Personal Log - Fred McCellan

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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151007.1557

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Stardate 150902

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

It has been about a month since the loss of the USS Menelaus and I am still grieving the loss of my comrades. A few of my crew-mates and I were lucky to have transferred off the Menelaus (for some long overdue shore leave) just before its destruction by the Klinganians. Not unexpectedly, my shore leave was not as pleasant as I had hoped.

After considering all my options, I requested and was granted a position on the USS Veracruz as a member of the operations department. When on duty, I will mostly be handling the comm/ops station on the bridge.

The Veracruz is captained by Fleet Captain Kinney Randt. He was highly recommended by several of my colleagues in Starfleet and I look forward to serving under him. I also remember him from my cadet academy days when I attended a bridge simulation class taught by him. At the time he struck me as a good officer and he made a good impression on me.

The USS Veracruz is currently in orbit about Pinastri. I arrived and settled into my new quarters a few hours before my first mission.

Mission Log

I went to the bridge a few minutes before my shift began and found everyone engaged in celebrating the recent promotion of the captain to the rank of Fleet Captain.

After the celebrations ended, our shift began and everyone took their stations, with myself at the comm/ops console. When all stations had reported in, the mission began.

Captain Randt had me contact SS Tranquility to receive permission to depart. We received permission with instructions to head out to the outer marker at no greater than 1/4 impulse. No wanting to get anyone in trouble, I won't say anything except that our exit from Tranquility was a bit faster and more exciting than Tranquility ops would have liked. Being new aboard the Veracruz, I don't know if our spectacular exit happens on a regular basis or if it was part of the celebrations going on.

In any case, after leaving the station, the Captain had the helm set course to 118 mark 12 and we were on our way to the delta quadrant side of the Khitomer worm hole traveling at warp 6. That was the maximum warp speed we could do at the moment because engineering was in the middle of some diagnostics. The Khitomer wormhole being 12.4 ly from Pinastri, was a trip of about 11.5 days at warp 6, so engineering had plenty of time to tinker around and fine tune the warp drives as we traveled to our destination.

Sensors were at full alert just in case there were any Klinganians along our route but fortunately none were spotted during our trip.

We were headed to the wormhole because on a recent pass through it, the Veracruz had collected standard sensor data. Post processing of the data had showed something unusual was going on in there.

To paraphrase Tonwen Su: There was some kind of strange quasi-stable space-time anomaly in the wormhole although it was really, really small. The anomaly wasn't on any charts and was emitting old fashioned EM energy at precisely sixty Hertz. Whatever it was, it had been stable the entire time the Veracruz had been in the worm hole. The fact that it was at 60 Hertz was quite nagging since it implied a human unit of time.

The question was what was this anomaly, and why/how was it attached to the wormhole? The Captain and crew spent a great deal of time discussing all the possibilities of what the thing might be and why it was there.

We finally arrived at our destination and Captain Randt ordered the launch of two runabouts. They would act as traffic cops to keep ships from entering the worm hole while we conducted our investigation. The San Pedro would hold position on the alpha quadrant end of the worm hole. Runabout Thunder would hold position on our side of the worm hole.

Our chief of security, Commander Jameson, began the usual security and tactical sensor sweeps. Tonwen Su reported she did not yet detect the anomaly but that was likely because it was quite small and we were not yet close enough to it.

We we were ready, Captain Randt took us to yellow alert with full power to the shields (and forward sensors) and then had the helm start taking us into the worm hole very slowly. A short time later, medical officer RodneyMMcKay reported he was picking up a life sign in the worm hole and that it was human. Very strange since there was no sign of a ship. The Captain had us come to a halt near the anomaly. I for one scratched my head in amazement.

Further scans revealed the anomaly with the life sign to be some sort of box type container and it was stuck in the unstable subspace eddies inside the worm hole. The box was also the source of those 60 Hertz EM signals our sensors had detected on our previous pass through the worm hole. We considered beaming the box and/or human out, but unfortunately, the unstable subspace eddies in the worm hole made that unwise to even attempt. Captain Randt then had us attempt using a tractor beam to retrieve the object but that was not successful for basically the same reasons.

The captain called for options and suggestions on how we might safely extract the box and or human. We will put off any further attempts until we come up with a safe way of doing that.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151022.1325

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Stardate 150909

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

Last shift while investigating an anomaly inside the Khitomer worm hole we found a strange box lodged and securely held inside the worm hole. Scans indicated the box contained a faint but apparently stable human life sign. The construction of the box, however, had some definite elements that were non-Terran in nature. Beaming either the box or the human to our ship was impossible due to the unstable subspace eddies that held the box in place. We tried tractoring the box but that failed for much the same reason.

Of course, the whole crew was wondering where this box had come from, why it was here, and why there was a human inside an alien box. In addition, the box had no propulsion system so that added to the mystery.

After some crew discussion, Captain Randt decided the best way to attempt to retrieve the box would be to send in a runabout and to try to physically grapple the box to safety.

The San Pedro was appropriately modified and sent in to do the task while we kept maintained sensors at high alert. We also were able to maintain transporter lock on the crew of the San Pedro since they were far enough away from the eddies.

Right in the middle of our "rescue" operation, a Ferrengi ship became curious, and ignored our request to stay out of the worm hole and entered anyway. Their ship was barely small enough to fit inside the worm hole. We tried hailing them and sent them a safe course to the exit but they did not respond. Fortunately a few minutes later they decided it wasn't worth the risk and they left before they met a disastrous end.

Meanwhile Marine Captain Kyle Asbrink, the pilot of our runabout, had closed in on the location of the box/container. As we already suspected, it was caught in the wall of the worm hole right in the middle of a subspace eddy. After some unusual maneuvers, Captain Asbrink placed the runabout in just the right position and orientation and then Lady Byrna deployed the grappling system.

The box/container was just starting to be reeled in and extracted from the eddy when the eddy started collapsing. Captain Asbrink extended shields and brought the runabout closer to the box. Lady Byrna barely managed to beam (i.e., transport) the person in the box on board before the grappling clamp had to be jettisoned in preparation for an emergency exit by the runabout.

The runabout was subjected to some rather severe buffeting as it exited. The human female we had recovered from the box was shocked at what she saw (various non-human species in our crew) and made no attempt to hide it. She also started making some unusual comments about "Russkies", "Sputnik", and our bad flying while Ensign RodneyMMckay (medical) tried his best to calm her down and treat her where possible. When asked about the year, she claimed it was 1958.

After the runabout docked with the Veracruz, there were some interesting conversations with the "1958" lady. Eventually she was anesthetized and beamed to a quarantine area in sick bay. She will remain there until it is decided what to do with her, what we can tell her, etc.

Meanwhile, Captain Randt had Lt-Cmdr Mantis (helm) take us out of the worm hole.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151022.1612

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Stardate 150916

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

We have on board a lady ((played by Captain Nora Gerhadsen)) claiming to be from 1958, that we just rescued from a box type container that was trapped inside the Khitomer worm hole. Currently she is being held unconscious (heavily sedated) until Captain Randt determines what needs to be done with her, what we can tell her, etc.

The area where she is being held has been set up with holo emitters so it looks like a 1950's era scene. Issues at hand that must be reconciled are the Prime Directive as well as the Temporal Prime Directive. This means we must find out exactly when, why, and how the lady came to be in our present, as well as when and where she really came from. Only then can the captain determine what directives even apply to the situation.

To make the proper decision regarding the "1958 lady", Captain Randt called a meeting all of the Veracruz's officers involved in the situation. His purpose for the meeting was to discuss the matter in detail and to make assignments for any necessary investigations. Then, based on the results of the various investigations, decisions will be made. Unfortunately the box the lady was found in was completely destroyed during the rescue so it will not be able to help us in our investigations.

Meeting Attendees:

Captain Randt
Commander Aryela Dagger
Captain Jamie Czavicevic
Commander Frostbite Pikajuna (Lady Byrna)
Commander Skot Brit
Commander Fred McCellan
Lt-Cmdr Kristoff Jameson
Lt-Cmdr Ponce Zapatero (Gron Syntron)
Lt-Cmdr LeighAnn Mantis
Lt-Cmdr Lei Hanfoi
Marine Captain Kyle Asbrink
Lt Cyrillian Guardian
Ensign Rodney McKay-Sheppard
Ensign Vashara

The meeting started with a discussion of what was found on the shuttle, the condition of its sensors, etc. Next, there was a discussion of what the "1958 lady" had already seen and heard during the rescue before she was sedated and effectively rendered unconscious.

We then discussed and clarified the general conditions where the two prime directives did and did not apply. Examples of similar situations that had occurred in the past were also discussed.

Captain Randt then gave investigation assignments to the various ship's departments. The results of the investigations would largely determine the fate of our lady patient. As part of the investigations, the lady would also need to be questioned but that would happen later after we completed our initial investigations. It was decided that only humans (or those capable of appearing human) would be allowed to be near the patient during the questioning phase.

Initial Investigations included (but were not limited to):
1) Scanning every inch of the runabout used in the lady's rescue
2) Historical data base searches about the 1950's era and looking at the lady's own historical records
3) Scanning and analysis of the lady herself and her clothes
4) Review and analysis of the data we had taken inside the worm hole
5) Analysis of logs and scan data for all other Federation vessels that had recently passed through the worm hole

Results of the initial investigations:
1) The engineering and science departments could not find any evidence of time travel. The lady arrived in our time via some sort of cryosleep or stasis.
2) The lady had physical problems characteristic of the time period she claimed to be from. All her medical problems are curable with today's technology but were not curable back in the 1950's.
3) Detailed scans and analyses showed the lady's clothes were definitely from the 1950's era. Everything from fabric type, stitching, markings, labels, etc. were authentic.
4) There are historical records of the lady but nothing appears after 1958, corroborating her claim.
5) There were traces of toxins, chemicals, poisons, pesticides, radiological compounds, etc., in the lady's blood that were consistent with a person living in the 1950's era. DNA analysis showed she was definitely 100% human and from the 1950's era.

Other investigations are still in progress and their results will be reported in my next personal log.

Everything was pointing to the lady being from the 1950's as claimed but then astoundingly it was discovered her name was Nora Gerhadsen Pearce and she looked nearly identical to Nora Gerhadsen, the captain of the Federation star ship the USS Maxwell. Coincidence? Parallel development on two worlds? Now we had a big mystery to uncover. Perhaps some light will be shed on the subject when the lady is interrogated.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151024.1138

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Stardate 150923

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

The has crew confirmed that the "1958" old lady known as Dr. Nora Gerhadsen-Pearce has been in stasis since 1958 when she disappeared from Arizona and that she has not traveled in time. This means the temporal prime directive is not an issue. In fact we would violate the directive if we were to find a way to send her back.

At the start of my shift Dr. Pearce was still unconscious and Dr. McKay was given approval to treat Dr. Pearce's medical ailments before waking her.

The best we can tell, the similarity of our patient's name and the similarity of her looks to Starfleet's Captain Gerhadsen is purely coincidental. For one thing, humans and Kin'li (Gerhadsen's species) cannot interbreed. Captain Randt contacted Captain Gerhadsen and she said the Gerhadsen name had been in her family for many centuries, even before the Kin'li's first contact with the Federation. As Captain Gerhadsen pointed out, there have been quite a few known instances of parallel development at the societal level and even at the planetary level. The similarity of a name and looks is apparently just an amazing coincidence.

Having obtained approval, Dr. McKay started working on the unconscious Dr. Pearce. First he broke her misshaped leg so he could set it properly. He also repaired her arteries, performed bronchial repair to cure her emphysema, cured her of late-stage liver cancer, and repaired her large intestine. He then found and repaired an area of her thigh and leg (containing a bullet) that required the regeneration of muscle tissue and the epidermal layer. In a matter of minutes Dr. Pearce's health was vastly improved and brought up to modern standards.

Captain Randt was summoned and arrived in sick bay just as Dr. McKay gave Dr. Pearce a stimulant to wake her up.

The first thing Dr. Pearce muttered was something about being cold, followed by "Where the hell are my god damned clothes?" (she had a standard sick bay gown on), then "Who the hell are you people?", "Where am I?", "What is this, some kind of government plot?", and then "Are you Russkies?".

Dr. McKay covered her with a blanket and raised the temperature in the room a bit. At that point Dr McKay, Captain Randt, and, Ensign Vashara had their hands full as Dr Pearce went into a panic for a minute or so before they could calm her down.

After the panic was over, there was some conversation where we told her what we had learned about her so far and about the "repairs" we had made to her body. She told us what she knew, which wasn't much. She recalled being in the desert in Arizona, seeing a bright light, and then waking up here with us. She was then told she had been "asleep" for hundreds of years. She was also told the "United Earth" and various planets. She took the information in quite well for the most part and seemed to be relieved we were not "Russkies".

At one point she momentarily panicked again when she saw Lady Byrna (a Vulpine-based shape shifter in fox form similar to the Kitsune) enter the room. After Dr. Pearce calmed down again, Captain Randt had some of Earth's historical data shown on a display screen so Dr. Pearce could see some basic information about what had happened since 1958. After some more questions (Dr. Pearce had many of those) and answers, it was apparent that she was still quite stressed out (who wouldn't be). Meanwhile, guest quarters had been prepared for Dr Pearce and she was offered the chance to get some rest.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151026.1927

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Stardate 150930

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

Our guest, Dr. Nora Gerhadsen-Pearce, is still on board and is adapting well to life on the USS Veracruz. She is even making valuable suggestions and contributions to solving any problems the crew is faced with.

Shortly after our shift started, Captain Randt received an incoming message from Commander Raynes at Pinastri. The Brunali, a race encountered by Voyager in its first visit to the Delta quadrant, has reached out to the Federation for aid. Their planet has been continually ravaged by the Borg giving them little time to rebuild their civilization. To top it off, a famine caused by a crop-infection and a severe drought has all but crippled them. The USS Veracruz has been selected to respond and give assistance to the Brunali. We were told to focus on curing the crop-plague and to help build up their infrastructure.

Captain Randt had our helm officer (Lt-Cmdr Mantis) set course for the Brunali system and we were on our way at warp 8. We used the travel time to prepare ourselves for the mission we were given. Sick bay was notified of possible drought victims. The Ops department was given the task of cataloging our emergency supplies, especially the food & medical ones. Engineering used the travel time to work on some malfunctioning EPS conduits.

Meanwhile investigations and simulations were conducted using the latest data we had from the Brunali planet. The goal was to try to find the source of the drought and then artificially stimulate rain in the agricultural areas on the planet.

The trip was relatively uneventful except there were several occasions where it appeared we were being followed by some sort of cloaked vessel. Initially we could not tell for sure whether there was something there or if it was just some sort of sensor glitch or echo. Captain Randt had us launch a probe to try to learn more but it was not able to detect anything. At one point Lt Macpherson identified the cloaked vessel as a Voth ship but then it disappeared again. He recommended we go to yellow alert until we could get the issue resolved. The Captain agreed, so we finished the last portion of our trip at yellow alert. We arrived at the Brunali system, slowed to impulse speed, and then noticed our "tail" was back although our sensors could still could not get a clear reading. We were by this time, however, fairly certain someone was there and that they were watching us.

We arrived at the Brunali planet, went into standard orbit, and then began full sensor scans of the planet. The planet was analyzed for the best way to improve the irrigation systems before seeding the clouds. We also had to consider potential flood areas and ran simulations to find the best areas to seed the clouds so that flooding would be minimized. An Away Team would be needed to make improvements and repairs on the ground before seeding could commence. A shuttle was prepared and loaded with all necessary supplies, parts, and tools. The away team members were also selected and told to make preparations to go.

Ops monitored all comms on the planet as usual and noticed there was some type of active subspace transmitter on the planet. It was eventually located to be near some ruins of a city on the northern continent but all attempts to communicate with it were not productive.

When the crew and shuttle were ready, Lt-Cmdr Kristoff Jameson first beamed down to the surface with a security detachment to set up a defensive perimeter. The shuttle was launched shortly after we received confirmation that the perimeter was in place. A probe was also launched into the atmosphere that would start seeding the desired cloud locations as soon as we were ready to do that.

The away team shuttle arrived on the surface and it was quickly unloaded while the 112th set up a base camp. The away team members started their various tasks, taking soil & plant samples (to learn more about the crop plague), and started making improvements to the various irrigation systems.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151029.1528

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Stardate 151007

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

Last shift our security team was beamed to the surface of Brunali to set up our defensive perimeter. One shuttle was then sent with a few away team members in order to take various provisions and supplies to the surface. Once there, they started making preparations for the follow-up away teams that will be dispatched this shift.

To support our anti-drought operations, a cloud seeding probe was programmed with the appropriate data (from Engineering) and then launched into the atmosphere. It will be activated once Engineering completes their planet "terraforming" tasks.

Commander Brit reported that analyses have showed the crop plague was being caused by a genetically engineered fungus. Apparently it was specifically made to wipe out the crop harvest of an entire planet. It is being carried both by spores in the air and on some of the local fauna. Quite importantly, if a way to eradicate the fungus is not found soon, all the rain in the world will not help the beleaguered planet. The mystery at this point is who created this biological weapon and why? One possibility is the Borg since there is a Borg conduit not far from the Brunali system, but at this point we really don't know.

Captain Randt called for two follow-up away teams, each supported by security personnel. One team will work on helping the people of Brunali, and the other will investigate what caused the dire situation on the planet. The teams will be coordinating their efforts with our ship-board Science department. I was selected to be on the "help people" team.

When the Lionheart (our shuttle) was loaded and ready, both teams boarded and we all set out for the surface. When we arrived, we all set out to do our various tasks.

Doc MMcKay started treating various patients, most of whom just needed water or vitamin supplements. However, some were severely malnourished, and a few had borderline organ shutdown.

Other team members started working on the power generators, green houses, and irrigation systems. Others gathered crop, soil, air, small critter, & fungal samples for testing and analysis.

I picked one of the irrigation pumps to work on. My tricorder indicated it was running at only about 40% efficiency. I opened its maintenance hatch and found it full of dirt and small dead critters. After cleaning all that out I cleaned the pump's ventilation fan, lubricated the pump's bearings, tightened the water connections (some were leaking), and made a few adjustments. I then repaired the outer casing of the pump, welding various cracks shut that were allowing water to get into places where it should not be. After restarting the pump, it now had an efficiency of 63% which was an improvement but not all that great. I noted in my log that the pump really needed to be replaced with a more modern version or at least fully rebuilt with new bearings, seals, etc. A re-build would require an engineer to specify and replicate the needed repair parts.

While doing our work we heard that a Ferengi caravan had dropped out of warp and had entered orbit about Brunali. Apparently they were being irrationally hostile to our (i.e. Federation) presence. Our security teams on the surface were placed on high alert.

A short time later, Lt-Cmdr Mantis reported a Ferengi named Herk and a few accompanying guards had just appeared in our vicinity. A few insults were thrown back and forth between Herk and one of our team members. Unfortunately it got a little too heated and our team member lost their temper and took a few swings at Herk, actually landing one blow. They also threatened more blows and to beat him. Other officers were also starting to show undue hostility. This was not appropriate behavior for Star Fleet officers and they were reprimanded later. Fortunately Commander Brit stopped the confrontation soon after it started to get out of control, thus preventing the escalation of the violence. The way things were going there may well have been a phaser fight if not for Commander Brit.

Anyway, Herk claimed he was on the planet because the Ferengi were negotiating contract with the Brunali. He also said that we were interfering with his legal business. Those claims were quite a surprise to everyone. We started wondering if the Ferengi had secretly caused the planetary disaster in order to offer their help to "fix" the problems, at a substantial profit of course. Herk's claims were substantiated when Teb (the Brunali colony leader) asked to talk with Herk in private to discuss the details of the terms of their agreement. Teb also told us that he should have informed Starfleet earlier that the Brunali and Ferengi were negotiating with for a more long term aid arrangement than Starfleet could provide.

A short while later Teb walked back to our group of Starfleet officers and said "Alright....we have negotiated a contract with the Ferengi. They will provide food aid and assistance for the foreseeable future. In exchange we are giving them mining rights to the Duranium deposits on the other side of the planet. We have no need for it at the moment, not until we rebuild our society." Well that pretty much said it all. We tried to warn Teb about the Ferengi bleeding them dry, etc., but Teb thought he could not depend on Starfleet for the long run. With that news we just have to do a few more upgrades on the planet and then we will leave Brunali to their chosen fate.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151119.1322

/\= Start Recording =/\=

Stardate 151014

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

We are not terribly pleased with the decision of the Brunali to enlist the aid of the Ferengis but there is nothing we can do about it. Our away teams are still on Brunali finishing up their assigned tasks and then we will be on our way.

Doc RodneyMMckay and Commander Brit are continuing their investigation on the crop fungus and are trying to find the source where the fungus started. If they can do that, Commander Brit said it might give a genetic profile to the planet of origin. Interestingly, Commander Brit found a frog like amphibian that was growing fat eating the fungus. That frog might also offer some valuable clues.

As we were working on our tasks, the Ferengi were already starting to beam down supplies to Brunali colony.

Then, quite unexpectedly, a large fireball erupted from the irrigation system that the Federation had installed. The fire spread rapidly to a nearby greenhouse. Henk chuckled and said "later feddies thanks for the fireworks show" and then beamed out. Of course we all suspected Henk or another Ferengi had something to do with the explosion but we had no proof.

Teb (the Brunali colony leader) walked up to Commander Brit and exclaimed "our irrigation system had worked just fine till you showed up!". Commander Brit told Teb that we (the Federation) would find what had caused the explosion. Teb growled, shook his head and said: "no....I've had enough of your help..We should have known better than ask for your help given our history with Starfleet, just take your officers and Leave!" Commander Brit replied: "Won't you reconsider, at least allow us to get the flames out first." and then he said: "After that, we'll leave, if that's what you really want." Teb shook his head and said "You may put the flames and treat your wounded but I want you out of here now." It was pretty clear that Teb and the people of the Brunai colony blamed that explosion on us.

While Cmdr Brit and Teb were talking, Captain Asbrink, Lt-Cmdr Mantis, myself and other away team members were using shovels, fire extinguishers, and anything else we could find to put out the fire before it spread. We did eventually get the fire extinguished but not before that green house had been destroyed.

Unfortunately, Sinbad316 had his right paw injured some metal shards from the explosion and was treated by Doc MMckay who temporarily fixed him up good enough for transport back to the Veracruz.

Anyway, we did what Teb asked. We finished dousing the remains of the fire, treated our wounded, and then started packing up even though we had not finished all our assigned tasks. Teb wanted us out ASAP, so we complied. Before leaving, however, we examined and scanned the debris from the explosion and took various samples so we could do an analysis later.

In parting, Commander Brit offered Teb our help with the fungus if we were able to solve that mystery. Teb didn't say yes but he did say he would run it by the colony elders.

We finished packing our shuttle (the Lionheart), left the planet, and headed back to the USS Veracruz. When we arrived, we were all summoned by Captain Randt to the briefing room. The captain asked for a report of what had happened during our stay on the surface.

Commander Brit provided a good summary of everything that had happened to the away team including the heated exchange with Herk (described in my previous report). Anyway, the Captain called for a full report and wanted to know exactly how the Ferengi were involved with the whole situation. To determine that, tasks were assigned to do the necessary lab work, sample scanning, research, & analysis, etc.

Marine Captain Asbrink reported that he had detected a Ferengi supply ship warping away as he had been making the final approach in our shuttle. He suggested we send a shuttle to follow the ship. Who knows, we might learn something from doing that. Captain Randt agreed and assigned Asbrink, Syntron, & Jameson the task to go on a covert mission in the Lionheart to follow the Ferengi ship to see where it was going and to see who it met up with.

After hearing all the reports, Captain Randt decided we would stay in orbit until the situation was resolved. The meeting was adjourned and everyone started doing their assigned tasks and the Doc was finally able to finish treating Sinbad's wound.

By the end of my shift, Commander Brit and Lt-Cmdr Mantis had made good progress with their lab and analysis work, Doc MMckay had healed Sinbad's wound, and we had received a progress report from the Lionheart's crew. They had followed the Ferengi's warp trail to a large space station that appeared to be deserted. The station was some kind of storage facility and was likely a staging ground for Ferengi operations.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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Fred McCellan
Operations - Captain
Operations - Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: 090817.1942
Duty Post: Chief Operations Officer
Ship/Station Posted: USS Veracruz
Grid: Second Life Grid
Location: California
Contact:

151119.1323

/\= Start Recording =/\=

Stardate 151021

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

The space station that the Lionheart crew (Gron Syntron, Kyle Asbrink, and Kristoff Jameson) found turned out to contain medical equipment, military hardware, and a large supply of weapons. The station was quite large and devoid of life signs when the crew arrived. They took advantage of that, tapped into the station's computer systems, and downloaded a large amount of data. They also took samples of some plants found aboard that looked suspiciously like ones near the colony on Brunai.

Eventually, despite being very careful, an alien alarm went off and the crew had to leave rather hastily via transporter beamout to the Lionheart. They could see a lot of red dots on their scanners which indicated approaching ships. They powered up the Lionheart's shields and weapons and went to red alert. They unleashed a barrage of firepower into the illegal space station and soon found themselves under attack by the incoming vessels. They released another full barrage of weapons on an area of the space station where there were tons of mining explosives stored. This resulted in a massive fireball as the explosives detonated and destroyed most of the station.

Still fighting for their lives, they then went to warp and headed back to the Veracruz. The Veracruz hailed the pursuing ships and advised them to back off which they eventually did. Even so, the Lionheart arrived with much reduced shields, micro-fractures, and various types of system damage. Due to technical difficulties, they were towed into our shuttle bay via tractor beam. Tonwen Su met the shuttle and picked up the plant samples they had brought back from the station for analysis.

While the Lionheart was at the station, Tonwen Su, Rodney MMckay, and LeighAnn Mantis had been busy analyzing and investigating the various plant and fungi samples we had taken on Brunai. Now they also had access to the samples the Lionheart had brought back.

Similarly, during all this action, I had been analyzing the data taken shortly after the green house destruction on Brunai. It turned out that a Ferengi device had been beamed into the irrigation pump causing it to go critical, causing it to burst into a fireball. It was this fireball that spread to and burned down the greenhouse. This was rather damming evidence against the Ferengi.

It turned out the data the Lionheart crew had downloaded from the station showed irrefutably that the Ferengi had been running a con on many planets. Kyle Asbrink filled in Captain Randt with the details: "They cripple the infrastructure of a planet, then come in offering aid in exchange for the secure mining rights to any high-grossing minerals that planet may have." Hm, sounds a bit familiar!

Meanwhile, Tonwen Su and our analysis team had also determined that the contamination and plague on Brunai had been deliberate and were working on proving exactly who was responsible. We were already nearly certain it was the Ferengis but the final proof was still missing at this point.

Of course, the Ferengi and their Hazari "friends" were not going to sit still and do nothing after we had destroyed that space station. The Veracruz's sensors showed two Hazari vessels approaching at warp 6. The Hazari apparently had been hired by the Ferengi to protect their interests. A few minutes later we also detected a Ferengi ship approaching at impulse. In preparation, the Veracruz went to red alert and powered up its weapons systems a few minutes before the ships were expected to arrive.

Captain Randt advised the approaching ships against attacking. One of the Hazari captains demanded we turn over the Lionheart and her crew. In exchange for that he said the Hazari would leave. Captain Randt flatly declined that offer. The Hazari Captain addressed Captain Randt and said: "Captain, they trespassed on private property...and then destroyed billions in assets. My employer will want answers." Captain Randt replied: "Tell them the answer is when you play with fire, you risk getting burned. Damaging a planet's eco-system so you can trade mining rights for aid violates more interstellar treaties than I can count. If you do not disengage, you will discover just how well the Federation can defend itself."

About this time the Hazari found out that their Ferengi employer had gotten wind of the station's destruction and had put a bounty out on the Hazari for failing to protect it. Naturally, once they had this information, the Hazari were no longer willing to fight us. In fact, having a bounty on themselves, they took off at warp speed just minutes before their Ferengi "master" arrived.

As the Ferengi vessel approached, Captain Randt put them on the view-screen. At the same time Tonwen Su & team had confirmed that the plague on Brunai had been caused by a species of fungus normally only found on Ferenginar. The Captain had me send the approaching Ferengi vessel a data package of all we had learned about their "escapades". The data showed beyond any reasonable doubt that the Ferengi had caused the disaster on Brunai and on many other worlds as well.

That data and proof didn't seem to bother Henk who was the Captain of the incoming Ferengi vessel. Captain Kinney Randt said to Henk:"Leave the Brunali system, and do not attempt to sabotage the eco-system of another planet again for your ill-gotten profits, am I clear?" Henk answered that warning by attacking the Veracruz.

A space battle ensued with Ferengi disrupters, phaser fire, and photon torpedoes being exchanged while we all jockeyed for position. Three Hazari escort craft (different ones) that had been hiding in the shadow of the Ferengi vessel joined in the fray. I was at the helm executing various evasive maneuvers to minimize our damage and to provide the best shots for our tactical officer Kristoff Jameson. Even in the heat of battle the Captain gave Henk a final warning that he summarily ignored by exclaiming "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE." It wasn't long before the Ferengi vessel's shield's buckled and we had taken out their warp drive with a relatively low power surgical strike. We then beamed the bridge crew of the Ferengi vessel directly to our brig and locked a tractor beam onto their vessel. Having seen what we did to the Ferengi vessel, the Hazari escort craft made a hasty retreat and left the scene.

Captain Randt ordered a team over to the Ferengi ship to secure it and had me send a message to Tranquility requesting a tug and prisoner transport.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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151119.1325

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Stardate 151028

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

Today I was at the helm. The Captain had me plot an intercept course for the Veracruz so that we could meet a transport ship that would take our prisoners back to Pinastri.

Shortly after offloading our prisoners, we received a strange automated and repeating hail from the planet Cythrblus. It said: "We are attempting to evacuate our planet. Please help if you can. But be careful, the storms are violent." The Federation database contained no information about Cythrblus so we set course based on the direction the signal was coming from.

We arrived at the planet emanating the signal and went into standard orbit. Scans indicated a well forested Class-M planet that had no advanced life signs. The message wasn't kidding about there being storms. There was a large amount of activity in that department

The signal was initially determined to be coming from the planet's southern hemisphere but we had to wait for a good window to open up in the storm before we could pin point its location.

Captain Randt decided it was too risky to send a shuttle to the location due to severe and constantly shifting winds. To investigate the signal, an away team was assembled and beamed down to the signal's location on the surface during an opening in the storm.

The away team arrived in a forested area and began standard operating procedures. Our security team made sure it was safe to proceed and then we began our scans and investigation. Almost immediately Lt-Cmdr Gron Syntron (an Andorian) began hearing some kind of a strong signal. As we approached the source of the signal it greatly affected Syntron and he began to stumble around and then fell over. He tried getting up a few times but was unable keep standing. Lt Macpherson also reported hearing the signal but was able to effectively tune it out so it didn't affect him. Apparently there was some sort of sonic signal either being emitted or amplified by rocks in the vicinity. After some experimentation, Marine Captain Kyle Asbrink was able to use a tricorder to emit a signal that mostly cancelled the sonic signal that was disabling Syntron, thus enabling him to start functioning normally.

Doc MMckay found a body that was somehow fused together with a tree. A rather grisly combination. While scanning with her tricorder, Lt-Cmdr LeighAnn Mantis discovered the "tree" contained humanoid blood. Doc MMckay detected other humanoid elements in the tree as well. In addition, there was a fairly large hole in the tree that apparently led underground. We will probably investigate that hole at some point.

We also discovered a small roofless building with various control panels. Lt Cyrillian Guardian attempted to hack into the controls and at some point realized that the signal that had attracted us to this planet had stopped. Cyrillian continued trying to get the control panels on-line and accessible. A few times there were some popping sounds and sparking but she continued working at it. Eventually she whacked one of the panels and it powered up. There must have been a loose connection or something in the panel. Commander Brit took advantage of the powered up panel and used his tricorder to download its contents.

Commander Fred McCellan
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USS Veracruz


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151209.1540

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Stardate 151104

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

The USS Veracruz received a strange distress signal and followed it the planet Cythrblus. I was a member of an away team that was sent to the surface of Cythrblus to investigate who had sent that signal and why.

So far we had found several strange things on this planet but we had not found anyone that needed rescuing. The planet appears to be some kind of research or observation post and had been quite lightly populated. Something strange happened here because the evacuation of the planet appears to have been rather hasty.

Captain Randt has now joined the away team and is directing the investigation.

Lt-Cmdr Mantis and Major Asbrink were sent down a dark man-made tunnel that had been discovered inside a large tree. They found an abandoned shelter, some dusty supplies, and a body, but nothing else of significance. They took samples of most everything in the surroundings in order to learn more and to find out the cause of death. Later in the day the body and samples were beamed up to the Veracruz for an analysis.

The captain gave our XO the task of cracking the codes used to protect the computers we had found in a small control building.

To add to the mystery of this place, Doc Rodney McKay heard some strange groaning sounds. A few minutes later Commander Brit heard the same sounds and they both realized the groaning sounds were coming from a tree!

Commander Brit then continued searching the area around our base of operations and stumbled upon two crashed non-Federation shuttles. Lt-Cmdr Kristoff Jameson joined him and then crashed his way into the cockpit of one of the craft. From there he rigged the power pack in his rifle to power up the helm console. He then used Commander Brit's tricorder to retrieve the shuttle's logs.

Meanwhile I worked on the second shuttle and found a few dead bodies. I managed to get limited power to the shuttle's computer system and then tapped into its logs. The logs showed the shuttle had attempted to leave rather quickly and then crashed. Some of the crew had survived the crash and escaped. Later I found the flight recorder and learned more details. The shuttle had successfully left the ground, got about 10 meters off the surface and had then suddenly inverted and slammed into the ground.

Captain Randt asked about the capabilities of the two shuttle craft. My analysis showed one of them was capable of warp 3 and might be able to get as high as warp 4 in an emergency. The other shuttle looked like it could do warp 5. As Captain Randt noted, that meant any other ships that may have been able to escape the planet could have gotten quite a ways away by now.

As the two shuttles were being worked on, Lt-Cmdr Syntron was beamed back to the Veracruz because of the great deal of pain he was experiencing (see prior report). Also, Doc McKay and Cmdr Brit were finding more and more strange findings regarding the trees. It appeared that people had been turned into some kind of half-person half-tree entities. Later, Lt-Cmdr Jameson found evidence that the trees may have actually murdered the people.

About this time things started getting hectic. Lightning struck a nearby tree and a violent storm was on the way to us and was approaching fast. Doc McKay shouted we had to get out of there. The wind started blowing and something similar to acorns from the trees started raining down on us. Tree branches started snapping off and hurtling towards the crew. Lt-Cmdr Jameson and Jack Stowes responded by doing their best to blast them to pieces before they could hit us. The Captain gave the order for the away team to assemble and we all started beaming back to the Veracruz. Just as we were leaving it looked like the trees were actually starting to move. Commander Dagger, our XO, was struck by a branch when she pushed Cmdr Brit out of its way just before she was transported to the ship. She ended up being taken to sick bay and treated for a minor concussion.

As soon as I arrived back on the Veracruz I uploaded my tricorder data from the crashed shuttle and then headed to the briefing room where the Captain had called a meeting.

In the meeting we learned a few things. Lt Guardian revealed she had sensed feelings from the trees but had not sensed any thoughts. We came to realize the trees may have started "attacking" us in earnest only when they had themselves started feeling threatened. Doc McKay had a shocking revelation however. The trees had definitely been crossbred with humanoids. Some were grafted and some were born from seedlings. Who would want to do such a thing?

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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151215.1736

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Stardate 151111

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

Today, before our shift began, we took the time to have a little celebration and give our congratulations to Doc Rodney McKay-Sheppard. He was promoted to Lt-Jg and also to the position of Vice Chief Medical Officer for the USS Veracruz. A well deserved promotion of rank and position. After the celebration we all took our positions on the ship.

Data analyses of our findings on Cythrblus is continuing, however, we needed to get back to our patrol duties. Captain Randt had the helm take us out of Cythrblus orbit and then we set out on our assigned patrol route.

We had barely left when our sensors picked up an enormous ship. Captain Randt had us slow to impulse, hail the ship, and then he offered assistance. We were scanned and our sensors showed that we were no match for the ship should a fight erupt. The ship was identified as a capital warship for the Alliance. Our offer of assistance was politely declined and fortunately the ship's weapons and shields remained lowered, indicating there was no immediate threat to us.

The Captain of the Alliance ship (Brad Swiftfur) claimed they were doing geological surveys which sounded rather dubious, but nevertheless there was an exchange of messages regarding that supposed mission.

Captain Swiftfur soon took the topic of conversation between himself and Captain Randt to that of our Asst Chief Engineer Lt Cyrillian Guardian. Apparently Swiftfur and Lt Guardian had known each other centuries ago. According to Captain Swiftfur, the place they were living was suffering catastrophic attacks from unknown forces, and Cyrillian had taken it upon herself to singlehandedly attempt to put a stop to it. It did not save the place, but it did buy everyone enough time to safely evacuate. According to Swiftfur, there was no known way Cyrillian could have survived, and yet here she was. When Captain Randt heard this he invited Captain Swiftfur over to the Veracruz to discuss the matter directly with Lt Cyrillian Guardian. Swiftfur accepted the invitation and beamed over to our transporter room a short time later.

Commander Fred McCellan
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USS Veracruz


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151215.1737

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Stardate 151118

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

We resumed our patrol after our encounter with the Alliance ship and were proceeding along just fine until we had our first indication something was wrong.

At the time it didn't seem significant but it turned out to be our first warning signal. Our troubles began when Commander Skot Brit grabbed a piece of optic cable that had been left lying around and began to use it to scratch his back. The itching got worse and worse and Commander Brit eventually took off his jacket and threw it to the back of the bridge. He was ordered to return to his quarters to replicate a new uniform. Commander Dagger also started exhibiting an itchy feeling at this time but not as severely.

Things went downhill fast from that point when a blue alert suddenly appeared without any warning and without any of the crew initiating it. Next came failures of the helm to respond and the ship's phasers fired spontaneously without any receiving any commands to do so. Captain Randt ordered the weapons systems offline and Lt-Cmdr Jameson had to use command overrides to get them shut down. Systems all over the ship began to fail or exhibit strange behavior. As a precaution Captain Randt had a manual override placed on the shuttle bay doors before they decided to open themselves.

About this time Commander Brit noticed a faint green residue on his hand and realized he had scratched so hard he was beginning to bleed green Vulcan blood. Doctor McKay noted Cmdr Brit had apparently been bitten by something and tried various remedies such as cream and antihistamine. Not much later we realized the ship had some sort of infestation and work was begun to identify it.

The ship changed several times from one type of alert to another, all without anyone setting them off. Red Alert, Blue Alert, Yellow Alert, etc. We kept shutting them down and turning them off but we had no control over when they might pop up next. For example, we would shut down a Blue Alert only to have a Red Alert pop up a short time later.

For awhile, the ship was moving at warp speed and couldn't be stopped although that was eventually taken care of. The warp core was running too hot and it had to be forced to shut off so that it could cool down.

Sensor systems started showing various false indications that there were nearby objects like planets, nebula, etc. The turbo lift system also failed by getting stuck. Another time it dropped several levels giving the occupants a rear scare. With unreliable turbo lifts some crew resorted to the Jefferies tubes to get around the ship.

To add to the excitement, an explosion shook the bridge when a bow side array blew up. Lt-Cmdr Jameson received some burns and electrical shocks while bypassing circuitry and making make-shift repairs. After getting his repairs done he was treated in sick bay.

Meanwhile Major Askbrink was sent by Captain Randt to check out and assess the Lionheart and our other shuttles. He reached the shuttle bay via the Jefferies tubes and ran diagnostics on the computer core of each shuttle.

Tonwen Su discovered some sort of organic residue infestation in the sensor forward and lateral arrays. A few minutes later she reported there was something alive there. Tonwen started figuring out a way of containing the infestation and ridding the ship of it. She came up with the idea of using nyocene gas as a means to slow down or stop the infestation. She suggested trying the gas in the forward sensor array where it could be tested without danger to the rest of the ship.

The entire crew is making progress by making repairs and getting some of the systems back on-line while Captain Randt considers our options about what to do next.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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151215.1738

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Stardate 151125

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

It is another day and we all started another shift. The USS Veracruz is still infected/infested with some kind of unknown bug that has been affecting both crew and the ship's systems. Our investigation into the matter is continuing.

Not long after the start of today's shift, Captain Randt had me contact Pinastri so that he could report all the strange things that have been going on. He had me route the call to his ready room. He walked across the bridge into his ready room and then we all heard a loud scream of pain. Doc McKay and security officer Lt-Cmdr Jameson rushed in to find out what happened while I contacted the transporter chief to get ready for an emergency beam-out to sick bay. Large bite marks were seen on the Captain's arm. The bite was so severe that his arm bone was broken and protruding from his arm. Doc McKay performed some emergency treatments on the Captain's arm and then the two of them were beamed directly to sick bay.

A short while later, Doc McKay found evidence (nicks on the bone and needle marks) that someone/something had intentionally weakened the bone. All this was a rather disturbing development. Whatever these "bugs" were, we now knew they were considerably larger than "bed bugs" and were capable of inflicting some rather severe injuries. This prompted Captain Randt to bring the ship to Red Alert with General Quarters and an intruder alert.

Meanwhile, back on the bridge, the sensors were still malfunctioning and were showing a Borg sphere in the vicinity and then the next minute identifying the object not as a sphere but as potatoes! The sensors seemed to be intermittent, sometimes working properly but showing the "ghost" images at other times. The only good news we had was that the forward array had apparently stopped deteriorating after Tonwen Su had it flooded with nyocene gas. In addition, engineering was working on using nanites to counter the damage caused by the "bugs".

As soon as Doc McKay finished working on the captain's arm, the captain headed back to bridge and asked for a report and status. He then sent the shuttle San Pedro out with enhanced sensors to scan the Veracruz from stem to stern in order to try to determine how the "intruders/bugs" got on-board.

The shuttle team consisted of Lt-Cmdr Mantis, Ensign Tonwen Su, and Lt Macpherson. It wasn't long before the team realized the shuttle itself had been affected but only the weapon systems. After a few passes and scan iterations of the Veracruz, it became apparent that there was a strange quantum phase signature present. Further investigation and fine tuning of the scans revealed a small alien ship in contact with our shields. It had a different quantum phase shift than our reality but apparently was leaking just a little bit into our reality. We had a small gap in our shields and that was apparently how they were getting aboard our ship. The team tried scanning the interior of the alien ship for lifeforms but the scans were not able to penetrate the alien ship's hull. Having done all they could, the shuttle team headed back to the Veracruz and returned to their positions on the ship.

Meanwhile, Doc McKay had found evidence that both he and Cmdr Brit had been experimented upon. He also found that by analyzing a person's blood he could tell they had been in contact with the "bugs". A bit later, Commander Dagger was also found to have been affected.

Lt Guardian from our engineering department started using the nanites that had been prepared to help repair portions of the ship. She started with one of the tactical consoles, managed to get it back on-line, and then started work on our sensors. About 20 minutes later the sensors were back up and running.

About this time, Ensign Su, who was at her console on the bridge, jumped a bit. She was using what she had learned on the shuttle and had detected a mass with that odd quantum phase, and it was moving towards sick bay! When Captain Randt hear Su's report, he immediately got on the comms and warned sick bay that an intruder was heading in their direction. He had the personnel in sickbay arm themselves with phasers set for a wide beam stun.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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151222.2218

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Stardate 151202

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

As indicated in my last report, a potentially dangerous intruder was on the way to sick bay and Captain Randt had ordered all crew to be armed.

When the intruder arrived in sick bay, it was barely visible but after a short while it phased in completely. It had an appearance similar to a centipede only much larger. It held some kind of weapon in its legs. Using a universal translator, communication was established with the critter. We found out the critter in sick bay was a Commander and they called themselves Wiggics. It was asked why it was aboard our ship and it replied that it needed quadrupeds.

Captain Randt let "Commander Wiggic" know we were not there to kill it but we would defend ourselves if necessary. He also offered to end the gassing of the Jefferies tubes if all the critters on the ship left the Veracruz. The critter again stated they needed quadrupeds and specifically wanted Doc McKay. When asked why, it stated their larvae were sick. Apparently the critters' larvae had some sort of disease that killed them and made some of our crew itch.

Captain Randt offered to help the critters but not while our ship was being threatened. Eventually tensions de-escalated and the creatures began leaving our ship. In turn, we stopped the gassing that was killing some of them and we were also able to stand down from our red-alert status.

To investigate the disease mentioned by Commander Wiggic (who was now on the bridge), we got a sample of "goo" with the disease from him. Blood samples were taken from Doc McKay and Commander Brit who had been exposed to the disease. Doc McKay and Commander Brit isolated the antibodies in their blood samples and mixed it with the goo from Commander Wiggic. They found that Doc McKay's antibodies were successful in killing off the disease. Doc McKay then replicated his antibodies and presented a vial of them to Commander Wiggic who thanked him and then promptly phased out and disappeared. The alien ship that was attached to our shields also soon left. Finally we were free of the "bugs" and the itchy disease.


Commander Fred McCellan
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USS Veracruz


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160104.2002

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Stardate 151209

Personal Log of Commander Fred McCellan

Captain Randt is off ship at the moment so Commander Aryela is our CO and captain of the USS Veracruz. Our shift started quite normally but soon turned into something resembling an irritating dream or a bad night mare.

Per Commander Dagger's orders, the USS Veracruz was on the way to deliver supplies to the Vaskan people when we picked up an Intrepid class ship coming towards us at high warp. At the speed they were going they would be along side of us in ten minutes. Commander Dagger asked me to hail them and ask them if they needed assistance. Just before we hailed them, however, they hailed us. The hail was from Captain T'Pano on the USS Delacroix and he ordered us to change to an intercept course. He then sent Commander Dagger a message that she had patched over to her office.

A few minutes later Commander Dagger came back onto the bridge with a face that was full of partially suppressed anger. By this time we had intercepted the Delacroix. Commander Dagger ordered us to prepare for a new arrival and a few minutes later Bestsy Pendleton beamed over from the Delacroix to our transporter room. According to reports, she arrived in our transporter room with a look of disgust on her face.

The next thing we knew, Betsy Pendleton was on the bridge declaring that she was taking command of the Veracruz per Starfleet orders. Her demeanor was very much like a monarch looking down on everyone else as if they were peons. When Pendleton took over the bridge, Major Asbrink sent me a secure message asking me to verify the change of Captaincy with HQ. I sent an inquiry to HQ and they did in fact verify the change. There were also rather irritated that I had inquired.

Needless to say everyone was pretty much in shock. Pendleton had the helm set course for the Tupor system at warp 9. She then took Cmdr Aryela and her adjutant Luke SpiritWeaver to the Captain's ready room for a conference and designated Commander Brit to take the chair. A few minutes later Lt-Cmdr Jameson was summoned to the ready room. He emerged shortly and to our surprise escorted Commander Aryela to the brig.

Captain Pendleton then returned to the bridge and explained what was going on. She told us that Fleet Captain Randt was now a fugitive and that he was chasing some sort of insane theory on Tupor Prime and that he was bent of violating the Prime Directive. We were supposed to stop him before he did irreparable damage. Our mission, therefore, was to find Randt and to save the Kekri of Tupor Prime from any harm he might do. The Kekri are the native, pre-warp species living on Tupor Prime. Their level of technology is roughly equivalent to the bronze/iron age on Earth. According to Pendleton, Captain Randt had made some wild claims about Romulans being on the planet distributing winter gifts to the Kekri. Captain Randt apparently also wanted the away teams to interact with the Kekri.

Captain Pendleton asked for Medical to work up a psychological and medical profile for Fleet Captain Randt. Doc McKay referred her to the appropriate (already existing) files. Meanwhile, the crew made plans for ways to find Randt when we arrived at the planet. Clearly this might be a challenge because if he wanted to remain incognito he certainly had the knowledge to make himself difficult to find.

Lt-Jg Stormgyro informed Captain Pendleton about the state of our phasers and torpedoes (not good) due to the recent attack on the Veracruz. Captain Pendleton wasn't too happy about Stormgyro's report and ordered us to get the phaser systems repaired and operational the best we could. There wasn't much we could do about the photo torpedoes since that required us to go to a supply depot.

At last we arrived at the Tupor system and Captain Pendleton had us go into standard orbit around Tupor Prime. The planet is largely oceanic with a large number of islands. Starfleet records indicate that the Kekri are humanoid, typically bronzed or golden in skin color, and images indicate many are tattooed. Their technological level is equivalent to the Terran Roman era. The Federation had a small post at the planet that was unknown to the Kekri. The post had no indication whatsoever that Captain Randt was or had been on the planet.

Captain Pendleton had us scan for other ships in the vicinity (there we none) and we began working on trying to find Captain Randt. In addition, Major Askbrink worked with Lt-Jg Stormgyro and Lt-Cmdr Jameson to create a device to detect any kind of Romulan presence.

Commander Fred McCellan
Operations
USS Veracruz


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