Snakes on a Planet
From USSArcadia
This plot follows after Borg 2.0.
Contents |
Snakes on a Planet, Part 1
Stardate 50703.14
Arcadia was detached from fleet duty and allowed to explore the unexplored space around the Tharanx System.
Lt. JG Sema'J was still in a coma from injuries sustained while in battle with the Empire. He was dispatched, via shuttle to the nearest Federation ship, back to Earth, to be treated at Star Fleet Medical.
During analysis of the system, Lt Westler reported that long range sensors scanned a class M planet designated EK-384, and it appeared suitable for life, and possibly even colonization. Arcadia set course for the planet.
Lt Marx and Ens Thoros worked on reports for Starfleet about the New Evolution Borg and the graviton bomb they had constructed. Marx wondered what they should do with the bomb. Cmdr Lo'Ami wanted it stabilized and procedures put into place to keep it around safely and legally.
Counselor Merri and Dr Porter discussed the future now that Dr Knollwatcher was officially dead.
Arcadia arrived in orbit of EK-384. Detailed scans began looking for plant life, animal life, and mineral resources. The planet's atmosphere was confirmed to be able to support humanoid life. Probes were launched into the atmosphere. Medical observed that the planet was free of obvious pathogens. The planet had large areas of moderate temperature, and plant and animal life. No humanoid life was detected, and there were no signs of civilization. The planet's star was stable and expected to continue to be stable for trillions of years.
Arcadia sent an away team consisting of science, engineering, medical, and security. The away team found a planet that was idyllic. Nearly everyone was enjoying the warm weather -- except for Ens Thoros, for whom it was a bit too warm, and Ens Rhod, who thought it was a bit humid.
Numerous lifesigns were scanned nearby, including a herd of some animals.
Snakes on a Planet, Part 2
Stardate 50703.21
Exploration of the planet continued, and the crew continued to marvel at how pristine and pure everything on the planet was. They began extracting plant and water samples.
Cmdr. Alces examined the fruit of a vine for its wine-making capabilities.
Ens Swan examined the water, and even drank some of it, thinking it safe.
Two snakes that were native to the planet "conversed" with each other about how the new visitors were destroying their planet and wasting food and resources. The snakes wondered whether the newcomers were sentient - or capable of sharing, and decided to observe and call the "others" and the "elders."
When Swan and Dr Porter picked up a newt, the snakes did a little hissing at the crew. The crew didn't understand what they said.
When the newt was let go, it ran off to the "others" to "sound the alarm" about the visitors.
The snakes appreciate Ens Nouvelle Daena's treating the plants gently. She doesn't understand the snakes, though.
On the bridge, Cmdr. Lo'Ami and Ens. Gallatinov examined the structure of the system surrounding EK-384. One comet was located 7 AU away on the other side of the planet's star. In particular, though, Lo'Ami was interested in the asteroid belt. It was determined that the belt's composition was half high in metallic content, and half rock, indicating two sources for the belt. After running some simulations, they concluded that the asteroid belt was formed from a collision between a planet that once occupied it and another large object. Simulating back in time, they found that the most likely source of the colliding object was a gas giant in the system.
Snakes on a Planet, Part 3
Stardate 50703.28
Lt. Meriva had some empathetic telepathy for the planet's animals, saying to Ens. Daena he "feels for the fauna of the planet."
Some of the crew (including Ens. Rhod and Acting Ens. Swan) feared the reptiles, some of whom were hissing at the crew as they took samples. Daena was convinced that the animals would not harm her.
A salamander-like creature named Lawng called all the animals to a meeting. Then, in a fashion heretofore unknown to Arcadia's crew, the animals of many different species (at least: cougars, moose, bears, mice, snakes, salamanders) gathered in a grassy area. They "left the plants" to be their eyes and ears on the newcomers' actions. The animals found themselves confused as to how the away team arrived out of thin air. Some of the animals thought that the away team's presence was dangerous to the world, others agreed that they had already broken a number of laws of nature, such as killing plants, but not for food, and taking from the sacred waters and not returning their due share. The animals agreed to adjourn the meeting and ask their respective spirits (including the Owl's spirit of the high air) whether they had sent the away team. Arcadia's crew still had no understanding of what they actually said.
In space, a Danube class runabout brought former chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. Trichon Light back to Arcadia from teaching duties at the academy. Light returned to the bridge and immediately, they began analyzing the away team's reports from the planet of the strange behavior of the animals.
Back on the planet, Lt. Westler ordered the away team to return to their transport zone. He reported back to Arcadia of the meeting, and requested transport. Cmdr. Lo'Ami denied the request because there was no sign of danger, and the meeting required further study. Just in case, he ordered that a lock be kept on the away team at all times.
Mithraan (felinoid) Ens. Daena felt the urge to join the animals. The urge was so strong that she broke from the rest of the away team, removed her Starfleet jacket and joined at the edge of the meeting. When the rest of the team realized she was running away and disoberying orders to return, they ordered her transport back to the ship. Her comm badge being on the jacket, the ship picked up the jacket, but not her. The number of felinoid lifesigns nearby was too great to distinguish hers from the others. Daena, who was recognized by the cougar as a possible member of his "clan", began to strike up a purring session with the cougar. Ens. Rhod suggested that they sneak up on the animals and place a comm badge on Daena, then run and order her transport. They did that, and Daena was beamed back to Arcadia.
Some of the animals on the planet who had come close to the away team began to experience strange symptoms, such as mucus coming up their nasal passages.
Snakes on a Planet, Part 4
Stardate 50704.04
The planet's native cougar pawed at Lt Westler, injuring him, while the other animals searched for their respective spirits. A sickness spread among the animals.
Ens Rhod called for Arcadia to lock on to the away team and beam them back. They retrieved the whole away team, except for Cmdr, Alces (who lost his communicator), who was replaced by one of the planet's native owls. Lt. Westler was rushed to sickbay and treated.
After Westler's treatment was completed, Ens Swan began to experiment on the plant samples she brought from the planet. She found the plant wilting, even though they were in their native soil.
Ens Daena (minus her uniform jacket) reported to Cmdr Lo'Ami on the bridge that she had almost established communication with the planet's animals. This established that the animals were sentient. Daena requested to be allowed to return. When Cmdr Lo'Ami told her that the animals were attacking the away team, Daena insisted that they were not dangerous.
One severely confused owl flew around the corridors of the ship. It was chased by Ens Thoros and Lt Marx. They were sent to send the owl back to the planet and retrieve Cmdr Alces. Daena was given her chance to reestablish communications. The guards herded the owl into the transporter room, and Daena tried to get it to understand her.
On the planet, Alces was being cornered by the snakes, and wondering how long he would have until he had to drop the berries he had gathered. The snakes interpreted Alces' hording of the berries as an attempt to steal their food, and called other animals to arms. Arcadia was finally able to lock onto his lifesign, but something blocked the transporter beam from bringing him up.
Snakes on a Planet, Part 5
Stardate 50704.11
On the planet, Ens Daena reinitiated contact with the cougar. The cougar fell to the ground. A tiger informed Ens Daena that a sickness had begun sweeping through all the animals. The tiger blamed the Arcadia crew for bringing the sickness. Daena apologized for it and tried to assure the animals that the Arcadia crew had no intention of harming them. Daena reported the disease back to Lt Marx -- in a rather unorthodox way. Still running on her animal instincts, she jumped on Marx and pinned him to the ground. When Marx pushed her off, she regained composure and made her report.
Acting Ens Swan reported the plant samples' wilting to Dr Porter. Porter and Swan worked out that the plants, like the animals, might have a symbiotic relationship with the planet. The plant's status was reported to the bridge at about the same time as the word of the disease on the planet. The plant was returned to the planet via transporter.
Meanwhile, other animals herded Cmdr Alces into a corner.
R4 landed the shuttle on the planet. Ens Thoros in the transporter room tried to beam test packs down to the planet, and did so successfully, using the shuttle as a pattern enhancer. He was unable to retrieve the test packs from the shuttle because of continuing interference. Lt Westler was released from sickbay and ordered to the bridge. He began working on the transporter problem. Westler identified that the planet was emitted a very high resolution wave that prevented the transporter from establishing molecular locks. They attempted to counteract the problem by shifting the transporter frequency, but the interference adapted, and they still could not beam anything back.
The bridge crew tried to use the probes they had launched toward the gas giant to locate Captain Dacotah's transport. Ens Rhod suggested that they narrow the bandwidth of the scans to ship hull materials, which they did. The Captain's ship was located, having been pulled down to a barely class M moon of the gas giant. They were able to find lifesigns, but could not get any details about them. Arcadia launched communications probes to try to get a comm signal through to the supply ship and ascertain the captain's status. They decided to do a controlled landing of a probe on the planet in order to get a message to the captain.
Meanwhile, data was transferred between the planet and medical about the animals' situation.
Captain Dacotah, and an Ensign and Lieutenant piloting the supply ship exited their ship onto the moon. They walked towards the only other energy signature on the moon. The energy signature turned out to be a rather old wizardly looking man. The old man immediately knew who Captain Dacotah was, and began accusing Arcadia's crew of being destructive. He said: "seeing as how YOUR crew has been so active on MY world, it's only natural that I would know all about you."
Snakes on a Planet, Part 6
Stardate 50704.18
On Arcadia's bridge, Lt Cmdr Trichon set up the "message in a bottle" torpedo to deliver a message to Captain Dacotah on the gas giant's moon. The torpedo was launched, and landed 100 yards from the captain's location. There was no evidence that the captain had found it.
On the gas giant moon, Captain Dacotah conversed with an increasingly irate being who appeared to her as an old man. The being knew all about Arcadia and blamed them for destroying his children and "leaving swaths of destruction wherever they go." The Being killed the pilot and copilot of the supply ship, dissolving them from the outside in, as a show of power to Captain Dacotah. All Arcadia could do was watch as the lifesigns disappeared.
Finally, the Being allowed Arcadia to communicate with Captain Dacotah. Arcadia learns that the captain's detention is related to the calamity on the planet.
On the planet, in the shuttle, Lt Marx wondered to himself why the Arcadians had to destroy any paradise they encountered.
Ens Daena's communications with them instilled confidence in the animals that the humans would find the cure to the disease they'd brought. Meanwhile, no cure was in evidence, and the animals' condition continued to worsen.
R4 began collecting air samples from the planet to send back to Arcadia and to bring a medical tricorder to Ensign Daena. Marx recommended that nobody be sent down to the planet, in order to contain the damage they'd already done.
Sickbay was informed about the situation on the planet. Acting Ens Swan offered to go down to the planet. She was eventually allowed down if she would wear a biosuit. Swan, slightly afraid of the large animals, tried to discover the cause of the illness. She found that the animals were infected with a terran virus.
Swan did not know how to cure the virus yet, but could treat the symptoms in the animals she could get to.
Lt Trichon suggested that the virus may be recorded in the transporter biofilter and may be very simple, such that all humans are immune to it. Both confirmed that Ens Daena was carrying cold and flu virii that were able to pass from humanoids to the animals.
Unexplained hull pressure increases began on Arcadia. The Being started to take his revenge on Arcadia.
Planning began to rescue Captain Dacotah from the superior Being, but how could they get her out over so much distance, without the Superior Being noticing?
Snakes on a Planet, Part 7
Stardate 50704.25
On the moon, the Superior Being vowed that Captain Dacotah and her crew would be held responsible for the disease on the planet. Arcadia heard the Being suffocating the captain over the comm, while hull pressure on Arcadia continued to increase.
On the planet, Acting Ensign Swan took a guess at what might be a cure, and called Arcadia to deliver them the medicines. On Arcadia, Cmdr Lo'Ami asked her to specify everything she would need. The hull pressure increases would only allow Arcadia to drop shields momentarily for a transport.
Lo'Ami had engineering prepare for damage, and the transport was completed.
Ens Daena gathered the animals (or as many as would be able to come) at the animals' meeting place. Acting Ensign Swan began administering the cure to the animals that could come, and placed additional medicines in their water.
Meanwhile, on Arcadia, it became clear that a rescue plan would be needed for Captain Dacotah, and that they could not maintain orbit for much longer. Lt Cmdr Light and Cmdr Lo'Ami came up with a plan to rescue her. They would break orbit, and launch a series of probes, which would be used to relay a transporter signal until it reached Arcadia. They would then hit the warp button and run away, hoping that they could do all that before the Superior Being could stop it.
The plan was put into place. The Superior Being was allowed to know that the cure had been effected on the planet via Captain Dacotah's comm. Then, in the middle of the comm, they activated the transporter, bouncing the captain's signal between the probes. The Superior Being let the captain know that he was letting the plan work, and that he could have stopped it if he wanted to, and that Arcadia would be destroyed if any of his creatures died.
The captain shimmered into Arcadia's transporter room, then collapsed and was brought to sickbay.
The Superior Being placed himself on Arcadia's bridge and warned them not to come back into the system. Cmdr Lo'Ami agreed, as long as his crew would be able to leave the planet by the shuttle that had been left for them. Then, he left the bridge as quickly as he appeared.
Arcadia launched marker buoys around the system warning other ships away.
Hours later, the cure worked and the shuttle, with all of the Arcadia crew from the away team, rejoined the ship at the designated rendezvous point.
