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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)

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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest) Starfleet Ship Design Bureau, Refit ("To Boldly Go...")
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Boy, that'd make Locutus' aftermath make more sense.

After all, if Thuir was brought back from Chaos worship, why not Picard?

I mean, I'm still pretty sure there's limits to how thoroughly we can fix Chaos' chosen and they're gonna be making Thuir into their Abaddon, but Singer influence over a couple days should be reverseable.
 
ilbgar123 said:
Boy, that'd make Locutus' aftermath make more sense.

After all, if Thuir was brought back from Chaos worship, why not Picard?

I mean, I'm still pretty sure there's limits to how thoroughly we can fix Chaos' chosen and they're gonna be making Thuir into their Abaddon, but Singer influence over a couple days should be reverseable.
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Still not 40k.
 
uju32 said:
That actually does look uncannily like someone attempted to discreetly lay down disparate elements of a Sanctuary-killing task force.
Three pairs of Ambassadors, with task force support. In a force where ship deployments are deliberately ambiguous.
I suspect the Harmony is keeping a very close eye on your Amby desployment patterns.

In conjunction with your Comet wave, which is due just as the Amby refit designs become available?
A paranoid person might be forgiven for being.....paranoid.
And not to poke a sore spot, but how long has Thuir been gone now?
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"Your" Amby deployment patterns?

And... Ambassadors are a very uneconomical choice for Sanctuary-killing, both in resource cost and the four year lead time to build one. Yes, the tediously misery-inducing sociopaths tried to capture or kill one of ours. Yes, maybe pairing up EC ships might have been a sensible response (but is not what Explorer Corps Command has done, given the Curiosity logs). But, I don't get what you're getting at.

Also, the Amby-A refits will be out long after the Comet wave. They may even require 2328 tech now, meaning 2330Q3 availability (and 2331Q3 first launch).
 
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Captain's Logs 2325.Q2 - "Whatever Happened to Enterprise anyway?"
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    • AN said:
    They say art is abandoned rather than finished. This is one I definitely feel was abandoned rather than finished.
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    Science Officer's Log, Stardate 23977.1, USS Enterprise-C, Lt-Commander M'hrana
    (EC Ambassador, Trailing Coreward)

    A new anomaly!

    Long range sensors have picked up a system, STC-387, that appears to be wreathed with a sort of "absently charged" dark matter. It's well, getting into the technical details, [Redacted for Brevity].

    So it's not a fully grown dark matter nebula. But I'm curious as to whether this phenomenon is the early stages of a dark matter nebula to be. It's not the safest place. But I believe that we can learn a lot by engaging in an in depth investigation.

    -

    Captain Jennifer Zhang rests one elbow on the conference room table and strokes her chin, engaged in careful thought, "So, how dangerous do you anticipate this being M'hrana?"

    "You remember the Eye of Chaos?" M'hrana asks, scrolling through something on her PADD, "Though without the CRV-380 entity."

    "I'd certainly hope so!" says, counselor Roxun, his solid black betazoid eyes widening, "Dealing with recovery from that sort of being might be my speciality, but it's not one I like to practice."

    "M'hrana, to be clear, how close do you think we should be getting?" asks Zhang, "Is there a defined edge to this thing."

    "How close can we poke our nose, and should we be worried about it poking back?"

    M'hrana gestures to the images still on the conference room's wall from her initial presentation, "Now, this is a unique phenomenon in our experience. Dark matter nebulas are rare enough, and if this is one in formation, it would be the first. So I can't give you an exact guarantee. Buuuut… we should be able to detect any gravitational anomalies as we approach, and as long as we don't enter any of those 'whisps'," she gestures again to the images, "We should be fine. I don't anticipate any problems as long as we stay at least two million kilometers away from the edges of the nebula."

    "Uhm," trills Tiirid, Enterprise's veteran Fiiral tactical officer, feathers fluttering, exchanging a glance with the Chief Engineer, the Indorian Neroth. "Are there specific frequencies, or anything that can be done with our shields before we approach, to avoid damage?"

    "There's some things in the logs from Salnas' trips into the Mar Oscura that I could forward to you. Actually," her ears pick up, "there's a theory that Salnas wasn't encountering gravimetric anomalies, but instead some form of 'spacial gap'. It's one of the things I think we can look into while we're here."

    Dr. Ahanle leans forward, resplendent in his short sleeved doctor's coat, "As CMO, I just want to remind everyone that if something goes down around here, there's no back up. We're well away from Naskant and Tarvftroki space, and past the farthest range of the Dreamer Towns."

    Lieutenant Dash sh'Rinboq shrugs, her antennae dipping. "Well, we're not actually that far from the Harmony's coreward segment. There's likely at least a few Science Directorate vessels out this way."

    "That's true." Zhang chuckles, chin still on fist, "Though I'd hate to give them something else to be smug about. We'd never live it down if they had to rescue us."

    "They did fix me up after the KLC attack on Spirit." says Dash reasonably, "It'd be repayment for Frontier helping them out in the Eye of Chaos."

    "True, true." Zhang nods at her senior officers, "M'hrana, we're making a cautious approach. Okay? We can spend more time if the initial findings live up to your hype."

    The Caitain science officer beams, whiskers quivering with excitement, almost hovering off her chair, "Yes, ma'am!" M'hrana starts to rise and turn around in her chair before suddenly turning around and whapping her palm down onto the table. "Oh! I also want to deploy a probe network as we move, I want to try to triangulate some of the emissions coming out of the nebula. There's a lot going that we can learn here and I don't want to miss anything."

    Dash excitedly raises a hand, "Ma'am!"

    Zhang smiles, eyes twinkling, "Yes, Lieutenant, you can take a runabout out to deploy and maintain the probes as we go."

    Dash leans back as she lowers her hand, "I didn't realise I was that easy to read."

    "Your face is an open book Dash." says Dr. Ahanle with a chuckle, "You're almost Risan!"

    "Alright then people," Zhang starts to rise from her position, "Tiirid, Neroth, get a good look at those reports from Salnas." The two men nod seriously, and Zhang continues, "Ahanle, you should take a look at their casualty reports too. There might be something for us to prepare for. Dash, M'hrana, work with Cindre to prepare our probes." she looks each of her officers in the eyes, "Let's get to work. I look forward to seeing the size of our transmission home."

    -

    Captain's Log, Stardate 23984.8, USS Enterprise-C, Captain Jennifer Zhang
    (EC Ambassador, Trailing Coreward)

    Enterprise     is making admirable progress in our investigation of what we've dubbed the Tenebris Nebula.

    M'hrana and Dash would have liked to take Enterprise inside, as we believe we've detected a star with orbiting planets, but the danger is simply too great to do so. This region of space seems to be even more hazardous than the much older Mar Oscura nebula and Salnas only entered that nebula to avoid being badly outmatched and destroyed.

    So, with that in mind, we're reaching the edge of what we can do with a short term study of the Tenebris Nebula. So we're preparing to place some probes that will conduct long term observations as well as acting as hazardous navigation warnings.

    -

    Enterprise-C drifts lazily along, her course taking her well clear of the danger of the nebula she skirts, behind her a pair of runabouts dance around a network of probes and beacons making last second adjustments and investigations.

    Aboard Enterprise, her crew is just as relaxed, in mood of almost postprandial relaxation. Enterprise had gathered a lot of data and now it was time for a nice long relaxing course of cataloguing, analysing, and retransmission.

    Captain Zhang finishes reading one last report on the unique astrography of the Tenebris Nebula and sets aside a PADD, lifting her hand to check the time on the personal console built into her armrest. She nods to herself and looks over her right shoulder towards the communications station, "Alright then, Lieutenant S'ten, signal Utopia Planitia and Oreasa to return. I think it's time for us to make preparations to depart the area." she looks across the bridge at her XO, "We do have a schedule to keep after all."

    "You know how restricting it is to suddenly have to start wondering about how long it would take to get home?" Kol Deva raises his left hand to brush his closely cropped red hair, "I feel like five years should... last longer. You know?"

    "If they hadn't forcefully pinned that gold on her, Nash ka'Sharren would probably still be sitting in this chair and complaining that even twenty five years wasn't long enough!"

    "Right you are Capt-" Kol Deva looks towards the main screen, frowning, the stars are moving in the wrong direction, "Helm-"

    The junior lieutenant at the Helm position stares wildeyed back at the Commander, "Sir, she's not responding."

    The Yan-ros woman at ops looks up from her own console, "Our course is moving to put us directly into the most dangerous concentration of anomalies."

    The mood on the bridge suddenly shifts with an almost audible clunk.

    "Set condition red throughout the ship!"

    "I'm not detecting any outside interference ma'am!"

    "Neither am I, shields coming on line." the Fiirial tactical officer sorts through lower deck reports, "Reports are coming back, no observed physical damage."

    "Zhang to Engineering! Report?"

    The voice of the ship's Indorian Engineer comes back up out of Zhang's armrest comm device, "Captain, we've got no mechanical faults-"

    "-this is in the software" finishes Lt. Cindre, the Yan-Ros woman nearly rigid with stress as she focuses in on her console, "I can't get access to the navigation systems, we're locked out!"

    Zhang takes a moment, takes a single breath, lets it out and raises her voice as she does so, "Neroth. I need you to physically cut power to the impulse engines and get teams to take manual control of the RCS, Cindre, if we can't get control of the automated systems in the next forty seconds I need you to direct teams to physically cut the system off. Kol, I need you to head to auxiliary deflector control, we may hav-"

    "Aetheric rudder. Yes Captain."

    "Good man." she turns the other direction to her comms officer, "S'ten, Send a distress call, then get Utopia Planitia and Oreasa on the line, we're going to need them to help arrest our mo-"

    The fiiral tactical officer shakes his head and interrupts in his low growling trill of a voice, "No go ma'am. Both runabouts have just started drifting."

    Zhang takes another deep breath in, and another slow breath out, "Alright, contact the hangar, crash launch everything else we can. We need something out there."

    "Contacts! I think… Two, no, three Harmony Scientist class vessels have just entered the System."

    Zhang's brow furrows, this is far too convenient, "Contact them, request aid."

    "No response."

    Behind her the Tactical officer's feathers ruffle in confusion, "I'm getting... What's this. M'hrana?"

    "There's… I think they've-" the Science officer's own short brown, grey, and orange fur is now standing on edge in alarm, "I'm turning our probes around, I'm running one close. Sensor returns show... I think they've blown hull plates, clear from the ship?

    Zhang puts that though together with scattered intelligence reports, "Those are Solace class vessels!"

    "Agreed captain."

    "Alright. No. This isn't help." Zhang breaths deeply again, "Warn them off. Prepare the crew for combat."

    "My probe just disappeared." M'hrana's voice is raised in alarm, "There's something else out there, I'm giving it a mass between one point five and two megatonnes. I don't know how they've masked their warp signature. There might be more out there"

    "Zhang to Engineering, give us full power," Zhang looks down as something chirps on her armrest controls and she reaches over to throw a switch, "This is Commander Deva, I'm in deflector control, We're ready to project that rudder."

    "Change of plans Commander."

    "Ma'am?"

    "I need you to coordinate with M'hrana and the teams in control of the RCS systems, the situation out here has changed. We're going in."

    -

    Enterprise's bridge is silent, save for the quit pings and chirps from consoles alerting their operators to an increasing array of threats. None from the Harmony ships, thankfully, those had broken off almost immediately after Enterprise had dove into the blank maelstrom of destructive anomalies.

    Then she shakes, the hand of god almighty flinging Enterprise from side to side as she reels from contact with something that doesn't, can't, exist outside the environment of the Tenebris nebula.

    Captain Zhang has to remind herself to continue to breathe, as she clutches to her chair, white knuckled and held in place only by the tight grasp of a safety harness. She again reminds herself to take a deep breath before she breaks the bridge's silence, "Damage report."

    Tiirid stands unruffled at his station, riding the shock, he's seen worse, "Starboard shields at 45% captain."

    "I can't tell you what that was Captain." M'hrana looks quickly between three separate screens, a finger held in place on one as her other hand swipes through a dozen separate programs furiously, "Not since we had to reset the lateral arrays on that side." She bites a lip and then sighs, "We can't stay here captain. This is far worse than the Mar Oscura. Seven hours is long enough, it'd take days to get all the way through. And we can't stay here."

    Tiirid stamps his thick legs in frustration, "It's the helm system. If we had full control we could make it out, but we're in bad shape without it."

    Zhang is deep in thought. She may have to risk falling into the hands of a suddenly aggressive Harmony and plan around whatever plot was afoot rather than risk loss of her ship.

    Commander Deva, back in his spot having returned from deflector control, turns to his Captain, "You know, growing up back on Alukk we used to pay to get this sort of ride." He grins. "There's this beast of skycoaster at Intempi Park. I spent my twelfth year measuring myself every single day, so that I'd know exactly when I was finally tall enough to give it a whirl."

    Zhang focuses intently on Enterprise's main screen, her eyes aimed directly ahead, watching the anomalous flashes of light flicker across the screen and imagining that she can see the invisible distortions likely ahead of Enterprise, "Never much been one for roller coasters Commander."

    Suddenly the screen clears, STC-387-A seeming to melt away the surrounding nebula like the sun on a foggy day. "Aaaaand through!?" says a very relieved M'hrana, raising her arms in triumph and then holding out a hand towards the lieutenant at the station next to her, "HIGH FIVE!"

    Zhang turns to look at Commander Deva, feeling as green as the man himself, "Kol, do you think you can take the bridge for a moment? I need to talk to doctor Ahanle, or track down grandmother's ginger ale recipe."

    "Ahh. Captain!" M'hrana calls out from her spot at science, her fur seeming electrified, fingers flying over her panel as she transfers her new scans to the main screen, "This is STC-387-A-II." The image resolves into that of a world with an even sprinkling of greens, blues, and browns. A habitable planet, if not a pleasant one. "And that's a city," she says as lights twinkle into being on the planet below and Enterprise enters orbit.

    Zhang holds back a resigned slump as she settles back down in her seat, "Okay. This warrants our attention"

    -

    Captain's Log, Stardate 23985.5, USS Enterprise-C, Captain Jennifer Zhang
    (EC Ambassador, Trailing Coreward)

    STC-387-A-II is a life bearing planet. Barely on the edge between class K and M. But there is naturally developed life there.

    STC-387-A-II also posses intelligent inhabitants. And that particular life is non-native.

    The planet appears to be home to a colony of several hundred thousand Horizonians.

    Observations show that their civilization is pre-digital. While metallurgy, agriculture, and some other fields show signs of being fairly advanced, the planet is devoid of computers and wireless communications. No radio, subspace or otherwise, has been detected. Even this close the planet is fairly quiet in the EM spectrum.

    At this time we can't say whether that is deliberate, the result of adaptation to some yet unknown property of the dark matter nebula we've put ourselves inside, or the result of knowledge loss. Most of the population seems to be concentrated in a particularly fertile valley in the southern hemisphere. Tightly packed around one central city.

    After our atmospheric probe showed negative for signs of contagion or a harmful atmosphere, Commander Deva has agreed to lead a team down to the surface to investigate. I will leave off making any decisions until his team returns.

    -

    "You look good in blue." says Doctor Ahanle says to Commander Deva as he joins the away team on the transporter pad. "It does clash with your outfit though."

    "I'm not wearing that… thing you fabricated," says Commander Kol as he rechecks his away team's equipment for a final time, "It's all browns."

    "I think you'd look good in leather." says Ahanle, adjusting a red wide brimmed hat over his now raven black hair. "She gets it," he says, nodding towards Lt T'Sen, dressed in a thick leather coat and her own wide brimmed red hat.

    "It is… durable." says the taciturn Vulcan, looking down.

    "Well, you'd look positively majestic on a motorcycle T'sen."

    Counselor Edal Roxun tsks loudly, "I think it's what's on the inside that counts."

    "You would, wouldn't you?" says Ahanle significantly, with an eyebrow waggle.

    The last member of the away team leans forward slightly, "Please sirs. We can discuss fashion later. I suggest that right now we focus on the mission."

    "Right you are, Cindre", Commander Deva waits for the Risan Doctor to take his place on the transporter pad, "Right you are. -Chief. Energize."

    "Aye Sir," says the enlisted man as Enterprise's away team dematerializes.

    -

    Away Team Log, Stardate 23985.9, USS Enterprise-C, Commander Kol Deva
    (Surface, STC-387-II-A)

    I'm a little bit annoyed with myself right now.

    Teleporting into a rural area did seem like the smart move at the time. Dr. Ahanle was easily able to confirm the probe's findings, and we were able to send several biological samples back up to Enterprise and generally perform some of the standard new planet away team tasks.

    Then I decided that we should walk to the nearest community. I just forgot how boring it was to walk this far in rugged terrain.

    I shouldn't complain. I made the call and I still think it's the correct one. We have to take time to acclimatize and to adjust to the planet. But it's still a boring walk.

    Which does give me time to think over what happened to send us in here in the first place.

    It's all too strange. And I have to admit, no matter how disappointing it is, that the most likely reason for what happened is sabotage by a member of our crew in order to lure us into a trap set by the Harmony, which, again, is strange. It just doesn't make any sense.

    -

    The Horizonian woman tents her fingers over the bottom of her face as her dispassionate gaze bores into Commander Kol Deva.

    Kol doesn't know whether he should look away or return the intent gaze, so instead he just smiles and relaxes in the stiff wooden chair, "So, uh, yeah, I'm not from around here. We're from out in the countryside." he says as he reaches up to rub his neck casually, and activating the micro-communicator built into his collar as he does so.

    "No. I'd judge that your team is from that starship in orbit." she says tilting her head slightly to indicate the small batch of phasers, tricorders, and comms equipment that their captors had lifted from the away team in a brief and efficient search, "And you equipment is not of… rural manufacture."

    "Oh. So you noticed Enterprise then…" he has the good grace to look embarrassed, "Do you mind if we can have our, uhm, equipment back then?"

    The blue skinned woman is silent again, calculation written across the crinkling of the corners of her red eyes as she studies his face intently. She speaks just as Deva has begun to wonder if the woman is even capable of blinking, "I'm afraid that we will be holding on to your effects while we discern your intent."

    "Oh! All right!" Kol reaches a friendly hand across the table, an act of calculated cluelessness, "Hello! My name is Commander Kol Deva, First Officer of the USS Enterprise, United Federation of Planets Starfleet." He smiles warmly, still relaxed, hand still outstretched, "Do you want to trade stories? I can go first: The United Federation of Planets is a peaceful interstellar union of nearly two dozen species who have banded together for mutual scientific, economic, and cultural exchange. There ar-"

    The Horizonian woman suddenly leans back in her chair, the legs quietly creaking as she shifts her weight and Kol's hand finally drops back into his lap, "I think it's time to go talk to the old woman." She gestures towards the armed and uniformed man standing over Deva's shoulder with a single gloved hand. "Put them up in the hotel Dividia tonight. Tomorrow we're going to The Tomb." she returns her attention to Commander Deva. "I'm afraid that we won't be allowing your team to leave Tenarilight tonight. Though we will do our best to be hospitable."

    Commander Deva rises from his seat, "I appreciate the thought…?"

    "Good afternoon Commander." she says flatly failing to return Kol's smile.

    "Good afternoon!" says Kol, still smiling, as he's led back through to the other room. "I think we're making progress," he says to the rest of his team, currently kept under the guns of a unit of armed guards, "So, I got us a hotel room for the night. Then we're doing some tourism tomorrow. Not certain of the details, but in my not so humble opinion, everything's copacetic."

    -

    "-in my not so humble opinion, everything's copacetic."

    Zhang lets out a breath that she didn't know she was holding as she leans low over Ensign S'ten's communications station.

    Her tactical officer stands next to her, "Good. That's the code phrase." the Fiiral seems as relieved as Zhang feels, "I'll trust Kol's judgement then, and see how this plays out."

    Zhang straightens up and away from the comm station "Okay. Good work, S'ten. Let me know the moment anything changes or the signal goes out."

    "So they know we're up here," says Tiirid as he follows Zhang away from the comms station, "It may just be optics, we're still not seeing anything that advanced down there. On the other hand, there is a deep layer of magnesite in the bedrock below that continent. Something could be hidden there. I advise that we back off to extreme comms range."

    "We'll do it." says Zhang with an authoritative nod.

    "Hey, at least we don't have to worry about cultural contamination!" M'hrana's ears settle brightly, as she also follows Zhang across Enterprise's bridge, "Though I'd be interested in what exactly they do know. Apparently not enough to jam or detect standard comms frequencies."

    "Hopefully Commander Deva can figure that out." Zhang settles into her command seat, "Back us off, put our orbit behind the smaller moon. Let's break line of sight. Conduct our repairs and finish the hard reset of our databanks. We're probably going back to that old duotronic again in the meantime." She turns to look over her shoulder. "M'hrana, launch a stealthed probe so that we can continue to monitor the surface. I don't want any more surprises while we're running the purge. "

    -

    The tunnels turn from wood paneling to polished stone as Enterprise's away team is led into deep under the mountains that surround the Horizoanian city. There are brightly coloured etchings and markings that line the passage, but there is no time to slow down and investigate closer as the teams heavily armed hosts hustle the team along at a pace that is almost, but not entirely, a brisk jog.

    Suddenly their lead host, the Horizoanian woman that had interrogated Commander Deva earlier, stops and turns around; bringing up one of the team's communicators and offering it to Commander Deva, "We're about to pass under a layer of magnesite that will likely block you from your ship's sensors. If you would kindly contact your vessel and inform them that you are not about to be killed. We would prefer that they should refrain from vengeful actions committed in your memory."

    "Right then. Appreciate the consideration…?" says the Orion man significantly as he reaches out for the communicator.

    "Senior Leader han Jace. Commander"

    "Thank you Senior Leader han Jace!" says Deva as he casually flips the comm unit open, "Commander Deva to Enterprise."

    "Enterprise here." says Captain Zhang, "It's good to hear from you again."

    "Good to hear from you again Commander."

    "Just calling to let you know that we're in good order and that we're about to pass through that layer of magnesite in the bedrock. Just a bit of forewarning."

    "Understood Commander. Stay safe."

    Deva flips the communicator closed again and hands it back over to han Jace.

    The woman briskly takes the communicator back and the group returns to its brisk pace down into the earth.

    -

    Away Team Log, Stardate 23986.5, USS Enterprise-C, Commander Kol Deva
    (Underground, STC-387-II-A)

    Our hosts have returned our equipment to us. Well, not our phasers, but everything else.

    We now find ourselves in very sturdily built and well armoured underground bunker. This place is at least a century more advanced than the surface. This place has computers that would not be out of place on Archer's Enterprise. Though they appear to be of ancient manufacture, though I do give the locals points for the maintenance job they've done with their equipment.

    We now find ourselves waiting in what I believe is some sort of briefing hall, waiting for our hosts to show us… something.

    Hurry up and wait. The story of my life.

    -

    Lieutenant Cindre snaps her tricorder closed, and sits down on the bench that is more scuff than shine, "Yes sir, approximately six hundred years old."

    Doctor Ahanle whistles, leaning back and draping his arms over the bench's backrest, "Rough swells, that's a long time to be cut off from the galaxy!"

    "It would explain why the only thing stronger than their suspicion and caution is their curiosity," says counselor Roxun, leaning forwards conspiratorially, nodding at the room's entrance where a trio of armed guards barrs the exit, "They're a very disciplined people, but I think a lot of that is defaulting to a stern adherence to the rules in the face of the unknown."

    "Logical" says T'Sen, watching the guard's movements carefully.

    "Definitely could be worse. You ever hear about Terra Nova?" Kol Deva says, not taking his eyes off of his tricorder, "Early UE colony. Backslid hard after an asteroid strike. All but forgot they were Human anymore after seventy years of hardscrabble subsistence survival."

    "I have several questions-" Begins Doctor Ahanle, before he is cut off by several locals entering the room with a wheeled cart with a blanket draped over it.

    "Commander Deva"

    "Ah hello Senior Leader!" Kol smiles and tucks away his tricorder, "Good to see you again."

    Han Jace steps behind the cart and gestures with deference to one of the Horizoanians that entered with her, an older man with a long though well maintained beard and what Commander Deva can only describe as an aura of command, "I would like to introduce you to Consul Carin fel Vairs, he is our world's elected leader."

    "Commander" says fel Vairs, his gravelly voice full of warmth as his stoic expression sheds itself to reveal a wide grandfatherly smile, "I have to admit, I didn't think this particular day would come.Tell me, Commander, are you familiar with the Harmony of Horizon?"

    Kol resists the urge to shrug, "They're the Federation's coreward neighbour. Relations are a bit strained at the moment, but they seem to be fundamentally decent people. At the very least democratic and well meaning."

    Fel Vairs nods gravely, "I'm afraid to tell you but that is almost certainly a facade." The old man takes a deep breath, "Over a millenia and half ago Horizon was settled by…"

    -

    "...by that time the Harmony was firmly under the control of the Singers. For our ancestors free will was an illusion, propagated by self appointed gods that were at best smothering and at worst puppeteers."

    "You know this is all an extraordinary claim? Right?" Deva is having trouble not laughing at the complete absurdity and horror of the Consul's tale, hoping that his tricorder has recorded the entire story clearly for retransmission to Enterprise.

    "And extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." says the Horizoanian Consul, "We would no more ask you accept our claims on faith than we have. But if you will allow me, we can finish the story of how our colony came to be?"

    "Oh, yes, please continue Consul."

    "Please, you can call me Carin, Commander. I would hope that you are really as friendly as you seem."

    "He really is," Says doctor Ahanle, "Mr Carin, sir, our dear Commander is a good man."

    The local Consul chuckles, "Be that as it may, I will give you some of the evidence that you will need," he turns to face on of his escorts that had silently relocated across the room, blue-skinned hand now resting on an assembly of switches and buttons, "Junior Leader, if you would?"

    The man nods and the room's lights dim, and a panel slides back on what is obviously a video screen. Kol shifts in his seat, making himself comfortable as a loading bar races across the screen.

    -

    HSDF Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day I Week XV Year CDXI, Senior Captain Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    Our exploration group has been recalled to Horizon by central command.

    It appears that the engineers on Dawnrim have discovered several flaws in our computer systems that will need replacement.

    Sub Admiral van Canidial has ordered that Tsendira Arbiter hold station while the rest of the squadron regroups.

    -

    HSDF Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day II Week XV Year CDXI, Senior Captain Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    Sub Admiral van Canidial has ordered that the squadron begin a complete tear down and reset of our communications equipment.

    It seems that she received coded orders inside our last set saying that our systems have been compromised by an outside force.

    It's unorthodox, but I trust her so we'll be beginning the shut down sequence shortly.


    -

    HSDF Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day III Week XV Year CDXI, Senior Captain Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    I'm just going to be informal here because everything's bullshit anyways and command is never going to see this log.

    Turns out everything's fucked. It's all lies.

    Our civilization is not just post-Apocalyptic, but post-enslavement.

    The Years of Silence were triggered not by collapse of the wormhole to our ancestor's coreworlds, but by long afterwards in some sort of ideological knife fight. And the pieces were picked up by cyborg zombie control freaks who prefer that people not think our own thoughts.

    And I guess get a fucking kick out of letting us play-act as independent beings.

    I can't even process how fucked everything is.

    Making things worse, Sub Admiral van Canidial isn't even... Is actually some sort of shell that an uploaded thousand year old AI rides around in when it's bored of living inside our computer banks.

    It's also apparently a thousand year old self proclaimed AI god that wants to die in violation of the laws of its kind.

    -

    Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day VIII Week XV Year CDXI, Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    I presume we're officially renegades now. I don't know, of course, since we've finished destroying all comms but for ship-to-ship. No way in. No way to back out now, either, for our AI god. It's - she's - committed to our plan, same as the rest of us.

    We can't overthrow our slavers. We can't save our families, our friends, still under their thumb. We're far too few in number, far too outgunned. Some of the crew have nonetheless suggested that we go pirate, get our own back. But my fellow captains agreed: we've got principles, even if some people are filled with hatred right now. (Not to mention that it would just be a slow suicide, which nobody wants except the former Sub Admiral).

    So instead, we're doing what we do best: exploring - this time, not to 'spread Harmony', but to find somewhere safe to hide.

    To find somewhere where we can actually be free.

    -

    Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day X Week XV Year CDXI, Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    I spent six hours today staring at an image of our warp wake.

    At the light from Horizon and Dawnrim. I know that light is centuries old, but it's the light from that same star that warms Irria and little Erien.

    I feel so helpless. They're stuck in a hell they know nothing of while I run.

    I have so much anger in my head right now.

    -

    Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day II Week XX Year CDXI, Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    The Singer. Sharael.

    She hasn't even tried to give a single order since that day. Doesn't really seek out anyone. She just sits in her quarters, or in the arboretum, and she sings.

    I can tell where they got the name from. She's quite good.

    She will also tell stories if you let her. She's like an elder, she'll talk about the past at the slightest provocation. She will talk about what her people have done, but she prefers to talk about her past, and about our past as a people. About entire histories denied to us. An entire language.

    -

    Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day VII Week XLVIII Year CDXI, Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    We've catalogued another habitable world today. And again we've decided to continue on. The Harmony expands ceaselessly and some day, in centuries if not decades we would have to move on again, most likely with Singers in pursuit.

    Right now they probably think we're dead, but if they knew we existed, they would stop at nothing to erase the fact that someone has slipped through their fingers.

    -

    Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day V Week VIII Year CDXIV, Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    There is a… nebula. A proto dark matter nebula.

    If one of the star inside were to contain a planet, we could settle down at last. Even if it has only the thinnest of atmospheres we could attempt Horizoforming it.

    Though, it would be madness to attempt passage inside. Our ships would likely be destroyed. But so would any pursuer.

    If we could settle down. Manage our emissions. We could hide indefinitely.

    -

    Tsendira Arbiter, Mission Log, Day V Week X Year CDXIV, Erien san Vailes
    (Searchlight Class, Rimwards Twentieth Segment)

    We have lost a third of our people. But we have made it to a world that is capable of supporting life -if barely.

    We have named this new world Tenarilight -"The hidden city" in the old tongue.

    -

    "There's more like that Captain," says Kol Deva nodding at the ancient logs on the screen in Zhang's ready room, still in the blue skin of his disguise, "Logs from every member of the crew. A personal attestation from this 'Singer'. Archived requests from the other Singers to the one that went into exile. And even physical evidence."

    "Sorry?"

    "Tissue samples." Kol puts a well manicured finger to his head, "Obviously not current technology, but whatever they were using in 1760. Some kind of nanotech that I'm sure the SDB would love to get their hands on."

    "You've brought a lot of evidence of this… conspiracy back with you Kol."

    "I understand Captain. It's likely a bit suspicious, but the Consul says that they've gathered everything they can so that each generation knows why they hide, why they make the sacrifices they do. Because if they were discovered the consequences would be apocalyptic."

    Zhang takes a deep sigh as she closes the screen on her desk then reaching a hand up to cover her eyes, "Well. I think we now have a motivation for why…" Zhang closes her eyes and rests her elbows on her ready room desk, cupping her forehead in her open palms, "The entire time I've known her…"

    Her First Officer's brow raises itself in confusion at the abrupt non-sequitur, "Ma'am"

    "We found the source of our difficulties." Zhang speaks carefully, her mouth moving carefully like she was trying to power through a dose of bitter medicine, "Enterprise is the victim of sabotage by a member of our crew. Lt. Cindre found the traces of the worm in her files and matched it with what was left in our drive systems." her mouth twists into a grimace, "We seem to have been betrayed by Lt. Dash sh'Rinboq."

    Kol is no slouch, very few Enterprise XOs have ever been, and he grasps the full scope of that statement in an instant, "The attack on Spirit…"

    "They must have been so proud of that move." Zhang's tone is an angry snarl of admiration, full appreciation of a vile move well played, "They weakened our frontier with them, they damaged our relations with the Tauni, made the Tauni look untrustworthy, made themselves look better, and put agents in our ranks, all at once." Enterprise's captain's eyes are still closed and she pinches the bridge of her nose with an increasingly painful grip, "I brought her here. I thought she was one of our best, Kol. I saw so much promise in her and I played right into the hands of minds inhumanly vast and incomprehensibly monstrous."

    "You couldn't have known, Jen. There's no way-"

    "I had Enterprise's statistics, I had Ambassador's. I'm the captain of the foremost ship in the Federation with access to every intelligence secret short of the very biggest -and even some of those. How could I not have seen something playing out?" Here, in privacy, tears begin to well up, "Everything is there in retrospect Kol."

    "No!" There is a dull thud as Commander Deva's palm hits the table, "You don't get to do this, Jen. No one saw the Cartwright conspiracy until it was too late. The Cardassians pulled several over on us. And we on them. And we were operating in the realm of the possible, the very idea of the fantasticness of the Harmony's Singers is entirely outside of everything we considered possible."

    "Kol." Zhang takes a breath and looks at her First Officer through bleary eyes as she leans back in her chair and crosses her arms, "I was sitting like this in my ready room on Spirit when I received my orders to take command of this ship. It was perhaps the happiest day of my life. And Dash sh'Rinboq was there, I asked her if she wanted to come with me. And… of course she said yes."

    "Ohhhhhh..." Kol nods slowly, a spark of realization causing him to blink, "You're mourning her."

    "I-"

    "Captain, there's nothing wrong with mourning, but…" he throws up his hands with a brief, quick, motion, "She's not dead. The woman you know lived. Still lives. I don't know how different these Singers must act today compared to those of six hundred years ago, but from what we've learned they…" the Orion's hands flutter about as he hunts for the proper words, "They don't replace, they don't override, they try to interfere as little as possible."

    He makes sure to catch his Captain's eyes with his own and holds her gaze, "She lives, she can be brought back to us. We just need to put in the effort to see it happen."

    Zhang snorts out a single ragged chuckle, almost a scoff, "Goddamnit Kol, you're right. Nash would tell me I'm being overdramatic, Abby would probably just grab me by the collar and shake me out of it." she favours Kol with a tight joyless smile, "Really just processing a lot, trying to figure out what to do with this ugly lump of betrayal I'm feeling right now for an officer I've mentored for years."

    "Listen, Jen, you know I'm always here," Kol flashes his captain a smile as sympathetic as a cool breeze on a hot day, "But if this is tearing you up Roxun actually has a degree in this."

    Zhang nods, returning the smile with a look of determination, "I'll book an appointment. However we do have other, more pressing concerns."

    -

    Captain's Log, Stardate 23989.7, USS Enterprise-C, Captain Jennifer Zhang
    (EC Ambassador, Trailing Coreward)

    Commander Neroth informs me that Enterprise's repairs are nearing completion and we should have full functionality within six hours.

    With that out of the way, and with the head of the Tenarilight government aboard Enterprise to speak with me I have several calls to make.

    The situation is dire and whatever choices I make could have vast repercussions.

    -

    Zhang looks at the reflection of her face in the polished inlaid ceramic of the conference room table; a near perfectly diplomatic neutrality that is almost textbook FDS, "Consul. I do have to ask, what proof do you have that we ourselves are not with the Harmony or under Singer influence?"

    The Horizoanian man nods gravely from his position at the other end of the Enterprise's conference room table, flanked by two of his aides, then turns his chair slightly to gesture out the window, "Because you have the stars Captain Zhang. Put simply we are in no position to extend you anything other than good faith and trust." he turns back to face Zhang and adjusts himself in his chair, leaning forwards, "If you are with the Singers there is nothing we can do to stop you. You control the orbitals, the Singers would control billions upon billions. Our only hope of freedom was hiding in the cracks of the universe."

    "Captain, I'm loath to raise this suspicion now…" Enterprise's Caitian science officer looks at the Consul, "But I think it does involve this world to a degree."

    Zhang allows herself to raise an eyebrow in curiosity, "Go ahead then M'hrana."

    "We must consider that Starfleet Command may be compromised and that any report we send about this world will be intercepted."

    "These Singers would learn about us." The Consul looks at Zhang, "Captain, if there is any way that we can remain hidden…"

    Zhang thinks backs to incidents involving the previous Enterprise that she had served aboard, "There are… protocols for similar situations. I'll authorize a physical data scrub. Swear the crew to secrecy. Tell no one."

    "Ca-" Doctor Ahanle laughs in disbelief, "Captain, Starfleet needs to know-"

    "About the Singers, yes doctor," says the Vulcan security officer sitting across from the Risan doctor, "but not about this world." The usually taciturn officer raises an eyebrow, "There is no need to lie. Simply to delay the full report until a more appropriate time."

    "So we make a partial report about what we found? Tell them we found a derelict six hundred year old Harmony ship where… what, this Singer committed suicide?"

    The Consul strokes his well trimmed grey beard, "It's certainly true from a certain perspective, ah, Doctor"

    "All right, so we broadcast this incredible message home-"

    "That may not work Doctor." Lieutenant Cindre speaks up, ending several minutes where the Yan-Ros woman had been lost deep in though, "Captain. One of sh'Rinboq's crewmates from Spirit was on the communications staff of Starfleet Headquarters. There's no guarantee that a message would even be passed up the chain of command."

    "We could simply blanket the entire Federation with our message?" Counselor Roxun shrugs, "We could hope that someone is able to figure out what to do with it?"

    "Without evidence? Even if we are believed what panic could we unleash?" The deep trilling voice of Enterprise's Filiral tactical officer is as dismissive as the wave of his tentacle manipulators, "Even leaving aside the question of what move to make next, what do we do about the several clearly hostile Harmony vessels waiting for us outside the confines of this nebula?

    Cindre nods in agreement, "Captain, I recommend a total communications blackout. We should try to slip back home and report face to face with Starfleet Command and the Council in Sol."

    "There are still those Harmony vessels outside of this nebula waiting for us." Tiirid waves vaguely outside the conference room's floor to ceiling windows, "I think we could take them, but I doubt the Council would appreciate us starting a war right here."

    Roxun looks at his Fiiral colleague in astonishment, then looks around the room, "Isn't it very obvious? We just play dead, let them think we died in here."

    "Indeed Counselor," Zhang inclines her head towards the man slightly before turning to her right to look at her Science Officer, "Commander M'hrana, how would we fool you?"

    "Aside from building another Enterprise and blowing that up?", the Caitian's brow scrunches up in concentration, ears swivelling to focus hard forwards at an imaginary point, "Well, we'd need spoof mass, spoof components, spoof material composition, spoof signals, spoof a convincing method of destruction?"

    "Antimatter always takes care of a lot of that." Tiirid trills, "If we dump sufficient mass into whatever we're burning up, they can't tell what went into it. We could probably use a spare antimatter containment pod from the spares."

    Chief Engineer Neroth, his own brow creased in concentration, rubs his chin, "Well, what we'd really want to do would fab up a copy of the log buoy…"

    -

    Three days later the HSDV Tanin saw Hardin records the USS Enterprise beginning to emerging from the proto-nebula, shields down, streaming copious amounts of warp plasma, and broadcasting a distress call.

    Her signals are blocked as per Singer instructions, and the Tanin saw Hardin finally approaches her target after a week of waiting.

    Tanin saw Hardin's engines have barely begun to spin up when when Enterprise detonates, a wash of energy sweeping out from the vessel as her matter encounters free roaming antimatter in a brilliant shockwave.

    The Harmony ships approach and recover damaged sections of the vessel that have survived, propelled away from the vessel by sympathetic explosions nanoseconds before main containment was lost. Some several meters of hull, a small length of EPS conduit, a damaged section of log buoy. Not much more.

    After a review of the logs, mainly a sequence of increasingly desperate damage reports, the Harmony's on site Singer sadly reports the loss of Enterprise and the failure of her catch and release expedition.

    Somewhere, lightmonths away, hidden behind a rogue planetoid, warp wake extinguished by an antimatter explosion, Enterprise's crew hold their breath and waits for the trail to clear.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Meh. I've become increasingly apathetic towards Enterprise. Courageous fits the flagship role better, frankly. We're just treating a husk as it's old self at this point.
     
    I admit to somewhat mixed feelings about this, given the whole thing around the harmony plotline. Not really sure how to articulate them, but mostly positive. That said, the whole "you where helpless until you stumble upon someone to hand you the secret" part of the harmony plot is kinda starting to grate a bit.
     
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    Coming home will be a strange experience for the Enterprise they think there coming with evidence of a unknown major conspiracy but by the time they get home(Q4 of this year?) a lot of their information is already known from other sources. Getting a second source of information is always nice to confirm it and there is some info and especially hardware that is new.
     
    This is independent confirmation of the issue, and the evidence the Enterprise was supplied with may help with the detection systems.
     
    AKuz said:
    Every ship and crew are the protagonists of their own story.
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    If we hadn't had Zara Quest earlier, would the Enterprise's nebula adventure be the 'big break' in the Harmony storyline we'd never managed to successfully roll?

    Or was this more of a 'what's something cool for Enterprise to do while planning to fake their own death'?
     
    sunrise said:
    Coming home will be a strange experience for the Enterprise they think there coming with evidence of a unknown major conspiracy but by the time they get home(Q4 of this year?) a lot of their information is already known from other sources. Getting a second source of information is always nice to confirm it and there is some info and especially hardware that is new.
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    No, remember they met up with TF Alarm. Zardmanni will fill them in.
     
    ilbgar123 said:
    Meh. I've become increasingly apathetic towards Enterprise. Courageous fits the flagship role better, frankly. We're just treating a husk as it's old self at this point.
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    Honestly I'm thankful Enterprise hasn't had much to do recently.

    Because that means shit isn't totally fucked, like, Arcadians-time-traveling-to-undo-the-Federation fucked, or Ulith-III-Biophage levels of fucked.

    Current hostilities with the Harmony notwithstanding things aren't on fire for the moment. They probably will be soon because heaven forbid we get through the next few years without something going cataclysmically wrong, but hey, I'll take it. Relative peace and prosperity man.
     
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    ilbgar123 said:
    Meh. I've become increasingly apathetic towards Enterprise. Courageous fits the flagship role better, frankly. We're just treating a husk as it's old self at this point.
    Click to expand...
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    I think the combination of increased event difficulty, lack of the veteran crew and fiery, extremely memorable captain, and just the general fact that the current Enterprise command team consists largely of people who originated as bit characters in omakes starring someone else, is causing the problem. It's fixable.

    random_npc said:
    I admit to somewhat mixed feelings about this, given the whole thing around the harmony plotline. Not really sure how to articulate them, but mostly positive. That said, the whole "you where helpless until you stumble upon someone to hand you the secret" part of the harmony plot is kinda starting to grate a bit.
    Click to expand...
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    I imagine you'd be happier if we'd gotten more of an opportunity to drag our answers out of somebody?
     
    Fun log, and it'll be interesting to see future interactions with these guys as the cold war goes hot. Plus it should help boost the implant detection research so that's a win by itself.
     
    Alliterate said:
    "Your" Amby deployment patterns?

    And... Ambassadors are a very uneconomical choice for Sanctuary-killing, both in resource cost and the four year lead time to build one. Yes, the tediously misery-inducing sociopaths tried to capture or kill one of ours. Yes, maybe pairing up EC ships might have been a sensible response (but is not what Explorer Corps Command has done, given the Curiosity logs). But, I don't get what you're getting at.

    Also, the Amby-A refits will be out long after the Comet wave. They may even require 2328 tech now, meaning 2330Q3 availability (and 2331Q3 first launch).
    Click to expand...
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    Yes, your:p

    Sure Ambassdors are uneconomical tender killers. But this is the Federation.
    Form follows doctrine in every navy we know, and the Feddies have never pursued attritional warfare except in extremis.
    They like their heavy metal, and they're averse to personnel losses for both pragmatic and ethical reasons.

    My point is that, in the event of a nearterm conflict, one would suspect those Ambys would get paired up, backed with frigate/cruiser taskforces and sent big game hunting. And they are flexible enough to remain capable of carrying out the same role in the future, given a couple upgrades.
    AKuz said:
    Science Officer's Log, Stardate 23977.1, USS Enterprise-C, Lt-Commander M'hrana
    (EC Ambassador, Trailing Coreward)
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    Interesting.
    I expected there was a colony of dissidents out there somewhere.
    Affiliating them in the future might be worth considering.
     
    AKuz said:
    "Ohhhhhh..." Kol nods slowly, a spark of realization causing him to blink, "You're mourning her."

    "I-"

    "Captain, there's nothing wrong with mourning, but…" he throws up his hands with a brief, quick, motion, "She's not dead. The woman you know lived. Still lives. I don't know how different these Singers must act today compared to those of six hundred years ago, but from what we've learned they…" the Orion's hands flutter about as he hunts for the proper words, "They don't replace, they don't override, they try to interfere as little as possible."

    He makes sure to catch his Captain's eyes with his own and holds her gaze, "She lives, she can be brought back to us. We just need to put in the effort to see it happen."
    Click to expand...
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    This feels rather like a sub-tweet to certain comments made in this thread. But... what even is the status of Dash sh'Rinboq right now? She was piloting one of the runabouts, and they were both left drifting when the Harmony approached.

    The fiiral tactical officer shakes his head and interrupts in his low growling trill of a voice, "No go ma'am. Both runabouts have just started drifting."
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    Does that mean she was captured by them? Plus whomever was piloting the other runabout, I guess. :(


    Yeah, whatever. Got to assemble a crew of captured Starfleet officers to face us down in some future confrontation.

    It was a good set of logs, if dark and miserable like everything associated with the Harmony. Good to know that the Enterprise would have come through even if the Courageous failed, and now we have independent confirmation of the same story from two different sources.

    Hang on, Tenarilight. You won't have to remain hidden many years longer. Hopefully.

    :(
     
    Anyway, shows that the Enterprise ambush primary plan wasn't destruction, it was subversion.

    Chip everyone, stick a Singer in the computer core, memories are wiped and suitable memories/logs generated; and one of our lead vessels becomes an enemy tool, without us ever knowing until it is too late ...
     
    AKuz said:
    "There are still those Harmony vessels outside of this nebula waiting for us." Tiirid waves vaguely outside the conference room's floor to ceiling windows, "I think we could take them, but I doubt the Council would appreciate us starting a war right here."
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    I can't speak for the Council, but as far as Starfleet Commander goes, we're not not intrigued by the idea. Just saying, there's worse wars to start. We held off on the Cardassians and just last week we held off on the Hishmeri. All to keep our powder dry for... other targets.
     
    Simon_Jester said:
    I imagine you'd be happier if we'd gotten more of an opportunity to drag our answers out of somebody?
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    or just found them on our own. we got them handed to us by a defector, while our own efforts of figuring out what was going on if anything just got in the way. Here we essentially tripped over a box full of damming proof by 100% chance. Given the big issue has been forced helplessness, having to be shown the truth by an outside party picks at that. It builds a subtext of "you needed dumb luck because you would never figure it out on your own."

    Briefvoice said:
    This feels rather like a sub-tweet to certain comments made in this thread.
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    yeah, a bit to bluntly honsetly.
     
    "The players are worried about their favorite characters and have jumped to the conclusion they are dead. Let's clarify that to give them a little hope :) "

    "Ah. A brutal clapback from the GMs for our rampant speculation."

    " :( "
     
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