Icons of Iconia

Captain's Log, Stardate 40344.7

Codus

Sensor sweeps revealed a space station orbiting the central star of the system. We took a shuttlecraft over to investigate and confirmed that it was a Romulan space station that had been abandoned. Lieutenant Maniersi was able to find a hidden crawlspace with a computer panel and it had just enough power remaining for us to inquire a few things about the station. We were able to deduce that it was a station investigating the possibility of Iconian presence.

We sent for Lieutenant Commander Hazor and a team of engineers to try to extract the panel for further analysis. He told me that it was likely to take 4 hours or so, but that it was possible to complete. While work was underway, I took the opportunity to look around. Everything was destroyed, believed to be deliberately. Sergeant Major Pierson accompanied me on my walk around the station. (…)

A few hours passed and Maniersi took surveillance of the station's exterior. He found a strange area of the station that was thought to be a communication dish transmitting to an indeterminate point in space. With the help of the Niven, we were able to trace the destination and found a mass of debris. When Hazor looked for the area from the inside of the station, he was faced with a heavy duty metal door and was considering demolishing it in order to gain entrance. Pierson, having demolition experience, went with me to investigate.

It was decided that the best course of action was, rather than demolish the door, to try to cut through the wall from a floor above so that there was less chance of damaging what equipment may be inside. Pierson cut a hole large enough for a person and he and Hazor jumped down.

Hazor unlocked the door so that I could see for myself and found that it was in similar condition as the rest of the station, except that it was with supreme precision in its destruction. The room seemed to be engineered to have extremely good acoustics. It was presumed that this was the control room for whatever was being transmitted to the mysterious pile of debris.

Satellite Remains

Lieutenant Silon reported that he was relatively certain the destination of the communication signal was an orbital satellite. Given that the computer panel was successfully transferred onto the Niven, we set a course to personally inspect it.

When we arrived on site, we confirmed that the debris was a satellite at one time and likely destroyed by disruptor fire. Silon's report stated that the satellite was geosynchronous to Psellus 3, however, there was a sensor cloud, about 14,000 square kilometers, directly underneath where the satellite was. All we knew was that the area was likely to be very arid desert.

The Desert

Because sensors could not penetrate the area, the only way to investigate was to send down an away team by shuttle. Given that we may be dealing with Iconian artifacts, Hazor suggested to bring along our social scientist, Lieutenant Thalen. I agreed and the away team consisted of Thalen, Hazor, Maniersi, Pierson, Lance Corporal Fleetwood, Sergeant Brillet, and me. When we flew down to the surface, the sensors went out immediately after entering the area in question. We still had power so Maniersi was able to pilot on manual controls. Far off in the distance, we saw a structure that resembled a ziggurat. Pierson, however, caught sight of something a little ways away from the ziggurat so we veered off course to investigate.

When we got closer, we saw that it was a collection of camouflaged tents. Maniersi landed the shuttle and when we opened the door, a blast of heat hit us. Tricorders reported that it was 111 degrees. We walked on foot towards the tents who's camouflage was powered by solar panels. When we entered the tents, it was a relief that it was climate controlled. It was a pleasantly cool 68 degrees and slightly humid, presumed to be set to the comfort level of humans and Klingons.

We looked around the camp it looked as though whoever worked here was intending on returning. Maniersi discovered a PADD and we were able to access a personal log. It belonged to a Dr. Emil Pasternak, an archeologist known to be aggressive with no consideration for rules and laws in the interest of a discovery. The first entry from was 14 days ago. There were a handful of Klingons, dressed like those we saw aboard the Chang family's ship, working behind him. The logs reported of storms damaging the rover they arrived in and they seemed to be looking for the ziggurat. They also mentioned sightings of natives who were patrolling the area. What was alarming was that Pasternak mentioned in the most recent entry, made three days ago, that he seemed to be on a lead toward the ziggurat and hoped K'vort got what he wanted.

Pierson had noted that there were a few figures in the surrounding area. They were armed with archaic gunpowder weapons, but did not seem to notice that we had sighted them. Pierson had Fleetwood and Brillet keep an eye specifically on them.

Thalen found a few ancient pottery pieces arranged inside the tents and in one of the pots was what looked like an isolinear chip, but very primitive. Thalen thought that it was from around 38,000 years ago, thus making it a possibility that it was Iconian technology.

The Ziggurat

When we exhausted our leads around the camp, we flew towards the ziggurat. In front of it was a courtyard surrounded by a wall, but it was collapsed in several places. The ziggurat was shining a dull gold in the sunlight. Maniersi made a few loops around the area so that we could get a good look at the place.

I split the group into two. I was going to accompany Thalen and Pierson into the ziggurat. The others were going to check out the courtyard. Maniersi flew the shuttle near the entrance of the ziggurat and our plan was to jump off the back of the shuttle, thus avoiding the excruciatingly long flight of stairs leading to the entrance. However, just as we were about to put our plan into play, a Klingon who was stationed just inside the entrance shot a disruptor rifle at the shuttle, shattering the windows, nearly hitting Maniersi in the head. Pierson made the jump and shouted to get me out of here. The shuttle jolted and I lost my footing, but Thalen managed to leap out before Maniersi put up the shields. Fleetwood and Brillet coordinated a plan to reattempt the maneuver with Brillet joining Pierson and Thalen. The rest of us would investigate the courtyard. Everything went as planned and Maniersi flew us out of there.

When we landed near the courtyard, Fleetwood volunteered to stand watch over the shuttle. Maniersi, Hazor, and I ventured into the courtyard and saw that there was a tall building in the center. The set of stairs leading up to the building was soaked in Klingon blood. The door to the building was partially open and though Maniersi slipped and fell on the sand, he was able to glance inside and saw what looked like one dead Klingon. We cautiously entered the building and saw that he met his demise by gunshot wounds. The building looked to be serving as a base camp due to the canteens, rations, and another camouflage tent found inside.

Second Contact

Suddenly, four figures entered the building from all doors. Three were armed with rifles, but had them pointed down. The unarmed one spoke to Maniersi and asked if we were with the "Kling-gons". He shook his head no. The Pselliad told us to lay down our weapons and looked intensely at Maniersi. He stated that he was not the leader and looked to me. When he confirmed that I was, he said that I would be the one to talk to him and sat down in the middle of the room. When I joined him, the other three Pselliads laid down their weapons.

The Pselliad leader asked why we had approached the ziggurat. I answered that we were tracing information of our enemies. Some were involved in suspicious activity and we were lead to believe that they may be trying to discover dangerous items that may be developed into weapons against us.

I asked if the Pselliads wanted our assistance in eradicating our shared enemies. The leader asked if we could remove the Kling-gons and I replied yes. He stated that we had 100 minutes to leave the area. Given the time limit, I thought the task would be accomplished faster if we were to work together. I also thought it would serve as official contact with an alien race, but it seemed to be a grave error when I suggested it. The leader became very stern and demanded that we leave immediately.

Thankfully, Pierson walked in at that very moment with Pasternak, a stunned Klingon, and the body of a deceased Klingon. The leader narrowed his eyes and grudgingly admitted that we kept our word so we had our 100 minutes. He took his comrades and left.

Pierson apologized for intruding to which I replied with gratitude for making me look good. He got a strange look on his face at that comment as if he wanted to say something, but kept his silence.

Cleanup

Thalen seemed overjoyed at the thought of having more time in the ziggurat so we shuttled him back over there while we took down the camps and made preparations to leave. I helped Hazor repair the shuttle and we cleared the area in the allotted time. Pasternak insisted that at the very least, we should hand over the artifacts to the consulate so that the Pselliads could learn about their culture and history.

We intend to turn in the isolinear chip to Starfleet, but I think Hazor will find a lot of enjoyment in the challenge of trying to access the information. Perhaps he will be successful before we get to a starbase to make the transfer.