The Strider Incident Part 1

Captain's Log, Stardate 40360.7

Casualties

It's with a heavy heart that I write this log stating that the Niven suffered great casualties during the fight over Valtor II. We have lost 72 brave men, including Lance Corporal Fleetwood and 142 personnel were injured. Lieutenant Commander Hazor was among them with severe burns to his arm when a computer panel exploded on him.

Sergeant Major Pierson reported that Prime Team Alpha, along with the help of Captain Krahl's warriors, was able to secure the installation on the surface of Valtor II. They have, however, been specifically denied entrance into certain areas. Two members of Prime Team, Sergeant Brillet and Corporal Gral, were critically injured and the shuttles were damaged.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Maniersi suggested that he take the captain's yacht down to the surface to evacuate the injured to sick bay as soon as possible along with a small complement of engineers to help repair the shuttles. The yacht was a bit of a sore subject, given its recent hijacking, but I knew I could trust Maniersi to bring it back without incident.

Treachery

When Maniersi returned, he brought along Corporal Smithers and he asked to speak to me. We met in the ready room and came with a report from Pierson. Because both Fleetwood and Brillet were down, Pierson entrusted him with the information that they did not find anything of Iconian nature on the base, but the Klingons were definitely hiding something. Master Sergeant Syvek was convinced that even Krahl's men did not know what they were hiding, but were under orders to keep us out of certain areas. It can easily be assumed that the area was contaminated with the Orion Blood Fever as the Klingons became, nearly immediately, very sick and members of our crew were experiencing severe allergic reactions. The base was littered with several Klingon corpses and, strangely, a Cardassian body as well. There was evidence that this facility was a research lab involved in the study of genetic manipulation.

I gave orders to Maniersi to first escort Smithers to sick bay to get something to help with the histamine reactions, bring along enough for our crew remaining on the surface, to stop by the Drovna to pick up medical supplies for the Klingons, and to deliver them to the surface along with Nurse Bretchkova to assist with the distribution and to find out what he can about the station.

After subduing K'vort Chang's forces' counter attack, Maniersi was able to drop off Smithers and Bretchkova along with the medical supplies to an area on the roof to rendezvous with Pierson so that they could find another route into the areas guarded by Khral's men.

Bretchkova returned with a report that he was able to get access to most of the areas. The outbreak of Orion Blood Fever seems to have been accidental and not a weaponized version we feared, however it can be thought that an inside agent of Chang's men purposefully set this to happen. The research being conducted there was some sort of genetic or chemical engineering to increase the efficiency of attack troops and was sanctioned by Gowran. The facility has existed for 10 years, the current project was going on for at least 6 months and the planet was quarantined for the past 90 days. The most troubling news was that the research was a joint effort between the Klingons and Cardassians. The Cardassian found on the premises was thought to have been a volunteer test subject.

Dismissed

A communique from Khral came in and he said that though securing control of the base was contested, it was looking to be in his favor. The Drovna was rendered incapacitated and if their engineers could not repair it, they would destroy it. Though I offered our help with repairs, he thanked us and said that our assistance was no longer needed. In asking about Chang and Rovek he stated that Chang was likely to have escaped and there was no sign of a Romualn anywhere. In private, I alerted him to the unusual behavior of Chang's crew given the suicide death despite the warrior honor code Klingons were known to have.

With all our of crew back on the ship, we set course for Starbase 27 for much needed repairs and crew transfer. The journey took 10 days.

Return to Starbase 27

While en route, Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev sent us orders to leave Bretchkova's trichorder and all of its contents to the bio research lab on DSR3 after passing through Stevens Nebula. We were also told by Starfleet Intelligence that they will pick up the isolinear chip when we dock at Starbase 27.

When we arrived, there was a ranger class scout orbiting the station, but it was in horrible condition. It looked like it had taken quite a few hits and was barely held together, thus needing to be dry docked. The name on the hull amidst all the burn marks said "USS Strider". The Niven and her crew were welcomed by the commanding officer of the starbase, Captain Carl Curtis.

He invited my senior staff and me to dinner and during the meal, Curtis mused that with the addition of Dr. Emil Pasternak, there were now three people in custody at the same time on the same starbase. When we told him stories of our most recent adventure, he first made a comment about how we were lucky to be traipsing through the stars while he was stuck behind a desk at a space station. He hastily followed up that it was prudent of us to have contacted Captain Krahl first and wished all officers had the foresight to have done so. Apparently, one of the other two currently detained was Captain Christine Reardon, captain of the USS Strider, who lead a small task force of four ships into Klingon space and only the Strider with a skeleton crew made it back.

Curtis also caught us up on the ongoing talks about the dispute over the planet Tasor. The dilithium crystal-rich planet was never ceded to either territory when the Organian neutral zone dissolved. Ruling on this matter was shelved until a neutral party could act as the arbiter. Now that such a party was called upon, Curtis felt this incident will jeopardize our ability to win Tasor.

Reardon's Testimony

I returned to my quarters following dinner. I had the intent to start sending condolence letters to the families of those brave men who gave their lives during our last mission, but seeing the dauntingly long list of names was too much for me to bear at the time. Given that Reardon must be feeling similarly, I decided to pay her a visit. Hazor accompanied me. He must have felt the strain of situation as he had his own long list of addressees.

The guards posted outside her quarters took our communicators and lead us inside saying they could only permit us to a visitation of 10 minutes. Reardon looked rather haggard, understandable given the circumstances, but also relieved. There was a force field separating us, and she sat down to speak to us. I introduced myself told her that though it was on a smaller scale, I recently lost crew members as well so if she wished to talk, I would be happy to listen. She was glad for impartial company and began her story.

Reardon was in charge of Task Force 13 which consisted of four ranger class scouts with the Stider acting as the flagship. They were a few days into routine patrol when there was an incoming message classified as a Code Red 1A. She acknowledged and confirmed the communique and opened wartime orders. They instructed her to secure the Stogar system within Klingon space. Because the rangers were smaller ships, they were assigned to reconnaissance with the promise of warships en route to assist them. They hid in an asteroid belt to wait for their support. One of the other ships, the USS Clark, hailed saying they picked up a squad of five Klingon battlecruisers on sensors. Knowing they were outnumbered and significantly outgunned with no sign of reinforcements, Reardon gave the order to pull back, but the Klingons arrived before they could get away. The Clark took a massive hit, and because the situation looked hopeless, they rammed into the Klingon ship to destroy it. After several devastating volleys, only the Strider was left in the fleet. Because she thought they were done for, Reardon ejected the log buoy and gave a last ditch effort to get away. They were traveling at warp 1.6, but jumped immediately to warp 8.1. The Strider was caught in a subspace anomaly that restored their warp engines and went through a wormhole to successfully escape destruction. When they finally limped back to Starbase, Curtis exclaimed no such orders were given and Reardon was immediately taken into custody.

Unfortunately for Reardon, because the log buoy was ejected, she had no hard evidence of the orders she received. To make matters worse, everyone who witnessed her receiving the Code Red 1A had died in the battle. The only way to prove her innocence was to retrieve the buoy and she asked us to help her. I didn't know how, especially with the Niven undergoing massive repairs, but I told her I would do everything I could to try to assist her.

An Unofficial Mission

The following morning meeting began with happy news. Captain Ian Frazier and Lieutenant Sanderson McKinney were in attendance along with Curtis and we received an incoming communique from Nechayev. She stated that she received word yesterday that Sergeant Stanley VanDriessen was awarded the Klingon Medal of Valor, Third Class. This came at serendipitous timing for his birthday was tomorrow and now will have two reasons to celebrate. Given his past performance record, especially aboard the doomsday machine, I was satisfied to know that my crew was getting the recognition they deserved. Nechayev also said that the Niven's crew was placed on administrative leave for two weeks while repairs were being conducted.

I spent my lunch break with Maniersi and Hazor. During the meal, four officers approached us. A Vulcan who appeared to be the leader of the group introduced himself as Commander Stoan and said he and his fellow officers were a part of the Strider's crew, though temporarily reassigned to Starbase 27. He stated that he was on the bridge when the Code Red order came through and the others gave similar stories. An Andorian by the name of Lieutenant Karil was not on the bridge at the time, but relieved the conn officer who was. The relieved officer saw the alleged message, but did not survive the battle. Lieutenant Thompson was also on the bridge as the communications officer and heard the same things Stoan did. Lieutenant Desmonal was in engineering so she did not witness any of the events, but knows Reardon well and can vouch that she would not make something like this up.

Because of the nature of the incident, the group felt they could not trust anyone aside from us for we just came into the situation. They felt Reardon was definitely being set up and asked us to retrieve the log buoy. They offered all the assistance they could to clear their captain's name.