The Hidden Missionaries (USS Eagle)
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Shortly after an awards ceremony at The Spike, explosions shook the station, launching the crew of the USS Eagle into an investigation as to the source of the explosions.
Important Characters
- Krieig Jabt: The Kai of Guls
- Kosst: the right hand of Kai Jabt, regardless of her Bajoran ancestry
- The Web
Plot Summary
Part 1
Shortly after an awards ceremony at The Spike, explosions shook the station, injuring several people including Lieutenant Commander Pavlova, who suffered extensive injuries, and was beamed directly to the emergency wing of sickbay, where Doctors Sasak and Fitzpatrick began working feverishly to save her life.
In the aftermath of the blast, the Eagle's crew worked independently and with station security to begin investigation as to the source of the explosions, finding a container of a sweet-smelling compound - similar in smell to that which a few of the crew remembering catching whiff of immediately prior to the blast. Bajoran graffiti was also found nearby. It seemed apparent the explosions were not accidental, but some form of politically-motivated terrorist attack on the station ... and possibly (although not directly) the Eagle and her crew.
Part 2
Despite wanting to stay behind to continue the investigation in person, a garbled distress signal from a Mithgiln starship lead Captain Oddas to reluctantly order an immediate departure to aid the stricken vessel. Once the ship arrived, it became clear that the Mithgiln were under attack by light fighter drones, evidently operated from another location. As the Peizord (the Mithgiln vessel) burned in space, a hail was received from an unusual Bajoran claiming to be acting on behalf of the “Kai of Guls”. Disturbed by his use of violence on innocent civilians, the Eagle began looking for a lead, and after some travel time, detected something on the edge of long range sensors. The Eagle went to Yellow Alert, and sped toward the source of the signal.
When they had tracked down the source of the energy signatures and transmissions, the Eagle's crew (Including a freshly-released to light duty Commander Pavlova) found one of the last things they expected: a Cardassian base. While it was in clear disrepair, it looked far from deserted. The crew approached with caution.
Having hailed the Cardassian base, the Captain and those present on the bridge were face-to-face with Krieig Jabt, the leader of the base, and most likely this "Kai of Guls" they'd been told of. Jabt seemed composed and nonplussed by the terse conversation with Captain Oddas, going so far as to cordially invite a contingent from the Eagle to the base to talk further as his personal and honored guests.
Part 3
Upon beaming to the base, the away team comprised of LtJG Collins, Ens Hontrú, MC Ness, and the Cardassian attache Sotia Dano, led by LtCmdr Shayne were greeted by a pair of armed security guards. Kai Jabt entered the reception area as soon as the situation was deemed safe (at least safe enough so a fire fight wouldn't immediately break out), and greeted the away team with a broad, charismatic smile. A brief interchange between Jabt and Shayne led the team to be split - Shayne going with Jabt to his office to discuss the matters further while the rest of the team was given a tour of the facility by a Bajoran by the name of Kosst to whom Jabt gave the task.
Upon entering Jabt's office, Shayne was shocked to see a skeleton wearing a Cardassian military uniform "sitting" in a chair. When asked about the corpse, Jabt referred to the dead man as Chellin: his faithful advisor and friend. A very brief conversation showed Jabt that Commander Shayne was resolute in his unwillingness to fall in line with the perverse teachings of the "Wraiths." This revelation infuriated the Kai. He called to a shadowy figure standing just outside his office door. Jabt then instructed the individual to escort the unwilling convert to a conversion cell for a "change of heart." The figure acquiesced, and led Shayne from the office. Once alone in his office, Jabt's madness began to surface. He contacted Captain Oddas, using the comm badge he'd confiscated from Shayne. The self-proclaimed Kai was infuriated to meet the same hard-headedness in Oddas. His madness kindled to a combustion point, Jabt ransacked his office, destroying objects and cutting his hands in the process. Storming from his office, he retrieved a disruptor rifle, intent on killing. (Continued below)
Meanwhile, the rest of the away team, being led by Kosst, eventually came upon what could only be referred to as a shrine. Offerings of respect, loyalty, adoration, and honor from several Alpha Quadrant races surrounded a life-sized gold statue of the man they had just seen. Kosst began speaking of faith and becoming part of the congregation. The religious talk was punctuated however, when Hontrú began clutching at his head, then crying out in alarm and pain. Collins also felt some strange effects. His were accented by a visceral sense of communication with ... something. Collins fought the influence, eventually overcoming it. The rest of the away team, with varying levels of difficulty, also managed to wrest control of their minds from the influence of the waves of mind-bending energy coming from somewhere near the golden image of Jabt. Kosst was aghast to not only see such resistance, but to see it succeed. She urged them to stop fighting the Wraith's influence - that is would all be easier and better if they submitted to the Will, yet the Starfleet officers (and Dano) kept up their resistance with the best of their ability. (Continued below)
On the Eagle, with tensions running high and still ramping up, the power flickered and dropped to minimums. Several key systems on the ship were rendered unavailable including computer access, phasers, and tractor beam control. On the bridge, LtCmdr Pavlova pointed out that they had no way of detecting or preventing a boarding party. Security teams were dispatched immediately to key points throughout the ship while other teams were sent to attempt to regain full control of the Eagle's systems. Lieutenants Drex and Mika worked together on a theory Drex had regarding the delta wave energy signatures emanating from the base.
Interrupting, a boarding party materialized on the bridge, and even in a physically-weakened state, Pavlova handled them readily. This was not without loss though. An Eagle crewman was shot down by the boarders in the fight.
Drex continued muddling through the application (in theory, as she had no computer access) while Dr. Mika went to sickbay to retrieve an interim personal delta wave blocker solution Drs Fitzpatrick and Saju had worked up as a result of helping a Betazoid patient suffering from migraines brought on by the waves.
The power returned nearly to normal for a few brief minutes, during which Lt Drex laid a trap for the next onslaught of Delta waves that would cause a feedback loop, sending the wave back to the source. She wasn't sure exactly what would happen at that point, since they hadn't identified WHAT the source was, but it would deflect the energy from the Eagle. Also during this window of functionality, LtCmdr Pavlova was able to get some critical information about the station. Unfortunately, a second Cardassian-made ship approached the Eagle and fired three projectiles at the Eagle. The third was the only to successfully cause damage to the Eagle, but it was in a vital spot. The impact was right at deck 7 - where Lt JG Waters and Ens Kinnear were working to restore the ship's power. The impact caused emergency forcefields to snap into place, drawing significant energy from the limited reserve, knocking out the power to the newly-restored systems. The sudden (albeit brief) exposure to open space also caused the two officers to be thrown against the emergency forcefield, which prevented them from being thrown out into the vacuum of space, but which phased Ensign Kinnear briefly and rendered Lt Waters unconscious. Kinnear called sickbay, from whence Ens Dr Saju was dispatched to the scene to render aid. On the bridge, Pavlova was forced to fire off photon torpedoes using manual targeting at the Cardassian ship, which succumbed to the devastating effects of photonic destructive power.
On the station, LtCmdr Shayne and Cmdr MacKenna reunited with the away team as Kosst and the strange forces hidden beneath the shrine of Jabt attempted to sway their minds. The team fought valiantly both mentally and physically. Jabt, seeing his Right-Hand failing, leaped from an upper level, landing hard on the already-chaotic level. Without hesitating, he decided to take matters into his own hands, executing Kosst on the spot. The team was shocked by this turn of events, giving Jabt a window of opportunity to run toward the exposed orb and attempt to flee, firing indiscriminately as he ran. Ens Hontrú, in a moment of clarity, aimed and fired his phaser, hitting Jabt squarely between the shoulder blades. Since the station was under attack from the Eagle, LtCmdr Shayne issued orders for the team to return to the Eagle immediately. Before doing so however, Dano retrieved the orb from Jabt's unconscious body, wrapped it up so to avoid direct contact, and transported off the station.
Part 4
On the Bridge of the Eagle, Ens Kettick worked out a theory by which the delta waves could be counteracted using the personal blockers sickbay had provided. With Lt Drex's help in Science Lab 1, they managed to create a crude-but-functional amplification repeater for the blocker disc. No sooner had they completed a successful test of the device on a gelpack in the lab however, than Lt Drex detected the returning away team ... and an anomaly: the orb Dano had collected. They agreed to meet in Science Lab 2 where Ens Kettick, Lt Drex, and Mr Dano could set up an isolation/containment field for the orb.
When Jabt woke up, he was infuriated to find the orb gone. By piecing together contextual clues and bits of fleeting memory, he reasoned the Starfleeters had absconded with this prized relic. Retrieving his weapon, he went to a transporter room on the station and beamed onto deck 2 of the Eagle, murdering a crewman as soon as he had re-materialized. He then felt the pull of the orb from nearby, and headed down the corridor toward the pull. Unbeknownst to him, the team from the station was still carrying the orb. When they came into sight, Jabt attempted to fire on them, but due to a malfunction of his rifle, was forced to duck inside a science lab. He sealed himself in, and began creating an improvised explosive device with which to cause as much destruction to the ship as possible.
In the next lab over, Lt Drex and Ens Kettick had managed to get systems within that lab working when they heard weapons going off in the corridor outside. Deciding it best not to step out into the fray, they crawled through the connecting passage between labs 1 and 2 in order to restore systems in there as well. Upon arriving however, they saw a bedraggled and bloody Cardassian assembling a bomb of sorts. Kettick used the lid of a storage container as an improvised weapon to great effect, knocking the would-be bomber out cold in one blow. He then restrained Jabt while the team in the hallways worked on a way to get the lab doors open again.
Meanwhile, on the bridge, things were not going as smoothly. Pavlova suddenly collapsed, falling from her chair at the Tactical station. Captain Oddas rushed to her wife's side, and called for help. Shortly after, Dr Fitzpatrick and Counselor Mika arrived, but it was too late to save Irina's life. With chaos swirling inside and outside the ship, the Captain floundered for a moment with possible courses of action, finally settling on the most severe retaliation many of those present had seen from a Starfleet officer. Following a jarring collision from a blasted-off piece of the station, she fired several high-ordinance torpedoes at the station, decimating it. Mika asked her for a word in her ready room, then gave her a full dressing-down. Oddas accepted responsibility for her actions in blowing up the station, however Mika made it clear that his intent was neither to relieve her of duty nor permanently remove her from her ship. With firmness and compassion, he ensured Oddas that he would support her and her family as they healed, but also made sure she remembered the seriousness of her example to the crew.
Back in Science Lab 2, the hallway team managed to get the door open again, and as Kettick worked on the device he'd cobbled together to get the containment field operational, Dano placed the orb on a holding cylinder within the field that would be isolated once systems were up. What the team didn't realize however, was that Jabt had regained consciousness and was inching toward the orb, intent on regaining it at any cost. When he kicked out, dislocating his shoulders (as his hands were bound to his feet), he knocked the orb off its plinth and into his hands. Upon contact with his prize, Jabt began to laugh. From his perspective, he was becoming omniscient and omnipresent - one with the Wraiths. From the team's stunned perspective, even as something large collided with the hull of the ship, they saw a mad, dying man. His laughter turned to screams of agony. The thin crack in the orb began to glow white-hot, roasting Jabt's hands. Instantly and simultaneously, the orb broke in two the instant Jabt's head fell to the deck. He was dead, and so was the orb. The team set to work after regaining their composure on clearing up the "mess" in the lab and getting vital systems back online.
With the systems coming slowly but surely back online and Captain Oddas excusing herself to tend to the terrible business of breaking the news to her daughters, the crew got to the work involved in getting the ship spaceworthy again, and headed to SB821 for shore leave and repairs.
END
Achievements Earned This Mission
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| Into the Wilds we go |
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| That's no Spike! |