Episode 3: Mudd's Angels

Captain’s Log, 2267.1.25: Risa
Happy Terran New Year. The crew of Solace have been given some deserved R&R to celebrate the coming new year. This is a rare occasion, one I am not sure needed to be honored, but Admiral Sterling was insistent. The crew have drawn lots for planetside transportation. I intend to take this chance to climb the Galartha cliffs.

While most of the crew enjoyed time planetside, approximately a fourth of the crew remained on Solace, running a deep level 6 diagnostic while repairing, replacing, and maintaining nearly every ship system. From transporters to communications to sensors to tactical, every console and every station was receiving attention. Temporarily, Ensigns Soong and Marketa had been given command of their respective departments, while command of Solace had been handed off to Lieutenant Commander Cartwright.

Among those that won passes for R&R on Risa were Ensigns T'zark and H'suur who had been, predictably, enjoying themselves greatly. They had recently made two new "friends", two Risan females, Eve and Magda. After much drinking, and with a great amount of persuasive smiles and attentions by their two new friends, T'zark (even against his and H'suur's better judgment) flew them back to Solace via shuttlecraft.

Once aboard, the two couples retired to their quarters. Several hours later, with neither ensign in sight, both Eve and Magda made their way about the ship, finding a console in operational status and began interfacing...

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Ensigns Liara, Selar, and Soong were working with Lt. Commander Cartwright on repairing the bridge's consoles. It was noticed, that all diagnostics were stuck in a perpetuating loop which, amongst other efficiency issues, rendered nearly 47% of Solace's systems and subsystems inoperative. Soong was able to pinpoint the problem, stemming from a console on deck 9, a crew deck, specifically near H'suur and T'zark's quarters. It was then quickly determined that it wasn't a coincidence or glitch, but an intentional sabotage. Cartwright ordered Liara, Soong, and himself to investigate, giving Selar command of a relatively inoperative bridge.

Investigations initially proved inconclusive; there was no one utilizing the console. Further investigations proved that the routines forcing the looping diagnostics were coming from a mobile source -- the code was bouncing from console to console. Liara went to retrieve H'suur and T'zark to question them about their "guests", but found H'suur unconscious and detected an odd scent in his room. The ensign tactical officer retrieved Ensigns Marketa and Dole, as well as Cadet Pren, to see if their science or medical expertise might be of greater help. With T'zark's quarters closer on their return trip, they checked on him and discovered he was unconscious, as well.

Utilizing their tricorders, the science team and current chief medical officer discovered trace hormonal pheromones in the air, potent and overriding. The pheromones were similar to those Orion females could exude.

Simultaneously, on the bridge, Selar was ambushed by two females that strode in off the turbolift. The sensor operator was caught off-guard and stunned into unconsciousness.

While Selar awoke in a stranded turbolift and made her way down to deck 9, Soong and the others detected a shift in contol of the ship's systems. Transporters now were controlled by their mysterious hacker and many of the remaining crewmembers were suddenly beamed down to Risa. Soong managed to block further trasportation, but only after thirty of the fifty skeleton crew had been whisked away. He was also able to trace a single transportation to the ship from Risa, with the bridge as the destination. With practically everyone else gone from Solace, Cartwright, Liara, H'suur, T'zark, Dole, Selar, Soong, Marketa, and Pren made their way, via jeffries' tubes, towards the bridge, planning the entire time.

As they closed, wondering who, or what, they were up against, the communicator's chimed. Their shipjacker identified himself as Leo Walsh and demanded Cartwright hand over the command codes that would unlock helm and navigation, otherwise he threatened to turn off life support systematically throughout the ship. Of course, Cartwright delayed while the others plotted.

Cadet Pren (specifically her symbiont) recognized Walsh's name as a notorious con artist actually named Harry Harcourt Mudd. H'suur noted that Mudd, found guilty of shipjacking, forgery, fraud, and theft, was also an ex-Starfleet Intelligence officer. A plan was quickly put into motion and Soong, Marketa, and Pren returned to the console on deck 9 to begin preparations. Several moments later, Cartwright contacted Mudd and taunted him. Then, Dole initiated a hypersonic pulse through the communicators while Soong fooled the bridge's environmental safeties into believing the bridge had been compromised and was in need of emergency response teams, thus unlocking and opening the doors. Then, H'suur, T'zark, and Liara led the three-pronged bridge assault.


Leo Francis Walsh, aka "Harry" Harcourt Mudd

A quick and brutal phaser fight erupted between the trio potential pirates and Solace's crew. This rapidly revealed that Eve and Magda were, in fact, androids and cost the life of Cartwright, disintegrated by Magda's vicious retaliation. Eve, stationed at the helm, took concentrated fire from Selar, Liara, and H'suur and detonated, while Mudd, sensing it time to leave, ran with Magda.

The crew pursued, and, knowing their ship better, got the launch bay moments before Mudd, only to discover more of their crew mates unconscious, the victims of phaser stun blasts. The perpetraitor was a third female, already at the open doorway of a shuttlecraft. H'suur, recognizing the danger the crew was in, told everyone to stand down, to allow Mudd and his "women" to escape without further opposition, and without further injury to Solace's crew.

Liara and Dole pushed the offensive, however. Liara ambushed Magda just prior to the android's escape and body checked her into an exposed plasma relay. The android was flash-fried in green plasma fire. Meanwhile, Dole managed to transport the third android woman off the shuttle, although he had no idea where he sent her.

Mudd, however, made good his escape in the shuttlecraft, however, his hijacking attempt of Solace had been thwarted.

Of course, Captain Pike was furious. Ensigns H'suur and T'zark received the brunt of his ire and were confined to quarters when not on duty. While Solace had not been taken, Cartwright had been killed, and their shuttlecraft (found, abandoned, on Risa) had been temporarily absconded.