To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)

Captain's Log, Stardate 26711, USS Endurance - Captain Abigail Taggart

With so many of our ships in drydock, Patricia Chen has been busy running ships all across the quadrant to fill in gaps, including the Endurance. While making our way to the Klingon Border Zone, we were suddenly called to attend a summit on Risa dealing with improving security and customs measures due to continued Lecarre infiltration. No sooner were we in orbit, however, when we were summoned to Landle IV to help host a visiting Caldonian diplomatic party. This soon after ratification, we always want to put our best foot forward, and an Excelsior class certainly does impress.

I left Lieutenant Commander Jackson behind along with a small team to continue to represent us and report back on the summit, and then took off at just under-redline. Better we're behind schedule than the Caldonians have to watch us being towed because we blew out our warp coils.

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26711.3, USS Torch

Commander Ollianus noticed that the SS Sun Wanderer, a science cruiser chartered by the University of Betazed, had diverged from its filed flightpath along the Romulan Neutral Zone. It was on a course that was taking it directly towards the open free fire zone of the Romulan/Klingon war.

Visions of my academy Kobyashi Maru test passed in front of my eyes, but Torch was able to intercept Sun Wanderer just as they were crossing into the Neutral Zone. Lieutenant Mobus was able to determine that their navigational system was malfunctioning due to a misalignment in their deflector array.

It was then easy to escort the ship to Athos V where Sun Wanderer was able to repair her navigational system at the base there in short order and be on her way with minimal lost time.

[+5PP]

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26711.5, USS Endurance, - Captain Abigail Taggart

We arrived just behind schedule to Landle, to find the diplomatic meeting was already in progress. Had I arrived on time, I probably would have lobbied for a different location. The Ferash Ice Castle is a splendid structure to behold, but the local geology has combined with a violent solar storm to disrupt communications and transporters out here. Oh, and a snowstorm makes physical access difficult as well, to enhance the feeling of isolation out here.

Still, we have settled in well. The Caldonians are, like many in the Federation, concerned about tech-sharing in the aftermath of the Caitian Sensor Scandal. It is our job here to reassure them that the agreements will remain in place, and that while the leak was a disaster, it will not happen again.

Apparently my methods of reassurance are working, as the head of the Caldonian mission - Alobva - has taken something of a liking to me. At dinner that night she said I was a tall, beautiful stem. I think that's just because I'm one of the few people in the room that's close to her height.

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26712.9, USS Lexington

We are currently in orbit of Utracca-VI. Now that the minefields in its upper atmosphere have been dismantled, we are free to study the unusual phenomenon that allowed it to so effectively conceal mines from our sensors.

[Gain +10rp]

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26711.7, USS Endurance - Captain Abigail Taggart

I was careless, and foolish, and I made a mistake.

I should have seen Alobva's sugar-dripping words for what they were. A ploy. She got me good. She buttered me up with some more sweet talk, then passed what she said was a draft licensing agreement for a new spur design for my tack. Instead, it was a Caldonian marriage contract! Literally the second after telling me that she started rambling about things like the 'Iconian Consciousness Grid' and how I probably had a Alterian soul and lived as past life as a T'Kon. So not only am I not marrying Jennifer, but my bride-to-be is a pseudoscience cultist. Probably explains why they think it is acceptable to trick people into marriage

My intelligence officer here has already apologized profusely, because he's the one who told me the thing I was signing was for spurs.

Alobva is high-placed, and we don't want to be claiming to uphold rule of law and then sabotage Caldonian custom right after ratification. As you might expect from a people of scientists, Caldonians prefer procedure to be followed, so trying to wrangle out of this will offend them gravely. It was on me to read the contract, after all. On the other hand, if we can find a way out, that will end this with no hard feelings.

So I've sent a team to get help, and I'm going to my own wedding tomorrow. I've got to use every trick in the book to delay the ceremony until their lawyers find some loophole.

This Caldonian girl is going to find out how much the Taggart family takes after the mule.

-

Captain's Log, USS Sarek, Stardate 26713.1

One day, perhaps, we will be done cleaning up after mentats.

We detected unusual readings from an inhabited planet, consistent with both pergium and antimatter reactors. Both of these reactor types are typically related to warp spaceflight, as antimatter provides the necessary power for fast warp drive and pergium can only be harvested from systems that have experienced a supernova -- which are, of course, typically uninhabitable. It was to our considerable surprise to discover the readings were coming from a planet identified as pre-warp, very early industrialization. It is possible they were able to very rapidly advance in the ten years since they were last surveyed. However, if the course of their technological progression is able to produce a reactor with power returns I can detect at this distance in that time, I would expect them to outpace us in technology in approximately five years. I doubt this is the case.

We are hidden behind the moon of the planet in question. We have scanned from orbit and discovered the wreckage of a Licori ship. Its powerplant, from what we can tell through the interference, is some sort of pergium-catalyzed antimatter reactor. It has no doubt been crafted by mentat hands, as such a device is incredibly dangerous. The intense radiation from the reaction of pergium and warp plasma will slowly erode the antimatter delivery pipes at a nano-molecular level, which the inhabitants will not be able to detect because they lack even basic electron microscopes.

We have learned through remote observation using drones that scientists and military personnel from a middle power on the planet have discovered the reactor and brought it back online. They think it is a potentially limitless source of power, one that could propel their nation to the level of superpower if they could replicate the design. They have thus left the reactor running to study its operation, and have somehow figured out how to use its output to synthesize more antimatter and force transmute pergium. Soon, the AM pipes will burst, and the resulting explosion will send a rain of flaming, powderized pergium across the planet. Life processes on the planet will be severely curtailed, and advanced life will likely cease to exist.

I will not allow that to happen. We cannot beam directly into the wreckage, so I will take a small team down and attempt to solve this. Sabotaging the device outright remains an option, but I wish to end further contamination of the world. I also wish to find a peaceful solution.

The inhabitants of this planet, the Hexolar, are six-legged, with a long arm that comes out of their midsection. Disguise will be impossible with the limited time we have. I will have to be… unconventional.

-

Personal Log, Abigail Taggart, Stardate 26711.9

That was a close one.

Alobva was more than happy to get married at Ferash, foiling my attempts to delay her by having her take me across the quadrant to get married on Apinae. I did everything I could to stretch out the "I-Dos." This included taking twelve hours to pick an outfit, eventually going with an inside-out jumpsuit, torn jeans overtop, and finished with pink flip-flops. At one point during proceedings I accused my Maid of Honor, Ensign Solessan, of being in love with Alobva, and upended a cart of champagne onto the guests. I asked every word of my vows to be translated to languages my wedding party could individually comprehend. Thank God for Lieutenant Slovan and his fluency in twelve languages. Speaking of God, I had them do the ceremony according to every Earth religion I could find by digging through my PADD. Managed to hold off the finality of the ceremony for an entire day doing that.

But my tricks inevitably ran out, and we came down to the final vow. But before I had to say no and kick off a political storm, the door to the chapel flung open. Storming in with a hail of snowflakes was the woman I actually wanted to marry: Jennifer Zhang, along with two Andorian males. Apparently in ancient Andorian culture, if you have three members of a prospective quad, and one member of that trio - Jennifer - has a marriage proposal to someone outside - me - and then that fiancee runs away to get married to another trio, that is grounds for a duel of love.

With the fiancee that ran away. I don't know how that's supposed to heal a relationship, but maybe that is why it is an ancient custom. We even got to pick weapons and rules. Jen and I agreed on wrestling.

So Jen and I made a half-assed attempt at rolling around on the floor before I finally let her pin me. Alobva was disappointed, but her contract did have a subclause that said marriage customs of the planet the marriage took place on had to be respected. No issues there.

After, Jennifer and I formally broke off our engagement with the other two members of our faux-quad, two nice Andorian guys from Challorn. Then, Jennifer realized we were both in the same place, and there was already a licensed wedding officiant there, so…

I'm Mrs. Jennifer Zhang! And she is, of course, Mrs. Abigail Taggart. We have decided to switch lives, obviously.

Now that I'm out of Alobva's clutches and Jennifer's asleep, it's time to get caught up on what our Risa team's been up to. Should have been a pretty simple mission...

...What in the hell am I reading here?

[Gain +10pp]
-

Tactical Officer's Log, Stardate 26711.6, USS Endurance - Lieutenant Commander Barry Jackson

This will be my last log entry for Starfleet.

One thing they never tell you is how lonely space is. How out here, you only have your crew. Between the close living arrangements, shared danger, and professional ties, they become something like a family. And you can't date your family, especially not as the Executive Officer of that family. Even if I view them as coworkers, I can't possibly be with any of them. My fellow bridge officers, too close. Anyone else lower ranked, there is too much of a power imbalance. We wouldn't be equals.

I see Captain Taggart every day. I know she has a fiancee she's been engaged to for three years, because they cannot find the time to marry. I know that she keeps a picture of her fiancee taped to the arm of her chair, a flagrant violation of the regulations. I see her touch it sometimes, almost like a nervous twitch, and each time it feels me with a the heavy wieght of sadness. To think that's all we have out here, on the edge of space. Only being able to touch a small totem of affection, blow kisses at the cold surface of a screen.

I turned 44 last week, and there was a perfunctory celebration. All I could think about was how Taggart was the same age as me. How I was in the Explorer Corps, and how I thought that'd propel me right to the Captain's chair. How I pictured myself as Captain of the Enterprise, sustained by my own prowess in space. What a joke. Now they push me for more deep-space missions. There's no warmth out here. The void insulates me from warmth. Literal or emotional. The closest I came to warmth was when Cardassian disruptors scorched our hull.

I'm tired of coming to my quarters and there's no one there to meet me. I'm tired of having no one but the counselor to talk to about my dreams, my hopes, my feelings and my fears. And there's no sharing with the counselor. I don't know anything about him. That, again, would be unprofessional.

But I've finally met someone, here, on Risa. Her name is Ilyra. She's beautiful, and smart, and she listens. She's so full of stories and life and wonder. After the conference today, we stayed up and talked for hours about -- everything! Her pets, my childhood, how she's worried she won't make a mark in the scientific community. She sends electric sparks through me everytime we touch. There's something here, something real, and I'm not going to let the Endurance drag me away from it.

So when you find this, I'm sorry. I'm running away with Ilyra and I'm not looking back. Don't try to find me. Don't look for me. I'm happy now.

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26713.2, USS Sarek

A small team and I beamed down as close as possible to the crash site and infiltrated the Hexolar facility. Before entering the ship, we discovered the gruesome remains of the Licori crew in a primitive surgical suite. Most died on impact, but Lieutenant Commander Erigan determined their mentat leader had survived the crash. Recovered Hexolar notes indicated the mentat activated voice command mode, allowing the scientists to more easily control ship's systems.

I infiltrated the ship and used my tricorder to make it appear to the Hexolar that new systems had some online in the ship. I then revealed myself to the Hexolar and claimed I was the ship's consciousness, manifested through advanced technology. Many of the Hexolar were visibly disgusted with my inferior, four-limbed appearance. The Chief Scientist stated his disbelief that a species so poorly laid out could have built a ship so advanced.

I told them the danger the ship posed, and told them my desire was that they should leave at once and forget what they found. Many worlds are not ready to discover they are not alone in the stars, nevermind suddenly having access to technology centuries ahead of theirs.

The Chief Scientist then produced a primitive, black-powder based slugthrower and shot me. He drew a sabre and rallied the Hexolar by screaming that if I could be shot, I could be killed -- and studied. This is a likely outcome I should have anticipated.

My field jacket prevented serious injury, but I am now forced to hide from roving patrols of armed Hexolar and dictate this log in a torpedo tube. My away team is standing by, but I do not want to cause further damage by having a phaser fight with the locals.

There is one more person I must try to persuade. If that fails, I will send in Security.
-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26713.3, USS Yukikaze

We responded to a distress signal from an Indorian freighter, which reported it was being pursued by a likely pirate vessel and needed assistance. We arrived at it's location thirty-two minutes after the call reached us, to find the situation mostly in hand.

A Hishmeri spacecraft, roughly equivalent to one of our runabouts, had come alongside the freighter and boarded it with a small team. However, the borders failed to cut any control lines as they progressed through the ship, and were drawn by their sense of smell to a cargo hold holding foodstuffs, including a large collection of processed fish. The freighter crew then put that cargo hold into lockdown and waited for us to show up.

I beamed Commander Awa down with a security team. They found the Hishmeri had gorged themselves so much on the fish they could barely move, let alone fight. We apprehended them, confiscated their ship, and made contact with the nearest Hishmeri fleet. They were embarrassed by the whole incident, and said we could do with the prisoners as we pleased. So they will be in my brig until I can hand them off for trial.

[+5pp]

-

Mission Recorder, Stardate 26711.7, USS Endurance

[PETTY OFFICER ROZHENKO] Hello. This is a very unfortunate update. Commander Jackson has ran off with some woman into the jungle!

He was very rude about it too, as he did not release his command codes at all. So now I, a lowly petty officer, cannot access most of our shuttle's systems. And neither can Ensign Volen, for that matter!

This is very vexing, as the Risians do not see the urgency in the situation. However, I -- encouraged Ensign Volen to run some forensic scans of the Commander's room. We are not sure what species his new lover is, but Risian they are certainly not.

I have all the specs and diagrams for the shuttle on my PADD. In enough time I am sure I could bypass the security locks, but by then who knows where Commander Jackson could be.

Wait, who is there? I will fire this phaser if you take another step!

[???] I'm someone here to help. Nash zh'Rhashaan, former head of Starfleet Intelligence, at your service.

[ROZHENKO] More like another spy! Sit in that chair. I will be checking your identity.

[ZH'RHASHAAN] Please, Petty Officer, you met me at the conference. We are wasting time here.

[???] Indeed. Computer, override Alpha-Beta-Lima-India-November-Delta-Oh-One.

[ROZHENKO] Wha-- Oh! have access to all the systems now! Well, if you are able to do this, you are either a very special Starfleet officer, or a better spy than I can handle, sir.

[???] Lucky for you, they haven't fully put me into retirement yet. My name is --------. You might also recognize me from the conference. I can confirm for you that my own analysis shows--

[ZH'RHASHAAN] --that the Risian was actually a Lecarre.

[???] Haven't lost your edge, I see.

[ZH'RHASHAAN] Thank you. Even with the shuttle, it will be hard to pin-point the exact location of our missing commander, due to the density of life in the jungle. We will find a general search area and then proceed on foot.

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26713.3, USS Sarek

I met with the leader of the Hexolar military detachment here. Breaking past the physical security measures measures was easy, but required some brute force. Strangely, she did not seems surprised or perturbed by my presence in her room when she arrived. Is this something she experiences frequently?

We had a long conversation. In the end, she was afraid. She had been doubtful of the project from the start, concerned that rather than securing her nation's place as the undisputed powerhouse of the world, it would only make it a target for invasion. The reactor could provide limitless power, of course, but at their level of technology it could only power lights and primitive machines. It could not power vast automated factories to manufacture weapons, nor could it assemble soldiers to fight for the nation. She feared that were the reactor's power be revealed, her people might be overrun too quickly to make any use of it at all. The fact it could kill every Hexolar on the planet was, of course, some concern too.

When I made clear that if I had to, I would use the powers of force in order to compel her to leave, what few reservations she had completely crumbled. She did not have the heart to risk her troops for a ticking time bomb. She rounded up the researchers and her soliders, and vacated the area. During the chaos, my team was able to confiscate much of their lab notes, and destroyed the remainder when they lit the cart carrying them aflame. It is fortunate for us so many things are flammable at this technology level. Less fortunate for the inhabitants, of course.

The Hexolar team was small, maybe fifteen soldiers and thirty scientists, apparently none of them particularly renowned. Hopefully, with the bulk of their records destroyed and the details classified, this incident will pass into legend for them, a tall tale some grandmother will tell about the time she saw a space-ship get shot.

After the Hexolar had left, we made quick work dismantling the site. The pergium stores and some of the exotic materials produced by exposure to radiation of the reactor will be useful, as well as the notes of the now-dead Mentat who made it. Despite the fact they showed poor judgement in even designing this device, their work on high-energy physics is actually quite solid, and will make for interesting reading later.

[Gain +10 sr and +15 rp]

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26713.5, USS Stalwart, Captain Chayaal

While on a check up of Lamarckian space we've just stumbled across the first Lamarck offworld colony: Radwin, population: 22.

Specifically a population of twenty-two Lamarckians split into two mutually antagonistic groups of eleven.

It seems that the Lamarckians have entered into a race to the stars with different planetary countries trying to outdo each other and claim as much territory again to avoid being left behind and isolated in their starfaring future.

Two coalitions of allied countries have raced to build long range warp sleds to send small teams of colonists on one way expeditions to a nearby system containing an M-class world. Both have now tried to claim an entire world for their respective countries alone.

This is not exactly an optimal situation. Twenty two people about to go into all out war for an entire planet seems ridiculous, but it's far more serious than that. It threatens to completely undo all Lamarckian progress towards global peace and cause an all out war on Lamarckia as well.

-

Mission Recorder, Stardate 26711.8, USS Endurance

[ZH'RHASHAAN] We'll need rope to cross this chasm. -----, I think you're best for tying the knots.

[???] Is that so, Nash?

[ZH'RHASHAAN] You have very, uh, dexterous hands.

[???] Oh, so you've noticed?

[ROZHENKO] Ugh.

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26713.7, USS Stalwart, Captain Chayaal

It's taken a lot of work, but I've done it.

I've not only managed to talk all parties into backing down on exclusive claims on newly settled worlds, but I've convinced them to found an independent exploration and Colonization agency that will operate independently of any single country or coalition of countries.

It'll take some work, but I hope that the new Space Exploration and Colonization Commission is able to prevent any more fighting over settlement rights.

[+25 Relations with Lamarck]

-

Mission Recorder, Stardate 26711.9, USS Endurance

[???] We're getting close. You're an excellent tracker, Nash. My fieldcraft has degraded somewhat, I admit.

[ZH'RHASHAAN] Maybe we can come out here again once this is done. I have a few more tricks I can show you.

[???] Not all of them relating to fieldcraft, I hope.

[ROZHENKO] Ugh.

-

Captain's Log, Stardate 26713.9, USS Salnas, Captain Sorek

At 14:40 hours Starfleet Underway time, my command was outbound from the starbase at Lapycorias when we detected a Graviton Ellipse undergoing a temporary reversion from subspace into realspace.

USS Salnas was able to engage in close range scans of the Ellipse for three hours and ten minutes until 17:50 hours Starfleet Underway time.

As a result of these scans my crew were able to devise a method of tractor beam usage where we were able to extract seventy isotonnes of unrefined Canodurniam from inside the Graviton ellipse before it returned to subspace two hours and six minutes later at 19:56 Hours Starfleet Underway time.

I have ordered my command to return to the starbase at Lapycorias and deposit the retrieved materials before we return to our patrol route.

[+10 SR]

-

Personal Log, USS Endurance, Stardate 26712.9 - Petty Officer Sergey Rozhenko

We finally located Commander Jackson and Ilyra after two hard days of trekking through the jungle. When we found him, he was completely naked sitting in front of a fire. Jackson looked happier than I have ever seen him before. He was very surprised when we came out of the woods, and even more surprised when Ilyra leaped down from the treetops onto --------. I knew from reading reports on Lecarre that she could electrocute him in a second, so I had to drop my phaser and quickly tackle her. Her face was to mine, her teeth bared, hissing. Then zh'Rhashaan hit her with a stun blast. It must have activated some sort of implant automatically. I will… it will be in my mind forever, watching her face turn rubbery and then slide off, her skull reduced to jelly.

It will be in Jackson's mind forever too. He has not said a word since we captured him. I had Ensign Volen bring the shuttle by to pick him up. I do not think he would be needing to hear the flirting between my new companions. It will make him even sadder.

But! Volen says she had a very productive time at the conference. And we have learned something of the Lecarre infiltration methods from this incident. Or so Volen says. I just want to take a shower and get back to my warp core.

[Gain 5rp]