SIMULATION HISTORY
2364 | 2367 | 2375 | 2378 | 2378b
The USS Freeman has been exploring the rim of known space for the past eight years. They have charted numerous space anomalies, star systems, and nebulas. They have encountered new life forms and opened relations with new civilizations. The Freeman even got into a scrap or two along the way. Yet, in all that time, you'd think the crew would have found themselves saving the galaxy, as we know it, time and time again. Unfortunately for the crew of the Freeman this was not the case. The life of exploration and adventure that Starfleet advertised about the fleet did not come close to matching the 'adventures,' or lack thereof, of the Freeman. While this frustrated Jorel it was not the true source of his daily aggravation. It was the war. The war had just taken a possibly fatal turn for the Federation with the Breen Confederacy allying with the Dominion. Jorel's own home planet had been conquered by the Dominion in the past year and there was not a damn thing he could do about it. The Freeman was one of the vessels that had been placed into the reserve category and was ordered to continue its mission of exploration. Jorel's own home world had been captured during the war. He'd put in for a transfer but it was denied for unspecified reasons.
Jorel tried to push past his aggravation but was usually unsuccessful. It even began damaging his relationship with some of the crew. He felt like he did next to nothing aboard ship. He was the Freeman's Tactical Officer and Security Chief on a ship that had never had its security measures challenged. Commander Roland Yager, the Freeman's first officer, formerly of the USS Damocles, even joked about the situation at Jorel's promotion ceremony to Lieutenant Commander. He joked that either "Jorel was the greatest security chief in the world because no one had ever been broken into the Freeman or the worst because he just couldn't tell if someone had." Jorel despised him. He had seriously considered whether or not he should implant some sort of nightmare into Yager's mind that would cause him to wake up screaming each night when he closed his eyes but quickly decided against it when he realized that, seeing that he was the only telepath on board, the path of investigation could very quickly lead to him.
Jorel was getting ready to stand down, as alpha shift had neared its end, when the Captain called all senior officers to the conference lounge. He was relived by his beta shift counterpart and headed for the conference lounge. Around the table sat Commander Yager, Operations Officer Lieutenant Commander Merk Zaroph, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Karina Milot, Chief Science Officer Lieutenant Commander Talin and Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Nunez. As he sat down, Captain Roan Dillinger and a young officer from the sciences section, easily recognized by the blue trim on her uniform, walked into the room. Without preamble, the Captain brought up a visual schematic of a recently charted star system labeled Sector 7459.
"People… we have what could be one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever made by a Federation starship on our hands."
He tapped a button on the main screen and a visual representation of an O class planet and its moon were displayed. Captain Dillinger smiled, "We almost would have missed it if it wasn't for Ensign Liz Zolina here." He motioned towards the Ensign and her face flushed red in embarrassment, "It was nothing sir."
The Captain waved her off, "No need for modesty. It was your discovery. Please fill us in on exactly what it is we're seeing here."
Zolina nervously walked towards the main display and changed the display to focus in on the moon. "At first glance, there is nothing unique about this particular planet or its corresponding satellite. However, upon further analysis we've discovered that this moon is not a natural phenomenon. It doesn't naturally orbit its planet. It is in a fixed geosynchronous orbit directly over the planet's sole continent."
Talin stared at the screen and then shifted his gaze to Zolina, "It would take an enormous amount of power to keep a moon in a fixed orbit like this. Did you detect any power source or phenomenon that may be causing this?"
Zolina shook her head, "No, we've redirected the main deflector and subjected the moon and planet to intensive scans and come up with nothing that may be causing it. In fact, we can't penetrate the surface of the moon and we're not sure why. Something is blocking our scans."
"Could this moon be an artificial construct?"
Zolina paused and looked at the screen, "It's possible. However, whatever is blocking our scans is preventing us from studying it further." She pressed another button on the display that showed the planet surface, "Our initial scans turned up little of interest about the planet itself. No minerals or substances that anyone would find interesting. There are no signs that this planet is inhabited by any kind of life. However… "
Yager cut her off, stood up, and walked towards the main display, "So… in a nutshell… we have what could be an artificial moon, which we can't scan, somehow kept in a fixed orbit of this planet. This planet… which is uninhabited… shows nothing of interest. Is that correct?"
Jorel rolled his eyes. Yager always felt it necessary to take control of any meeting they had and rarely offered up any actual insight. Worse… the Captain let him.
Zolina nodded. "As I was saying though, those were simply our initial scans. Some time after we began scanning the planet, we detected a single structure on the planet surface. We are confident it wasn't there on our initial scans… it's as if… it simply appeared out of thin air. Furthermore, when I said there were no signs of life on the planet I didn't simply mean animal or marine life. We can't even detect any bacteria. There should be a trace of something there; especially considering it's an O class planet. However, our scans are showing that, for all intents and purposes, this world is completely dead and shows no signs of having been inhabited in millennia."
Jorel shifted uncomfortably in his seat sensing the thoughts of his colleagues. "So… what caused that structure to magically appear? Someone or something has to be down there."
Captain Dillinger walked up to the screen and smiled. "We have a bit of a mystery on our hands. If our guess is correct and that moon was artificially constructed… the type of technology that would take is light years beyond our own. We're going to sector 7459 and we're gonna get to the bottom of this."
****
Upon arrival at the planet, the crew of the USS Freeman began conducting intensive analysis on the planet and its corresponding moon. The planet yielded no additional clues as to the structure or why there was no life, of any sort, on the planet. It was confirmed that the atmosphere was safe for an away team to investigate without additional hazard equipment. As to the moon, they were still unable to penetrate its surface, but found an unnatural formation that very closely resembled a docking port. The Captain ordered dual investigations. Team Alpha, led by Commander Roland Yager, was tasked with surveying the moon and investigating the docking port. It was hoped that the docking port would lead into the interior of the moon. Team Bravo was headed up by Chief Science Officer Talin and was tasked with investigating the planet's surface; specifically the structure that appeared after the Freeman's initial scans.
Jorel had been tasked to accompany Team Bravo, which suited him just fine as he had little interest in providing security for Commander Yager. That's not to say that Jorel wouldn't protect Yager to the best of his ability and, if necessary, give his life to protect his commanding officer. He just wouldn't like having to do it. Security wasn't deemed as a major concern but Jorel, unlike the rest of the senior staff, was far more suspicious of this 'bit of a mystery,' as the Captain called it, than the rest of the senior staff. Either their enthusiasm for this mission overrode their ability to see the situation objectively or Jorel was just being paranoid. He pondered that thought until Talin, Ensign Liz Zolina, and the two additional security officers entered the transporter room. He reasoned that, either way, they would find out soon enough. Talin ordered the security officer to beam down the away team to a clearing nearby the structure they were sent to investigate.
As the away team materialized on the planet, they immediately realized that there was more to the planet than they originally thought. Instead of a dead empty world, the away team found themselves standing in the middle of a ruined and bombed out city of alien design. There were no people, no vehicles, nothing to signify that this planet was ever inhabited, just the deserted buildings. There were structures that rose so far into the sky that Jorel couldn't see where they ended. Talin immediately contacted the ship. "Captain Dillinger, are your scans showing any new information on the planet?"
"No Talin. Nothing new about the planet. Is something wrong?"
"This planet is not what appears on scanners. Instead of a barren wasteland we find ourselves faced with the ruins of an alien city. I have never seen a design of this nature. Whatever civilization lived on this planet it would appear that they were highly advanced." Talin scanned one of the nearby structures. "My initial scans show these structures to be ancient. They would appear to be at least several hundred thousand millennia old and yet, despite the damage sustained, there are still standing structures. The buildings are composed of a metal that I am unable to identify. Has Commander Yager's team discovered anything of import?"
"Yager was able to successfully dock with the… moon. We lost contact with the away team shortly after they docked. This was expected and we haven't been given cause for alarm. In any case, this is getting more interesting by the minute. Continue your mission with the structure. If there's something fooling our sensors it must be deriving power from something. If those structures are as old as you say they are we may have one of the greatest discoveries in the galaxy on our hands. Keep the channel open."
"Yes Captain." Talin began marching towards the structure that had attracted their initial interest and the away team followed. Jorel ordered his security officers to set their phasers to maximum stun.
The structure was of similar design to the rest of the city. Talin scanned the structure and found nothing of interest. Upon entry, the away team found a set of stairs leading below the building. Talin cautiously led the away team down the stairs. As soon as the last member of the away team reached the bottom of the stairs, a force field appeared effectively blocking their way to the surface.
"Freeman, this is Talin… come in."
"This is Dillinger, what's going on down there? We're having a hard time reading your position.'
"We are inside the structure. A force field materialized behind us as we entered. Are you able to beam us out?"
"No Talin. We can't get a lock. However, we are detecting some kind of interference blocking our scans. We're working on breaking through it now."
"Understood Captain. We will continue our search and see if we can find some way to shut off the force field."
Jorel walked over to Talin and whispered in his ear. "I don't like this. This is a trap."
Talin turned to face Jorel. "It would seem we have little choice in the matter regardless of what our situation is. If we wish to escape this 'trap' we will need to disable that force field. To do that, we must venture deeper into this structure. There is no other logical course of action."
Jorel turned to his security officers and ordered them to set their phaser rifles to kill. With that, the team ventured deeper inside the structure that held them captive.
****
It's been six hours since the away team became trapped underground. Communications with the ship were functional but transporters were still unable to penetrate the force field that was blocking their only way back to the surface. The underground ruins themselves were barren and fairly unremarkable. No equipment, no machinery, no signs that anything had ever occupied the massive underground structure. The walls themselves were the only item of interest, composed of an unidentifiable alloy.
Chief Science Officer Talin, maintaining his typical stoic demeanor, led the away team's search of the ruins. The team was moving towards a large chamber in the center of the underground complex. Scans showed that the room's size and configuration differed from the other areas of the ruins, possibly indicating a command center. As the away team approached the chamber, Jorel began to experience an ever increasing amount of pain at the base of his skull. It was as if someone was pressing thousands of tiny needles into the back of his head. None of the other members of the away team were experiencing the sensation so he shrugged it off as stress. However, Jorel noticed that, as they approached the chamber, the pain intensified and he found himself unconsciously clinging to the Kurlan necklace that he wore under his uniform.
The away team entered the chamber and found a large multi-colored obelisk in the center of the room. Talin scanned the object and shook his head, "I am only getting partial sensor readings. However, I believe this object is generating power to this facility even if I do not understand how it is doing it." Ensign Zolina, who had been physically examining the obelisk nodded her head in agreement, "There's no obvious place to interface with the obelisk. It also seems to be made up of the same alloy as the rest of this facility. However, I am picking up traces of organic tissue." Jorel, tensing up due to the pain, released his hold on the wood sculpted bird, checked his phaser rifle's setting, and began to approach the obelisk. When Jorel was within a meter of the obelisk, it gradually began to pulse. The pain abruptly intensified and caused Jorel to collapse to the ground. The chamber around them vanished and they found themselves standing in the middle of the U.S.S. Freeman's bridge. While the away team was surprised to be back on the Freeman's bridge, the bridge crew continued their work ignoring their presence. A science officer, working at one of the aft stations, got up and walked right through one of the security officers towards another station. Talin grunted in annoyance, "Apparently, we are not really on board the Freeman. This is simply a facsimile of the bridge. We are still in the underground chamber." Jorel picked himself up from the 'deck' and straightened his uniform. "Talin, when I approached the obelisk the pain I've been feeling got a lot worse… it's as if something is… I don't know…."
"The obelisk didn't react until you approached it. I believe it's fairly elementary. We have found no physical means to interface with the obelisk. However, when you approached the obelisk it began to pulse and it created this representation of the bridge. Tell me Commander… what were you thinking when you approached the obelisk?"
"Other than wondering what the hell this thing was… I was… thinking about getting back to the ship."
Talin nodded, "Fascinating. I would surmise that this obelisk can only be interfaced with telepathically. It reacted to your thoughts and created this representation of the bridge."
Zolina shook her head, "Commander, if this thing responds telepathically then… why didn't it react to you? You're Vulcan, you also have…"
Talin shot her an icy look that brought her up short, "I am only half-Vulcan. My father was human. I am what my people would call… disabled. I was born without the ability to interface with another's mind. I have no telepathic abilities. However… Mr. Calhoun does."
Jorel nodded, "That would explain why I'm the only one with this headache. What do you want me to do?"
"Use your mind to send out a signal to bring us back to the chamber. Once we have returned, try interfacing with the device to find out what it is and, more importantly, who lived on this planet and what became of them. If we can gain control of this device, we should be able to shut down the force field preventing us from escaping."
Jorel sent out a telepathic signal indicating his desire to return to the chamber. As quickly as the thought formed in his mind the Freeman's bridge vanished and the away team found themselves back in the original chamber. Where the obelisk had stood lifeless in the center of the room it was now wildly pulsing with energy. Jorel approached the obelisk, brushing aside the pain he was feeling, and placed both hands on either side of it. He began to telepathically probe it for information.
For several minutes nothing happened. Then the ground began to tremble. Jorel ignored the shaking and continued to maintain his connection with the obelisk. The trembling worsened causing one of the security officers to shout out "Earthquake!" and take cover under one of the stone slabs near the entrance. As he approached the entryway he was repulsed by a highly charged force field that formed after they entered the chamber. Jorel disconnected from the obelisk and began to walk over to help the security officer. Before he could take a step, the obelisk fired a purple beam at him that froze him in place. The light washed over his body, scanning him, and then focused on the center of his chest. One of the security officers began to take aim at the obelisk with his phaser rifle but Talin waved him off, not wanting to damage the artifact. After a few moments, the energy beam ceased and Jorel found himself trapped within the confines of a purple hued force field, unable to move. Talin and Zolina rushed to Jorel's side but were stopped by the same purple beam that had washed over Jorel. The security officers were likewise being subjected to the obelisks scans. Unlike the obelisk's interaction with Jorel, the light quickly began to change colors, going through the full color spectrum before it stopped. The members of the away team shared looks of confusion, wondering why they had not become trapped like Jorel. The obelisk didn't give them much time to ponder the thought as they were blasted by a green energy pulse that caused them to crumple to the floor, writhing in pain. Jorel, safe within the confines of the force field, but still frozen in place, could see that Zolina and the two security officers, all of them Human, were knocked unconscious. They were developing severe sores on their face and hands. Talin was developing the same sores. However, he was still conscious and was screaming as he frothed at the mouth. Jorel cringed at the sight of a Vulcan, even a half-Vulcan, screaming in pain.
The quake intensified and the underground ruins began to come apart. Boulders from the ceiling above them began to rain down across the chamber. Jorel attempted to telepathically interface with the obelisk one last time, hoping to find a way out of his predicament. His efforts were rebuffed by the obelisk and it punished him by sending massive electric shocks through the force field and into his body. After what seemed like hours, but was only a few seconds, the shocks stopped and the force field released him. Jorel collapsed on the floor and rolled over onto his back. He was badly burned and injured from the shocks the force field sent through his body but he tried to force himself to stand. As he began to balance himself on his knees, hoping to gain some leverage, a rock from the ceiling fell on his back, sending him back down to the ground. The last thing he saw was a large boulder crash down on the obelisk before darkness took him.
****
Jorel opened his eyes and immediately shut them. A blinding light was shining directly at his face. He instinctively tried to sit up and get away but was rebuffed by a force field keeping him in place. He then heard a voice shout, "Doctor! He's awake!" Sensing someone approaching him, Jorel tried to reach out with his mind but he was too exhausted to sense anything meaningful. The light that was shining in his face was quickly turned off. He opened his eyes and was greeted by the smiling face of Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Nunez. She turned to the nurse and told her to inform the Captain that Jorel was finally awake.
"How are you feeling Commander?"
"A little weak but… otherwise I think I'm ok. What happened?"
"I'll let the Captain explain when he gets here."
She grabbed a medical tricorder off a nearby table and began to scan Jorel, "You've been through quite a lot. You've been unconscious for the past six days. Your vitals crashed twice during that time. You were also having seizures so we had to enable the bed's force field. However, I am happy to report that, over the past 24 hours, your vitals have returned to normal."
"What about the rest of the away team? Where are they?"
Captain Roan Dillinger walked into sickbay and headed straight to Jorel's bedside. "They didn't make it." Dr. Nunez nodded to the Captain, acknowledging his presence, and then turned off the force field. She left the two men alone and began to tend to her other patients. Jorel gingerly sat up to address the Captain. "What do you mean 'they didn't make it'?" Dillinger sighed and walked over to a nearby display. An image of what looked like an asteroid field appeared on the screen. Dillinger emphatically pointed at the screen, "That is what is left of the planet and moon we were investigating. We don't know what caused it but, shortly after you entered that last chamber, the open communications channel we'd been maintaining with you was cut off. We then began to detect severe seismic disturbances in both the planet and the moon. Minutes later they were both… destroyed. The Freeman was barely able to get out of range and we've suffered some damage as a result."
Jorel stared blankly at Dillinger. "Destroyed!? That's imp…"
Dillinger continued, "I know… we've spent the past six days poring over the remains of the planet and moon to see what we could uncover. So far we've turned up very little. We're not really expecting to find much."
"What about Commander Yager and his team?"
Dillinger shook his head, "The shuttle never left that moon. We lost communications with them when they docked. We don't know what happened to them. We just know they never made it off that moon before it exploded."
Feeling a headache coming on, Jorel began rubbing his temples. As he did so, Dr. Nunez rushed to Jorel's side and began scanning his vitals. "How did you get me out of there?"
"The force field that blocked our transporters came down right before the planet and moon was destroyed. We were hoping you could shed some light on what happened to you and the rest of the away team."
Jorel explained, in detail, what occurred after the away team became trapped underground. The Captain stood there quietly, lost in thought. Dr. Nunez, completed her scans, apparently content with the results, and then looked to Jorel, "Commander, when we beamed all of you up, the transporters detected something foreign in your systems. We placed you all in quarantine. Talin and the others died minutes after they were transported to sickbay. We don't know what was causing it but whatever it was… it was destroying their DNA at a cellular level. There… wasn't enough left of them to even conduct an autopsy."
"How… how did I survive? Why wasn't I….?"
"We don't know. The only guess we have is based off what you just told us. For whatever reason, you weren't subjected to the same energy blast as the rest of the away team. If I had to guess it's probably related to your telepathic abilities."
Jorel said nothing. He was trying to objectively analyze the situation, rolling over in his mind his interaction with the obelisk. Yet, each time he tried, he could only conjure the image of Talin writhing in pain on the chamber floor screaming.
Dr. Nunez continued, "Over the past six days, we've been running a number of tests on you. Your vitals have been erratic since we brought you back from the planet but we can't find a direct cause. Fortunately, we're not detecting the same breakdown in your cellular structure that we did in the away team. We're sending your results to Starfleet but, considering how far out we are, we won't get feedback from them for quite some time."
"That's comforting… In the meantime how can I help? When can I get back to duty?"
Captain Dillinger looked expectedly at Dr. Nunez. She looked from one man to the other then sighed, "I want you here for observation for another 72 hours. After that, I want you reviewed by the Counselor. She'll make a determination at that time."
Captain Dillinger smiled and placed a hand on Jorel's shoulder. "Don't worry son, this ship isn't going anywhere. We lost a lot of good people, including the ship's Exec and our Chief Science Officer. It's gonna be rough but we can do without you for a little while longer." With that last comment, Captain Dillinger left sickbay and headed to the bridge.
Dr. Nunez reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a wood necklace in the shape of a bird. She handed it to Jorel, "Thought you might want this back. I know it has some sentimental value. It's clean of any contaminants so it should be fine."
Jorel took the necklace without comment, seeing it as yet another painful reminder of something he'd rather forget. He sat up and put the necklace around his neck. He looked to the doctor and asked, "Anything else going on that I should know about?"
Dr. Nunez smiled and shook her head, "A planet and moon blowing up for you not enough?" When Jorel didn't return the smile she grabbed placed her tricorder back on the nearby table and began to head to her office, "I'll let you rest. Let me know if you need anything."
Once Dr. Nunez entered her office, Jorel got up from the bed and walked to a nearby terminal. He accessed the files of each member of his away team and began to record personal messages of condolences for each of their families. Jorel knew that the messages would probably never reach them. Starfleet would no doubt classify this entire debacle and order the Freeman and its crew to continue their mission of exploration elsewhere. He finished recording the last message, to Ensign Elizabeth Zolina's parents, and went back to bed. He closed his eyes, hoping to sleep, but knew sleep wouldn't come.