Copernicus Mission 02: "One Lump, or Two?"

Stardate 20401.15

Commander Darsyn Syntranos recording.

The USS Copernicus, a brand new Einstein Class Galactic Survey ship, was ordered to transfer Admiral Jeffrey Linden to Star Base Bravo, near the Cardassian border. Afterwards, Captain Ysiadina Lanael took the ship to Sector C-3329 to explore two planets, a class O and class Q.

Upon arriving, we detected strange light formations emanating from both planets. Captain Lanael, despite my efforts to stop her, took a small Away Team to the surface of the Class O planet, while I took the ship to the Class Q.

Before we had a chance to do much exploring of our own, a huge alien vessel appeared and took an orbit around the Class Q planet, and began to beam down lots of mining equipment and personnel. All attempts at contact with the ship resulted in silence. After contacting the Captain, and exchanging reports, we learned that there was also a sentient race on the Class Q planet called the Zshe, who were being hurt by the mining activities of the alien landing party. Apparently what they were mining was pure latinum, the life-blood of the Zshe.

I took another shuttle, due to sudden malfunctions with the transporter, along with a small away team to investigate. We discovered that the aliens were indeed a race called Dopterians, similar in appearance to the Ferengi. Fortunately, they were more interested in mining than they were in fighting, so they left us alone to conduct our scans of the planet. The surface of which was covered in a strange silicone-like substance, which, oddly enough, turned out to be the life form we were sent to protect.

Before we could do anything about it, an incident involving Lt. Tor-ith Cateil, escalated into a battle. The Dopterians apparently weren’t the only ones there; a Cardassian warship was in the system, so I decided to take the team back up to the ship. Upon arrival, I learned that the Cardassians had somehow gotten a hold of the Copernicus’ prefix codes, and we were left helpless, their weapons went right through our shields…

I also learned that Captain Lanael’s shuttle had been intercepted and destroyed by the Cardassians while en route back to the Copernicus.

Enraged, I began issuing orders, not caring about the consequences. With the shields useless, I ordered the Cardassian’s sensors to be scrambled so the only way they could hit us was if they got lucky. It worked for a short while, but they did manage to get in a few blind shots. Then the unthinkable happened.

The Copernicus suddenly powered down, and was being boarded.

Luckily, Commander Prolog, whom we acquired shortly after entering the system, was able to get back control of the ship and change all of the prefix codes. I had command transferred to me.

I was now captain.

We were hopelessly out classed and out gunned. In a desperate attempt to save the ship, I had transported every Cardassian the transporters could lock onto into a cargo bay, one that could be depressurized. I was going to try to use them for leverage, and let the security teams take care of the rest. It was working; I had over a hundred of them!

If it hadn’t been for what happened next, we would have never survived.

Several P’ah’lai ships came to our rescue, with the rest of the late Captain Lanael’s Away Team. They fired on the Cardassian warship twice, destroying their shields, and severely damaging it, leaving the Copernicus with a way out. The Cardassians began to retreat, pulling back their boarding parties, but not before I depressurized the cargo bay and sent half of them hurling into space.

In an effort to stop the Cardassian warship from escaping, I ordered the Copernicus to scrape their shields, oblivious to the fact that the Cardassians had none. The result was disastrous, but at the same time, miraculous. The force and the angle of the impact forced both of our ships tumbling back from each other, just far enough that when the Cardassian ship exploded; the shockwave didn’t do much damage.

However, the P’ah’lai ships weren’t so lucky.

Luckily, we were able to retrieve the P’ah’lai pilots and the rest of the team before their ships were destroyed by the shockwave.

With a crippled Copernicus, I took her back to the Class Q planet and forced the Dopterians off the planet and out of the system. Even with the Copernicus as crippled as it was, the Dopterian ship didn’t take any chances. And they left their latinum behind.

I met with two of the P’ah’laians, Quelphin and Phelliph, who were more than grateful for our help. After returning them to their home, I set the ship on route to Star Base Bravo.

Captain's Logs

Capt Ysiadina Lanael

Stardate 20309.15

Stardate 20309.15

Captain Ysiadina Lanael recording.

Receiving our orders to check out Sector C-3329, Polaris System, Planet designation O-IV, I took an away team and we have set down or rather in the planets ocean surface without incident. Commander Syntranos is in command of the Copernicus until my return. He seems nervous but I know that the experience is good for him.

This is only a preliminary log to keep things fresh in my mind as I know things will progress quickly from here. The sheer abundance of life is staggering; it is a strange and wonderful feeling to be aware of it on the level I am. I can't hear any thoughts but I know this is a place rich with feeling. I know I am certainly picking up on the away team, but it seems like more than that. More to come.

End log.

Stardate 20310.14

Stardate 20310.14

Captain Ysiadina Lanael recording.

The planet P'ah'lai is beautiful and lush with life of all types, I am taking a moment while Quelphin is conversing with another of its kind to put my thoughts on record. We have been welcomed with open arms and the overall feeling from the away team is positive. I am however getting a bit of an anxious vibe from the Pah'laian's themselves, something is going on here that has not yet come clear, I am sure that it will all be plain once the sun sets. They said we would not understand until then. That is all for now...

End log.

Cdr Darsyn Syntranos

Stardate 20401.11

Stardate 20401.11

Commander Darsyn Syntranos recording.

The universe is a cruel place, but it isn't unforgiving as I had thought it was. It works in mysterious and inconceivable ways.

This is my first Captain's log since the untimely death of Captain Yssy Lanael, my best friend. She had always been the light at the end of the tunnel, and now, I fear that light is gone. Am I doomed to wonder down the tunnel forever? Always looking for an exit that doesn't exist anymore?

She always kept me straight. Always there when I needed her. She even saved my life a few times. I wished I could have returned the favor. But at least I avenged her death. I couldn't do that for my mother, and I'd be damned if I didn't do it for Yssy.

I should have never let Yssy leave the ship...

It would never have started if Lt. Cateil hadn't fired on that Dopterian, but I can't blame him, I would have done the same. It was inevitable. But how was I supposed to know that they were in league with the Cardassians? It was a surprise no one could have guessed.

One word from the Dopterian Captain and the Cardassians began to fire on us as if our shields weren't even there. Someone had given them our prefix codes. And when I find out who, not even God will be able to save them!

• the sound of a fist slamming down can be heard here*

We were no match for the Cardassian warship. All we could do was scramble their sensors and pray they didn't get lucky. But then they started to board the ship, and I was forced to take drastic measures. I beamed most of them into the cargo bay, one that could be depressurized. They started to retrieve their friends, which is when I flushed what I could out of the bay.

Then the cavalry came. The P'ah'lai. They didn't look like much, but their weapons more than made up for their looks. They took out the Cardassians in two shots! Well, severely crippled them anyway. They had used most of their power to do it, so it was up to me to finish them off.

I decided to do something even I think is insane; scrape their shields. But I was too upset to realize that they didn't have shields anymore, thanks to the P'ah'lai.

When our shields collided with the Cardassian warship it sent both our ships spinning. But as luck would have it, by the time the Copernicus stopped, we were far enough away from them, that when theirs exploded, it only caused minimal damage to the Copernicus.

The P'ah'lai ships weren't so lucky. But I managed to rescue the occupants before the shockwave hit.

The one good thing out of this whole mess at least is that the P'ah'lai and the Zshe are now our allies. I hope I get to visit their world soon. I hear it's quite beautiful...

Maybe making new allies will be enough to help my case. Phelliph and Quelphin would most certainly back up my story. Interesting creatures those two. I'm glad we were able to become friends.

Well, I'm going to find my sister and head off to the base. And also set up a memorial for Yssy. I may not get as much chance to enjoy my leave as the others, but they deserve it more than I do anyway. They did one hell of a job, and I may even recommend medals for some of them.

Computer. End Log and save.

Crew Logs

First Officer

Cdr Darsyn Syntranos

Stardate 20308.09

Cdr Syntranos First Officer's Log. Stardate 20308.09. Commander Darsyn Syntranos recording.

I miss the Gettysburg. I miss the only place in my life that I could truly call home. I was finally finding some peace. But, once again, fate has interfered.

But the universe decided to be kind this time. I'm now serving under my best friend, Yssy Lanael. I've made new friends already, heck even went on a date. But now, my attention has been tuned to sector C-3329.

There are two planets in that system. An O and Q class planet. Now from what I learned in astronomy, at least the parts I didn't sleep through, Q class planets are rather nasty, so I'm hoping Yssy will want to go to the O class planet first.

Sensors didn't indicate any type of artificial satellites or starships in the system, so we'll have to be careful going in.

Although I've seen enough action during the back to back wars to last me a while, I wouldn't mind a little something...

End log and save.

Engineering

Lt Rillith

Stardate 20305.13

Lt Rillith Personal Log, USS Copernicus, Stardate 20305.13

At first I thought I was the lucky one. It's not often a junior officer gets to board a ship and look around before her captain does. Not that it's a big deal, of course. I'm sure the Copernicus is still weeks or months away from being assigned her first mission. It's just a thrill having the chance to interact with the design teams. The ship is already set for a shakedown cruise, but there is still so much to be done, especially since she's already seen combat. From the limited reports I've had access to, the Copernicus performed extremely well. I can't wait to join the engineering team that is assigned to assimilating that data and putting it to use.

However, it seems my arrival has not been well-received, at least by one person in particular. Fredrick Bovis, the warp engine specialist who has been a part of the ship's construction since the beginning, gave me quite a good... ah... dressing down the moment I beamed aboard. It's the usual thing with ship designers. He's convinced I'm going to do something terrible to his systems before it leaves spacedock. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I'm going to wait until the ship gets underway first, then I'll do something to his systems. Maybe.

There's no official crew manifest yet, so I've yet to learn who the engineering department head will be. I hope he or she will allow me a bit of leeway with the various aspects of the Copernicus. There's so much raw power in this vessel, and it's not about weaponry or speed. It's about what I feel Star Fleet should truly be known for: research and exploration. That's not up to me, though. As long as I've been alive, all we've known is war. Hopefully that will change in my lifetime.

Hm. It seems I'm getting carried away. Bovis is expecting me in engineering in an hour or so. Maybe he'll be a bit happier to see me then. I won't be late. There's nothing of mine to unpack. All of my personal belongings, including my small archaeology collection, were destroyed along with Starbase One. I guess it's a good thing I'm on a science ship now. Maybe I can get to starting up that collection again.

End log entry.

Medical

CMO Lt Kinziri Jal

Stardate 20308.20

Lt Jal Chief Medical Officer's Log. Stardate 20308.20. Lieutenant Kinziri Jal recording.

My short time as Chief Medical Officer has started out fairly eventful. Of a crew of a couple of thousand and then some, how ironic is it that my most difficult patient on this ships maiden voyage so far turns out to be my own sister?

Our Mission has brought us to an unexplored system with a Class O and a Class Q planet showing signs of possible sentient life. Whilst I feel a knot in my stomach at the thought of making First Contact with an aquatic sentient species, I also worry that Kendri will be on any team that goes to the surface. The similarity to the planet Myhhrandil may bring up psychological trauma she may be suppressing from her ordeal with the parasitic creature on her recent crash land there.

If this does happen, I may be faced with a major challenge to my new professional career. I sure hope I don't get any patients more difficult than that!

Still ... I hope we do find sentient life, and that I get a chance to encounter it first hand!

End log.

Stardate 20401.15

Lt Jal Chief Medical Officer's Log. Stardate 20401.15. Lieutenant Kinziri Jal recording.

The USS Copernicus has docked with Starbase Bravo bringing her maiden mission to an end. I wish I could say it went well. I wish I could say I had had an uneventful voyage and that my professional skills had been untested. Unfortunately I have been kept very busy indeed.

After an unsuccessful Away Mission to the Q Class Planet that is home to a species known as the Zshe, we were initially unable to prevent the exploitation of the planet by a mining party of Dopterians. This was due to the arrival of a Cardassian Warship that intended to protect the mining party that was allied to the Cardassian Union.

The Cardassian's inflicted a terrible amount of damage to the Copernicus, and there were many casualties. Most of the injuries were standard and I found that the Medical personnel were more than capable of dealing with such an emergency.

Unfortunately there were other casualties that could not be treated. We did lose some crew on board the Copernicus but the greatest loss to the ship and to all of her crew is the loss of Captain Lanael. The Captain was in transit from an Away Mission to the partner O Class planet when the shuttle she was in exploded. Commander Syntranos assumed command of the ship and exacted a dire penalty on the Cardassian warship. The explosion of the attacking vessel did damage the Copernicus slightly but the casualty list did not exceed expectations.

The rest of the Away Team to the O Class planet (and home to an aquatic species called the P'ah'lai) returned to the ship and I was faced with a unique emergency situation.

One of the crew had been stung it seems by one of the resident lifeforms and an injected neuro-toxin caused rapid and dramatic transformation of the body of the crewman. The transformation enabled the crewman to breathe through newly formed gills, thus making him adapted to aquatic life. Unfortunately this meant that once transported back onto the Copernicus Junior Grade Lieutenant Trem was unable to breathe in air.

Having quickly set up a containment field encasing nutrient and oxygen rich fluid, I set about searching for a way to reverse the forced transformation of the officer.

Unable to find any previous cases of this I then began to form my own hypothesis. Remembering a similar case of sudden genetic metamorphosis in the Star Fleet Medical Database, I searched out the details and found a possible link that could be exploited.

The case in file was named 'Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome' named after the Star Fleet Officer which experienced the Syndrome first. A cure for this syndrome involved creating synthetic antibodies from the liquor amnii of female mammalian species. The antibodies deactivated introns which had 'awoken' the transformations of those who had been infected and thus returned them to normal.

I proposed to use a similar process in this case. As it happened, the affected crewman was a fellow of my own species, a Trill, and like myself he is also Joined with a Symbiont.

I deduced that as the Symbiont had not been affected by the transformation of the Host body then there must be some agent in the abdominal pouch which carries the Symbiont that acted against the neuro-toxin. Using a sample of the fluid around the Symbiont just as in the case of 'Barclay's Protomorphism Syndrome', I synthesized antibodies which were then assimilated into the genetic make up of the host and targeted the introns involved.

After a tense wait, the patient showed encouraging signs of returning to normal and at this moment is recovering at a rate beyond my expectations. He should be completely recovered within weeks of the operation although there is no telling at this point if there will be any lasting effects of the dramatic transformation the patient underwent.

The procedure I used, whilst based upon a precedent, was a new technique to medicine and I have been asked to present all of my notes both to Star Fleet Medical and to the Trill Symbiosis Commission. Some of the notes from this log will be used in my report.

On a personal note, I am extremely pleased with the way the operation has gone and take great personal pride in the fact that a theory I formed on the ground so to speak has had such success. I only wish I had been given the opportunity to perform some treatment for the Captain also. To lose her to a situation beyond my reach is almost unbearable. It was Captain Lanael who had the faith to offer me the position of Chief Medical Officer when I stepped onto the Copernicus, I only wish I had been able to use the position and newly growing skills to return the favor.

End log entry.

Stardate 20403.07

LCdr Jal Chief Medical Officer's Log. Lieutenant Commander Kinziri Jal recording. Stardate 20403.07.

This is to be my last recording as CMO for the Copernicus. I am moving over to the USS Drake to be the First Officer.

As I look back at my time here of course I have some regrets. I regret not getting the opportunity to get to know the crew better, to build up better relationships. I regret the loss of Captain Lanael, if only there had been something I could do to help, if she'd been aboard the ship at the time I might have ....

Oh well, regrets and if's and but's won't make anything different.

I keep hearing the voice of my father a lot these days and that phrase of his "don't look to the path that brought you here," he would say, "keep your eyes to the horizon, to the stars, to the future." I know he's right. This is a perfect occasion to keep to his wise words. A time to look to the future again. I must say I am excited about my new position, if still a little dazed by it all. I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen to me!

As for the Medical Department here on the Copernicus. I would like to think that I leave it in better condition than when I found it, and that my successor will find it an efficient and orderly place to work. Since I set up the department when the Copernicus was commissioned fully a lot has changed, on the ship and within the department. Personnel have come and gone but I would like to think I leave Sickbay a strong and capable Medical department on a formidable starship.

Another regret I have in leaving now is that I will be unable to work alongside my old friend and colleague Bireth Sazaan who has just been assigned here. I know he will keep the place running smoothly until Lieutenant Commander Munroe arrives to take up the reigns as CMO. I have left fully updated records and in particular left instruction for post op follow up for Lieutenant Trem and notes on what I have termed "Adaptive Aquatic Morphism" which affected him on that last mission. My report of the operation should be on it's way to Star Fleet Surgeon Generals office once the Trill Symbiosis Commission are done with it.

As I sign out I do so with mixed emotions. Yes there have been sad times whilst I have been aboard the Copernicus, but there have been many good times that I will keep with me through my life, and hopefully many friendships made here that will continue as well.

End log.

Security

COS Lt Karl Brackett

Stardate 20401.15

Lt Brackett Chief Of Security's Log. Stardate 20401.15. Lieutenant Karl Brackett recording.

Death is never easy to deal with. It wasn't five years ago and it isn't now.

While my half of the away team was meeting new species and having fun, I learned too late that the ship was under attack by a Cardassian Warship. Eventually leading to a boarding raid.

My staff fought valiantly, I will make sure that they receive commendations for their actions. But their actions were not without sacrifice. Nearly a fourth of my Personnel were killed or maimed in the battle. Among the dead is Chief Petty Officer Thomas Pain.

I found Pain among the wreckage of what looked to me to be a direct phaser hit from the Cardassian ship, CPO Pain took the blunt of the blast. His combat gear was blown away, making the recognition between plastisteel and human tissue hard to distinguish. Naturally his funeral will be closed casket.

Captain Lanael was also killed in the fighting. Her death has been difficult to bear.

End Log

Tactical

CTO Lt Ferguson

Stardate 20307.28

Lt Ferguson Lieutenant Ferguson's personal log, USS Copernicus, Stardate 20307.28.

Many things have happened since I first boarded the USS Copernicus. We had Department head's meeting a little under a week. It was there that I was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade! I also have been made Chief Tactical Officer on the ship. Or at least I will be once we drop of a crew member...

Shortly into the meeting, our ship snagged the tail, of a subspace phenomenon. Luckily we were able to get free and harm was done.

The captain has suggested that I get to know my peers better. I have tried to do so but talking to so many new people seems to make my head spin. I'm not sure what to do about it.

I have just arrived back from a reception. I was asked by Lieutenant Lacey to join he at the Captain's table. I wished to agree but I felt that I had to go and get ready for my next shift. I will be heading there shortly. Soon we will begin our mission...

End Log.

Stardate 20401.20

Lt Ferguson Chief Tactical Officer's log Stardate 20401.20

We have finally arrived at space dock on Star Base Bravo. Our trip to look for life on the two stars in question was a success, but with great loss. Captain Lanael was killed at the hand a Cardassian battle cruiser. The Captain's death has dealt a heavy emotional blow to Commander Syntranos.

I can't help but feel somewhat responsible for the Captain's death. At tactical I should have found some way to stop the Cardassians from destroying her shuttle craft, but I failed. I was unable to keep her with us, and I almost feel as if I don't belong in Star Fleet after all.

I tried to find the Commander, to speak to him, but I was unable to locate him. During the battle he ordered the death of several defenseless Cardassians we had in custody. I'm afraid for his position I believe he may be court-marshaled soon. If so I will surely help him in any way I can...

...End transmission