Razor's Edge (Darwin-A)
| Season 2, Episode 3 |
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| USS Darwin-A | ||
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 INACTIVE STATUS | ||
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| A series of rifts related to the Prometheus Event have been opening in the isolated Skalur Expanse. New technology recovered from the Sicarians has the potential to close these rifts. The Darwin is sent to establish a network of these Sicarian satellites to stabilize the region, under the command of Acting Captain Lt Commander Kael Thomas. When they arrive in the Cadaka system, they detect a distress beacon coming from the third planet in the system, Brut III. An away team, consisting of Acting First Officer Lt Commander Maxwell Traenor, Ensign Kurt Logan, Ensign Graeme Cook and Ensign Mathias Duncan, is formed to go investigate the distress signal on the surface. Meanwhile, Lt Commander Luna Walker, Lieutenant JG Iniko Mpeba, Ensign Michael Jellico and Lieutenant JG Graham Block begin assembly of the primary satellite in Cargo Bay I. Lieutenant John Valdivia directs the deployment of the repeater satellites from Astrometrics, with the assistance of Ensign Mason Quinn and Mission Specialist Lieutenant Ayla. Lieutenant JG Lyldra joins them on the bridge.
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| Shortly before the Darwin’s arrival, a mercenary patrol craft ran afoul of the rift and crash landed on Brut III. They are holding a captive, an Ash’lie name Lyna Namid. Trapped on the planet, awaiting rescue by the other members of their organization, they prioritize safety. The captain of the little ship, Ankia Viljoen orders one of the crewmembers, Duccio Turrisi, to set up traps to stall any potential wildlife on the planet. While he is working on that, the ship becomes unstable, and they are forced to evacuate, setting up a temporary camp in the jungles outside the patrol craft. Turrisi ties Lyna up to a tree to keep her from escaping while they finish setting up defenses, but Lyna immediately begins to work through the rope in an attempt to escape. Back in the camp, a scout returns bringing word of Starfleet's approach. Viljoen begins organizing the mercenary crew in preparation for their arrival.
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| The team assembling the satellite runs into an unexpected complication when Cmdr Walker is abruptly transferred to the Apollo. Lt Mpeba is left in charge in her absence, and is very nervous about the additional responsibility. They finish the initial phase of the assembly and don EVA suits, then move the satellite out into space to complete the more delicate work. Ens Jellico is worried about having a panic attack during EVA work and is working hard to keep himself under control. They initially plan to move the satellite into its final position first, before doing the rest of the setup, but when they contact Ens Quinn on the bridge for precise positioning information, they are informed that there is too much interference on the sensors. While he attempts to get a more precise read on their position, they decide to finish setting up the satellite. Lt Block and Jellico work from inside the satellite to activate and monitor systems while Mpeba stays outside to do visual confirmations and hands-on repairs. Unfortunately, the rift is acting up, and threatens to overload the communications array on the satellite. Mpeba notices an odd glow surrounding the communications array, along with some sparking. When they get the comm array back under control, Block reports that the lateral extender mechanism is overheating. Mpeba goes to investigate and notices the same odd glow as on the comm array.
Meanwhile, the Away Team headed by Cmdr Traenor head to the surface of the planet. They are forced to land some distance away due to the dense jungle, and have to do some hiking with packs of equipment to reach the crash site. Ens Cook wonders if, being a doctor, he really needs to carry a phaser, but Cmdr Traenor requests that he takes one as a precaution. They have an unpleasant walk, and hear the explosion of the mercenary shuttle long before they arrive at the campsite. Ens Logan notices a humanoid running away from them towards the crash site as they walk. Ens Duncan uses his empathic abilities to try to get a sense of what lays ahead of them. Mostly he senses only fear and confusion. Everyone sets their phasers to stun as they arrive at the edge of the jungle, and they take cover as Traenor calls out to the people in the camp. Back on the Darwin's bridge, Lt Lyldra, who is very pregnant, is beginning to feel ill, and is having a difficult time concentrating. Cmdr Thomas calls Cmdr Icavoc up to the bridge to assist. Ens Quinn reports increased activity from the rift. Cmdr Icavoc and Lt Ayla speculate that it might be due to the Darwin's sensors and warp traffic in the area, and propose reducing their Delta radiation to compensate. Luckily, just then Lt Valdivia and {nrank|Lieutenant|Brell} in astrometrics call up to announce they have a program ready to run which will do just that. Lyldra has been feeling increasingly bad while this conversation has been going on. The twins are becoming violently active, which she suspects is due to the increased activity of the rift. Overwhelmed by pain, she suffers silently for a little, unable to muster any words, while before finally calling out and then collapsing. Thomas has Lyldra transported immediately to sickbay, where Lieutenant Janel Tarna tries to diagnose the problem.
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| The distraction of the Away Team's arrival at the mercenary camp gives Lyna the chance to make her escape. She knocks over one of the gravitic field posts on her way out, unsure of what it is there for, but hoping to cause some chaos for the mercenaries. She runs off into the jungle to hide, with no plan beyond escaping the barbaric mercenaries. On the other side of camp, Viljoen and Turrisi welcome the Away Team with open arms, concealing their villainous natures. They invite them into the camp, luring them to an ambush. Ens Cook, unsuspecting, attempts to administer medical attention. He quickly notices some inconsistencies in his life form readings, though, and alerts Ens Duncan telepathically. A cry sounds from the edge of the camp as Lyna makes her escape. Now very suspicious, Cmdr Traenor sends Ens Logan to investigate.
Far above, the team on the satellite are still dealing with systems failing unexpectedly. They are unsure whether the cause of these failures is related to badly designed parts, since they are unfamiliar with the source for the parts, or if it is due to rift activity. Either way, Ens Jellico finally manages to get the comm array working without overloading it. With that out of the way, Lt Block looks for the source of the heat that caused the extension mechanism to overheat, and finds that it is related to the satellite’s propulsion system. Lt Mpeba bleeds off the excess heat and decides that it is safe to try extending it. As soon as they initialize the system, though, the satellite’s port thrusters fire unexpectedly. An initial attempt at compensating sends them into an uncontrolled spin. Mpeba barely has time to tether jheaself to the outside of the satellite, while Block and Jellico are tossed around inside. Jellico manages to fire the correct thrusters and get the satellite stabilized. They find that Block’s suit had a hole torn in it by the ordeal. Mpeba is mostly unhurt but terrified and decides to come inside the satellite until they decide what to do next. The Bridge Crew implement the program to reduce their delta ray emissions, and see an immediate reduction in rift activity. Happy with that success, they turn their attentions back to the satellite just in time to see it spinning out of control. They discuss methods for controlling the satellite’s spin or extracting the team. Lt Ayla and Cmdr Icavoc advocate for preserving the satellite at all costs, even if it means losing the personnel on board. They hold that the rift poses a much larger threat to life, and they do not have any other way to close it. Lt Valdivia calls up to the bridge to suggest that a shuttle might be able to extract the team. Cmdr Thomas orders Valdivia up to the bridge to have his advice more readily to hand. In the meantime the satellite crew manages to stabilize their movement on their own. Thomas verifies that the satellite remains operational, then sets the Bridge Crew to work on ideas for preventing this from happening again. Down in sickbay, Lt Tarna confirms that Lt Lyldra is in labor, and the twins are in distress. Lyldra requests a birthing pool in order to have a water birth, but Tarna insists that with the complications, they will need to do an emergency medical transport rather than having a traditional delivery.
The mercenaries on Brut III decide that they have no more to gain from subterfuge, with Starfleet being so insistent about snooping around. Viljoen issues orders to capture the officers, and finds cover. Turrisi activates the trap to immobilize the officers and takes off after the escaped prisoner. However, Lyna has disabled one of the devices powering the trap during her escape, and the Starfleet officers are not entirely stuck. Cmdr Traenor calls for a retreat, and the Away Team regroups outside of the camp. Traenor asks Ens Cook to try to find out more about the source of the strange cry they heard earlier, which seemed to precipitate the mercenaries’ attack. They decide to follow the source of that signal rather than attempting to subdue the mercenaries. Lyna has made good on her escape, but she is dehydrated, starving, and injured, and doesn’t make it very far before Turrisi catches up to her. He attempts to persuade her to come with him in the shuttle, but after all his abuse she does not see any reason to trust him. On the bridge, the crew come up with a plan to use the Darwin’s tractor beam to bring the satellite into the containment sphere to finish repairs and initialization before positioning it. Unexpectedly another ship appears in the system. Captain Altek introduces himself and claims that his ship, the Swallow, is part of a mining company responding to the distress call from one of their ships. Thomas is very concerned about keeping control over the situation, and treats the captain of the smaller ship brusquely, muting him to continue working on solutions for his own teams. He asks Cmdr Icavoc check up on the Away Team and Lt Valdivia, Lt Ayla and Ens Quinn to work on tractoring the satellite into the containment sphere for safety, before returning to speak again with Altek. Unfortunately, Icavoc comes back with news that the Swallow’s people have attacked the away team. Thomas sets Icavoc to work on coming up with a plan to extract the away team, and asks Lt Mpeba to prepare the satellite to be brought online. Thomas confronts Altek, who attempts to prevaricate, but fails to allay their suspicions. Altek takes the Swallow into the atmosphere of Brut III, hoping to recover their people and retreat quickly.
With the Swallow moving towards the planet, Cmdr Thomas asks for recommendations on recovering the Away Team. With the rift complicating long-distance transports, they opt to use the abandoned shuttle to boost the transporter signal, allowing another team to transport onto the shuttle and use it to recover the Away Team. Thomas sends Cmdr Icavoc to assemble this secondary team, and they head down to the planet. After a brush with disaster, and with Lt Block’s suit leaking oxygen, the team on the satellite is ready to finish their work and get back to safety as quickly as possible. They coordinate with Lt Valdivia and Lt Ayla on the bridge to use the Darwin’s tractor beams to move them into position, rather than trusting the unreliable thrusters again. They are brought into the relative protection of the containment sphere to shield them from both the unpredictable effects of the rift and possible action from the Swallow. Once inside, Lt Mpeba and Ens Jellico work to ensure that the thrusters are thoroughly incapacitated while Block establishes a remote link with the Darwin, allowing Ayla to finish the deployment remotely. With that work done, Cmdr Thomas recalls the team, and they beam back aboard the Darwin. The crew on the bridge watch as the rift is successfully closed, while Jellico and Block admire the sight from Natural Selections. On the planet, the Away Team continues their pursuit of Lyna and Turrisi, eventually catching up to them just as Lyna flees Turrisi’s last attempt at convincing her to trust him. Lyna’s headlong dash takes her directly into the arms of the away team, where they attempt to ascertain each other’s motives despite the language barrier. Between Lyna’s few words of Federation Standard, and the efforts of the translation matrix, they arrive at a tentative trust. Turrisi tries to convince the Away Team that Lyna is an escaped criminal and he a bounty hunter working to bring her to justice. Unconvinced, Cmdr Traenor opts to take him into custody and let the authorities deal with him. Cmdr Icavoc informs them that he is coming to retrieve them in the shuttle. Once they secure Lyna’s consent, they are transported aboard and they set back to the Darwin. Viljoen, still trying to regroup after the Away Team’s escape, is recalled by Cpt Altek. Not willing to strand herself on the planet, she assents to the transport, but once on board attempts to convince him that they need to pursue the prisoner at all costs. He demonstrates that Starfleet now that Sicarian technology which they have manipulated in order to close the rift. This information is vital to the concerns of their organization, so Viljoen reluctantly agrees that they must abandon the prisoner. Enroute to the Darwin, Lyna faints, and Ens Cook attempts to gather information about her alien biology in order to diagnose her. Ens Logan suggests that Turrisi might actually be a Sicarian agent, in which case he might have a false tooth to allow him to commit suicide. Cmdr Traenor instructs him to sedate the prisoner until they can find out more. Finally they arrive back at the station and the unconscious Lyna is taken to sickbay, while Cook performs a quick examination and discovers that Turrisi does indeed have a false tooth, lending credence to their suspicions.
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| REV SD 240105.08 |
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