USS HORIZON NCC-825002
SD 11.0212 to 11.0530
"Fire And Ice"
Senior Staff
CO: Captain Asa Garn
FO: Lieutenant-Commander Tergin
OPS/2O: Lieutenant Jason Munro
CSciO: Lieutenant Theophrastus Hamelin
FCO: Lieutenant JG Jarek Malaar
CSO: Lieutenant JG Silus Jaxom
CEO: Lieutenant JG Fred Bordak
CNS: Lieutenant JG Pol Canon
CMO: Lieutenant JG Zachary Comstock
Bartender: HoloCyrix (civilian)
Orders
To: CO, USS Horizon
From: Fleet XO, Cocoon Fleet
SD: 11.0212
Proceed to the Tass sector and scan for habitable class M planets which can safely be colonized and inhabited by Federation citizens.
Good luck,
Fleet XO, Cocoon Fleet
Summary
(written by Jonathan McCalmont)
Prior to the start of the mission, the Horizon took on a new CEO (replacing Lt. Sancho Valderez), CMO (replacing LtCmdr. Kieran Joram) and CSO (replacing Lt. Kuvak). Apart from that, the saucer section was extensively repaired after the heavy attack on it during the previous mission. Also, the ship's mission pod was changed from the medical pod to the sensor pod containing the Augur array.
The Horizon departed from Omega and headed directly towards the Tass sector. The work ahead of it was due to be time consuming as it required the ship to scan all systems in the Tass sector. The science department, however, began work on a set of sensor protocols which would either extend the Horizon's sensor range or make it able to scan directly for M class planets at long range. The result was similar to the technique used in the late 20th century for detecting supernovae: the lateral sensor arrays would take numerous pictures and long range scans of the stars and the computer would analyze these pictures in order to detect planets in orbit around the stars. Once this was done the computer could use spectrographic analysis to determine the content of the atmospheres of said planets. Therefor allowing the Horizon to detect M class planets at extremely long range.
A while after beginning the scanning, the Horizon received a strange message. Claiming to be from Lieutenant-Commander Tergin of the Horizon, the message was a distress signal informing all ships that the Horizon had crashed on Icefall II, an L class world. Intrigued by this message the Horizon broke off its scan and headed for the Icefall system in the hope of establishing why their FO was sending messages from distant stars when he was clearly safely on the Horizon.
Arriving in the system, the Horizon attempted to enter orbit but the appearance of a temporal anomaly almost forced them to crash. There were fears that somehow the Horizon was meant to crash on this planet and draw its past selves to make similar errors. The crew of the future Horizon are indeed on the planet but are unable to communicate with the outside world because of a dampening field shrouding the entire planet from orbital scanning. They managed to force a text only message through the field by massively boosting the power output of their subspace radio. The crew of the Horizon had been living on the desolate cold planet for a number of weeks and they had watched the survivors of the crash slowly die from the cold and the lack of food. In the hope of finding better shelter and food than the caves they inhabited and the scouting parties sent into the wreckage, Tergin, now CO after Garn's death, sent out scouting parties. One such team discovered a city several days walk away. A city which was cloaked.
Meanwhile, as the Horizon native to this timeline backs up and reassesses the situation, another Horizon appears through a temporal anomaly. Unable to pull up in time the heavily armed and battle-scarred Tryfan class ship falls from orbit and goes crashing into the planet. This Horizon comes from a universe where the Federation is losing a war against the Cardassians, the crew are similar to that of the Horizons already present in the area but are cynical, paranoid and convinced this is some Cardassian trick. The Horizon on the surface detects its arrival and sends a hologram to them with a message, HoloCyridian appears in the engineering section of the doomed ship rather than the Horizon safely in orbit.
After the smoke clears, Commander Tergin of the Horizon decides to investigate the strange ship he saw in orbit as they arrived and takes the surviving runabout into orbit. He meets briefly with the runabout sent by our Horizon as it descends in the hope of helping the survivors. The heavily armed runabout boards the Horizon in orbit as Captain Garn attempts to defuse the tension of the paranoid captain of the Horizon which just crashed. Meanwhile the runabout crewed by Commander Tergin, Lieutenants Hamelin, Jaxom and Malaar meet up with elements from the original crashed Horizon and fight off soldiers sent from the city.
The Horizon in orbit is rapidly joined by a Hood class Horizon captained by Captain Kieran Joram. In their universe the Federation and humanity has been all but wiped out by a lethal and contagious virus of telepathic nature. In their universe telepaths are rather weak and there is not the know-how to effectively experiment and fight the disease. On the surface the crew of the runabout and members of the crashed Horizon's scouting party see off the soldiers and find a pair of snow rovers which have maps and command codes which would allow them to gain access to the mysterious cloaked city. They set off together in the hope of finding some way to repair the timelines and return the four Horizons to their own universes. Meanwhile, the three Jarek Malaars present in the Icefall system are beamed into a holding cell and replaced with clones by a Dr. Linus, a rogue scientist from the Federation who lives in the cloaked city and is responsible for machinery creating the temporal anomalies, however, he believes that his teething problems are somehow due to the presence of one of the Malaars. His plan though is foiled by the appearance of an El-Aurian, she forces him to flee in a timeship and tries to infect the Malaars with a virus in order to infect their own universes. She comes from a universe with a "perfect society" and she is an operative who travels from universe to universe in the hope of forcing all universes to become like hers.
In orbit, despite the quarantine, the captains of the Horizons native to this universe and to the warlike universe beam to the newly arrived Horizon. As Garn and Tergin are telepaths they hope to be able to help the population of the universe affected by a plague. Comstock, still in love with Asa, is beside himself with grief as he had just transferred back in the hope of being with her. On the surface the away team's rovers penetrate the cloak and find their way to the heavily guarded installation where the temporal transconducer is located. The city is a strange place, visibly once a vibrant and lively city, it is now completely devoid of life except for Linus's installation. The away team sends the rovers to attack the front gate as a diversion while they slip in the back. Their plans are almost foiled when the clone Malaar attempts to murder Tergin, happily he is dispatched and the crew of the crashed Horizons arrive to help with the attack on the main gate. Vel, the El-Aurian, appears and despite being unsure of herself threatens to kill Tergin as she reveals that she is the daughter of his counterpart from another universe. Jax, the CSO, prevents her from harming the FO by shooting her with a dart which caused her to be beamed directly to the brig. Hamelin and the Munro from the original crashed Horizon enter the facility along with the Malaar native to this universe and find the computer which controls the temporal transconducer.
Hamelin logs himself into the computer using its neural interface. He is met with the computers avatar who claims that due to a feature of the quantum universe, Hamelin must speak with only one voice when giving orders. The computer, obviously a skilled psychoanalyst, presents Hamelin to his two voices, that of a Vulcan science officer and that of a human tribesman. The tribesman becomes alarmed and unluckily the Hamelin native to this universe is killed. The Vulcan Hamelin saves his katra in a ruby and takes control of the computer. In the real world, Munro and Malaar watch helplessly as their crew mate is transformed into a pure-blooded Vulcan before their eyes. Hamelin drops the cloak and the dampening field around the city and takes control of the computer. The away team beams back to the Horizon leaving one of the Malaars to run the computer as the crash survivors from the two Horizons move into the city.
Upon his return to the Horizon, Hamelin reveals that Linus has travelled back into the past in the hope of erasing the timeline. It is clear that someone must go back and stop him. It is decided that the Horizon native to this universe must do it if the other Horizons are to return to their own universes. With great pain it is revealed that Garn and Tergin's double have decided to stay with captain Kieran to cure the telepathic plague, leaving Lieutenant-Commander Tergin in command of the Horizon. The three Horizons work together to open a temporal anomaly large enough and precise enough to follow Linus back to the 20th century. As the Horizon enters the wormhole the crew says goodbye to its captain, Asa Garn. They have a new addition to their crew though, the updated HoloCyrix which is HoloCyridian.
The Horizon arrives in the 20th century largely undamaged and places itself on the far side of the moon to avoid detection. It is decided that in disguise Munro, Comstock, Bordak and HoloCyridian will beam down to Brooklyn, New York to find the renegade scientist while Hamelin and Malaar will provide support from a runabout in orbit.
Linus has returned in order to sabotage the establishing of a space station, the first collaborative effort from the various power blocks since the overthrow of Kahn and the end of the eugenics wars. He is in Brooklyn in order to take the place of the shuttle commander whose family lives there. Despite latching onto his temporal signature fairly rapidly, the away team is unable to capture the scientist, the team splits up and Munro is captured by the Mafia who have been bribed with energy weapons to work for Linus. The rest of the team however, quickly find the timeship and try to take control of it.
The runabout containing Malaar and Hamelin is fired at from the ground, a combination of particle weapons and missiles. It is clear that the government now knows that the runabout is there and, fearing the return of Kahn, fired first and asked questions later. The runabout plummets to earth and crashes in the Midwest, the two officers are unharmed but are unable to contact the Horizon because of a primitive dampening field. They take refuge in some abandoned farm houses to escape the army. They find a dusty Federation transport pattern enhancer in the house... how it got there is still unclear.
Linus successfully takes the shuttle commander's place leaving him and his family mortally wounded. The Horizon dispatches aid to the two officers in the Midwest and Tergin orders Comstock to go and help Linus's victims. They keep the shuttle commander unconscious and return him to the Horizon aboard the timeship. Linus launches himself into space along with the other astronauts leaving the crew of the Horizon in a sticky situation: how to remove him without damaging the timeline? It is decided that the timeship shall cloak and carry the unconscious astronaut along with Jaxom and Comstock. A can of anaesthezine gas will knock out the shuttle crew allowing the Horizon's crew to replace Linus with the real shuttle commander and then beam back out after altering the internal sensors. This plan proceeds perfectly as the Horizon knocks out the Earth's sensor net long enough for it to loose sight of the shuttle.
The crew return to the Horizon leaving Comstock and Linus in the timeship. Linus does as Comstock requests and sets the timeship's coordinates for the universe Asa Garn should now be in. Linus returns to the Horizon and is placed in the brig as Comstock bids the Horizon goodbye and disappears into a wormhole in the hope of being with his true love.
The Horizon returns to its own universe and into the arms of the paranoia which is gripping the Cocoon as the Dominion begin to make their play
Promotions
Lieutenant-Commander Tergin: promoted to commanding officer
Awards received
Distinguished Service Medal: Lieutenant Theophrastus Hamelin
Distinguished Service Medal: Lieutenant JG Jarek Malaar
Wingman Award: Jonathan McCalmont