View source for No Matter the Cost (Juneau)

{{Juneau}}
== Teaser ==
A Comet is bearing down on the civilization of Uiliv-5, but is all as it appears?

== Plot Summary == 
=== Part 1 ===
The crew of the Juneau, on their first mission, have just discovered a Comet emitting Eichner radiation on a collision course with a primitive society.  [[Oddas Aria|Captain Oddas]] ordered the crew to make plans for further investigation. As the ship approaches the comet, the crew splits into teams to find ways to protect ship and life from the dangerous radiation, as well as devising potential reasons for its presence. Engineering works on protecting the bio-neural gel packs using the transporters, medical works on an attempt to cure the effects first, given the short time they have, intel digs for as much information on the planet as possible, and the rest of the crew devise methods of getting a closer look via ship and shuttle.

Everything starts to come together as the Juneau arrives at the comet, just in time for a wrench to be thrown in the works. A dead and derelict Federation Starship, the USS Arrow, is found drifting in its own orbit of the comet. Completely lifeless, and mysteriously not moored at Starbase 118 as the record states, a second team is launched via a second shuttle to get an idea of why.

=== Part 2 ===
Shuttle 1, the Bear, moves towards the comet to see just what seems to be making this particular comet emit such a rare and specific type of radiation. It takes only minutes to find some kind of factory on the comet's surface. With chunks of the comet seemingly being thrown directly at them, and some object making them out before shooting off into the distance, the Bear alerts the Juneau to what they've found and then proceeded to head to the surface as no communications contact can be made.

Meanwhile, a second team landed on the Arrow with Shuttle 2, the Shark, to find near terrifying scenes. Within the shuttle bay itself, an energy scrambler made it impossible to use any technology, while stepping out into the corridor showed them quickly what happened to whoever had crewed the ship last. A thick, viscous puddle was all that remained. The team split, intent on going in different directions when a loud bang drew the attention of all. One team then had the unlucky opportunity to come into contact with two beings in very old, solid piped EV suits, dragging because the suits were just that bulky and hard.

On the Juneau, the crew sets off towards the planet, intent on figuring out what the link, if any, exists between the primitive people there, and the race simply known as 'The People'. As they go to leave, Eichner radiation begins to 'stick' to their shields, creating trouble and a host of minor injuries from the jolts. As the crew works the problem, the team on the Arrow breaks into two teams intent on retaking the ship from whatever was aboard, and the team on the comet breaks into what they discover is a 'bridge' of a ship to look for the answers to solve the problem that was growing more and more complex by the moment.

Whatever the cause, the common thread holding each part together remains the same: The People.

=== Part 3 ===

As the teams investigate their surroundings, missiles from the planet's surface suddenly start racing towards the Juneau, the Comet, and the Arrow.

Aboard the Arrow, one team retakes engineering, sending two prisoners - one Ferengi - to the Juneau for questioning. As they begin to bring the ship's systems up, they find someone, elsewhere on the ship, is fighting against them and shutting things back down. The other team begins to work on the bridge and finds that a 'scorched earth' protocol was left when the former crew abandoned the ship. With a deep core deletion of the computer looming, and missiles on their way, the team connects with some members of the other crew in an attempt to stabilize the Arrow.

Meanwhile, on the surface of the comet the team attempts to make friends of the People trying to gain entrance into the control room. By claiming a mutual need to survive, the team makes calm contact and begins to work out a plan with the new arrivals who incidentally entered using a door (rather than by blasting a hole). 

=== Part 4 ===

The crew aboard the Arrow find themselves much deeper than they originally planned to be, and soon embark on their own mission to fix and return the Arrow to its place of former glory. Aboard the Juneau, the crew works to save the team on the comet and themselves from the incoming nuclear missiles, while saying their silent goodbyes to friends leaving on the Arrow. 

On the comet, the team convinces The People to come inside somewhat peacefully, and despite having to stun one of them to keep them from accessing one of the control panels, the team manages to get the facility to lift off the comet and head back towards the Juneau. At the same time, they beam half of the team to the shuttlecraft Bear just before the warheads, which are redirected by the Juneau to the comet itself, impact and create a large energy wave. The Bear is hit by the wave, but manages to survive with minor damage, heading towards safe haven aboard the Juneau.

Power is restored, bought by the life of Engineer Wyss, who managed a typical engineering miracle just before the ship needed to maneuver to direct the missiles. In a last minute brilliant thought, she is beamed to the transporter room as part of the bio-neural gel-pack decontamination plan after taking one from its normal place to be 'found' after her suit shorted out completely. She is beamed to sickbay technically dead on arrival.

[[Category:Juneau Mission Archive]]