Chin'toka Mission 08: "Into the Unknown"

Captain's logs

Capt Valentina Gagarin

Stardate 21504.13

Captain’s Log, Stardate 21504.13. This is Valentina Gagarin, obviously.

Well, this mission has been exciting! We got to be true explorers, which is something Star Fleet has been sorely lacking lately.

We were sent to the edge of known space beyond the Klingon border to chart some the star systems that are missing from our galactic map. We were sent by transwarp, and arrived safely to find a whole lot of nothing. The stars are thin out here, but we did make some interesting discoveries. I am going to let the data from astrometrics speak about the composition and astronomical details of the various planets and stars we encounter, and I will focus on the interesting parts!

The first system that had anything of interest contained the wreckage of what was likely a Krynar ship. That made the crew super paranoid, as you can imagine, but it ended up being over 10,000 years old, so I wasn’t worried about an imminent attack or anything like that. We beamed some pieces of the wreckage aboard for analysis, but there was nothing of immediate interest. I am sure the various archeologists that end up looking at the pieces we got will disagree.

We then proceeded to a system from which we detected artificial communication signals. This system was one of the most interesting finds of our trip because it ended up being an entire planetary system that had disappeared from the Alpha quadrant years before: Draxil. The details on how or why Draxil disappeared and reappeared way out here are still unknown to me, but we did find three different artificial constructs in the system.

The two less important things were another wreckage site, and an old probe of little consequence. Perhaps Commander Codey can tell you more about those two things. The more interesting find was a set of three buildings. I lead an away team to the surface of the planet to investigate these structures.

The planet had a harsh environment that made it necessary to wear environmental suits. The three buildings ended up being Star Fleet temporary structures that were over 100 years old. There was an engineering dome that was half blown apart, a habitat dome, and an operations dome. There had apparently been some sort of spy team or observation team that had lived here, and it consisted entirely of women. Rather odd, but the whole thing was so mysterious that the women were the least of our worries.

The whole planet was rather creepy, especially because we couldn’t find any signs of the women there. What we did find were logs that indicated the women had disappeared under odd circumstances. We still haven’t quite figured that one out yet, but we do know a little more.

Basically, the women were possessed by entities that were imprisoned on the planet. One of those entities got into Ensign Aldren, and we brought it back to the ship. It was dormant for a while, but when we realized that the entities could have affected the women who had lived in the Draxil compound, we began to purge the ship using several means of discharging energy beings from organic beings. The one possessing Aldren didn’t like this, and he entered the Bridge. It ended up shooting Gem – almost killing her – and we had to use extreme measures to rid Aldren of the being. In the end, we killed it.

Aldren and Gem both recovered while we were enroute to our last major find: the Entropy. The Entropy is a ship also from over 100 years ago that was mysteriously transported into their future: our time. It is an Andorian merchant ship that is currently under the leadership of a former Star Fleet Lieutenant, sh’Remy. Once we found out they were from the past, I took measures to ensure that we did not break any part of the Temporal Prime Directive. We will message Star Fleet to get their official word on the Entropy, but in the meantime they have agreed to stay on board their own ship, and to let us tow them back to Federation Space. Their own warp core is out of commission, so they would be stuck for a long time without us.

We also charted a lot of uninteresting systems that I am sure will make astrometrics happy. All in all, I would say that there is some instability in this region of space that is causing both spatial and temporal events. That’s the only explanation I have for both Draxil and the Entropy.

In more personal news, I am doubting my wish to becoming a Commanding Officer. While this mission was exciting, I am having issues managing personnel. Most of the crew seem to have lost their professionalism and discipline, and it has made me rather bitter and almost mean to them. I don’t like the person I become when I try to keep the crew under control. I am seriously considering returning to my place as a leader in the scientific community. I felt that I managed personnel better there, enjoyed myself more, and I could be myself without a loss of professionalism in those around me.

I have lots to think about, and a long journey in which to think! It is 8 weeks back to Star Base Delta. In the meantime, I think I’ll let Brodie handle the crew for the most part.

End log.

Crew Logs

First Officer

Cdr Brodie Codey

Stardate 21410.24

USS Chin'toka CA-1375 First Officer's Log Stardate 21410.24

The Chin'toka has been given an exploration mission to chart and uncover the secrets of the outer rim between Alpha and Beta Quadrants. We left Delta some days ago and travelled via the transwarp gate to our location - the gate is still essentially in the testing phase, and I was most certainly glad we ended up where we were supposed to be going. The trip back to Federation space will take approximately eight weeks, so we will have plenty of time to indulge in a little R&R, and also to allow our minds the full ability to speculate on what we find.

We first detected a system around a red dwarf star - fairly routine, sterile worlds except there was a crash site of a ship that had taken a nose dive and come off worse. We recovered some of the wreckage and discovered that it had crashed some 10,000 years prior, and had a composition that large reflected Krynar origin. This is perplexing as Starfleet analysts don't date the Krynar or any of their predecessors within this time frame or location of the Milky Way. We detected a synthetic signal some distance away and set about investigating, as we drew closer to the binary star system in question, we discovered that it was from one of the planets, and also we were in receipt of a much older signal from the unusual configuration; one was subspace in nature and was directed coreward inside the Beta Quadrant, and had a Starfleet receipt ping that was dated about 300 years according to its security configuration. The other signal was a little more primitive, and was a repeating radio signal that revealed a pattern that repeated prime numbers. We have also detected another crash site and are moving the Chin'toka in to take a closer look.

End log.

Stardate 21410.29

First Officers Log - supplemental

The Captain has decided to take an away team down to the planet surface to examine a settlement there, and hopefully discover more information as to why a 300 year old Starfleet probe is out at our location. Despite informing her of protocol, Captain Gagarin has left the safety of the ship and placed myself in charge of recovering the dated probe in order to understand its presence here. I have currently tasked the Bridge crew with replicating the probe so we can switch it and recover it to the ship without disturbance.

Stardate 21502.25

"First Officer's Log, Stardate 21502.25

I am at the moment," there was a strain in his voice as if he was lifting objects in his room, and pulling items from boxes, "preparing for an away mission to a stricken ship called the SS Entropy. It is an Andorian research vessel, privately owned, and is stable in space but without a warp core. There is no detectable computer activity and as a result no communications. We have established that the temperature is a lot warmer than maybe Andorians would like, but also that they have a crew of 61 when there should be 45.

It is emitting a distress signal so I have asked the Captain to allow me to lead the away team this time around. The only stipulation for the away team was the Chief Engineer, which I have acquiesced to. I have also selected Ensign Val, and Lieutenant Jansen as my security and tactical detail - Jansen can handle himself as we already know, and Val is the only section chief from security not to have recently had anything wrong with him lately. I am not penalising Ensign Aldren, but I do not want to expose him to another stressful situation so soon after his 'occupation'; if he is to be exposed to a stressful situation, I'd rather it was defending the ship from enemy intruders in this instance.

There you are..."

There was a pause as clicking could be heard in the background.

"I am also taking Lieutenant Commander Ral as I think his abilities could be of use to us; it also wouldn't have been sensible taking Ensign Talion as immediately prior to my selection he was less than sensitive in the use of his language concerning Andorians. I will have to ensure we keep a watch on this, as it could potentially cause a diplomatic situation.

I have also asked the new qualified doctor, Doctor Helms, if he could accompany us. I haven't yet had the pleasure of working with him, so it should be a good opportunity.

I am concerned that this exploration into the unknown, is actually a mission clearing up our own mess that has made it out here before us...

End Log"

Tactical

CTO Lt Mitsein Erigneis

Stardate 21411.20

Chief Tactical Officer's Log, Stardate 21411.20

It's been a long mission so far. Our trip out to the far reaches of the galaxy has found a historical anomaly. After our initial arrival, we journeyed to a couple systems, finally ending up at one with a mysterious probe. What made this probe interesting is that it appeared to be transmitting with Starfleet protocol. Since our records indicated that no other ship had been to this part of the galaxy, we went in closer to explore.

What we've found is perplexing. We've found a Starfleet base dating back over a hundred years. We've retrieved the probe, which was still transmitting, and are currently studying it in the cargo bay. At the same time, the captain has led an away team to the mysterious base to investigate. Based on initial reports, it seems the base was manned by female personnel recorded in the database. Beyond this, I cannot say.

What we find here may add an interesting footnote to the history books. At least, if we make it Federation Space, it might.

Stardate 21504.16

Chief Tactical Officer's Log, Stardate 21504.16

It's been a long mission, and we're still weeks away from home. When we left for this mission, we thought we'd be pioneers, journeying through a transwarp gate to a section of space no one had explored. What we found, however, showed us that we weren't the first Federation crew, though we were possibly the first to travel by ship. Somehow, a top secret Federation outpost, potentially spying on or for the Klingons, had been transported, along with the whole star system to this quadrant of space. Our scientists have discussed a reverse supernova, but in any case we've found something anomalous and strange.

To make matters worse, some sort of entity on the planet possessed, for lack of a better word, Ensign Aldren, who later attacked and incapacitated our Chief Security Officer. While we managed to remove the entity, I fear that the repercussions of these actions may stay with Aldren for a while.

As we tried to track down a signal intercepted on the planet, we encountered an Andorian ship signaling for help. Here, things got even stranger, as the ship appears to have been pulled through time from the past. Further investigation reveals that the ship disappeared over a hundred years ago, leaving behind no trace...until now. We've taken the ship in our Warp Bubble, and we're towing them back home.

On that note, our journey home is likely to be long and filled with issues. Our crew has been through a lot, and we've got a whole other ship in tow who know nothing about this time. Our security chief was attacked again, and I know that many of our crew have personal issues that will have to deal with over the coming weeks. I might talk to the captain and our bartender about setting up something time-consuming, like a long-term holonovel or a Kadis-Kot tournament.

End log.

Security

Ens Korban Aldren

Stardate 21409.18

Stardate 21409.18

I have joined the Chin'toka and have met most of the crew. They seem a decent enough bunch, far cry from my last crew mates, but then that was a different time. That was in the middle of a war. Things are different now.

The ship is on some exploration mission, a few years ago I would have been excited by that....I'm not now. It seems a lot of my enthusiasm has gone.....not just for mission a like this.....but everything.

I'm making another record that my dreams are back, pretty much like the doc's said they would. Waking up screaming to myself in the middle of the night, covered in sweat and picturing those last moments over and over again.....I'm not going to tell anyone, not yet.....I'm hoping they will stop.

End log.

Stardate 21502.25

Personal Log. Stardate 21502.25

A lot has happened over the past week. We landed on a barren planet, finding nothing but a deserted base, no explanation of why....

....I came back with something...an entity that took control of my body, I could hear and see everything, just couldn't do anything about it.

I.....it, attacked Gem'lia before I was neutralized on the bridge....I nearly killed her....could I have stopped it?

I don't know, and following this I was confined to my quarters....

Now we are investigating some civilian ship, seems like everyone has given up on what happened to that base and its crew...unless it's connected some how to this ship? Am I looking too deeply into this?

Codey has purposely not chosen me to go on the away mission....he clearly doesn't trust my judgement....do I? Can I trust it ever again, after what happened, what if it comes back?

End log.

Engineering

CE Lt Robert Simmons

Stardate 21504.16

Chief Engineer's log Stardate 21504.16 Lieutenant Robert Simmons recording.

Our mission has finally come to a complete close. We first checked out what turned out to be some sort of abandoned Star Fleet outpost. There were no life signs, though something seemed to be there. We obtained logs and readings from the outpost. When we returned, we apparently brought an Ux-Mal Entity with us which took over Ensign Aldren. He attacked our Chief of Security before being detained in a force field. I was required to send a surge that would knock the entity out. I may have been a little overzealous, as I initiated a ship wide surge.

After these events, we received a signal from one USS Entropy. Upon investigation, we discovered that the ship had been sent forward over 120 years into their future, our present. I joined an Away Team to check out the ship. We made contact with a de facto Captain, and we are now en route back to Federation Space with the Entropy in tow.

End log

Lt Savar Feyil

Stardate 21410.26

Personal Log Lieutenant Savar Feyil Stardate 21410.26

Well it appears the ship has been sent on a pure exploration mission.

We were to travel through a transwarp gate to our location which thankfully worked correctly this time. The last time we took a trip through a gate someone had got their decimal point in the wrong place and we ended up on a major detour. Thankfully that time we had the equipment to build a gate to return to Federation Space.

This time though we have an eight week journey back to Federation Space. I am sort of looking forward to the return trip. I think I have spend to long avoiding major interaction with the crew. I think this is down to me considering resigning my commission.

I haven't had an easy time since that mission with the Borg. I still have bad dreams about being part of the collective so have avoided interaction with the crew. But I am looking forward to trying to get to know the crew better on the return journey.

The first system we encountered only had some wreckage of some sort of ship or something. I wasn't involved in the analysis of the debris but I found out that it was suspected to be Krynar in origin. The next system has a signal that is being directed to the Beta Quadrant an away team has been assembled to beam down and investigate. Unusually the Captain has decided to lead the away team.

The only unusual thing about the signal is that it seems to be a Starfleet signal.

End Log

Stardate 21411.11

Personal Log Lieutenant Savar Feyil Stardate 21411.11

We have found a probe of Starfleet origin. The plan is to bring this aboard and study it. The downside is that the probe is transmitting a signal so we would need to replicate or copy this signal before we can properly take the probe apart to learn what we can.

We could replicate the probe but that would take a few days, so we are modifying one of our probes to act as a replacement. We won't know if this has worked or not, but hopefully it gives us enough time to look at the probe to find out where it came from and what its purpose is.

I am awaiting our probe to get to its destination before the other probe is brought on board the Chin'toka, then we can start analyzing it.

End Log.

Science

Ens Alexander Talion

Stardate 21504.15

Personal Log Stardate: 21504.15

My first mission has been very strange indeed. I expected there to be mostly boring mapping of the new areas, punctuated by a few interesting moments of discovery, if we were lucky. There were certainly interesting moments, but I'm still not even sure what they really were.

We discovered wreckage that was thousands of years old. There was an entire solar system relocated hundreds of light years with no idea how it got there. On that relocated system, a mystery that is too strange to begin to speculate at. It was some form of Federation outpost, but the circumstances were very odd, no sign of what happened to the inhabitants, cryptic logs and then the discovery of strange energy based life forms that were out of phase. There were fragments that were similar to other cases, but enough differences to remain unique. It might never be known what really happened there, but I am not qualified to determine the facts beyond what I have determined and included in my reports.

To top things off, an Andorian ship appeared and signaled for help. They turned out to be from more than 100 years ago. It can't be a coincidence that so many things are found in this area of space that appear to not fit with the times and space in which they were found. I can only speculate at what aspects of this area of space might be the reason for such elements being found in such a relatively small location. I sure it has something to do with the structure of the fabric of subspace in this area, but I have little to no data to back that up and we're leaving.

Over the course of this mission, Gem was attacked twice. On the one hand, I feel I should have tried harder to help avoid such violence, but I'm only one person. On the other hand, the fact that someone that is the head of Security was unable to defend herself twice from personal attack does speak a bit for itself. I'm not even in the Security field, but I find myself thinking more about how to protect her than how she is protecting me and the ship.

In other news, I am beginning to think that fate may have caught up with me when it comes to personal relationships. I have been seeing less and less of Jada and feel no closer to resolving my personal issues with her past. I know that I should not hold her past against her, but she can't be separated from one of her past relationships, so that seems to complicate things beyond what I find able to accept. It is perhaps a selfish thought, but I can't help how it makes me feel. I understand that it is my own issues with the matter and not anything that she has or has not done. I still feel affection for her, but confess a touch of jealousy that I'm unable to shake and I'm ashamed for it.

For various reasons, I am feeling like I have come full circle during this mission. I have tried being honest and open and it has gotten me mostly grief. As a result, I have decided to keep more to myself. I will remain professional and available to advise my superiors with my scientific opinions and ability to gather data, but I no longer feel the desire to offer them unless asked. I question some of the decisions of my superiors, but will remain professional and respectful unless I find it becoming dangerous once more. I don't think I can do that again.

I may need to take the time during the journey back to just focus on personal issues and get those things back in order. I owe that to Cindy as well. The Counselor is helping me to sort out some of my issues that have haunted me for years, but don't know how that will end. She has shown me a number of things though. I won't detail them all here, but I have come to understand many things lately. I worry about Cindy and how terribly I may have handled things. I don't know what to next. Am I Her creator, her father, her brother, or something entirely different. I don't know what to do and am afraid of losing her, but dare not say so. She must make her own decisions and I have to not only let her, but must encourage her to.

End log.

Ens Jada Rogue

Stardate 21408.14

Personal Log Star Date... Umm I am not fully sure

There has been a lot that has happened in the last few days, and I am not fully sure about what is going on. On a happier note, I have been promoted to the rank of Ensign, and this is a wonderful occasion. It also carries with it more duty, and this I can handle. We also have a new crop of young officers, and they are going to need some guidance just like I did and still do. I look forward to working with at least one, as he is the only new science officer that came on to our ship. His ability should make for a good addition to what is already there, and his height could come in handy for me.

Now it brings up the question about what happened last night, that is something I am not aware of. It is in this case, that not all questions need an answer. For all I know, it might be best to leave it that way. In time when things in my head calm down a little more, I think a trip to sick bay is in order. They can help me clear my head, and make it possible for me to return to duty. As for right now, it is going to be the best time that I will never fully remember.

End Log

Medical

CMO LCdr Edan Balfour

Stardate 21409.10

Chief Medical Officer's Personal Log Star Date 21409.10 Dr. Edan Balfour recording...

I'm settling into my new position as Chief Medical Officer aboard the Chin'toka. I've reviewed all the crew medical personnel files as well as the personnel files of all the medical staff aboard ship. I've decided on a four rotation duty schedule for the medical department. The staff is accustomed to a three rotation, so this will be a bit of a change for them but I feel the four duty rotation schedule will be more efficient and beneficial for the ship's crew. I still need to clear this with the First Officer at our next staff meeting.

I've had a chance to meet the entire senior staff and I am the oldest by at least a generation. I find myself the old man, and for the first time ever, I will be serving under a First Officer and Captain that is so much younger than myself. While they seem competent enough it will still be something I will have to adjust to in addition to being back on a ship. I guess we'll see if this old dog can learn new tricks. My job is to make sure the ship has the best medical care possible and that is what I intend to give them.

After our first briefing, I've learn that our mission will take us to a region of space that hasn't been explored thoroughly and we are tasked with doing so. To be honest, I do look forward to an assignment that doesn't include a war zone. Exploration and charting the unknown has always been the primary function of Star Fleet and it's nice to be getting back to our roots so to speak. However, exploration is not without its risks. The unknown can be just as deadly as any war zone. I will be coordinating with Science and Engineering regarding a strategy to help reduce any medical risks to the crew. In addition, I will be going over what little intelligence and other data from the initial First Contact with the region of space we will be going.

End log.