Dawn (Veritas)


An impromptu beachside brainstorming session provides the first glimmer of hope that the officers and crew of the Veritas may have a chance of returning home, but the odds are long and the margin for error is non-existent. The moon itself seems to resist their efforts as a titanic storm wracks the camp while a small team works against an impossible clock to restore the Veritas and free the crew before the ship plummets to a fiery end.

Veritas Mission History
Year 1 (2393-2394)
The Forgotten Land · Rag and Bone · Aftershock · The Mother Road
Year 2 (2395)
The Irresistible Prize · Kallo Ver & The Hunt for the Lost Romulan Treasure Fleet · The Omega Paradox · Hope Lost · Flashpoint
Year 3 (2396)
Limbo · Dawn · Home · Sentinel · Play the Part · The First Colony · Tour de Ketar V · Charybdis · Lost and Found
Year 4 (2397)
E Pluribus Unum · Nadira · Free Flight · Pirates of the Quantum Realms · Forever and Always · Heartbeat · Home Is Where the Heart Is · Wandering Star
Year 5 (2398)
Here Kitty Kitty · Reunion · Chasing Shadows · Endeavour · Loopy · Fissure
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Prologue

Dawn

  • Stardate 239601-239602

MSNPCs

Plot Summary

After discovering that time on the moon is flowing more quickly than it is for the outside universe, engineers Geoffrey Teller and Wil Ukinix, working with Captain Roshanara Rahman, Commander Evan Delano and stranded time traveler Jhalib Ekal, have devised a plan to transport a small repair team aboard the Veritas, moments after the crew was originally evacuated more than three months prior. This complex and dangerous plan will buy the team a few hours in which they can attempt to repair the sabotage to the Veritas, refuel it with whatever they can find on board, and neutralize the temporal anomaly which keeps the crew trapped outside of time on the moon below.

Elsewhere on the moon, newly promoted Lieutenant Junior Grade G'var leads a long-distance scouting team consisting of Ensign Wil Ukinix, Doctor Cole Maxwell, and observer Fleet Captain Aron Kells and on a perilous search for additional survivors deep within the jungles of Limbo. Called back to Camp Rahman, Fleet Captain Kells and his security escort leave the team dangerously undermanned when disaster strikes. The scouting team is attacked by a savage jungle predator and G'var is maimed while defending her team, but they successfully drive back the terrible beast and make contact with Captain Felecia Nickson's encampment, where Doctor Maxwell struggles to keep G'var alive as Captain Nickson obsesses about a supposed thief in their midst. Marshall Henning Hext and Lt. Cmdr. Alora DeVeau are relieved to discover much of the crew survived the evacuation and plans are made for the perilous overland journey back to Camp Rahman.

 
USS Veritas, powerless and in a decaying orbit above the moon Limbo

Transported through time and space, the repair team consisting of Fleet Captain Kells, Commanders Delano & Kelrod, Lt. Jg Teller, Ensign Kree'Ahk and Jhalib Ekal successfully return to the Veritas in time to see Fleet Captain Kells's vessel plummet to the moon below. Knowing they have only a few hours in which to pull off a miracle, they break up into small teams and begin the difficult journey through an abandoned, powerless ship.

Meanwhile back at Camp Rahman, a massive tropical typhoon has begun to lash the survivors with pelting rain and extreme winds, disrupting efforts to construct a device that will protect them from radiation if and when the team aboard the Veritas are successful in disrupting the temporal anomaly. Survival itself is uncertain as structures collapse and trees pin crewmembers inside an escape pod that's rapidly filling with rainwater.

In the jungle, the scouting team struggles across flooded ground and overturned trees while carrying their injured comrade back to Camp Rahman. Wary after losing one of their own to G'vars blade earlier, several vicious Mantilions attack the hobbled team and critically injure Captain Nickson before again fleeing into the cover of the jungle. Desperate and out of time, Doctor Maxwell has to work medical magic on the dying woman as the rain continues to churn the ground around them.

Back aboard the Veritas, time is nearly up as the ship hurtles towards the moon. Finally overcoming the last hurdles thrown in their way by the Temporal Integrity Commission, the Veritas unleashes a titanic blast of energy, dissipating the anomaly and returning the moon to its rightful place in time. The crippled ship limps into a stable orbit and begins to recover the most critically injured crewmen as dawn breaks on the one hundred and eightieth day of their perceived time on Limbo.

Log Entries

Captain
Roshanara Rahman

Captain’s Log, Day 119

I’ve long since given up trying to keep track of the stardate. And if this plan works, the stardate won’t matter as we’ll find ourselves aligned back with the rest of the universe, on the same day I first gave the order to abandon Veritas.

I suppose if this plan doesn’t work, the stardate still won’t matter...

Still, I must remain confident in our plan, and I do. The crew has been in high spirits the past two weeks as they’ve made the preparations for Teller and Ukinix’s plan. Every possible scrap of material we could salvage from the escape pods, shuttles, and the Compass have gone into constructing both the surface relay and the modifications to the CRI brace that Mr. Ekal will require to make this work. Though there still remains work to be done on the relay, we should be able to complete it by the time it will be needed from the ship.

First Officer Evan Delano will be leading the team going to Veritas, which includes:

  • Lieutenant JG Geoffrey Teller, chief engineer
  • Jhalib Ekal, our guest from the 25th century
  • Ensign Kree'Ahk, science officer
  • Commander Kelrod, SAR team leader
  • Fleet Captain Aron Kells, who will be contributing his scientific expertise to the team

On the surface, Lt. Commander Tristam Core has been supervising the completion of the surface relay with the assistance of Lt. Commander Raissa Moonsong, science officer.

Meanwhile, a small search party consisting of

  • Lieutenant G’var, security officer
  • Ensign Wil Ukinix, engineering officer
  • Doctor Cole Maxwell, medical officer
  • Crewman Bicondova

have gone to find the personnel who still remain unaccounted for since we first sought refuge on Limbo. Among the missing include

  • Lt. Commander Alora DeVeau, science officer
  • Commander Nic del Vedova, diplomatic officer
  • Lieutenant Jayla Petras, operations officer
  • Colonial Coalition Marshal Henning Hext
  • Captain Felicia Nickson, former CO of the USS Artemis

Lt. Commander Sky Blake has been recovering from her poisoning, and Counselor Jansen Orrey remains with me overseeing operations of our campsite and taking on medical duties in Doctor Maxwell’s absence.


Ensign
Wil Ukinix

Engineering Officer’s Log, Day 119

After 7 days of mostly rain and not much else, we’ve discovered another escape pod. Unlike the last pod, it has no power, and there were no bodies inside – one or more people have survived and long ago taken any supplies that were in it. We did somehow though manage to find a working PADD in the pod that may have been missed, which means we’re now able to make proper log entries – uh, long story.

Lieutenant G’var has found some tracks nearby, which could be a promising sign that there could be more of our crewmates from the Veritas close to us. She’s said the tracks were “interesting” and had some concerns, but other than the snake Sky encountered, there’s been nothing overly dangerous or predatory that we’ve found near the New Risa. So, I don’t hold the same worry.


Lieutenant JG
G'var

Security Officer Log, Day 119

It's been almost Two weeks since we left New Risa, Captain Kells was recalled back to Camp on day 4 of our Expedition, since then it's been Ensign Unkinix, Doctor Maxwell, and Crewman Bicondova and Myself. It's been a long March but I feel we're finally nearing the end of or journey. We've all been in strung out shape since we discovered a downed escape pod seven days ago, and five our missing Crew dead. The mood of the Team since has been matched by the weather. It seems Limbo does have a rainy season, for the last week we've had to endure near constant rain showers. Yesterday Wil picked up another metallic signal using one of our newly scavenged tricorders. I'm hopeful we'll find another escape pod or Shuttle, with the Crew alive and safe.

We awoke this morning to a please let surprise, the deluge had finally stopped falling and we were greeted by clear skies for the first time in a week. By Kahless, even I have to admit it's good to see the sun, and finally dry out. A damp Klingon is not a happy Klingon. Wil's mood has finally brightened, I could hear him singing to himself as he went about is morning abulations. Crewman Bicondova even located one of those wonderful citrus bushes, fresh fruit for breakfast was a welcome change from Federation Emergency Rations. My Hope is that we can reach the signal we detected by mid-morning, by Kahless we get there together.


Ensign
Cole Maxwell

Medical Officer’s Personal Log - Day 119

The rain has finally stopped. I was getting really sick of the nearly constant downpour. It made our trek slow as hell. Thankfully the respite came near our latest find… another abandoned Veritas escape pod. This one, thankfully, was devoid of dead bodies. Not so thankfully, this one has been robbed of just about anything useful. Ensign Ukinix is currently doing his engineering thing and ripping out anything that could at least potentially be of use. G’var seems to think we can pick up the trail of whomever was in this pod and follow it to find… whatever the hell we’re out here looking for. At this point I’d settle for one person alive and somewhat well so we can start heading back to the Camp. Have I mentioned I’m sick of this moon, sick of this jungle, and sick of this extended nature hike? Ugh… end log entry.


Lt. Commander
Raissa Moonsong

Science Officer’s Log

It has been more than two weeks worth of planning and work. To save the Veritas and return to her. My head still hurts a little from the math. All I can do is hope all of this works. I still cannot shake my residual concerns. We have lived in the time distortion for months and it has permeated everything about us. Perhaps it is my concern over the children. If they are able to disperse the distortion, how will affect them? But the bottom line is that we cannot stay here. We still have hope.

Our main concern now is the construction of the relay we will need to make this plan work. Captain Rahman and Lt. Commander Core are going to be the primaries behind that. Almost enough to make me wish I were an engineer to be more helpful. Almost.


Lieutenant
Jansen Orrey

Counselor’s Log

Crew morale remains mostly high especially given the announcement that we are working toward making it back to the Veritas. The crew has divided up to better accomplish those goals with Doctor Maxwell taking a group to check on some odd sensor readings which we hope may be more of our crew. Commander Delano has managed to teleport to the Veritas in orbit, in the past if that makes much sense. Meanwhile most of the rest of us are doing what we can to try and complete a surface relay that will allow the rest of us to follow along once the ‘time bubble’ is taken care of by the shipside team. Hopefully it will work out...and soon.


Lt. Commander
Tristam Core

Personal log, stardate 239601.19.

After months stagnating on the moon Limbo, we are finally putting together a plan to go home. The others remain seemingly unaware, but I am extraordinarily grateful.

I've been feeling . . . different, as of late. My telepathy was always a point of contention when I first joined Starfleet - concerns were had if I, at my young age, could handle "avoiding" the thoughts of others, as it's against regulations to really partake in even minor telepathic activity unless such things have been fully agreed upon prior. I understood this completely, and though I've stretched the rules many times, there has never been a recorded incident involving myself. But I genuinely fear this may change in future.

I'm not sure if it's Limbo, or the circumstances in which we've found ourselves, but where once I was only capable of skimming the surface, hearing the murmurs of others thoughts, I am now inadvertently privy to everyone's deepest and darkest secrets, without even 'looking' for them. It's like everyone around me is having a full on conversation to me, yet not including me. Terrans in particular seem to have this two-faced type of personality, where they think something incredibly negative, and then respond to others verbally as if they had no issue with the subject at had - which I know to be false. And it's playing on me. I find myself confused with the motivations behind people I assumed I knew quite well, and I've had to stop myself from snapping at the smallest pressures, knowing for a fact that the support people provide me, while valid, they deep down and secretly believe to be unnecessary or of little value. And yet they stand here, unfazed by these thoughts, acting as if they have no problem whatsoever. It's terrifying.

Even Loupaz, my right hand and most trusted technician outside of Roshanara, has turned out to be harboring what I've had to deem as false opinions - downright nasty thoughts behind everyone's back, respectful opinion to their faces. Not once has she ever voiced a complaint to me, and yet I find myself questioning whether she is hiding her true feelings about working with me. This has never happened before - and I'm not understanding why it's occurring now.

I don't know what's happening to me. But I know that it is frightening, and . . . hard to explain to anyone but myself.

I can't wait to go home.


Captain
Roshanara Rahman

Captain's Log, Supplemental

Thanks to the headache-inducing mechanics of time travel and temporal anomalies, the crew of the Veritas were retrieved from the moon we called Limbo only to find that despite having experienced six months of time marooned on the surface, only a few hours had passed in the rest of the universe. Though Commander Delano's team was able to keep the ship from falling out of orbit, Veritas still required towing from the Colonial Coalition Marshals back to Star Station Esperance. For the fourteen crew members who did not return with us, a memorial service was held both on Limbo before we left and at the Starfleet Annex on Esperance. Their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

The majority of the remaining crew were transported from Limbo via civilian transports back to the star station and from there to their homeworlds. Given everything they've endured, I've granted shore leave for the entire crew, which given the extent of damage to Veritas, may last several months. Some may choose to transfer to other vessels before Veritas is able to return to service, but I hope most of them take the time that's been regained to spend it with their loved ones.