0303. The Chase is On (Joint Mission with the GATEWAY crew)
USS PROPHECY Executive Officer’s log, Supplemental:
Since this is an official log I thought I would begin off with a warning—
If anyone from Starfleet ever tells me the words “You need to evacuate” again, I’m going to inform them to take a long walk out of a short airlock, I’m not going.
What happened is that our CEO, Lieutenant jg Raycii Jones, told myself, the CO—Cmdr. Spankryz, and Lt. Mad’hron Zanders, the Ops Officer, that the PROPHECY needed to be evacuated the next day due to our life support system not running at maximum efficiency. Therefore everyone—staff and civilian alike—had to leave the ship go to ANDARA, as the GATEWAY could not accommodate us all in the wake of their refurbishing, and then Raycii’s team could go back in to fix the systems.
This was such a bad idea in retrospect. But I digress.
The evacuation would have gone smoothly if not for one thing—my younger sister. Iphie got it into her head that going to ANDARA was not the way to go. Therefore she roped in 7 of her friends, and they all got off the line that was going to the planet and re-boarded the PROPHECY with the intention of taking a few shuttles for a joyride.
However, unknown to us, as the kids were re-boarding so were some other people. Namely people who then took our ship and jumped dimensions as soon as possible.
Clearly we weren’t expecting this. But I do have to give credit to the PROPHECY and GATEWAY crews; we grouped together quickly and decided to use the GATEWAY’s support shuttle, the USS GRIFFIN to go out of after our ship. Two crews on one ship could have lead to many problems, but thankfully it didn’t. The crews worked beautifully, if a bit cramped, together and we were off.
Initial Intelligence and Diplomatic reports narrowed down our field of possible suspects to several groups, however, it is safe to say that none of us were shocked when we figured out it was the Locusta behind this. Clearly they were the only ones with the resources and intel to pull off such a job. Finding the bomb on the GRIFFIN with a Locusta engineering signature also helped. However, due to the great work of Raycii, and the CEO of the GATEWAY, Lianna Detora, the bomb was diffused and we were able to find out from the chip inside that everyone was bound for a Locustan station called the FORGE. The person who planted the bomb was found to be a Pretender infiltrating the GRIFFIN and he was placed in the brig.
Eventually we came up with a plan so that when we met up with the PROPHECY we had some way of overtaking it. There would be three Away Teams—one AT would try and get into the ship by beaming onto the hull and then from there going to Security; one AT would try and get the shuttle bay doors open and retake Engineering; the final AT would act as a distraction for those on the PROPHECY by launching an attack on it. The first AT—consisting of Lt. Cmdr. Xana Raduga from the GATEWAY, Dr. Jeff Gorman, Lt. Zanders, and Lt jg Kat Potter all from the PROPHECY—were with my team (the distraction team) which consisted of myself, and Ensigns Lionheart and Drake of the GATEWAY.
At first everything seemed to go as planned—the team on the hull got in as did the team trying to get into the shuttle bay, and those of acting as distraction did so. However, the person in the GRIFFIN’s brig not only escaped but took a shuttle and left. Therefore, Lt. Jaxper Lawrence and one of our Security personnel, Lt. Ardy Budega-Jorman, went after him in another shuttle.
And while that was happening, the team who entered the shuttle bay—Lt. Cmdr. Dawson and Lt. jg Zell from the GATEWAY and Lt. jg Jones and O’Malley—found the kids. Telling the kids they didn’t need to go through with their plans for escaping—which involved all the kids sitting in various shuttles and blowing a hole into the ship—the AT elected to have the kids come with them.
However, once they got close to Engineering, the AT decided the kids couldn’t come with them for fear of their lives; therefore, they left the kids behind in a Jeffries Tube with only one phaser for all of them. After this happened, Annuka, Dr. Gorman’s ward, started to have a panic attack due to her claustrophobia, so the kids (without telling the AT) went off in search of somewhere to go. Unfortunately once they got to a seemingly safe place, they were ambushed by the Locustans, who then brought them to the Bridge and contacted me on the shuttle to negotiate with me about returning the kids so we’d leave them alone. At this point I went over to the PROPHECY to meet with the Pretenders who had the kids hostage. Through some miracle, I managed to negotiate for some time alone with the kids to regroup. It was during this time that Ens. Drake made himself known; unbeknownst to me, he had also beamed over but did so to a Jeffries Tube and was able then from that position to assist me in getting the kids out.
During all this the group in Engineering watched the negotiations and decided not to intervene. Clearly the Pretenders knew we were aboard, but they didn’t seem to know at that moment how many or where, hence keeping their location undisclosed seemed wiser.
However, this was the least of our problems. Back on the GRIFFIN, the man who we thought was Commodore Jim Denneson proved to be a Pretender and beamed over to the PROPHECY. Unfortunately, those of us on the PROPHECY didn’t know it really wasn’t Jim, and believed him when he called for us in the Jeffries Tubes to come out. Drake, the kids, and myself all came out only to find out it really wasn’t Jim and be promptly beamed back to the GRIFFIN, along with the team outside Security. At that moment, the fake Jim revealed himself to us on the GRIFFIN for who he really was and declared he was taking our ship with the last team still there as hostages.
USS GRIFFIN - Chief Medical Officer's (in training) Log Supplemental:
The GRIFFIN managed to stay at least close behind the PROPHECY as it continued it's journey to the FORGE. It was decided that if we could send some sort of anesthetic across to the PROPHECY which would just affect the Locustans on board, we might have a better chance of retaking the ship.
Dr Gorman from the PROPHECY was the one that hit on the idea of using the slightly different quantum signature as a way of targeting only the Locustans. Which would leave the remaining crewmembers active. Between Dr Gorman, myself and Dr Blackwood the necessary adaptations were made.
These were then given to Lieutenant Commander Detora who with the aid of Lieutenant Jones managed to encrypt this onto a computer chip. Which in turn would be fed into the PROPHECY's computer.
USS PROPHECY - Chief Operations Officers Log Supplemental:
While the Doctor's and Engineers worked on the chip and *virus*, the top four were working on another plan of action. Ensigns Turner and Dacil had been sent across to one of the PHOENIX Regime's ships. We in turn had received two ambassadors, Owl and Aeagle.
On a personal level I had to admit to being seriously worried about a certain Diplomatic Liason Officer. But I digress; there were then five ships chasing the PROPHECY. But the alternate Jim Dennison had already called for help from the FORGE.
So it ended up with the PROPHECY and the GRIFFIN being two small ships being stuck between the two warring factions.
Doctor Gorman, Lieutenant Potter and Jaxper Lawrence-Aspinall took the modified computer chip across to the PROPHECY. The exact events that occurred on the PROPHECY are still hazy. However, we do know that the chip was inserted into the computer core and the *virus* worked it's magic.
One other fact that we are aware of is that Katlina Potter came face to face with her alternate self. There was a fight and Kat was seriously hurt; however our Kat killed the alternate Kat. Unfortunately the emotional bond between Jeff and Kat, almost ended up with Jeff being unable to treat the injured woman. Fortunately for us, Jax talked some sense into him and Kat's life was saved.
Meanwhile, Ensigns Turner and Dacil were beamed directly from the Phoenix Regime's ship onto the PROPHECY's Bridge. Where the plan was hatched to use the transwarp drives on both vessels, to beat a hasty retreat. Once in transwarp neither the Locustans nor the Phoenix Regime would be able to track us. This in turn would then enable both Lieutenant Jones and Lieutenant Commander Detora to make the necessary repairs to their respective ships.
USS PROPHECY Executive Officer’s log, Supplemental:
Through some engineering miracle (do engineers ever work in other ways aside from miracles?) the ships were repaired enough so that we could return to our home dimension.
I wish I could sign off by saying something pithy and smart about being home…but I cannot. Both the crews of the GATEWAY and PROPHECY have been irrevocably altered. And while we faced our trial and succeed beyond our greatest expectations—namely in getting the PROPHECY back safe—it has taken an unimaginable toll on all of us. We faced that which is the stuff of nightmares—being duped by people not being who we thought they were; facing our alternates; being subjected to unimaginable physical torture; and the ever growing doubt that we had just blown the Federation’s net of peace and tranquility wide open by allowing the Locustas to steal the PROPHECY.
Sadly enough I do not think all of us have recovered from this mission.
And to be honest, I wonder if we ever will
(End Log)