Sheridan Mission 02: "Vengeful Eyes with a Ghostly Dagger"

Mission 2 - "Vengeful Eyes with a Ghostly Dagger"

Located Below you will find three helpful pieces of information on this mission. First is a generalized Mission Overview which covers only specific and important events. Second is excerpts from the Captain's Log entries made during the mission, this can make for quite a read, but contains far more detailed and in depth accounts of the mission and the events surrounding it. Third is the crew's personal logs which will give insight into the mission from their perspectives.

Mission Overview

Stardate 20411.13

Captain Quillian Dramar, U.S.S. Sheridan Recording. The Sheridan has been sent to Sector 472 long the Federation/Orion board. Listening Posts along the boarder have picked up the presence of Phasic and Chronoton energy across the boarder in Orion space. Since I served as a Chief Science Officer prior to assuming command, and some of my research dealt with Chronoton particles, Admiral Benestad didn't have to explain the dangers of such weapons in the hands of angry Orions. We have been authorized to cross into Orion space if necessary.

A few hours on route to Sector 472, we received an automated distress signal from The Bootlegger, a Ferengi vessel. She was heavily damaged, with no functioning weapons, warp, or comm. system. I sent Commander Joseph Daher over with an standard away in addition to the medical and engineering teams. Upon scanning the vessel, sensors detected chronoton particles in the heavily damaged areas of the bootlegger.

Lieutenant Commander Travis had informed me that the dilithium crystals in the warp core had begun to destabilize and would need to be replaced. I informed Commander Daher that if possible, he should attempt to negotiate repairs for dilithium as the Bootlegger no longer had a function warp drive. Ensign West attempted some diplomacy of her own that resulted in her capture by several Ferengi crewmembers. That's to a little prodding on my part, she was released and we acquired the new set of dilithium crystals.

After the release of Ensign West, Lieutenant Talek detected the presence of a dampening field board the Bootlegger as well as the presence of two Federation Combadges. The Bootlegger was a slave runner. Upon ordering the release of the captives, the Bootlegger released cargo bays filled with hung and a sizable anti-matter charge. Upon the attack, the Bootlegger was disabled with a quantum torpedo. The Damion ejected nearly his entire crew in escape pods. Those who had no ejected apparently mutinied and initiated a power struggle. The Damion lowered the warp containment field causing the Bootlegger core to breach. Fortunately the mutinous crew bought us enough time to jump to warp 2 and ride out the shockwave.

Upon arriving on station at sector 472, scans detected the presence of a debris field, also apparently the result of Phasic weaponry. What was more disturbing was the presence of Thalaron radiation. We moved closer to the wreckage in order to find out more. Sensors were modified to scan for tachyon emissions.

While on site scanning to wreckage, our entire port lateral sensor array went down. This was not the result of strange chance. To compensate for the loss of sensor power, 3 probes were rigged up as our eyes and ears and held inside the shield bubble. The probes detected another distress signal, this one across the boarder in Orion space. Accompanying the origin of this scan were more chornoton particles. As a result of this, we crossed the boarder to render aid.

Upon arriving at this debris field, we discovered what appears to the remains of an external weapons pod. The chronoton signature suggests that it was a phasic weapon port. The distress signal itself was a homing beacon of an EVA suit. The body was recovered as well as several prime components of the pod. Our mission completed, we set course for Starbase Alpha for some much need R&R.

While in route to SBA, though still on the Orion side of the boarder, the port lateral sensor array returned. They detected a cloaked ship off the port bow. The cloaked Orion vessel attacked with two barrages of phasic/chronon phasers and torpedoes. The strikes did massive amounts of damage to the Sheridan. When their cloak dropped, we saw our enemy. Their ship was at least 500 meters long and 100 meters high. She displaced an estimated 1.5 million metric tons. The vessel had at least 9 phaser and torpedo banks, and numerous other weapons pods.

Their Captain hailed us. He wished to strike a bargain, exchanging safe passage into Federation Space for the Sheridan. I could not abandon the oath I took to up hold the safety of the Federation. Whether right or wrong, I believe this oath to protect the Federation supersedes that to protect the safety of my crew. If I let the Orion vessel known as The Privateer travel unopposed into Federation Space, the losses would have been enormous. I ordered a priority message sent to Starbase Alpha. We managed to jump to warp, but not before boarding parties beamed over. Security dealt with them, though not with losses. The goal was to at least make it back to inform Star Fleet before being destroyed.

I decided that if the Privateer caught up with us before we made contact with the Federation, we would drop warp containment fields for both the primary and auxiliary warp cores which would hopefully have severely damaged if not destroyed the Orion battleship.

The Privateer gave chase and caught up with us, destroying the nacelle and knocking us out of warp. Just as we set up for the collision course, the Calvary lead by the U.S.S. Exeter arrived. They fought off the battleship, forcing her to retreat. The Exeter towed us back to the Sol system, though we docked under our own power. The Sheridan is due for months of repair though that doesn't compare with the casualty list. I can only hope that the Sheridan will one day ride again and that one day, the Federation can enjoy the peace it once knew.

Captain's Logs

Stardate 20404.17

This is my first entry as Captain Himbog had been transferred off of the Sheridan to become an Ambassador of the United Federation of Planets. Therefore I have been assigned as Commanding Officer. It will take a while to adjust to the my new surroundings as I have only served aboard 2 other ships during my career, first the Enterprise and secondly the Philadelphia. Though I know I will miss the Philadelphia and the friends I have there, today a new chapter in my life as well as the Sheridan's begins. I can only hope that it will be a good chapter, one that has a happy ending.

I have just received our orders from Admiral Benestad. The Sheridan will will travel to Sector 472 where we will patrol the Federation/Orion boarder. Listen posts on the boarder have picked up readings of phasic energy in Orion space. Star Fleet Command believes that this could pose a danger to the Federation if the Orions get there hands on phasic technology. I to agree with them.

I have been granted permission to cross into Orion space if the situation warrants for such action. I have a feeling that his will not be a blue milk run. Due to the recent destruction of the Orion Tensec facilities, I believe that they will make use of any chance they get to hurt the Federation. Admiral Benedstad advises extreme caution, so once on station, the Sheridan will go to Yellow Alert.

The Senior staff has been gathered in the observation Lounge. This will give me a change to get to know them and inform them of the mission.

Computer, end log.

Stardate 20405.12

Where to start… the past two hours have been less than pleasant. I suppose I should at that beginning. Things started out well enough. The previously mentioned staff meeting began without too much trouble, though the Chief of Security was not present. I should have called him down to the meeting… though I didn’t. That was a mistake I will regret for a long time to come. A falling ceiling panel outside of the science labs injured Lieutenant Talek, though he has made a full recovery. Upon his arrival to the meeting, he has been promoted to Chief Science Officer. I need a CSO for this mission. Due to Lieutenant Command Wiley’s current comatose condition, I felt it was necessary to place her with Lieutenant Talek.

There have been two deaths aboard the ship. Chief Petty Officer Erickson has died in the line of duty. According to my Chief Security Officer, Lieutenant J.G. Shana Val, a hydro spanner was used to strike a plasma conduit, which ruptured filling the shuttle bay with plasma. CPO Erickson prevented it from spreading through the ship, though it cost him his life. The investigation is still going on as to exactly who struck the conduit. Lieutenant Val believes that there is a saboteur about the ship. There was also a security guard found unconscious in the shuttle bay.

As for the matter the second death… or murder rather, Lieutenant Garin Lokar, my former Chief of Security has been arrested for the murder of Ensign T’Wang. According to my COS, there are several witnesses saw the whole thing. Ensign Tori West is currently investigating the situation. There will be a Court Martial out of this.

Star Fleet Personnel transmitted a familygram for Lieutenant James Everret. I’m not looking forward to delivering this message. I will have the CMO and Counselor on had for this one.

It would seem that fate has decided to drop three other gems in our lap. While on route, we received an automated distress call for help from a Ferengi vessel name the Bootlegger. The ship is heavily damaged, no warp capability, with no weapons or defensive capability. Their comm. system has also been completely destroyed. I have sent Commander Daher with an away team composed of medical and engineering support over to the Bootlegger. Sensors are showing chronoton particles on the damaged areas of the Bootlegger. I have a feeling that this may be a result of an attack by Orion forces. I hope I am wrong.

The dilithium crystals in the warp core have begun to decrystalize and will cease to be viable. The Sheridan has been placed on reserve power running off fusion reactors. The next task will be to find a new source of Dilithium. Commander Daher will be attempting to trade repair support for Dilithium as the Bootlegger no longer has a functional warp drive.

Computer, end log.

Stardate 20408.22

The debriefing of the Bootlegger away team went… well I would say. I feel the crew learned a great about themselves and each other on this mission. I believe this will make for a more effective crew. Now that they have been through a unique situation like the Bootlegger, it will be to their benefit.

The Sheridan has arrived on station and we have officially begun the patrol. Sensors have detected a debris field, this one also appearing to be the result of some sort of phasic weaponry. This field is highly disturbing in the fact that they presence of Tharalon was detected. This could mean extreme danger for the Federation. I can only hope that I do not have to deal with such a weapon as the Enterprise did some 30 years ago. For the time being, I have ordered the Sheridan to move closer to the field and scan the debris field much closer in hopes that we can acquire more information from the wreckage. Ensign Silverune has modified the sensors to search for tachyon emissions. I can only hope that the Orions are not employing cloaking technology.

End log.

Stardate 20409.13

Someone sure threw us a curve ball. A bit after we arrived on station, the entire port lateral sensor array went down. It was as if someone had thrown dirt in our eyes. In all my years as a science officer, I’ve never seen that kind of thing happen to a sensor array, without there being some sort of interference due to an ion, or other subspace storm. This put us in a bit of a tight spot. Our sensor capability was massively impaired, making or mission of scanning Orionspace virtually impossible. The damage to sensors will take an estimated 72 hours to repair, which is 72 hours we don’t have.

To compensate for the loss of sensors, I ordered the preparation of 3 probes to be refitted with the strongest sensors we can salvage. They will be linked, held inside the shield bubble and used as our eyes until Lieutenant Commander Travis can get the sensors back.

Thanks to the probes; we have detected what appears to be a distress signal. The signal emanates from a cluster of chronoton particles. This gives us a reason to cross into Orion space, to offer assistance and secondly, scan for the origin of these particles. I would rather wait until the sensors were back before crossing into Orion space, but that’s not an option.

Lieutenant Shawn Malloy has been promoted to Chief Tactical Officer. I’m sure the tactical department will be more than ready if the situation calls for their skills, which I’m hoping it doesn’t. At the moment, we’ve crossed the boarder and are closing on the distress signal.

End log.

Stardate 20410.10

We have responded to the distress call in Orion space. Upon our arrival at the source of the signal, we found a debris field. Sensors indicate that it was most likely an external weapons pod. The scans taken from the pod indicated chronoton signature, which likely means that this was a phasic weapon of some sort. I compared the scans of the pod to my own design, and I am disturbed by the progress they have made. I will have my Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Talek write up a report to the SFSI with his findings. I will also include my own report to the Institute along with my own design. I’m not expecting it to go anywhere but I can only hope it will give Star Fleet that much more data on Orion capabilities.

The source of the signal was an EVA of a dead Orion. It is my guess that a problem developed in the pod and this poor fellow drew the short straw, therefore being the unlucky one to go out and fix the problem. I believe the ship was forced to eject the pod and leave the poor fellow to his fate. Dr. Hunter is performing an autopsy to find out the cause of death and hopefully shed some more light onto the situation so far as to what my have went wrong with their pod. Was it a radiation leak of some sort? Only time will tell. Lieutenant Meagher, Lieutenant Commander Travis, and Lieutenant Talek took a shuttle to retrieve the body and several pieces of the pod to determine the cause of the accident.

We are now in route to Star Base Alpha for some much needed R&R.

End Log.

Stardate 20410.28

I am currently sitting in the center chair on the Auxiliary Bridge. This may very well be my last recording. So much has happened in the last 30 minutes. I will do my best to document exactly what has transpired so that Star Fleet and Federation will know and be able to prepare if we do not make it back to tell the tale.

We were on our way back to Star Base Alpha, though still on the Orion side of the boarder. The down port lateral sensor array had just come back on line when the science console set off alarms. Sensors had detected an anomaly in the reflected starlight in the port quarter of the ship, a ripple in the light coming from a cloaked ship.

Our modified probes disappeared one by one. They were unaware of our returned sensor status, so they thought we would be blind. They then proceeded to buzz us, which triggered the auto-response from the navigation controls, causing the ship to dive hard. I ordered the upgrade from yellow to red alert. I also ordered the ship to ¼ impulse, hoping to bait them into thinking our sensors was still out. In hind sight, this was a terrible mistake. They moved around us and fired a full barrage of phasers and torpedoes. The phasers went straight through our shields, proving mine, and the fears of Star Fleet that the Orions do have phasic weaponry. The damage from their first two barrages was devastating. The entire lower weapons array was off-line. The only functioning weapon was a single forward facing torpedo launcher. Inertial dampers were down, and massive power failures spread like wildfire throughout the ship.

As they withdrew for a second run, their cloak failed to hide their stern. We turned and fired what torpedoes we could. Lieutenant Meagher established a tractor lock, which held the Orion battleship just long enough for the torpedoes to strike their target, though they had little effect.

Once their cloak came down, we got a decent view of what were up against. Their ship was at least 500 meters long and 100 meters high. She displaced an estimated 1.5 million metric tons. The vessel had at least 9 phaser and torpedo banks, and numerous other weapons pods.

After our torpedoes hit, the Orion captain hailed us. He wished to strike a bargain. For my ship he would allow all of us to cross safely into Federation Space. I could not abandon the oath I took as a officer of Star Fleet. I took an oath to protect the Federation at all costs. I believed this oath supersedes my oath to protect safety of crew. There was no way I was going to let the Orions travel unopposed into the Federation. The destruction in their path would be… immense. It was at this time that Commander Daher sent a priority one signal to SBA informing them of our situation. I have no idea whether or not that signal even arrived.

In response to his demand for surrender, I demanded the surrender of their ship. In response, Captain Carnak of the Orion Battleship Privateer XII responded. He gave me a nod of respect, something rarely done by the Orions. He gave me one last chance to reconsider the choice of surrender. My senior staff, well those present on the bridge anyways, agreed with my decision not to surrender.

Engineering could have no better timing for they had just returned inertial dampers to functioning status. In response to the Carnak’s last request, I ordered Lieutenant Ralston to ramming speed. The plan was to hold the course until nearly hitting the Privateer. Then Ralston would rotate 180 degrees along the x-axis to keep the ventral shields facing the Privateer. Both of us fired. I have no idea what kind of damage we inflicted to their vessel, though based on the previous volley it could not have been much at all.

I cannot say the same for us. The impact knocked main power off-line. Ventral shields failed. This allowed Orion boarding parties to enter the ship. Ralston managed to make the jump to maximum warp just as main power returned.

The boarding parties established themselves in all critical sections of the ship. The fighting on the bridge was fierce. Lieutenant Commander Talek was taken down as was Lieutenant Ralston and several other officers. I know from communications with LCdr Talek that is ok. I have no idea about Ralston on the moment.

Commander Daher and I locked out the command codes and functions of the ship…

What seemed like hours later, but not more than a few seconds, an Orion tossed a grenade into the command ring. We managed to temporarily avoid its detonation. The detonation resulted a 2 meter hole in the bridge floor… and the severance of bridge controls. This forced us to transfer to the Auxiliary Bridge.

Sickbay was transferred to the shuttle bay due to a fire. Many wounded officers and the entire medical department as well as at least two of my senior officers are being held hostage. Commander Daher will lead a rescue operation. I can only hope that it works. The causality list must be enormous.

Lieutenant Malloy was dispatched to deal with a raging fire under the Aux Bridge in sickbay. If it isn’t taken care of soon, it will melt through the deck plating… destroy the control links. With the massive amount of damage to the Sheridan, internal sensors are shaky at best. I have no idea how many hostile forces are left on board… If we don’t make it home, I request that all personnel of this ship be awarded commendations for their bravery in the face of insurmountable odds….

I can only hope that the message got to Star Fleet to let them know what the Orions have.

End log.

Stardate 20411.13

After my prior entry, I felt it was necessary to prepare for one final act to destroy the Privateer should she give chase. On my order, damage control teams lead by Master Chief Petty Officer Vincent Porter went down to engineering and brought the auxiliary warp core on-line. I, along with Commander Daher, prepared to drop the warp containment fields for both cores. If the Orions caught up to us before we could warn the Federation of the danger posed by Orion forces, I was going to ‘stuff the Sheridan down their throats’ so to say and drop warp containment. The resulting explosion would have been more than enough severely damage if not destroy their vessel.

Unfortunately for us, the Privateer had followed us. They disabled our warp drive, destroying the nacelle and knocking us out of warp. Lieutenant Meagher fired over-loaded torpedoes, destroying the launchers in the process. She also burned out the remaining phaser arrays, all on my orders. Just as we were setting up for our collision courses, the Calvary lead by Captain Stouffer of the U.S.S. Exeter came to our aid. They managed to whittle down the Privateer’s shields, causing a fair amount of damage in the process. They finally ran

The Exeter towed us back to Sol system. The Sheridan has taken heavy damage and it will likely be months in repair. What is even more staggering is the number of casualties. There are 126 confirmed KIA. Eleven are missing, and presumed MIA. 104 were wounded and confined to sickbay. There were 146 wounded and released. This is a terrible number; one I hope will not be seen again any time soon. The Sheridan returned to dock under her own power, leading the Battle group in. From what I have been told, it was a sight to see.

On a better note, the leader of the Orin boarding party has traded sides. He apparently saved the life of Commander Hunter. What comes of this remains to be scene. He may be a powerful asset for the Federation. Lieutenant Lokar will also receive a letter from me asking for leniency in his trial due to his help during the boarding. The best news of all is that in a few days, Commander Daher and Commander Hunter will be married. Hopefully, this will be a good thing for the crew, and help everyone to relax.

End Log.

Crew Logs

Lt Val

What can I say? Today was one tragedy after another. I made the decision to transfer to the engineering department, which I feel was the best decision I’ve ever made, and one I know that the counselor will be less than pleased about.

I went to sickbay to get a simple hypo for nausea, and find out hat Tori is pregnant by unknown means. Looking at the transporter logs, we find tat our transporter patterns somehow crossed and combined, leaving her pregnant. If that wasn’t enough Dr. Hunter scanned me and found that t I was also pregnant.

She paused for a moment as a tear slid down her cheek before continuing.

Neither Tori nor I will abort the pregnancies, and the babies will be full sisters. All of this is just too strange to be real, but it is real.

How am I going to tell Steve about this? How will he feel? Well we are able to overcome that fight we had just before graduation? I just don’t know, only time will tell.

I have a feeling that both Tori and I will be spending a lot of time in the counselor’s office.

LtJg Longland Stardate 20501.06

There's a first time for everything in life and such is the case for this personal log. Unfortunately now I'm here I can't think where to start, so I'll just begin at the top!

To be honest, I never thought that life in Star Fleet Security would be as hectic as events get on the Sheridan. Not long after I joined the ship the Orion paid us a visit, a visit that cost the ship and crew dearly in lives. A baptism of fire some might say and I'd have to agree!

The subsequent trip to SBA was useful for me because it gave me a chance to prove to others like the Engineering guys that I could do more than waggle a phaser around in no uncertain manner. As the ship glided into it's temporary home for a while I looked forward to a few weeks of rest and exploration in a new environment.

Pity the SBA guys thought otherwise, and so it brings things to the present with the ship in action against foes who are more than just deadly opponents but intriguing adversaries. Shame really because I never did congratulate Cdr Daher at the wedding and give him his toaster!!!

Speaking of the good FO, recently he instructed our new Security midshipman to report to me, an honor which I haven't yet thanked him for but one which I hope will be an omen for my future career.

Whilst on the subject of careers, I got in touch with my dear father recently, something long overdue, and he mentioned of his impending retirement from captain of a science vessel. All I can hope is that as his career ends mine can begin in a way that would make him proud.

Well, that gets a few things from my chest so to speak, and as time is a precious commodity on board this fine vessel I must depart. As they say, tomorrow is another day.

End log.