Written By
Rigil Kent

A distress signal from an old acquaintance puts Telemachus in a dangerous situation.

12 July, 2210

Summary

Just over three weeks have elapsed since the destruction of the Federation Deepspace Research Facility and Telemachus has spent the majority of that time at Starbase 12, with the command crew answering to the Admiralty about their recent actions. Commander Ford, especially, has been dealing with intense questioning on his role with the near disaster that was the asari First Contact.

With the majority of the command staff off-ship, Lieutenant Maggie Laredo has command duties as the crew completes final warp trials and shakedowns following the latest service refit. Normally, this sort of duty is considered a cakewalk, as Telemachus is only thirty minutes away from Starbase 12 at maximum warp, but the universe has a perverse sense of humor as the communications officer intercepts a distress signal from the ECS Venture, commanded by Captain Cambridge who urgently requests aid once more. She is under attack by Nausicaan raiders and is in dire need of assistance. LT Laredo barely hesitates before issuing orders that will carry Telemachus into battle, despite their dearth of senior officers. As CAPT Cambridge is barely an hour away at maximum warp, Laredo decides that returning to the Starbase to pick up the command crew is an potentially lethal waste of time.

Broadcasting a ‘stand down’ order to the Nausicaan pirates, Telamachus enters the relatively empty star system to discover four pirate corsairs arrayed in an unexpected formation. Without pausing to give the situation the proper examination it deserves, LT Laredo snaps orders that results in Telemachus barreling straight down the throat of the Nausicaan formation.

Lethal phase cannon blasts and disruptor beams are exchanged, with Telemachus rocking under the onslaught but weathering the engagement far better than the lighter armed and armored pirates. In under a minute, all four Nausicaan ships have been destroyed, two of which thanks to expert shots that ignited the vessels’ volatile fuel supplies, while the Starfleet vessel suffers only minor damage. Despite this fact, the actual cooperation of the four Nausicaan ships is troubling – never before has Ensign Roland seen or even heard of such a thing. Had the Nausicaan ships been better equipped and better armed, the fight they might have presented could have been dangerous.

More troubling though, is the brief presence of a mystery ship lurking in the system’s Oort Cloud. Only after this vessel has jumped to warp does Ensign Dalis realize that not only was this ship a Klingon bird-of-prey, something not seen in this region of space for over fifty years, but it evidently was transmitting instructions to the four Nausicaans! The crew are left to wonder whether the Klingon’s presence is a harbinger of some future conflict…

Fifteen minutes after the engagement is over and Telemachus has extracted Venture from the minefield placed around the transport, the USS São Gabriel arrives in-system. A Bonaventure-class starship, this vessel serves as the Starbase-12 Commander’s flagship and carries both the command crew of Telemachus and Admiral Stiles himself. He gives the junior officers of Telemachus a foul look when they are debriefed but otherwise pretends to not recognize them as the former cadets responsible for the humiliation and expulsion of his son from Starfleet Academy.

GM Notes:

• I was only mostly satisfied with this adventure as it involved the GURPS Spaceships rules and I was not (and still am not) as clear with them as I could be. There was too much number crunching that wasted too much time. Round 1, which took “20 seconds” of game time, took forever, whereas Round 2 flashed by and resulted in four bad guy ships getting blown up. Moral of the story? A) I need to prepare better, B) having multiple ships with multiple weapon emplacements equals a nightmare of bookkeeping, and C) I can do better. Dammit.
• Once again, I find myself frustrated at my inability to really involve Dr. Berzinev in the adventure. Yeah, I know Trek doctors generally aren’t on the bridge – or at least, they shouldn’t be – when the shooting is happening, and the player seems okay with it, but as the GM, I keep finding it frustrating that more than half the session can go by without him having anything to do. Must do better.

Written By
Rigil Kent

Original Story By
Guy W. McLimore, Jr. and Greg Poehlein

The Telemachus investigates the mysterious disappearance of the crew of Federation Deepspace Research Station 39.

21 June, 2210

Summary

Telemachus is en route to Starbase 12 for routine resupply and refit. Commander Ford, still suffering the after-effects of the asari mind abilities turned upon him, is off duty, having recently underwent surgery to close up some damaged blood vessels in his brain caused by the asari assault. This leaves Lieutenant Commander Prescott in charge.

As Telemachus passes through a fairly empty section of space, a random sensor contact alert occurs, indicating that they are passing at the extreme edge of scanning range for Federation Deepspace Research Facility 39. Per standard procedure, hailing frequencies are opened and audio contact is made, but in mid-sentence, the crewman on FDR-39 that LCDR Prescott is speaking to simply goes quiet. After repeated attempts to re-establish contact fails, Prescott decides that they need to investigate and orders a course set, maximum warp.

En route, the crew gathers what info they can about FDR-39 and Lieutenant Dane grudgingly admits that he previously served on this very station. With that in mind, LCDR Prescott decides that the lieutenant will take point on this op, and if a landing party is necessary, with him will go Ensigns Aceves, Berzinev, Dalis, Mao and Roland.

Upon arrival in-system, they discover a semi-permanent magnetic storm makes sensors difficult. Even if CDR Ford didn’t have a standing order to not use the transporter due to an unfortunate incident years earlier (that evidently included an exploding crewman if LT Laredo can be believed!), the storm and the sensor baffles on the station make shuttlepod entry necessary. While the landing party is away, LCDR Prescott declares his intention to do a full sweep of the system to verify that the sensor ghosts being detected within the storm aren’t actually hostile vessels.

With ENS Mao at the helm of the shuttlepod, the landing party docks at the “bottom” of FDR-39 and gain entrance, discovering to their great surprise that power still appears to be online. There is no sign of the crew, however, although LT Dane reveals the storm makes scanning difficult. Thus, all crewmembers wore specialized comm units that constantly transmitted their locations to the central computer. Some minor information is obtained from the station sensor logs accessed from engineering – a brief power fluctuation transpired approximately five minutes after Patrol Skiff Alpha docked, and since then, there have been no additional system resource requests.

Ascending up the central zero-gee access shaft, the crew climb to the upper deck, pausing only briefly to examine the other decks where they find unsecured comm units. On the main deck, they gain access to the command center where Darzen begins the process of breaking into the computer. The other members of the crew begin spreading out, hoping to discover other clues, but the hiss of a nearby door opening results in Carlos observing a horrific facsimile of a humanoid shape approach. Despite walking upright on two legs, it almost seems to be half-melted, as if it were a humanoid carved of butter and exposed to heat. Four of them lumber forward, moaning and yowling, as they shamble aggressively forward.

ENS Roland quickly realizes that the stun setting appears to have no effect and, when finally dropped, his target melts into a pile of goo. LT Dane faints at the sight and Keung visibly freezes, startled at something he can barely comprehend, but the other officers continue their efforts. A second of the … things is killed – it too melts – and Darzen utilizes some expert martial arts moves to shove a third back into the zero-gee shaft where it flails about helplessly. Carlos and John combine efforts to tip the fourth creature into the shaft where it joins its comrade in a futile struggle. Following the skirmish, Arkady and Darzen compare the tricorder scans they have made – these things have human DNA, but also appear to have other species DNA in their make-up as well!

Satisfied they are all safe, Keung and John move to investigate the Patrol Skiff Alpha, and with Darzen’s aid since he has reclaimed his place in the command center, they enter the hangar bay, immediately noticing some oddities, such as the forward viewport still polarized and the presence of active carbon scoring around the hangar bay. John is quickly able to gain entrance to the skiff, but the two officers leap for cover when someone inside begins opening fire. One Carlos’ suggestion, John tosses one of the comm units they had retrieved inside and calls out his identification. The shooter is revealed to be Chief Petty Officer Delgado, evidently the sole survivor of FDR-39, and the CPO is on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown.

Doctor Berzinev applies, with CPO Delgado’s permission, a mild sedative to calm him down, and the petty officer tells them his tale: he had just entered Skiff Alpha to conduct hull polarization maintenance when he saw his entire deckcrew and the pilot simply … vanish. They melted, the CPO says with horror, and then … reformed into some hideous monstrosity!

While Berzinev, Mao, and Roland interrogate the chief, Darzen uncovers some curious research data indicating that the station was attempting to develop a new transporter, one that was instantaneous (so no sparkle effect) and silent. Combining this new information with their discovery that there was a brief flare-up of the magnetic storm, the Trill science officer begins to suspect these creatures are the former crew. To his surprise, though, he isn’t actually able to verbalize this theory – each time he opens his mouth to mention it, different words come out, not to mention, his unexpected copying of all station data to his PADD. He doesn’t know why he’s doing that…

As he struggles, Carlos announces aloud that the two … things that have been floating in the zero gee shaft have vanished. He took his eyes off them when the shooting began in the hangar bay, and when he looked back, they were gone! LT Dane, now recovered from his faint (and mortified that it happened at all) summons Carlos into the command center and has him lock out engineering so no one there could override anything. John, who has now taken up Carlos’ place at the zero-gee shaft, realizes he sees movement down there and calls it out. Doctor Berzinev, who has joined him now that CPO Delgado has passed out in the skiff thanks to the sedative, conducts a scan and determines that there are multiple of the unusual biosignatures in Engineering. At this, Darzen calls up camera footage of engineering and is aghast at the sight of many of the half-melted humanoids merging together to form a large … thing. Moving faster than something its size should be capable of, it slides toward the ladder. Behind Darzen, LT Dane once more passes out in sheer horror.

John opens fire with his phase rifle, even though he can’t really see what he’s aiming at, and Darzen sees the phase blasts cut the creature in half … although it promptly reforms and continues up. Acting quickly, he and Carlos kick up the gravity in the shaft to 11 gees and the thing plummets to the ground, flattening atop the hatch leading to the shuttlepod. Ever so slowly, the creature spreads itself thinner, stretching out of the shaft where it can reform. And then, as they discuss their options, the reformed creature begins to smash delicate-looking engineering consoles, roaring in rage.

“Time to leave,” John decides, and he rushes toward the Patrol Skiff, pausing only long enough to stun the stirring CPO Delgado so they do not have to deal with the man panicking in mid-flight. The rest of the officers are right behind him, with Carlos and Keung half-carrying the semi-conscious LT Dane. Darzen pauses only long enough to input a quick auto-command that will open the shuttle bay in exactly one minute before following. It is crowded inside the skiff, but none of them care as they power it up and leave the station behind.

Contact with Telemachus is made quickly and a nearly panicked but now fully conscious LT Dane informs CDR Prescott that the station is contaminated. “This is an Alpha-Class Biohazard Alert!” the lieutenant exclaims, and moments later, Telemachus opens fire upon Federation Deepspace Research Facility 39.

It explodes rather spectacularly.

Captain’s Starlog, June 3rd, 2210.

We are en route to … Computer, attach spatial coordinates to warp detection, please.

At approximately zero three thirty-six, Commander T’Lessa advised me of sensor contact indicative of warp bubble formation. As it was located within a system that has not been explored to date, I gave the order to alter course so we may investigate. Additional scans seem to indicate a primitive warp conduit bubble, which may mean a First Contact.

End Log.

---

Captain’s Starlog, June 4th, 2210. Lieutenant Commander Prescott recording.

Telemachus is now transiting from the … the asari system at warp factor six point five to respond to emergency distress signal from Federation transport, Supernova Sunset. Estimated time of arrival is fifteen hours.

Against my recommendation, Commander Ford remained behind on the newly discovered homeworld of the Asari Federation to finalize initial First Contact protocols. The following officers have been placed on detached duty as they accompanied him: Aceves, Carlos, Ensign. Berzinev, Arkady, Ensign. Dalis, Darzen, Ensign. Mao, Keung, Ensign. Roland, John, Ensign.

Nothing follows.

---

Captain’s Starlog, June 10th, 2210.

Once again, I feed it necessary to recognize my newest officers for exemplary service. The first contact with the Asari Federation likely would not have succeeded had it not been for their actions. Further details will be in my official report, but I felt the need to officially recognize them in the ship’s log. They are: Aceves, Carlos, Ensign. Berzinev, Arkady, Ensign. Dalis, Darzen, Ensign. Mao, Keung, Ensign. Roland, John, Ensign.

We are resuming our previous course and heading.

End log.

---

Z191703ZJUN
T O P S E C R E T
FM: COMSTAB12
TO: USS TELEMACHUS
A. USS TELEMACHUS
B. COMSTAB12 INST 2000.5
STATION ASSIGNMENT //N04220//
1. ASARI FC REPORT RECEIVED.
2. RTB ASAP FOR FURTHER DEBRIEF. VADM STILES SENDS.

Written By
Rigil Kent

An unexpected First Contact leads to a murder mystery and the fate of the Telemachus’ commanding officer rests in the hands of his newest officers.

3 June, 2210

Summary

Several weeks after what is becoming known as the Venture Incident, the NCC-36 USS TELEMACHUS continues its routine patrols and cadre duties with the Starfleet cadets aboard. During this time, the five new Starfleet officers – Ensigns Aceves, Berzinev, Dalis, Mao, and Roland – have gotten to know the command crew of their ship a little better with varying results:

• CDR Ford, who has a rep among Starfleet officers as a “disaster waiting to happen,” seems to have taken a shine to them, although time will tell if this is a good thing or not.
• LCDR Prescott is the XO and tactical officer. He’s grim and taciturn.
• LCDR T’Lessa is the Chief Engineer and a bit of an odd duck for a Vulcan. She likes bright colors, weird human foods, and actually seems to have something of a sense of humor.
• LT Dane is the senior science officer and is generally disliked by pretty much everyone. He’s angry and bitter about something and treats everyone as if they have the IQ of a rock.
• LT Maggie Laredo is the chief helm officer and has a reputation as a reckless, seat of the pants pilot. She’s a little lazy, though, and sometimes, it shows.
• Dr. Malcolm Barber is the Chief Medical Officer. Callous and gruff, he doesn’t seem to like anyone … except perhaps Arkady, whose presence implies that Barber’s time in exile may be over.

Late in the evening on DATE, Darzen detects the unmistakable signature of a vessel going to warp in an uncharted system. The duty officer – LCDR T’Lessa – informs the captain who orders a change of course to investigate. Several hours later, Telemachus drops out of warp at the periphery of the system to discover a beautiful but primitive starship. Communications are established and the commanding officer of this ship is revealed to be an attractive blue-skinned female. The Telemachus is invited to Thessia, so as to make a formal First Contact with this new species and CDR Ford eagerly agrees.

Despite his first officer’s objections, the captain decides to take the new junior officers along on this landing party, confident that they are more than capable of handling anything thrown their way. “What is the worse that could happen?” is the captain’s final say on the matter.

With ENS Mao at the shuttlepod helm, they descend to the Executive Building where they are greeted by the leadership of this planet. They identify themselves as Asari, and their chief executive is an individual called The First. Her successor is known simply as The Voice. The chief finance minister is The Heart, the minister of internal security is called The Eyes, and the commander of the military who spearheads exploration is The Shield.

Almost from the moment he sets eyes on her, CDR Ford is besotted with The First and the two quickly abandon the other Starfleet officers to the rest of the Council at the prepared banquet awaiting for them. The new officers do well enough, answering the numerous question stated about their species (albeit carefully in the case of Darzen) while learning many new things about this new species.

Midway through the dinner, CDR Prescott contacts the captain – a distress signal from a Federation transport has been detected. After a moment of consideration, CDR Ford asks The First if she can put them up for a few days – she gladly agrees to do so – and then orders Prescott to break orbit to handle the emergency while he and the PCs finalize what is looking to be a promising First Contact.

The following morning, the new officers emerge from their quarters in time to meet with The Eyes and The Heart, both of whom are on their way to speak with The First who is already late. CDR Ford’s continued absence – and his disappearance the previous night along with The First – is noted, but left unremarked. The group proceed to The First’s quarters where, to their horror, they discover a horrifying scene.

Commander Ford is still in bed, with the dark blue blood of The First and her unmoving corpse at his side. Both asari present react with horror and shock, with The Heart turning and bolting, calling for guards, while The Eyes immediately begins to examine the room. She grudgingly allows the Starfleet officers to do the same, and they quickly note that CDR Ford seems only partially aware of his surroundings. The First’s wounds are consistent with massive blunt trauma, but there is no sign of a weapon nor bruising on the captain’s hands to indicate that he is responsible. Within minutes, asari guards descend upon the chamber and clap CDR Ford into chains.

The Eyes appoints ENS Roland as the captain’s “Arbiter” in accordance with asari law, and it is he who is expected to defend Ford before the Low Council. He alone can question others, but may enlist additional assistance. Roland instructs the other officers to conduct a search of the room while he accompanies the captain to the cell where he is to be incarcerated.

Their search is partially successful as they obtain all genetic signatures in the room for their tricorders as well as a curiously compact phase pistol under the bed that is set to Kill. The lack of cameras in the area complicates matters, but ENS Mao manages to get The Eyes to admit that this much evidence is too perfect. She grants them permission to enlist additional support.

Doctor Berzinev completes a scan of the captain and finds no sign of intoxicants or other drugs, although a part of Ford’s brain is active when it should not be. Later poking reveals that the asari do, in fact, have a history of psionics in their culture. The captain’s actual memory is completely blank for the region in question.

The officers spend nearly thirty hours going over all available data and recordings of the banquet, eventually focusing in on a silent asari whom everyone seems aware of but try to avoid. After some additional pressing of their liaison, they learn that this figure is The Justiciar and they let it be known that they wish to speak to her.

She eventually does make an appearance, entering the room while Carlos and Darzen are alone – John and Keung have gone to examine the phase pistol currently in the evidence locker while Arkady sits with the captain. They quickly learn that she is the former First and that the Justiciar is the living embodiment of asari law. There is no way that she was responsible and, according to her, The First’s death was “a milder fate” than what was in store…

Additional digging reveals a camera outside the network that records a hooded asari utilizing her psionic abilities to disrupt the camera feed outside The First’s quarters before gaining entrance. ENS Mao takes careful scans of the damaged camera so they can isolate the keyed radiation frequency of the “biotic” assault. With this information and equipped with discreet scans ENS Aceves took of the Justiciar when she utilized her own abilities, Arkady, Carlos and Keung combine efforts to begin construction of a scanner upgrade specifically keyed to this genetic scan.

Armed with a mountain of circumstantial evidence that clears the captain, the officers ask that the trial be pushed forward. They have narrowed down the list of suspects to a member of the High Council, and since they will all be present at the trial, the officers plan to spring a counter trap utilizing the new scanner. Darzen is elected to speak before the Low Council and, to everyone’s amazement, he seems to undergo a visible change and suddenly speaks with passion and eloquence they have never heard before. Even before he reveals the scanner, it is clear that the Low Council is strongly leaning toward acquittal of CDR Ford.

The scanner, however, functions beautifully and identifies … The Heart! Almost instantly, she panics and the distinctive blue aura surrounds her as she lashes out with her biotic abilities, hurling the members of the High Council away. The officers scramble to protect the captain but an answering burst of living blue fire announces the arrival of The Justiciar. Acting quickly, The Eyes and The Shield hustle the Starfleet officers out of the court as The Justiciar descends upon the guilty woman…

Sometime later, after Telemachus returns in-system, the former Voice and now elected First wishes the Starfleet officers well but fears her race is not yet ready to join the galaxy at large. She reveals that The Heart was extraordinarily deep in financial difficulty and investigations have revealed that she was utter corrupt. Evidently, the previous First had uncovered this corruption and was intending on acting when The Heart acted. Now, though, she has been punished … and the officers momentarily greet the new Justiciar. Despite looking very much like The Heart, the voice that emerges is distinctly the former Justiciar.

Justice has been served.

Preliminary Medical Examination of Nausicaan Prisoner

From: CMO Telemachus
Sent: Tues, 8 May 2210 at 14:07 Earth Standard
To: CDR Telemachus
Cc: XO Telemachus; CDR Starbase 12
THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED; EYES ONLY

---

CDR Ford,

Attached are my initial findings on the Nausicaan prisoner that was brought aboard Telemachus. Per your standard orders, I am summarizing these findings in this message.

I have confirmed my initial suspicion that the prisoner has been the subject of extensive genetic modification based upon the detailed scans taken by Dr. Berzinev while the prisoner was unconscious. Every facet of the prisoner has been modified – he is significantly stronger than normal Nausicaans, has higher cerebral and neural activity, and his entire circulatory system has been altered to a more efficient system. His lungs appear to have been enhanced as well in a manner quite similar to what I’ve studied on Klingon physiology. On all levels, the subject is more robust and dangerous, which tracks with what Dr. Berzinev said regarding how difficult it was to neutralize and apprehend him.

I cannot be certain without having access to classified Starfleet documents on the Augment Crisis of 2154, but I strongly suspect that some of the late Dr. Arik Soong’s research has been used to enhance this Nausicaan.

Mal Barber
CAPT, Telemachus
Chief Medical Officer

Captain’s Starlog, May 8th, 2210.

We are now only hours away from the coordinates provided to us by the Rigellian transport that it appears our errant new officers commandeered. If their initial transmission burst is to be believed, Nausicaans seized the ECS Venture and captured the crewmembers and Academy cadets that Captain Cambridge was transporting to Telemachus. Lieutenant Dane, my senior science officer, is still unconvinced that the transmission was genuine, so we are maintaining comm silence until we have a better grasp of the situation. I am ordering Condition Yellow until we reach scanning distance.

End Log.

---

Captain’s Starlog, Supplemental.

Not only was the transmission burst we received from the Rigellian transport accurate, but my new junior officers were busy. Full debriefing will await their all-clear from Doctor Barber – he’s worried about residual radiation from the poorly shielded reactor on the now defunct mining station but is confident a decon cycle will clear their systems – but even preliminary reports indicate that these fine young officers went well above and beyond. In addition to conducting a commando raid against a heavily fortified, well-armed and well-defended facility, they managed to rescue all but one of the captured Federation citizens and Academy graduates. By all accounts, the sole casualty was an unfortunate but unavoidable loss.

Additionally, these young officers – Ensigns Aceves, Berzinev, Dalis, Mao and Roland – captured no less than ten Nausicaan pirates as well as their leader, who Doctor Barber suspects to be genetically engineered. I fully intend on recommending these officers for medals.

End Log.

Written By
Rigil Kent

Newly graduated Starfleet officers en route to their first duty station find themselves thrust into an unexpected situation when Nausicaan raiders capture and abduct the crew of their transport.
(Parts 1 and 2)

May 01, 2210

Summary

Ensigns Carlos Aceves, Arkady Berzinev, Darzen Dalis, Keung Mao, and John Roland are aboard the ECS VENTURE, a privately-owned transport that is carrying them and a class of Academy cadets to the NCC-36 USS TELEMACHUS. All five of the new ensigns are close friends, having met at the Academy and formed a team of Pure Awesome. Their assignment to Telemachus appears to be punishment for their actions that resulted in the expulsion of an admiral’s son from the Academy.

Several days from the rendezvous point with Telemachus a distress signal is detected. The five officers convince Captain Cambridge to deviate their course to investigate, whereupon they discover a derelict starship. After requisitioning supplies from the Venture’s stores, the five officers take the shuttlepod to the starship to investigate.

Once aboard, they quickly deduce that it was the victim of violence as carbon scoring is everywhere, as are other signs of weapons damage. There are curiously no bodies, however, which is troubling. As the ranking officer, John decides to dispatch Carlos and Darzen to the engineering deck to see about restoring power, while he, Arkady and Keung will seek additional information on the bridge.

As the three officers enter the command deck, they are startled to discover a quartet of Nausicaans who are equally surprised to encounter the trio of humans. A fierce firefight promptly ensues, with both John and Carlos abandoning any attempts at diplomacy while Arkady hunkers down and prepares to assist with the fallen. One of the Nausicaans promptly flees back the way they came while the others soon fall to the concentrated fire of the two Starfleet officers.

During the firefight, though, the hollow boom of nearby starship weapons fire precipitates Carlos and Darzen to turn back from their engineering assignment and try to get back to their shuttle. A NAUSICAAN RAIDER has mysteriously appeared and quickly disables the Venture before beginning to maneuver to dock. Thinking quickly, the five officers combine their talents and are able to bring the sole weapon system of the derelict starship online. Firing a perfectly aimed shot, they disable one of the Raider’s weapon systems which causes it to retaliate. A quick exchange of weapons-fire later leaves both the Raider and the derelict starship without weapons, and the five officers are unable to do anything as the Raider maneuvers to latch onto the Venture and then springs away at warp speed, leaving behind a Nausicaan shuttle piloted by the sole survivor of the bridge firefight.

Furious at having been left behind – and blamed for the Starfleet officers’ attack – the Nausicaan survivor angles his shuttle toward the badly damaged ship and attempts to initiate a ramming maneuver. Only by quick thinking and quicker jury-rig repairs do the Starfleet officers manage to evade the attack, and they combine efforts once more to deduce a method of disabling the shuttle by ejecting warp plasma into its path. After securing the shuttle, John displays a surprising viciousness when he shoots the unconscious Nausicaan; only Darzen observes this.

After some work, the officers deduce the destination of the Nausicaan Raider – secured to the Venture as it was, its range is quite limited – and they decide to repair the derelict starship (which they’ve since discovered is named Event Horizon) as best as possible. The comm array is totally destroyed, but they fashion a jury-rig that will allow them to send a burst transmission for assistance. Unfortunately, they have no way of determining whether their communication was received.

It takes them a week at low warp to reach the target which turns out to be an asteroid base patrolled by two Nausicaan Raiders. Seven days worth of work and planning is revealed, as the Starfleet officers abandon the Event Horizon and board the Venture shuttle to begin a stealth approach upon the pirate base. The Horizon has been modified to appear to Nausicaan sensors as a heavily armed warship. The captured Nausicaans have been heavily sedated and placed in an escape pod where they can be picked up by the victors.

The plan works. Both Raiders launch and begin making cautious approaches toward the Horizon, which gives the Starfleet officers a clear path. They evade the sensor sweeps of the asteroid, dock, and breach the airlock. Following the biosigns indicated on their tricorders, they proceed deeper into the mining facility to discover the abducted Academy cadets and Venture crewmembers pressed into harsh manual labor by Nausicaan pirates.

Initially, the Starfleet officers are able to neutralize a few of the Nausicaans without raising an alarm, but naturally, this doesn’t last long and soon, the entire mining complex is alive with phaser and disruptor fire. Into this mix comes an immense heavily armed Nausicaan wearing combat armor. He wades into the fray, but seems to retreat under concentrated fire. As John and Carlos bound forward to press the attack while Darzen and Keung flank, the massive Nausicaan returns to the battle, having abandoned ranged attacks in favor of wielding a vicious axe that looks to be carved from a starship hull. He and John exchange blows while Carlos finds that the stun setting seems ineffective against the man, but despite the danger, the two manage to drop him. Darzen and Keung are also mostly effective as they drop several Nausicaans, but they are unable to keep one of the Starfleet cadets from dying heroically.

Once they’ve established that the mine is clear, they gather the survivors together and formulate a quick plan. Carlos and Darzen quickly rig the station to auto-destruct while the cadets are pressed into dragging the unconscious Nausicaans into escape pods. The Nausicaan leader, however, is securely bound and taken with the crew as they make their way to the Venture, while Keung and a pair of the cadets recover the shuttle. With time running out and the flashes that denote the Raiders destroying the Event Horizon dying down, the crew bypass safety protocols to get the Venture’s warp drive online. They spring away at superluminal speeds moments before the station explodes.

Sometime later, they have rendezvoused with Telemachus and learn from CDR Donovan Ford that the flashes they saw were actually the Raiders being disabled by Telemachus. The commander is extraordinarily impressed with them and informs them that he’s put them all in for medals.

“Welcome to Telemachus,” CDR Ford says.

Z100414ZMAY
T O P S E C R E T T H E O
FM: USS TELEMACHUS
TO: COMSTAB12
INFO: CINCDENVFLT
//NOOOOO//
GRNFLEET SCIOPS

1. REPORT ANOMALOUS COMM CONTACT ABOUT 0900Z 10MAY AND LOST AFTER INCREASE IN GRNFLEET SHIP ACTIVITY. CONTACT SUBSEQUENTLY EVALUATED AS RIGLNSHIP TRANSITING KLION OUTBOUND TRACK TOWARDS ROUTE CAPELLA. COURSE GAL EAST FACTOR ONE POINT FIVE.
2. CONTACT EVIDENCED STARFLEET CODES REPEAT STARFLEET CODES AND INDICATED NAUSFLEET ACTIVITY ALONG SECTOR 029 CORRIDOR.
3. CDR TELEMACHUS DEVIATING FROM PATROL COURSE TOLL BOOTH TO INVESTIGATE. REQUEST FIRECONTROL ZULU PERMISSION.

---

Z140432ZMAY
T O P S E C R E T
FM: COMSTAB12
TO: USS TELEMACHUS
A. USS TELEMACHUS Z100414ZMAY
B. COMSTAB12 INST 2000.5
OPAREA ASSIGNMENT //N04220//
1. REQUEST REF A GRANTED.
2. AREAS BRAVO ECHO GOLF REF B ASSIGNED FOR UNRESTRICTED OPS 090500Z TO 310001Z.
REPORT AS NECESSARY. VADM STILES SENDS.

DEPARTMENT OF STARFLEET
Headquarters, Starfleet Command
San Francisco, California, Earth

ORDERS 157–4900 1 March 2210
Carlos Aceves
1. ACEVES, CARLOS 159–22–9876 ENS Starfleet Pers con no: 8SN 02709

You will proceed on permanent change of station as shown.

Assigned to: NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS

Reporting date: 16 May 2210

Additional instructions:
(a) You are not authorized movement of your dependents and household goods at Starfleet expense.
(b) Failure to report to the commanding officer NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS by report date will be deemed dereliction of duty and will result in court-martial.

M.C. DRAKE
LCDR, BUPERS
Chief, Information Management

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DEPARTMENT OF STARFLEET
Headquarters, Starfleet Command
San Francisco, California, Earth

ORDERS 157–4903 1 March 2210
Arkady Berzinev
1. BERZINEV, ARKADY 369–85–7512 ENS Starfleet Pers con no: 8SN 02826

You will proceed on permanent change of station as shown.

Assigned to: NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS

Reporting date: 16 May 2210

Additional instructions:
(a) You are not authorized movement of your dependents and household goods at Starfleet expense.
(b) Failure to report to the commanding officer NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS by report date will be deemed dereliction of duty and will result in court-martial.

M.C. DRAKE
LCDR, BUPERS
Chief, Information Management

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DEPARTMENT OF STARFLEET
Headquarters, Starfleet Command
San Francisco, California, Earth

ORDERS 157–4933 1 March 2210
Darzen Dalis
1. DALIS, DARZEN T653–25–0003 ENS Starfleet Pers con no: 8SN 02924

You will proceed on permanent change of station as shown.

Assigned to: NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS

Reporting date: 16 May 2210

Additional instructions:
(a) You are not authorized movement of your dependents and household goods at Starfleet expense.
(b) Failure to report to the commanding officer NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS by report date will be deemed dereliction of duty and will result in court-martial.

M.C. DRAKE
LCDR, BUPERS
Chief, Information Management

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DEPARTMENT OF STARFLEET
Headquarters, Starfleet Command
San Francisco, California, Earth

ORDERS 157–5002 1 March 2210
Keung Mao
1. MAO, KEUNG 998–31–4562 ENS Starfleet Pers con no: 8SN 03025

You will proceed on permanent change of station as shown.

Assigned to: NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS

Reporting date: 16 May 2210

Additional instructions:
(a) You are not authorized movement of your dependents and household goods at Starfleet expense.
(b) Failure to report to the commanding officer NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS by report date will be deemed dereliction of duty and will result in court-martial.

M.C. DRAKE
LCDR, BUPERS
Chief, Information Management

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DEPARTMENT OF STARFLEET
Headquarters, Starfleet Command
San Francisco, California, Earth

ORDERS 157–5431 1 March 2210
John Roland
1. ROLAND, JOHN 351–15–9317 ENS Starfleet Pers con no: 8SN 03230

You will proceed on permanent change of station as shown.

Assigned to: NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS

Reporting date: 16 May 2210

Additional instructions:
(a) You are not authorized movement of your dependents and household goods at Starfleet expense.
(b) Failure to report to the commanding officer NCC-36 U.S.S. TELEMACHUS by report date will be deemed dereliction of duty and will result in court-martial.

M.C. DRAKE
LCDR, BUPERS
Chief, Information Management