Captain's Log, Stardate 57294.5
After a week at Warp 8 since our departure from Deep Space 3, the USS Melbourne has crossed out of the generally accepted boundaries of known space. Our first mission is the establishment of a permanent Federation diplomatic presence with the Na-Zek, a felinoid species first encountered over a century ago but whose territory, located near the spinward end of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, is so far away that it has only been visited once by a Starfleet vessel. It is only with the recent advancements in warp propulsion and subspace communications that such an effort is even possible.
We have aboard Ambassador Sh'Rassa from Cait along with their staff and all the equipment necessary to set up the new Federation Embassy on the Na-Zek homeworld. So far the mission has been going smoothly, with the crew occupied with deploying a new relay network of communication and navigation buoys and updating and refining the limited hundred year-old star charts from the last ship to come out this way.
On a more personal note, I have decided to cancel open mic night until we've completed our primary mission unless someone can come up with a polite way to decline Ambassador Sh'Rassa's enthusiastic offer to perform renditions of their favorite Caitian show tunes.
Captain Mitchell does a round table of the USS Melbourne's bridge crew to help the senior officers get to know each other. With the ship's routine settling in, Mitchell now takes the opportunity to hold a more in-depth briefing with Ambassador Sh'Rassa and the ambassador's chief aide, a Denobulan named Natala Korex. The leonine Sh'Rassa has been pleased with the support he and his team have received from the Melbourne crew so far. The briefing is interrupted when the Melbourne receives a distress call.
The distress call appears to be an automated signal from a Ferengi vessel, and long range scans detect the source moving at impulse speeds with no indication of the problem. The Melbourne closes with the Ferengi ship at Warp 9, finding it seemingly undamaged and not responding to hails. Attempts to scan the ship are inconclusive due to an unidentified source of interference, though seem to indicate at least a handful of Ferengi life signs aboard.
Commander Partav takes an away team consisting of Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress, Lt. Cmdr. Tir, Lt. Stuart, Lt. J.G. Tradis and Ens. Garrett over to the Ferengi vessel. Due to the interference, the away team is beamed into what appears to be a large open space near the exterior of the vessel, a location that turns out to be a cargo bay. The bay is filled with supply crates, but most of the exposed surfaces appear to be covered with a strange, web-like substance. Scans of the webbing with tricorders are inconclusive, as the webbing itself appears to be the cause of the interference with the Melbourne's attempts to scan the vessel earlier, but Lt. J.G. Tradis' medical scans do get a better lock on the Ferengi life signs, indicating six lifeforms somewhere near the ship's main engineering section.
As the away team are investigating the cargo bay, several of the group hear skittering noises and catch shadows of movement along the walls. Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress is able to modify a tricorder to compensate for the interference from the webbing and a scan reveals that the away team is being converged on by a dozen unidentified creatures that are already inside the cargo bay with them.
Attempts to contact the Melbourne for an emergency beam-out fail due to additional interference. Lt. Cmdr. Tir gets the away team into a defensive position and everyone draws phasers. Their attackers are large, spider-like creatures with flattened spherical bodies approximately 0.5 meters in length and 0.3 meters wide, with a pair of eyestalks and a vertical, tooth-filled maw at the front of the body. The away team open fire as the spiders begin attacking, and after several near misses one of the spiders lands on Ens. Garrett and sinks its teeth into his throat. When the away team finally stuns the last of the attackers, Lt. J.G. Tradis is able to deliver emergency first aid to Garrett.
Scans of the spider creatures show that they are a silicon-based lifeform whose cell structure is disruptive to subspace signals. Lt. Stuart is able to identify a communications frequency that is not affected by the creatures and the away team is able to contact the Melbourne to beam the injured Garret to Sick Bay. The other findings of the away team allow the Melbourne to perform a more accurate scan of the Ferengi vessel and confirm that the only Ferengi life signs on the ship are the six in the engineering section. Lt. Stuart and Lt. J.G. Tradis continue their examination of the spiders and discover that the creatures communicate through radio frequencies, allowing the away team to use their tricorders to interfere with the spiders' ability to communicate with each other.
The away team use a tricorder to broadcast a signal to lure the spiders away from engineering in order to reach the surviving Ferengi. When they do reach engineering, they find the six Ferengi unconscious and pinned high up the walls by the strange webbing. Due to the interference from the webbing, the team members need to get close enough to the Ferengi for their communicators to give the Melbourne something to lock onto for transport. The best climbers, Ahn'Kress and Tir, go for the Ferengi at the highest points while the rest of the away team try to reach the others. Spiders begin to converge on the team but they are able to get to the Ferengi before the creatures get too close and the Melbourne beams them out. On board the Melbourne, the Ferengi are taken to Sick Bay while Commander Partav heads to the bridge and briefs Captain Mitchell. Lt. Commander Ahn'Kress and Lt. Cmdr. Tir also return to the bridge, where Ahn'Kress uses what she has learned to perform another detailed scan of the Ferengi ship, detecting the presence of an unidentified small craft docked in the main shuttlebay of the Ferengi ship.
Commander Partav volunteers to take another team back over to the Ferengi ship to try and cut its engines so the Melbourne can bring it to a stop with a tractor beam. The team, consisting of Partav, Lt. Commanders Ahn'Kress and Tir, Lt. Stuart, and security officer Ens. Selani attempts to beam in as close to the Ferengi ship's bridge as possible but the interference from the webbing causes the transporter to scatter the five across the ship. Partav and Stuart have materialized forward of the bridge while Ahn'Kress and Tir are near the aft; only Ens. Selani arrived close to their target of the bridge.
Partav and Stuart are able to meet up, and Tir manages to reach Ahn'Kress' position after making her way past a group of spiders blocking her way to a turbolift. Being closer to the shuttlebay than their original destination, Partav and Stuart opt to head in that direction and investigate the unknown vessel sensors had indicated was docked there. With their location being nearer the aft of the ship, Ahn'Kress and Tir opt to head for engineering where they can try to shut down the vessel's engines from there. Meanwhile, Ens. Selani will stick to the original plan and try to reach the bridge and turn off the engines from there.
Ens. Selani reports thick webbing in the hallways leading to the bridge is impeding his progress, but he manages to pick out a path and get to the doors as several of the spiders close in on his position. Selani manages to get through the doors and onto the bridge, shutting the doors behind him to keep the spiders from following. Just as the doors close he hears something and looks up as things go black.
In the shuttlebay Partav and Stuart find four Ferengi shuttle pods as well as the unidentified ship, which does not appear to come from any species known to the Federation. There are no life signs aboard, and a quick examination shows that the Ferengi have stripped it of anything they must have thought to be valuable, including any computer systems that might have held logs. Stuart changes his scans to search for biosignatures, especially any that are similar to the spiders, and detects something wedged behind some machinery near the back of the ship.
At the other end of the Ferengi vessel, Ahn'Kress and Tir were able to reach engineering and seal the doors to keep more spiders from getting in while Ahn'Kress gets to work. She is able to figure out enough of the Ferengi engineering systems to trigger an emergency shutdown of the engines. With the engines off the Melbourne is able to use its tractor beam to gently bring the other ship to a full stop. On Partav's command, Ahn'Kress and Tir are beamed back to the Melbourne. He also attempts to reach Selani, but there is no answer, and the Melbourne can no longer detect him.
Captain Mitchell orders Partav and Stuart beamed back as well, with Stuart getting the ship to hold off long enough for him to use his holographic arm to grab a sample of whatever he had detected in the shuttlebay and have them beam him to the quarantine section of Sick Bay. Stuart and Lt. J.G. Tradis isolate the sample and examine it, determining that it appears to be an egg sac of some kind, making the unidentified vessel the most likely source of the infestation that took down the Ferengi vessel. Until, and unless, one of the six Ferengi they rescued emerges from the coma they are all in, the events that unfolded aboard the ship will likely remain a mystery.
Commander Partav wants to take another team to go find what happened to Ens. Selani, but with the inherent danger as well as pressure from Ambassador Sh'Rassa about further delays to their primary mission Captain Mitchell decides against it. He orders message buoys placed around the Ferengi vessel to alert any other ships to the danger, before having the Melbourne resume its course towards Na-Zek space. Once the Melbourne is underway, Mitchell delivers a speech that he has been giving to the crew, having started with the lower decks and planning to work his way up to the senior officers, a speech that Lt. J.G. Tradis had used to help keep herself calm on the away mission earlier.
In the day following the away mission, Commander Partav is going about his usual activities, checking with crew members, assisting with tasks. Wherever he goes though, he is carrying a PADD, slowly working on a difficult task. Later in the day we see the assembled crew in dress uniforms in the main hangar bay. Commander Partav and the other bridge officers are poised by Captain Mitchell, who stands at a raised podium delivering a eulogy above a photon torpedo case draped with the flag of the Federation. Afterwards, on a secluded wall in a small foyer elsewhere on the ship, there is a plaque with an image of the U.S.S. Melbourne embossed in metal. Below the ship is written "In Remembrance" and below that are several recessed sections. A young female Ensign comes up to the plaque and puts a name plate into the first recessed section. She presses it and a holographic image of Ensign Anton Selani emanates from the plaque. The young woman turns to reveal Commander Partav and Captain Mitchell standing solemnly in front of the plaque. She nods to each of them and departs.
First Officer's Log, Stardate: 57295.8
However, there is a singular duty that must take precedence over the others today.
Dear Mr. And Mrs Selani
It is with profound sorrow that I have to contact you at this time to inform you of the death of your son, Anton Selani.
Normally this duty would fall to the senior commanding officer, Captain Jack Mitchell. However, as the officer who led the team your son was attached to I requested permission to reach out to you.
Everyone who joins Starfleet knows the inherent risk to what we do. While our mission is that of peaceful explorers, the universe has risks. We all like to think we will beat the odds. We will be the one to sit around a warm fire and regale our grandchildren with our tales of adventure and mystery. The unfortunate fact is that many of us in our search for a greater understanding of the universe will never make it to that milestone. Your son was one such casualty.
I know that the circumstances of his death will be little comfort, but if it can bring any kind of peace then I will offer what reassurances I can. The Melbourne was responding to a distress call. A Ferengi ship had come under the control of a previously unknown and hostile non-sentient species. Ensign Selani was part of the rescue effort and was killed in the line of duty.
His time aboard the Melbourne while brief will always be remembered. I and the rest of the crew are truly sorry for your loss.
Commander Partav Aedon
First Officer, U.S.S Melbourne NCC-77610