Columbia Mission 03: "Hide and Seek"

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The Columbia is sent behind enemy lines to search for a missing SOCOM team believed lost on Caratas IV. The team had secured valuable information on the Federation's new unknown enemy and was on its way home when they had been attacked and forced to put down. The Columbia crew's job is to retrieve their data and ensure its safe return to Star Fleet.

Captain's Logs

Capt Adaran 225

Stardate 21202.15

The Columbia has been chosen to test a new SOCOM-designed stealth system. The Type 1X system is similar to the cloaking devices used by the Romulans and the Klingons, but is officially not designated as such. Initial testing had been going on for a year prior using the Columbia's shuttle, the Eidolon. Now both the Columbia and the Eidolon have been fitted to make them invisible to sensors and visual observation. Initial testing on our own part has shown that the system seems to be working properly, as we were able to pass close to another Star Fleet vessel without being detected. Whether it works on enemy vessels is untested though, but we'll soon find out as we're being sent deep into the operational territory of the new enemy that has attacked the Federation and destroyed several of our ships and facilities. Our mission is of vital importance to intelligence gathering on this unknown foe, so we have to take the risk, and I can understand SOCOM's need to push this stealth technology out sooner than they'd planned and without full testing.

The Columbia is being sent to the Caratas system, where a SOCOM fast strike team has gone missing. Just before their disappearance, they indicated that they'd collected important data on the enemy, including who and what they were. They were attacked before they could safely return however, and they ditched their vessel on Caratas IV and went into hiding. Our goal is to find them and retrieve that information. The planet is Class M and conditions seem fairly similar to those on Earth, Hermat, Betazed and other such worlds. We have no idea of the team's exact location though, and the planet's highly ionized atmosphere won't help matters any. This won't be as easy as it sounds, even if the stealth system allows us to work unmolested by the enemy.

The department head situation on the Columbia continues to be a revolving door. Jal took emergency leave, and SOCOM assigned a temporary CMO to replace her, a Lieutenant Commander Ai Yamazaki. During shore leave, I also promoted Klapphroth to Chief Tactical Officer, to replace Commander Macleod, who held it temporarily during our last mission. Unfortunately, Tracey has taken ill and is on medical leave, so I had to bring in another temporary replacement, a Lieutenant Junior Grade Dendra until Tracey is ready to assume her new duties. Dendra was recommended by Macleod.

I also decided to keep Macleod aboard as permanent First Officer. He did well during my absence on Yadalla Prime, and I felt that he'd make a good choice to take the job full-time. He's already been trained for it, and he didn't run away screaming after having worked with me the first time. I had to pull some strings to make him available, though he doesn't know that. He was slated for a Chief of Security position on another vessel, but I asked a favor of that ship's CO to let me have him. Hopefully Macleod will confirm my expectations of him over this coming mission.

Personal Log, Supplemental

During shore leave I became intimately involved with Tracey, which I know is against regulations, but the threat of punishment wasn't enough to deter me. The Deltan been under my skin since the first day she reported aboard the Columbia, and with Levine gone I think it was inevitable that we'd end up in some sort of entanglement. Where it will eventually lead, or if it leads anywhere, remains to be seen once she's feeling better. She's certainly someone who makes me want to be with her though, even if Star Fleet would throw us both out of the service if they discovered our affair.

Stardate 21104.20

After almost a three week journey, the Columbia arrived safely at Caratas IV and took up orbit around the planet. Passive scans indicated that we weren't alone however. At least three communications signals that matched those used by our new enemy were detected near the third planet, so we were forced to continue running in stealth mode and silent while we searched for the missing SOCOM team, which limited our abilities due to the planet's highly ionized atmosphere. We did manage to locate a secure emergency beacon on a little used channel though, and I ordered the Eidolon down to investigate, putting Macleod in charge of the away team. They soon left and have yet to return. We can risk no communication with them, so we must sit and wait.

Sitting and waiting became a much harder job to do though as somehow the vessels near the third planet detected our presence and made their way towards us. One ship quickly took up orbit and began to probe for us using gravity pulses. Two more soon joined it. We made several course corrections to avoid them, but after every correction the enemy vessels also shifted orbit and moved towards our previous location. We believe that a flaw in our stealth system's electrical connection might be to blame for giving us away.

The system is running hot at the connection, and it will eventually shut itself down unless we do so first, which would mean giving ourselves away completely. There was little choice but for me to order the ship to put down on the surface. If we can successfully avoid detection long enough to find a good hiding spot, then we can use the protection of the planet's ionized atmosphere to hide us while we turn off the stealth system and repair the problem.

I left West in charge of the Bridge as Acting First Officer while I went down to supervise landing procedures in engineering. I'm on my way back to the Bridge at the moment, and I believe we just landed, though I'm not sure how gracefully. Something doesn't feel quite right. I think the ship may be leaning.

Stardate 21205.04

This may very well be the last log entry I record, and the last for the Columbia as well. The situation has continued to deteriorate, and only luck will see this ship return safely to Federation space. We've been pursued into the atmosphere, and what's worse is that the Eidolon may have also been detected by the enemy. Their ships are very close to both our positions. The stealth system is offline, and we're hiding in a canyon. We're boxed in, and above us in orbit the enemy seems to be preparing its gravity weapon. It's almost certain that this planet will be destroyed shortly, and us along with it. Those who've pursued us obviously know that the SOCOM team stole vital information from them, and now they know that the team went down on this planet, and they're going to do everything they can to insure that we don't take that information back to Star Fleet with us.

Our choices are limited. Either we stay here and be destroyed along with the planet, or we make a run for it, with or without the protection of our stealth system. Obviously we'll run. I've also had the Eidolon crew instructed to do the same. I hate being on the defensive, but there's been little choice this mission. Whether we can make it out of orbit and into warp is anybody's guess. It will take some skillful flying and hell of a lot of luck. The odds are not in our favor, to say the least, but we're not going to go down without a fight.

I'm dispatching our log entries and important data onto a Class 9 probe to sent back towards friendly territory. Hopefully, in the confusion, we can launch it, and then Star Fleet will have a record of what happened to us. If we don't make it, and you're listening to this log, Admiral zh'Matis, sorry that I wasn't able to come through for you this time. I tried. We all tried. Hopefully you'll find another captain insane enough to replace me as your SOCOM errand boy, though I sincerely doubt it. Good luck.

End Log.

Stardate 21206.14

To anyone listening to this log entry, Adaran's voice would sound different than on previous entries. It was mostly monotone, and s/he seemed less sure of hirself.

Though the Columbia effected its escape from Caratas IV, it did so with much damage. After leaving the canyon where we'd hidden, we were set upon by several enemy vessels of the shard variety. We couldn't leave the planet's atmosphere yet, however, as we needed to wait for the Eidolon to rendezvous with us. Messages received from the shuttle indicated that they'd recovered the missing data.

As we headed to the rendezvous point, we were attacked several times by the shards' graviton-based weapons, sustaining heavy damage on Decks 3 and 4. We finally reached the Eidolon though and after a complicated mid-flight landing in the shuttle bay, we were able to break atmosphere and head for open space. More shard vessels joined the pursuit, but thankfully repairs to the stealth system had been successful, and we left the enemy ships confused as we disappeared and then warped out of the system.

The away team reported that the SOCOM team we had come to find had been discovered dead on the surface, most likely by the hands of the planet's natives. Both Bravo-2 and the other members of the Columbia's team had encounters with the natives as well, with Macleod's group also meeting some of the planet's wildlife in the form of a large centipede-like creature. Between the natives and two shard vessels discovering their location, the away team was lucky to make it back alive. Their efforts were all for naught however. The data crystal that Bravo-2 recovered from the body of one of the missing team members proved to be blank. If there ever was any data, it was on a different crystal, or it had never been successfully transferred from the SOCOM team's damaged shuttle. There's no way to know, and we can never go back. The mission was a failure.

There was a pause.

We had one casualty: Lieutenant Junior Grade Trac Klapphroth... Another short pause. I loved her.

The log entry then abruptly ended.

Crew Logs

First Officer

LCdr Xan Macleod

Stardate 21206.15

We’re on our way home from Caratas IV… it feels like a lifetime since we left and there’s not much to lift our spirits.

It was a straightforward assignment, data retrieval from enemy occupied territory and the rescue of the previous team if possible. We knew it would be hazardous but that’s the nature of the ship so I’d say we were as prepared as we could be, they even gave us a cl..Stealth System, and a specially trained ops team headed up by one of our more experienced security officers.

The first thing that went wrong was actually the Stealth System. It got us behind the lines but then it began to overheat and ultimately shorted out on the Eidolon, and had to be shutdown on the Columbia’s, though fortunately we got that going again.

I led the group that took the shuttle down to the planet to find our target. Our group consisted of Bravo Team, a pilot, an engineer and two doctors. Once the previous team’s shuttle had been located, Giraath and an advance group made up of Bravo Team dropped down at the location while the rest of us found a place to land, intending to join up with them after. The shuttle had been destroyed by what appeared to be the actions of the natives and Bravo followed the tracks of the team up into the mountains, only to find them already deceased. They did however locate the data crystal the operatives had been carrying.

Our plan to re-join them went immediately awry, by then the Columbia had been forced to find somewhere to land because the problems with the Stealth System and that meant the Shards were looking for us, just when the Eidolon’s cloak gave out. Kaval and I had gone out to check the area because we’d seen something move between the trees and were quickly surrounded by the bear-like natives… which turned out not to be a problem as we found ourselves between them and a huge centipede creature that they obviously considered to be more of a threat.

We did our best to keep the natives at bay whilst the shuttle crew made repairs, then they beamed us and Bravo Team back and we made for the Columbia…. There were injuries but we made it.

The biggest shocks didn’t come until we were on our way home.

The Columbia had taken heavy damage, both on discovery and during our escape. The shards aren’t easy things to fight and seemed to turn up in limitless numbers, but overall we did really well, we made it back after all. The trouble is, all that effort was for nothing, the data crystal was empty and Ike says there was never anything written on it, and there’s no going back.

I’ve asked myself over and over if we could have done something differently and the answer is, of course we could, but there’s no guarantee that different actions would have been any more successful, in fact they could have been even more disasterous. We’ll never know if there was anything there for us to find and I still believe we made the most logical decisions based on the information we had, but it’s hard not to wonder.

We had one fatality, Tracey Klapphroth… I don’t know, I’ve lost crew mates before but this was so unexpected, she wasn’t even on duty… all the danger we faced on the planet and she was killed on the Columbia. She saved the life of another of the crew so she’ll be remembered as a hero at least… the Captain is taking it hard though s/he’s doing hir best not to show it and I’m… stunned, it still doesn’t seem possible that someone so full of life, is just gone.

End Log.

Science

CSO LCdr Kellan Vos

Stardate 21206.11

We were sent to the Caratas System to discover the fate of a special operations team. This team reportedly had information regarding this new threat to the Alpha Quadrant. We knew this unknown enemy's capabilities from the FNN report at Bajor. This team could have given us at least a chance to defend other planets from the same fate.

But first we had to find them. The Columbia had been outfitted with a new stealth system. Not one that just made us invisible to sensors but to the naked eye as well. We even tested it by doing a fly by past another Federation ship.

Unfortunately, it seems we'll only be able to slip unseen by our own. The enemy was able to follow us. Not exactly, but close enough to know the technology wasn't as effective as we thought. Maybe one of the Engineers can explain why to me. I do know the system was overheating when we broke atmo on Caratas III.

Why did we do that? The charged ionosphere prevented any ground scans from orbit. It was my recommendation to take advantage of the natural cover even though it would diminish our own ability to find out what was going on in orbit. We still had the cloak on to help out for as long as it would last.

More of the enemy 'shard ships' appeared in orbit. A good amount seemed to fuse together into another large donut shaped vessel. The donuts seem to be able to generate a vast amount of graviton interference in both a static field around themselves as well as being able to direct pulses of the particle. I can only speculate as to their purpose, but the pulses appeared to be a sort of scanning technique.

And they also served to propel us into the planet's atmosphere with minimal use of our own thrusters. The shard vessels only seemed to track us after we adjusted our current position. I have more to analyze during this shore leave.

Ultimately, we did have to do a physical disconnect from the stealth system. It was the only way to keep the device from overheating and affecting the surrounding computers. We hid in a tight canyon to buy the Away Team more time in finding the SOCOM shuttle. One of the larger conglomerate ships, not as big as the donut, forced us to flee our hiding spot. I had prepared some decoy probe and a Class 9 in case things got out of hand and we had to eject our own data tapes. We met the Eidolon in orbit and rabbited before the shard armada could do any serious damage to the Columbia. I did not have to launch any of the probes.

The Away Team presented Captain Adaran with the data crystal from the SOCOM team. Unfortunately, it had nothing on it. That only made the lost crew members, including my fellow Department Head Lieutenant Klapphroth, harder to lose. Our paths did not cross outside of Bridge duties, but I will miss our Deltan CTO. She had an outlook on life that always made the arduous hours more enjoyable.

While we did collect the reports from the first response team, I believe there is enough data from our experience for Star Fleet to put to good use. Maybe I can come up with a few anti-graviton defense...s.

End Log.

Engineering

CE Lt Vielro

Stardate 21202.13

I just had my first meeting with my most trusted... or those that I assumed would be my most trusted... engineers.

There are some definite differences of opinion regarding our new cloaking device. I almost believe that Bailey and Dulan will, while not necessarily SABOTAGE our use of the device, will certainly not be at all enthusiastic about its use. I don't need enthusiasm, but I do need loyalty and obedience. I think I barely have the latter.

I will be sure to keep an eye on things as they work, to ensure that there are no issues.

Why did I accept Chief Engineer aboard a ship? I don't even like ships... I keep convincing myself that this is the best place for me, especially with the invasion. But I remain unconvinced. I belong as an engineering specialist with a ground-based intelligence team. That's what I have always done, and done well.

I will make the best of this situation, at least for now. And I will employ a few assets to keep an eye on my personnel to make sure nothing unfortunate happens.

End log.

Ens Vale Bailey

Stardate 21206.12

Our mission to Caratas IV began on a bitter note. I was informed by the CEO after returning from shore leave that the Columbia had been outfitted with a cloaking device. Apparently star fleet has decided that it's okay to break treaties as long as no one knows about it. I voiced my opposition to the technology but was quickly overruled. I was forced to study the technology in-depth as our mission was going to require stealth and speed, and it would be my job to make sure the Columbia could perform.

During the trip to Caratas I devoted my extra time to coming up with adaptations to the deflector in response to the inquisitors graviton-based systems. First a detection system that would avoid the use of active scans, and secondly an anti-graviton pulse designed to cripple the enemy ships much like an electro-magnetic pulse would cripple our own. Neither was taken advantage of in attempts to save time. Both, I'm convinced, could have allowed us to avoid the situation we found ourselves in shortly after the mission actively began.

I was selected to accompany the away team to the planet's surface. The team consisted of myself, Commander Macleod, a new tactical Midshipman, two doctors, and the newly formed SAS Bravo-2 team. Our mission was to find a missing intelligence team that had gone down on the planet with information regarding the inquisitors... information that could help us win this war. I would be partially responsible for either repairing their vessel or retrieving the data from it before we would be able to call the mission a success. On top of that, the Eidolon's systems were solely my responsibility. It seems I was to dabble in every possible function of the away mission with the exception of actual combat, assuming even that could even be avoided.

Once the Bravo team descended, they were quickly able to determine that the downed shuttle had been attacked, and the missing intelligence team in a cave a moderate distance away. As the team headed out, I thought it would be best if Carter, the Bravo-2 computer specialist, and myself took a look at the shuttle, to see if anything could be recovered.

Midshipman Kemarrin landed the Eidolon and we were just about ready to move forward when something large and living outside made me rethink my plan. Macleod and the Bravo-2 pilot hopped out to take a look.

Not minutes afterwards, the shuttle lost power due to the stealth system's overheating. After examining the system, I found that the whole conduit had been blown, taking down a few other systems. I would have to take the whole condiut offline in order for the Eidolon to restart. Before I was able to do so, the CMO (who was currently in command) ordered the shuttle doors to be opened, which would have slowed us down quite a bit as the shuttle doors were on the same conduit as the blown stealth system. I quickly told the crew not to open the doors and was even more quickly reprimanded.

To make matters worse, we received word from the Columbia that their was a mothership in orbit preparing a graviton beam. The same weapon that had made short work of Bajor. And even on top of that, shards were quickly bearing down on our position. With the stealth system down and radio silence broken, it was time to use every available system to finish things up quickly and get out of there.

The beast outside slammed the Eidolon's hull, making getting back off of the ground difficult, but she held it together until we were out of range. I then quickly transported the away team members that were on the surface to the shuttle and we made our escape.

I shudder to think what may have happened if I had taken just a little longer to get the ship operational, or if I hadn't overridden the CMO's command inadvertently. I am not a very confrontational person and had I remembered the doctor was in charge, I may not have spoken up. We wouldn't have been able to make our escape until the doors were closed, and by then it may have been too late to save ourselves or the away team. I may have gotten the Eidolon running and made the right call regarding the chain of command, but I'm convinced it was little more than sheer luck than any display of skill on my part.

Upon returning to the Columbia, the cosmic joke continued as I learned that not only had the stealth system failed on the Columbia as well, but it had also not stopped the enemy from tracking her anyway, leaving me with a sick feeling in my stomach. The only reason I convinced myself to let it go before the mission was because I thought it would be helpful, and that this information was necessary to stopping the inquisition. With the failure of the technology as a whole, I now feel like I abandoned my convictions for nothing.

And just when I thought I was done with bad news. I heard through the grapevine that the data crystal we had gone through so much for had been blank. Lives were lost. Tracy died during the attack on the Columbia... and for what?

It has now been several days since we began our return journey, and I am still sorting my thoughts. I wonder what Dad would have done in my situation... only I don't wonder. I know he would have taken a stand. He would have made the captain listen, somehow. I never knew someone who could talk my father out of his convictions. And here I am compromising them for lost lives and empty data crystals.

I have a lot of difficult conversations to have with the Chief Engineer and the Captain ahead of me over the validity and ethical implications of the stealth system. It is hard to fight against unknown enemies, but it's even harder to fight against well-known friends.

End log.

Security

COS Lt Don West

Stardate 21202.13

The Columbia has been sent to the Caratas system to go investigate the disappearance of a SOCOM strike team. They are reported to have collected important data on our new enemy and that data is our primary objective.

We are running with acting department heads in both the Medical and Tactical departments, but both acting heads appear to be quiet capable.

On arrival the FO Macleod took an away team with him to the a planet named Caratas IV. It appears that is where our SOCOM members are hiding. The Captain never seems to amaze me, she made me the acting FO in Macleod's absence, even though Vos is higher ranked.

I was put in charge of the Bridge for a while, as the Captain attended to matters else where on the ship. During my short spell as Captain, we managed a successful surface landing on the planet's surface. We are currently at red alert and running emergency repairs on the ship's stealth device.

End log,

Stardate 21206.18

I have put off recording this log for a number of reasons.

Caratas IV, a fairly straight forward mission went nothing like I saw it in my head. The mission was a loss and to make matters even worse we lost an important member of or crew. Trac Klapphroth lost her life. She was our chief tactical officer and a friend.

My command skills also came up short and I will be spending as much as possible in the holodecks to sharpen up my skills.

The later part of the mission is a blur to me. I have been told that I collided if one of the consoles on the Bridge when the Columbia hit the rock face of the planet. That put in into sickbay for the rest of the mission and once again, I end a mission badly.

End log.

Lt JG Raass Giraath

Stardate 21203.04

Begin Log.

I have received a new assignment aboard the Columbia. I now lead the new Specialized Assault Squad Bravo-2. Our first assignment is the recovery of intel on the Federation's invaders. It seems the team that gathered the intel has gone missing on Caratas IV. Our job is get the intel safely back to Starfleet. Our secondary objective is to recover the missing team. Lieutenant Commander Macleod is leading the Away Team, which includes my squad. He seems uncomfortable with the mission orders, as to several other members of the selected crew. My orders are clear, recover and return the intel at any cost. I intend to do just that, regardless of Commander Macleod's sensibilities.

End Log.

Stardate 21206.04

Addendum, Stardate 21206.04:

We recovered the data crystal containing the intel. The missing team appears to have been killed by the natives of Caratas IV. As we nearly were. Most of my team was injured during the recovery. Crewman Sita lost a leg. I was nearly killed by an avalanche the natives used to try and kill us all.

Additionally, the new stealth systems on the shuttle failed, as did the new stealth system on the Columbia, or so I hear. The invaders located our position, and very nearly succeeded in destroying us. Fortunately, we were able to return to the Columbia and escape the planet. I do not yet know if the data crystal contained the intel we were looking for.

End Log.

Stardate 21206.11

Begin Log.

The mission was a failure. The data crystal I recovered from the planet was completely blank. It seems the original team was killed before they could transfer the data onto the crystal.

Klapphroth died saving N'alae. I found out yesterday. I read the report. If it hadn't been for Tracey, N'alae...

Losing Tracey, combined with my failure to recover the intel, has been devastating to the crew's morale. It is going to be a long trip back to Bravo.

I've decided to resign as Bravo-2's team leader. Starfleet will be looking for someone to blame for the mission's failure, and it's better that they blame me instead of the lost SOCOM team.

End Log.

Medical

Lt JG Andrew Wood

Stardate 21206.11

...

Where to start, where to start?

The mission failed I guess, we'll see how that gets handled. All in all the mission sucked, nothing went as it should have. We got beat up, lost a bunch of good people, including Tracey, for apparently nothing.

Tracey...the ship won't be the same. I've spent as much time in the holodeck as I can schedule, something's got to help. A lot of crew have come to Sickbay for someone to talk to about the mission. But where does the healer go to get healing? The Appalachians and Maine wilderness for this one.

It'll pass, eventually.

Ahhh, back to work, a lot of evaluations and checks from the injuries to keep me busy on the trip home.

End log.

Tactical

Midn Martok Kemarrin

Stardate 21206.11

The mission began as any of the others have in the past, we departed from Bravo on a challenging assignment. We knew from the very beginning that the mission would be difficult and we weren't disappointed.

Upon our arrival at the destination planet, we found that the atmosphere was ionized enough to where our sensors and transporters were near useless. We managed to locate the SAS teams beacon and determine a plan of action. I would fly the Eidolon down to the beacon with the SAS team and Macleod as lead, our mission was to retrieve the information the team had gathered and the missing team if possible.

As we got ready to depart we encountered the enemy. They seemed to know where we were and began searching for the Columbia. Before they could locate the ship, the Eidolon was successfully launched and made its way into the atmosphere followed by two shard ships.

We ended up locating the missing team and what we believed to be the data chip. After a hair raising escape from the planet in which multiple SAS team members were injured along with Macleod, we rendezvoused with the Columbia and managed to survive.

Turns out the data crystal never had any information on it. I'm still not sure if we took the wrong thing or there was never anything to begin with. It still doesn't make sense to me though since the missing SAS team stated that they had vital information to get back to Starfleet. I guess we'll never know what happened.

Anyways, we are back at Starbase Bravo now and the crew is leaving the ship so that repairs can get underway. I'm one of the last to leave the ship, I don't really want to but Captain's orders are to take some time off. I'll have to figure out something to do while I'm stuck here.

Just so anyone reading this knows, I didn't forget about those we lost during this mission. I choose to celebrate their lives instead of mourning their loss. They were a great asset to Starfleet and this crew and will be sorely missed. Tracey has been the hardest on everyone, I just hope that she finds peace and knows how she touched everyone on this crew.

End Log