The following is a compilation of mission summaries from both current and prior commanding officers of the USS Drake:
2390 Missions
Mission Proposal
PROPOSED BY: Lieutenant Commander Oliver Weston & Lieutenant Colonel David Whale
DATE: 27 May 2013
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MISSION PROPOSAL
- PROPOSED BY: Lieutenant Commander Oliver Weston & Lieutenant Colonel David Whale
- BASIC IDEA: The crew of the Drake is assigned to investigate increasingly bold and deadly
attacks by pirates in and around the nebula known as The Vale of Saoirse (SEER-sha). The
Vale, which also includes a seven-planet star system, is located in the Epsilon Sector
(specifically the Arucanis Arm of the Epsilon Sector) and has for decades been a hub for
enterprises of questionable legality and individuals of flexible morality. Somewhere within
the Vale lies the home base of a pirate organization that has been preying upon anyone and
everyone, depending on their mood. Precious little is known about the pirates, as they Vale
is outside Federation space. Despite their base of operations being outside the Federation,
these pirates have become increasingly active inside Federation borders and their attacks
have become ever more brutal. The pirates have become such a power in the Vale that
have driven out the Orion Syndicates.
- THE CATALYST: Federation Security – aka FedSec – has received information that points
to the pirates of the Vale planning a very large strike against a civilian target within the
Federation. The target itself is unknown, as is the exact nature of the attack – but FedSec
does know with absolute certainty that the attack will take place in exactly 72 hours. Due
to the imminent attack, Starfleet has opened up its resources to FedSec in the form of the
Drake’s crew.
- THE TWIST: Pirates aren’t stupid. A Starfleet vessel patrolling the Vale would stick out
like a sore thumb. In order to pursue their investigation without being so painfully
obvious, the Drake crew is split into two groups -- the first, led by Captain Rogers, goes
undercover aboard the Calico Jack, captained by a smuggler named Juhani M'Reen Sesse
Rorruu (established PNPC of Whale); the second, led by Lieutenant Colonel David Whale,
joins Priest (established PNPC of Weston) and the Black Sheep aboard Leviathan.
THE GOALS: We have several goals of significance that we must reach if our mission is to
be a success and we are to prevent the attack on Federation citizens.
- Discover the exact nature of the pirates’ “business” and crimes in the hopes of piecing together their plans and discovering their target;
- Find the staging ground of the impending attack, which will likely also be the pirates’ main base of operations;
- Gather indictable evidence that will allow FedSec to prosecute the pirates;
- Prevent the planned attack against Federation citizens.
- SUPPORT: In addition to the Calico Jack and the Leviathan, there will be a third vessel. This will be a runabout-type vessel operated by FedSec in which a FedSec inspector will, along with Lieutenant Commander Weston, serve as an operations coordinator between
the two groups. They will be the “voice in our ears,” feeding us new intel as it becomes available and linking together the clues that we are able to find. This ship will be equipped with a cloaking device to prevent its detection.
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BASIC IDEA: The crew of the Drake is assigned to investigate increasingly bold and deadly
attacks by pirates in and around the nebula known as The Vale of Saoirse (SEER-sha). The
Vale, which also includes a seven-planet star system, is located in the Epsilon Sector
(specifically the Arucanis Arm of the Epsilon Sector) and has for decades been a hub for
enterprises of questionable legality and individuals of flexible morality. Somewhere within
the Vale lies the home base of a pirate organization that has been preying upon anyone and
everyone, depending on their mood. Precious little is known about the pirates, as they Vale
is outside Federation space. Despite their base of operations being outside the Federation,
these pirates have become increasingly active inside Federation borders and their attacks
have become ever more brutal. The pirates have become such a power in the Vale that
have driven out the Orion Syndicates.
| Mission Updates
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- Pirate attacks around the area known as the Vale of Saoirse have been increasing in both frequency and severity. Even more concerning is that Federation Security - also known as FedSec - has received intelligence that the pirates are planning a major, terrorist-like strike against a civilian target within Federation space.
- Lacking the resources to mount an operation on their own, FedSec enlists the crew of the Drake to go undercover with the crews of two known criminal vessels - the Leviathan and the Calico Jack - to find the pirates and prevent the impending attack. And they only have 72 hours
- Separated into three different teams, the crew are tested like never before, forced to trust criminals with their very lives. After a successful cat and mouse setup, the Leviathan crew, led by Lt. Colonel Whale, baits a combatant ship into the deadly Thunderhead Reach. Taking a shuttle, the crew attaches to the bulkhead of the ship and cut their way inside. A grenade attack severely injures Dr. Vex, but Lt. James manages to download blueprints of a dilithium facility that looks like the likely target of the planned attack on the Federation.
- In Port Royale, Captain Rogers team is further split apart. A fight ensues when guards attempt to arrest one team, and Captain Rogers escapes with the Gorn, Krogg. Solok is captured and imprisoned below the bustling port city. LCMD Reed’s team ends up in a slight scrape when their ship captain, Juhani, is corralled by Port Royale security. They escape and regroup with Captain Rogers and Krogg, and Pandora decrypts data describing a deadly weapon of mass destruction. As more guards arrive, the crew have no choice but to head down into the sewers while Krogg creates a diversion. Realizing the sewer is a prison, they must fight their way past prison guards to rescue Commander Solok.
- Commander Weston leads a small crew on the cloaked ship, the SS Belle, following the Leviathan into the Reach. Coordinating intel and communications between all groups, Weston and DidrikStennes must expose themselves to deadly radiation to aid their friends.
- Amid a rebellion at Port Royale and the rescue of Commander Solok and many other prisoners, Captain Rogers’ team escape back to the Calico Jack carrying sensitive information on a very deadly weapon that Atherton Tomic intends to use against the Federation. The crew settles on the most likely target, a dilithium refinery, and manages to beat Tomic there, but Tomic launches a yacht towards the refinery to deliver the deadly VSA device, which could quickly suffocate its victims. Dr. Vex manages to beam over to the yacht but dies in an explosion while attempting to disable it. Lt. Pandora beams over to complete the job.
- While Colonel Whale and Commander Danzia lead a rescue crew into the refinery to evacuate the workers, Commander Rogers leads a team onto Tomic’s ship to attempt to disable it and stop Tomic from carrying out his objective. They manage to shut down enough systems to cripple his ship, leading to a standoff and the challenge of a duel between captains. Captain Rogers wins the duel but Tomic’s guard jumps in front of him and they manage to escape.
- Meanwhile, Ensign Washburn leads a team of fighters against Tomic, but the dilithium refinery evacuation is made more difficult by the damage done by the enemy ships. Pandora stops the VSA device, allowing Whale and Danzia to escape certain death. The success is tempered by the loss of Dantin Vex, who is survived by his wife, Vera, and their six children. He will be missed.
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Shore Leave239006
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- Captain Rogers hosts an awards and promotion ceremony for the crew of the USS Drake after they dock at Starbase 118. The Ishkarian government awards the Drake crew a medal for their service and it is presumed that Ishkaria will petition the Federation for membership. The crew is also awarded the Defense of Temporal Flow ribbon. Lt. Reed is promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Doctor Dyamone is promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and officially recognized as Assistant Chief Medical Officer. Ensign James is also promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.
- The crew celebrates by planning an outing beginning with dinner at the Aquarium restaurant followed by dancing at the Blue Sparkler, but events take an unexpected detour when Captain Rogers’ face gets in the way of a jelly fish appetizer attempting to flee for its life. The ensuing catastrophe destroys a large aquarium wall and thrusts dozens of patrons in the path of 200,000 gallons of destruction. Most of the crew escape with minor injuries but Commander Solok falls three decks to his apparent demise.
- The future is uncertain as the Department of Temporal Investigations hearing involving Captain Rogers and Lt. James begins. Captain Throx is convinced that Rogers is reckless and Colonel Whale breaks too many rules. But more than that, he’s convinced that someone in Starfleet Command is advantageously manipulating the missions of the Drake, and he intends to route them out by making sure that the Federation Accountability and Ethics Office “randomly” selects the ship for observation.
- As the crew of the USS Drake, NCC-1984, attempt to get some rest and relaxation after the stress of their temporal adventure, a freak accident aboard Starbase 118 leaves the Drake's Chief of Operations, Lieutenant Commander Solok, near death. His katra safely transferred into the mind of Captain William Rogers, Solok is rushed into surgery.
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Heroes of Ishkaria
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- After celebrating the well-deserved promotion of Oliver Weston to Lieutenant Commander, the Drake crew heads off on the newly repaired USS Drake NCC 1987 to activate the last communication beacon in the Ishkarian sensor array. A flash of green light shifts through the ship causing multiple explosions and power failures just after the aged and inoperative beacon comes into view As the crew scrambles to save lives and repair critical systems, Lieutenants Pandora and Reed follow a chronoton radiation power signal to the weapons pod and unearth the source – a time-travel device with the DNA fingerprint of Professor Arnold.
- Meanwhile, the bridge crew works to piece together information as the communications beacon, ancient only seconds ago, looms onscreen, suddenly appearing quite new. They discover that they have traveled backwards in time roughly 2500 years, to a time before the Ishkarian home world catastrophically broke apart into the shards of the modern age. In addition, Lt. Stennes detects an ion trail identical to that of the Drake. Coupled with the telepathic abilities of the Vulcan officers, the crew ascertain that Arnold sent a duplicate Drake back as well, roughly three days before the current date and time. Realizing the delicacy of the situation, the importance of protecting the timeline becomes paramount. As an injured Captain Rogers breaks the crew into teams, they prepare for the moment when the two Drakes meet, the infiltration of Ishkarian society becomes necessary, and Professor Arnold’s secret is revealed.
- The USS Drake NCC-1987 and its crew are stranded 2500 years in the past. Several people begin experiencing strange visions of doing activities they have no memory of carrying out. Others experience a connectedness with their alternate selves.
- Research concluded by LCMD Solok and Lt. Stennes determines that there are high fluctuations of phase variance and radiation along certain geological locations of the Ishkarian prime world. Comparing the shard worlds of the future Ishkarian system with the unbroken planet of the past, they determine that the locations of this power build up are at the precise points that the world shattered apart. Working off of Ishkarian broadcasts, they determine that the breaking of the shard worlds may have corresponded to a civil war. An away team is altered to appear Ishkarian by Dr. Dyamone and dispensed to a research facility planetside established to be one of the origin points of the Ishkarian disaster, as well as the Drake’s temporal displacement.
- Meanwhile, Captain Rogers transports over with a second away team to the alternate USS Drake. Though they are met by a security team, they are quickly escorted to a conference room so the two Captain Rogers can meet face to face. Left in command of the Drake, Commander Danzia must now deal with a distress beacon from an Ishkarian ship they cannot help without risk of altering the timeline. Though the ship has deflected a Borg scout, the hostile ship is still in the area.
- As the undercover away team investigates the beacon facility, a countdown begins to the planet’s destruction. A massive and unstable weapon on an orbiting moon is powering up in answer to the presence of the unfamiliar Federation ships. The team locates the scientist responsible for the planet’s destruction, and Dr.Dyamone convinces him to give them the details of his work.
- Meanwhile, as the two Captain Rogers converse, the alternate Lt. Reed succumbs to a reaction to the temporal anomaly and dies. Alternate Solok, in the advanced stages of the blood fever, desires Lt. Reed to take the deceased Reed’s place as his wife. Solok objects and intervenes, prompting his alternate self to initiate a failsafe program which beams the three of them to a holodeck on the original Drake. Here, the mating challenge is issued and accepted. Solok is victorious. However, after sparing the life of his alternate self, he dies in the same manner as the alternate Reed, leaving Solok’s alternate self to take his place.
- The badly battered alternate Drake begins a doomed mission to protect the other ship. As the cataclysm reaches its apex and the shockwave rushes towards the Drake, Lt. Pandora and Ensign James activate the time travel device and buffer the ship from further temporal radiation. They arrive home safely, armed with the information to free the Ishkarians trapped in alternate pockets of space/time. As the rescue ensues, the USS Drake docks at Starbase 118 and the crew are welcomed home as heroes.
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Leviathans
The outbreak of hostilities between the Klingons and the remnants of the Romulan Empire has added urgency to the crew’s mission to reactivate an ancient Ishakarian sensor array. Once activated the sensor array will give the Federation valuable intelligence on fleet movements in the area. Little is known of their destination beyond the name “Gate Way Station,” a non-aligned space station last visited by Captain Pike of the USS Enterprise over 150 years ago. The station is surrounded by a dangerous sub space “moat” that only allows for one narrow entrance. Sending two away teams to the station to locate and activate the beacon the USS Drake NCC 1987 begins communication with the inhabitants of the station when they are attacked by a Klingon battle cruiser.
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- Just as the situation is becoming desperate the USS Avandar arrives and in an impressive display of tactical fire power drives off the Klingon battle cruiser. Back on the station the beacon is activated causing a massive energy discharge into nearby space. This creates a maelstrom of sub space disruptions and releases a host of gravimetric mine left behind by the Klingons. The mines seem to be attracted to the beacon and are on a collision course with the station. Faced with the threat of the mines the crews of the Avandar and Drake along with the Mercenary outfit running the Station find themselves joining forces to protect the civilians as a task force of Klingon ships arrives!
- After activating an ancient Ishkarian sensory array at “Gate Way Station,” the combined crews of the USS Drake and the USS Avandar found themselves in battle against a Klingon task force while simultaneously trying to save the civilian inhabitants of the station.
- Pilots from both the Avandar and the Drake launched a ragtag group of fighters from the station and led the Drake on an attack run against one of the Klingon battlecruisers. Surprisingly, the plan actually works and the cruiser was disabled, but not before the Flamingo piloted by CWO Peace-Lily was smeared across the side of the station in a ball of fire. Just as things became really desperate, another force of Klingon ships decloaked and attacked the first group. The new arrivals drove off the original Klingons and beamed up the boarding parties that managed to gain a foothold on both the Avandar and Drake before jumping off at warp speed.
- The Starfleet crews beamed the wounded civilians from the station to the Avandar for medical treatment while trying to save the station, which was badly damaged during the attack. The civilians were transferred to a federation medical ship and the Drake prepared to continue its mission of exploration.
- As the crew of the USS Drake do their best to pick up and carry on after their harrowing encounter with the Klingon raiding party, Starfleet sends new orders. Captain William Rogers is ordered to take the Miranda-class vessel deep into uncharted space on mission to locate and activate the next link in an ancient Ishkarian sensor network.
- A number of the Drake‘s crew — particularly chief science officer Commander Karynn Brice — are excited at the prospect of travelling into the unknown. Adding to the excitement is the only fact the crew knows about this area of space: that it is rumoured to be a breeding ground for massive, space-dwelling creatures that the crew has tentatively dubbed “cosmozoans.”
- However, the mission quickly takes a somewhat ominous turn as the Drake comes upon an enormous vessel, battered and abandoned, with what appear to be crude pictograms covering its entire hull.
- As the Drake‘s executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel David Whale, and chief diplomatic officer, Commander Valis, lead an away team to explore the derelict vessel, some of the Drake‘s more psionically-aware personnel begin to feel a presence.
- A one-hundred-and-seventeen-metre male cosmozoan, sensing an intrusion in the territory of the spawning grounds, has altered its course to intercept the Drake. The first of these space whales began communicating with the Drake’s crew telepathically, using each crewmembers past life experiences as a way of relaying a feeling or message. The wide scale regression created chaos aboard the Federation vessel, just as an away team landed aboard a derelict alien vessel, heavily damaged. Aboard the not-so-derelict the away team encounter a species of stone skinned hunters named the Rhyssk, who have spent generations hunting the Cosmozoans in there colossal space citadels.
- With half of the crew aboard the derelict fighting for their lives against spider-like parasites, the crew still aboard the Drake are faced with an altogether larger threat. A furious Cosmozoan warrior-guardian views them as a threat to its people’s ancient spawning grounds and attacks full force. And at its hands the Drake suffers massive damage, losing its roll bar and long range sensor pod to a single attack. Only a traitorous act by the Drake officers aboard the Rhyssk mothership saves the Drake from further damage, but imperils the away team to the newly offended Rhyssk fleet.
- The crew of the USS Drake finds itself at the sharp end of its current mission. The ship has been attacked by a huge space dwelling leviathan and simultaneously infested by an army of poisonous bugs. As the crew race to repair the damage to the ship and battle the bugs, the medical team races to find a cure for the deadly toxin contained in the bugs’ bite.
- Faced with an away team being held as “guests” of the Rhyssk- who are intent on hunting the leviathan – the bridge crew formulate a daring plan to satisfy the Rhyssk’s demand for blood , save the leviathan and activate the Ishkarian beacon which is inside the creature.
An away team lead by the ship’s second officer, Lieutenant Commander Danzia, is beamed inside the creature tasked with locating and activating the beacon. Activating the beacon should allow them to phase shift the leviathan and effectively make it appear that it has been destroyed. All that is required is perfect timing by the Drake’s phasers to produce a light show to convince the Rhyssk that the creature has been vaporised.
- Amazingly the plan works and the Drake is able to transport all its crew back aboard before the transporters fail completely. The Drake heads back to the Ishkarian home system for some well-deserved shore leave and essential repairs. The fate of the Rhyssk and the leviathans they hunt is left unresolved. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of its engineering department, the USS Drake managed to limp back to the Ishkarian home system for some urgent repairs. While most of the crew enjoyed a well-deserved shore leave, the ship was repaired and its missing roll bar replaced. Unbeknownst to the crew, a chronoton device had been hidden inside the replacement roll bar by none other than Professor Arnold. Ostensibly the main Ishkarian scientist involved with the senor array reactivation project, he is actually from Ishakarians’ ancient past. 2,500 years ago Arnold activated the sensor array which he believes resulted in the cataclysmic destruction of the Ishakrian home system. Transported to the present, he is determined to undo the damage regardless of the cost. Three days before, he sent another version of the Drake back to the past. However,spurred on by its apparent failure to alter the timeline, Arnold managed to assemble one last chronoton device. In a last ditch attempt to change history before he was uncovered, he intended to send another version of the Drake back in time.
- Meanwhile the crew enjoyed a family picnic at the picturesque Chamadar Falls and the time spent with the many children aboard the crew while Captain Rogers renewed his relationship with Sarion Matsur, who had joined the Drake as a civilian diplomatic advisor. Though they assembled for the promotion ceremony, the crew had no idea what was about to unfold.
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2389 Missions
"Shore Leave: Ishkarian Shard Worlds" (Stardate 238907.25)
The mission to the former Jetkim republic was concluded successfully with the announcement of the new government’s intention to hold open and free elections. Leaving the support of the fledgling democracy to the Diplomatic Service the crew of the USS Drake 1987 head off to their next mission and a spot of shore leave.
On route Cmdr Rogers holds a promotion and awards ceremony where the CMO Dantin Vex is promoted to full Lieutenant and the entire crew is awarded the Peacekeepers Service Ribbon in recognition of their outstanding effort in the Jetkim Imperium.
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- A tourist promotional holo program is played for the crew highlighting the many activities available on the Shard Worlds of Ishkara and upon arrival the crew wasted no time in exploring this fascinating system.
- The Ishkarian home system is a dizzying array of shards in orbit around a star. Some shards are huge, easily the size of a small moon. Many are protected by vast force fields that hold in an atmosphere and are covered by grasslands, verdant forests and even small seas. Still others are vast open cut mines with a multitude of small mining vessels busy extracting the rare metal and mineral deposits laid bare by the destruction of the planets. While Major Whale leads a diehard group from the SAR unit on a hair-raising rescue training mission others of the crew prepare for the upcoming weddings amongst the members of the Medical Department.
- Shore leave for the crew of the USS Drake NC-1987 comes to a dramatic conclusion with the successful completion of the SAR unit rescue training and the postponement of the weddings for Doctor’s Dantin and Reid. The Drake’s CMO Dantin Vex is badly injured during a cave diving expedition and LtCmdr Reid temporarily exits on a Medical LOA. The next mission is unexpectedly begun amidst the turmoil in Medical. The mounting tension between the Klingons and the Romulans has fast tracked the Drake’s mission to reactivate an ancient sensor array the central control of which is located on a desolate shard on the edge of the Ishkarian home system.
- Beaming down to the surface the Drake’s CO Cmdr Rogers is overcome by a brain infection and the ships’ FO Major Whale assumes command of the mission. As the crew examines the brightly glowing orb which contains the central control unit the mission takes several unexpected turns. The control unit is out of sync with normal space time and as Major Whale , Lt Stennes and the ship’s CEO L t Pandora work out a way to reach it a band of mercenaries under the employ of the Klingons attack the rest of the away team. The Drake’s Security and Marine force manage to beat off the attack however not before one of the Drake’s shuttles is shot down. As the senor array controls are activated a smaller group of the crew rush to rescue the downed pilot.
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"Dissolution" (Stardate 238904.26)
As the Drake prepares to leave Alpha Centauri, Commander Will Rogers gathers the senior staff in the briefing room to go over the latest orders form Starfleet. Before jumping into their next mission, however, he formally welcomes both Commander Karynn Ehlanii Brice and Lieutenant Jade Shryker to the crew, and outlines their specific functions aboard ship. Originally posted to the Drake as an anthropologist and psychologist in the Science department, Brice is instead assigned the Chief Science Officer position left open following the unexpected departure of Commander Aron Kells. Shryker is assigned a post in the security department, of which Lieutenant Sakorra Reed becomes the new Chief, filling the position vacated by Major David Whale's promotion to First Officer and Marine SAR commander.
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- After facing the dangers of NullSpace, the crew of the USS Drake, NCC 1987, engaged in some much-needed rest and relaxation among the beaches and resorts of Alpha Centauri.
- Commander William Rogers got to know his new first officer, Major David Whale, while playing golf — badly. The Drake‘s CMO Dantin-Vex and his family became acquainted with Sakorra Reed and her family while surfing — also badly. Later, several officers, including Chief Engineer Pandora and new transfer Karynn Ehlanii-Brice joined Rogers in a game of poker.
- The Jektim Imperium — a fully independent star system in the heart of Federation space — is in crisis. With the death of the man who ruled the Imperium for the past century, the USS Drake, NCC 1987, has been called in to help maintain peace and stability while the Jektim people attempt to fill the power vacuum.
- Unfortunately, before Commander William Rogers and his crew even arrive at the Jektim Capital, suicide bombings and targeted attacks on several key political players — and their families — threaten to derail the fragile political process.
- Along with the majority of his senior officers, Rogers is currently attending a banquet in the Jektim CGC — Central Government Complex — where he is attempting to get a read on the three key government ministers, Kin Zaht, Tully Ander and Zadon Larkus.
- Meanwhile, aboard the Drake, a security team led by Lieutenant Jade Shryker attempts to apprehend a pair of presumed hostiles who have managed to beam themselves onto the Drake using a highly dangerous unconfined transporter beam…
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"Shore Leave: Alpha Centauri" (Stardate 238903.27)
The Drake emerges from null space, and the crew discovers that back in their own universe, only a few hours have passed. For many of them, and indeed the ship herself, the scheduled shakedown to Alpha Centauri is more like a post-mission shore leave, allowing them to rest, relax and recoup from their encounters with the Saksenna and the planet. The crew have ample opportunity to do so, as they are staying at a six-star resort facility while their ship is repaired.
On Alpha Centauri, two new officers await to join the crew: Commander Karynn Brice, Xeno-Anthropologist/Psychologist, and Lieutenant Jade Shryker, Security officer. Having been booked on the same transport, the two officers strike up a friendship during a shared visit to one of the resort's many luxury spas.
Much of the crew wastes no time in getting acquainted with the resort's many amenities, as well. Lieutenant JG Dantin-Vex and Crewman Vera Anderson-Vex recently learned the that embryos previously removed from Vera's womb during a medical emergency are now able to be re-implanted. Delighted by the news, they take to a family day out at the beach with Dantin's son Danny. They are joined by Ensign Sakorra Reed and her son Sabek, who has recently become a friend and schoolmate of Danny's. Reed's mood is less celebratory than the Vexes', as she tries to establish a new equilibrium in her relationship with her formerly estranged husband, Lt. Commander Solok.
Elsewhere on the beach, Ensign T'Vek is spending some long-awaited one-on-one time with a potential new flame, Ensign Marcus Sung. Commander William Rogers, Lieutenant Sinda Essen and Lieutenant JG Pandora meet Commander Brice at the Garden Delight, and Commander Rogers's attempts to ignite an interest in golf in the others are met with less than encouraging results, especially once mention is made of the more universally enjoyable poker.
Lt. Commander Danzia visits a Texas-themed restaurant to indulge in her fondness for both ribs and country music. Passing by, a newly bespectacled Ensign Didrik Stennes notices her, and the two agree to share a meal. A waiter spills a steaming pot of coffee onto Stennes, whose tepid reaction suggests that there may have been some unexpected effects to his encounter with the mysterious, gene-altering Mist from null space.
Lt. Commander David Whale and Lieutenant JG Oliver Weston, catching up after Whale's time-distorted seven-months in null space, elect to remain aboard the Drake a while, and share drinks in her crew lounge. There, Weston lets it slip that Whale's wife, Chief Petty Officer Fiona Shelley, is pregnant. Also aboard the Drake, Commander Aron Kells solicits Ensign Lai Jo'rek's insight into the one of the species encountered in null-space, and the two agree to co-author a paper on the topic before Kells in unexpectedly called away by an incoming call from Starfleet. Kells is presented with an opportunity to lead a project to revive a previously extinct species, but the offer also comes with a new job: Executive Officer of Starbase 118. After seeking advice from Lieutenant Sinda, Kells accepts the offer and prepares to leave the Drake.
The crew gathers at a beachside mansion to unwind and mingle, where Commander Rogers presents promotions and awards to the crew. Ensign Stennes is promoted to Lieutenant junior grade, Ensign Reed is promoted to Lieutenant, and Lieutenant junior grade Pandora is promoted to Lieutenant. Stennes and Lieutenant junior grade Weston receive Purple Heart ribbon for injuries received during the null space mission, and Reed is awarded a Good Conduct ribbon for preserving the lives of a species native to null space. In addition, the crew who served aboard the Drake during its trip to null space are all awarded the Explorers service ribbon.
"Tempus Fugit" (Stardate 238902.05)
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- MISSION FACTS: While returning to the Drake from shore leave, the shuttle carrying Lieutenant Commander David Whale vanishes. In an effort to find their missing officer, the crew of the Drake tracks the shuttle’s path only to discover a spontaneously-formed black hole. Despite all efforts, the ship is sucked into the gravity well. Every single one of us has died. At least, that’s how it appears. In reality, the ship has entered a previously unknown temporal “dead zone” called Nullspace, from which we must escape.
- MISSION NOTES:
- Obviously, we’re not all dead. The “black hole” is not a true black hole, but a kind of tear in the fabric of space/time that sucks the shuttle and subsequently the Drake into Nullspace.
- As mentioned above, Nullspace is a temporal dead zone. Time does not exist there except at the points where Nullspace and real space intersect (such as the rift we came through). We have no idea how time passes while inside. If we’re in Nullspace for three days, we could emerge into real space and find that only twenty minutes has passed or we could find that six hundred years have passed. “Location” does also not technically exist there, meaning that anything we encounter in Nullspace could have come from anywhere in the universe -- it doesn’t matter if we’ve entered from the Alpha Quadrant and someone else enters from a different galaxy, we’ll both be in the same Nullspace.
- When the Drake arrives in Nullspace, despite it only being a handful of days since Whale’s shuttle vanished, for Whale it feels like he’s been marooned there for seven months.
- There is, remarkably, an entire planet that has been sucked into Nullspace. This is where the Drake crew will find Whale and the crashed shuttle. We have no idea how long this planet has been in Nullspace.
- We are not the only living beings in Nullspace. We also encounter the surviving crew of the USS Laurel Celestia – a Wrath of Khan-era Starfleet science vessel that crashed onto the NullSpace world many years ago.
- Unfortunately, there is a heavy, chemically-active mist that drifts around the planet. Its chemical composition is such that it mutates any creature that it touches.
- Another major complication is the nature of the planet. Though it has no sentient inhabitants, it is teeming with life -- much or it predatory. The crew will encounter prehistoric life forms, not just from Earth, like dinosaurs and mammoths, but from many known planets and even some we’ve never heard of.
- Nullspace is very good at “healing” itself, meaning that we have an extremely limited timeframe in which we can find the rift we came through before it closes.
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The Drake emerges from spacedock at Utopia Planitia after a long-overdue refit, boasting some new systems and some new crew. A detachment of Marines is deployed to the Drake to form a specialized Search-and-Rescue, and Engineering receives a team from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. As these officers join the crew, however, others unexpectedly depart: a shuttlecraft carrying the Chief of Security, Lt. Commander David Whale, goes missing somewhere between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Furthermore, Captain Kare'en is reassigned at the last moment, leaving Commander William Rogers in the big chair. Commander Rogers uses their scheduled shakedown cruise to look for Whale, but while conducting the search, the ship encounters an anomaly which draws her into a realm the crew have dubbed "null space," where the laws of the universe are askew.
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- The crew of the USS Drake -1987 arrived back from shore leave and soon realised LtCmdr Whale the ship’s COS was missing. Deciding that their orders allowed enough flexibility to search for their missing Officer Cmdr Rogers takes the Drake out towards Alpha Centuari – the last know location of LtCmdr Whale.
- When the Drake backtracks along the path of the LtCmdr’s shuttle it is dragged through a rip in space into another space –time continuum. As the crew struggle to regain control of the ship’s systems they name this new reality “Null Space.”
- Stuck in the region they dubbed “null space,” the crew of the USS Drake NCC-1987 have managed to partially adapt the systems of their ship to the new physical reality in which they have found themselves.
- Utilising jury-rigged solar sails, the Drake moved closer to the nearby M-class planet in an attempt to rescue the marine SAR team and others trapped on the planet. As they began their approach run the Saksenna vessels began to sacrifice themselves in an attempt to destroy the intruders by crashing into the planet, initiating a cataclysmic, planet-wide series of earthquakes.
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2388 Missions
"Shore Leave: Earth"
"The Ring"
"Shore Leave: Vulcan"
"Romulan Convoy Duty"
In which the crew of the USS Drake escorts a convoy bearing Romulan refugees into Federation space.
Timeline
Shoreleave One: Vulcan
