Chin'toka Mission 02: "Prime Defective"

The Chin'toka was sent out to monitor a pulsar when they received a message from the USS Halifax that they were under attack from a cube-shaped ship that looked Borg in nature. The Chin'toka proceeded to rescue the Halifax, taking on their crew and fixing up the ship, and further discovery led them to believe that the ship was possibly not Borg but from another species in the Stoorc system. After the Halifax crew were returned to their ship, the Chin'toka warped to the Stoorc system.

Taking advantage of the sensor cover provided by a nebula that surrounded and shielded the system, the Chin'toka proceeded to monitor the new warp-capable species, the Staarac. The Staarac had been observed covertly by Starfleet in the past, and it appeared that something left behind by the Starfleet crew may have spurred the technological development of the Staarac. A Prime Directive violation was almost certain.

Captain Yvette wanted to find out why the Staarac had attacked the Halifax, but she wanted to do so covertly to avoid altercation. So, a covert away team was sent to one of the Staarac outposts to investigate. While they were away, the discovery was made that Starfleet sensors rendered Staarac ships completely disabled, and in fact seemed to overload their energy systems. This explained the attack on the Halifax. It was further discovered that the Staarac cube-ships - which suspiciously looked like Rubix Cubes - retained energy by sucking it from other objects. This is what they had done to the Halifax after they were "attacked" by the Halifax's sensor scan.

While the away team was away, another shuttle was sent out to investigate the nebula and to collect particles for their science logs. This shuttle detected the Krynar entering the Stoorc system.

As soon as the Krynar entered, Yvette realized they needed to flee. They were no match for the Krynar, and though the Staarac would likely fall at their hands, Yvette deemed that the Chin'toka could do little to help. She therefore ordered the two shuttles to flee the system at maximum warp, and the Chin'toka did the same. The nebula shuttle was attacked by Krynar shard ships, but they managed to get away before they were destroyed.

The Chin'toka was immediately sent to the Beloti sector on patrol after reporting in to Starfleet.

Captain's Logs

Capt Aloysia Yvette

Stardate 21210.03

Captain’s Log Stardate 21210.03. Captain Aloysia Yvette recording –

We have sent the covert away team to the outpost orbiting Stoorc XI. The alterations that had to be done to the away team to ensure that they blend in were quite extensive to the point where Commander Latro’s skin was bleached, and anything that could mark Lieutenant Adune as Cardassian was removed. It was quite dramatic. They also all had their hair shaved and skin darkened to look like the Staarac. They were only recognizable by their general facial features and eyes. I really hope someone took a picture of each of them so they can look back on this experience.

The team’s mission is to gather intelligence about the Staarac cube ships so we know their motives in attacking the Halifax. We may have already uncovered that, however. While waiting for the away team’s alterations to complete, the cube ship that attacked the Halifax entered the system. It was suffering from some kind of system’s failure, and in order to figure out what might be happening, Commander Fiore used active scanners. I had asked the Bridge not to use active scanners lest we be detected, but she did anyway. I’m not sure if it was because Fiore forgot or if she was deliberately going against orders, but I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. In any case, as soon as active scanners were used, the cube ship’s warp drive destabilized and ended up imploding. The computer predicts that this is because of our sensor scans. We are responsible for the deaths of whichever crew members could not get out on escape craft, but at the same time we didn’t know this is what would happen. However, if the Halifax actively scanned the cube ship and caused a system’s failure before they were attacked, that could explain the original reason the Staarac attacked. We will have to wait and see what the away team brings back.

In the meantime, I am sending out a second shuttlecraft to investigate the nebula we are hiding in. They are to collect samples of the nebula particles for analysis. The team members include Fiore, Lunanova, Phoenix and Midshipman Ruc. Ruc is in Security, but I included her on the team to give her some cross-training. Ruc was instrumental in diffusing a grenade situation caused by Crewman Nobbs, and thus I think she should be rewarded with an opportunity to go on an away mission.

End log.

Stardate 21210.27

Captain’s Log Stardate 21210.27. Captain Aloysia Yvette recording –

This mission has been another disaster. I have not yet heard from the away team that went to the Staarac outpost, but I doubt they had time to accomplish their objective. Almost as soon as the second away team aboard the William Ross launched, we detected a large number of gravitic distorations on the other side of the Stoorc system. I sent the William Ross to investigate, and they quickly detect that the Krynar had arrived. Our standing orders from Starfleet are to flee when the Inquisitors show up because clearly we are no match for them. We have no idea how to defeat them, especially with only one ship.

The William Ross unfortunately did not get away before they were hit by a group of Krynar shards that clustered together to make a doppelgänger of the Ross. This is a typical Krynar technique. The Ross’s hull was breeched twice, but they were able to warp away to coordinates we gave them.

I also ordered the Benjamin Sisko at the Staarac outpost to get away. At that point it was obvious to me that the Inquisitors were preparing to take over the Stoorc system, and there was nothing we could do to stop them. The time for being covert was over. The shuttle thankfully got away, though I had to order the Chin’toka away before we could retrieve them; the Krynar shards were on their way to intercept the ship. We will be retrieving both shuttles shortly.

While we were warping away, we detected a Krynar mothership arriving at the system. That confirmed my hypothesis that they were preparing to take over the system. I fear that they will now use their shards to replicate the Chin’toka, as they have in the past, and that the Staarac will believe the Federation has attacked them. Starfleet and our allies really need to find a way to conquer this enemy before we lose everything.

End log.

Stardate 21211.10

Captain’s Log Stardate 21211.10. Captain Aloysia Yvette recording –

The disastrous mission to the Staarac system is finally over with the debriefings in and my reports sent off to Starfleet (with the exception of this log). The picture of what happened is much clearer if you read the crew logs, but I will summarize here.

The away team on the Benjamin Sisko successfully made it to the Staarac outpost without detection. They were able to transport Latro, Codey, and Regan aboard, who maintained their cover identities while obtaining access to the outpost’s computer facilities. While they were onboard, an alert on the outpost came through due to a solar disturbance that had the Staarac shutting down most systems. Latro’s team was still able to get the information we sought, however, and we discovered that the Halifax was attacked due to their own provocation of the Staarac ship when they actively scanned it. They were looking for Borg signatures, of course, and inadvertently send the Staarac cube ship into systems failure. In order to maintain their systems, the Staarac shunted energy from the Halifax and retreated back to the Stoorc system. This was basically a large misunderstanding.

The Chin’toka did not have time to reveal ourselves to the Staarac and negotiate peace, however, because of the arrival of the Krynar to the system. The Krynar were first detected as gravitic disturbances by the Chin’toka. I send the William Ross – which was already out collecting nebula samples – to investigate and we determined that the Krynar were in the system. I told both shuttles to evacuate according to Starfleet orders and the Chin’toka left the system as well. We can only assume that the Krynar have since taken over the Stoorc system, putting them in close proximity to many Federation resources.

The results from the nebula scan revealed nothing interesting: the particle were of varieties we have already catalog and it was simply their unique concentration and distribution that reflected sensor scans so that our systems did not work and so that we were not detected.

The Chin’toka is on its way back to Starbase Delta for shoreleave, debriefings, and to receive our next mission. I only hope the next one feels more successful than this.

End log.

Crew Logs

Tactical

CTO LCdr Cristina Fiore

Stardate 21211.10

Stardate... Ah, hell. Where are we. 21211.10. Chief Tactical Failure's log, Lieutenant Commander Fiore recording.

I apologise if I fall over my words. It's painful to dwell on this last mission so I've had to resort to my old friend in a bottle. With any luck it'll keep me going long enough to put my mistakes down for the record.

Anyway.

The Chin'toka was sent out to the Stoorc system. Others will cover the whys and wherefores in more detail than me so I'll let them do it. Chiefly though the reason was to investigate the race that called the system home. There was some confusion that led to one of their ships engaging a Starfleet frigate. Nobody had formally been out here for well over a century so the Halifax, the 'victim' for want of a better term, obviously wasn't expecting a warp-capable vessel in the area.

There's a nebula that covers most of the system, so once an Away Team had been sent to investigate the Chin'toka entered the nebula. It was one of those 'special' nebulae that completely *****... sorry, screws with a ship. Sensors didn't work, shields couldn't be raised... You get the picture. We had passive sensors and that was about it.

One of the Staarac ships passed close by. Because of the nebula they didn't see us. We had to confirm if this was the ship that attacked the Halifax so we tried to scan it. I went to boost the power to sensors, and despite being ordered not to I ended up hitting the active sensors. I swear to God Almighty I didn't do it intentionally. I don't even remember doing it. But the moment the active sensors swept the vessel it tripped their warp core containment. A few seconds later the ship blew itself to pieces, and it was my fault it happened.

Truth be told I'm not dealing with it well and I know it. Yeah, I've made mistakes. Who hasn't? But a stupid thing like that and I end up killing hundreds of people. It's just... I feel so guilty. Combat is combat. This wasn't combat. Even the fact the Krynar turned up and would have fried them anyway doesn't help. Anyway. I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Captain asked Lieutenant Lunanova, Midshipman Ruc, Ensign Phoenix and I to take samples from the nebula. We modified the William Ross to protect it from any interference that might come our way and launched. We hadn’t been gone long when we were diverted to check out unusual readings in the nebula that had to be investigated manually due to the prevailing sensor interference.

Turned out there were 8,211 disruptions and each was a Krynar shard vessel. For those not in the know, those are the smaller of the two types of ship we’ve seen. Individually they’re smaller than Starfleet fighters but they’re capable of some seriously amazing tricks if the need arises. Shortly after we encountered them here, 81 combined into what was a near-perfect replica of the William Ross.

I moved to engage the replica as I suspected a ruse to destroy the Chin’toka. Captain Yvette ordered the William Ross to disengage so that was what happened. We warped to the rendezvous point and linked up with the Chin’toka when she appeared.

At the time of leaving the Stoorc system there were 3 possibly 4 Krynar motherships inbound. It certainly looked planned. Attack vectors, utilisation of the nebula, protective screening from the shard vessels... All of it says invasion. I can see why the system would appeal to them given they’re no more than 20 light years from several key Federation worlds. If the Krynar conquer the Staarac, and it has to be said they almost certainly will, then they’ve got one heck of a location to launch attacks from.

As for the nebula itself, having gone through the readings there’s nothing out of the ordinary in there. Some rare elements that our guys and girls in white coats will enjoy playing with no doubt. The rare part was seeing the particular concentrations we saw. The mix acts to refract away the sensor signals and shield frequencies.

There are many people better placed to explain the science of this than the knucklehead pilot so I’ll leave it to them to give the lecture. I guess this whole exercise shows us that the Krynar are still very much active and we missed the opportunity to learn from the Staarac, as their tech was divergent enough from what we’re used to that there was much we could have taken. Memo to Starfleet command. You’ll need to update your maps more than once a century. If we take nothing else from this ******* sham, then that lesson should be learned.

That's it. I'm tired and drunk and now that the basics are covered I'm gonna stop here before I get myself arrested for my own log entry.

End.

Lt JG Olmek Adune

Stardate 21210.31

Sitting down in his quarters with a heavy thud Olmek turned to his computer terminal. With one hand holding a hot mug of red leaf tea he tapped on the display with the other. "Computer begin recording..." he said then paused a few seconds before continuing on. Although the Lieutenant was happy to be out of his Staarac costume he was even happier to be back in uniform. His skin coloration and natural tonal variations had returned to normal and the physical alterations made his frame and face had been removed. The only remaining trace that lingered from the mission was a mottled leathery bald scalp.

"Personal Log: Lieutenant Junior Grade Adune. Stardate 21210.31"

"A few hours have passed since our team returned to the Chin'toka and as I know it all but one of the away team members from both shuttles have had their cosmetic changes reversed and are preparing for a general debriefing with Captain Yvette. Commander Latro will miss that meeting. As I am sure is noted in the ship's official logs the Commander is in Sickbay under the care of our Chief Medical Officer. I do not know his condition, but I am sure the Doctor is much quicker on her feet at making decisions in Sickbay than she is commanding an away team."

After a moment to clear his throat and gather his thoughts concerning his next part of the log entry, Olmek continued. "More than once during our clandestine expedition to the Staarac Outpost I acted outside of the chain of command instead of waiting for orders. Some may call it borderline insubordination but I call it taking act... taking initiative," the officer settled on the appropriate phrase after stumbling for it momentarily. "Had the Krynar been a little faster to flood the Staarac system, we could have easily been picked off by one of their shards while the good doctor weighed our lives versus those of the Staarac in her mind."

With the same cool and collected manner he trudged onward. "In my professional opinion, in the face of the invasion currently underway by a technologically superior enemy, now is not the time for such moral quandaries. Our comrades were in danger, we were in danger, our ship itself was imperiled and forced to retreat. The Staarac's system was lost from the instant the Krynar appeared, so what did it matter if their little station was lost? More lives, exponential numbers of lives, have been lost in a single attack since the Krynar appeared through the Bajoran Wormwhole than the Staarac would stand to lose if their station had vaporized by our beaming out our people."

"I stand by my actions. I waited for orders like a Midshipman straight from the Academy when the Wellington was lost. Even if it means my career I'll continue to exercise, independent judgement, when the moment calls for it. Computer, end log."

Engineering

CE LCdr Brodie Codey

Stardate 21210.28

Brodie made his way to the back of the Benjamin Sisko shuttlecraft, and took a seat. Adjusting his loin cloth he began typing in earnest onto a PADD:

[USS Chin'toka - Chief Engineer's Log Stardate 21210.28 from the Benjamin Sisko enroute to the USS Chin'toka Lieutenant Brodie Codey reporting:

We have just completed one of the most daring away missions I have certainly been a part of, let alone what others on the Chin'toka have done, by infiltrating a Staraac outpost. The mission was to gain information, and tactical knowledge, on the Staraac with a view to assessing why they attacked the USS Halifax. The weapon was of primary concern as it appeared that Starfleet could not defend against it, and current intelligence on the Staraac was severely out of date; over 100 years out of date. After restoring what power we could to the Halifax, the Chin'toka made its way to the Stoorc system and it was on this journey a decision to adapt our bodies to look like Staraac was taken. I have to say that some of the procedures used in Dr Macleod's abattoir were slightly medieval but nevertheless it was a complete transformation - some needed more work than others, and the intrinsic tattoo patterns are incredible. I am even thinking of retaining one just to remember the experience. It was decided that six of us; myself, Commander Latro, Jack, Laura, this new Cardassian to the crew - Adune, and Feyil, would attempt to gain access to the main computer banks on the outpost by utilising the disguise. As it was orders came from on top that only Latro, Jack, and myself would beam over - something I might have to console Feyil about later when his review comes round.

The preparation that was done by Phoenix - a new hand to the C-T and a dab one at holographic design - was incredible, it certainly prepared us for what we were going to encounter, even if it was some beautiful female in the ablution block called Mi!

After our beam in things started to go slightly wrong for us, and for the Staraac outpost - something I hope 'by the living stars' that they survive. It appears that a major solar storm was whipping up, and they were preparing to go into lock down, at the same time the Krynar had decided that the system was for them; we were totally unprepared for this, and no doubt the Staraac will think so as well. We now have enough data to confirm that our active sensors overload the Staraac computer systems and cause critical damage to the operating systems - something that we will have to work around if ever we kick the Krynar out, and become friends with the people we have just stolen from! The transport of a tricorder and PADD using the transporter targeting scanners was a miscalculation by Feyil on the shuttle that caused a massive amount of damage, something I won't penalise him for as I am sure he is now aware of the result. With the equipment we were able to download all the information we required, and now it will take a fair old amount of time to decrypt aboard the C-T; something to do on the way to SBD I imagine once we get to the rendezvous point.

As the download completed we realised that we were trapped due to the lockdown, and that transport back to teh shuttle would have to be from within the computer core. This was executed with us causing as little damage as we could by locating ourselves as far away from the core as possible. The result was still the same though, as the targeting scanners caused the system to overload.

We are now speeding away from the Stoorc system to rendezvous with the C-T. It doesn't appear that the Krynar have followed us, but I know the Captain will want to put as much space between us and them until we can regroup, and Laura can un-enhance our bodies.

We will wait and see.

End log]

Ens Savar Feyil

Stardate 21210.19

Personal Log
Midshipman Savar Feyil
Stardate 21210.19

I have became accustomed to the almost complete lack of clothing that I am forced to wear whilst pretending to be a Staarac. As it stands I have been stuck on the shuttle with Macleod and Adune, whilst the rest are onboard the station.

The others were able to beam in undected and managed to find the computer centre for the station. Upon Commander Codey's request I beamed some equipment over to him. Unfortunately for me I forgot about the active sensors being required to find the target location. This meant that the transporter knocked out the power to the Staarac base. The systems have been restarted and hopefully the away team is still undetected. I am standing by ready to transport them off the station if it is required.

A more puzzling development is that there was some sort of activity from the Staarac sun. However, the shuttle is running on passive sensors only, so we have very limited data available. I could possibly try and boost the passive sensors but am not sure if that would give us anymore information.

End Log

Security

COS Lt Jack Regan

Stardate 21211.04

Personal Log, Stardate 21211.04, Chief of Security Lieutenant Jack Regan recording:

I have just returned from an away team mission to the Staarac Space Station. Myself, Brodie Codey and the First Officer were disguised as Staarac and sent to retrieve data on the previous attack on the USS Halifax. The transformation into Staarac involved some rigmarole. These people look like Terran Native Americans and cover themselves with tattoos – one for each year of their lives... A quirky bunch, especially since they don't exactly care for much clothing.

So, in nothing but the flimsiest covering of my manhood, I had to accompany the undercover (if that's not a contradiction in terms) team. We received some training on Staarac culture, and these are a free and easy people and seem still to be in early stages of warp development. All in all, I'd say under normal circumstances the Staarac planet might be somewhere I'd like to visit given the attractiveness of their females. However, it wasn't with great confidence we set out in our uncomfortable disguises.

Finding ourselves in the lavatory on arrival, and a awkward encounter with a female Staarac who nonetheless seemed very friendly, I mean really friendly, we made our way to the computer core just about unmolested. This was largely because of unusual solar activity that had put the station into alert and the personnel were in safe areas. In order to help the retrieval of data we beamed in a tricorder and PADD and this caused damage to the computer. It turns out that our active scans cause huge damage to their systems. Nonetheless, we managed to retrieve the data and extract. It wasn't a moment too soon, as we witnessed the arrival of a Krynar invasion force...

Those poor bastards. The Staarac seem like a naïve bunch, open, friendly... Their attack on the Halifax was due to a perceived attack on them when the Star Fleet ship used active sensors on them. The big bad universe just came knocking at their door... it knocked down the door... and the house too.

End log.

Medical

LCdr Laura Macleod

Stardate 21211.06

Chief Medical Officer’s Log Stardate 21211.06 Lieutenant Commander Laura Macleod recording –

After rescuing the crew of a ship that were apparently attacked by a people known as the Staarac, the Chin'toka went to their home system investigate the incident.

I was instructed to modify the appearance of seven crew members for an away team that would infiltrate the Staarac space facility and ascertain their intentions towards the Federation... Considering the time and effort involved in making some of the chosen crew resemble the local populace, I was very surprised when Commander Latro chose to take only two people with him onto the station, in fact selecting someone who needed as extensive work as Mr Adune and then leaving him behind on the shuttlecraft seems almost cruel.

I was left in charge of the shuttle, another decision I do not understand. I was specifically ordered to take part in the mission for medical purposes and the possibility of their needing an empath, I could be of use for neither on the Shuttle and whilst I hold a command rank and am capable of leading a team, I am still primarily a doctor.

In any case, the First Officer, Chief of Security and Chief Engineer beamed over to the Outpost whilst Adune, Feyil, Stone and I monitored the situation from the shuttle.

At first things were fine, the away team's life-signs were stable and the Staarac did not seem to be aware of our presence. Then something occurred which had the Staarac battening down their hatches. To be honest I'm still not sure exactly what triggered it, we might be able to work that out once all the data has been analysed. What I do know is that a dark spot appeared against the system's sun and we were trying to work out whether or not it was a natural phenomenon without using active sensors and giving ourselves away.

Latro's team reached the computer core and requested that we send them some equipment... Unfortunately it seems that our sensors have a detrimental effect on the Staarac systems... a terrible understatement in fact.

Their outpost sustained damage and began to reboot itself. That was an accident and since our entrance had caused no problems I'm afraid it didn't occur to anyone that it wasn't perfectly safe. It is the events that followed which do not sit well with me.

At first we didn't know what had happened to the station. The away team seemed to feel they should return but they were also trying to retrieve the data we needed as the computer re-booted. I'm not a scientist nor an engineer but it seemed to me that from what the others were saying to each other, they thought it was our fault, but despite that were intending to repeat the mistake.

I ordered Adune to not use the transporters again and to explain what had happened. He displayed a great deal of reluctance to explain anything to me, as well as impatience at my request. At that time the case was not urgent and there was nothing to suggest that such hasty action was required.

Codey and Feyil had barely got through answering my request for information when Captain Yvette came through on the comm. system and ordered us to depart with all haste.

Again Mr Adune chose to act without waiting for a confirmation from myself or Commander Latro. There was no doubt the captain's message had been grave, however she was not fully aware of our situation.

I do not deny that the arrival of the Krynar vessels made it imperative that we leave the system as quickly as possible but I am not happy that our actions may have caused the Staarac harm and left them unprepared for an attack however slim their chances were to begin with... Nor am I happy at how easily the others appeared to accept it.

The recent conflicts the Federation has been involved in has taken its toll on everyone, but if Star Fleet has become an organisation that will sacrifice innocents for it's own welfare... I don't know...

I intended to speak to Adune and Latro after the mission but events overtook me when, on reaching the Chin'toka, the first officer collapsed. His condition was serious but is now stable. We've reversed the physical alterations to the away team and now have a few hours rest before the debriefing... I doubt it will help, I'm tired, but my spirits have been wearied by this mission far more than my body.

End Log.