LOG 009 – LEVIATHAN

Captain's Log, Stardate 57799.4.

The USS Melbourne is conducting a survey of the Aquila Cataract Nebula. The nebula is a star forming region, but long-range scans seem to indicate that some stars and planetary systems exhibit signs of being older than they should be. Astrometrics hopes that a closer look will offer up some explanation for this anomaly.

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

PART ONE

The Science teams aboard the USS Melbourne conduct extensive scans of the affected star systems attempting to find an explanation. A lack of tachyons or chronitons in the target systems eliminates a temporal anomaly as a potential reason, and there is no noticeable difference between the affected systems and others in the Aquila Cataract Nebula that do not exhibit the phenomenon. It is only when the nebula is mapped out in three dimensions in Astrometrics that it becomes clear that the affected star systems form a line pointing in the direction of the galactic core.

Capt. Mitchell orders a long-range probe sent rimward along the same line to see if the pattern continues outside the nebula in that direction while the USS Melbourne will head coreward to see how far the line goes that way. At the Captain's request, Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress and Chief Engineer Tarka augment the probe's warp engine, allowing it to reach its target area faster so that it can provide data as quickly as possible. After the probe is launched the Melbourne proceeds in the opposite direction, with the ship going to Yellow Alert in case whatever is causing the anomaly turns out to be a threat.

In a matter of hours the probe begins returning data confirming that the trail of affected star systems continues on towards the rim of the galaxy, with analysis indicating that whatever phenomenon is causing the anomaly it is headed towards the core of the galaxy. Scanning ahead, the Melbourne's sensors detect a strange subspace signal coming from the star system they are approaching. A detailed examination of the signal reveals that it is a heavily scattered subspace communication. Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress is able to reassemble enough of the signal to determine that it is a distress signal, and that the pattern matches Na-Zek communications technology. Unusually though, the voice in the message is not speaking the Na-Zek language but Xersian, the language of an almost extinct species whose only known survivors were encountered by the Melbourne a few months earlier.

The USS Melbourne heads to the target star system at high warp and when they arrive the sensors discover that the scattering effect is being caused by an asteroid field made up of unusual material. The source of the distress signal is inside the asteroid field, so the Capt. Mitchell orders Lt. JG Reydon to take the ship in. Scans of the unusual asteroids show that they are a strange teardrop shape, smoother than typical asteroids and made up of an unusual combination of minerals that normally are not found together in natural asteroids. The scattering effect of these asteroids makes locating the source of the distress signal difficult with regular sensors, but in this cast the unusual makeup of the asteroids makes it easy to use magnetic field fluctuations to find the proverbial needle in a haystack.

When the Melbourne reaches the ship sending the distress signal the crew are surprised to recognize it. While modified by the addition of Na-Zek warp engines, sensors, and subspace communications equipment, at the core the vessel is the Xersian freighter Karakoral, the very same one rescued from the barren Karishi homeworld four months earlier. When the ship responds to hails, the familiar face of the Karakoral's captain, Barjorad Pentajonofflin. Barjorad is pleased to see the Melbourne and lets the crew know that the Karakoral is running on emergency power only, with its main power relays having been knocked out by a subspace shockwave. Capt. Mitchell orders a tractor beam locked onto the Karakoral so it can be towed out of the asteroid field and extends an invitation to Barjorad and his crew to beam over to the Melbourne while they figure out how to get his ship in working order again.

The crew of the Karakoral accept Capt. Mitchell's invitation and are transported aboard the Melbourne. Capt. Mitchell, Lt. Cmdr, Ahn'Kress, and Lt. Cmdr. Tir meet the new arrivals in the transporter room, arriving as six lifeforms are beamed over. In addition to Barjorad and the two other Xersians the Melbourne had encountered before, the crew of the Karakoral now consists of a fourth Xersian, a Na-Zek, and an unknown humanoid that is revealed to be a Karishi.

As the Starfleet officers escort their guests to the accommodations Cmdr. Partav has arranged, Barjorad tells the tale of the last few months. After Capt. Mitchell arranged for the Na-Zek to take in the Karakoral, Barjorad and his crew started working with Federation Ambassador Sh'Rassa for ways to search for other survivors, possibly on remote colonies that weren't part of the Karishi Circuit like the others worlds that were destroyed. With the ambassador's help, Barjorad got agreement from the Na-Zek to refit the Karakoral for warp travel so they could start the search. Using data recovered from computers salvaged from the ruins of the Karishi homeworld they identified potential targets and got lucky early, finding a newer Karishi colony that had survived; in fact the colonists were still unaware of what had happened to their homeworld and the other worlds of the Circuit.

Alongside the Karishi colonists there were also a small contingent of Xersians, meaning that Barjorad and his crew were thankfully not the last of their kind. Intending to continue the search, the crew of the Karakoral gained two new members from the colony, a Xersian pilot named Telanikeer Rosabaprolen, and a Karishi navigator named Aetheldryn Ulmareth, alongside the Na-Zek warp specialist Tanteo Karnor who had already volunteered to help with the new technology installed on the ship.

The Karakoral had taken off in search of their next target, a Karishi colony ship that should still be en route to its destination. They had warped to this system hoping to overtake their target when it stopped to take on water and other essentials the colony ship could get from moons, gas giants and comets. The Karakoral had only just arrived and was investigating the strange asteroid field when a subspace shockwave struck them, knocking out their main power and leaving them derelict until the Melbourne had arrived. Capt. Mitchell offers to help Barjorad and his crew by attempting to follow after the colony ship. After being informed of the decision, Cmdr. Partav has the Karakoral taken under tow via tractor beam and arranges for an engineering team from the Melbourne to assist with repairing the ship's power systems.

Before the Melbourne leaves the system, Lt. Stuart conducts a sensor sweep of the system. He detects the residue of an ion trail leading from the inner system to the outer portion where sensors show a subspace wake created by a large object entering warp, an event Loto theorizes might have been responsible for the subspace shockwave that knocked out the Karakoral. The direction of the wake indicates that whatever entered warp was headed towards a nearby star system that simulations would be the next in the line of systems affected by the anomaly that the Melbourne has been investigating. When he is informed of this, Capt. Mitchell wants to know if there is any sign of the Karishi colony ship the Karakoral had been looking for. Lt. Stuart's scans had not detected any other warp signature residue leaving the system, and another sensor sweep shows no sign of the colony ship anywhere in the system. Capt. Mitchell informs Barjorad and his crew of this, suggesting that the colony ship might have been caught in the anomaly they have been tracking.

The Melbourne jumps to warp, with the Karakoral still in tow, headed towards the next system in the line. Based on Lt. Stuart's estimates the Melbourne should arrive in the system close to or maybe even ahead of whatever generated the subspace wake. As the Melbourne reaches the outer edge of the target system there is another powerful subspace shockwave. Lt. JG. Reydon is able to angle the ship against the shockwave, which combined with the ship's shields spare the Melbourne any major damage, though they are knocked out of warp. Searching for the cause of the shockwave, the Melbourne's sensors detect a massive object in the system's Oort Cloud. When they get closer, the scans reveal that the object is not a space vessel but a living creature, a giant Cosmozoan "space whale" more than ten times the size of the Melbourne herself.

PART TWO

As the Melbourne prepares to move in closer to get a better look at the creature, Lt. JG Reydon recommends cutting the Karakoral loose from the tractor beam so that it does not impede maneuverability. Barjorad and his crew are beamed back over to their ship, with the Melbourne's engineering team remaining aboard to help finish repairs. With the Karakoral free, the Melbourne moves into the Oort cloud to get a better look at the cosmozoan. Observations show that the creature is eating comets in the system's Oort cloud, but scans of its interior prove difficult as something about its skin proves to be resistant to the Melbourne's sensors.

Cmdr. Partav suggests sending a probe to one of the comets about to be consumed to get readings from the creature's insides. The Captain agrees and Lt. JG Tradis, working from one of the bridge Science stations, readies a probe she names "Ahab 1". The probe is launched and moves to position so that when the creature consumes the comet it takes the probe with it. At the entrance to the mouth the probe passes through an energy field that appears to serve a similar function as the baleen in some whales, helping screen food sources. Inside the mouth, in place of throat muscles instead a series of electromagnetic fields and tractor-like graviton beams move the comet food and the probe down the gullet. The far end of the passage irises open as the probe approaches and it passes through into a large hollow chamber, the creature's stomach, which is filled with energetic plasma. Once the probe moves into this area it does not last long, only transmitting data for a few seconds before a plasma discharge takes it out.

The data from the probe is analyzed to learn as much as possible. Lt. Cmdr. Tir assesses the energy field in the mouth, noting it is similar to a force field or ship's deflector shields but can be made permeable in one direction, allowing the creature to consume a food source while preventing any from drifting back out of the mouth cavity. Similarly she notes the similarity of the mechanism for moving the food down the throat to a ship's tractor beams. The little information from inside the stomach leads Tir to draw parallels with the Badlands area of the Alpha Quadrant, a region known for its dangerous plasma storms. Lt. JG Tradis has been mapping out the internal structures, attempting to identify organs and their functions. She believes the plasma in the stomach is serving the function of stomach acid, breaking down the consumed food. While looking for the remains of previous meals, Tradis is shocked to see what looks like a space vessel.

The silhouette of the vessel matches the description of the missing Karishi colony vessel that the Karakoral had been searching for. This means it has only been in the stomach for a few days, and the overall condition shows it to still be intact enough that there might be survivors aboard. Cmdr. Partav notes that this has now become a rescue operation and wonders if they can safely take the Melbourne into the creature, while Tir asks if there is some way they might be able to get the creature to regurgitate the vessel. Tradis notes that they don't know enough about the creature's biology to know how to trigger such a response, and Partav adds that they don't know the actual condition of the ship and if it would survive this. Capt. Mitchell notes that the Melbourne is a Parliament class, one of the toughest ships in Starfleet, and he is confident they can survive a journey into the creature.

Capt. Mitchell orders the ship to Red Alert and for options to maximize their odds of success. Detailed external scans are done of the creature to gather more information while the preparations are underway, and this has the unfortunate side effect of drawing the creature's attention to the Melbourne. To avoid becoming a meal before they are ready to go in, Lt. JG Reydon is able to maneuver the ship to a blind spot, moving the Melbourne in close to the creature in a position between its "eyes", which are in fact clusters of sensory organs able to detect a wide range of electromagnetic radiation and possibly even function as subspace sensors. The ploy works and the creature returns to eating comets, with Reydon working to maintain position until it is time to head in.

Based on the probe's readings of the mouth energy field and the plasma energy in the stomach, Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress implements a set of improvements to the Melbourne's shields to help further protect the ship when it goes in. Knowing they will have to convince the survivors on the Karishi ship that Starfleet is there to help, Capt. Mitchell contacts Barjorad to see if he or one of his crew can be of assistance. Barjorad agrees it is a good idea and his Karishi crew member, Aetheldryn, beams over to the Melbourne, joining the command crew on the bridge. With all the preparations complete, Capt. Mitchell orders Reydon to take the ship out of its hiding spot and into position to enter the creature's mouth.

The Melbourne easily passes through the energy field in the mouth and soon is in the grips of the fields that move it down the throat and through the opening in the stomach. The shields appear to be holding against the plasma fields, and Reydon begins maneuvering towards the Karishi vessel, working hard to evade the high-energy discharges that are periodically going off around them. As they get closer, they see that the Karishi vessel is in the grips of plasma tendrils that are trying to take it apart. It is heavily damaged, but there is still power and its defensive screens seem to have helped it survive so far. The ship itself is slightly longer than the Melbourne, but overall smaller in volume. It consists of a forward egg-shaped compartment housing the navigational deflector and control areas which is connected to a central core which is surrounded by five warp rings of varying size, two small on either end each separated from a central large ring by a medium-sized one. Trailing behind this central core is a long engineering section containing multiple large capacity fusion reactors with the ship's impulse engines at the very rear.

Scans show several active Karishi life signs, just over a dozen in the forward section, a half-dozen in the rear, and nearly five dozen in the central core. Additionally, the sensors detect just over a thousand active suspended animation pods in the core, no doubt housing the colonists themselves, blissfully unaware of the danger they are in. With all the interference from the plasma it is impossible to establish communication with the ship at a distance. To compensate, the Melbourne moves in close and then extends its own shields around the Karishi ship. Even then the ship does not respond to hails, apparently due to its external communications equipment having been damaged or destroyed. With the necessity to assess the situation on board the Karishi ship before rescue operations can start, Cmdr. Partav assembles an away team to board the vessel.

PART THREE

Cmdr. Partav's away team, consisting of Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress, Lt. Cmdr. Tir, Lt. Stuart, Lt. JG Tradis, and Aetheldryn Ulmareth, the Karishi navigator from the Karakoral, beam over to the forward section of the disabled vessel, which Aetheldryn has identified as the command and control area for the Karishi colony ship. They materialize on the ship's heavily damaged bridge, surprising the four Karishi crew members present. Partav quickly identifies himself and their purpose, backed up by Aetheldryn. After overcoming his shock, the lead Karishi identifies himself as Jorion Loalen, the first officer and now acting captain, their original captain having been killed when the ship was hit by a powerful plasma strike after being swallowed by the cosmozoan. Partav introduces the rest of the away team and rapidly brings Jorion up to speed on the plan to evacuate everyone from the colony ship over to the Melbourne, including all the colonists currently in stasis. The away team members are soon paired up with some of the Karishi crew and assigned their tasks. Ahn'Kress and Tradis will proceed to the central core and work with the Karishi medical staff to ready the hibernation pods for transport, Lt. Cmdr. Tir works with the Karishi security officer Andoras to help reinforce the ship's shields in tandem with the Melbourne's, and Lt. Stuart will work with the communications specialist Leahada to try and download any important data from the colony ship computer, especially any sensor data collected since the ship was swallowed. Meanwhile, Partav and Aetheldryn will work with Jorion to ready the remaining crew for evacuation.

Along with preparing the Karishi for the evacuation, Partav and Aetheldryn also provide Jorion with more details on the Melbourne and their mission as well as the circumstances that brought them here. This includes telling Jorion about the destruction of the Karishi homeworld by an as yet unknown enemy, a fact Jorion opts to withhold from the rest of his people until after the evacuation to avoid unnecessary distractions. Mera and Andoras succeed in boosting the electromagnetic shielding produced by the ship's warp rings, synchronizing it with the Melbourne's extended deflector shields to reinforce the protection against the plasma fields in the cosmozoan's stomach. While they are working Lt. Stuart attempts to download data from the ship's computer core, but it is revealed to be heavily fragmented and corrupted due to an electromagnetic pulse generated when the colony ship was hit by a plasma strike. He and Leahada do their best, but very little data is recoverable.

A Karishi crew member named Ithandyril leads Ahn'Kress and Tradis to the central core of the vessel. They see that it is a large open cylinder running along the axis of the ship, with the entire inner surface being used to house the hibernation pods of the colonists. Many of the surviving crew have also retreated to here, as it is the best protected section. Tents, lean-tos and other temporary shelters have been set up in the gaps between rows of hibernation pods. The whole inner surface is equipped with gravity plating, creating the disorienting view of seeing people appear to be walking the full diameter of the core, including directly above the arriving Starfleet officers. Ithandyril introduces Ahn'Kress and Tradis to the ship's medical officer, Dr. Mayacavar, and his chief nurse, Enael Urontha. Tradis notices that several of the crew are suffering from radiation poisoning and starts administering hyronalin to the worst off. As Ahn'Kress speaks with Dr. Mayacavar her keen senses detect the presence of Xersians among the dozens of crew taking refuge here. The Doctor confirms that there are eleven Xersians among the surviving crew, and nearly one hundred of the hibernating colonists are also Xersian.

After examining several of the hibernation pods, Ahn'Kress is able to provide the Melbourne's engineering teams with the information they need to have compatible power sources ready for when the pods are transported over. She also notes that due to the strong shielding in the central core they will need to attach transporter tags to each pod to ensure the Melbourne can get a positive lock on them to beam them over. Cmdr. Partav contacts the Melbourne to have them transport over the tags and sends Lt. Stuart to the central core to help tag the pods. While this is happening he and Jorion ready the crew in the forward section for immediate evacuation to the Melbourne. Partav also sends Lt. Cmdr. Tir to the central core with orders to start bringing all non-essential Karishi crew to the forward section where they can also be beamed over to the Melbourne. Just as they prepare to beam the first group over, a massive plasma discharge strikes the Melbourne and the Karishi ship. The extended and reinforced shields hold, though there is a power drain on the Melbourne that requires the secondary reactors to be brought online to compensate.

With the power situation stabilized for the moment, the Melbourne starts beaming over the non-essential Karishi crew. Lt. Cmdr. Zhou, the Ship's Counselor, heads up coordinating the evacuees, routing the injured through Sick Bay where Dr. Singer's teams can triage and treat them before sending them on to temporary quarters. Just as the last of the non-essential crew have been evacuated, Chief Engineer Tarka signals that her teams are ready to receive the hibernation pods. The first hundred are beamed into the engineering labs in the port and starboard nacelle struts, where the teams confirm that the power hookups are working properly. Before the rest of the pods can be beamed over, however, an even more powerful plasma discharge strikes the two ships.

This strike overloads several of the Melbourne's primary power systems while also completely knocking out main power on the Karishi ship. Capt. Mitchell orders emergency power reserves brought online and tells Ens. Chandler at the Operations station to divert power from every nonessential system on the Melbourne to reinforce the primary systems. Aboard the Karishi ships the artificial gravity shuts down, as does the primary electromagnetic shielding. On the Karishi bridge, Partav jury rigs an emergency bypass to redirect whatever power he can into reinforcing the colony ship's shields. In the central core, Ahn'Kress bolts for the ship's engineering section, using her feline dexterity and prehensile table to propel herself in the zero gravity. Mera and Loto work to keep the remaining crew in the core from panicking, keeping them calm so that when the power is hopefully restored they can complete the evacuation quickly.

Arriving in the Karishi ship's engineering section, Ahn'Kress immediately works with their engineer, Tarshi, and the handful of crew he still has with him. They are able to do an emergency start on several of the massive fusion reactors, restoring enough power for gravity to be restored. With that done, the remaining hibernation pods are successfully beamed over to the Melbourne. Mera directs all remaining people in the central core to the forward section, at which point they are all evacuated as well, followed by Ahn'Kress and the other in the engineering section, leaving only Partav and Jorion as the last to be beamed over. Just as they materialize on the transporter pad on the Melbourne another plasma discharge hits, finally overwhelming the Karishi ship's shielding and causing the already unstable fusion reactors to lose containment, resulting in an explosion that destroys the vessel.

Having returned to his Science station on the bridge, Lt. Stuart runs scans and sees that the explosion of the Karishi vessel caused a reaction in the cosmozoan's stomach. Based on this, he believes a carefully coordinated detonation of photon torpedoes might be enough to cause the creature to regurgitate, effectively vomiting the Melbourne up. While Lt. JG Reydon maneuvers the ship to the entrance to the creature's esophagus, Cmdr. Partav and Lt. Cmdr. Tir ready a photon spread to Lt. Stuart's specifications. The torpedoes are launched and as hoped the detonation triggers a reaction and a wave of plasma pushes the Melbourne up the esophagus and back out the mouth, with Lt. JG Reydon pushing the maneuvering thrusters to the red line to keep the ship stable during their exit.

Now clear of the creature with the crew and colonists from the colony vessel safely aboard, the Melbourne resumes observing the cosmozoan. Having apparently had its fill of comets, or perhaps due to the upset stomach, the creature leaves the Oort Cloud and makes a beeline for the inner system. Scanning the system to keep track of the creature, Lt. Stuart is shocked to detect another eleven cosmozoans of the same type already inside the star system; it is not a singular creature but an entire pod. Some are close in orbiting the star, some are in the asteroid fields, and some are at the gas giants. The sensors also detect a subspace "whalesong" the creatures are using to communicate across the distances between the planets.

The crew spend some time studying the behavior of the pod and the Science teams are able to discern an explanation for the apparent "artificial aging" of the previous star systems. It is not in fact the result of any kind of temporal phenomenon, but simply the fact that by their eating habits the pod of cosmozoans causes young star systems to stabilize faster than would occur naturally. The systems have fewer comets and planetesimals than expected because the creatures eat a fair amount of them, the star is more stable because they devour higher energy plasma from the star's upper atmosphere, and the gas giants have lower mass, leading to more stable orbits, because the creatures eat up orbiting asteroids and moonlets as well as parts of the planetary atmosphere. Combined, all of these activities give the star system the appearance of being "older", when in reality they are simply more stable than others of a similar age.

After a few days the cosmozoan pod seems to finish up with this system and they warp away, using the high energy plasma consumed from the star to power up natural subspace field generators in the small fins protruding from their midsections. With the pod on its way to the next star system, the Melbourne set course for the Karishi colony previously contacted by the Karakoral to drop off the survivors from the destroyed colony vessel.