Truth and Justice (Mission)

Truth and Justice
Season:	Season 3
Episode:	17
Date:	March 14, 2389
Span:	15 Days
Template:Mission

Penduli V has long been isolated in the Finnean Convergence Zone. No one has set foot on the planet in centuries, and no one has left it. Kalisa’s defensive grid pales in comparison to Penduli’s, yet it wasn’t designed to keep outsiders away from the planet; it was designed to keep its inhabitants imprisoned.

Tales have been spun about the Great Conflict. Those tales have evolved into mysteries, rumors, and legends. But only the truth can be found on Penduli. Will the crew of the USS Black Hawk find the danger their future selves warned them about? Or, will the crew meet a fate worse than death itself: prison of an unimaginable design!?

Summary

In a staff debriefing, the Away Team recounts the events that unfolded at the Kalisan Archive. The information, sadly, isn't much to go on, but there is a direction at last, the road leading to Penduli V, a planet guarded by a similar defensive system. Captain Geisler orders a course set to the planet, and more study to be performed on the information retrieved from the archive. Lieutenants Di Pasquale, Roshe, and Geisler question the older Triosian and Boreriri rescued from the archive, but walk away with nothing but uneasy feelings. Doctors Kij and Milo, along with Corpsman Rylan, perform a medical exam on their guests, but nothing conclusive comes from there either. Commander Walsh hosts a think tank session, hoping to come up with a better plan of traversing the minefield, and further research is performed afterwards.

Doctor Kij and Corspman Rylan tend to members of the Away Team, finding themselves dealing with psychic imprints an encounter with an alien advertising device, giving them glimpses of a once fruitful past. Meanwhile, work continues throughout the ship in preparation for their arrival to Penduli. Morale levels are raised, thanks to a feeling of seeing the light at the end of a tunnel, as well as the Captain's Birthday Party, the first one he's celebrated in years.

The true test began, however, when the Black Hawk arrived to Penduli V. Lieutenant Sorensen was successful in activating the alien technology recovered from the archive, and the Black Hawk is able to successfully navigate the minefield despite a couple errors in the system that caused mines to be attracted to the Black Hawk. Lieutenants Geisler and Akorem scan the surface of the planet to discover that it had long ago been ravaged by orbital bombardment. Duenetic field generators surround the planet, forcing its occupants to live in an industrial, pre-electrical age. Transport to the surface is possible, though retrieving the Away Team would be difficult through the field. While the Black Hawk scans the surface, a group of Guardian vessels begin assembling outside the minefield.

Captain Geisler orders the Runabout Mississippi to be dispatched to the surface along with an Away Team led by Lieutenant Di Pasquale. Doctor Kij and Chief Engineer Sorensen are also assigned to the team, along with a contingent of security officers that include Petty Officer Gomez. The runabout lands on the surface of Penduli V, and the crew exit to survey the landscape and attempt to find locals. The locals, an ape-like species, quickly find the Away Team and surround them. Both groups attempt to engage in conversation, though it is clear the locals are a bit hostile. Petty Officer Gomez, who was assigned to guard the runabout along with an officer, stuns her crewmate and moves the Mississippi closer to the Away Team. She exits the runabout with her phaser aimed at her shipmates. The Away Team is forced to surrender as it is clear that immediate escape is no longer an option. The locals immediately take the Away Team into custody, and inform them that they will soon be hosts to the Dolmoqour, the mysterious species at the heart of the Great Conflict. Nine of the locals stab themselves in front of the Away Team, allowing the parasitic Dolmoqour to be removed from their former hosts, the apes, and implanted into the Away Team. The crew of the Black Hawk resist, but not a single one could fight off the implantation.

Now converted, the Away Team begin to hatch a plan to return to the Black Hawk and assume control of the ship in order to release the Dolmoqour from their prison. Gomez informs them of the identities of other agents already aboard the Black Hawk, including Lieutenant Carmichael and Ensign Mackie. After some discussion, and doing their best to assist Doctor Kij who is struggling with the symbiont's memories, three Scruna are selected to accompany the Away Team back to the Black Hawk. The runabout returns, and the Away Team is greeted by Captain Geisler and Commander Teixeira who initiate formal First Contact proceedings, beginning with a tour of the Black Hawk. During the tour, members of the Away Team begin to circulate throughout the Black Hawk, converting additional key members of the crew into unwilling Dolmoqour agents, including Squadron Commander Commander Walsh, Intelligence Analyst Torg, and others. The parasite inside Doctor Kij, however, struggles to maintain control thanks to the multiple previous hosts of the Kij symbiont. She makes it to sickbay, only to ramble nonsense before turning for the bridge.

The tour of the Black Hawk goes well, and ends with a simple reception in the starboard observation lounge. Both the Scruna and Lieutenant Di Pasquale, whose possessors have grown tired of the dog and pony show and are eager to escape the confines of their prison and resume their quest for galactic domination, begin to turn the tables. Camila, reusing the words "pity is treason," convinces Captain Geisler that all is not well and that a takeover of the ship is in process. The Scruna attempt to convert Commander Teixeira to their cause while Geisler and Di Pasquale enter a standoff, pointing their phasers at each other. Teixeira escapes, hoping to make it to the bridge to secure the ship, leaving Geisler alone with the enemy. Di Pasquale demands the command codes to the ship from the Captain. Geisler considers his options, and just when he thinks that surrender is the only option, the Scruna block Di Pasquale's aim. The Captain initiates a site-to-site transport and escapes. Furious, Di Pasquale initiates a ship-wide broadcast, declaring Captain Geisler is working with the enemy to secure the ship. Lieutenant Carmichael, who has turned Stellar Cartography into a command post, uses the Boreriri rescued from the Kalisan archive to telepathically communicate and coordinate the Dolmoqour efforts.

Adding to the surprise, Ensign Mackie sabotages the Black Hawk using altered isolinear chips and coding in the computer core to disable the ship's communications, internal sensors, and security grid. Confusion grips the Black Hawk as multiple efforts organized by Lieutenant Carmichael are quickly executed. Captain Geisler, seeing that the danger they'd been sent to find had been revealed, heads for the science lab where the probe that started their mission had been kept. As security prepares to capture the Captain and frame him for the events of the day, Harvey beams himself and the probe to the Runabout Mississippi. Lieutenant Kemm, who was already on board the runabout checking the alien technology, is stunned by Harvey's phaser and left unconscious aboard the runabout. Harvey powers up the runabout and flees the Black Hawk in order to get the probe to a launching point in order to complete the time loop. He is pursued by Lieutenant Cooper and Ensign Mitchell in the Runabout Euphrates and Commander Walsh in his fighter. The Euphrates is quickly turned away from the minefield, but Walsh continues to pursue Geisler. Both ships make it through the minefield, despite suffering heavy damage along the way, along with Harvey being injured. The probe is launched, and Geisler, Walsh, and Kemm are captured by the Guardians immediately after.

Chaos erupts on the bridge as the first reports of damage come in. The crew doesn't have much time to react before Lieutenant Di Pasquale arrives hoping to assert Dolmoqour control of the Black Hawk. She gets into an argument with Lieutenant Geisler, who'd been left to command the bridge, which quickly turns into a shouting match. Di Pasquale wastes no time revealing that she is not who the rest of the crew know, and attempts to convert the Captain's wife. Science Chief Lieutenant Commander Djinx attempts to intervene and calm everyone down, but is unsuccessful. It is Doctor Kij's arrival and her confused declaration that Di Pasquale is the traitor that finally start to bring clarity to the situation. Di Pasquale is quickly subdued and stunned, but not before she is successful in converting Joey. Lieutenant Geisler heeds the coordinating words of the Boreriri and gets the bridge to calm down entirely, as well as remove both Di Pasquale and Kij from the bridge.

Throughout the rest of the ship, however, systems continue to be disrupted as the Dolmoqour agents wreck havoc with the ship, going so far as to destroy Sensor Control. The Dolmoqour agents make a quick recovery from their failed attempts and launch new initiatives to claim the ship for themselves. The converted Chief Engineer Sorensen is ordered to cut power to much of the ship, and the crew is ushered to muster areas in the saucer in order to be easily corralled for conversion. One of the original Dolmoqour aboard sheds its host, Lieutenant T'pyr, and is transferred to transporter operator Lieutenant Beckett who then aids Ensign Mackie in beaming aboard more Dolmoqour. These Dolmoqour are distributed to the bridge, flight deck, and other crew members in order to establish a firmer grip of the spaceship. The bridge then yields to Dolmoqour control, allowing Lieutenant Carmichael to assume command of the Black Hawk. Other locations, such as the Flight Deck, also begin to fall to Dolmoqour control as many pilots and key maintenance personnel are converted into hosts.

Meanwhile, in sickbay, Doctor Kij's parasite becomes increasingly overwhelmed by the multiple personalities in the Trill symbiont and loses control of its host. It abandons Jayla and is captured by the medical staff to be examined. Jayla, though mentally and physically exhausted, begins to quarantine the medical staff until a means of detecting the Dolmoqour and repelling them can be found. An exception is made for Senior Chief Rylan and Surgeon Abrams to seek out one of the infected in hopes of capturing and determining a medical way procedure to remove the parasite. Near Environmental Control, Rylan and Abrams manage to capture the infected Ensign Mitchell, but Doctor Abrams is severely injured in the process.

Harvey, Kemm and Terry awaken on the Guardian vessel, each separately bound to a chair and confined to a holding cell. The Captain tries to figure out their situation while Commander Walsh berates and intimidates the senior officer, only for the tirade to be interrupted by the arrival of the Triosian Commander Varke, leader of the Guardian task force that was assembled to destroy the Black Hawk. As he interrogates the captives, Varke shares the truth behind the cause of the Great Conflict, and the Dolmoqour. He lowers each of the forcefields one by one and fires an electrical disc on all three of the captives, subjecting them to a powerful electric shock to disrupt their nervous systems. Harvey and Kemm suffer mild damage, whereas the Dolmoqour parasite is forced out of Terry's mind and killed. Harvey, seeing that there is hope for his ship and his crew, immediately pleads for a chance to save and redeem his command. Varke reluctantly agrees, having been convinced that a Dolmoqour-free Black Hawk would invite the Federation into the Convergence Zone in order to improve the quality of life for all who inhabit it. Repairs are affected to the Mississippi, a battle plan is drafted, and the runabout departs the Guardian fleet to return to the Black Hawk.

The Mississippi, despite its damage, makes it through the minefield with ease. The Black Hawk's sensors, however, pick up the runabout on approach. Thinking that the returning Captain would try to land aboard the mighty vessel, the Fighter Squadron is dispatched to intercept the runabout, and Lieutenants Di Pasquale and Geisler are sent down to the Flight Deck to prepare a welcome party. One of the unconverted pilots, Ensign Moretti, attempts to block the fighters from leaving the Black Hawk, only for her fighter to be disabled, and her poor self to be possessed by the Dolmoqour. Several fighters quickly get to the runabout, and attempt to stop it by opening fire. The Mississippi took fatal damage to its warp drive, but Commander Walsh successfully pilots the runabout inside the Black Hawk's shield perimeter. Geisler, Walsh, and Kemm, along with the Guardian escorts, transport to the Black Hawk just before the runabout rams into the side of the Black Hawk, ripping a large hole in the engineering hull and disabling the main deflector. Without the deflector, the Kalisan artifact ceases to function, and the Black Hawk is forced to leave orbit or otherwise be consumed by the minefield.

Aboard the Black Hawk, Captain Geisler and his team materialize on Deck Six and are immediately encountered by Petty Officer Gomez. She is subsequently freed from the Dolmoqour. Senior Chief Rylan, who had been tracking down a different Dolmoqour, encounters the returning Captain and joins the party just in time before it heads for sickbay, which is currently under assault by Dolmoqour-controlled security. Before the group can make it to sickbay, they are intercepted by Lieutenants Di Pasquale and Geisler. A tense standoff yields to weapons fire, vaporizing Petty Officer Gomez. Lieutenant Kemm blasts both Joey and Camila with an LRAD, and the Dolmoqour parasites are removed. Captain Geisler leads the group to sickbay, where they quickly overpower the remaining Dolmoqour security force. Both the medical staff, and the hodgepodge team assembled by Harvey begin to regroup and count their losses. During this, Commander Teixeira resurfaces, having managed to avoid being possessed by the Dolmoqour. As his wife falls into premature labor, Harvey, Thiago, and Camila activate the ship's self-destruct system, a final security measure should they fail in retaking the ship. He then orders sickbay to continue to stand while Thiago, Camila, and Terry are sent to the bridge and he heads for the flight deck. Senior Chief Rylan and Lieutenant Kemm retrieve the wounded Doctor Abrams and free Ensign Mitchell from the Dolmoqour. Everyone circles back to sickbay which has now become a base of operations for all Starfleet personnel who are known to be parasite free. Ensign Mitchell, Lieutenant Kemm, and Senior Chief Rasputin clear the remainder of Deck Six of Dolmoqour as the medical staff begin to treat wounded flooding in from every department.

Captain Geisler manages to round up some security personnel before arriving on the Flight Deck. This group watches Ensign Mackie and Lieutenant Beckett arrive and discuss the present situation with Warrant Officer Griffin, who is the point officer for the Dolmoqour on the Flight Deck. Mackie orders Griffin to prepare all light craft to evacuate as many Dolmoqour as they can. Before they can get started, Captain Geisler and his team ambush the Dolmoqour, overpowering them within a few minutes. All of the infected crewmen, including Griffin, Beckett, and Mackie, are freed. The Runabout Euphrates is configured into a communications center. As Captain Geisler begins to check in with various teams, the wounded are transported to sickbay.

Through all of this, the Black Hawk attempts to avoid the incessant weapons fire from the Guardian fleet as the Starfleet vessel flees the Penduli system. Lieutenant Carmichael, still in command of the ship, continues to direct the Black Hawk's infected crew and fighter pilots as they collectively inflict Guardian losses. The Guardians manage to continue reinforcing their position, and inflict heavy damage on the Black Hawk. The battle reaches its climax as Commander Teixiera, Commander Walsh, and Lieutenant Di Pasquale emerge on the bridge to retake command. A firefight ensues. At the end, the infected personnel are freed, and both the Triosian rescued from Kalisa and Lieutenant Carmichael are killed. Commander Walsh recalls all of the fighters, and the Black Hawk stands down from the conflict, cutting her engines and weapons to establish a cease fire.

Guardian Commander Varke takes a shuttle to the Black Hawk and lands on the Flight Deck. He and Captain Geisler meet, in front of over hundred of the Black Hawk's crew. Geisler hands over the last survivor of the Kalisa Archive, and the Guardians agree to not destroy the Black Hawk, and agree to a cease fire. Captain Geisler, along with the rest of the survivors aboard the Black Hawk, are left to contend with the fallout from the day's events.

Timeline

Mission Day 1

• 0800 hours: Preparing For The Future
• 0900 hours: A Lead At Last
• 1000 hours: Interrogating the Aliens
• 1100 hours: Visitor Check Up
• 1600 hours: Breaking the Curse?
• 1700 hours: Focus Group

Mission Day 2

• 0900 hours: Psychic Contamination
• 1030 hours: Psychic Contamination, Part 2

Mission Day 3

• 0800 hours: Organized Chaos
• 1915 hours: Future Planning

Mission Day 15

Arriving at Penduli V

• 1100 hours: Yellow Alert
• 1145 hours: Forming the Blockade
• 1145 hours: A Quick Update

The Infiltration

• 1200 hours: Landing Party
• 1300 hours: Hatching The Plan
• 1330 hours: Uneasy Orbit
• 1430 hours: Infiltrating Intel
• 1500 hours: Setting the Board
• 1500 hours: Welcome Dolmoqour
• 1500 hours: First Contact Gone Wrong
• 1505 hours: Moment of Truth
• 1525 hours: Change of Plans

Takeover

• 1530 hours: Captain on the Run
• 1530 hours: Chaos on the Bridge
• 1530 hours: A Failure to Communicate
• 1600 hours: Reinforcements
• 1615 hours: What Is It?
• 1623 hours: Bar the Gates
• 1630 hours: Confused and Concerned
• 1645 hours: Snatch and Grab
• 1700 hours: Captured
• 1730 hours: Sickbay Stands!

Retaking the Ship

• 1730 hours: Fool's Errand
• 1745 hours: Unwelcome Home
• 1750 hours: Element of Surprise
• 1800 hours: Chasing the Russian
• 1805 hours: The Fight for Sickbay
• 1810 hours: Parasites, Babies, and Friendlies... Oh My!
• 1815 hours: Scoop and Run
• 1815 hours: Clearing the Deck
• 1820 hours: Command and Control
• 1820 hours: Hope for Deliverance
• 1825 hours: Fight for the Flight Deck
• 1840 hours: Bittersweet Victory

OOC Information

Mission 17 began on April 19, 2019 and was completed on December 19, 2019. 55 posts were published during the mission.

External Information

Complete Mission Logs for Episode 17: Truth and Justice