The Battle Of New Year's Day (Columbia): Difference between revisions

The passage of a new year into 2396 on the Earth calendar would have gone unchecked except for an unprovoked attack upon the {{USS|Columbia}}. While the ship was completing a visit to [[Dehner Base]] on [[Delta Vega I]], an unknown assailant appeared near the second planet and quickly fired upon the starship. Quick responses from the crew threw the ship into a heavy space battle. The ship's impulse engines were quickly disabled. The crew implemented a plan by Ensign [[Jona ch'Ranni|ch'Ranni]] to fire an ''ionized nadion pulse'' from the main deflector at the assailant to disrupt their sensors. Lieutenant JG Duyzer suggested a plan to launch a probe to boost the Columbia's own sensors while providing for communication with the enemy vessel. After the failure of the ship's shields, boarding parties beamed to the Columbia. Lieutenant Commander Solis and Ensign ch'Ranni encountered a group of hostiles in Deflector Control while another group attacked Main Engineering.

Meanwhile, members of the crew from the attacking ship, the Eildyr, beamed to Dehner Base. They had been covertly observing the construction of the new base and were searching for mysterious artifacts recovered from a nearby archeological dig. The discovery of these artifacts by Professor Olivia Sellard's team was intentionally hidden from the Columbia's crew. The attackers retrieve the artifacts and beam away to their waiting ship.

Upon returning to the Eildyr with his spoils, the Losarian Captain Kaironn contacts the Columbia to try to talk his way to safety. He portrays himself as caught in a big misunderstanding. Lieutenant Commander Ezo, Ambassador Kalianna Nicholotti, and Ensign Hol begin a conversation with the outwardly cooperative Kaironn. Meanwhile, Captain Whittaker and Lieutenant JG Duyzer attempt to communicate with the personnel on Dehner Base by using the probe launched earlier. Will the thieves abscond with the stolen goods, or will the Columbia crew discover the truth in time?