Outbreak! (Atlantis)

With shore leave over, the gang makes their way through the Jenatris Corridor back to DS26. Barely a day into their journey and several crew members begin to fall severely ill. Symptoms seem to indicate an outbreak on board the ship, due to an unidentified microbial pathogen that appears to have its origins in samples of the Grenushi ambassador’s blood obtained earlier. With time running out and more people becoming incapacitated by the illness, the Atlantis is torn between heading back to the Uzoka system or forging ahead to DS26, being caught midway in the Corridor.

Just then, a crewman falls ill while on the job and falls to his death, hitting and severely damaging the warp core control system which renders the ship incapable of warp drive. With the ever looming threat of another EJS surprise attack, the Atlantis is forced to seek shelter and undergo emergency repairs .

As the hemorrhagic outbreak spreads throughout the ship, it is learned that everyone on board is actually infected with the virus! To make matters worse, studying the toxin led to the activation of a failsafe mechanism that both broadcast the Atlantis’ coordinates to the mysterious creators of the toxin as well as took most systems on board offline. With incoming unidentified vessels on an intercept course, the crew is forced to land and hide the ship on a nearby M-class planet, while an away team rushes to the Grenushi homeworld of Uzoka 5 to seek urgent medical assistance.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the triggered failsafe mechanism also activated a sleeper agent within the crew. Ensign Asmara, acting on the superconscious commands of an enigmatic and powerful entity, almost murders a nurse before escaping into the woods as soon as the ship lands. Later the crew discovers that the outbreak was merely a diversion by this unseen enemy in order to extract valuable information about the Federation via a powerful computer virus.

Fortunately, Dr Foster’s team manages to find an antitoxin and save the crew as well as revive the comatose commanding officer. Asmara’s meeting with the super-race is thwarted by the crew and the link controlling him is severed, but the aliens manage to escape before being identified. With power to the ship restored, the Atlantis begins preparations to head back to DS26 for a much needed shore leave. But it will be a shore leave unlike any other, as the crew mourns the deaths of beloved crewmates, and Blueheart comes to terms with his stroke, the Atlantis suffers a major disturbance of personal relationships, both, professional and romantic.