its almost my birthday again; soon I will be 27 and almost a Star Fleet Captain.
Stardate 8010.4 I am mildly surprised when Star Fleet Command confirms me as Commanding Officer of Endeavor. No word of my promotion yet, but it will come.
Stardate 8038.2 we have finished the refit ahead of schedule in most part by running everyone off their feet, mine included. I now know just about every square inch of Endeavor. One of things that I have found that has been added is a swimming pool. It replaced the bowling alley and it was one of the options I had in refitting the vessel. Things have actually gone pretty smoothly finishing off the last repairs. Now it time for the trials to see how she runs. All the new midshipmen and crewmen are now on board and are getting settled in. I am using the two command yeoman midshipman, Lori Young and Stephan Harpnell, to do most of the running around for me seeing as I still dont have a first officer. Dezba has been the acting first officer as she is now the most senior Lt on board. She has been busy getting the weapon systems up and running. Engineering is now up to speed on the new engines and I look forward to getting the most out of them right off the bat.
Stardate 8039.1 a request comes in from Commander Reynolds, he requests the assistance of Lt Delora on station Vanguard when we leave orbit again as our orders have come through. Once we head towards our new station I will let him transfer over. Endeavor has been ordered to lead the convoy headed southward to sector 2515. Along with Endeavor and Perseus, we will be accompanying three fleet tugs. The first is USS Bayer, NCC-3869, commanded by Lt Cmdr Marc Gastineau. It is carrying a star-liner pod and the other two are carrying the station. They are the USS Carpenter, NCC-3936, commanded by Lt Travis Bates and the USS Columbo, NCC-3857, commanded by Lt Wilma Daniels. Looking at the star-liner pod it appears that there is space available there for people to enjoy R & R of one sort or another. It also looks like there is plenty of room for the marines to do their training. This means that I am in command of a fleet convoy and we have to travel past Orion space, oh joy. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I hope this mission will get me my promotion.
Stardate 8073.6 we have completed the trials and have returned to Izar. I am impressed with the new engines. We were up to speed almost immediately and with the Medusan navigators on board we just flew around one of the hardest obstacle courses in Star Fleet. In fact we were only three tenths of a second behind the record set by Enterprise. The other thing I really liked is when we brought the engines up to maximum warp we managed to hit Warp 9.7 with relative ease. Mind you the ship cant handle that speed for too long but I now know that we can get up to this speed. The other things I really liked were the new weapons systems. The phasers no longer require the warp engines for power now that we have an auxiliary warp reactor on board for power. The photons loaded much faster and with them being moved lower down, sciences will no longer be squawking about damage to the science labs. The fire in the flint shows not till it be struck. I am going to get the engineering department to try and increase our cruising speed from Warp 5 up to 6 or maybe 7. Either way I am glad that things are finally starting to look up. I wasnt so happy the next time I returned to my quarters and found a surprise waiting for me. On my bunk was a pile of jacks and some rubber balls. Untune the strings and hark the discord that follows. They had been put there by midshipman Harpnell. The note said that they were from Lt Jg Zulema Glaviano, he had been Squires petty officer and with his death he had been promoted to a shuttle pilot and was now on the Hornet. Great someone else that seems to what to get me. The next bombshell was orders from Star Fleet to prepare to take on almost three hundred and fifty colonists and recruits that were headed to the new station and colony worlds near by. Engineering was told to create bunk space for everyone using every spare inch of space on Endeavor. This was compounded by our full complement of equipment that was now on board. Engineering was going to have to shoehorn things in any way they can. I also ordered everyone to bunk up with someone in order to free up some space. All of the officers on board were going to have to bunk up. Of course these orders didnt include my quarters. Rank does have its privileges. Men prize the thing ungaind more than it is.
Stardate 8079.0 we are now leaving orbit with everyone still working non-stop to get the repairs and modifications done. Lt Delora is now on the station helping to get the tugs up to speed. I think things are going to be slow for the first little while. Perseus has been ordered to take point, a few minutes ahead of the convoy. I am still dealing with paperwork and final details. The tugs are hard pressed to get up to Warp 3 and I have told them that I want to see Warp 5 within the next day. Our projected ETA is 8 months. This is going to be a long trip. And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. Almost immediately I had to start dealing with complaints and problems that started popping up. The ventilation system began to get maxed out from all the people now on board. Medical started issuing orders about this problem and soon I had a bunch of complaints from medical that I was going to have to deal with, but not right now. Included in these was a complaint against Marine Lt Hamilton. The fire suppression system in his quarters had gone into alert mode but did not go off. I am not looking forwards to dealing with this over the next eight months. Oh well I guess this is just one of the hazards of command.
Stardate 8087.0 Lt Rune requests to see me privately concerning a matter in the lower decks. I meet with him in my office on two deck below the bridge. I have lots of space here as it is now the command offices for the first officer and me. Lt Rune brings to my attention a rumor about people supposedly having Denebian Slime Devil races down on deck 22. I am very surprised to find that there are any animals on board at all. I order Lt Rune to find out what is going on and to speak with Security in order to get assistance and to report back to me.
Stardate 8089.4 I hold a meeting with all senior officers concerning the slime devils. Engineering and Security have found evidence of some sort of creatures running around down on the lower decks. One of the things I have them check is our water supply as slime devils are supposed to be aquatic in nature. Security is ordered to do a complete sweep of the lower decks in order to eliminate most of the areas. I then tell them to keep me informed and I head back to the bridge.
Stardate 8091.8 Security still hasnt found any creatures but have found evidence that something was in the large water tank but has since been removed. They report that some fur and other evidence has been collected and sent to medical to be analyzed. I order them to expand the search further. I also ordered them to secure the water tanks so they couldnt be tampered with.
Stardate 8093.6 I was sitting on the bridge when TAna reported a short communication that appeared to come from the shuttle bay. She wasnt sure as interference popped up and started playing havoc with the comm signals. Security was sending a detail to investigate further and soon reported that they were under attack. I didnt know what was going on so I ordered the ship to go to RED ALERT and ordered Perseus to return in order to assist us. I then started hearing garbled transmissions over the radio and realized that Security was sending in a team of marines in full battle armor as the first team on scene was no longer responding. I ordered the shuttle bay door to be secured but it didnt help when someone tried to open them manually. It took about a minute before the second security team called the all clear. I ordered a stand down from the alert just as Perseus dropped out of warp. Finally Lt Blackstone the Chief of Security called in reporting that they had taken two men into custody and that two others were deceased. He also reported that they had found three dogs that had been altered to look like they were aquatic. Obviously these were the notorious slime devils. Now Im going to have to deal with the survivors on trial as the evidence suggested that they had fired phasers and used flash bombs to attack the Star Fleet personnel trying to arrest them. I know one thing; they are not staying on board more than a moment after I am done with them. Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.
Stardate 8098.4 I have now dealt with the incident in the shuttle bay. The four men involved have been identified; they were all colonists, with one of them also being a marine recruit. His name was Dale Roberts and the other deceased was Raoul Sebinus. The two others are Emil Rasheed, and Carlton Smith. I have already decided to dump them off along with an escort of two marines and send them back to Izar. We are still close enough that I can stop a vessel heading there and get rid of them.
Stardate 8100.3 we have handed over the two prisoners and their escort to a cargo vessel headed to Izar. I have already sent my report to Star Fleet Command and I can now let them deal with them. These two are looking at a few months if not years in jail for attacking Star Fleet personnel. Rinoco had checked the dogs and found that they were just regular dogs that had been altered rather crudely to try and make them look like slime devils, she corrected the alterations and we decided to put them into stasis until we get to the colony. The evidence found in the water tank was found to be fur from a seal. We were told that the seals had been fed to the dogs in order to dispose of them. I was also made aware that they had plans on using the dogs in races being held in the lower decks.
Stardate 8244.0 well it has been over two months since we have left Izar and the tugs have been maintaining a speed of Warp 5.5, but with a cost. The two tugs towing the station will require a dilithium crystal swap out just before we get to Orion space. This may not be a good idea but what can I do. All my officers have been busy teaching the midshipmen and the recruits in the fleet. I even sat in on the officers course on the Klingon language and their culture. This was taught by Lt Thieri and I now see why he was an instructor of the Klingon language. Some of the younger officers didnt know what to make of him or his teaching methods but I must say that they were effective. So effective that there were more demands and requests made for hand to hand and weapons training as the colonists and recruits realized they were heading into territory that could be attacked by Klingons. Lt Jg TAnas courses I am reliably informed were as dull as watching paint dry. Lt Lee held a cooking class that the people talked about for weeks afterwards. He made a dish that was in a word disgusting; this is how we found out that Mr Yoshee Lee has absolutely no sense of taste or smell.
I think its almost time to start doing some bridge and command deck simulations. I really want to see how well the midshipmen cope under pressure. When we got the next dispatches from Star Fleet I was shocked to see that Cmdr Reynolds has been promoted to Captain in the Star Fleet Core of Engineers. He has been assigned as the CO of the station when we finally arrive at our destination. Just great he has received two promotions while I am still waiting for mine. He has also signed off on his transfer to the station and is no longer Chief Engineer of Endeavor. I have made Markon Delora the new Chief Engineer with Rastus Rune as the assistant Chief Engineer. This could make things very interesting in Engineering. Also Dezba has informed me that she no longer wished to be acting first officer and has requested a transfer to the station in order to set up the weapons on the station. This request was granted and now my search for a first officer will continue.
Stardate 8246.8 I have been running simulations almost constantly with any officers that want the training. I have even had the senior officers in all departments getting used to being in command of Endeavor. Who knows whats going to happen as we get close to Orion Space. I ran one simulation with Yoshee Lee in command against two Orion ships and he made too many mistakes and was basically blown out of the water when he let them flank him and attack. The best part was when he realized that he was beaten, he uttered the immortal words that all junior officers have spoken at least once in their career, Oh Shit. Next Dinas Thieri and a scenario involving a trade negotiation and agreement and I thought he did quite well in solving the problem. We even got the good doctor involved in a scenario and she did just as well as Dinas. It looks like most of the senior officers were up to snuff. Now I just have to get Mr Lee to act like a command deck officer. It might take some work. We were just finishing up when TAna contacted me with a Priority message from Star Fleet Command. I told her that I would take it down here in Aux-Con.
Stardate 8247.0 the commander I first spoke to asked me if I was alone and I informed him that I was not. I then walked around to the nearest console and then told him that I was. The screen shifted and next thing I know I was looking at Vice Admiral Thomas, acting chief of staff. He then told me of some unsettling news about the Orions. They had announced their own autonomy and had left the Federation. This did not sound good. He then said that he had ordered three destroyers to rendezvous with us and join the convoy as escorts. He was very worried about the Orions and asked me about the status of our fleet. I told him that we were going to have to stop soon to swap out the dilithium crystals. He ordered me to slow down and wait for the new ships before we did so. He then wished me luck and signed off. I then returned to Aux-Con and finished off the training session. I then headed to the bridge. I asked for the status of the tugs and they were within 6.8 stardates of shutting down. I ordered the fleet to slow to warp 3 and left the bridge.
Stardate
8249.4 I was sitting in
my office when TAna
informed me of another message from Star Fleet Command. I told her I would
take it here and soon was talking to Captain Vernon Alexander. He informed me
that I was now Task Force Alpha-37 and the three destroyers were on the way
and that I was to consider the Orions as hostile. I was also told to keep a
minimum of 200 parsecs away from Orion space and it was suggested that 500
parsecs might be better. He then said that Admiral Sievak, a Vulcan had agreed
to return to head up Star Fleet Command as Admiral of the Fleet. He had been
the head of Star Fleet more than two decades ago during the first Romulan war.
His deputy and Chief of Staff for Star Fleet Command is Vice Admiral Samaker,
also a Vulcan. This could get interesting with a pair of Vulcans
being responsible for all of Star Fleet. Vice Admiral Thomas has agreed to
stay on as a temporary advisor while announcing his retirement to take effect
in 3 months. This appointment had caused some serious unrest throughout the
Federation with some demonstrations having to be put down by force. He was
sending me all the current information available as there was a minimize order
going out to all ships of the Fleet. Then as an after thought he told me to
start wearing Captains
stripes as he was giving me a brevet promotion to Captain as of right now. 
With
the number of ships now under my command it was required to have at
least a Captain in command. Damned by faint praise I suppose. I signed off and
headed up to the bridge. I entered and stood in front of the turbo-lift and
told helm to change course by 25 degrees starboard immediately and to plot a
course correction of 250 parsecs minimum away from Orion space. This was going
to delay us a bit but the destroyers were just days away. I then ordered TAna
to put the task force under minimized communications protocol until further
notice. She informed me that communications with the central core worlds had
been disrupted and that some of the Star Bases were no longer responding to
calls. I returned to my office and continued doing paperwork.
Stardate 8249.6 I found myself looking at a report from my Security Chief about disruptions all over the ship from someone speaking Klingon and also a report about a tricorder that someone was using. I saw that Mr Rune had been responsible in giving it to Mr Thieri to try without getting the permission of the Science Chief. There were over two hundred individual files based on this report. I paged Mr Rune to attend my office immediately. I then had a discussion about following proper ships protocol whenever he was attempting to introduce a new piece of equipment. I told him I was placing this report in his file and writing a letter of reprimand that would also be placed in his file. I then told him to leave and make sure this did not happen again. I then saw that Chief Science Officer Carmichael was having a science meeting in a few minutes so I decided to go down there and see her about this file.
I walked in on the science department to find the officers present for a briefing. Nina was surprised to see me and even more astonished when I asked her if she had been appraised about the new tricorder. Thats when a junior Lt sort of jumped up in her seat and proceeded to give her superior officer the tricorder she had been playing with. She was introduced as Alana Kerr, department head of Astro-sciences. The name rang a bell for some reason and I was going to find out why. She mumbled something about getting it from Dinas and he then admitted getting it from Rastus Rune. Nina was quite put out about this as no one had bothered to inform her about it. I then requested Mr Rune to attend the science labs to explain himself. He attended and spoke to them and thats when I gave him the complete file to read on what he had caused by handing out a new piece of equipment. I also asked Mr Thieri to refrain from talking in Klingon when he was outside his quarters or sciences. He agreed to do so. We then left Rastus reading away.
Stardate 8256.1 Lt Delora readies two engineering teams to assist the tugs in the swap-out and we are going to stop in .6 stardates from now.
Stardate 8252.6 two of the destroyers have arrived, they are the USS Ajax, NCC-547, commanded by Lt Cmdr Kim Tamagucci, and the USS Hektor, NCC-539, commanded by Lt Cmdr Bryce Ewing. I have put them out as flankers for the fleet. The third destroyer is USS Pontiac, NCC-532, commanded by Cmdr Walter Berkeley. I see he has been promoted again since he left us last year. The last I heard he had been with Cartwright up in the northern sector. He is still some distance away.
Stardate 8252.7 the tugs have come to a stop and are proceeded to do the repairs. Perseus then informs us that there appears to be a battle happening about 85 parsecs away. They request permission to attend but I order them to stay with the convoy as Ares and Hektor continue patrolling. I then ordered engineering to send over one team and that was Lt Runes team. We transported the team over to the tug and then headed towards the battle at maximum warp. Sensors showed between six and eight vessels all cargo ships or small raiders. Thirty deck rattling minutes later we arrived at the scene to see one ship destroyed and two others with minor damage. Lt Thieri was at sciences as we got close enough and informed me that he had got a sensor hit off something close to the wreckage. I ordered RED ALERT and told them to keep looking for other ships as we closed the distance. I ordered a channel to be opened and asked the ships if we could be of assistance. The two merchant ships thanked me as they went to warp to get out of the area. We continued closing on the wreckage and Dinas told me that sensors were picking up something to port. We closed and managed to get a lock on what appeared to be a cloaked vessel and I ordered helm to fire phasers. They fired and indeed moments later an Orion raider was outlined in the phaser fire. I was about to order a second shot when the second raider appeared behind us to starboard and fired a Plasma torpedo at us from point blank range. Some of the systems overloaded including the science station when Dinas was flung back when the sensor scope blew up in his face. I ordered medical to attend to the bridge to help Dinas as we continued scanning the area. It appeared that the cloaked Orion ships had left the area so we started investigating the wreckage of the ship.
We started picking up life signs and I ordered them to be beamed aboard and ordered medical to send a triage team to the transporters. There wasnt much left of the ship and we started transporting the survivors on board. Twenty people were rescued and none of them were senior officers. I then started checking on the registry of the vessel and found that it had been transporting some prisoners for the Federation Marshal Service. They appeared to be gone. After gaining all the evidence we could recover, I then headed back to the convoy. The Pontiac then got close enough to contact us and I had a conversation with Walter. Things appeared to not be going well back home. The new appointments to head up Star Fleet were still causing unrest and I was glad that we were a good distance away from it all. I ordered the Pontiac to attend the scene of the battle and see if they could find anything that we missed and then to stay about 25 to 30 parsecs away from us as the forward scout. I then ordered TAna to contact Star Fleet Command with a priority message. She finally got through and I informed them of the newest development regarding the Orion ships. The news that they now appeared to be using Romulan technology did not sit well with HQ. I also let them know that the ship we had encountered had been transporting prisoners and the Marshal Service should be informed. I then told them that the swap-out was nearly complete and we were going to continue on.
Stardate 8253.0 we have rejoined the convoy and are preparing to continue on past Orion space. After a meeting with the destroyer captains the plan of action is to put one ship forward with two out to either side and above us with the Perseus staying within backup distance of the task force. Now we wait for information back from the Marshal Service about the prisoners. I then headed down to sickbay to find out about the wounded. I was surprised to see the Doctor on one of the beds, when I inquired about her, she had gone down to engineering and rescued some crewmen from a radiation leak but she had been affected from the radiation an was now recovering. While I was there, Dinas attracted my attention. His eyes were covered with bandages and I could see the flash burns around his eyes. I spoke with him and he had some interesting thoughts to share. He thought he had an idea on how to track cloaked ships, at least at close range. He started talking about matter and space and he explained that we could possibly use infrared sensors to pick up a ships displacement of matter, much like the wake of a boat travelling over water. After listening for a few minutes I thought that his idea had merit and told him to pass it on to Nina and to work with her when he had recovered his sight. I also told him that this incident merited a minor wound badge for his efforts. Medical said that he might lose the sight in one eye; it was going to be touchy to fix. I left sickbay and continued checking the ship for anything else that needed repairs. If you can look into the seeds of time, and tell me which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favours nor your hate.
Stardate 8254.2 I was sitting on the bridge when the fire suppression system was activated on deck 5. Security and Engineering were detailed to attend as per procedure and moments later they reported that a fire had started in one of the crew quarters and the suspect was Midshipman Trudeau. A few minutes later they reported in that Mr Trudeau was now in custody and his explanation was that he had tried to pick up the hockey game. Even though he knew the ship was on minimized communications he had tried to jury rig some sort of bypass in the comm system to pick it up. He said that it had worked at the Academy. I informed Security that they could take him to the brig and detain him; I think I will let him stew there for awhile. Engineering said it would take a few minutes to clean up his mess. How ill white hairs becomes a fool and jester.
Stardate 8254.8 I finally went down to the brig to deal with Midshipman Trudeau. As I walked in I heard the security detail talking about some training coming up and that gave me an idea. I ordered the guard to drop the shield and proceeded to have a discussion with Mr Trudeau. He was still showing the burn marks on his face when the panel blew up. He freely admitted to trying to bypass the system to watch a hockey game. I knew from his records from the Academy that he was a hockey nut. I decided that he needed to be taught a lesson about disobeying orders and informed the duty officer that Mr Trudeau was going to participate in the hand to hand training session coming up. I know the cadets still need to work on their judo and karate. I spotted the Chief of the Boat Randolph and quietly had a word with her. I wanted her to be the last person Mr Trudeau had to fight and to make sure my lesson stuck in his head. She just smiled at me and said consider it done. I then said he could report for duty after that, pending medical clearance. When the chief was done with him Im sure he will need a few hours recovery at least. I then headed back to the bridge.
Stardate 8255.1 we recorded a signal pulse wave that we had been alerted about from Star Fleet. It had originated in Klingon space and was heading eastward through the Federation. It had been disrupting communications in the west as it passed. We had only a momentary disruption. All ships recorded no problems.
Stardate 8255.2 I was speaking with the destroyer captains again when they came up with the idea to change the signals of the tugs and Endeavor to make it appear that we were the USS Federation. We were producing enough of a warp signature to make the changes so I ordered TAna to do so. After the change it looked like the Federation with a destroyer and tug. Hopefully this will cause the Orions to think twice before they attack. Chief Randolph then contacted me and let me know that four Security Cadets had played with Tavis and all had knocked him down and a couple of them had even knocked him out. She had been the last one to spar with had and had driven the message through that I was not happen with his actions. I thanked her and continued doing paperwork. The only thing put on file about Mr Trudeau was six hours in the brig for disobeying orders and causing damage to the ship. Dinas has been released from sickbay. His recovery from the incident has had startling results. His eyes have changed to different colors and the skin around his eyes still has a patchy look. He now has a piebald look about him. He has started working with Nina and Engineering to set up the new detection system.
Stardate
8262.6 we
have started getting anomalous readings from the port side towards Orion
space. The nearest destroyer went to take a closer look and the reading
disappeared. Sensor logs were saying that something was there but there was
not enough information to determine what it was. I think the Orions must be
wondering what we are and may be sending cloaked vessels past us. Dinas says
that his new system should be ready to test soon. We have finally got an
answer back from the Marshal Service about the escaped convicts. Two of the
names that jumped out were Sachio Sloan and Ramirez Knoxirma or
Nox.
The last I had heard they were in core sector. What in the world were the
Marshals thinking of transferring them down here. The other three are Judson
Matso and two women, Daisy Cousins and Juana Cribbs.
Stardate
8262.8 we have successfully tested the new infrared system and it appears to
work at short range, up to 20 000 km. The big problem appears to be
interference from stars in the infrared spectrum in the background. Sciences
are going to try and fix the problem but I dont
think they can as the system is too sensitive and is picking up everything in
the background. We also have to use the deflector dish for support so we are
limited to about 90 degrees of scanning. Now we will have to see if it works.
Stardate 8270.0 we picked up another reading, this time to starboard. The destroyers are taking a look and the next thing we knew they were requesting assistance when a group of Orion ships suddenly appeared and started attacking the destroyers. Sensors picked up multiple Orion light raiders and a bunch of merchant ships. The next surprise was when four Orion raider cruisers de-cloaked around the destroyers and started attacking. I ordered Perseus to assist while we stayed with the tugs. Its a good thing we had the new sensors working as Dinas said that he was picking something up just in front of us. He only had the signal for a moment as we went past and I ordered the ship to do a complete 360 and come around behind the convoy. When we checked again the new sensor definitely picked something up right in front of the station. We couldnt fire at it as the convoy was now in the way. We were preparing to close the distance and just as I was about to order weapons fire; an Orion heavy cruiser de-cloaked right in front of us and started launching drones. I told helm to take out as many drones as he could. A couple of them impacted on the station causing all ships to drop out of warp. Next were reports of transporter signals onto the station.
I ordered the shuttles to launch in support of the station as I went after the cruiser. It launched drones once more as it headed away. I took the shots I could and told helm to get back to the station. The cruiser launched drones again as it circled around. We got back to the station just as TAna informed me that we had just intercepted a burst transmission headed towards the cruiser. She said that she had caught it. We returned to find one of the shuttles gone while the other was still attacking targets on the surface. The cruiser launched another series of drones at us and we had to do some fancy dodging to survive. I thought for a moment that we were going to lose shields but they remained online. The Orion