USS HORIZON NCC-825002
SD 13.1102 to 14.0302
"Head Games"
Senior Staff
CO: Captain Tergin
FO: Commander Leyson Ayden
FCO/2O: Lieutenant-Commander Jarek Malaar
OPS: Lieutenant Blaze Starsinger
CMO: Lieutenant William Patton
CNS: Lieutenant Bordaq
CEO: Lieutenant JG Dariale
CSciO: Lieutenant JG Melody Cuen
CSO: Lieutenant JG James Mauler
SOCO: Lieutenant JG Arkanis
Orders
To: Captain Tergin, CO, USS Horizon
From: Admiral Anna Karsten, Fleet XO, Cocoon Fleet
SD: 13.1102
Captain Tergin,
After last year's Noo'ach Conference, several races applied for Federation membership. One of these races that has been accepted into the Federation are the Malvedians. They are a race of diverse cultures living on a small planet in the Hetgarot sector. Part of the agreement made between the Federation and the Malvedians was for the Federation to assist the Malvedians in setting up a newly terraformed colony on a class M planet in the Tamrood sector.
Your orders are to proceed to the Hetgarot sector, where you will provide assistance to the Malvedians in transporting flora and fauna species to the colony in the Tamrood sector. This will not only be a diplomatic mission, in providing assistance to a new Federation member, but it will also serve as a scientific mission. Much can be learned about the plant and animal species that you will be transporting, as well as about the Malvedians, a race we know very little about.
At this moment, a shuttle is headed for OP 108 from SB Omega, containing a Malvedian diplomat and a Federation officer, who has been working closely with the Malvedians, making sure that all of their needs are met during the negotiations. You will need to meet up with the shuttle at OP 108, and pick up the Malvedian diplomat, Ambassador Lamina Yrdnabsuh, as well as the Federation officer serving as liaison to the Malvedians, Lt. Jessica McClure. Lt. McClure is familiar with the Malvedians and will provide a great deal of assistance to you and your crew during the mission.
Best of luck Captain, to you and your crew,
Admiral Anna Karsten
Cocoon Fleet Executive Officer
Summary
(compiled from situation reports by Ruud Visser)
Following up on last year's Hetgarot Conference, the Horizon is to help a group of Malvedians set up a newly terraformed colony. Lt. Jessica McClure, liaison between the Malvedians and the Federation, and the Malvedian Ambassador Yrdnabsuh join the crew.
Lt<jg> Nathan Cady, former Horizon's OPS, has completed his Advanced Tactical Training and returns to the Horizon. Captain Tergin gives him a very warm welcome and invites him for dinner with himself and Or'Nonya, who has also returned to the Horizon.
Cady and Lt<jg> Arkanis engage in a zero-G battle to celebrate the young officer's return. Either Advanced Tactical Training improved Cady's battle skills, or Ark was going easy on him, because the match ends in a tie. Despite the safety protocols, though, Cady's shoulder ends up dislocated. While putting the limb back in place, Lt. Bill Patton is rather distracted by Ensign Kathy Rhule, whom he met in the turbolift the other day. On his way to dinner with the captain and Or, Cady literally runs into Cmdr. Leyson Ayden. Although not known for his friendliness, Ayden can't hide the fact that he is glad to have the young man aboard.
The crew arrives at Malvedia and several people pay a visit to the zoology lab. Lt<jg> Dariale is allowed inside the polluroe pen, where she spends the two best minutes of her life with a polluroe baby. Later that day, though, both Dariale and the baby display allergic reactions, and Patton is called to help. After a difficult medical exam (mostly because of the baby's mother, who doesn't seem to like the good doctor, partly because of Kathy, who has a strong stunning effect on him), he diagnoses the animal with Holinder Flu. A vaccine will take incapacitate the virus.
Lt. Blaze Starsinger makes some suggestions to Patton about removing Ayden's implants. Although his ideas have potential, Ayden prefers to visit the Malvedians' Advanced Cybernetics Laboratory. On his way there, he notices that he receives no stares at his cybernetics, something which happens all too often with other races. Even more, he comes across a shop offering "goods for the cybernetic enthusiast". After a talk with the owner, he agrees to come back if the ACL can't help him.
Dariale enters sickbay with what she calls a little cold, but is in fact an unfamiliar type of influenza. As Patton begins work on an antidote, another victim comes in.
The Malvedian scientist investigating Ayden's cybernetics notices they're made of a material that, as far as the Malvedians, Federation and Hetgarot know, only exists on Malvedia. Combined with the fact that the cybernetics are far more advanced than what they can do now, this leads him to speculate Ayden got his implants from Malvedians who came from the future.
While working with Lt<jg> Melody Cuen on an antidote for the flu virus, Patton admits he's interested in Kathy. Cuen advises him to just talk to her to see how see feels about him. Later that day, Patton delivers the baby of his assistant, Dr. T'Salek - it's a healthy boy.
Vhesha P'Nehbuddar, mother of the Horizon's previous FO, gets the Federation President to agree to an investigation of Tergin. Reason is the high number of FOs and, more importantly, the way each of them left the position, since Tergin took command of the Horizon. Cmdr. Jack Haynes, another former FO, accompanies P'Nehbuddar on her investigation. Garal has waited for his return to the Horizon for years and she has recently salvaged the Horizon's discarded stardrive section to take her revenge.
LtCmdr. Jarek Malaar takes his baby daughter to sickbay for a visit to T'Salek's son. When he returns to his quarters, he finds his wife being overly relieved to see him. It seems he went missing from the ship for seven hours between leaving sickbay and entering his quarters, but he has no memory of such an event.
Ayden undergoes surgery in the ACL to get rid of his cybernetics. When he wakes up, he's overjoyed to find he has lips and can taste food again.
After the Malvedian colonists have been taken aboard, Tergin has made up his log, and Ayden has returned to the ship, the Horizon sets course for the colony. Ayden visits sickbay for a check-up by Patton. When he sees Lt. Sasha Kali, he takes the opportunity to use his lips for something else than talking and smiling, and kisses her passionately. Tergin is very pleased to see his FO in such a good mood now that he has his mouth back. He asks Ayden to head the investigation about last night's strange events.
Patton sets his reluctance about working together with Kathy aside, and asks her to help him treat some injuries caused by the jippalomas being space sick. Although he probably doesn't realize so himself, their cooperation is another step towards a romantic relationship.
After enjoying each other's body on a holographic beach, Jarek has a talk with his wife about their marriage. A talk with Lt. Bordaq has got him thinking, but Trinity reassures him that she's happy with the way things are going. Just when their bodies join a second time, Jarek disappears. Almost five hours later, he reappears, without any memory of having disappeared.
In the jippaloma pen in the cargo bay, the SpecOps team put their skills to use in herding the elephant-like animals. When the jippalomas are struck with space sickness, the SpecOps officers and the Malvedian vets are unpleasantly covered in huge amounts of... stuff.
The senior staff celebrates the beginning of the New Year in a cabin on the holodeck. 2414 begins with a surprise, as Ayden starts singing "Auld Lang Syne". Later, Ayden takes Starsinger up on his offer to help him get rid of more of his cybernetics.
The SpecOps team continues their investigation into Malaar's recent disappearances. Dr. Ulinian discovers that Malaar's short-term memory has been wiped, but his long-term memory hasn't. With a bit of luck, Malaar might be able to recall what happened during his absences.
With the jippaloma flu rapidly spreading amongst the crew, Tergin and Dariale come up with the idea to use holograms to help the Malvedian vets. That way, the animals being transported can receive proper care without the risk of them being contaminated by flu-infected assistants.
Starsinger, using his cyberpathic abilities, interfaces with the computer to do some work there. Unknown to him, the flu virus develops into a digital form and spreads into the ship's computer. Soon, lights go out and system failures occur all over the Horizon.
The disappearances of Malaar are caused by a Dr. Wednesday and his worker, Gilbert. They live on Earth in an alternate timeline, and have created a Reality Engine that can transport people from other timelines and dimensions. Malaar doesn't know all of this yet, but is slowly starting to remember his "visit" to Dr. Wednesday's laboratory.
While the lights are out in sickbay due to the computer virus, Patton collapses on the floor due to the flu virus. Kathy hopes he'll recover quickly, something made difficult by the inoperative computer.
Lt<jg> James Mauler gets trapped on the holodeck due to the blackout caused by the mutated virus, but manages to escape. Patton slowly recovers from the flu infection and remains under Kathy's care for the next several hours. Starsinger interfaces with the computer in order to rid it of the virus, which is slowly wreaking havoc aboard the ship.
Bordaq (Tal) and his fiancée Amy (Human) ask Patton if it's possible for them to have a baby. To their joy, they hear it's possible - although it's a rather complicated process. Later, Patton takes another step towards a relationship with Kathy, and invites her for dinner. Just then, Dariale runs into sickbay with the good news that she's found a cure for the flu virus. They take it to Starsinger, who brings it into the computer systems to battle the digital virus as well. Just as everyone and everything starts to recover, Ensign Electra Threin arrives via D-Warp. Although Patton doesn't know yet, she'll be taking over from him as CMO.
Dr. Wednesday somehow appears aboard the Horizon. He's taken into custody, but soon escapes. A search party is sent out, which will hopefully lead to some answers about him.
Arkanis, Cady and the rest of the SpecOps team respond to a summon from Chug. Shortly after their arrival, Garal, an old enemy from the Horizon, and a couple of Trasiens take on the likeliness of the SpecOps members and make their way to the Horizon. There, Garal wants to take revenge on Haynes. With the help of Ambassador P'Nehbuddar, Captain Tergin succeeds in spoiling her plans. In the meantime, Cady has to fight Chug to be reunited with his boyfriend Madwyn. Cady can keep Chug from killing Madwyn, but Chug manages to escape Cady's rage. Not much later, he returns to kill Madwyn after all. Just when Cady is about to kill Chug, D'Art shoots him unconscious. Using the Horizon's old stardrive section, the SpecOps team returns to the Horizon just in time to save Tergin, P'Nehbuddar, Haynes and Garal from the new stardrive, which Haynes had set to self-destruct as revenge on Garal.
The next day, Tergin announces he has been promoted to Admiral and will leave to take command of Emerald Fleet. Patton will also leave; he'll be transferring to the USS Yorktown. Fortunately for him, Kathy can come along as his head nurse. When the staff meeting is over, he asks her to marry him. She happily says yes. Cuen says goodbye to Patton, with whom she's been very good friends. Shortly after Patton and Kathy have departed the ship, LtCmdr. James Burke arrives aboard and assumes command. Taking over from Patton, Threin continues the preparation for Amy's pregnancy.
Ayden takes Burke on a tour of the ship, paying a visit to all major areas and offices. Last stop is sickbay, where Threin takes a physical. Burke's fine, but the CMO does advice him to maintain a healthy diet and life style. Finished with the tour, Ayden returns to the bridge. After allowing Malaar to help track down Dr. Wednesday, he has a talk with Sasha. She tells him he needs to relax his command style a bit if he wants to be accepted by the crew.
After a heated discussion, D'Art allows Cady to go see Chug in the brig. Cady threatens to paralyse Chug for life, but can't get himself to do it. Mauler and Burke enter the brig with Dr. Wednesday, but the man disappears again before he can be put in a cell.
Threin warns Burke that some of the crew might be hesitant to accept him, seeing how well-liked Captain Tergin was. After a message from his wife that she'll be arriving on the Horizon ahead of schedule, and after making some arrangements for apprehending Dr. Wednesday, Burke proceeds to the Ship's Edge for a meal. Apparently, Threin wasn't speaking for all of the crew, because Starsinger and his partner No'urdan put the new CO partly at ease by saying they won't compare his every move to how Tergin would act.
On his way back to the bridge, Burke and Starsinger meet up with Threin. She has scanned Dr. Wednesday and found a number of subcellular differences between him and 'normal' humans. The three officers conclude he's from an alternate universe, but that brings up more questions than it answers.
The Horizon arrives at the Malvedian colony, but unloading the animals will have to wait until dawn. Burke privately informs Ayden that he has read the secured part of the latter's bio file. Although Ayden still seems uncomfortable with the new CO, he assures him he has no wish to request a transfer.
The FXO calls in the middle of the night to tell Burke the Horizon will have to depart Malvedia ASAP. All contact with the USS Meade, investigating attacks on Kalosian mining facilities in the Nauv sector, has been lost and the Horizon is ordered to find out what happened. OPS Blaze Starsinger oversees the quick unloading of the colonization pod, bringing the mission to a premature, yet successful end.
Promotions
Captain Tergin: promoted to Admiral
Awards received
None