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
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