NCC-92002 USS ATHENE
SD 6.0212 to SD 6.0811
"Alien Encounter of the closest kind"
Senior Staff
Commander Gabriel
Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Cody Savage
Lieutenant Galen Chance Savage
Ensign Rakoff
Ensign T'Shaun
Ensign Ramsey
Ensign Roger Fitzpatrick
References
Summary
The Athene has successfully finished its maiden voyage. The orders were to head to the Gazebo Star Cluster and investigate the origin of some signals the USS HYDRA had picked up earlier.
The signals were traced back to a planet that housed an apparently abandoned penal colony from ages past. A static field prevented transporter use, so the first away-team took a shuttle down to the planet and confirmed this information. The Athene prepared to head out and explore the rest of the sector before returning to base, but unfortunately the away-team had come into contact with a deadly virus from the colony. The virus spread rapidly, quickly crippling the ship as crew took ill and died.
At the same time the ship was infiltrated by a previously unencountered acid based alien lifeform which had managed to slip on the away-teams shuttle undetected. This being was labeled the queen, which in the confusion of the medical emergency managed to lay eggs in all the sensitive areas of the ship, crippling the computer core etc. Out of these eggs hatched what was labelled facehuggers as these small creatures jumped onto a living host, hugged their face and implanted an alien grub within the still living host. Upon proper incubation, the semi-mature form would burst from its host's chest, thereby killing it. Numerous crew were lost to this new plague before the danger was eventually realized. The CSO was lost in the fight against the aliens, and the d-warp shuttle was send back to SB Omega for re-inforcement and aid.
The Captain and XO were also critically injured with the XO also suffering a major allergic reaction to the doctors treatment against the virus. All other members of the surviving crew were vaccinated with the CMO's miracle cure (consisting of a mixture of illegal drugs).
The 2O and CMO along with a skeletal security team managed to clear the ship of the alien investation, in part due to the doctors unorthodox thinking. He also came up with an effective weapon that was eventually used against the aliens. The dilithium crystals had been damaged beyond repair by the aliens, so a solar sail was deployed by the CEO in an attempt to stabilize orbit, but the ship was being pulled inexorably planetside. The prison reactor on the planet was still operational and a second away-team was send down with the last remaining shuttle. Due to some unkown interference, presumably the static field none of the communicators worked.
The away-team split up. Group A consisting of the 2O, CMO, and one security man, and Group B consisting of the CEO, CSciO and four security men with one security man left behind to guard the shuttle. Group B was almost immediately taken hostage by an independant faction of the Alien hive unknown to Group A or the ship.
Meanwhile two d-warps sent out from SB Omega contacted the ship and delivered a new CSO, a Xenospecialist and numerous other personnel who were immediately dispatched down to the planet to help the 2O retrieve the dilithium crystals. One of the D-warps was totally dismantled and the parts used to repair the ship. The added energy from those crystals boosted the ships orbit allowing a few more hours to retrieve the crystals.
The new crew met up with Group A via the shuttle's emergency transporter. They managed to make positive contact with the main Alien group who showed their good will by healing the injured and sending a guide along to help retrieve the crystals. It was then discovered that these aliens had immense telepathic abilities and had used those to shield their existence from outsiders. Rama, their leader, was in favor of first contact, but Metee the leader of the opposing faction, who had been behind the attack on board the ship, was violently opposed to that and against the entire idea of joining their minds together in a gigantic peaceful group hive mentality.
Metee wanted war and conquest, and when she discovered that Rama aided Group A, attacked. Rama with the aid of the entire group mind was able to defeat the Alien Queen. He helped repair the most important parts of the ship, and his healers (redactors) managed to clear the virus out of the infected crew. A makeshift diplomatic core was left behind to establish proper first contact and peaceful relations. The aliens wish to begin peaceful interactions with their neighbors, and to this end Rama has asked that a federation embassy be set up on his planet.
The Athene limped home, crippled and with only 24% of its crew left.
Commander Galen Savage
CO USS Athene