Dauntless:Fifteenth Mission - bortaS

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Dauntless crew were granted use of the USS Apparition, an experimental phase-cloaking ship. Mission was to infiltrate the Klingon Empire and drain a secret Intel base of its information, and then destroy it. Mission was overall a success, and added the bonus of rescuing the Captain’s wife and daughter. Nearly 20 died, however. Returned with the IKV KlarQ, a Klingon scout ship, after Apparition was destroyed.

Captain’s Log

Captain’s Log, Star Date 21504.20, End of Mission Log, Captain Torgh

Begin Log.

Logs, bah!

Star Fleet is obsessed with logs. I miss the Empire where I wrote a log… never!

Our mission was an unparalleled success. I have no complaints and our crew performed miraculously; what’s left of them.

The deaths would weigh heavily on me if we had not achieved such great success.

Crew Logs

Cdr Theodore Calecott

21501.29

First Officer's Log Commander Theodore Caldecott Stardate 21501.29

Commence recording...

Our next objective is one of an esoteric nature, with Star Fleet spooks involved. The Dauntless will be left in orbit around Celes II while undertaking repairs. However, the skeleton that the Captain handpicked will be trekking on a much smaller vessel.

[Theo coughed exaggeratedly]

The Apparition as the name implies is equipped with specialized technology including a high tech cloaking device. Since this mission will take us to the he B’Rel system which is located near where Klingon vessels are built. Most specifically, the base is ran by the KDF where a terrorist faction is suspected of being the behind the attack on Paris.

We are to gather information on this sect but I feel we are in for a fight. My personal opinion on this mission is mixed. The evil in me wants to capture these so called terrorists and torture them for days before disposing of them. The angel on my shoulder tells me to act according to Star Fleet regulation; upholding all rules of engagement while being tasked.

But...my gut feeling is telling me otherwise and I will be personally involved in some sort of assault team. As per Captain Torgh, I was tasked in coordinating with Lieutenant Commander Taelor. Whatever we encounter, I am ever ready and willing to die for this cause. I know it sounds like a cliche and everyone mentions the act of dying for the Federation.

This to me is so ever real.

Encrypted and end log.

LCdr Sam Eyles

21501.15

Personal Log Lieutenant Commander Sam Eyles Stardate 21501.15

I feel like a proper department head, at last. No more leading a contingent that contains an officer who actually outranks me. I mean I know I had positional authority and there was never an issue with insubordination or anything, or even bruised egos. But still, it grated at me for some reason. I guess I can put that particular neurosis behind me now!

And now we have a legally-questionable deep raid into supposedly friendly territory. It wouldn't be a week on the Dauntless without some new test of the regulations, I suppose... I just hope the little tugboat we're taking over the border is up to the job. There are some worrying parts and procedures attached to it... and I'll have to leave it there, lest I run the risk of being subjected to a personal investigation by the Spooks.

Hah, there's a thought - working with the greyjackets again. What was it I said last time? If I never seen one again, it'll be too soon?

At least it's not Calder again. Just a fresh deathtrap.

More later.

21502.14

Personal Log Lieutenant Commander Sam Eyles Stardate 21502.14

My concerns over the tugboat were mostly assuaged. She's over-engineered to within a centimetre of her life, and it shows. I think a third of her displacement is powerplant. And now we're about to test one of the more exotic pieces of technology grafted into her by some dark section of the SCE.

If it works, I'll never be able to tell anyone. And if it doesn't... well. It'll have been a short trip at least.

The token greyjacket turned out to not be as much of a pain in the arse as I anticipated... if a little too proud of her own work. But with something like this... I can't help but imagine I'd be acting the same way in her shoes. The Apparition is truly a worthy piece of work.

More later.

21503.23

Personal Log Lieutenant Commander Sam Eyles Stardate 21503.23

Well, we've arrived at our operational target. Even with all the fancy kit aboard this bucket, I'm faintly surprised we made it without being detected. Actually... I suppose we could have been detected and the Klingons have just been patient and/or sneaky enough to lull us into a false sense of security, about to decloak and ambush us at any moment.

Paranoia is infectious, I suppose.

I managed to talk myself into going with the away team. The training was the definition of 'crash-course'. I hope it's enough to see me through. On the plus side, the EV-C suits are fantastic. I won't want to get out of it.

Speaking of the away team... we're assembling to beam over to the station now. Gotta go.

More later. I hope.

21504.16

Personal Log Lieutenant Commander Sam Eyles Stardate 21504.16

Unmitigated disaster. Seventy percent plus casualties. Remaining crew in various states of injury. Loss of ship and equipment. Objective secured.

So, mission successful?

We lost most of the away team in the fight. I am amazed that I pulled through... I have a healthy survival instinct and these combat suits to thank for that, I imagine. I got Solia killed when I wasn't watching her back - pinned down and stabbed in the neck. Saving Rawne was pointless in the end anyway; we boarded and siezed a Bird of Prey, and some fat Klingon transporter tech vaped him on the pad.

I don't have the stomach for this sort of work. I'm an engineer for crying out loud, the only times I've fired a personal weapon in anger was in self defence before I ever joined the Fleet. And I ended up volunteering for an assault team.

Stupid.

I can't even say it was a good decision to order Ballantyne and Eaglestone to stay on the ship. It was discovered and wrecked by the Klingons, and half the crew were killed in the fight. They could have died there, too, just as bloody as getting their behinds shot off in the base.

Gonna be more than a week before we get back to a port. Can't f***ing wait.

End log.

LCdr Debbie Prescott

21501.30

Chief Tactical Officer's Log Stardate 21501.30 Lieutenant Commander Debbie Prescott recording:

Here I am, my first field assignment. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but then again I don't know what I was really expecting. The original orders were to report to the Dauntless and upon my arrival I was redirect to the Apparition. I made it onboard and managed to catch the last part of Captain Torgh's mission briefing to the two dozen crew.

From what I understood it's sounding darker than the normal Star Fleet mission, but on Earth I'm sure all we hear are the 'good' parts of what occurs out in space. It was comfortable back in San Francisco, but I plan on earning my keep here.

The first leg of our trip, I found myself on the Bridge only with the Captain and Miss Murphy. I have a slight feeling she holds some contempt again me as I was assigned as tactical chief over her. I can't confirm that feeling, but I feel as though she is capable and beneficial to my fitting in.

My ethics might be put on trial here, but I have the feeling that I will make it through this mission without incident. I hope to see and return to the Dauntless, then again I will still have to meet up to Captain Torgh's standards to remain as his tactical chief. Here's to the future.

End log and encrypt.

21502.18

Chief Tactical Officer's log Stardate 21502.18 Lieutenant Commander Debbie Prescott recording:

Where to begin? There's Commander Taelor who I apparently am not on the best of terms with. She's a classic example of a Grade-A ***** as far as I'm concerned. She caught the last bit of a conversation with myself and two other officers.

Granted, I can understand how I'd feel if I managed to hear others talking down on me. But, that doesn't constitute horribly giving one the cold shoulder. With us being in such close quarters, I just hope I don't have to rely on her watching my back. With her street gang background, from what I understand anyways, I wouldn't be surprised of she turned her own weapons against me.

On the other hand, Star Fleet seemed it necessary to reassign our First Officer mid-mission. I never had the opportunity to get to know Commander Caldecott, but that's one experienced officer that's being flushed down the drain as far as this mission is concerned.

While I had hoped certain elements of this mission would be altered given this development, I wasn't surprised to hear nothing would change. We'll be going in under cloak, but I have a nagging feeling we aren't using the standard cloaking device one might expect. We're departing Listening Outpost Ten on a course that would put us smack dab in the middle of the outpost's asteroid. There's only one way to figure out if I'm right I guess.

End and encrypt log.

21504.09

Chief Tactical Officer's log Stardate 21504.09 Lieutenant Commander Debbie Prescott recording:

What can I say? Our mission went straight down the toilet after Captain Torgh and his teams transported over to the Klingon base. Over here on the Apparition we had it extremely easy. All we needed to do was lay low until our teams completed their assault. It should've been simple for us to evade the Klingons with the aid of a cloaking device.

The problem therein is the person Torgh left in command of the ship. Lieutenant Commander Starnault might have actual field experience, but not the tactical experience necessary to operate in hostile territory. After transporting our people over, he apparently neglected to order the cloaking device to be reactivated. This proved to be a grave tactical error as the three Klingon scouts in the area detected us without difficulty. Under normal circumstances, this ship might be a match for three scouts. However, three outclassed us and a blatant confrontation would be harmful to our health.

Starnault ordered a course directly for the scout group, a suicidal move at best. The cloak was brought on-line, but we hadn't managed to full phase before we collided on a molecular level with one of the Klingon vessels. Their systems obviously weren't prepared for that eventuality and they were quickly destroyed. For us, however, we didn't fare much better. The Apparition suffered significant damage and we were forced to eject our warp core and deactivate the cloak.

With Starnault unconscious, I took command of the situation. Our warp core now only had one use left for us. Shields had failed and phasers were no longer operational, so I saw only one course of action that we could take. I ordered Maggie to try and bait the Klingons into getting near our core. The plan was to destroy one and disable the other. Then I hoped we could board the survivor and, as un-Star Fleet as it may seem, take over the vessel. Then again, this was a life and death decision for the crewmembers still on Apparition as far as I was concerned.

The time to actually enact the plan was upon us. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. We managed to destroy another B'rel, but it resulted in their destroyed core sending out a shockwave that we weren't capable of escaping. Now we've lost our ablative armor, cloak, most of our engine power which were relying on thruster now, and no way of transporting to the other vessel.

Now I'm left with a ship that's had most of the remaining crew killed. Even if we still had a warp core it would be extremely long hours from everyone to operate the ship. Apparition is dead in the water and we have no way of particularly salvaging her. I hope, but I highly doubt it's possible, that Engineering will manage to restore transporters and we can finish carrying out the original plan. With the likelihood of them doing so extremely slim, I can only hope and pray for a miracle at this point.

End and encrypt log.

Lt Maggie Murphy

21504.19

Personal Log Lieutenant Margaret Murphy Stardate 21504.19

It's weird to say 'I'm happy this is my last log aboard the Dauntless.' Of course, my last mission had to be anything but uneventful. Well, it wasn't even aboard the Daunty. It was... it's not something I'm supposed to talk about. The whole mission -well, the main goal of the mission- was a success, I guess I could say. But really, you'd have to talk to Captain Torgh about that. We made it back to Federation space, I can say that much.

The Chief Science Officer, Starnault, didn't exactly make it back in one piece. You can almost blame him for the outcome of the mission. But he's kind of paying for that now, anyway. In a Starbase Sickbay. I actually heard they're gonna take him back to Earth. Who know. Bottom line is, I was lucky to survive this mission. Just -bam- seventy percent causalities...

I got my transfer approved this morning. While the Dauntless crew enjoys their shore leave, I'll be heading over to the Avenger. It's, as you would guess, yet another Avenger-class ship... but I'm hoping a ship that has less of a chance of stupidly-dying.

Chief Science Officers should not be put in charge of Bridges.

Well, if the Starfleet heads are gonna be mad at anyone, it'll be Starnault and Torgh. Prescott at least was able to take control and get us... well, safer. I'd say the mission was a disaster if I wasn't still in one piece; or if the goal hadn't been met. Which, according to Torgh, it had. I'm really glad I wasn't on the Away Mission on this one.

End Log.

Lt Samantha Rae Fritz

21504.19

Personal Log Lieutenant Samantha Rae Fritz Stardate 21504.19


Let's discuss this mission.

I do not think I enjoy working under the command of a Klingon... a Klingon after what he would deny is revenge. I like the man himself, I'm starting to think. But my productive time was spent working with the Science team to develop biological weapons. I did not get into this line of work to hurt people, to torture people. I shudder to think what the heads at Starfleet think of my work. I pray to the Goddesses it never comes back to me.

Torgh and his Away Team were set to infiltrate, and ideally, bring back prisoners to question. I, and the Science team, were the back-up plan. As far as I can tell, everything pretty much went to sh!t as soon as they beamed over, if you'll excuse my language. The Apparition was in pieces before Torgh even blew it up. Most of the crew we brought on-board were lost; the nurse and I couldn't do much for them. I still don't know how I'll word those letters to the families. “Lost in the line of duty,” I suppose I could always say.

Permanently lost, it unfortunately seems to be, is the Chief Science Officer, Lancepaul Starnault. He and I were starting to become contentious friends, too. During a fire-fight with one or more of the Klingon vessels, I am told, he received a cranial wound – too much for me to attend to, even if we had been aboard the Dauntless. I can only hope he survives the trips from Starbase to Starbase, and then back to Earth. Pigheaded though he is, I think I shall miss him.

We are headed back now, in a ship I don't believe I am allowed to say. It's not Starfleet, I'll say that much. I think the first thing I'll do when we get back to a base is... sleep. With a piece of chocolate cake in my hand. And then go for a very long run.

End log.

Ens Martin Fields

21505.04

Science Officer's Log Ensign Martin Fields Stardate 21505.4

Well this was a disaster. I'm surprised any of us made it out of there alive. I feel like an idiot for being so gung-ho about this mission in the first place. First, I help Dr. Fritz create a terrifying method of interrogation, and then Lancepaul nearly cleaves the Apparition in half by taking it straight into some Klingon patrols. Now the Apparition is in pieces, many of the crew perished in the assault, and Lancepaul probably won't make it... Not exactly a success. I'm sorry, I don't have much to say...