The Silent Monster (Juneau)
| USS Juneau | ||
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 NPC STATUS VESSEL | ||
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As the Juneau is surveying the planet Anadasa, an M-class world inhabited by a pre-industrialized civilization, the Tactical Department detects a crashed Borg ship deep within the planet’s ocean.
Plot Summary
Part 1
After the mission briefing, the Captain orders two teams down to the planet. One team led by herself, to explore the city of Da’Al, where the scientists have picked up on faint traces of a plasma-based energy source as well as traces of an element called Paralithium (a substance used as fuel for some ion-based propulsion systems). The other team, led by XO Qinn, is sent to the Borg wreckage in the ocean. With both the Captain and First Officer down on the planet, Second Officer T'Lea takes command of the Juneau.
Part 2
As Captain Oddas and the Away Team, consisting of Acting Chief of Security/Tactical Kendrick and newly promoted science officer Lieutenant JG Falt - one of Juneau’s anthropology experts -, beam down to the planet, they start exploring the city outskirts. While walking down one of the streets, a young girl on the run for three hooded men, bumps into the Captain. The Captain reacts on instinct and pushes the girl into an artistry store to hide her from the men that were following her.
After the shuttlecraft has departed for the Borg wreckage, the ship’s sensors detect a structure on one of Anadasa’s moons. Commander T’Lea orders the ship to set course for the moon to investigate.
Part 3
In the city, Oddas, Falt, Kendrick, and the little girl, Ra’Am, wait for the men to pass, and attempt to talk to Ra’Am to attempt to find some answers. But don’t get very far before the man who runs the artistry store catches them and kicks them out. The team in the ocean reaches the Borg wreckage. Gunnery Sergeant Nan Hesan beams over first to get a look at the Borg wreckage, noting the apparent smell of Borg, as well as tricorder indications of Borg presence. Then she has Qinn beam over with her once it’s deemed safe enough to do so.
Back on the ship, Lieutenant Stelek has taken command. While watching all the away teams as they can, Stelek has Tito search the system for anything else that's artificial, and Tito notices Cardassian wreckage on a planet in the system. Indobri tells them about her assimilation reversal research and seems to be getting sick with something in the process.
On the moon, T’Lea and Dekas discover the Cardassian outpost has two more floors beneath than they originally thought. Dekas takes a little time and gets the previously locked door open, and they enter the outpost.
Part 4
Oddas, Falt, Kendrick, and Ra'Am try to keep a low profile, even as they see a man beat up on the ground. But their new friend Ra'Am isn't aware of the prime directive and gets the attention of the guards on all of them. In an attempt to lessen the break in the directive on everyone, Falt acts as if he's a religious official from across the sea and gets taken by the guards. Oddas, Kendrick, and Ra'Am have to leave and find another way to get Falt back.
In the Ocean, there's more proof of the Borg presence. Qinn and Hesan can only hope they're able to neutralize it before it becomes a problem.
Upon getting the lights and some of the computers working in the outpost, Dekas realizes it's bigger than the original team would be able to find any answers in a timely manner and calls the Juneau for extra assistance. Stelek and Tito find a Cardassian ship wreckage on a nearby planet in the system. Indobri gets results back about what's causing her to be sick and finds out she has Rodulan Fire Fever, and only an hour before she potentially becomes delirious or even unconscious.
Part 5
From somewhere a bell rings, the team in the city learn from Ra'Am that it's time for prayer in the temple, which is also where they believe Falt is being taken, but that they can't get into the temple without the mark of J'Kre. Ra'Am brings them to a place where they get an amulet that will allow them entrance to the citadel. Once they are in the Citadel, surrounded by crowds of Anadasan people, they discreetly take a read with their tricorders. And as they get closer to seeing what all the people are there to see, Oddas sees the lifeless body of the Borg Queen encased in a clear coffin, being worshipped by the masses.
In the ocean, they're still cautiously searching the wreckage for signs of working Borg. And the Juneau crew is working to access the Cardassian wreckage computers, hoping to determine the cause of the wreck and possible connections between that, the outpost, and the borg.
On the moon, Major Kiran Han, WO Gwen Kingsley, Nurse Katrina Pelley, and Security officer Condrad Jackman have arrived to assist Dekas and T'Lea in the exploration of the Cardassian outpost.
Part 6
In the city, Captain Oddas discreetly contacts the Juneau to let them know about the Borg Queen, thinking of how to get the Borg Queen out of the city without a very large breach in the prime directive. Lieutenant Kendrick gets an idea of how to get Falt back; by impersonating one of the guards.
In the Ocean, Qinn and Hesan discuss building and EMP to shut down the rest of the working Borg wreckage. And upon entering into the next section of the ship they find some Borg dead, but six in some kind of stasis as well as the Queencell. On board the Juneau they find lines of connection between both wreckage sites and the base on the moon as the wreckage starts to power up. In the process of this, Ensign Kettick, Engineer, joins the crew on the bridge to assist.
On the moon, Dekas and Kingsley work to power up the computers on the base, while Han and Pelley do some basic searching around the area. Once in the computers safely, Dekas reads some of the logs suggesting communication with a Cardassian ship, and possibly the Borg. Underneath them, something begins to power on, and the computers in their line of sight show Cardassian runes and Borg hieroglyphs, much to everyone's dismay.
Part 7
In the City, Falt tricks his interrogator and stuns him, and one other to escape, having a similar plan to Kendrick, and dresses up as a guard. And Oddas, Kendrick and Ra'Am keep looking for ways to get him out of there without causing too much trouble.
In the ocean Qinn and Hesan continue to discuss the Queencell and what it means, as well as constructing the EMP device. On the Juneau they communicate with the moon team about the Borg and Cardassian alphanumerics as well as the subspace signals seeming to come from outside of it. As well as evidence that the Cardassian's were considering an occupation of Anadasa before the fall of the Cardassian empire, then switched to an observation mission some time before they crashed into the Borg.
During a pause in the communications, the computers on the moon stop showing Cardassian words, only Borg, as the Borg specs start deleting and taking over the Cardassian tech. And under the teams feet it seems to be moving a whole lot faster than they want or need, and now it's blocking transport back to the ship.
Part 8
The team in the City finally manage to regroup, Falt knocking out one more guard with his 'stunning' personality, and they step outside the Dungeon at the beginning of the night together to attempt yet another grand escape before any of the stunned guards wake up and catch them.
On the moon, the team decides the best thing to do to handle the inability to transport back to the ship, is to shut down the main power in the basement. As they make their way in the dimly lit corridors, hearing the voice of a Borg, or a computer that thinks its a Borg, a door slides shut and locks, blocking their way. Ensign Dekas unthinkingly moves to open a hatch to get it to open, and in the process, he's jabbed in the neck with an assimilation tube, and starts the beginning stages of being assimilated.
The Juneau gets two new members of the bridge to help, Ensign Vel Careno, and Motor Vihn shortly before Dekas informs them of his unfortunate condition. The ship has to consider the loss of the away team on the moon for the greater good. Lieutenant Stelek ultimately chooses to contact Qinn to get the anti-assimilation medicine to the moon before they set off a magnetic storm to block Borg signals.
Part 9
Oddas, Kendrick, Falt, and Ra'Am exit the Dungeon only to find themselves face to face with what appears to be a very large bat creature.
Qinn and Hesan work quickly to set up the EMP so they can get Dekas the medicine before it's too late, Hesan staying in the ocean to make sure it all works, while Qinn uses the queencell to transport to the moon. The team on the ship waits anxiously to do what's necessary to make sure everything goes according to plan.
20 minutes into the process of assimilation, even with the gentle reassurances of Nurse Pelley, Dekas is sure that it's the end, and that resistance really is futile. But hope comes in the form of Commander Qinn with the medicine.
Part 10
Captain Oddas finds a moment to step away and contact the ship again. Considering what she's going to do with Ra'Am. Falt and Kendrick doing much the same. Ra'Am identifies the bat creature as a Drrr'eet, and most likely non-dangerous to them. They can't say the same for the strange man, with the scarred face, who climbs off the back of it, M'Surat. Who tells them he's been looking for the girl at the behest of High Priestess G'Riett for reasons secret even to him. The crew remains protective of the girl, despite the prime directive.
The Juneau unleashes the magnetic storm as intended, a little closer to the surface. The Ops station explodes, but it appears to be an overall success. Ensign R'Kala steps onto the bridge to help.
The generator on the base is finally taken down by Major Han and MWO Kingsley, then the team from the moon is transported into Sickbay to do what they can to help Dekas with the quick appearance of Doctor Vihn.
Finale
As the Juneau's magnetic warp storm takes out the Borg influence on the surface, the Borg Queen's body filling her glass coffin with the smoke of the ship's success; Oddas, Kendrick, and Falt talk M'Surat into his sense of compassion and get him to take Ra'Am on as a ward of sorts. Ra'Am is initially distraught by this and doesn't want to leave the Captain's company. But M'Surat shows her she can trust him and offers to teach her to ride the Drrr'eet as he'd done with all of his daughters before her, and in the end, she chooses to go with him. The sound of guards gets closer as Ra'Am and M'Surat fly off into the night, and the team in the City finds a secluded space and beams home to the Juneau once more.
On the Juneau, the bridge team gets the relief of knowing that the influence of the Borg is now gone, and Captain's away team is safe, along with (hopefully) Gunnery Sergeant Hesan in the ocean a short time later.
In Sickbay, many of the moonbase team members clear out of the sickbay to let the medical staff tend to Dekas. After a moment of uncertainty, the nanoprobes having doubled back and started adapting, Pelley and Vihn find the solution they need to fix the problem by resequencing the anti-assimilation medicine to work for ornithoids instead of humanoids. And by the grace of medical science, it works. The doctors breathe a sigh of relief, and Dekas passes out to sleep off the pain with the understanding that it will, physically, be okay.