Episode 5: Kings of Old

2267.341: Captain’s Log
Solace has been assigned as operations support to Dayan and complete the patrol. We are returning from the Federation frontier, by way of the Klingon-Federation Neutral Zone border. So far, things have been quiet. Captain Enkav and I have entertained the possibility of a temporary crew exchange; I know several of my crew would enjoy a rotation or two aboard a Larson-class. We are nearing Kabantine, binary, blue stars that, in deference to my science team, we will briefly observe.

Scans of the stars and the surrounding area revealed massive amounts of radiation and, curiously, trace readings of magnesite and torpaline approximately seven million kilometers closer to the stars. Due to sensor unreliability, Pike ordered a closer look, and the crew of Solace set about preparing their ship. Shields were reinforced for the dense radiation, due to the gravitational ebb and flow of the radiation "sea", maps were made and a course plotted. Then, with great care and skill, Solace was navigated through the energized region.

As it turned out, the source of the readings was a starship; a very old starship. DY-100-class sleeper ship with the hull markings of Botany Bay. Solace detected seventy-two lifesigns, but also discovered that the venerable starship's power was fading. After towing the Botany Bay out of the radiation field, damage and medical teams were beamed over to get a firsthand report.

Botany Bay was a museum relic, with seventy-two still-active sleeper pods (although, tragically, twelve had already failed). Those active sleeper pods held seventy-two near-perfect humans in suspended animation. With power incompatable and failing on Botany Bay, Soong estimated Solace had approximately forty-eight hours to rescue the displaced sleepers. Pike ordered them beamed aboard Solace and Dayan for revival, and the respective doctors went to work.

Doctor Marketa, aboard Solace, proved to be as talented and capable as suspected and successfully revived all fifty-two patients under her care. The doctors aboard Dayan were not so successful and lost five of the twenty they had been working on.

Doctor Marketa discovered that her new patients were not just human, they were super-human; their musculature, respiratory systems, and brain activity peaked well above human maximums. She concluded that these were "Augments", remnants from old and outlawed scientific practices of genetic manipulation. The results had culminated in the violent and dark Eugenics Wars back in Earth's late 20th century that had nearly resulted in the destruction of the human race. Marketa had contemplated keeping the entire bunch of them sedated for transport to a starbase, and then one of them woke up.

He was handsome, magnetic, and powerful; a true Alpha male. His name was Kahn Noonien Singh, a prince from Earth who had fled the tragedies and horrors of the Eugenics Wars. Marketa quickly fell under the charismatic Augment's sway, even Captain Pike seemed subdued and somewhat cowed in Kahn's presence.

When Kahn learned of the loss of five of his "family" aboard Dayan, he demanded to speak with Captain Enkav. Marketa helped to arrange the conference. A short while later, Captain Enkav beamed aboard Solace for a dinner with Pike and Kahn. At the meal, Kahn pushed Enkav's failure at being unable to save all twenty of his patients, questioning the Captain's capability and honor. Enkav was outraged and challenged Kahn to ushaan tor, and Kahn accepted.


Kahn Noonien Signh, Augment Prince, Warlord, and Conqueror

Pike, of course, fought against this. He contacted Starfleet for advice, but was told that ushaan tor was a recognized cultural practice among Andorians and had to let it stand. But Pike was there, he was seeing what was unfolding and suspected intentional maneuverings on Kahn's behalf.

Captain Pike called for a clandestine operation involving Ensigns H'suur, Mirenne, Soong, Shran, and Marketa to surreptitiously beam aboard Dayan during the duel and secure the vessel. Pike suspected Kahn of engineering a takeover of the Federation Destroyer.

The away team beamed over, but the modifications to avoid sensor detection caused a catastrophic power feedback that left Solace in the black and without power.

The away team found themselves aboard Dayan where nearly the entire crew had gathered in their mess hall to watch the ushaan tor duel between their Captain and Kahn. Tragically, the duel ended quickly, with Enkav's throat slit. Immediately, the attending Augments flew into a brutal, murderous rage and began tearing Dayan's crew to shreds.

The away team made their way to Engineering to take command of the warp core and render the vessel inoperative, where they discovered (from their hidden vantage point in a Jefferies' tube) a heavily armed and armored squad of eleven Augments stationed and in control.

They were too late!

(To be continued...)

H'suur, Soong, Mirenne, Marketa, and Liara quickly devised a plan of desperation: they would capture some of the Augments' gear and use it to hold the Dayan captive. Mirenne distracted one with telepathic whispers, while Liara, H'suur and Marketa attacked. The Augment proved stronger and faster than any of them had anticipated and it was a vicious fight that the ambushers ultimately survived, but at the cost of their goal: all of the Augment's gear had been destroyed. As such, they moved on to Plan B, turning to Soong's engineering and demolitions skills as they made their way (via Jefferies' Tubes) to the destroyer's forward torpedo room.

Meanwhile, several Augments beamed into Solace's bridge and engineering section. There, Selar and T'zark evaded capture and pre-emptively incapacitated controls to the bridge by disconnecting key junctures, while in engineering Cadet Pren, helping with the restoration of power to the ERV, wound up facing an Augment alone. Through a fortunate series of events, she held a phaser and fired it at her attacker. The phaser, originally carried by the Augment invader, was set on its maximum setting, and, despite their legendary resilience, even Augments can be disintegrated.

Once the bridge was secured, T'zark and Selar, inspired by Soong's past accomplishments, managed to hotwire a transporter to a phaser for a temporary use, and beamed the four remaining Augments into the vaccum of space.

The covert away team made their way to the forward torpedo room and, with a cobbled phaser bomb, Soong rigged a torpedo, counting on its cracked shell and resulting spilled antimater to have a damaging effect on the destroyer. They might not be able to prevent Kahn from taking the war ship, but they certainly weren't going to let him get away with everything.

In a "gracious" move, Kahn ordered any and all remaining crew aboard Dayan to the escape pods and ejected them.

As the five awaited the destruction of their makeshift bomb, T'zark used the last of the jury-rigged transporter's energy to retrieve the away team. Simultaneously, Kahn (having learned of his own away team's failure) steered the Dayan for a murdering strike against Solace, just as the Dayan's forward torpedo room exploded. Surprised and wounded, Kahn escaped while he could, with what he could, and warped away.

Left behind, Solace restored power and recovered the Dayan's remaining crew. Then they made their way to Starbase 12.