Frontier Day: Phase One (Artemis): Difference between revisions

* Ensign [[Quentin Beck]] (USS ''Artemis''-A)}}Abandoning all sense of self-preservation in order to distract the overwhelming enemy - and get some revenge for the infiltration of her station - [[Robin Hopper|Lt.Cdr. Hopper]] leads her team into the heart of the Cube to locate the conniving Changelings and hopefully in the process distract the Borg enough for the Shield Sabotage Team to be able to do their task in peace. Their journey leads them through the oppressive corridors of the Cube and into a peculiar chamber filled with alcoves occupied by Borg Drones. ''Dead'' Borg Drones. Eager to move on to their destination, the group is ushered through the large room, only for a pair of Drones to bar their progress. Erecting a forcefield to trap the Officers within the chamber, [[Vailani Zoyara|LT Vailani]] realizes that the Borg have changed tactics. They're planning on cutting off life support to the room they have trapped the Officers in. While the Engineers and Security Officers work on foiling the Drones' trap, [[Gila Sadar|LtJG Sadar]] and [[Quentin Beck|Ens Beck]] are ordered to examine the deceased Drones in the hopes of discovering what the function of the room is, and what killed the Drones still locked into alcoves. This proves more difficult than anticipated, and by the time LT [[Vailani Zoyara|Zoyara

 

Lt.Cdr. Hopper’s team makes their way towards the inner parts of the Cube, trying to make a reasonable strategy for dealing with the Changelings and the artifact they stole. En-route, the officers encounter numerous concerning indications that the Borg of today are very different from the ones of yesteryear, and by the time they locate the Changeling infiltrators, they are approaching the antechamber of the Borg Queen herself. Listening in on this meeting of evil, it becomes apparent that what is planned does not bode well for Starfleet at large. Before they have a chance to escape or make a surprise attack, however, the Borg are alerted to their presence, and while the Starfleet officers attempt to enact defense, the Borg Queen uses her unequaled mastery of the Cube to entrap them and bring them before her. And then, re-assimilate LtJG David Flint - Nine of Twenty - into the Collective.

 

On the Cube, seeing their fellow Officer - Ex-Borg LtJG David Flint - be reintegrated into the Collective breaks the spirit of Lt.Cdr. Hopper’s team, and they find themselves herded towards a specific location in the Cube by a multitude of Drones, including LtJG Flint. The room they arrive at is similar to a laboratory they encountered earlier, only without the dead drones, and while there, a number of the Officers are manhandled by the Drones and subjected to an invasive procedure of blood retrieval. As the desperate Officers try to ascertain what the Borg’s master plan is, LtJG Sadar utilizes a moment of relative calm to stealth-inoculate LtJG Flint with a smaller dosage of the anti-Borg Serum in an attempt to allow him to retake his own mind. The Queen and her Drones realize what she’s done a moment too late, as Nine of Twenty is replaced by David Flint once more, and he disables the Collective’s internal shield matrix in one fell swoop, providing both them and the other team a moment of reprieve to escape.

 

In another part of the Cube, Lt.Cdr. Hopper leads her team to a keypoint of energy - an Anti-Polaron Distribution Node - and LtJG Flint reveals that they might be able to do some severe damage to the Cube’s systems if the anti-Borg serum is injected directly into the Node. The gold shirts start shredding the protective layers around the Node, while Ens Beck reveals that he had to dose himself with the Anti-Borg Serum in order to stop a spread of errant nanites. Knowing that there is limited time before he’s rendered unconscious by the medicine, he volunteers for the dangerous task of injecting the serum into the Node itself, and thus being unable to escape the blast radius of the ensuing explosion.

Aboard the Artemis, a Spider-man worthy stand-off occurs in the hallways, when Genkos Adea comes face-to-face with his own double. LT Yellir demonstrates quick wit as a game of ‘21 Questions’ outs the imposter, and the Changeling makes a quick getaway. Deliberating on what to do now, Cdr. Adea realizes that the two Ensigns are in deep trouble, and the trio heads towards the Shuttle Bay to intercept. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Ensigns are trapped in a shuttle with a malicious Changeling-Dakora outside, intent on taking vengeance on the Starfleet that’s wronged him so. Catching onto the deception, the two Ensigns manage to use the internal shuttle controls to vent the Shuttle Bay, sending the Changeling to his untimely demise in the vacuum of space.

 

On the Bridge, Lt.Cdr. Dakora - the real one, we hope - resummons LT Silveira and LtJG T’Ama (and a Changeling-Borg in Tupperware) to their station, as the Borg Cube is powering up. Combat soon ensues, and while they are all aware that the odds are stacked against them, the Artemis is adamant. They are leaving no one behind.

 

After successfully venting the Dakora-Changeling - Ravicz - into space, Ensigns Gnai and Kel find themselves uncertain of how to proceed. While working to gain access to Intership Communications to hopefully find out the situation on the Bridge, Cdr. Adea, LT Yellir and Ens Chevalier arrive at the Shuttlebay to find the mayhem caused after the Ensigns’ struggles. And the Officers arrive at a standstill, as the two Ensigns - understandably weary after the threat of their First Officer attempting to kill them - try to ascertain whether their senior officers are actually who they say they are.

 

On the Bridge, on the other hand, Lt.Cdr. Dakora has Changeling troubles of his own, as the constant jostling of the Artemis caused by the incessant weapons fire results in the tupperware-Changeling to receive a crack in its containment. While LT Silveira is ordered to continue firing upon the Cube itself, Lt.Cdr. Dakora and LtJG T’Ama attempt to fight the Changeling, and their struggle eventually concludes with transporters being utilized to beam the tupperware directly to a reinforced cell in the Brig.

 

With the personnel aboard the Cube safely transported back onto the Artemis, the events aboard take a turn for the better as the Cube prepares to warp out of the area. In the transporter rooms, the personnel freshly beamed aboard from the Cube set to verifying each others’ personalities and disseminating throughout the vessel to assist with whatever their unique skill sets permit.

 

Captain MacKenzie brings LTs Vanlith and Jovenan with her to the Bridge, soon joined by Lt.Cdr. Hopper, to assist the Bridge Crew with analyzing the current situation and figuring out what repairs to prioritize. As the Cube heads to transwarp speeds, the Artemis’ hampered sensors do their best to attempt to extrapolate a course, but the worst suspicions of every Officer is soon honored, as it becomes apparent that the Cube is headed straight for Sector 001. The Artemis’ primary objective must now be to warn Starfleet about the incoming threat, but with long-range communications and warp functionality still not functioning as per the Changelings’ sabotage, there’s a long way until they’re able to warn anyone. Intending gain as much information about the enemies’ plans as possible, Lt.Cdrs. Dakora and Hopper head to the Intel Suite alongside LT Vanlith in order to discern what part the stolen technology from Amity plays in the Borg’s plans for Frontier Day.

 

 

Meanwhile, in Sickbay, the remainder of the crew who had been on the Cube assembled for medical care. There’s a clear divide between the two distinct crews - with the Amity-group more comfortable with taking care of their own - but taking care of each others wounds while the Ship is still being rocked by Borg weaponry has a way of bridging such differences, and soon enough, the two crews intermingle in the interest of getting everyone on their feet as soon as possible. LT Iko and LtJG Moore turn their focus on how to combat the Changeling saboteur, while LtJG Sadar enlist the assistance of the other medical scientists to safely conduct the necessary cranial surgery on LtJG Flint.