Summary of Events Stardate 0509.07

Summary of Events Stardate 0509.07

(Moderator's Note: The three week gap in summaries perfectly illustrates the flexibility of Fantasy Trek. Moving, being sick, crazy work schedules threw a monkey wrench into things. But the game is still here, the story goes on, and it is a game, and not to be fretted over. And now, on with the show...)

Would you like to do more than just read? How about shaping the story? Start your career in the Center Seat. Get started right now with the Quick Start Guide:

To get started, answer the following questions:

Game Type:

Pure Combat
(Do you play for pure combat? You know that other events might decide the nature of that combat, but you just want to blow things up. And think about this: Do you like to micromanage combat, allocating power to personalize your attack/defence strategy, making combat a personal match of wits, or do you just like quick matches that can be over in minutes?)

Non-Combat
(You don't care about the combat. You like to write and you want to explore.)

Mix
(You appreciate both aspects of game play. You accept that the ship you love to write about may lose battles from time to time.)

Alignment:
Federatinn
Klingon
Romulan
Other (specify)

Ship name:

Command crew:
(You can stick to the TOS crew configuration of science officer, helm, navigator, communications officer, etc, or you can use the TNG idea of Operations Officer combining some duties.You can also customize your bridge crew configuration. You're the Captain)

Note: unless you have something else in mind, all players in this stage of the game get a Heavy Cruiser to start. The 'something else in mind' I mentioned is if you decide you want a mission-specific ship like a scout or police ship, which is likely to be a frigate or destroyer. Just remember that you might be limiting yourself in a case like that. And don't be intimidated by the need to create a command crew. If you're a story-teller, you're used to this, but it isn't necessary to start. And if you're in it for pure combat, the command crew is recommended but not necessary.

That is really all you need to start. I will happily walk any new players through the first few missions. If you are concerned that you don't have enough time to contribute, don't be. This game is as casual as you want. Exploring takes as much or as little time as you want. Write once a day or once a week. A hundred words or a thousand. The most intense level of this game, heavy combat takes a commitment of no more than one email a day. And even in that case, if you miss a day, it's forgivable. Even the moderator has a RL and the occasional computer issue. The game is turn-based. Combat results will be posted online daily. And if it still doesn't make sense, think of it like your favorite role-playing/writing group gathering for some table-top, Dungeons and Dragons-style game playing.

Summary of Events:

TNG Era:

There has been no further word from Ambassador Endara Khan or the crew of the USS Exeter in orbit of Oblissa III on its diplomatic mission with the Kazon. This is not seen as a cause of concern however, as such delays in complex diplomatic efforts are commonplace.

Detailed findings reported by the USS Guadalcanal's survey team on Oshionian VI have been transmitted to Starfleet Command. Experts are examining a possible link between two thousand year old human biomatter found in the Delta Quadrant and two thousand year old Vulcan hull fragments discovered by a Klingon taskforce in the recently charted wa'Hom system.

In the Coramonde system, the USS Lily Sloane has discovered a subspace rift after probing the area with a tunneling neutrino beam. The rift is projecting irregular waves of spatial and temporal displacement not unlike the dangerous effect surrounding the so-called Guardian Planet. The Lily Sloane has launched a probe through the rift.

Starships USS Archer and USS Arizona were forced to pull back from their patrol area in the Triangle Zone as Klingon and Romulan forces swept through the area in increasingly fierce combat encounters. The two heavy cruisers are under orders to monitor the situation closely and collect all relevant sensor data, but avoid entering combat at all cost.

TOS Era:

The Klingon diplomatic mission has closed its offices on Earth and recalled its ambassador in response to what it claims was an unprovoked and illegal ambush of a Klingon freighter well within the border of the Empire by a group of Federation starships. The Klingons have also ordered Federation diplomats removed from Qo'noS immediately.

The USS Magellan has begun its next mission following its unsuccessful search for the USS Coramonde.

ENT Era:

While there has been no direct communication from the Challenger NX-07 on its mission to circumnavigate Romulan space, Starfleet monitor stations have recorded signal traffic referring an Earth ship probing distant areas of the Romulan frontier.

Columbia NX-02 found traces of atomic weapons consistent with known Romulan weapons technology, as well as nearly dispersed ion trails similar to those used by Romulan craft. It is attempting to project a possible flight path from the data.

There has been no communications from the two Sloane Class light cruisers that were last reported following an ion exhaust that may be related to the disappearance of the EX-01 Roddenberry. The Roddenberry had been on a deep space probe towards the center of the galaxy.

Command College

"What Are Your Orders, Captain?"

(TNG Era) "Answers and New Questions" Resolution

After hours of waiting, the nanites signal that they have extracted and analyzed the alien biotech from Lt. Keller's pattern, and the Hazard team member is safely reenergized in the Agamemnon's transporter room. Then the science department begins to examine the findings of the biomechanical cirtcuitry that had attempted to infect Lt. Keller. They discovered trace DNA that was unmistakably human, but also unmistakably two thousand years old. This presents the first clue in the mystery, and links the one hundred year old USS Coramonde to findings of the USS Guadalcanal in the Delta Quadrant. But it also presents new questions. Who or what was integrating human DNA into biocircuitry two thousand years ago, and how is the Coramonde connected? And of course the original questions still remain. What brought down the Coramonde? Does the same threat apply to the Agamemnon?

Captain Decker determines that the answers can only be found within the protected memory core of the USS Coramonde. That is located near the center of the Coramonde's saucer section, far too deep to attempt to reach with the transporter. She also knows that a Hazard team would never be able to safely reach that deep within the ship on foot...

Captain Decker is unwilling to risk exposing her crew to infection from the aggressive biotech, but she is also determined to retrieve the Coramonde's protected memory core. In the end, she decides to launch a holo-presence probe to board the Coramonde. As an additional safety measure, the telemetry will be uploaded to an automated shuttle hovering over the area to keep the telemetry isolated from the Agamemnon's computer until it is deemed safe.

(TNG Era) "Too Much Information"

The shuttlecraft Apollo followed a holo-presence probe through the planet's atmosphere, and maintained an altitude of 100 meters above the site of the downed USS Coramonde. As soon as the probe reached the surface, it began to transmit telemetry to the hovering shuttle. In the Agamemnon, the crew is forced to wait, as any data transmitted from the probe to the shuttle could conceivably contain contaminated material. Finally, several hours later, the computer on board the Apollo reports that the protected memory from the Coramonde has been downloaded and scanned for any alien or malicious data. It reveals bio and metallurgical scans of the biotech as it was drawn down to the surface. Stress readings from the impulse deck and hull reveal that the ship was being drawn down to the surface, and Captain Edward Hubble ordered maximum reverse impulse and warp power diverted to shields and the structural integrity field in an attempt to keep the ship intact as it came down. The power that brought it down was not revealed. Captain's logs stated that the ship had been pulled forward in time as it traveled through the rift, which was bathed in neutrinos. Finally, the bioscans confirmed the presence of human DNA in the biotech, while metallurgical scans revealed traces of Vulcan hull material quantum dated at two thousand years old. None of this adds to their knowledge of the biotech, but it does answer the question of time travel, and it goes a long way toward explaining the fate of the Coramonde.

While the holo-presence probe was inside the Coramonde, it confirmed that there was no life left on the Coramonde except for the biotech, which seemed to have absorbed the crew, in much the same way that it attempted to absorb Lt. Keller. With the protected memory removed from the Coramonde, Captain Decker chooses to destroy the downed ship in order to prevent it from falling into unauthorized hands, and to remove the threat from the biotech infecting the ship. After confirming that there is no other life on the planet, Captain Decker orders the Coramonde targeted with photon torpedoes and destroyed.

The Agamemnon breaks orbit from the unnamed planet, and Captain Decker orders the ship to return to the rift in the hope that they can safely return home. Once they arrive, she is relieved to discover that the rift is stable, and probes sent through show that it is safe to return. As the Agamemnon passes through, its scanners are unexpectedly inundated with line after line of signal code, repeating a single, indecipherable word that appears to be Vulcan in nature. As the science department struggles to shunt the data to auxiliary drives to stop the code from overwhelming the computer core, Captain Decker starts to wonder if this happened to the Coramonde at some point, and if the data will reveal the connection between the two thousand year old Vulcan hull material, the two thousand year old human DNA, and the dangerous biotech. Does the time travel phenomenon stretch back two thousand years, or were ancient Vulcans interacting with ancient humans. She doesn't doubt that the Vulcans can translate the code, but she also wonders if they would be happy to see or share information about what they were doing with human DNA two thousand years ago. She knows that she might hold the key to solving a mystery that spreads from the Alpha Quadrant to the Delta Quadrant, if only she handles it correctly...

Choose what you think should be the next course of action, and write a brief summary. You can also feel free to join the investigation with your own ship.

There are no predetermined right or  wrong answers. Feel free to discuss the challenge with other players. Every player who submits an entry receives a "Command College Point". Ten of those equal an experience point. The most popular choice will determine the next step taken.

Captain's Log

(From last week) "...before somebody gets hurt..."

Class E Geoplastic
Age: 0-2 billion years
Diameter: 10,000-15,000 km
Location: Ecosphere
Surface: Molten, high surface temperature
Atmosphere: Hydrogen compounds and reactive gases
Evolution: Cools to become Class F
Life forms: Carbon-cycle
Example: Excalbia

11) You meet a society that causes you to question whether or not to interfere with their development.

(ENT Era) Challenger NX-07 Captain Sam Carpenter

Our mission to circumnavigate Romulan space has been interrupted by the discovery of a unique civilization living on a Class E geoplastic planet. We were making a close pass by the lone planet in an uncharted solar system twelve lightyears outside of what we understand to be Romulan space. Our initial scans showed an unusual amount of background radiation that we determined was a result of increased solar flare activity interacting with the planet's electromagnetic field. While we were unable to scan the surface of the planet, we did pick up a regular spike in the background radiation emanating from the planet that aroused the curiosity of Science Officer Cholena Janeway. Unfortunately, the heavy radiatiation prevented us from scanning the surface, and transporting down was out of the question.

Cholena and I put on environmental suits, boarded a shuttlepod and dropped into the soupy atmosphere. We discovered what we expected to, namely an uninhabitable, molten surface. After searching for an hour we were ready to give up when we saw an object drifting towards the surface. As we closed on the object, we discovered that it was a small probe in an unpowered descent. At that point we were able to direct a concentrated scan a t it. We found that it contained dozens of DNA samples in a refrigeration unit. Without the time to carefully examine the situation from every angle, I decided to try to retrieve the object. As it it turned out, that was easy. As Cholena brought the shuttlepod underneath the probe, I opened the side hatch and pulled it in.

Once on board the ship, Doctor Casey found that the DNA samples represented a viable gene pool to propogate the species that samples represented. Since we are nowhere close to any scientific facility, and we don't know where the probe came from, I decided to keep them on board and under refrigeration. I might be wrong, but I have a feeling that the DNA samples represent the last hope for some civilization. Cholena has pointed out to me the dangers of interfering with cultures that we don't understand. Certainly, there may be a need to put down hard and fast rules to govern interference with unknown cultures before somebody gets hurt, or we end up accidentally starting a war. I can only hope that those rules will allow for instinct and intuition when the available facts don't provide all the answers.


(Expand the following into a log entry of at least 100 words. Members post answers to the yahoogroup or the 'comment' feature on the blogsite. Lurkers feel free to leave comments on the blogsite)

For Next Week: "...how this got started..."

Developer's Diary:

You'd think that in the nearly three weeks since last I posted a summary there would have been lots of development, but there hasn't. I have worked on a simple text-based, simple-combat sector assault game. Very simple, and it may change. All I did was make a table of six possible encounters, from defense satellite to a dreadnought and a repair shipyard that I randomly rolled for. I used a heavy cruiser that kept the damage that it sustained for three encounters, then repaired. If you survive you win. I did. Good for a quick run, but not a lot of stuffing to it. I'll see what comes to me. In this instance I finally used the simple combat advantage that my "Veteran" status gives me, that being 20 points of damage to take rather than 15.


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