Freedom-A Ship Logs

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Ship Logs

Altaris IV

MISSION BRIEFING First contact with the Altarians occured 106 years ago when a Federation Science vessel crashlanded on Altaris IV. The Altarians were not yet capable of space travel and were not ready for first contact. After the Federation crew were rescued, the Altarians asked for no further contact from the Federation.

On Stardate 9710.15 the Altarians broke a 106 year silence and contacted Starfleet Command, they requested that a delegation be sent from the Federation to observe their first attempt at warp travel and render any assistance necessary

On Stardate 9710.23 the USS Freedom-A was sent to Altaris IV as requested.

Chain of Command for Altaris IV mission:

1-Captain, Captain Jeff Pelletier 2-First Officer, Commander Va'Al 3-Chief Engineering Officer, Lieutenant Commander Sally Strange 4-Helm, Lieutenant Marko 5-Security Officer, Lieutenant Valaris 6-Chief Medical Officer, Ensign Katrina Ta'el 7-COM/OPS Officer, Ensign L-7 8-Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Shaun Marlin

• REPORT SOURCE: USS Freedom-A
• AUTHOR: Lt Cmdr Marlin (9710.16)
• EDITED: 9711.14
• SEE ALSO: Science Report on the Altarians

• Planet Name: Altaris IV
• Class: M
• Quadrant: Alpha
• Primary Star: Altaris Major
• Planet Size (Relative to Earth): Slightly larger (about 2-2.5 times the Earth)
• Planet Mass (Relative to Earth): Again higher
• Number Of Moons: None
• Atmosphere: 27% Oxygen, 3% Carbon Dioxide, 58% Nitrogen, 12% Inert/trace gases
• Land/Water Ratio: 35% Land: 65% Water
• Climatic Information : Altaris IV has an amazingly complex weather system, which seems to go against all natural laws, this initially stirred interest among Starfleet meteorologists, however due to the Restricted status of the planet further study was suspended. Altaris IV consists of two major continents. One in the Northern hemisphere (called Beldan) and one in the south (Telorn). The whole population is based in the smaller northern continant, Beldan, as the significantly larger Telorn continants climate is a lot less hospitable than its northern neighbours. The Northern hemisphere is generally subject to much better weather than the south. The average temperature is about 5 degrees higher than Earths global mean. The Altaris year ( 462 days) is split into only two main seasons, equivalent to summer and winter, the transition between the two is rapid, and the calander of the Altarians is based so that the transition happens at the beginning and middle of the year. The summer of Beldan results in conditions very similar to the tropics of Earth: high humidity and temperature interspersed with frequent thunderstorms and showers. The winter is still warm but is subject to frequent severe storms involving hail, hurricanes or even sleet, which begin with little or no warning and end with similarly no warning. During the winter the temperature can plummet or soar very rapidly with no apparent pattern.

The Southern hemisphere is subject to almost perpetual high winds and very frequent rain and sleet storms. Wheras Beldan is situated half way between the equator and the North Pole, Telorn is situated over the South Pole. The mean temperature of Telorn is significantly lower than Beldan, and depending on the time of year, often strays below 0 degrees Celsius, plummeting as low as -20.

Several theories have been put forward to explain these unique climate features, however now that the planets restricted status has been removed, further study is imminent.

Typical Surface Features: Beldan - Lots of Vegitation, Many different forms of wildlife. Tropical forests fill the South of Beldan, broken only by huge areas cleared for Cities, to the very North of Beldan these Forests gradually fade away as the temperature gradient and humidity decrease, and vast plains take over. It is on these cooler plains that the bulk of the planets population are situated, in vast beautiful cities. Telorn - Huge techtonic stresses have resulted in huge canyons next to equally huge mountains. There are many active volcanoes which dot the landscape. Very little life, however there are some species which reside underground or in the shelter of canyons, crevices etc The surface of the continant is nearly all rock due to the erroding winds which constantly ravage the land. Vegitation is sparse and primarily consists of thorn bushes. However very little research was conducted on this continant.

Other Relevant Information: 106 years ago, a Federation science vessel crashlanded on the Beldan continant. The Altarian society was at level E- on the Richter scale and not yet ready for first contact. The Government kept the contact secret from the general public, but asked for no contact until they felt the time was right. Altaris IV was declared off limits once the team and ship were recovered. However the government has now contacted the Federation, informing us that they are now ready to try a prototype 'warp' drive equivalant, which is apparently significantly weaker (obtaining a maximum of warp 4). They have invited us to send and 'observer group' who will watch the attempt at warp travel, and then discuss the possibility of Federation membership.

Appendix I (9711.14, author: Lt Cmdr Marlin) The USS Freedom-A observed the warp test and due to complications which arose became stranded within an artificial universe which was later determined to be the Altarian's warp field. The whole affair increased relations between ourselves and the Altarians although little more was found out about their home planet or culture. However the Altarian government has invited a science team to Altaris IV. The Altarians have agreed to suspend further use of their warp drive, until the Federation council makes a decision on whether to share Federation warp technology with them, their application for Federation membership is also being considered.

MISSION SUMMARY - ALTARIS IV

The USS Freedom-A is heading for the rendezvous with the Altarians, the first contact in 106 years (see mission briefing), when it detects three ships on an intercept course. It is determined that the three ships are using trilithium propulsion technology and are travelling at only impulse velocities.

Starfleet Intelligence inform the crew that the Altarians may have access to a very rare compound which could stabilise trilithium reactions, and that this compound could have attracted the attentions of the Romulan Empire and/or the Kardassians. Despite Starfleet Intelligence's direst warnings the rendezvous goes well and the Freedom and two Altarian observer vessels prepare for the Altarian's first attempt at warp travel. The Altarian warp ship then disappears, only to reappear minutes later. The Altarians are overjoyed and hail the experiment a success, although the crew of the Freedom is baffled as to what happened, all they can determine is that the Altarians are using an 'external drive'. The proceedings are brought to an abrupt halt when two Romulan warbirds decloak and attack the Freedom and Altarians alike. One Altarian observer ship is destroyed before an attack on the Altarian warp ship causes its external drive to envelop the Freedom, both warbirds and both remaining Altarian vessels. All of the ships are then pulled through the Altarian's 'warp gateway'. In the process of passing through the gateway, one Romulan warbird and the remaining Altarian observer ship are destroyed.

The journey through the warp gateway results in an apparent total power and system failure for the Freedom, including life support, although mysteriously the warp core does not breach. The senior staff splits up into groups and leaves the bridge. Strange, Marlin and Marko head for main engineering via Jeffries tubes. They notice that an alien turquoise powder is starting to form on the walls of the ship. When they arrive in engineering they find that all the crew there are unconscious and, despite their best efforts, they cannot wake them. Strange things begin happening on the ship: spooky noises, random power surges and supernatural events are brought to a head when the unconscious crewmembers begin disappearing in the darkness.

Va'al and Valeris determine, from the stars outside the ship, that the Freedom is no longer in the Milky Way, although their new location remains a mystery. Meanwhile Pelletier and Ta'el travel to shuttle bay two and find that the shuttlecraft still have power. They board one and leave the Freedom. They are shocked to find that outside of the ship instead of space being a huge vacuum, as in the Milky Way, here it is a huge expanse of a gel like substance, similar to the powder forming on the ship but much denser. They name this gel like substance gello. After only a few minutes the shuttlecraft loses all power.

On the ship, Strange, Marlin and Marko begin to suspect that the darkness on the Freedom is responsible for the supernatural events. After Marko is mysteriously rendered unconscious the darkness attacks Strange and Marlin. Marlin manages to start a small fire, and the light that this fire gives out wards off the attacking darkness. Marlin loses control of the fire and soon the whole of engineering is a towering inferno. Strange initiates an explosion that blows a huge hole in the hull of the Freedom and extinguishes the blaze, however Strange, Marlin and Marko are all thrown out of the ship and into the gello outside. The three officers then swim over to the stranded shuttle which holds Ta'el and a furious Pelletier. The gello seeps into the shuttle while the group is discussing a plan of action, and Ta'el comes into direct physical contact with it. The gello has a psychotropic effect on Ta'el, similar to drug induced euphoria and she develops a very rapid addiction to the substance. Ta'el then slips out of the shuttlecraft unnoticed and begins swimming in the gello, the other crewmembers on the shuttlecraft notice this too late and before they can act, the Altarian warp ship appears and abducts Ta'el. Strange then discovers a way to form a gello-powered drive for the Freedom, which could possibly restore power to the ship. Draining the last of the shuttles power reserves, Pelletier, Strange, Marlin and Marko transport over to the bridge of the Freedom, to implement Strange's plan.

Meanwhile Va'al, Valeris and L-7 are abducted from the Freedom and find themselves as prisoners onboard the Altarian warp ship. Here they learn that the Romulans, from the surviving warbird, have commandeered the ship and have enslaved the Altarians. They also learn that there is a creature that lives in darkness, known as the Mordan, which is responsible for all the bizarre events on the Freedom. The Mordan is co-operating with the Romulans and has been abducting the Freedom's crew and bringing them to the Altarian ship. L-7 manages to escape from his bonds on the Altarian ship.

On the Freedom, Pelletier, Strange, Marlin and Marko determine that all the ships crewmembers have disappeared. They manage to start Strange's 'gello drive' and discover that the ships systems were never actually down but had somehow been masked by the Mordan. This explains why the warp core had not breached after the apparent power failure. The Freedom is now nearly fully operational and begins the hunt for its crew and the Altarian ship.

On the Altarian ship, L-7 finds a gello addicted Ta'el, and frees Va'al and Valeris. The group then tries to find a means of escape.

After several minutes of searching, the Freedom encounters the Altarian ship, drifting crippled in space. The Altarian ship is powerless and badly damaged, attacked by creatures that live in this gello universe, the Kumta. The Altarian ship is minutes from a fatal explosion, but the Freedom cannot lower its shields for transport as it is under attack from the Kumta. L-7 realises that this gello universe is actually the warp field of the Altarian external warp drive, and that if the warp drive is destroyed, this universe will implode and everything in it will be lost forever. As a last resort L-7 transports every living thing off the Altarian ship and into the gello outside. It then transports itself and the independent warp drive unit into the gello also. Shortly after, the Altarian ship explodes as a result of the damage it has sustained. This explosion drives the Kumta away, and the Freedom is able to lower its shields.

The 4 crewmembers onboard the Freedom locate the lifeforms floating in the gello, and beam them aboard the ship, using the transporter's biofilters to remove the crews new found addiction to gello. Unfortunately there are no traces of L-7, who, unknown to the crew, is drifting in the gello and working on the Altarian warp drive in an attempt to open a gateway back to normal space. Meanwhile, with the aid of the Altarian scientists, the rest of the Freedom crewmembers manage to restore the Freedom to normal space, escaping the altarian 'warp universe'. However there is a grave miscalculation and the Freedom reappears just outside Earth's atmosphere. The ship's momentum is too great to avoid Earth's gravity and the Freedom spectacularly crash lands in San Francisco Bay, only hundreds of metres from Starfleet Command. L-7 watches the Freedom escape the Altarian 'warp universe' and then follows, destroying the Altarian warp drive before being detected and transported onto the Freedom.

Once the ship is out of any immediate danger, Pelletier and Strange are called to Starfleet Command whilst the rest of the crew begin to establish the extent of the damage to the ship. Starfleet Command is then bombed and Pelletier and Strange are seriously injured. The source of and the reason for the bomb are unknown. After several days Pelletier and Strange are declared stable and released from the Starfleet Command Medical Centre. The entire Freedom crew is given extended shore leave whilst the Freedom undergoes repairs. The investigation into the bombing continues and leads to the next mission, when the senior staff are implicated as ringleaders of a terrorist group responsible for the bombing, and are suspended of duty and rank, becoming fugitives from Starfleet....

END OF REPORT

The Taren Group

MISSION BRIEFING After the USS Freedom-A crashlanded on Earth, Starfleet Command was damaged in a terrorist bomb attack by a group known as 'The Taren'. The Freedom was salvaged from San Fransisco Bay and sent to the Utopian Planitia Shipyards, Mars for repair. Meanwhile the senior officers became involved in a web of intrigue, and were implicated as ringleaders of the Taren...

Chain of Command for the Taren mission:

During this mission the USS Freedom-A was removed from active duty for extensive repair work, therefore no chain of command was effective. Also during this mission all senior officers of the USS Freedom-A were suspended of duty and rank. The people involved in this mission were:

Anderson, Mark - formerly Lieutenant L-7 - formerly Ensign Marlin, Shaun - formerly Lieutenant Commander Pelletier, Jeff - formerly Captain Strange, Sally - formerly Lieutenant Commander Ta'el, Katrina - formerly Ensign Va'Al - formerly Commander Valeris - formerly Lieutenant

SCIENCE REPORT SFC21-314-S6.2 The Taren Group

REPORT SOURCE: Starfleet Command - Science Div. AUTHOR: Cmdr Reese (9604.02) EDITED: 9711.16, 9712.25

The Taren are a secret pacifist group who believe that alien influence has corrupted Terran civilisation. Their aim is to expel all non-teran colonies or civilisations from the Federation and to then begin a neutral, non-interference policy with all other forms of life. This information was revealed in a brief mandate received by Starfleet Command on Stardate 9604.01. To date their are no known members or any indication of Taren activities whatsoever. No further information is known at this time and Starfleet Intelligence has classed the threat posed by this group as minimal.

Appendix I (9711.16, author: Lt Cmdr Gresty) After months without word or action from the Taren group, a recent terrorist attack on Starfleet Command has been blamed upon the Taren. Also Starfleet Intelligence have warned that Taren membership is far greater than expected and could number into the hundreds, several known sympathisers are currently under watch. The attack, on the Grady Building, claimed 42 lives and injured 63 people. A full investigation has cast suspicion upon Captain Pelletier, currently commanding the vessel USS Freedom-A, which crashlanded on Earth a few hours before the attack. His senior staff are also wanted for questioning however all have currently dropped into hiding, increasing suspicions regarding their possible Taren membership.

Appendix II (9712.25, author: Admiral Strange) Events over the last few weeks have led to the end of the Taren Terrorist group. It has been revealed that the ringleader of the group was Admiral John Maxwell Phelan of Starfleet Intelligence, who lost his life in the events leading up to the demise of the Taren group. It has also been revealed that the terrorist attack on Starfleet command was carried out by a splinter group of the Taren, who were dediciated to achieving the same objectives but with the use of force. Further details regarding membership of these groups and also events leading up to the demise of these groups have been restricted by Starfleet Command. However all members of the USS Freedom crew have been cleared of all charges and any suspicion.

END OF REPORT

Balandian Encounter

Starfleet Command orders the USS Freedom to head for Star Base 118 via Denious II, where the ship is to pick up some rare medical extracts. On the way the ship is paid a visit by several members of the Q continuum, who request that Lt Marko aid them in an important mission.

Meanwhile the ship undergoes a routine battle drill, which is interupted when an alien ship appears through a newly formed rip in space. When the crew attempt to save the ship from being destroyed by the now closing rip, they get more than they bargained for...

Chain of Command for Balandian Encounter:

1-Captain, Captain Jeff Pelletier 2-First Officer, Commander Va'Al 3-Chief Engineering Officer, Lieutenant Commander Sally Strange 4-Helm, Lieutenant Marko 5-Security Officer, Lieutenant Valaris 6-Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Shaun Marlin 7-Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant (jg) Hayt Ivrel 8-Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Prexis Sall

Transfers:

Ensign L-7 USS Freedom to USS Ranger Ensign Ta'el USS Freedom to USS Ranger Ensign Prexis Sall Star Base 118 to USS Freedom