Patton replies, "That's one way we could handle it, sir. Or, alternatively, we could cut the corner of the bunk free so you could beam it into a stasis container. I'll let Lt. Swann decide. But, that way, you won't have to rely on a transporter lock on the cocoon, just the bunk fragment. Here's a visual, sir."


The image he transmits appears on Zed's screen. It shows a bunk-bed underside with a pulsating amber sac attached by strands of organic materials, obviously lit by suit beacons.

Patton turns to Marissa. "Well, ma'am, orders?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:59, Fri 01 Sept 2017.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 32):



Marissa continued to be impressed with Patton and his team. She nodded in agreement with his assessment of using the transporter.

"Swann to Lt Sloane. Cutting the bunk and using the transporter seems like the least intrusive to the creature. Please be ready and transport on my Mark."

" Alright Petty Officer, put your steadiest hand on the cutting tool; have someone train a phaser on light stun on it, but hold fire for my order. Let's do this"


The moment the bunk is free Marissa transmits"Mark"

Crewman Servan Thol pulls out her hand phaser and cuts around the area where the cocoon is attached to the bunk. In the lack of gravity, it floats free. Thol takes the edge of the bunk fragment and guides it to a clear area. She signals "All clear, ma'am!" and steps away from the floating cocoon.

Marissa gives the command and the transporter sparkle dissolves the cocoon and the bunk fragment. Lt. Clare responds, "XO, we have the cocoon secured in the stasis container and all tell-tales are green, over."

A swift search of the bunk room reveals the usual clutter of personal effects and clothing, but nothing else. Examination of the debris in the duct reveals a small pile of items like partially dissolved buttons, fasteners and other inedible clothing components, a corroded energy weapon (too damaged to function) and the prosthetic hand. The flesh-like covering has been dissolved and the alloy pitted, but it appears to have been made for a three-fingered hand with an opposable thumb, the same anatomy as that of the survivor and the prisoner Farl.

Patton says, "The room beyond that door," pointing at the other door to the room, "is in hard vacuum."

Nivran rumbles, "Shall we proceed to the engineering room?" from the entrance.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 34):

Marissa nodded to Patton. "On your mark and orders Petty officer. Go to it"

Patton replies, "Okay, people, you heard Lt. Swann—back on task. S'kora, you and Lt. Nivran have the point. . Everyone keep your eyes open in case there's another of the chamax beasties here. And remember, we just captured its kiddies, so it'll be pissed. K't'kal, keep that disintegrator hot!"

The next room is similar to the second—obviously another lounge. This one has a shelf filled with hardcopy books and armchairs. In the centre of the room is a gaming table flanked by two sofas. There are closed doors in both the left- and right-hand walls as well as the end wall. All three register as being in hard vacuum. Minimal power readings of a small fusion battery come from the end room, obviously the engineering room.

Patton looks toward Swann and says, "Same plan as before. K't'kal, front and centre." He pumps the door as before and dodges as all the air in the room shrieks out, leaving the room in vacuum. K't'kal pokes his weapon into the room. "Clear!"

S'kora Releth and Nivran hurry forward. A few moments later, Nivran calls out, "Gravity warning." The artificial gravity plates come on and everyone feels their weight return. Bright blue-white light shines from the entire ceiling, throwing everything into sharp focus.

Releth calls out, "We got a hull breach in here. 'Bout a hundred mikes in diametre. Looks like energy weapons fire."

An amber light in each room begins flashing. An emergency signal begins playing through the comms systems in the away team's suits and through the hailing frequencies on the Thames. "Warning! Warning! Hull breach! Station I'itstre'efufi reporting hull breach. Losing atmosphere. All ships in range assist. Warning! Warning!" repeats over and over in the away team's helmets.

Patton orders, "All away team personnel, switch to tactical net. Thames, we're going to isolated communications on channel RRT Alpha. Comms check, everyone!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:30, Tue 05 Sept 2017.

Aboard the Thames, Talja takes over the cocoon and its stasis container. "Lt. Sloane, permission to lower the stasis field so I can study the larvae? I will, of course, take all precautions," the exobiologist requests.

Meanwhile, Jon Claire replies to Patton, "Roger, PO. Carry on." He turns to Zed. "The away team has gone to their tactical net so they can concentrate on their mission."

Argent guides the microprobe down into the photosphere of the Dyson star to reveal a closeup scan of the stellar object's exterior.


It is a triradially symmetrical spindle station similar in configuration to Federation designs. Three clusters of multiphasic shield generators and gravitic drives project from the sides, braced by massive support girders. The stellar station has a large hatch in the upper surface of the top-most frustrum, apparently a shuttlebay entrance.There are no other visible doors or windows. a number of tanks surround its waist, and a long probe projects down into the stellar mass. The main spindle is 30 metres in diametre including the tanks and 82 metres high, with a total diametre across the drive clusters of 70.25 metres.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:59, Sun 01 Oct 2017.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 39):

"Permission granted.  Be sure to always have someone with you in case they need to deal with whatever is inside the cocoon. " Sloane replies.

OOC: just got out of the habit off looking here, back in routine again.

Dahlakino volunteers, "I'll go keep an eye on her, Lieutenant. My Force sensitivity should warn me if there's a threat, and I'll keep a phaser on tight beam disintegration focused on the cocoon." She sketches a salute and goes to the lower level access ladder. Moments later Talja's voice comes over the intercom, "Okay, sir, Dahlakino's here. Proceeding to open the stasis box."

Talja continues, "Sir, the interior fluid seems not to be the molecular acid that Mommy Bug secretes. There are thirteen live larvae within the sac. They're all moving freely and appear healthy. I'm taking a high-detail full-spectrum scan and a whisker-beam transporter sample of the fliud." There is a brief transporter whine against a background of sensor systems sounds. "Got it! Scans completed, re-engaging the stasis field"

Dahlakino adds, "The larvae seem not to be intelligent according to my Force impressions, but they may just be too undeveloped to give any indications. Sorry."

Meanwhile on the station, the away team has got its bearings in the restored gravity. The harsh blue-white lighting is a little too bright for comfort, so most of them have dimmed their suit faceplates, but Marissa seems not to be bothered by its intensity. "Check the door to the right," orders Patton, and the room thus revealed is another bunk room with eight bunks and lockers.

The away team begins to do a final sweep of the station. As soon as the power had been restored, All the doors closed and most of the station began to pressurise. Thew away team soon confirmed that there were no more chamax, either adult or larvaal, on the station They were able to assign basic functions to all the rooms on the station and identify all four hull breaches. All appear to have been caused by disruptor fire similar in signature (but not identcal) to Klingon, Romulan or Breen weaponry, and one seems to be a simple damaged viewport. A check of the Freeman's Island database confirms they are the same as the Kapecki/Finori weapons previously encountered. Within a half hour, the station is pressurised at .95 Earth atmospheres with a standard oxygen/nitrogen mix. Experimentation reveals that the doors are opened by the same access dimples as in the Gamma stations. In  the apparent command area, The shutoff for the alarm and strobes is found. A count of bunks correlates to the number of chairs in the dining hall and indicates that the station had a relatively large crew of 40 persons. Clothing and personal effects are in the lockers and a rack of hand weapons is located.



An hour after the power is restored, Patton reports to Marissa and Nivran, "All clear, Lieutenants. Should be simple for the Yard Rats to seal the breaches and make her serviceable."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:25, Thu 21 Sept 2017.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 44):

"Excellent work Petty Officer. You and your team are a well trained group of legit ass-kickers and it was a pleasure to see you and your squad in action."


She switched her suit comm frequency and contacted Sloane on a private channel


"Lt Swann to Lt Sloane. Coast is clear over here Zed. The team did a bang up job, and found no further Chamax.

The Engineers will have some work with about 4 hull breaches, but we've got the lights on, and atmosphere restored in all sealed areas.

Room for about 40 people over here. I'm ready to beam back; what would you like me to pass on to the Squad?"

Cdr. Samson has been monitoring the mission and breaks in on the frequency, "Very good, Lieutenant Swann. My compliments to your away team. Beam back to the Thames. Lieutenant Sloane, you are authorised to take a quick look at the solar station. If, and only if, you can safely beam over, you may beam over and conduct a basic overview. As always, use caution and discretion. Please reply, Over."

In reply to Cdr Delilah Samson (msg # 46):

"Solar station? I guess I have missed something have I?

"Yep—we discovered another station deep inside the photosphere of the Dyson Star. It's got 'multiphasic' shielding keeping it from burning up. Zed says the Thames does, too, so were going to check it out. We're gonna be busy for the next few hours, so I replicated a Vulcan dish called Plomeek soup and some Bajoran Hasperat. I ordered the Hasperat extra spicy. I also ordered Enolian spice wine to wash 'em down. Hope you don't mind." gushes Dahlakino. Her lekku (head tentacles) fairly twitch with excitement.

Patton whispers, "Plomeek soup is pretty bland—maybe it'll put out the fire from extra spicy Hasperat, ma'am. Good think you're part Klingon, elltee, if the Hasperat is as hot as I suspect. Normal Hasperat has a Scoville rating of 150,000 after all."

The Thames begins to descend toward the star's surface, passing through the corona and chromosphere and into the photosphere. The forward viewports polarise to complete opacity and a holographic heads-up display appears.

At the science station, Argent notes the external temperature passing 4250°C and climbing. Nivran reports from Engineering, "Multiphasic shields holding. We should be safe for 20 hours before shield degradation becomes noticeable. Hull temperature holding at 1000°C, hull integrity nominal." Talja notes, "Life support stable. Internal temperature steady at 21.3°C, pressure 101.3kPa, radiation levels nominal."

Argent continues calling out figures. "Solar density 2×10−4kg/m³ temperature 4500°C and climbing, altitude approaching 700,000km. Temperature now 5,7304500°C."

At the conn, Zed and Marissa note that the distance to the solar station is now approximately 4000km and closing. Jon Clare announces that he's still in contact with the probe and has successfully penetrated the station's multiphasic shield bubble. "Zed, it looks like the shield bubble's radius is a couple hundred metres, so we can tuck ourselves in close to the station and be protected by its shields." Nivran reports, "Hull temperature now 1500°C, hull integrity still nominal, shields still holding."

The Thames's shield bubble touches that of the station and merges without a flicker on Nivran's boards. "Shields holding, solar radiation now... negligible. Estimated shield duration—Sir, this is incredible! There's no drain on our shields at all!" Jon pipes up, "Zed, we're not getting any solar interference on sensors now! I'm reading one life form on deck one of the station—it reads as a Human male! Could it be a Kapecki? Argent's tricorder scans of Olivaw read Human, too..." Nivran adds, "Transporter lock positive. We can beam him over or beam over ourselves."

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 49):

" Whoa, lets slow this down. If that is a Kapecki, he could be one of the corrupted ones.

Lt Sloane, while I understand the need to check out the station and the life sign; we need to carry sufficient firepower should he prove hostile.

These guys are fast strong and immune to stun settings. I recommend caution."

Dahlakino says, "I'm not so sure. When meeting Commander Olivaw, I got no feeling that he was at all Force sensitive—whoever this is is very strong with the Force, much stronger than anyone I've ever met or even heard of from Master Orlock's archives. I can barely comphrehend the power lele he manifests."

Nivran rumbles, "Since we're within their shield bubble and free of solar interference, we should be able hail the station and contact this person—whoever they are."

In reply to Dahlakino (msg # 51):

Dahlakino says, "I'm not so sure. When meeting Commander Olivaw, I got no feeling that he was at all Force sensitive—whoever this is is very strong with the Force, much stronger than anyone I've ever met or even heard of from Master Orlock's archives. I can barely comphrehend the power he manifests."

She nodded to Dahlakino and thought about the Finori briefing."I have a strange idea; what if this is their 'Grandfather'?

What sort of Power does this 'Force' provide?"

Talja interjects, "From what we know, the Grandfather is a Finori. These readings are Human," She looks down at her PADD... "Human male, approximately 1.9 metres tall. Seems to be in perfect health."

Dahlakino adds, "And aware of us. I just sensed an interest from him. He's curious, but not alarmed and I sense no hostility. Seems to me there's no downside to making contact."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:15, Sun 01 Oct 2017.

Clare reports that he has a sensor scan of the upper structure. He calls up two images on his screen. "This first image..." he says, "...is a section through the five top decks plus what appears to be a vehicle airlock and equipment space above the top deck. The decks have an standard oxy/nitrogen atmospheric mix at one atmosphere. I've omitted the interior details for clarity. In the second image we have the layout of deck one. The central open well appears to be a hangar bay and the two shafts are most likely are lifts. You can clearly see the location of our unknown entity in the upper left of the image. You can also make out equipment spaces and consoles on deck one."

He rotates his chair to face the rest of the crew. "Scans are perfectly clear, so Mr. Nivran can get a good transporter lock for beaming him here or going over. As shi indicated, comms are clear, so if we want to be polite we can call first. Mum told me to always be on my best manners, don'cha know," he concludes with a grin.




This message was last edited by the GM at 23:07, Sun 01 Oct 2017.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 54):

"Open a hailing channel."  "USS Thames to unidentified solar station. Please respond." Zed says.

Closing comms he turns and says "Monitor the station and make sure they are not arming any weapons. Once we confirm their intent we can move within their protective shield. "

OOC: Sorry crazy busy at work and commuting 1-1/2 hr each way to one of our other locations just taking all my time.  Will be back to normal next week.

Jon runs a quick scan and replies that the station appears unarmed. Then he says, "Incoming hail."


"Hello Thames," replies a baritone voice in North American accented English. "Lieutenant M'Rel, is that you? I thought the Thames had been destroyed." An image appears on the screen of a mature Human male with dark hair greying at the temples and a goatee. He continues, "Möbius here. You can beam on over—as you no doubt have ascertained, the life support systems are very close to Earth-normal, so you won't need any protective garments."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:42, Tue 03 Oct 2017.