There is an abundance of sensor data to sift through even before you watch the system tear itself apart from a safe distance.
The bird of prey warps out of orbit, its warp field unstable, but functional enough to get them back to their own space.
"Captain's Log: We have left the Bacchus system under high warp as the machines left behind by the alien civilization that once lived there destroys the system. We may never know what secrets it held or what we might have learned there, given time. Why call so many people to it and then self-destruct when they arrive? What purpose would the mind-controlled victims have served if we had never entered that building?"
"If anything positive is to be salvaged from this mission, it has little to do with ancient civilizations. We gave assistance to stricken mariners by the ancient Law of the Sea. It is to be hoped that our peaceful cooperation with the Klingon crew and the aid we rendered them in a crisis results in a lessening of tensions with the Empire. Computer, End Log."
"A World With a Bluer Sun"
After repairs at Starbase 343, you are carrying supplies to Starbase 234. 234 is one of the most precariously located of all Starbases, sitting on the edge of both the Klingon and Romulan Neutral Zones.
Link to Map of Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
A few days out from your destination, you pick up a distress call.
0 Momentum 10 Threat
"Captain, we're picking up a distress call. I'm putting it through now."
You trace the distress call to an uninhabited Class M planet with no name, only a numerical designation. This area of space has been in conflict as far back as the Romulan War and the First Klingon War, so no one has attempted to settle it. A few probes have provided limited information, but not much is known of it.
The distress call is an old automated message. "This is Pod 1 of the Atlantis issuing a general distress call. We are stranded on an unknown planet and need assistance."
"It seems likely they're a warp capable race seeing as the planet is unknown to them. There might still be survivors Captain though they might be well settled in by now if they are alive." Kerensky thinks for a moment. "There may be an unknown spacial hazard they ran afoul of. I suggest we change to yellow alert."
From her station on the Bridge, Doctor Bhalla informs Sick Bay to prepare for potential casualties. Knowing that Atlantis is a name associated with an old Earth legend, she quietly searches the ship's database for any information on any vessels bearing that designation that maybe within proximity to the source of the signal.
Lance bends over the science station panel, "Initiating sensor scan now Captain..."
Reeves waits for his officers to report.
From her station on the Bridge, Doctor Bhalla informs Sick Bay to prepare for potential casualties. Knowing that Atlantis is a name associated with an old Earth legend, she quietly searches the ship's database for any information on any vessels bearing that designation that maybe within proximity to the source of the signal.
[Dice=Insight+Command (15) w/ship computer]3d20
There was an NX class ship designated Atlantis that was lost with all hands during the Romulan War after engaging a force of Romulan ships.
Lance bends over the science station panel, "Initiating sensor scan now Captain..."
[dice=Reason+Science(15), Focus Planetary analysis]3d20
[dice=Ship Assist]1d20
Your scans also reveal an unstable wormhole 700,000 km from the planet.
Lance looks up with a concerned look on his face. "Captain, my scans reveal a debris field of Romulan origin. Near the crash site is an old Earth shuttlepod. The shuttlepod is intact, functioning in low-power mode. It is transmitting the automated emergency beacon. Also picking up an unstable wormhole 700,000 km from the planet."
"The nature of the debris field sounds consistent with the Atlantis that I washinking of. I would not expect any survivors. It was an NX class ship, designated lost with all hands during the Romulan War after engaging a force of Romulan ships. Most starship crewmen were from Earth during that time period and it was well over a hundred years ago." notes Dr. Bhalla somberly.
"Over a century ago then. It's unlikely the original survivors are alive but given the make up of those in pods there might be some descendants."
"Definitely worth the risk Captain," Thoss nods, "I can bring her in close giving that wormhole a wide berth."
"Alright, Commander. Let's do that. Mr. Kerensky, I want to know if that wormhole changes in any way. It's likely what caused this Earth ship to crash. Doctor, since you're here on the bridge, please scan for life signs, especially near either of the crash sites."
Thoss nods in reply to Reeves order, "Aye sir. Standard orbit."
Thoss pilots the ship into a standard orbit. The ride is bumpier than expected due to some undetected gravitic disturbances that seem to be emanating from the wormhole.
"Commencing scans now." replies the doctor.
The planet harbors no intelligent life, but plenty of other life forms, nothing much bigger than an elephant on land, but a greater variety of megafauna than are left on Earth. Near the crash site the vegetation has been slow to recover, with pieces of a Romulan ship scattered across about 150 km. Near the shuttle pod, there is one human life sign.
"Captain, I'm picking up human life signs." reports Dr. Bhalla. "But...only one."
somebody alive in the shuttle without some unusual technology and then use of some impressive skills. Is there an anergy signature coming from the shuttle? Yesult says to the bridge from engineering.
"The only energy signature I read is coming from the shuttle-pod itself." Lance replies.
"There's always a chance environmental factors or unknown technology could mask the presence of more, the best chance we have for finding out is that person down there."
Yesult gathers his engineering equipment bag tossing an extra few things in and heads down to the transporter anticipating the order to beam down and investigate
Scene 2
The Romulan vessel crashed in what appears to be a once forested valley, now a jagged landscape where slabs of rock jut upward and limbless trees stand at unnatural angles, hanging on even as the land shifted beneath them. Fallen trees litter the uneven ground and twisted, blue-barked seedlings sprout from the carcasses. Several volcanoes smoke in the distance, filling the sky with ash. The sun is a cold yellow disk in the ash clouds. Small furry-tailed animals, each with one red eye, scurry about, while brightly-colored, beetle-like creatures the size of a human hand dart from rock crevices, their five-pronged pincers snapping. Not much remains of the Romulan ship beyond huge chunks of charred hull, covered in a blanket of strange, blue-tinted moss — which appears to be one of the few plant species thriving. The pre-Federation shuttlepod rests nearby, its roof and sides thick with the blueish moss except around the door which has been cleared in patches as if removed by hand.
Momentum 1 Threat 10
"Given that the moss around the hatch has been removed they shuttlepod might be used as a shelter or at least visited to keep the recovering signal going."
"A suitable hypothesis, Mister Kerensky." affirms Doctor Bhalla as she begins to take scans of the craft and surrounding debris.
As the results of her scan begin to appear, the doctor pauses for a moment, uncertain whether the readings are correct.
"Scans confirm that the ship was heavily damaged in battle. There is evidence of radiation consistent with the atomic weaponry and phase-modulated energy canons of the Earth-Romulan War. The make of the vessel places it firmly within the 22nd Century." she expounds.
"However..." she pauses to re-run the data, before confirming, "My tricorder readings date the debris at just six years old!"
Thoss looks up where the Doctor made her startling discovery. "Interesting Doctor, it must be related to that wormhole in some way. Still if your reading is accurate then it is possible there are indeed survivors!"
2 Momentum 10 Threat
Partially obscured byt the moss, the Shuttlepod is clearly marked NX-05 Atlantis Pod 1.
"That means the good news is we might be able to save the crew... but there might be Romulan veterans soldiers from that war about."
"not promising, but not the worse thing I've heard in the last few missions. Try translating Klingon when they are excited and yelling About a core melting sheesh."
"Romulans shouldn't be a concern." Doctor Bhalla reassures Kerensky. "My initial scans from the ship identified a life-signs of a single humanoid life-form and it was human."
"And if you were able to get results from translated yells from Klingons, Chief Garrett, then perhaps we should employ similar tactics here." she suggests.
The doctor steps toward the craft, cups her hands around her mouth and shouts, "Hello! Is anywhere here? We've arrived here by starship, the U.S.S. Valiant."
She pauses her call to carefully consider her next words in light of the potential of dealing with a time-displaced individual. "We're travelers...from some distance......but we are here now to rescue you."
As you scan your surroundings, a sudden blur of blue appears from behind a boulder on a nearby upslope. An arrow strikes the shuttlepod, narrowly missing Garrett as he evaluates the damage to the craft.
There stands a man in a pre-Federation style blue jumpsuit uniform, badly worn and torn. He has a beard and hair that would not seem out of place in Robinson Crusoe.
Thoss draws his hand phaser and quickly sprints for cover, "Hold your fire! We are not here to harm you!"
Garrett says things that no lady nor cadet outside of engineering has ever heard and pulls his phaser diving for cover as well saying after his swear word laden expletives stop shooting at me with the arrows, I am federation and I have a phaser!
"I am sure you probably aren't used to visitors, but we are hear to help. I am a doctor." says Doctors Bhalla advancing toward the shooter, holding aloft her medkit.
"The Doctor is right we are here to help. But if you continue to attack, we will have to defend ourselves."
"No, I'm not falling for your Romulan deceptions. Die Romulans."
The human rains arrows down on the group. Kerensky catches an arrow in the shoulder and drops to the ground.
Thoss waits for the proper timing before he leans around the tree cover and opens fire with his phaser!
Samuel returns fire before moving towards cover.