USS HORIZON NCC-825002
SD 11.1013 to 12.0214
"Juun Mysteries"
Senior Staff
CO: Captain Tergin
FO: Commander India Baker
CSciO: Lieutenant Theophrastus Hamelin
FCO: Lieutenant JG Jarek Malaar
CSO: Lieutenant JG Arkanis
CEO: Lieutenant JG Fred Bordaq
CMO: Lieutenant JG Trinity Layne
CNS: Lieutenant Pol Canon
OPS: Ensign Nathan Cady
Orders
To: Captain Tergin, CO, USS Horizon
From: Admiral John M. Power, Fleet XO, Cocoon Fleet
SD: 11.1013
Omega Command has been contacted by a small colony of Juun origin based in the Connard system, Pieri Sector. Apparently they claim to be a break-away, independent colony under threat of military action to forcibly remove their independent status. Also they claim to have uncovered the remains of an abandoned culture on Connard IV. The images and data they sent would appear to back up this claim.
The Horizon's record of success in hostile encounters against the Juun should be enough to discourage any out-right attack on the colony merely by its presence.
You are hereby ordered to proceed directly to Connard IV. The Horizon's objectives there are threefold.
1) Ascertain the truth behind the claims of the colony being a break-away group wanting independent status, and if so, begin the formal agreements to bring the colony under Federation protection.
2) Begin an investigation to ascertain the nature of the archaeological remains and examination of any technological or cultural evidence as to its origin.
3) Ensure the protection of the colony and its inhabitants during the formalization of agreements.
It is considered that the risk of hostile Juun activity is low and if any is encountered, it is expected that diplomacy will be sufficient to defuse the situation. Lethal measures are only authorised in a defensive capacity.
Good luck,
Admiral John M. Power
Cocoon Fleet Executive Officer
Summary
(compiled from situation reports by Nick del Pozo and Jenney Eyster)
The crew of the Horizon gathers for the first briefing of the new mission. They are to head to a Juun colony in the Connard Sector, which is claiming independence. The colony also has presented evidence of some form of ancient civilization's ruins, which the Horizon is to investigate.
The conversation during the meeting raises interesting points. Such as how the surveyance of the ruins will be handled, and the possibility of the ruins being connected to the claim of independence.
After the briefing, the crew enjoys their last moments of R&R before heading towards their new objective. Malaar and Trinity enjoy a holosuite simulation, and later on, everyone goes to the lounge to enjoy each others company.
At stardate 11.1022, Captain Tergin of the USS Horizon officially announces his resignation. He will be taking on a teaching job at the Daystrom Institute. He leaves the ship in the temporary control of Cmdr. Baker.
Each member of the crew deals with the captain's leaving in their own way, though the general feeling is of sadness. After the initial shock has passed, and Tergin is well off the ship, the Horizon leaves dock, and heads out on her new mission.
At stardate 11.1025, Captain Tergin of the USS Horizon officially announces his return. He will be taking control of the ship from Baker, immediately upon his return. The chain of command returns to its previous state of being. During this time, the amnesiac Lt. Munro leaves the ship, going on with a medical vessel, who may find a cure to his bodily grievance.
Camera fades to black and we find ourselves in the belly of a Klingon freighter. Ens. Nathan Cady, a sixteen year old officer, makes his way to Omega. Upon his arrival, through a memorable trip, he finds himself being assigned to the USS Horizon, as the new manager of Operations. News of his dawning arrival is relayed to the captain, who is of mixed feelings.
As the Horizon is on the dawn of arriving at Connard IV, they are hailed from two separate sources, from the planet's surface. One from administrator Sellac Keldom, and one from prime minister Efful Hiyter, each claiming to be the leader of the colony. Tergin decides to wait until he reaches orbit before speaking to the 'leaders'.
Another shuttle arrives from the Horizon, this one filled with volunteers and equipment for the dig.
Ens. Cady comes aboard, and manages to injure the FCO in the process. He reports to Tergin, and is duly welcomed aboard, and placed into his new role as manager of OPS.
The lateral sensor array goes offline, suddenly, and nobody quite knows why.
Arriving at the Connard system, Tergin hails administrator Keldom. Though Keldom at first seems unwilling to cooperate with the Horizon, the captain is able to persuade him, with a mix of reasoning and all-out threats. Keldom agrees to meet with a group from the Horizon, which Tergin will lead. Arrangements are also made to meet with the prime minister, after the planned run in with the administrator.
The archeological team, made up of Lt. Hamelin and Canon, Lt<jg> Layne, Bordaq, and a few other officers, depart in the shuttle craft Meredith, headed for a small dig on the surface. After a bumpy ride, they are greeted by a group of Juun archaeologists, seemingly all related, which if nothing else is disturbing.
Almost immediately, items of interest are uncovered, including an oddly dated tricorder, as well as a Tal footprint, and a strange portal. There are many discrepancies between the ages of all three objects.
Meanwhile, Capt. Tergin's team, comprised of himself, Cmdr. Baker, Lt<jg> Arkanis, and a few more security officers, beams down to the capital city, to finally meet with the administrator. They are met by a small group, that accompanies them to Keldom's offices.
Tergin confronts Keldom with the violence taking place on the outskirts of the city. The administrator is again unwilling to cooperate, and Tergin faces him with an ultimatum. To do so, or have the small diplomatic team head directly for the prime minister without hearing out Keldom's part of the story.
Back at the dig, investigations continue, with Lt. Hamelin deciding it most prudent to uncover the functionality of the large, half buried portal.
Subsequently, the Horizon suffers a loss of lateral sensor array (again), for a short while. Long enough for a message to be sent from the counsellor's office to an unknown point in space. Also, a solution to the lateral sensors rather half-assed approach to functioning is found by the engineering staff still aboard, involving many numbers.
Malaar, suspicious of the counsellor's assistant, Selnan, starts to investigate, finding himself faced with more than a few discrepancies.
Tergin's away teams pumps the administrator for a little more information, but to no avail. Finally, they leave him be, and head out, to meet with the prime minister. However, upon their arrival, the man they came to meet is dead!
Only a few fleeting moments pass before the away team is found by security, and falsely accused of the murder. They are taken to holding cells, where they await their fate.
Back on the Horizon, Ensign Cady makes his presence known amongst the more imprudent of the non-coms. He also introduces himself to a few other crew members, and then makes a little headway on investigating the possible causes of the mysterious, poorly functioning sensor array.
As this happens, at the dig it is agreed that the portal will be dug up as best as possible inside of a bartered 42 hours, and then transported directly to another site, where it will be properly tested. Hamelin receives a call from the Fleet Admiral.
Digging continues, and a preserved Vulcan corpse is exhumed. Doctor Layne makes an analysis that it may well have been traveling through the portal that caused the death of the Vulcan.
Hamelin, learning of the captain's halt of communication with the Horizon, decides to head over to assist the captain. He leaves Canon in charge of the situation at the dig. Arriving at the capital, he is escorted to the 'Halls of Justice', in which the captain and the rest of the away team are being interrogated.
Bordaq, meanwhile, digging a large hole, stumbles across what appears at first glance to be a network of underground caverns. He investigates on his own, as a radiation to which he is immune blocks passage for all others. Deeper inside, he finds a cavern covered with a simplistic form of writing.
The dig is taken by storm, as a group of unidentified, but sufficiently armed men take control of the situation. Other things they take are Dr. Layne, and Archer the archeologist, both as hostages. They offer that the excavation continue, lest bad things happen to the captives.
Meanwhile, in the underground subsystem, Bordaq uncovers the truth about the Tal. That they were originally created by another race, as something akin to a slave race. He is shocked by the knowledge that all his people's beliefs are now proven to be baseless. He is now in the possession of a truth, and one that is magnanimous proportions.
The captain's away party is released from captivity, though they are warned not to leave orbit until the murder of the prime minister is solved, lest they be charged with the murder themselves.
Tergin's group splits up for a short while, small groups heading for to look for explanations, and take in the sights. Baker heads off on his own, engages in a conversation with a few locals, and is informed of an interesting tid-bit, dealing with the origins of the hit on the PM.
At the dig, Trinity makes good both her own, and Archer the archeologist's escape, by method of a cunning medical ruse. While the guard looking over them heads off to find some water for Archer, and his diabetes, she transports the both of them to the Horizon's sickbay.
With a few more steps, a security team is sent down from the Horizon, and the base camp is resecured, under Horizon rule.
Ens. Cady gives his findings, in relation to the screwy sensor array, and possible ship wide malarky to Lt. Malaar, who is almost bulldozered by the youth, as he sprints through the bowels of the ship. They share results on the same subject, and decide to bring it to the attention of the command staff.
Responding to Baker's call for help, the Captain and Lt. Arkanis transport to the Cmdr.'s location. Arkanis proceeds to break a few Juun low lifes, before the team transports back to the relative safety of the Horizon.
Doctor Layne arrives back on ship, already with patients to worry about. She sends Archer the archeologist to a rest bed, and has Orlando the nurse take care of the Juun. Almost immediately after, she receives the crumpled form of Cmdr. Baker, who she proceeds to start bending back into shape.
On the bridge, Lt<jg> Malaar, and Ens. Cady make known their belief that the sabotage, currently taking the form of numerous explosions about the ship's key systems, is the action of Selnan, the counsellor's assistant, gone bad.
Baker awakes, and heads for the bridge. He learns that the incoming ships are only eight minutes away, and the continuing internal explosions make judging the potential danger of the situation tricky, to say the least.
The captain, arriving on the bridge, orders a red alert, and the ship awaits in suspense. As it happens, the threat comes from a different direction. The approaching ships have seemingly no interest in the Horizon, or at least, none that involves making space dust of the Horizon. Instead, they have to deal with a tiny fleet of stolen militia ship headed towards them.
The Horizon is finally hailed by the Juun warship. They are told to clear out, as there is about to be a battle had. Subsequently, the explosions constantly shaking the ship reach a climax when they blow off both warp nacelles.
In sickbay, things continue to go from bad to worse. And then Trinity falls over and cuts her head. And looses consciousness. Reinforcements are called in to deal with the newly formed gap in the medical circle, however, before things can really get started, T'Salek is beamed away, in a misunderstanding.
Briefly speaking with Bordaq, still on the surface of Connard IV, a plan is hatched to launch the Horizon's shuttles, using their on board systems to tug the wounded starship to safer waters. The plan is further extrapolated upon, now using the captain's yacht to control the rest of the impromptu tug-boats.
Malaar and Cady head off to make the plan work. As Malaar concentrates on getting the Horizon out of the heat, Cady is able to track down Selnan, or as close as he can get to Selnan. However, as he attempts to beam the traitor to sickbay, the Vulcan spy, and a Vulcan medic thrown in for good measure, arrive on the yacht. And one of them is fully armed.
A few uncomfortable moments pass, when nobody says or does anything. Finally, after a short lived but lively game of 'I-spy', ending with a phaser blast, and the destruction of much of the main ship console, Selnan warms to the group, and shares her past history, as Centurion Gelbak, Romulan Talshiar. Which takes much of the gathering by surprise.
At this point, the Horizon fires on the yacht, all in good faith. The distraction fails, however, and Selnan makes good her escape to a recently decloaked Bird of Prey. She also takes the opportunity to deliver Malaar to long standing nemesis and all around bad guy, P'Ghal.
With the knowledge that there are no bodies aboard the yacht, that is, that they're not dead, just missing, there's a general calming around the bridge. As the Horizon is about to hail the Klingon Bird of Prey, they are interrupted primarily by Archer the archaeologist, who unhappy with the lack of cooperation during a red alert, decides to speak directly with the captain.
Baker, not quite pleased to see the Juun at this exact moment, shoots him. The communication to the BoP goes on, and the Horizon once again is greeted by the bitter visage of P'Ghal. Traitor, kidnapper, all round bad guy.
P'Ghal, through a few interruptions, gets across the message that he is currently in possession of Malaar, Cady, and T'Salek, all transported from the yacht a few minutes earlier. This news manages to distress just about everyone, to varying degrees.
A few harsh words, and a few shots, are exchanged. And then an agreement of sorts is achieved. Captain Tergin will offer himself in exchange for the safe return of Cady and T'Salek. The idea is regarded with scepticism from a few other people on the bridge, but is followed through anyway.
On the BoP, Cady makes a few unsuccessful attempts to get himself free. Finally, he is released not through a cunning mix if daring, brute strength and cunning, but instead by the exchange program. He, together with T'Salek, is transported back to the Horizon. This, among other things, gives the doctor something to do, rather than sit about in the dark, waiting for someone to trip on some faulty wiring.
As Tergin is thrown into the same cell as Malaar, they are given an ultimatum. Reveal the location of the transdimensional drive, or be made a bit more dead than usual. As P'Ghal rattles off, death continues to get a little closer.
Meanwhile, back on the bridge, Baker and Arkanis hatch a plan to rescue the captain. They get ready to raid the BoP directly, hoping the unexpected approach is enough to deal with P'Ghal.
Trinity takes care of Cady as best as possible, and T'Salek in a simular fashion. Though she can see that the young OPS officer is somewhat shaken, she gives him the option of heading back to work at any time. With this said, she heads up to give Baker some home brew 'medicine', which is happily received.
Pol, back in his office, and feeling distinctly horrid after realising his assistant had cheated him into helping the Talshiar, finds a final message from Selnan. A communications and transportation device, that if activated will take the counsellor to the traitor's current location, purpose of which being to join her in serving the Talshiar. Pol decides he would rather kill her, and takes the trip anyway.
The BoP is raked by gunfire as the raid on P'Ghal begins...
The raid on the BoP takes place with only minor injuries. The bridge is raided, and P'Ghal is taken captive. At this point, a series of interrogations take place, alternately by Arkanis and Baker. Though P'Ghal doesn't quite reveal everything right away, he does later on, and then dies by electrocution.
Pol faces Selnan, having transported to just a few meters of her, a few moments past. As the ship is snapped up in explosive music and chaos, Selnan tries to escape. Pol takes a hold of his phaser and kills the traitorous agent.
CO Tergin is released from the brig by Specialist Taya Valarn. After being released he moves over to comfort Pol.
The away team returns to the Horizon, CO Tergin heads towards his office and the rest of the team make their way towards the medbay.
Lt. Hamelin reports to the CO's ready room where he is promoted to LtCmdr. for outstanding service to the Horizon and is given orders to report to Omega for reassignment.
In sickbay, Trinity is shocked to see Baker standing there with his one arm holding the other over his shoulder. The CMO places the severed arm into a stasis chamber and tells Baker that she would try to reattach it, but prepared him just in case a prosthetic arm needed to be replicated.
Pol is promoted to LtCmdr. Pol then heads off to sickbay, where he arrives with news that he is returning to the surface and allows Archer to accompany the team.
Baker rushes to the bridge and tells the captain that the 'Durial' were the ones responsible for the prime minister's death. It is also revealed that it is not Juun, but Romulan and that the real name was Dou'Real. The transporter beacon was still ringing from P'Ghal's ship and Tergin gave permission for them to beam whoever is on the other end to the Holodeck. Lt. Storm would be best at playing P'Ghal because he could talk anything out of anybody.
Pol and the away team arrive just in time to attempt the transporter removal of the surrounding rock. This maneuver is a complete success, but it does blow the transporter buffer on the shuttle. This releases the portal. Archer is fascinated with it and does not head warnings and jumps into the shimmering portal only to be fried to a crisp and deposited on the other side of the artifact. Tergin is informed of Archer's death and decides to send down a field medic to the landing party.
Meanwhile in sickbay, Jarek wakes up suddenly. Somehow he knew that something had happened on the surface. Upon closer look Trinity discovers that his activity level in his cerebral cortex had just leapt off the scale. His body was racked with pain and tingling. He saw images of Archer dying. He tells Dr. Layne of Archer's death and she doesn't take it well.
On the bridge, Baker tells Tergin about the time he met a Durial. They are a group of Juun with biomechanical enhancements to their body. They do not work for money, just technology. Tergin remembering that the dig site was previously raided makes the connection.
On the planet [Independence Party headquarters]- The General is furious that the Horizon is still in orbit and that they have not yet admitted their guilt. He orders his troups to help the militia and to begin to fight with the Juun. When he learns that his ship in orbit has been captured by the Horizon, he tries to abort his last order, but it was too late...
Trinity fixes Baker up with a new set of teeth and gums. They then discuss the device that will become Baker's new arm. Unfortunately, because of the amount of time that lapsed before Baker was able to get his amputated arm to sickbay, the nerve endings in his arm disintegrated to a point where only a lesser model of prosthesis would work. Trinity begins the process by adhearing a perminant bio-reg plate to his shoulder socket.
Arkanis creates a representation of P'Ghal's ship in the holodeck and has the Romulan retrieval signal beamed into the ship. Arkanis is cloaked and Storm is disguised as P'Ghal. A Juun appears and the two set up a meeting of the prime minister's killer so that P'Ghal/Storm can plant evidence away from him. Another Juun appears and confesses that he is the one that killed the minister. Arkanis immediately grabs the two and the program is ended. The killers are sent to the brig and Arkanis has a great holovideo of the confession.
The Horizon receives a transmission from the prime minister's office clearing the Horizon of the murder of the prime minister. They then point the finger at the Independence Party for the murder. Realizing that the portal was something that the Durial was after, the CO warns the party on the surface of possible danger.
The archaeological dig is bombarded with phaser fire. The away team calls to the Horizon for help. Bordaq draws fire towards him as he races towards the portal. The phaser fire weakes the supports of the portal and it comes crashing down. Arkanis's security teams begin to appear.
Baker expresses his thoughts on the murder to Tergin. Baker just can't understand that if the minister's office knew of the Independance Party the entire time, why they would accuse the Horizon of the murder. Jarek enters the bridge and returns to his station. Tergin gives Baker permission to take Storm and Malaar with him and investigate his ideas about the ministers office.
Arkanis beams down to the dig site with his security officers.
The battle continues with heavy casualties on both sides. Moving faster that humanly possible, the Durial had deadly accurate aim as he returns fire towards the Starfleet officers.
Bordaq sees the Durial and can match his accuracy and speed. He is not afraid to die and wonders if the Durial is. On a final attack of the Durial, both individuals fire, and Bordaq falls.
Baker, Storm, and Malaar materialized in front of the headquarters of the Independence Party. In the distance the battle was able to be heard. Demanding to see the 'General', a Juun woman gets into their way. Baker has her transported to the Horizon's brig.
Back on the battlefield, the Durial dies, and Bordaq lies broken on the ground.
Dr. Layne tries her best to save Bordaq, but there is nothing more that she can do. Bordaq isn't afraid to die. Amy enters the medbay and becomes fairly emotional about the condition of Bordaq. Bordaq tells Trinity that he doesn't want to die, but the CMO can't do anything about it. He tells her that within the tunnels on the surface, the Nurec Talis have something that can save him. Trinity informs the captain that they need to take Bordaq back to the surface. He complies only because it is the only chance of saving the officer.
Trinity, Pol, Bordaq, and Orlando prepare to beam to the surface. Cady was invited along, but he missed the group and he could join them on the surface. Suddenly Amy joins the group and begs to be allowed to accompany them. Pol agrees and they are off.
Meanwhile, back at the capital city, Storm hacks his way through the computer system and discover the signal of the General. Baker and Malaar get the feeling that the building was build for some other purpose than as the Independance Party's headquarters. They beam to the General's location. They materialize into familiar surroundings and learn that the General is J'Reat.
After the Durial dies in battle, the individuals that fought with him seemed to loose heart. Those that were not already dead, fled. Bordaq antourage materializes near the tunnels and Trinity is horrified to see all of the dead, some of whom could have been saved with the proper medical attention. They head off towards the tunnels.
Just as the group was about to enter the tunnels, Bordaq suddenly remembers that there was a part of the tunnels that had high levels of brydelien and it's toxic to most humanoid life forms. Bordaq would be the only one immune to the gases. Pol contacts the ship and Sonya beams down with environmental suits for everyone. And they begin...
Cady realizes he missed the away team and beams down to the planet without letting anyone know. Feeling right at home in the tunnels, he sprints to catch up with the away team, not realizing that he is running through high levels of brydelien radiation. When he runs into the rest of the team, Trinity is fairly angry with the fact that he didn't have an environmental suit on. Being the monkey that he is, Cady climbs down the rock face to an area that didn't allow the radiation to penetrate. With the help of a lift, the rest of the team joins Cady on the bottom. They walk through an area of the tunnels with strange markings and come across a machine, which Bordaq insisists will heal him. And time seems to stop! Bordaq's spirit leaves his body and the Nurec Talis tell him how to heal himself with the machine.
Baker, Storm, and Malaar learn that J'Reat is behind the entire scheme and is the General. A second Durial counters them only to be countered again by the royal guards. Baker is overcome with laughter with the entire situation and in the process the Durial shoots his arm, killing the prosthetic. The Durial is incinerated by twelve blasts of phasers from various royal guards in the room.
The USS Elizabeth Blackwell hails the Horizon and offers to tow the fleet's flagship home.
Promotions
Lieutenant Theophrastus Hamelin: promoted to Lieutenant-Commander
Lieutenant Pol Canon: promoted to Lieutenant-Commander
Lieutenant JG Jarek Malaar: promoted to Lieutenant
Awards received
Wounded Lion: Lieutenant JG Fred Bordaq
Blue Ribbon: Theresa Goble
Wingman Award: Theresa Goble