Sentience (Mission)

Sentience
Season:	Season 4
Episode:	19
Date:	January 6, 2390
Span:	2 days
Template:Mission

A new year brings new adventures. The USS Black Hawk, fully repaired and extensively refit following her near-fatal mission in the Convergence Zone, is launched from Gamma Command to perform a light shakedown cruise in order for her crew to become comfortable with the changes aboard the starship. Holographic interfaces and avatars, new technology, uniforms, and even procedures to help maintain safety aboard the legendary vessel.

However, the Golden Stars… the Consortium… the Dolmoqour… none of them could have ever prepared the crew for a set of perfect conditions and an ion storm, and the birth of a new Artificial Intelligence that sees the nearly nine hundred souls aboard as an invading virus.

Summary

Six months have passed since the Black Hawk was drydocked and her refit began. The ship had suffered massive damage from its turmoil in the Finnean Convergence Zone, requiring several systems to be overhauled completely. Two hundred and fifty four new crew members were assigned to the mighty starship, replacing those that had perished or transferred elsewhere. At long last, the ship was finally cleared to launch. For the first time in his career as a Captain, no orders awaited Harvey Geisler, who decides to use this time to his advantage. He directs his reassembled crew to embark on a shakedown cruise, allowing everyone time to get acclimated to the many changes, ranging from a new Executive Officer in Commander Terry Walsh to improvements all throughout the ship and a new holographic avatar for the primary computer interface.

The crew waste no time in getting underway. No sooner does the ship warp out from New Bajor do the crew settle into a familiar routine. Engineering and Operations teams begin to put HASA to task, testing its capabilities and refining its abilities and resource consumption. The Security Department and the Fighter Squadron brainstorm and establish rules for the upcoming wargames scenarioes which will pit the full Squadron up against the Black Hawk. Commander Walsh also begins to settle into his new role on board the starship.

Life aboard the starship, however, finds itself dramatic. Shortly before launch, Lieutenant Commander Tivan, a psychologist considered to be an expert in various fields, was assigned to the starship by Admiral Zachary O'Connell in order to keep an eye on the traumatized crew. Tivan wastes no time getting to know the crew, especially those who had been infected by the Dolmoqour. Her methods prove to be less than conventional, meeting and interacting with the crew in different and unorthodox ways. Her actions come with consequences, including alienating much of the senior staff, and winding up in the brig under charges of destruction of personal property. While Captain Geisler was able to mediate a solution, tensions still remained high, especially between Tivan and Commander Di Pasquale.

Several personnel changes are also forced upon the starship. Doctor Kij was presented with a chance to have her dream job and promptly departed the Black Hawk for good. As Gamma Command was short qualified physicians and candidates, the Bajoran Doctor Jennin Rhula was appointed from within the ranks to fill the billet. Lieutenant Sorensen transferred off the ship as well, opening the door for the half-Romulan Chief Engineer Djaat Parker to replace her as Chief Engineer.

On the second day of the shakedown, the Black Hawk warped to an area of open space where it could conduct the wargames between the ship and the squadron. The ship dropped out of warp into an intense ion storm that somehow evaded the ship's sensors. Lieutenant McCullen quickly pulls the ship out of the ion storm, but not before the ship suffers minor damage including hull buckling, the loss of a phaser bank, power fluctuations and other minor issues. None of these issues are ruled serious enough to postpone the games, and Captain Geisler orders the launch of the Squadron and the commencement of the exercises.

As the Black Hawk takes damage, Commander Walsh instructs HASA to interact with the crew, dictating damage and casualties throughout the deck in accordance with regular exercises and drills. Doctor Jennin is immediately put to the test, mobilizing the Medical Department to handle casualties and wounded that both come to Sickbay and then also throughout the ship. The new Chief Medical Officer leaves Sickbay himself to handle a situation in one of the Science Labs. Damage control teams are dispatched throughout the ship, including the shuttlebay and armory.

Stange incidents begin to unfold throughout the ship. HASA tips over crates of grenades in the armory and activates two of them, leaving two of the armory officers to find the deadly ordinance all the while acting wounded. Multiple sections on Deck 13, including the Shuttlebay and Operations Center, decompress as a result of a simulated hull breach. The decompression was unexpected, especially since protocol required all situations to be pure simulations and not be actually life-threatening.

When news of the decompressions reach the bridge, Captain Geisler immediately cancels the wargames. All attention is turned internally to investigate the unusual events. While some worked to free personnel trapped in the decompressed areas, others began to clean up other messes caused by the simulated games and the very real damage caused by the ion storm. That evening, Commander, Lt. Cmdr. Di Pasquale, and Lieutenants Parker and Akorem meet with Captain Geisler in the Ready Room to provide a full damage report and assessment of the ship's health. The malfunctions remain unexplained, however, it is determined that the ship's experimental avatar was present in all of the locations. Captain Geisler orders the avatar to be deactivated and undergo several intense diagnostics as a result. Access to the avatar is then restricted to all of the crew, save for a select few. The damage assessment meeting is dismissed, and all the attendees remain unaware that the real danger is just beginning.

Timeline

Prelude

• January 4: Adventure

Mission Day 1: Departure

• 0730 hours: A Matter of Command
• 0900 hours: Shakedown Briefing
• 0945 hours: Wargames
• 1000 hours: Blood and Thunder
• 1200 hours: Departure
• 1230 hours: Shakedown Orders
• 1230 hours: Department Visit: Medical
• 1245 hours: Department Visit: Counseling
• 1300 hours: Security Briefing
• 1320 hours: Departmental Visit: Intel
• 1400 hours: Intel Briefing
• 1500 hours: Science Visit
• 1500 hours: Department Visit: Security
• 1600 hours: A Matter of Direction
• 1600 hours: Back to the Bottom
• 1800 hours: En-Route Towards a Cool Nebula

Mission Day 2

A Normal Day

• 0800 hours: The New Commander
• 0800 hours: Training Fun
• 0900 hours: Takedown
• 0930 hours: Riposte
• 0945 hours: Two Sides to Every Story
• 1000 hours: Fair Judgement?
• 1030 hours: Meeting of the Minds
• 1100 hours: Never A Dull Moment
• 1130 hours: Right of First Succession
• 1145 hours: Next In Line
• 1400 hours: Destroyer of Engineers

Wargames and Drills

Note: Despite the timestamps, all of these posts are concurrent and happen from 1600 - 1630.

• War Games
• Time For Drills: Engineering
• Time For Drills: Sickbay
• Time For Drills: Shuttlebay
• Time For Drills: Armory
• Time For Drills: Science Lab 1
• Time For Drills: Operations

After Action Review

• 1620 hours: Airless
• 1900 hours: The Bottom Line
• 1930 hours: Error

OOC Information

Mission 19 began on January 6, 2020 and was concluded on June 10, 2020. 63 posts were published during the mission.

External Information

Complete Mission Logs for Episode 19: Sentience