Episode 44 Welcome to the Alpha Quadrant pt. 1

*"Most people are assholes. It's usually safe to presume that they all are, in my experience."*
—**Aulyn Dari**

## **Plot Synopsis**

### **Brief Overview**

On their way to Starbase 621, the ship receives a distress call from a nearby colony. When they arrive, they discover that the colony's environmental systems malfunctioned, and several people have gotten sick. The planet's atmosphere contains spores which are fatal to humanoids.

The crew transports down to the facility, but it quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems. The colony leader, Yomti, is very nervous, and the "malfunction" is clearly the result of a massive explosion, not a faulty system. After interrogating Yomti and scanning the system, the situation is revealed.

Three unexploded Dominion polaron torpedoes had been discovered on the planet. Pirates arrived to retrieve them. They took Yomti's son hostage. While trying to disarm one of the torpedoes, it exploded, damaging the facility. USS Ross investigates a nearby asteroid belt and receives a hail from the leader of the pirates, Nitan. He and Sull strike a bargain: USS Ross will assist in disarming one of the torpedoes, and in exchange Nitan will release the hostage.

### **Pre-Break**

The episode opens two days away from arrival at Starbase 621. LTCDR Yeri Prahl announces an incoming distress signal. It's from a planet known as Zartonus IV. They pull up the data on the computer. It's a Federation colony settled 10 years ago on the edge of Federation space. The signal is only a few hours old. CAPT Azeri Sull orders the ship to proceed there. They arrive in the system shortly after.

LTJG Jane Lakat scans the system. The Zartonus System has a large yellow star, two asteroid belts, a class-D micro planet, a gas giant, and Zartonus IV. Zartonus IV is full of plant life, with Earth-like gravity, atmosphere, and temperatures. It would be a class-M world, except for the air contains spore which have a severe reaction with humanoids. However, the spores are large enough that simple face coverings will protect oneself.

She looks up the history of the colony. The colony was founded about 10 years prior. During the Dominion War, the *Akira*-class ship USS *Annie Mae* engaged two Dominion warships in the system. It successfully defeated them, but was severely damaged. The colony is flagged as self-sustaining, so it is low-priority for Federation resupply runs. It was founded with 500 colonists, but there are currently only 404 life-signs.

USS *Ross* hails the planet, and a Grazerite named Yomti answers. He informs them that the colony had an explosion which damaged their environmental systems. Everyone has been evacuated indoors. However, several colonists were exposed to the outside air, and have contracted the disease related to the spores. During the conversation, Olyn picks up strong emotions of fear from Yomti, and that he is trying to hide it.

**CONTENT WARNING: Description of Infectious Disease.** Click "expand" to see the content.Lakat looks up the known information on the disease. There is no cure. The first symptom is a glowing flue ring around the pupils. What follows is disorientation, numbness, paralysis, blindness, and death. The disease progresses rapidly; it is fatal in roughly two weeks.
The colony sends over a list of their sick. There are 10 total cases, including the colonies Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Steven Yen. Prahl asks MCPO Theq Lynadas the odds of the environmental system blowing up on its own; Theq says the odds are extremely low. Scans from orbit indicate that the facility was destroyed by a massive explosion which came from outside the facility. There are trace amounts of memoryalpha:polarons in the area.

The crew assembles an away team. Theq decides to stay aboard the ship, and has ENS Aulyn Dari go in his place; LTCDR M'Qrell assures him that she will watch over Dari. Olyn considers going, but is nervous that they will just be in the way. After some encouragement from Sull and CDR EXEO, they decide to go. The final away team is EXEO, M'Qrell, Prahl, Lakat, Dari, and four security officers. On the bridge, LT Tommy Dugen steps in for Prahl and LT Madlin Spencer for Lakat.

The crew beams down, and are led to Yomti's office. They moment he greets them, Olyn senses a spike of fear. He provides Dari with the colony's logs, but she is incredulous. When Yomti sees the security team, Olyn senses sheer terror coming from him. When he asks why they are there, EXEO assures him it's only a precaution, and mentions the polaron radiation. One security officer goes with M'Qrell to the medical bay; everyone else follows Yomti to the environmental systems building.

The group puts on their masks and heads outside. The air is thick and humid. Even EXEO can see the spores collecting on her hardlight body. Everyone can tell that Yomti really doesn't want to go to the facility. Dari is increasingly frustrated with what she suspects is Yomti's deception.

At the medical bay, M'Qrell discovers that the facility is not at full power. She meets Dr. Yen. She quickly observes the blue rings around his irises. He acknowledges that he has contracted the infection. He shows her the most serious patient, a 15 year-old girl on life-support, named Michelle. He provides what little information is available. Prior to recent events, there were only two cases before the Federation identified the spores. No research has ever been done on a cure or treatment. M'Qrell calls Theq to get her some power, and she and Yen get to work.

Meanwhile, the other team arrives at the facility. They determine that the building might be salvageable. Dari immediately observes that the explosion did not take place at the facility. Lakat walks off towards the source of the explosion, with two security officers in tow. Dari, EXEO, and Olyn begin grilling Yomti.

On the ship, Sull uses USS Ross' new sensor suite to watch the crew interrogate Yomti in real time. Vrenn leans over to Spencer and asks how they got the assignment to sit in for Lakat. Spencer says they won bingo.

Meanwhile, Lakat and the security officers approach the crater at the site of the explosion. It's 1000 feet across and 100 feet deep; a massive explosion had to cause it. She scans the site, and determines the timing of the explosion was a full hour before the distress call was sent. She slides down into the crater and her tricorder loses power, a known effect of polaron radiation on Federation technology. She grabs some soil samples, and then she takes a selfie and sends it to the bridge.

### **Post-Break**

On the bridge, Lakat's selfie appears on the screen. Sull looks over at YEO3 Azzmi Shanto with a smirk. Sull orders Spencer to scan for any objects in the system. Suddenly, several new items appear on the scans that weren't there before. Spencer picks up three life-signs one mile North of Lakat's position, two Orions and one human. They also find two unexploded Dominion polaron torpedoes, one is near the life-signs, and another is 0.5 miles North of that. Then everything vanishes from the sensors again. They determine there is some sort of local interference preventing sensors and transporter locks in those areas.

Sull orders an investigation of the prior battle, considering that it might be unexploded ordnance. They order Theq to start sending down equipment for defusing them. Prahl has six more security officers transported down to the facility; he orders Lakat and her team to return to the group as soon as possible. Prahl walks over to where EXEO and Olyn are questioning Yomti. He interrupts and directly asks Yomti about the torpedoes.

Yomti explains that pirate arrived on the planet 8 hours ago. They kidnapped his son. While trying to remove one of the torpedoes, they accidentally blew up the facility. They allowed him to send the distress signal, but didn't expect that anyone would respond so quickly. So they demanded that he get rid of USS Ross as soon as he could.

Sull asks Spencer to scan for ships, but there aren't any. Dugen reports information from the prior battle. The Dominion ships had been hiding in the asteroid belts. He suggests that perhaps there was a supply depot present. Vrenn takes USS Ross towards the closest asteroid belt. Sull orders Amandeep Singh to look for transporter signals in the belt. Then, Dugen announces that they are receiving a hail. Sull orders him to open it.

A Zibelian appears on the screen. He introduces himself as Nitan. He has a jovial, swashbuckling demeanor. Sull responds in kind. Nitan says that he wants one of the polaron torpedoes in exchange for freeing the hostage. Sull asks for proof of life, and is shown an image of the child in the brig of Nitan's ship. The interior reveals that it is a Cardassian-built ship. Sull orders Dugen to trace the signal. Nitan asks for Starfleet assistance in disarming the torpedo; his first attempt resulted in the explosion. Sull asks which torpedo, and he specifies the South one. Sull agrees to help disarm it if the boy is planetside during the exchange; Nitan refuses. Sull uses their Orion heritage to trick Nitan into believing they will just let the hostage die in order to hunt him down, and so he relents and agrees.

Meanwhile, M'Qrell has identified a possible treatment for the disease, but she needs the power returned to full strength. Theq informs her that he has a team ready to provide her the power she needs. Dari soon arrives with some portable power generators. On the ship, Theq prepares what he needs to disarm the warhead.

Back at the environmental facility, Yomti starts having a panic attack, but Olyn talks him down. Prahl requests EXEO's help with securing the torpedo site since she won't appear on any life-scanners. He thinks Olyn can handle the negotiations. Olyn is hesitant, but EXEO is encouraging and they agree. He then asks Lakat to join them; Lakat is pleased to be invited. Prahl briefs the team with the plan. EXEO uses USS Ross' high resolution sensors to become nearly invisible and heads off. Olyn picks up a disturbing feeling from the normally locked-down Prahl. A part of him has missed being in the danger of a warzone; they sense something else beneath that feeling, too.

Something dark.

## **Cast**

* Eric Campbell - Game Master
* Revati Dhomse - Jane Lakat
* Gina DeVivo - EXEO
* Sam de Leve - Azeri Sull
* Aki - Olyn Madzhin-Nil
* Xander Jeanneret - Theq Lynadas
* Bonnie Gordon - M'Qrell

## **Non-Player Characters**

* Yeri Prahl
* Zhyliss Vrenn
* Yomti
* Aulyn Dari
* Tommy Dugen
* Madlin Spencer
* Steven Yen
* Michelle
* Azzmi Shanto
* Amandeep Singh
* Nitan

## **Locations**

* Zartonus System
	+ Zartonus IV

## **Notable Lines**

*"I shall call it the HSA. The Hardcore Spore Armor."*
—**M'Qrell**

*"Just keep an eye on her, and if she starts acting up just do M'Qrell things."*
—**Theq Lynadas** to M'Qrell about Aulyn Dari

*"I think you've come to know that I'm a very suspicious person."*
*"I like that about you. Most people are assholes. It's usually safe to presume that they all are, in my experience."*
*"In my experience, there are good assholes and bad assholes, and you're a good asshole, in my books."*
—**Jane Lakat** and **Aulyn Dari**

*"I'm not a murderer, captain, I'm an arms dealer."*
—**Nitan**

*"I forgot how morally superior you Federation types are."*
*"It's the soapbox, maybe the pedestal."*
—**Nitan** and **Azeri Sull**

*"Alright captain, you have a deal. I'll be expecting treachery."*
*"As will I. I'll wear my special pips."*
—**Nitan** and **Azeri Sull**