O What a Tangled Web... (Ronin)
| USS Ronin | ||
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 ACTIVE STATUS | ||
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Stardate 238602.13
- Commanding Officer: Captain .B. Walker
- First Officer: Lieutenant Commander .D. Wilde
- Second Officer: Lieutenant Commander .J. Kolk
- Location: Ithassa Region, Wheeler Colony
- Officer Reporting: Lieutenant Commander .J. Kolk
- Mission De-Brief:
As the USS Ronin flies toward Wheeler Colony in response to its Chief Administrator's request for an audience and promise to gift the crew an unnamed amount of Walkinium, an asteroid nearly destroys the ship in what later turns out to be a deliberate attack by mysterious forces. LtCmdr. Kolk beams down to the capital with Captain Walker, LtCmdr. Cruise, Lts. Adair-Walker & Wood, Daniel, and Ens. Javinx. The captain's wife suddenly falls ill immediately upon arrival and is instantly returned to the ship and placed in stasis. Shortly thereafter, Lt. Wood's Security detail is forced to remain outside the reception due to the swords that the zealous Security Chief decided to have them wear. Despite attempts by the Captain and Second Officer, the Colony's Administrator refuses to comment on the reason for the visit nor on the arrangements for transfer of the Walkinium. Before the end of dinner, however, an pandemic breaks out on the colony, knocking out key members of the Away Team.
At the same time in orbit, the USS Ronin discovers an uncloaked Romulan vessel learking in the nearby asteroid field. The Commander of the ship calls himself Riam N'Moulano and claims to be a childhood acquaintence of Captain Walker. Drawing the crew's attention to the plight of their crewmates on the surface, the Romulan ship retrieves its planetside operatives and leaves the system without cloaking. LtCmdr. Wilde beams Ens. Torsten into the reception hall in order to lend medical aid.
Back in the hall, LtCmdr. Cruise discovers an antidote to the virus and inocculates the Away Team. LtCmdr. Kolk recovers and speaks to the Administrator to offer her the antidote and attempt to discern whether she knew knew about the Romulan agents operating in the system. Before he can find out, however, Lt. Wood blunders over to their conversation and gives her the information, effectively nullifying the Second Officer's covert interrogation.
After helping local medical officials to restore the help of the colonists, the Away Team returns home and the ship departs. Just outside the system, a forged databurst from Deep Space 17 initiates the Autodestruct Sequence, and the crew begins several measures to halt the sequence and purge to foreign computer program from the computer core. Outside, the Romulan ship is joined by another, and lies in wait, either to watch the ship destroy itself or attack when she's at her weakest. In the final moments before the countdown is over, the Captain orders all torpedoes fired as a smoke screen between the Ronin and the Romulans. The fighters advance beyond the screen and pummel the Romulan ships while the Ronin shutdown all systems and rebooted the computer core from protected backups. Eighty-nine people, thirty-three fighters, six Type-11 Shuttlecraft, and one Runabout are lost in the battle, but the Romulan ships retreat and the USS Ronin is saved.