Season 1 - Episode 2: Where we are

Previously on Star Trek: Arcadia

Dr. Valthar:
- According to our old tales, every 10,000 years, our gods F'Shel and M'Cara become closer in a major spiritual event, the Kul' Qaga. F'Shel is our material world god and M'Cara, our spiritual world goddess. It is believed that during Kul' Qaga, some of our people will be blessed by M’Cara and they will ascend to her realm.

Mr. Visellius:
- We can’t detect anything out of the ordinary with the planet except for some unusual levels of neurogenic radiation.
- I was able to pinpoint the epicenter of the neurogenic radiation to the main clergy building at the center of their capital.
- It seems that this radiation is growing at an exponential rate. It's not only at the planet's surface, but also reaching anything at the planet's orbit.

Dr. Fujikawa:
- This might explain the several cases of headaches across the ship.

The U.S.S. Arcadia is being dragged by a tractor beam towards the planet.

A young Zaranite Ensign screams in pain, falls on his knees and puts his hands on his head. He can barely withstand the agony.

M’Cara’s monument glows more intensely emitting a high-pitched noise and everyone is caught by a bright purple light.

AND NOW, THE CONCLUSION:

ACT 1

SCENE 1

The brightness fades out. All the young Noqals and Starfleet officers suffering from the acute migraine magically appear unconscious on the floor of a very large and different room. Even though it has similar proportions to the High Hall of M’Cara, this one was much darker, badly illuminated by few sun rays that could enter through the narrow windows. The walls and floor are made of stone. The only similarity here is a copy of the same M’Cara statue. A couple dozen guards enter the room. They start to remove the Noqals, but they seem very disturbed by the other strange looking people.

- Sir, do we also take these others to the barracks? – a guard asks about Arcadia’s personnel.

- Take them as prisoners for now. The High Apostle will know what to do with them.

SCENE 2

A disoriented Lieutenant Daniel Lenda opens his eyes.

He doesn’t know if he’s dreaming, but as his vision starts to come back he can see Natasha face-to-face with him. He looks at her in daze. She doesn’t seem to be awake. He just can’t stop admiring her angelical physiognomy. Her hair is as yellow as the most beautiful Golden Trumpet flower. Her skin seems as soft and delicate as the softest Tholian silk. Her distinct perfume smells like a cat's strong halitosis …

- Wait … what? – he says to himself.

- What what, lieutenant? – says a young strong Kzinti engineer with a very distinct bad breath.

Daniel looks to his right and sees the cat-like colleague with his hands tied to the same cross shaped cage as he is.

- Welcome to the land of the dead, sir. – jokes a Zaranite Ensign. – I am Ensign Zorik, by the way. I don’t think we were ever introduced on the ship.

Now completely out of his love trance, Daniel moves his head to his left and finds the other young officer in the same uncomfortable position as everyone else.

- I am Ensign .. K’eetie. – the engineer says his name emphasizing the last syllable of his name.

The cage can barely support 4 people. The only technological devices they still have with them are their combadges and Ensign Zorik’s breathing device. Their hands are tied to the cage’s walls by a rope.

The room is much smaller compared to the Great Hall of M’Cara. Both ceiling and walls are built of some sort of dark and limey stone. The floor seems to be made of some rude cement. He feels like he is in a medieval dungeon of some sort.

The lieutenant can see there are about 10 other cages, all being held about 2 meters from the floor. At a quick glance, he can see that only a handful of prisoners are Noqals. From where he is he can count about 26 Arcadia crew members locked in the room with them. There is no sign of the captain or any of the senior officers.

He tries to gently wake up Natasha in a soft voice (Probability Matrix 50/50, rolled 2). She starts to slowly move her head when K’eetie shouts:

- WAKE UP PRINCESS!

Natasha quickly opens her eyes scared.

- What? – the blunt Ensign tells everyone.

SCENE 3

The Arcadia’s lights start to flicker as it almost seems to be regaining consciousness from a deep sleep. Lights from its empty corridors and rooms start to turn on again. Consoles shipwide are back to life.  All softwares continue to run from the point where they stopped during the Kul’Qaga including the Emergency Medical Holographic program.

The EMH Mark II looks around puzzled since moments ago the room was filled with patients suffering from severe migraine. He taps his combadge:

- EMH to Doctor Fujikawa.

There is no response. He continues:

- Computer, locate Dr. Fujikawa

- Dr. Fujikawa Leiko is not onboard this ship. – the computer answers.

- Great – he complains. – EMH to bridge.

Again there is no response. He understands that there is something very off.

- Computer, how many life signs are onboard Arcadia?

- There are zero life signs aboard the U.S.S. Arcadia.

The holographic doctor looks even more puzzled.

Our view starts to zoom out through the ship’s walls until we can see the U.S.S. Arcadia landed on a desert-like location. The air is dry, there are no clouds in the sky. She is at the top of a hill, shining in its grandeur as the brightness from the two suns is gently reflected by the fuselage.

Our view continues to zoom out and we can see the ship surrounded by hundreds of Noqals. They are wearing much more rudimentary clothing from the ones we saw before. As the ship’s lights start to turn on, the multitude of people immediately kneel, they raise their arms towards the ship and start to chant some kind of mantra.

SCENE 4

The large and heavy metal door from the dungeon opens and a couple guards enter the room. They seem to be armed with some kind of crossbows. They are clearly Noqals, but dressed very differently from the ones they saw before. It is like they just came out of an alien renaissance fair. Right after them, a female Noqal enters the place. She wears a long luxurious purple tunic containing some unrecognizable symbols. Her head is fully covered by some sort of religious mask. The face depicted in the mask is incredibly similar to the one from M’Cara’s statue.

- Who are you? – she asks with a muffled voice in a clear air of superiority.

The crew stays quiet and scared. They all slowly start to point their eyes to Lieutenant Lenda.

The arrogant woman continues:

- Who is your leader?

He gets goosebumps and his spine chills when he realizes he is indeed the highest ranking officer wearing a command Starfleet uniform in that room. He takes a deep breath, looks at the woman and says:

- I am Lieutenant Lenda from the Federation starship Arcadia. We came here on a peaceful mission to study the Kul’Qaga. I can assure you we are not your enemies. There must be a misunderstanding. If you could please release us and verify what I am saying with Dr. Valthar, your High Apostle. We only want to rejoin the rest of our crew.

She starts to walk among the cages and she curiously looks at Ensign Zorik’s head. Then she touches Mr. K’eetie’s fur with her satin gloves. He hisses back at her.

- I am the High Apostle of Carensia. Your words and those names mean nothing to me.

- Carensia? I didn't know there was a region with such a name in Otera V. – Daniel says confused.

The conversation is halted by the loud chanting coming from outside the walls. One guard enters the room and whispers something in her ear. The apostle turns her back to the prisoners, points to one of the cages and orders the guards:

- Take that one to the interrogation room, now.

She leaves the room in a rush. The guards lower the heavy cage and forcefully take the single prisoner out. Under her niqab, the young female officer begs to Mr. Lenda: “Please help me, lieutenant.”

- Wait! What are you going to do with her? – Daniel shouts without any response back as she is taken out of the room.

- You are lucky that she didn't kill you for directing your voice at her. – said one of the male Naqal prisoners in an adjacent cage. – High Apostle Neri is known for her short temper. My name is Zareet, the city's blacksmith by the way.

- I didn't know there was more than one High Apostle. Do you know how far we are from the capital's center? We need to find our captain and the rest of our crew.

- We are in the capital's dungeons. There is no way out.

(Insight+Command, target:13, results: 10,20, +threat) Daniel starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together: no Dr. Valthar, no knowledge of the Federation, the cages, clothing, a dungeon, even a blacksmith… Daniel realizes they are not in Kansas anymore. But where or better saying… WHEN are they?

Anyway, they need to escape and get back to Arcadia. He turns back to his other 3 crewmates and asks:

- Can you untie any of your hands? (Probability Matrix/Highly improbable/result:6)

- No, these ropes are really tight – says Natasha.

- (Insight+Security, target 10, results: 2,11) Maybe if we can somehow tap a badge, we could open a channel to Arcadia. Mr. Zorik, you’re the one closest to mine. Are you able to reach it with one of the tubes from your breathing device? (Probability Matrix/50-50/result:10)

He tries his best, one of his tubes gets so close to the badge, but not close enough to activate it.

- Sorry sir, you are still too far.

- Maybe we can spit. – says Mr. K’eetie.

- What? – the others ask all together.

- Yes, if we all try to spit with enough pressure on the badge, it might work. Have you never participated in a spitting contest at the Academy? – he looks at them like it would be some kind of mandatory subject at Starfleet. – Come on, I’m an engineer. I know what I am talking about.

- OK, I don’t see any other way. – says Mr. Lenda. – let’s do it. One person at a time.

The Kzinti and Natasha take turns spitting at Daniel. Due to Mr’s Zorik breathing device, he can’t be part of the strange contest. All the other prisoners start to look at their cage with disgusted faces. Zareet baffled murmurs to himself: "These people are really weird."

(Probability Matrix/Highly Improbable/K'eetie 9, Natasha 20, K'eetie 13, Natasha 5, K'eetie 17, Natasha 5, K'eetie 18, Natasha 10, K'eetie 11, Natasha 5, K'eetie 9, Natasha 9, K'eetie 4, Natasha 20, K'eetie 17, Natasha 7, K'eetie 2)

After 16 unsuccessful attempts, Daniel is half covered in mixed saliva. Some crew mates are so disgusted looking at it that they want to vomit. Mr. K’eetie gives a deep look into the lieutenant's eyes and say:

- We will need a photon torpedo.

Nobody understood what he meant by that. He closed his eyes and deeply concentrated almost as if in a Vulcan meditative state with the difference that he started clearing throat for about 5 seconds in a loud noise. He expectorates a giant goo that is violently launched from his mouth. Almost as if in slow motion, the large green gooey ball crosses the cage and hits the combadge!

Everyone in that dungeon almost at the same time say: “Errrr!”

And as in a miracle, they all hear the badge beeping. All officers loudly celebrates Mr. K’eetie’s unusual accomplishment.

- Lieutenant Lenda to anyone in Arcadia! Please, respond! We need urgent assistance!

SCENE 5

The EMH was about to deactivate himself since there was nobody left in the ship when his comms badge beeped. As he listened to Mr. Lenda’s voice he replied:

- Emergency Medical Hologram here. Please state the nature of your emergency.

- Doc! Doc! Thank God someone is still there! I need to urgently talk to the captain or commander Erad. Can you please patch me through?

- Lieutenant, I am a doctor, not a 20th century phone operator. Anyway, I can’t because there's nobody on the ship. I do not know where they are.

- Doc, then can you lock on our coordinates and beam us back to the Arcadia?

- Again lieutenant, I am a doctor. I can perform brain surgery upside down with one hand tied on my back, but I am not programmed to operate a transporter.

- He’s right – says the Kzinti – but there’s someone else in that ship who can. Doctor, here is Ensign K’eetie. Arcadia has holographic emitters all around the ship. Please transfer yourself to Engineering and activate the Emergency Engineering Hologram when you get there. She will know what to do.

- Very well Ensign. On my way.

The doctor disappears from sickbay and instantly reappears at Engineering. He says:

- Computer, activate Emergency Engineering Hologram.

The figure of a beautiful human woman in her 30s appears. The green-eyed brunette holo-engineer says:

- Please state the nature of the technical emergency.

ACT 2

SCENE 1

She is in a much smaller room now. It looks and smells like the dungeons but somehow it feels creepier. Ensign Nooram Wanther is facing the most terrifying day of her life. Alone, separated from the others.

The Apostle enters the room with a strange quiet man. She starts to talk calmly:

- You know, I spent my whole life as a High Apostle. – she does a brief pause and continues – While the other kids were playing I was studying the scriptures. While they were experiencing their first love, I was studying the stars. I always knew they had such small minds, but deep down I just wanted to be like them. I wanted to be free from the invisible chains of this stupid religion. – the enigmatic woman calmly says while walking around the young ensign.

- What do you want from me? – the officer said, trembling.

- I want you to tell me everything you know. Who are you people? Where did you come from? Why is there a giant metallic structure outside this castle sparkling in lights?

- I will never cooperate with you until you release us. – the Starfleet officer says, trying to intimidate her.

- Oh, poor child, you will. You will see that our means of extracting information is very effective.

The pale Noqal male with rotten teeth and a grimm smile approaches with some sort of sharp object in his hands.

SCENE 2

- What are you doing here? – the Emergency Engineer looks intrigued to the Emergency Doctor. – What is going on?

- We don’t have much time to answer your questions. – a voice comes out of the EMH combadge. – This is Lieutenant Lenda. Engineer, please lock on all combadges on this planet and emergency transport everyone back to Cargo Bay 1 now. Doc, please meet us there.

The brunette immediately moves to a console and starts to hit multiple buttons. She replies:

- (Sensors+Engineering, target: 12, results: 15,4) All 26 signals locked. Initiating emergency transport.

In his cage, Daniel looks at his other prison mates and asks:

- 26 …? Before he was able to say anything else, he de-materializes and reappears back on the Arcadia.

All the young Federation personnel were safe and sound back on the ship. Mr. Lenda immediately asks for the doctor’s help:

- Doc, treat any wounded. We will need everybody back on their posts ASAP. – he then directs his eyes to the EEH – you said there were only 26 badge signals on the planet. Where is the rest of the crew?

- (Sensors+Science, target: 14, results: 16,17) Sir, Arcadia has the most sophisticated sensors in Starfleet. I really don’t know where they are. I can only say that they are not on this planet.

- Maybe they were taken to a starbase or a ship. We will need to try to scan again from orbit. Mr. K’eetie, please work with her and prepare the ship to take off. Mr. Zorik, Miss Vodyanov, let’s go to the bridge.

Daniel couldn't be more scared inside, but he can’t demonstrate it during a crisis. He swallows down his fear and walks with Natasha.

SCENE 3

The officers enter the bridge. The lieutenant assigns Mr Zorik to the science station. A young Vulcan officer goes to the Security console. Natasha naturally goes to the helm. Daniel looks at the "big chair" wishing Captain Ch'tholler would be there. He moves to the Operations console.

They start pushing buttons and Daniel can see the status of all systems. They all seem to be properly working. He says:

- Let’s get out of here before we do even more damage to the Prime Directive.

- Yes sir. Taking off – says the helmswoman.

The ship starts to shake. All hundreds of Noqals that were around the vessel start to run for their lives. It is like they had awakened the wrath of their god.

In a matter of seconds, the Arcadia leaves the ground and rapidly moves towards the sky.

SCENE 4

- Lieutenant Lenda’s personal log, stardate unknown: I am the top ranking officer at the moment aboard the Arcadia. 26 of the 78 crew members are safely back to the ship. Our goal now is to find and rescue the others. Somehow the bright light generated by M’Cara’s  statue during the Kul’Qaga transported us to a medieval version of Otera V. Our secondary mission is to understand how we can revert the statue’s effects so we can all go back home.

Mr. Zorik, Ensign K’eetie, the EEH, the EMH, Ensign Vodyanov and the lieutenant were all in the meeting room trying to figure out what was going on.

- Mr. Zorik, were you able to identify where or when we are?

- (Sensors+Science, spending Threat, 12,12) Not yet. Everything we have seen so far points us to have traveled back in time. So I started to analyze the positions of the constellations compared to our last record from Otera V. Here’s what puzzles me, Lieutenant: the constellations don’t match at all. And there’s more: this planet is part of a binary system. Otera V orbits a single sun. So, I have plotted the necessary calculations at the ship’s computer to pinpoint where and when we are exactly. It will probably take a few hours until we get the results.

- How about the rest of the crew? Were you able to locate them? – asked Daniel.

- (Sensors+Science, target:14, results: 6, 18): My assumption is that only those affected by the effects of the neurogenic radiation were transported to this place. All missing crew members, including the captain, probably remained in the previous Otera V.

- That explains the crew, but why was the Arcadia transported as well? – asks the holo-doctor.

- (Computers+Engineering, target: 12, results: 4,17) The recently installed bio-neural gel packs. – says Mr. K’eetie. – the ship’s gel packs are mainly composed of neural fibers that act exactly like neurons. The source of the radiation might have mistaken it as part of a brain. In this case the ship’s brain. – At this moment the young Ensign realized he should have paid more attention to the pack analysis he did a day ago.

- Our main priority now is to find a way back. Maybe we could replicate what happened during the Kul’Qaga and transport us back to the original Otera V.

- (Sensors+Engineering, target:12, results: 2, 18) In theory, if we overload the statue with a high beam of neurogenic radiation, we might be able to induce another Kul’Qaga. – said the Emergency Engineering Hologram. –  I will need a couple hours to adapt the main deflector dish, but it should be doable.

- Good, this should be your top priority. – commanded Mr. Lenda.

-  In the meantime, Mr. K’eetie, please start transporting all abducted Noqals to the ship. I’m pretty sure this is not the ascension they were expecting.

- Aye, sir.

- Good, we will regroup in 2 hours.

SCENE 5

The alien sensor screen seems to be made of some sort of gelatinous material surrounded by wood as it was carved into a tree. The map shows a quadrant of the spiral galaxy.

Suddenly a red dot starts to blink on the map only a few light years from another green dot.

Someone speaks in an unknown language. It resembles the sound of dry leaves crackling when stepped on. A kind of twig touches the red marker. The screen zooms into that sector. It shows a planet that is part of a binary system.

ACT 3

SCENE 1

- Computer, mate tea with sugar, hot – Daniel orders to the replicator.

A cup of the famous South American tea materializes and he takes it. He is lost in every sense of the word. He is dealing with a great deal of pressure right now and he doesn’t know if he is ready for this. A few weeks ago he was just another Ensign. Now he needs to be the acting captain of a Federation starship with dozens of lives depending on him. He can’t stop asking “What would Captain Ch'tholler do ?”. He finishes his tea and takes a deep breath before getting back to the bridge.

SCENE 2

- Ensign K’eetie to Lenda. Sir, all Noqals are accounted for and temporarily assigned to Cargo Bay 1. The doctor is already checking them.

- Thank you. – the young lieutenant replies while at the Operations console. – Lenda to the Emergency Engineer. How are the deflector updates going?

- It’s almost finished, sir. Maybe another 20 minutes.

Before anyone could say anything else, Mr. Zorik’s console emits a loud beep.

- Sir, a ship is approaching our coordinates at high warp. It doesn’t seem to be of any known origin. It’s estimated it will reach us in 2 minutes and it’s already in visual range. – The young officer shows the vessel at the bridge’s main view screen. Everyone can see a spherical object at warp.

- What is that? – asks Lenda.

- I don’t know yet. But it’s the size of a small moon. – Mr. Zorik responds.

- These readings can’t be right, sir. – he adds puzzled. – It seems to be made of organic material. Wood more precisely. Scans can’t pinpoint a bridge, engineering, weapons, life signs, anything at all.

Daniel tries to open a channel to the vessel:

- This is the Federation starship Arcadia. Please identify yourself.

(Communications+Conn, target: 12, results: 12,12, +Momentum) They hear a strange noise like crackling leaves. The wooden ship gets larger on the screen by the second. Mr. Lenda tries again.

The alien vessel comes out of warp at the planet’s orbit, totally ignoring the communication efforts. The team can’t believe their eyes or the size of that space giant.

SCENE 3

Hundreds of intertwined branches start to rapidly grow from the alien vessel’s hull. They seem to move towards the planet at random locations as a grimm hand grasping towards an object.

- This doesn’t look good. – Red Alert! – commands Mr. Lenda and then he directs his voice to a young Vulcan at the Security station - Ensign lock phasers on those branches and fire.

- (Weapons+Security, target: 10, results: 6, 8) Direct hit sir, but there are too many branches. Some are already touching the ground.

- (Insight+Science, target: 12, results: 19,2) If it’s made out of wood, we may be able to burn it once it’s inside the atmosphere. This might give us some time. Ensign, target the branches at 10,000 kilometers from the surface and keep firing!

- (Weapons+Security, target: 10, results: 5, 20, Threat canceled by Momentum): Sir, it’s working! Phasers are having a better effect now, but we can’t hold this much longer.

- (Insight+Security, target: 10, results: 7,15) Mr. Zorik, does this tree have any kind of shield that would prevent us from transporting an armed photon torpedo to its center?

- There is no shield of any kind.

- This might be our only option then. – the lieutenant says – Ensign, arm a photon torpedo.

- Torpedo armed and ready sir!

- (Sensors+Engineering, target: 12, results: 2,4 +Momentum) Transporting torpedo to the center of the alien vessel now. – Lenda says hopeful.

The enemy ship suddenly explodes from the inside throwing pieces of wood into every direction.

The branches that had reached the planet continued to burn from the phaser attack.

- Sir – Mr. Zorik breaks the winning sentiment with some bad news – sensors show that the attack destroyed the castle and the statue in it.

SCENE 4

All abducted Noqals and Starfleet officers were gathered in Cargo Bay 1. Lieutenant Lenda was very nervous for this speech. He took a deep breath and started:

- Thanks everyone for coming. The last few days were really hard and intense for everyone here. We were abducted to a place we’re still trying to figure out where. What we know is that we are far from Starfleet, our captain and all other senior officers. We might not know where home is or even how to get there yet. But we will. Together. And on our way home I’m sure we will have numerous opportunities to encounter incredibly new challenges and civilizations.
We will return from where no one has gone before. Dismissed.

(Presence+Command, target: 13, results: 7, 14) The crew and the Noqals look at him with high hopes and confidence that he will lead them home safely.

SCENE 5

A few minutes after the acting captain’s speech, a light blinks at Ensign Vorik’s console showing the results of the most anticipated calculations about their location. He looks terrified:

- Sir, the computer finished calculating our location. We are in the Andromeda galaxy, sir. We’re 2.6 million light years from Starfleet headquarters. At our maximum warp, it would take us more than 2,500 years to get home.

END OF EPISODE 2

Plays "Where We Are" by The Lumineers

Season 1 - Episode 1: Only the Good Die Young

ACT 1

SCENE 1

The antennae gently swing as they were dancing to the Andorian Opera playing at Captain Ch'tholler's quarters. She is admiring the view of the stars quicklypassing by her window at Warp 7.

As unusual as this is for her to feel, she has a bad sensation deep down that something bad is about to happen. Everything is too calm to be good. Maybe she is just a bit nervous about being on her first starship command. Maybe deep down she's scared of marching towards an Apocalypse. She asks the computer to silence the ambient music and she starts her first log entry:

"Captain's Log, Stardate 58034.1. In our maiden voyage, the U.S.S. Arcadia is en route for a humanitarian mission at Otera V, a planet where the Federation recently started a relationship. Their people believe that a catastrophic event called Kul' Qaga is on the verge of happening. Our orders are to study this phenomena and assist them in any way possible."

She takes a deep breath, adjusts her uniform and leaves to the bridge's meeting room.

Walking on her way, she can't avoid admiring this new Nova Class vessel. Officers salute her with a smile as they encounter her. Everyone is so excited and happy for this chance to explore strange new worlds. Also, the fact that this is a science vessel and not a combat one reinforces the serenity to its 78 crew members. Starfleet will certainly send much better armed ships into battle. Not a moving lab. This tranquility allows people to be really focused on studying all the unknown out there through its state-of-the-art research facilities and sensors.

Getting to the bridge is quick since the ship is relatively small compared to the Federation flagships.

As she enters the command center, her first officer, Commander Rikk Erad announces her:

- Captain on the bridge! -- says the Bolian commander.

All present crew immediately stop what they are doing and respectfully salute the captain.

She gives a wide glance at all those new colleagues.

Lieutenant-Commander Ato Vi-Uxgam is at his station at her right side as she leaves the turbo-lift. The Efrosian Chief Security Officer so far has demonstrated a brilliant career from space combat tactics to hand-to-hand. Nobody is able to confirm it, but legend says that he once fought a Borg only using a fork.

She looks to the front center and she sees the astonishingly beautiful Ensign Vodyanov at the helm. Her beauty is only matched by her piloting skills. She is a very reserved person and has clearly been avoiding any personal relationship with the crew. Some lower deck officers speculate that something might have happened to her when growing up in the distant colony of Galen VI. Some others just think she plays the difficult type.

At the other side of the room, at Operations, there is the recently promoted Lieutenant (junior grade) Daniel Lenda. This is Lenda's first mission in a starship and he is visibly very excited for that. He couldn’t be happier. Working with Lieutenant Barclay at Project Watson was really fun and challenging, but he always dreamt of exploring the distant cosmos like the U.S.S. Voyager did.

Behind Mr. Erad's left shoulder is the Ardanan Dr. Kaeso Visellius. The Lieutenant-Commander couldn't be a more interesting choice as a Chief Science Officer. The scientist is known for merging the two distinct worlds of art and science, often bringing up out of the box ideas that pure logical science couldn't deliver alone.

On the captain's left side there is Lieutenant Lwianna Zukel, a betazoid who was used as forced labor during the construction of Sentok Nor. Her experience of working under pressure and minimal conditions led her to be one of the most promising engineers in Starfleet. With Ms. Zukel as Chief Engineer, the crew will never be required to interact with the ship's Emergency Engineering Hologram.

The captain tells everyone to be at ease and nods to Mr. Erad.

Lt. Lenda breaks the silence:

- Captain, we're receiving an incoming transmission from Otera V.

- On screen – she says as she sits at the big chair.

Dr. Zyrin Valthar's face shows up on the bridge's main view screen. The Naqals physiology is not much different than human’s. The only visual difference is that their jaws are slightly more forward than human’s.

He has already spent more than half of his life serving as his people's High Apostle. All those holding this title before him only had to deal with religious debates at most. There has not been any major crisis or war on his planet for centuries. Until now.

The captain starts the conversation:

- This is Captain Syv Ch'tholler from the Federation starship Arcadia.

- Blessings from F'Shel and M'Cara upon you and your people, dear captain. I am Dr. Zyrin Valthar, High Apostle of Otera V. It's an honor to meet you. - the clerical figure responds.

- The honor is all ours, Dr. Valthar. Starfleet sent us to assist in your imminent crisis. Can you please brief us on the details?

- For certain. According to our old tales, every 10,000 years, our gods F'Shel and M'Cara become closer in a major spiritual event, the Kul' Qaga. F'Shel is our material world god and M'Cara, our spiritual world goddess. It is believed that during Kul' Qaga, some of our people will be blessed by M’Cara and they will ascend to her realm. Every year we have a great festival around the planet to celebrate this date. There is food, drinks, plays and all types of arts honoring that. But this year it is a bit different. not only we have the festival, but Kul’ Qaga will actually happen.

Unfortunately the last time this really occurred pre-dates our recorded history, so we do not know exactly what to expect. Most of our people are ready and looking forward to the ascension. Some are scared.

When the Kul' Qaga occurs in 3 of our days, you are welcome to participate in the festivities and study this blessed event.

- Understood, doctor. We look forward to being there. Ch'tholler out -- says the captain skeptical. She feels like Dr. Valthar might be hiding something. He seems too calm for someone just waiting for a religious holocaust to happen.

SCENE 2

The senior staff all sat down on the chairs in the meeting room. The room is not that large, but it can comfortably accommodate the senior officers.

- Mr. Visellius, were you able to scan the planet for anything out of the ordinary that might indicate any danger to the Naqal population?

The Ardanan leaves his seat and moves to the room's main screen:

- We can’t detect anything out of the ordinary with the planet except for some unusual levels of neurogenic radiation.

- Neurogenic radiation? -- asks Dr. Fujikawa Leiko, intrigued. The seasoned Chief Medical Officer spent most of her years working on Earth and before retiring she decided to have one last Starfleet adventure in deep space.

- Captain, – she proceeds with her calm voice – we have only seen neurogenic radiation as a result of deep neural scans within patients. This type of radiation isn't harmful at all, but nevertheless I have never seen it on a planetary scale.

- Thank you Dr. Fujikawa. Mr. Visellius, please start analyzing the source of this radiation. Is it a natural phenomena? Or is it being generated by some sort of device? Even though this radiation might be harmless, I don't want to rule anything out that could hurt these people. Everyone, dismissed.

SCENE 3

Since Arcadia's launch, nothing much has been going on at Dr. Fujikawa sickbay. The worst case so far was a sprained ankle from one of the junior officers that was playing Parkour at the holodeck.

As usual, it has been a very slow day today, being Ensign Vodyanov the only patient so far this morning.

- Ensign, this is your first assignment on the bridge of a ship, right?

- Yes, doctor -- she responded looking at the Japanese lady.

- And can I assume this is causing you some stress and some level of anxiety?

- Yes, I really want to deserve to be there and I'm doing my best to perform my duties flawlessly.

- So, that's the problem right there, Miss Vodyanov. – the doctor says in a tone that reminds a loving grandmother talking to their grandchildren. – Your headaches are a result of your stress. Try to remove a bit of this burden from your shoulders. Trust the captain's judgment. Think with me: if she wouldn't trust you and think you can perform your work as expected you would not be working on that bridge, right?

- I think you are right, doctor. -- smiled the young ensign with some sign of relief.

- Here's a hypospray that will resolve your headache symptoms for now. But for the long-term, try to relax a bit more. Maybe socializing more with your colleagues, working on a hobby or spending some time at the Holodeck might help.

- Thank you. -- she nodded and started leaving the sickbay. As the door opens, she almost bumped with Lt. Lenda. That caught them by surprise as their faces got incredibly close from an involuntary kiss. She deeply looked into his eyes as she immediately blushed. Deep down it almost seemed that she wanted that kiss to happen.

Daniel was static with an accelerated heart beat. He always had a crush on Natasha since he first saw her at the bridge. He quickly recomposed himself and said to the ensign:

- I'm sorry, I should be more careful.

- Oh, don't worry! I also need to pay more attention when a door opens -- she giggled and quickly swerved trying to break eye contact. -- See you at the bridge, Lieutenant!

Mr. Lenda chuckled and proceeded to the sickbay.

- Good morning doctor! Would you have some analgesic for a headache? -- he said still with his mind on the Ensign's lightly sweet perfume.

The doctor was arranging a few vials, but he immediately looked intrigued to the young Lieutenant.

She was about to say something to Daniel when another young Vulcan officer entered the room a few seconds later:

- Hello doctor. Somehow I am experiencing a minor headache. Could you please assist me?

They all looked at each other and Dr. Fujikawa’s expression quickly transitioned from intrigued to baffled.

SCENE 4

Just another uneventful day at Engineering. It's been a perfect opportunity for Mrs. Zukel to run some routine shipwide diagnostics. She is at her station going through an extensive check list: Dilithium matrix OK, thrusters OK, impulse engines OK, shields OK... As she is almost at the end of the list, she notices a single yellow status among all the green.

- Ensign, -- she directs her voice to a close young Kzinti officer without taking her eyes out of the screen. -- could you please run a secondary analysis on the bio-neural gel packs?

There was no response. She looked at him and the cat-like figure was gently holding his forehead with his eyes closed. As a betazoid, she sensed some light pain coming from him. She repeated herself:

- Ensign? Are you OK?

The Kzinti came out of his concentrated moment and quickly answered the superior officer:

- Apologies, Lt. Zukel. I just have a minor headache.

- That's fine -- she responded with a little concern about his health. Please go to sickbay and check this. On your way back, can you please run a shipwide analysis of the bio-neural gel packs? My initial report is showing that there might be something wrong with them. Not sure what it is.

- Yes, ma'am.

As the young Ensign leaves, Lt. Zukel hears the captain's voice from her comms badge requesting all senior officers to report to the bridge.

SCENE 5

Dr. Valthar is at his office in Otera V. The room is filled with very ancient paper books and scrolls.  A visitor could ask himself why would these people still maintain all this paper material instead of just having the information electronically?

The Apostle has one large scroll open on his desk. There are some writings on it that seem to have a mixture of an ancient Noqal language and another one never seen before. There also seems to be some strange and maybe frightening pictures on it. It seems to depict a group of people in agony being consumed by fire in front of a large god-like figure.

He seems to be very concerned looking at the scroll when one of his Noqal colleagues calmly enters the room and bows:

- Excuse me, High Apostle. It has begun.

He bows back to the other clerical figure and mysteriously says to himself:

- Well, I guess we can't hide it anymore from the Federation vessel.

ACT 2

SCENE 1

The Arcadia's senior officers are all present at the bridge's meeting room. Mr. Visellius is at the screen, with a view of Otera V. The planet is covered by 9/10 of water. The only continent present has an elongated shape across the equator. Still, it is relatively small compared to Earth’s standards. He proceeds with his explanation:

- I was able to pinpoint the epicenter of the neurogenic radiation to the main clergy building at the center of their capital. My conclusion is that this is not a natural occurrence. There might be something in that building generating it.

Lieutenant-Commander Vi-Uxgam immediately adds to all in the room:

- This could be some sort of weapon from the Naqals.

- But to what purpose? The Naqals have been in peace for almost a century now. -- asks the first officer.

Mr. Visellius continues raising his index finger:

- If I may add, and not less important, it seems that this radiation is growing at an exponential rate. It's not only at the planet's surface, but also reaching anything at the planet's orbit.

- Including the Arcadia -- says the japanese doctor.

As if striken by an Eureka moment, she continues:

- Captain, this might explain the several cases of headaches across the ship. I strongly recommend taking the ship to a safe distance from the planet.

- Agreed -- the Andorian says. -- Mr. Erad, please assemble an away team together. I believe it's time for us to have a serious conversation with Dr. Valthar. He might not be sharing the whole story with us. Mr. Lenda, please request that all Starfleet personnel on the planet go back to the ship.

Then she directs her voice to Miss Vodyanov:

- Ensign, as soon as the away team beams down and we have all others safely aboard, please move us away from the radiation field.

- Aye ma'am.

SCENE 2

The away team beams down to Dr. Valthar's building. Commander Erad, Mr. Vi-Uxgam and Lieutenant-Commander Visellius are so amazed by the size and beauty of the room that for a moment they didn't realize that the young Zaranite Ensign that accompanied them immediately put both of his hands on his head showing some clear signs of pain.

A second later, Lieutenant-Commander Vi-Uxgam rapidly assists the suffering colleague.

As the Zaranite recomposes himself and tells his superior officer he will be fine, Dr. Valthar enters the hall accompanied by a couple other clericals:

- Welcome to the Great Hall of M'Cara. -- he says as his voice echoes through the monumental place. -- According to our scriptures, this is the exact place where the first Noqals ascended to M'Cara's realm years ago.

- Dr. Valthar, thank you for receiving us. – the Bolian says – We would like to talk about some unusual neurogenic radiation emanating from this building.

- To be more precise, commander, my tricorder readings show that the radiation is coming from that large statue across the room. -- mentions Mr. Visellius as his tricorder beeps more loudly when pointed to the 30-meter high marble effigy.

- Of course. -- says Dr. Valthar looking at the Starfleet scientist. -- That's M'Cara. She has started to select and touch those who deserve to ascend. Please come with me. I will explain everything to you.

The away team follows the clerical figures into an adjacent room with a suspicious look. Unfortunately, by a few seconds they missed that the marble-like M'Cara's statue started to slowly glow and change its color to a purple-ish tone.

SCENE 3

It's been hard for the young Kzinti Ensign to focus on his simple task. Running a second-level scan of the gel packs should be something easy on a normal day, but this migraine is taking a big toll on him.

To the best of the Ensign's abilities and concentration, everything seems normal with the packs.

He manually updates his Engineering report changing the system status from yellow to green. "There's nothing to worry about." he thinks.

SCENE 4

The away team enters Dr. Valthar's room with a feeling that something fishy is going on.

There are a few other Naqals in the room. None of them look friendly. Once inside, a door behind them closes and they confirm that they just fell into a trap.

- Mr. Erad, I must admit I really envy your Federation planets. So full of life. -- says Dr. Valthar as he approaches his desk. He gently lays his right hand on the open scroll that lies there. -- Our people are dying, you know. There has been less and less newborns each generation. Right now we don't even have sufficient young people to fill the Hall of M'Cara during the Kul' Qaga.

- What does it have to do with the neurogenic radiation? -- asks the commander.

- Everything. What you call radiation we call it a blessing. That's M'Cara's way to reach out to the chosen ones and touch them with her grace. All our 153 young men and women. Plus, of course, all your young officers. To be quite frank, I’m disappointed because we were really expecting Starfleet to send us at least a few bigger ships here. But instead all we got was you. The Arcadia. – he says with contempt – What does it give us? A couple dozen more blessed? I guess it will have to suffice, anyway.

- Mr. Valthar, are you saying that all our officers that have been experiencing these headaches are somehow chosen by your goddess? What will happen to them? -- added the commanding officer.

The High Apostle looks to the Bolian and replies as if he already didn't know the answer:

- They will sacrifice themselves to M'Cara and ascend to her realm. That's what Kul' Qaga is about. And there's nothing you can do to prevent it, I'm sorry.

At this moment a handful of armed priests enter the room and point their weapons to the away team.

SCENE 5

- Ensign, let's keep a distance from the planet. 200 million kilometers should be enough. Engage one quarter impulse -- commands the captain.

- Yes, captain. -- says Miss Vodyanov while pushing buttons on her console.

Suddenly, the ship is shaken as it was violently hit. Natasha's console starts to beep as something is going wrong.

- Red alert! Report! -- says the Andorian trying to get back on her feet.

- No damage reported, captain. -- says a surprised Mr. Lenda -- It seems we were caught by a tractor beam coming from the planet.

The captain immediately hits her comm badge:

- Ch'tholler to away team.

As there is no response, a young lieutenant covering for Mr. Visellius adds:

- Captain, it seems that the neurogenic radiation has increased to a level that is affecting our communications with the planet.

- Sir, at current speed the Arcadia will start falling into the planet's atmosphere in under 10 minutes. -- firmly says Mr. Lenda trying to hide how frightened he is.

- Ensign, lock on phasers on the source of the tractor beam and fire when ready. -- the captain says while sitting down on her chair.

- Sir, the neurogenic radiation is impeding us to lock on the target.

- Can we manually aim at the source? -- she replies.

- We could, sir, but the beam is coming from the building where the away team is right now. If we manually shoot, there is no guarantee we damage its structure.

- Open a shipwide channel, Mr. Lenda. -- she boldly says.

- Channel open -- the young man says.

- All crew, brace for impact. -- Ch'tholler looks at the viewscreen where the planet's image grows by the second.

ACT 3

SCENE 1

At the microscopic level, we can see a large number of neurons working. Their electrical impulses keep flowing between the dendrites. But it's curious that every time an impulse occurs, the affected dendrites slightly glow with the same purple-ish color as M’Cara’s statue on the planet.

As we zoom out from the cellular level, we can see this behavior in all brain cells. As we keep zooming out, they start to become smaller and smaller and the blue gel dominates the view. And finally back to the macroscopic level, we can see one of Arcadia’s gel packs. If a doctor could see this, one would certainly diagnose the hardware as having a migraine.

SCENE 2

- 10,000 meters from impact! – loudly says Mr. Lenda while trying to work on his station. The ship is shaking so much he can barely stay standing up.

- Lieutenant, reroute all power to the inertial dampeners and forward shields! Ch'tholler to all hands! Prepare for emergency landing!

- 5,000 meters!

- It’s working captain, we’re stabilizing our descent! I can land her without a problem right beside the building. – confidently says Ensign Vodyanov. All the shaking and noise starts to stop.

- 1,000 meters!

- Deploying landing struts – adds Natasha.

The Arcadia smoothly lands on an open area in the middle of the Naqal city adjacent to the clergy’s building and everyone on the bridge feels relieved and safe.

- No external damage, sir. The tractor beam is still active on us. And it seems all systems are starting to fail. – curiously says Daniel.

- Ch'tholler to engineering: status.

Lieutenant Zukel promptly answers the call:

- Captain, all systems started to act funky and they seem to slowly start to shut down one by one. Both Warp and Impulse engines are down and we only have internal ship’s comms. We just ran a full ship diagnostics before we were caught by the tractor beam and there were no issues at all.

- Please keep me posted as soon as you have any news. – the captain replies and then directs her voice to the officer working on the Security console – Lieutenant please assemble a search team and meet me at Airlock 1. I want to make sure everything is fine with the away team. And, I want to pay a visit myself to Dr. Valthar.

As she prepares to leave the bridge, she looks to the young Operations lieutenant and says:

Mr. Lenda, you have the bridge while I’m out. – and with a smile she adds: Keep the seat warm for me.

SCENE 3

- Doctor, please you don’t need to point any weapon at us. – Commander Erad calmly says, trying to defuse the situation. Starfleet has the most advanced medical facilities and best scientists in the quadrant. We would gladly do our best to find a solution to your people’s situation. But we need you to drop your weapons.

The High Apostle gives a sign to the armed men and they all withdraw from their aggressive stance.

- Commander, you don’t understand at all the situation here, do you? There is no time left. – he hopelessly says – Kul’ Qaga has already started and it will be over in the next few minutes. Nothing can stop it. I can only suggest you say goodbye to your young officers. We will always remember their sacrifice.

As that sentence is finished, the young Zaranite Ensign screams in pain, falls on his knees and puts his hands on his head. He can barely withstand the agony.

- I am not allowing this to happen – says the commander trying to help the injured officer. As they try to leave to the great Hall of M’Cara, they encounter the captain’s team and a large number of suffering young Naqals close to the glowing statue.

The only alternative left for the Starfleet senior team is to aim their phasers at the statue. They shoot at it, but even at the maximum setting there is no apparent damage. The monument glows more intensely emitting a high-pitched noise and everyone is caught by a bright purple light.

All those young people affected by the intense neurotic radiation scream in great pain including the ones inside the Arcadia. All ship’s bio-neural gel packs succumb and cause all systems to shut down.

The captain puts her hand in front of her face trying to protect her eyes from the light. The light is so powerful that it engulfs the entire planet in an instant.

SCENE 4

Despite the discomfort from the noise and the light, the captain and the senior team all seem to be fine. The captain’s antennae were still getting back to normal when she quickly realized that she couldn’t hear the tormented young people anymore.

Mr. Visellius pulls his tricorder and with a clear sign of desperation on his face he tell the captain:

- Sir, I can’t pick any sign of any of the young people on the planet. Including 26 of our crew members.

The captain immediately taps her comm badge: Captain to Arcadia!

There is no response.

The Chief Science Officer points his tricorder around, he look back at the captain shaking his head:

- Sir, there is no sign of the Arcadia either; on this planet or in orbit.

Her guts started to freeze as she realized she just experienced a no-win scenario. She was always prepared to die in a hopeless battle just like in the infamous Kobayashi Maru Academy test, but she was not ready for this.

- I’m sorry for your losses captain. – Dr Valthar interrupts her mourning.

A lamentable deep silence takes the Hall of M’Cara.

SCENE 5

The brightness fades out. A disoriented and scared Lieutenant Daniel Lenda opens his eyes.


TO BE CONTINUED ...

Plays "Only The Good Die Young" by Billy Joel