05 Feb. - 02 Apr. 2005
During her short stay on Mars, Ensign Marrin gets the opportunity to
put her knowledge into practice when an elderly man collapses in the
street. Unfortunately, she is unable to save him, something she sees as
a bad omen for her future.
While the USS Dark Matter is on her way to Outpost 316, June Craig has
the bad idea to visit Gol'Khar in sick-bay, in order to ask him a
favour. The feverish discussion that ensues is recorded by a puzzled
EMH (npc).
Persson lets the departing XO, Jacobs (npc), greet the new crew members
as they come on board, and offers the vacant position to Lt Vahl,
leaving the science department in the hands of her assistant, Gol'Khar.
No sooner has Persson dealt with the arrivals and departures within his
crew, that he receives an unexpected call from an Admiral Barrel (npc).
Barrel outlines the basics of his next mission, which will see the Dark
Matter helping a very eminent Archaeologist to retrieve an antique
artefact.
Later that evening, Persson meets with his special host, Commander
Sallah Yajeh (npc). She gives him more details about the artefact,
which she is convinced comes from Sargon's planet, an ancient advanced
civilization who allegedly colonized the galaxy some six hundred
thousands years ago.
En route to the Lorgoran System, a class V reconn probe sends back the
very first images of planet Ipohk. They discover a world mainly covered
with vast sandy deserts, inhabited with bluish-skinned people, whose
pre-warp technology is barely discovering the equivalent of the first
automobiles on Earth.
By the time the Dark Matter arrives at her destination, an away team
has been assembled, but Vahl's careful plans are ruined when Lt
Gol'Khar reveals that their sensors have located a second item in the
desert : one which emits an unidentifiable power source.
After overcoming transportation complications due to the specific
atmosphere of Ipohk, away team one, now lead by Lt Gol'Khar, makes it
to the surface. Thanks to the quick thinking of Ensign Marrin, they are
spared dehydration problems and start mounting their camp.
Still on board the Dark Matter, Lt Vahl pays a quick visit to Lt
Challenger, their CEO, and then hurries to join her own away team, made
up of five security officers. Together they beam down to the location
of the second item and promptly begin to dig it up. Everything goes
according to plan, but as soon as the object is beamed on board the DM,
they lose contact with the ship. Moments later, they discover that they
are not alone : a skeleton had also been buried right under the sphere
that they just retrieved. After waiting one hour, Vahl decides to walk
to the location of away team one, about three kilometres to the west.
The Dark Matter also shares a relentless evening: while Persson does
his best to regain contact with his two away teams, Bartender Trok
(npc) tries to get rid of Miss Craig through a petition that would
prove her lack of popularity within the crew.
Meanwhile in camp one, Yajeh (npc) gets more and more irritated at the
evasive artefact she has been searching for so long. During the night,
Ensign Marrin finds it impossible to sleep. She gets up, and leaves the
tent quietly. Once outside, she ponders on her new responsibilities.
Quite suddenly, she sees three humanoid silhouettes walking with
determination towards their camp, returning to the tent, she promptly
awakens Lt Gol'Khar...
The silhouettes on the horizon prove to be that of Lt Vahl and two
Security Officers. While Vahl is being treated by Ensign Marrin for a
serious case of dehydration, she recalls her hardship in the desert,
where she has been attacked by some of the indigenous species living in
the sand.
Early next day, Commander Yajeh is the first to set out to work, and
suddenly vanishes into thin air. Gol'Khar, also present on the
archaeological site, never saw or heard anything and promptly begins
the search for the missing Cdr.
Some hours later, communications with the Dark Matter are resumed at
last. Vahl is beamed back directly to sickbay and the first away team
sees its work interrupted by the arrival of a caravan, whose leader
insists on making a stop at their little settlement.
The joined efforts of Lt Gol'Khar and the Engineering department
finally pays off and Yajeh's life-signs reappear on the ship's
monitors, allowing the Chief Transporter to beam her to sickbay. Except
for slight concussion, the archaeologist is in good health but the EMH
experiences some difficulties keeping her in his ward, as requested by
Commander Persson.
On her return on board the DM, June Craig discovers how her bartender
tried to get rid of her through a petition and promptly sign him for a
week of volunteer work in Engineering.
However, not everyone among the crew finds it easy to resume their life
style, and after a bout of depression, Ensign Marrin sends a request to
be assigned to another ship.
After several interviews with Persson and Vahl, it's 15.00 when Yajeh
is free at last to return to her quarters. Once there, she loose no
more time and sets out to use her collection of artefacts the way that
Sargon's people would have operated them.
Unfortunately, the ritual she performed immediately affects the ship's
systems as well as the well-being of the crew. While Engineering
battles to get its computers and engines back on line, Sickbay faces
waves of injuries, apparently provoked by people who have been victim
of traumatic hallucinations.
Thanks to Gol'Khar's sharpness of mind, the artefact is quickly beamed
off and into space. As he expected, the ship's systems are back on
line, but Vahl remains concerned. It's once again impossible to trace
Yajeh, and yet Claryx can still feel her presence on board.
Taking advantage of this respite, Persson gives orders for the DM to
set a course to Deep Space Outpost 316. But no sooner has the ship
started on its new destination, when helm realizes that the flight
control console has ceased to respond to his input, and the ship is now
set on a new and unknown course and destination.
Cmdr Yajeh, on the verge of insanity after the failed experiment that
transformed her into a non-corporeal entity, set her mind on killing
Gol'Khar. She traps him inside a turbolift, intend on making him burn
in flames with the Warp Nacelle control chamber. She doesn't realize
however that the dialogue that Lt Vahl has engaged with her is only a
distraction which finally allows Persson and the CEO to imprison her
within a forcefield.
While security guards monitor Yajeh, now secured in a biohazzard
containment vessel, the science department is about to take the evening
off to celebrate the birthday of Angus MacDuff.
To June Craig's surprise, the science party proves to be a lengthy and
noisy affair, ending up with Lt Gol'Khar imposing his vast knowledge of
Klingon opera onto everyone.
The next morning, a debriefing session let it be known that Commander
Yajeh and Admiral Barrel will have to respond to Starfleet Command for
the way they appropriated the Dark Matter to satisfy a personal
request. Once the obscure points of the mission have been cleared up by
his senior staff, Commander Persson announces that the DM has been
granted a shore leave.
- Mission End -
Summary written by :
Lt Cmdr Claryx Vahl
XO
USS Dark Matter
Posts Selection :
-
Beginnings by Ensign Marrin
- Ancient Relics by Lt Gol'Khar
