...To Chase the Songs of Distant Stars (A Star Trek: To Boldly Go... Companion Quest)

Chapter 3
October 2317
'Arrival' NGC-185

Mission Report, Stardate 26460.1, Hubble NCC-2012/03, Knight-Captain Raelin
(Type Four Shuttle, Arrival NGC-185)

Dearest Maryam,

By now you will know that our attempt to board the derelict HIMS March of Progress nearly ended in disaster, with only the quick intellect and heroic struggles of your Lieutenant Samedi preventing disaster from fully unfolding itself.

As I do not wish to worry you here with the details of our misadventure (Personally, I would seek out Lt. Samedi's report as he was conscious the entire time.) aboard March of Progress I will instead inform you in the broadest strokes of our findings.

Our full mapping of the debris field has uncovered four vessels which appear salvageable to the point of use. Other vessels are also adrift in the field, but have suffered far worse damage over the decades to eons that they have been interred here, though we may be able to salvage some parts and rarer resources from them with some effort.

HIMS March of Progress said:

The first vessel is the Orion Imperial Navy starship "HIMS March of Progress". Our archives read her as being a variant form of an Imperial Navy four point one megaton Vranrir class comand dreadnaught last used during their waning years of the Orion Empire as they desperately attempted to hold off the Hur'q invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. All told an impressive warship by any measure.

She's also missing approximately 30% of her mass, making her the most badly damaged of the quartet. She has been badly damaged over her thousand year stay in the Arrival graveyard, though her advanced construction has allowed her to survive so far. It is possible that with a great deal of replacement parts she could be repaired. (Though to nowhere near her original specifications.)

The issue with this particular derelict is that she does not appear to be a derelict at all. It appears that a large number of Orion, Vulcan, and Amarki biosigns, some fifteen hundred or so, are in stasis in the vessel's interior sections.

In fact, it appears that our exploration of Progress woke up part of her onboard security contingent, a single Orion cyaug who attempted to detain our away team. However thanks to the quick thinking of Lt. Samedi, we were able to turn the tables on our attacker and put her back into stasis.

Whatever we choose to do about March of Progress, we will have to reckon with the fact that one and a half thousand living beings lie sleeping in her hull. And the fact that within one hundred and fifty years the vessel will likely fully break up, killing her dreaming passengers.

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HIMS Maiden of Twilight said:

A much older antecedent of the previously mentioned March of Progress, the Maiden class HIMS Maiden of Twilight.

Twilight is an exploration cruiser from the height of the Orion Empire, one which I am led to believe is roughly equivalent to Starfleet's older Constitution-A vessels. She is much more intact (And much smaller than her distantly descended niece, coming in at just under 1mt), though she appears to have been left derelict after suffering an attack from an unknown weapon system that cored her through entirely. Killing her crew in the process.

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USS Constitution said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this ship means quite a bit to the Starfleet inclined amongst us. I assume that you already know all of her relevant technical details. Her being an Earth built original model Constitution class lost towards the end of her fourth five year mission in 2270 somewhere coreward of the Romulan Neutral Zone.

Though we have been able to remotely access her logs via Starfleet protocols, we haven't been able to learn much about this region except that it seems that Constitution's crew were killed nearly instantly upon arrival at… Arrival, as her life support systems suffered a sudden and catastrophic failure during her transit. Between that and her relative newness to the Arrival Graveyard, Constitution is very nearly intact, with only minor repairs necessary to make her active again.

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Aspirations? said:

I've saved the vessel I find the most interesting and mysterious for last. Currently tentative dubbed "Aspirations" by our translator teams, this vessel appears to be a heavily overbuilt four hundred kiloton colony vessel. Within her still walls lie over forty thousand souls safely cocooned in their own individual stasis pods who have been in the Arrival Graveyard for well over two hundred and fifty of your Human Earth years.

Though our readings have decided that they are Human, Doctor Seth-Had vocally disagrees, believing them to be members of another Progenitor influenced race.

In any event, this colony ship appears to be roughly equivalent to United Earth Earth-Romulan War era technology and is missing her entire drive section along with a large number of her stern compartments.

In addition to her passengers, this vessel also contains bays loaded with colonization equipment and what Lt. Samedi and I are certain are cultural artifacts. (And also a platinum-iridium wall running the length of the ship, almost certainly a 'contact package' loaded with text and diagrams that our previously bored translation teams are pouring over)

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With these discoveries I am happy to report that our search of the Arrival Graveyard has been a great success.

Yours in Duty,
Raelin, -KCL

Mission [Investigate the Starship Graveyard]: Successful

Assigned Characters: Knight-Captain Raelin, Dr. Naad Hath-Set, Lt. Kahar Samedi

Outcome: The Arrival debris field has been fully mapped. Along with discovering concentrations of harvestable debris, the team has also found four ships capable of recovery, and a number of others who can be salvaged for parts.

Reward: XP, Recovery and Salvage Missions added.

-

Science Officer's Log, Stardate 26455.5, USS Stargazer, Commander Marren Rr'rou
(EC Excelsior, Arrival NGC-185)

I can conclusively, conclusively! state that, with a high level of probability, that the subspace corridor that brought us here was one artificially generated by a Precursor built network of subspace corridor generation stations.

I would hazard a guess, hazard a very likely guess, that the Precursors built an intergalactic network of subspace corridors that served as a sort of rapid transit system for their own use. When properly functioning, these transit corridors would be generated by stations that are themselves inside subspace bubbles.

Perhaps... perhaps to prevent their use by other species and groups? Perhaps for some technological or operational reason that we cannot yet speak to? Perhaps for aesthetic reasons? Who can fathom the Precursors. I hope that, hmm, yes, that I can, that we can fathom them, eventually.

However, however, judging by some of the other vessels to arrive here, and the records downloaded by Knight-Captain Raelin from USS Constitution, that it is entirely possible to stumble directly atop one of these corridors and be drawn into it. With disastrous results.

It appears, it seems, however, that our own passage was stabilized in some way by Fleet Command's activation of the system, and that more massive objects see greater degrees of turbulence during passage. As, hmm, my forehead learned firsthand.

As for Arrival itself? I would speculate that this system was once home to a… hmm, a so-called 'megastructure' that acted as a hub station for this transit system. And that this 'megastructure', at some point in the deep past, was destroyed, forming the bulk of the system's debris field.

It is very difficult, near impossible to detect these phenomena externally, unless one can narrow down a search area. Thankfully, since we exited directly out of one such corridor, locating one was a simple task. Not so simple a task was recovering the remains of the probes sent into the subspace corridor.

It appears, seems very likely in fact, that it appears that without the stabilizing influence of a Precursor station our particular section of the subspace network is highly… uhm, hmm, 'unstable' is the word.

To put it simply, to be brief, our passage was the smoothest possible travel conditions, and otherwise the corridor is a turbulent maelstrom of twisted subspace. Without an intact terminal, hmm, another? Method? Yes, or another method of stabilizing our passage, it will prove difficult to locate or generate a subspace corridor capable of returning to the Milky Way galaxy.

However, it is highly likely that NGC-185 would contain other such stations. As well, I am more than happy to feed as many test probes as required into Arrival's corridor to learn more about the science at play.

Mission [Investigate method of arrival]: Successful

Assigned Characters: Lt-Cmdr Marren Rr'rou

Outcome: Rr'rou can definitively state that the Homeward fleet arrived in NGC-185 via a Precursor intergalactic transit system, and that we will be unable to return without finding an intact Preserver station, or developing new techniques and technologies.

Reward: XP, New Missions.

-

Personal Log, Maryam Ajam
(Human, Female)

Spoke with Karen again today. She's still…

I think it might be hard for me to judge her condition as I only ever knew her as Karen Sarjan, Fleet Command and a woman inextricably bound into Pride of Kadesh's systems.

Despite my best attempts I don't feel it in me to push her about her actions. Even a little bit, even if Lt. Partok thinks that it would be good for her to share her feelings, as she is making what he believes is good progress.

I think in a way her condition reminds me of my own recovery from a highly traumatic situation, and I can't-

I just can't find it in myself to act as Captain Ajam to her, to debrief her like a Starfleet officer should be able to.

Around her frail form, I'm Maryam Ajam, I'm her friend. I helped her take her first steps in years, took her on one of my family picnics so that she could feel the grass in the park on her own feet. To eat solid food prepared by my husband. To watch my daughter throw rocks at the pool and see the ripples fan outwards.

Fortunately for us, I'm not alone, Taz is also in this with us, and he seems to have-

To be better at-

Tazam is better at being innocently inoffensive than I am. He was able to reach Karen in a way that I couldn't. To be able to get actionable information from her when I couldn't.

When Fleet Command was inundated, overwhelmed really, with Preserver data. No, to hear her tell it, Karen was flooded with Preserver memories. Not just dry facts and colourless information, but memories and thoughts of all kinds.

Eventually she began to have trouble distinguishing her own memories from the ancient memories flowing through Pride's databanks, when we came across that second station, she completely lost the ability to differentiate the present from the past, to separate reality from a mashed up patchwork of her own fantasy and imagination, Preserver memories, and what her senses were telling her.

In her mind Arrival was still a fully operational Preserver transit hub, a vast system-spanning bulwark of the Preserver people. In Arrival she would be able to find Preservers in the flesh, wise Elders that would be able to help her make sense of what was in her mind, and be able to unlock the secrets of the universe for the entire galaxy.

The reality of the situation completely broke her, made her realise how disjointed and muddled her mind was. She drew entirely inwards because she felt that she could no longer trust her own thoughts and anything that she was receiving through Pride's systems.

Taz didn't push her much further than that, but she was able to provide him with a brief map of Preserver installations in NGC-185. Or at least what she thinks might have once been Preserver installations.

Mission [Assist Fleet Command]: Underway (Additional bonus from Ajam Interaction)
Mission [Debrief Fleet Command]: Successful

Assigned Characters: Cpt. Maryam Ajam, Cmdr. Tazam Losue.

Outcome: Karen Sarjan has provided Commander Losue with a rough map of nearby Preserver installations built at the same time as the now-destroyed Arrival megastructure.

Reward: XP, New Missions

-

Tactical Officer's Log, Stardate 26459.2, USS Stargazer, Lt-Cmdr Katherine Marshall
(EC-Excelsior, Arrival NGC-185)

I am pleased to report that we have finished the construction of Resourcing platform Gardener at the edge of the of the Arrival Debris field. And even considering that it was mostly Kadeshi prefab components we completed it in record time too! Lt. T'vitt personally flew the workbee that put the last hull section in place last week after a rapid and untroubled assembly process.

Since then we've certified that the platform is fully airtight, all her systems are properly operational, that all the frabrication instructions have been followed, everything's up to snuff, and that her Kadeshi work crews are fully trained.

Once we get the debris from the launch party cleaned up Gardener will be fully operational!

Mission [Fortify System: Resourcing platform I]: Successful

Assigned Characters: Lt-Cmdr Katherine Marshall, Lt T'Vitt

Outcome: With Gardener operational the Homeward fleet will be able to conduct Resourcing Operations from the Arrival debris field which contains an endless supply of materials vital in starship construction.

Reward: +4br and +4sr per month to Fleet stockpiles starting in November 2317. XP.

-

To: Captain Maryam Ajam
From: Ambassador Sharen na'Threx
Subject: Canvassing the Fleet for Fleet Command Candidates

Hello Maryam,

Things have been going very well since we and the All-Clans Council agreed that we needed to find understudies for Ms. Sarjan. At first the very idea that Pride could need a replacement for Sarjan caused a number of long buried disagreements to erupt that had been long thought settled when Ms. Sarjan volunteered to implement her own radical solution to the problem of integrating Pride's Preserver derived technology with homegrown Kadeshi and Federation technologies.

Though the trauma of the Biophage attack, and recent years of travel, have smoothed over a lot of the old rough edges in Kadeshi society and politics, the idea that one clan could gain an advantage over another by maneuvering their own people as Fleet Command is still a controversial one due to its precedent setting nature.

Thankfully, as the Kadeshi Kiith are not Klingon Houses, it was easy enough to put forward the Diplomatic Service and Starfleet as neutral arbiters.

On the downside, the agreement does mean that the bulk of the work of canvassing the fleet will fall on our people. The Kadeshi have agreed to pass the word internally through their clans, guilds, and crews that we are looking for volunteers.

Going forward, I believe that our schema for canvassing the fleet will look like this: I will work with the Kadeshi to promote volunteers from the Clans and our own crews, and Ms. Valentine and Commander Ulin will oversee interviews of our prospective candidates.

At the suggestion of Ms. Sarjan herself we will be primarily screening for psychological stability, and strength of will. And screening out those interested in the position for material or social gain.

It is my hope that over the next few weeks we will have completed our initial screening process and be left with an energetic and dedicated batch of recruits to choose from.

Best Regards,
Sharen

Mission [Investigate other Fleet Command Candidates]: Underway

-

[Mission]
[Conduct Subspace Corridor Research]
Commander Rr'rou believes that studying the mangled remains of probes sent into Arrival's subspace corridors will give us a greater understanding of this phenomenon. And hopefully, eventually, a way to use them to return home to the Milky Way galaxy.

This mission will require a not insignificant amount of resources from our stockpile as Rr'rou believes that the secret to success is in having hundreds of probes to send into the twisting nether that is Arrival's subspace corridors that eventually we will be able to put together a full picture of the conditions inside from the mangled remains of the probes that return.

[This mission will cost 5br and 5sr to complete, current stockpiles are 170br and 150sr]

Mission Time: Two Months
Reward: Information, XP
Difficulty: Medium

You may assign up to three characters to this mission:
[ ] [RIP Probes]

[Mission]
[Investigate Precursor Locations 1]
Acting on the data provided by Karen Sarjan, we have plotted courses to three sites with a possible Preserver presence. The nearest of these is in NCG-185-RRV-9576: at a travel time of two weeks directly out and two weeks directly back, this by far the closest location.

As the Kadeshi fleet is focused on the defence and repair of Pride of Kadesh, only Stargazer is free to undertake this mission.

This mission requires Captain Ajam and at least two other characters to be assigned
[ ] [Investigate]

[Mission]
[Arrival Graveyard Recovery]
Thanks to the efforts of Knight-Captain Raelin and his team, we have identified four derelicts within the Arrival debris field that could be recovered and converted to our own use.

HIMS March of Progress is a massive command dreadnaught from the end of the Orion Empire whose advanced technology is outweighed by her heavy damage. And there's also the issue of the possibly hostile Orion personnel currently kept in stasis inside her hull.

HIMS Maiden of Twilight is a much smaller exploration cruiser from the height of the Orion Empire who is culturally and technologically equivalent to a Starfleet Constitution-A class vessel. She does not have possibly hostile Orion personnel currently kept in stasis inside her hull.

USS Constitution, NCC-1700 is a sister ship of Kirk's famed USS Enterprise NCC-1701, and is a Starfleet Constitution class starship lost in 2270. Aside from the problem of her life support system catastrophically failing and killing her crew, she's surprisingly intact. There are no possibly hostile Orions in her hull.

Aspiration(?) is a small ship of unknown design and origin. She also carries over forty thousand definitely non-Orion people of unknown demeanour in stasis inside her hull. Her remaining cargo holds appear to be filled with all the material and spare supplies needed to start a colony.

During recovery, the total cost and time to rebuild them to a usable state will be assessed, and then a new Mission ordered to conduct repairs whenever is convenient for the Fleet.

Mission Time: One Month
Reward: Information, XP
Difficulty: Medium

You may assign up to three characters to this mission:

[ ] [Recover Dreadnaught]
[ ] [Recover Explorer]
[ ] [Recover Starship]
[ ] [Recover Colony ship]

[Mission]
[Arrival Graveyard Salvage]
Thanks to the efforts of Knight-Captain Raelin and his team, we have identified a number of derelict hulls which, though badly damaged, are still salvageable.

A thorough investigation of these hulks will hopefully provide us with advanced or exotic technologies to refit our current vessels with.

Mission Time: One Month
Reward: Information, XP
Difficulty: Medium

You may assign up to three characters to this mission:
[ ] [Recycle]

[Mission]
[Fortify System: Sensor Network I]

Inspired by Commander Marshal's idea, it is possible to set up a sensor network around the system, these will help detect approaching vessels, and could also help with scientific endeavours.

Only Hearthkeeper, and Rigger are available to conduct construction as Gardenkeeper and Bastion are finalizing repairs on Pride of Kadesh and Watchkeeper is opening up Oathkeeper for a rebuild.

[Only two Fortify System missions can be selected this vote]
[This Fortification will cost 5br and 15sr, Current stockpiles are 170 br, and 150 sr]

There also remains the risk that we will soon be moving our operations to a different location.

Mission Time: One Month
Reward: Detection system, science boost in Arrival, XP
Difficulty: Medium

You may assign up to three characters to this mission:
[ ] [SN1]

[Mission]
[Fortify System: Fixed Defenses I]

We have no idea what kind of occupants this space has, if any. As Pride of Kadesh is currently immobile, it may be in our best interests to build stationary fortifications to hold this position if attacked.

Stargazer and Rigger will be conducting the initial construction and Hearthkeeper alone will be overseeing the resourcing operations necessary to provide the raw materials as Gardenkeeper and Bastion are conducting repairs on Pride of Kadesh and Watchkeeper is conducting repairs on Oathkeeper.

[Only two Fortify System missions can be selected this vote]
[This Fortification will cost 15br and 5sr, Current stockpiles are 170 br, and 150 sr]

There also remains the risk that we will soon be moving our operations to a different location.

Mission Time: One Month
Reward: Local defences, XP
Difficulty: Medium

You may assign up to three characters to this mission:
[ ] [FD1]

[Mission]
[Fortify System: Resourcing platform II]

With the completion of resourcing station Gardener, the Fleet now has a steady resource income that does not rely on tying down our mobile assets.

Despite that, it may prove useful to bulk up our stockpiles by building another resourcing platform to increase our ability to harvest from the Arrival debris field.

Only Hearthkeeper, and Rigger are available to conduct construction as Gardenkeeper and Bastion are finalizing repairs on Pride of Kadesh and Watchkeeper is opening up Oathkeeper for a rebuild.

[Only two Fortify System missions can be selected this vote]
[This Fortification will cost 16br and 4sr, Current stockpiles are 170 br, and 150 sr]

There also remains the risk that we will soon be moving our operations to a different location.

Mission Time: One Month
Reward: Increased Income, XP
Difficulty: Medium

You may assign up to three characters to this mission:
[ ] [RP2]

[Mission]
[Fortify System: Habitation Platform I]
If we are planning to set up permanent operations in this system, it would be to our advantage to set up permanent quarters for those assigned here.

Only Hearthkeeper, and Rigger are available to conduct construction as Gardenkeeper and Bastion are finalizing repairs on Pride of Kadesh and Watchkeeper is opening up Oathkeeper for a rebuild.

[Only two Fortify System missions can be selected this vote]
[This Fortification will cost 10br and 10sr, Current stockpiles are 170 br, and 150 sr]

There also remains the risk that we will soon be moving our operations to a different location.

Mission Time: One Month
Reward: Expandable base of operations, XP
Difficulty: Medium

You may assign up to three characters to this mission:
[ ] [HP1]

If no Fortify Missions are selected, Rigger and Hearthkeeper will instead conduct resourcing operations.


After some thought, I've decided to allow you to pull characters off a mission currently underway and put them onto new missions for the price of an XP penalty for their new mission. (And No XP from their original mission)