17 Sept - 31 Dec 2007
Day 10
On Starbase Dyerma IV, Ensign Michael Rawlins (npc) feels in a romantic
mood. Reflecting on how the women on board the DM have been treating
him lately, he sets his mind on a more mature Vulcan woman, without
realizing that she is actually Lt Cmdr Tyvek's wife. At the
Counsellor's arrival he flees the scene and take refuge in the DM
Lounge. There, June Craig leaves him alone with Pete Smith (npc), who
is moaning about the way Miss Ankomel (npc) has dropped him to resume
her career on Dyerma III.
On her way to the base, June is accosted by Trok (npc), who claims that
Dellaert (npc) has conjured up a new plan to destroy her life. This
time it involves a drug and they both go to sickbay to have it analysed.
As usual, Captain Lecomte (npc) invites Las Persson for a little chat
to catch up on the latest events. This time however, the French Captain
has disturbing news to reveal: during the last seven months, five
merchant ships have mysteriously disappeared without leaving any trail
behind them.
As soon as Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar hears about the missing ships he forgets
his shore leave and takes a team to the starbase. He hopes that with
their help, he will discover some evidence as to what has happened to
these vessels.
While Cmdr Vahl is visiting an art gallery, a group of masked men burst
in and take the people that are present hostage. From what little their
leader says, Claryx understand that the purpose of this coup is to
initiate a dialogue with Lecomte, regarding some missing ships.
When the EMH (npc) discovers that the drug brought by
Trok (npc) could control whoever takes it, he decides to assume June
Craig's appearance to confront Dellaert (npc).
The Scientists continue their difficult researches, that only reveal a
brilliant flash of light that occurred for a micro second at the
location where the vessels have disappeared, accompanied by a burst of
gamma radiation.
In the art gallery, it isn't long before the base's security crash in
through the ceiling to arrest the outlaw civilians. After a quick
apology, the starfleet officers are asked to go to a meeting with
Captain Lecomte (npc). There, Persson and Gol'Khar makes an attempts at
influencing the position of the starbase regarding the missing ships.
But Captain Lecomte is adamant that in view of what little they know at
the moment, it would be a waste of their time and resources.
Unlike his experience during a previous assignment, the EMH is totally
serene when he goes to meet Dellaert under the guise of June Craig.
However his confrontation is short-lived when a fault in his
programming reveals his true holographic nature. Once he has given the
signal for Lt Berg to arrest the old professor and his accomplice, he
returns to his office. There, he discovers that it isn't as easy as he
thought to regain his own appearance.
Following his shameful encounter with the Counsellor's
wife, Ensign Rawlins (npc) bangs his head against the wall of his
quarters. When he finally decides to go to sickbay to have his head
checked, he is faced with another shock: June appears to be in sickbay,
but when she speaks, it is with the voice of the EMH. Realising that he
might have come across a weird hobby of the doctor, he runs away.
Meanwhile Lt Cmdr Tyvek and his wife S’prel (npc) get reacquainted in
his quarters. His next Pon Farr is imminent, hence this arranged
meeting with his partner, which they fully take advantage of.
Day 11
Frustrated by his lack of progress regarding the missing ships, Lt Cmdr
Gol'Khar spends most of the night on the Starbase. There, he uses a
holodeck to recreate a stellar cartography department to continue his
researches.
When even this doesn't bring the answers he is after, he goes to eat at
a restaurant called the Pig Trough. There he has the surprise to meet
with the Garann sisters. They explain to him that they are here to
search for a merchant called Dodds (npc), who owe them some money. But
he seems to have vanished into thin air...
Cmdr Vahl is contacted by the EMH (npc) regarding a fault that his
holo-emitter has developed: it will only function in the form of June
Craig. When it becomes evident that the doctor has used this shape far
too much, supposedly in an attempt to solve the problem, Claryx
confiscates the device.
After a misunderstanding that nearly puts an end to her relationship
with Erz Finh (npc), June discovers that he is actually more serious
than ever, since he offers her a proposal of marriage.
Captain Persson talks to a Dyermian astronomer named Kalanni(npc). He
informs him that on a number of nights, when he was focussed on a
certain sector of space, he momentarily caught sight of unexplainable
flashes. The discussion is barely finished when Lars receives his new
orders from Admiral Davison (npc).
The USS Dark Matter is go to a Class O Pelagic body known by the
Dyermians as Aquavona II, and study its inhabitants who are living in a
pre-warp era. He realizes that this is only an excuse to learn what has
happened to the missing merchant ships, giving credence to the DM to
journey to this particular region of sector fifteen.
What is less to his taste is the fact that the Dyermian government has
insisted that one of their scientific vessels should accompany the USS
Dark Matter.
The Captain calls for a meeting, where the senior staff expose their
theories regarding the missing ships. While Gol'Khar is intent on
sending a probe to that region of space, Vahl and Tyvek decide to speak
to the hostage-takers to see if they have anything of importance to
reveal regarding the vessels that they have lost.
As soon as the briefing is over, Tyvek accompanies his wife back to her
ship and observes the departure of the USS Appalachia from the Starbase
Day 12
Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar reveals to Cmdr Vahl that the Garann sisters (npc) are
on the Starbase; and that they are searching for a merchant who seems
to have been aboard one of the missing vessels.
June Craig discovers that Ferenginar has sent a team to evaluate Trok's
potential. She reluctantly accepts to help him out, and ends up quoting
several rules of acquisitions in order to improve his profile.
Cmdr Vahl and Lt Cmdr Tyvek pay a visit to Dhan Zarkesh (npc), the
leader of the hostage takers. Although he proves to be rather
uncooperative during the interview, it's only at the mention of two of
the missing ships that he becomes unsettled.
Captain Lecomte (npc) informs Captain Persson that there has been a new
victim in the region of space that has already claimed 5 other ships:
Daemon Drak's (npc) Marauder. It comes to no surprise to Lars, who is
well aware of Drak's reckless nature. But it prompts the Dyermian
government to make that region of space a no go area.
Lt Samantha Lennox (npc), the DM's new CEO, learns with dismay that she
will have to travel to Dyerma IV by shuttlecraft. It is a mode of
transportation she dislikes to the point of having to take some
medication in order to calm her nerves. Once on board the starbase she
transports to the Dark Matter to report in for duty.
While he is studying his sensors, Gol'Khar observes the ship of the
Garann sisters disappear in a flash of light. In their obsessive search
for the merchant who cheated on them, it appears that they have flouted
the Dyerrmian's new regulations and ventured into the now forbidden
zone of space.
Dyermian Captain Aran (npc) prepares himself to take
command of the Red Shift, the science ship that will accompany the USS
Dark Matter in its search for the missing vessels. He is under no
illusion however about the purpose of his task. It will only consist in
shadowing the DM's every move...
With the interview of Zarkesh (npc) not proving very fruitful, Lt Cmdr
Tyvek and Cmdr Vahl decides to question another merchant on their list:
Noyt'tu'wak (npc), a Betelgeusian businessman. He finally admits to
trading in illegal orchids, but the two officers gets the definite
impression that the trader has a lot more to hide than this petty
illegal affair.
Hoping to obtain more results, Lt Cmdr Tyvek decides to questions the
relatives of the missing merchants. His first stop leads him to visit a
wife who is not likely to wait impatiently for her missing husband,
since she is cheating on him.
- Mission Start -
Day 1 and 2
The Dark Matter leaves the Starbase and travels for two days without
encountering any incident. However, not long after it reaches the area
where the ships have vanished, it too is victim of a sudden blinding
flash of light.
When the Bridge crew recovers their senses, they discover that they are
in a different region of space, but above all they have no idea where
they are. The only thing that their sensors register is the presence of
several ships, which are located about 2 light years away from their
position. An extremely long distance considering the DM can only
achieve warp 4 at the moment. There is no sign of the Red Shift.
After recovering slowly from what happened to the DM, June Craig
witnesses strange shapes floating around the ship. After checking that
Klam and Trok (npcs) can also see these ghostly figures, she informs
the Captain of her discovery.
Captain Persson decides to send the Solar Winds shuttle towards the
first vessel their sensors have located. Cmdr Vahl, Lt Cmdrs Gol'Khar
and Tyvek, plus Lt Berg (npc) and one of his men, form the crew. The
trip should take several hours, but it is curiously shortened without
explanation. Their sensors reveals that the ship is actually empty and
belong to Dodd (npc), the merchant the Garann sisters were after.
Not trusting how the laws of physics operate in this universe, Vahl
opts not to use the transporter and to go to the vessel using EVAs
suits.
In the lounge, Trok (npc) tries to get on June's good
side, but he is too obsessed with his fear of being trapped in this new
universe, for it to have any positive effect.
On the DM Bridge, Lt MacDuff has located the ship of the Garann
Sisters. Unlike Dodd's vessel, its complement is full. It is also
orbiting a class M planet, situated 1.2 ly from the DM's present
position.
On the Dyermian Science vessel, Captain Aran (npc) witnesses with shock
the disappearance of the USS Dark Matter. To his relief, Dyerma III
doesn't order him to follow after the DM, but to carry on to Aquavona
II in order to check what the planet's situation is.
Ensign Miranda Spiers (npc), (who has been assigned to work on the
chrono problem) uses the information stored in the EMH's matrix to
resolve how much time has passed by since they left sector 15.
According to her finding, it only amounts to a loss of 30 minutes.
Lt Berg, followed by Sertak and then Gol'Khar make their cautious way
towards the XQZ-127. Once onboard, they confirm that the merchant ship
is empty. Although its systems are still operating, there are evident
traces of violence on the Bridge.
June has finally managed to take a few pictures of the space creatures
when a large explosion shakes the engineering department. Fearing for
Erz's life, she rushes to Deck 8, where Nurse Bendrix enlists her to
help with the casualties.
Captain Persson goes to deck 7 to check on the explosion
that occurred in Engineering. There, Lt Finh (npc) informs him of the
cause of the incident: while travelling at warp speed, they have
inadvertently suffered a malfunction in the matter anti-matter stream.
The damage is quite extensive, and it will take three to four days to
repair everything.
The away team visits Dodd's deserted space craft and discovers a small
lab where the merchant seems to have done all sort of experiments with
illegal drugs. They also notice several violent marks that indicate
that the crew has been taken away by force.
When Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar is about to contact the Klingon ship nearby, he
realizes that it's now empty. For some reason, the crew and their
captives have decided to beam down to the M planet their ship was
orbiting. In an attempt to save Dodd's life, the away team follow them.
Once on the planet's surface, Cmdr Vahl insists on confronting the
Garann sisters on her own. After an venomous dialogue, they accept to
let her see Dodd.
Gol'Khar leads the way to the cave where the Klingon crew has gone.
There, the away team is able to see Dodd, who without surprise is in a
pretty poor state. Unfortunately, before they can speak to him an
unknown force renders everyone present unconscious.
Meanwhile on the DM, June Craig takes a break after helping the medical
staff. She finds out that while there is a lot of suffering in sickbay
at the moment, the EMH is in a brilliant mood. She learns from Nurse
Bendrix that this is due to the fact that the scientists have finally
managed to repair his portable emitter.
Day 3
While the DM's crew is still struggling with their repairs, they are
confronted to the arrival of a merchant ship. Thankfully it poses no
treat and its Captain, Leman Fargo (npc), is quite relieved to find a
federation vessel in the vicinity.
After an obligatory passage to sickbay, which reveals that the
merchants have suffered from malnutrition, June Craig briefs them on
the help they can expect to receive from the USS Dark Matter.
The away team wakes up in two different cells, one
houses the men, while the other has the women. After a quick chat,
ensuring that every one is okay, the aliens reappear. They take Vahl
and the Garann sisters away, bringing them to a mine where they are
asked to work. When one of the Klingon women protest, she ends up on
her knees, and in pain.
With the progress in engineering being completed earlier than expected,
the Dark Matter is able to resume its course towards the class M
planet. Fargo's ship, now repaired, follows closely.
Once again, June Craig finds herself having to come to the rescue of
Trok. This time it concerns an artefact that he has bought, which
happens to be stolen. Although it's not a particularly pleasant
process, she manages to solve the issue.
Ensign Michael Munro (npc) has a hard time interrogating the merchants, since they don't seem to take him very seriously.
Drak's marauder makes an appearance in the sector. As usual, the Daemon
has his own agenda. He refuses to respond to any call, and simply
passes by the Dark Matter at high speed...
In their cell, Gol'Khar, Berg and Sertak find a way to open their door.
While Berg and Gol'Khar work on a device that might be able to
interfere with the alien's weapon, Sertak goes out in search of the
other Klingon males.
In the mines, Claryx tries to question some of the workers, but no one
seems to understand her. She manages to go further into the tunnel
without being seen, and is soon joined by Sertak. The Vulcan officer
explains to her that he has encountered no guards at all during his
outing. A white light suddenly envelopes the two crewmembers, who are
transported to a modern room. There, the projection of an alien
unexpectedly tells them that they are free to go.
Day 4
After the return of the away team, Captain Persson is giving new tasks
to his crew when he is contacted by the EMH. Due to what is referred to
as an hormonal problem, Lt Tyvek (npc) as submitted himself to sickbay.
His condition is so serious that the ACMO has suspended the Counsellor
from his functions.
Lt Gol'Khar and Cmdr Vahl discover that they are in charge of discovering what has happened to Dodd's crew.
On their side, Persson and June Craig speak to the leader of the aliens
who live on the class M planet. The alien representative doesn't seem
to think that his people have anything to do with the rift that has
opened in this area of space, but he promises to have a look at the
possibility.
Right after this odd meeting, Lt Berg asks June to have a word with
Dodd, who, in the good old tradition of all the merchants they've met
so far, refuses to speak. After a fiery chat with Dodd, June reaches
the conclusion that his crew found him so despicable that they rebelled
and left him.
Meanwhile, another heated discussion with the Garann sisters reveals
that when they found Dodd's vessel, his crew had already disappeared,
making it that much easier for them to capture the crooked merchant.
On Starbase Dyerma IV, where time seems to run a lot faster than in the
alternate universe, Captain Lecomte prepares himself for a long day
filled with various ceremonies, marking the first year of the USS Dark
Matter's disappearance.
In order to catch up with the Ferengi Marauder, the Klingon ship engage
its cloaking device.
Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar, who has joined the Garann sisters for this
assignment, is soon involved in a fight against a crewmember who didn't
appreciate his presence on the Bridge.
Trok (npc) finds himself experiencing unwanted feelings towards June
Craig, after she helped him once again. In an attempt to avoid any
conflict, he tries be accepted on an away team going to a merchant
vessel. But Cmdr Vahl doesn't feel that she can trust him and turns his
proposition down.
Day 5
Meanwhile, a team of scientists is once again sent over to Dodd's ship
for a more thorough examination of the merchant's craft. Before long,
the team finds that the computer memory of the ship has been entirely
wiped out. Ferengi blood and items are also found in several areas.
June receives an unexpected call from D'emchtt, while she speaks to him
she realizes too late that his real aim is to take possession of her
body. This he claims, is to ensure once and for all that the USS Dark
Matter isn't hiding anything from his people. Despite her will, June
found herself contacting the Captain and going to his ready room.
Thankfully, Captain Persson detected something unusual in June's urge
to meet with him, and he alerts security. During the subsequent meeting
between Persson and Craig, D'emchtt soon realizes that there is no way
he can access all the computer's files as he wanted, at least not
without hurting his host. So he reluctantly returns to his people.
The Klingon ship manages to board Drak's vessel without much trouble.
They arrest its Captain and crew and free Dodd's crew. In order to
force Drak to speak up, Gol'Khar and the Garann sister stage a mock-up
torture session for him.
June Craig reluctantly makes a stop to sickbay and soon
discovers that her encounters with D'emchtt has affected her more than
she imagined.
While speaking with one of the merchant men, Claryx Vahl is told that
there are high possibilities that Dodd has been commissioned by a 'big
fish'. Something that would explain Dodd's eagerness to wipe his ship's
computer clean.
When the Garann sisters sees that Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar is to prolong his
stay on their ship, they try once again to seduce him. Gol'Khar, as
usual, manages to get away from the situation by giving them very
little apart from hope.
Shortly after the USS Dark Matter has resumed its exploration of this
region of space, they locate the three missing ships. Unfortunately,
they have been stranded dangerously close to a class O star.
Meanwhile on starbase Dyermia IV, Chief science officer Jon Gregson
(npc) thinks that he has made a breakthrough regarding the
disappearance of the Dark Matter. According to him the DM, along with
the merchant ships, are trapped in a weird knot in space and time.
At the proximity of the class O star, all the ships present suffer an
intense magnetic storm. However, despite the danger, the Klingon ship
persists in its approach to save the merchant vessels.
Left without contact with the other ships, Captain Persson asks for the
M'Rtlag probe to be sent. He also orders Lt MacDuff to do all he can to
program it to assist the merchants vessels that have suffered the most
during the magnetic storm.
Suddenly, and to the amazement of the DM crew and that of the Klingon
vessel, the star changes itself into a class M planet. However despite
what their sensors read, both crews remain prudent and prefer to
consider that what they have witnessed is nothing more than an
illusion.
Meanwhile, Lt Sertak (npc) has to endure the rantings of Trok (npc),
whom he has been asked to keep an eye on. They have spent the last few
hours in the phaser training range, but the Ferengi formidable lack of
skill with weapons is begining to affect his spirit.
Once again the M'Rtlag probe proves to be more than reliable when it
offers an additional force field to the merchant ships. This allows the
crews of the damaged ships to be transported to safety. The DM then
uses its tractor beam to remove the remaining merchant vessel away from
the heart of the storm.
Later on in the evening, when things have quieten down, June Craig
wakes up from the sedative that Dr Hereward gave her. When she reaches
the Lounge, she is greeted by Finh, who insists on celebrating her
return among them.
Day 95
After three months spent in the alternate universe without making any
breakthrough, the moral of the Dark Matter crew reaches an all time
low. Even Cmdr Vahl feels the full weight of the situation, made worse
by the erratic behaviour of the merchants.
A few hours later, Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar reveals striking news: the rift has
opened, letting in a new ship. It turns out to be the Red Shift, a
Dyermian science vessel captained by Aran (npc). He informs them that
despite the long lapse of time since the DM disappeared [five years for
the Alpha Quadrant], the chief of science on Dyerma IV, has never given
hope of finding them again.
While the head of each department has the task of briefing their staff
about the time discrepancy they have suffered, Vahl and Gol'Khar go to
Aran's ship to work of Lt Gregson's findings.
Now that the situation looks a bit brighter, Captain Persson makes sure
that there is a tight security presence on all the merchant vessels.
This he hopes will help to keep them in check when, and if they can
make an exit from this strange universe.
Day 96
Lt Berg (npc) manages to convince June Craig to help him out. He wants
to create an incident in the lounge, where a would-be security cadet
would have reason to be sent to the brig. This he hopes, will give the
young man the opportunity to befriend Dodds and make him speak.
After hours working on Gregson's studies, Vahl and Gol'Khar are finally
able to understand a bit better how the rift seems to operate. They
also discovers that after the apparition of the Red Shift, the rift
will remain open for another six hours.
The Dark Matter, along with all the other ships, prepare itself to take
advantage of the open rift. Unfortunately the Ferengi Marauder decides
to by-pass a few vessels, which prompts the Klingon sisters to fire on
it...
Without being able to do much for the Ferengi ship, the
USS Dark Matter passes through the rift. After a short period of
unconsciousness, the crew realizes that they have returned to their own
universe without too much damage. The same cannot be said of Drak and
his crew, but thanks to the skills of the Garann sisters, his battered
marauder has nonetheless been tractored through the rift.
Now that they are on safe grounds again, the Dark Matter crew is eager
to join Dyerma IV and rejoice. For Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar, this means
indulging in plenty of blood wine, but he daren't do so until the
mystery surrounding the rift is solved. It takes Cmdr Vahl's insistence
for him to put the rift aside for a while and relax.
Day 98
Trok, joining in with the general good mood, takes it upon himself to
decorate the lounge for the Terran festive season. Unfortunately for
him, the artificial snow he used is corrupted. It uses the energy found
in light to spread out and soon completely fill the lounge. Two
scientists are called to the rescue, but they can do nothing to appease
June's wrath towards the Ferengi.
Day 100
As soon as the DM reaches Dyerma IV, strict measures are taken to
deliver the merchants to the Dyermian authorities. One civilian ship
tries to run away at the last minute, but the absolute vigilance of the
Garann sisters saves once again the situation.
At the end of day the crew is invited to attend the marriage of June
Craig and acting CEO Erz Finh (npc). All goes well, but the 'young'
couple cannot wait for the ceremony and subsequent gathering to be
over, so that they can be alone together. For Gol'Khar this is another
opportunity to be reunited with his favourite drink.
- Mission End -
Summary written by :
Cmdr Claryx Vahl
XO
USS Dark Matter
Posts Selection :
Into The Void by Captain Persson
A Verbal Duel by Cmdr Vahl
Engage the Cloaking Device by Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar
Festivities by June Craig
