Captain's Log, Stardate 27200, USS Challorn - Captain Hazag Daz-Hara
This vessel has been forwarded a distress signal from the colony world of Benden III, by way of a civilian trade vessel whose route fortunately brought it near this isolated system. A joint Human-Tellarite colony, Benden III is best known for the agrarian lifestyle pursued by a majority of its citizens as part of their curious foundational ideology.
The message relates a string of anomalous events, likely related and all, shall we say, unconducive to the colony's prosperity. A passing asteroid broke apart in the planet's upper atmosphere, damaging a section of its orbital infrastructure and peppering the northern hemisphere with small meteorite impacts. Subsequently, the colonists claim, the planet's biosphere was destabilized by an unknown and highly dangerous biological actor.
This would all be quite fascinating were it not for the several thousand Federation citizens caught amidst these wild festivities of nature. The Challorn will be arriving in a matter of standard days.
...
Captain's Log, Stardate 27203, USS Saratoga
We have received a distress call from the runabout Quicksilver, part of the Squadron 5 division engaged in the exploration of the outlying systems within the Enio subsector. The distress signal is nonverbal; just an automated SOS. We've been unable to establish contact with the rest of Runabout Squadron 5 to confirm their status.
The Saratoga is inbound on the signal's origin point. This vessel on its own, however...if we encounter an enemy force, they may wish to make a point of finishing the job they started on Saratoga years ago. Our approach will have to be much more cautious than I would like.
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Communique, Stardate 27203.5, Runabout Squadron 5 - Commander Ogg Jumpai
Warning to all Federation assets in or around the Enio subsector; squadron 5 has been attacked by a trio of Aiele-class Goshawnar warships and forced to retreat. We repeat, Goshawnar near Enio.
It is our hope that this message will reach you soon enough.
…
Captain's Log, Stardate 27204, USS Challorn - Captain Hazag Daz-Hara
Entrance into the Benden system was impeded. Unusual chemical activity in the system's oort cloud appears to have catalyzed the formation of highly kinetophillic particles that adhered to the hull in such quantities as were beyond the ability of the navigational deflectors to repel. Energy patterns throughout the cloud indicate a single origin point, correlating to the believed entry vector of the asteroid that triggered the distress situation.
Reports from the colonists have an invasive species proliferating rapidly across the northern hemisphere, consuming native bionts, introduced crop species, and colonists unable to evacuate in time without prejudice. Magnetic phenomena caused by the asteroid's contact with the planet's field, and infrastructural damage caused by the impactors, have limited the colonists' ability to counteract the invader.
I believe I have the beginning of a testable hypothesis, but it will require additional data before testing. In the interest of this, as well as our vessel's own safety, I have ordered an immediate spacewalk to sweep the contacted sections of the hull immediately upon our entry into Benden III orbit. I will likewise be dispensing a pair of shuttlecraft in pursuit of the asteroid's primary mass, which survived its near-miss with the planet.
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27205, USS Challorn - Captain Hazag Daz-Hara
Challorn's outer hull is being corroded by a fungus-like organism that has bloomed across the surfaces contacted by the oort debris. This organism appears to thrive in the vacuum, harnessing gamma radiation for both photosynthetic purposes, and to provide energy for the digestive processes that are overwhelming our vessel's SIF. I would love to test the fungoid's ability to assimilate nadions as well in a controlled environment, but unfortunately this hardly qualifies. Consequently, I have seen to it that zero-G teams are equipped with explosives and plasma flamethrowers rather than phasers.
Scans of the nonfunctioning satellites have isolated similar, though much more advanced, biofouling. The colonists appear to have jumped to conclusions when they attributed the satellite failure to magnetic activity; understandable, given the difficulty of detecting this organism against the radiological background of space. A genetic match has been confirmed with the organism that is spreading across the planet's surface.
The shuttle dispatched in pursuit of the asteroid is due to intercept it shortly. In the meantime, we are using the Challorn's transporters to evacuate colonists from the infestation's leading edge and recalibrating the phasers to burn the blooms away with intense heat before we can have a chance to learn if they can absorb radiant energy from the nadion beam itself.
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27206, USS Avandar
Thanks to Commander Jumpai's message, the Avandar was able to change course from our patrol and anticipate the escape path of the Saratoga as she fled the Goshawnar ambushers. It would appear that the Goshawnar allowed the downed runabout to continue broadcasting knowing that the nearby lone Constitution-B would be the most likely responder.
I have the wonderful ladies and gentlemen in Engineering for keeping us redlining that long without blowing out the warp nacelles, and thus enabling us to regroup with Squadron 5 and intervene before the fleeing Saratoga could lose shields. The Goshawnar vessels retreated as soon as they detected an inbound Excelsior with escorts, firing only a token volley of torpedoes in our direction before warping away.
[Goshawnar ambush foiled; only a runabout lost. Avandar is now Blooded.]
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27208, USS Challorn - Captain Hazag Daz-Hara
The organism's expansion into our hull has been slowed, but not stopped. Planetside, our thermal phaser strikes have pushed back the leading edges, but this will be of limited utility once the Challorn's own infestation reaches the phaser banks.
The shuttle has intercepted the asteroid, and found it to be nearly completely free of the organism. Only small encrustations remain, and structural analysis of their lithic substrate indicates that they were only introduced to the asteroid within a timeframe of the last several months.
My hypothesis has been rejected. I have dispatched another shuttlecraft to the oort cloud with orders to not lower shields anywhere within the cloud and conduct a full scan and cross reference the results with all the data we've acquired so far.
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27211, USS Lexington
The Lexington is continuing Starfleet mapping operations tailward of Arcadian space. We have made contact with a number of outlying Ked-Paddah and Licori space mining and research facilities, but otherwise little of diplomatic, economic or scientific interest.
[Event failed]
...
Captain's Log, Stardate 27212, USS Challorn - Captain Hazag Daz-Hara
The situation has been resolved. Benden III will require some ecological engineering to recover from the event, but the biodegradable chemistry of the organism should assist in the recolonization of invaded areas by crops and native bionts.
The Benden system's oort cloud hosts a rich ecosystem of cosmobionts, within which the fungus-like organism appears to fill a decomposer niche. Threadlike structures of the fungus drift throughout the cloud, passively feeding on dead or dying microcosmozoa and engaging in a rapid growth period in response to stellar disturbances that are likely to produce an abundance of food. The asteroid's agitation of the oort cloud during its passage through caused such a bloom, and a large volume of threads either attached themselves to the body or were pulled along by its gravitational field, and then dispersed into the orbitals of Benden III during the asteroid's near-miss.
The shuttle crew dispatched to the oort cloud were able to identify several natural predators of the threadlike fungal scavenger, and the Challorn's protein synthesizers were used to reproduce the toxins employed by those species to kill their prey. Installation of full-fledged replicators on Starfleet vessels is overdue, but in this case the synthesizers were sufficient. Application of these biotoxins to the invaded sections of the planet, the biofouled satellites, and the Challorn's own outer hull have sent the invasive blooms into complete remission.
Our vessel will soon be returning to Starbase IV to conduct some minor repairs, and to turn over the minerals recovered from the asteroid, a share of the satellite salvage generously donated to Starfleet by the colonial governing council, and some absolutely fascinating - and absolutely contained and sedated - biological samples.
[Gain +20 br, +10 pp, +15 rp]
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27214, USS Rr'uadorr - Captain Olon
Word has been received from a Bolian information-broker about a moon around one of the inner planets in the Zaedian trinary system that showed signs of having a dilithium-rich inner crust layer. A lucrative mining colony so near the Horizon Border Zone may be in Federation interest to settle and fortify. We are approaching Zaedian to confirm the location of this moon.
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27218, USS S'Harien - Captain Demora Sulu
Our mapping route has turned up another new discovery. From what the long-ranged sensors can tell us, we're looking at a starbase-sized facility built into one of the largest of the system's asteroids. There's no recognizable design hallmarks, and based on the energy readings it's still active.
We'll be getting everything ready for another First Contact before moving in and attempting a hail. In the meantime, I'm keeping the sensors hot looking for any ships that could belong to this new power.
...
Captain's Log, Stardate 27220, USS Sarek - Captain Samyr Kanil
We were delivering a set of ultra-high capacity Licori air purifiers to Kelowna to help with the ongoing cleanup, when we detected another ship exactly like our own returning back along our approach vector, and microfluctuations in the other Sarek's warp field informed us that it's had an extra week since the last tune-up.
So, I checked the nearby stellar positions to make sure we hadn't been sent forward in time, and we hadn't. With that established, I alerted the other Sarek of our position, and it vanished a minute later without answering. Whatever I did to send us forward again through time without causing any temporal contamination, I have no doubt that it was an act of unparalleled brilliance performed in inimitable style.
Our delivery was on time, and nothing weird happened on the way back, so I guess the incident cancelled itself out. Some interesting data about the temporal anomaly just appeared in our system, though; I swear, sometimes I have trouble even comprehending how amazing I am at stuff like this. Anyway, time for a warp engine tune-up.
[Gain +5 rp, +5 relations with Tauni]
...
Captain's Log, Stardate 27221, USS S'Harien - Captain Demora Sulu
I think we're going to have to move forward with the contact more quickly. A Hishmeri Thoroughbred frigate just passed through the system. Whoever that station belongs to, there's a good chance they're going to need our help.
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27222, USS S'Harien - Captain Demora Sulu
That didn't go the way I'd hoped. The asteroid base is inhabited by something in the neighborhood of two hundred hishmeri and four hundred brosmen. Whoever built the station, they abandoned it before the Livefleet passed through. It was a mining station originally; the surrounding asteroids are thick with exotic materials, everything from woznium to dilithium to tzo crystals. These hishmeri claim to be survivors of the infighting that saw the Majestic Jade Leaper fall and the new Majestic, Glittering Hunter, pulled away by the Eternal Empire. According to them, they are no longer part of the Livefleet, and have no intent of rejoining it.
I recognize the golden amulet that the hishmeri leader, Ruby Eyes, was wearing when she appeared on the viewscreen. It was plundered from one of the Velenian royal tombs.
Nath has pointed out that the station is only lightly armed, and only has one Thoroughbred in-system. Given recent Hishmeri actions, we would be within our rights to arrest them all and offer their brosmen slaves their freedom. He's not wrong. These hishmeri are offering their friendship, and Councilor Vil says they're genuine. But...he's not wrong.
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Captain's Log, Stardate 27225, USS Rr'uadorr - Captain Olon
Unfortunately, we are not the only ones who have contacts among the Bolian spacer community. An Outer Space Alliance corporate prospector rediscovered the site a week ago, and the company has staked a legal claim with OSA government backing, and presented us with the related documentation with perhaps slightly excessive smugness. We are returning to our previous patrol.
[Event failed]
…
Captain's Log, Stardate 27226, USS S'Harien - Captain Demora Sulu
Interesting. While conducting an extra cycle of tactical scans of the station, Miss T'Virid found something we missed the first time around. The fusion reactors that keep the station powered have what looks like an emergency backup high-capacity battery hidden deeper inside the asteroid, and there's an irregularity in the readings that suggests an accelerating breakdown in its thermal containment. Unless it's maintained in the next six months on the outside, the explosion is likely to set off a chain reaction throughout the entire facility. From what we've put together, the unit most likely only started breaking down long after the hishmeri reactivated the fusion generator, and the tech is exotic enough that they didn't realize what they'd done.
That frigate of theirs is also much patchier than we first thought. Its old, and likely falling apart. As far as we can tell, it's their only combat-capable starship, and it won't take them far if they need to flee the system.
…
Captain's Log, Stardate 27229, USS S'Harien - Captain Demora Sulu
That changed our negotiating position for the better.
The hishmeri will be allowing any brosmen who want to join their fellow freedmen in Federation space to do so, and the profits from the next freighter's worth of mined materials will go toward restoration of damage done to the Velenian homeworld. They'll also be returning a number of plundered artifacts.
There's enough valuable rocks that we can safely set up a mining facility of our own without stepping on any more toes than we already have, and I don't think these hishmeri will be in any position to betray us. They'll have nowhere else to go if they make the Federation chase them out of this place.
[Gain SR colony option at Ruby-Eyes' Folly (20 sr/yr)]
