Lost Colony

Captain's Log, Stardate 40463.6

While We Were Gone…

With the Minnerites dropped off back at their home, we made the proper notations to quarantine the area in order to prevent any further Federation disturbance of these aliens. We then hightailed it back to Hope's End.

When we arrived in the Baldaur system, we first noticed that the Pride o' Rigel and the Klingon ships were gone. There were other ships around, including those with Cardassian warp signatures, and signs of recent battle were apparent. Some of the ships docked at Hope's End and the star port's orbital platforms were damaged. Lieutenant Joran Maniersi did a scan to find out that the damage looked to have been sustained from Cardassian disruptors about two days ago.

When we were within Hope's End's orbit, Maniersi picked up something on sensors. I sent him out in a shuttle to investigate and it turned out to be an inoperative sensor beacon in the atmosphere, geosynchronous to the planet. It looked several years old and a non-military grade.

Mission

When we pulled into port, I had a chance to chat with Fleet Captain Conrad Bain. He explained our next mission. Recently, there was a mining mission launched on Lakeland III, however, the outpost has not been heard from in a while. We were to go there and see what was the matter. There were 10 Starfleet personnel at stake, including the head of the mission, a Captain Stanley.

We made it to the Lakeland system without incident. I put myself on the away team, despite the protest of some of my crew, and we beamed down to the surface. According to the coordinates we were given, we should have been in the middle of a complex with modern roads and buildings, but everything was overgrown with vegetation. Stranger still, it looked to be decades worth. As we were making our way around, some vines tried to snatch us away and sinkholes kept appearing in our path. Lieutenant Commander Hazor Dyan suggested that we stick to the road to try to avoid any pitfalls.

After a while, we reached a giant crevice that looked to have been caused by an earthquake. We found a PADD which contained the captain's log. According to it, just 10 days ago, everything was reported as normal. The following day some animals who were friendly before started making aggressive maneuvers towards the crew. As the days progressed, some crew members were attacked by vines and a few days ago, a giant earthquake happened, causing the loss of another member of the crew. The team had to evacuate the compound and were staying in a secondary area near a dam. The log suddenly cut out so we can only assume what happened to Captain Stanley.

Frayed Crew

When we went to check out the dam area, a crewman came driving up to us in an ATV. He introduced himself as a Lieutenant Larson and mentioned two of his surviving compatriots, Henderson and Hayes. He warned us that Henderson was a bit delusional due to all the stress.

He took us over to a room that seemed like a bunker that had a lot of computers in it. Hazor got to work right away to try to restore power. Henderson, as we were warned, was quite testy. He demanded to know where his captain was and when I said that we hadn't seen him, he snapped, screamed, "that's bullshit!" to me, and actually hit me in the face. A scuffle ensued and the computers got their power restored during it. I'm afraid I don't remember much else that happened due to getting zapped by an arcing bolt of electricity from one of the consoles.

The next thing I knew, we were transported to a pocket miles beneath the land's crust and Maniersi seemed to be conversing with an unseen entity. I really must work on my stamina. I realize that it probably isn't very safe for me to go on dangerous away missions, but there's just something to be said about seeing things in person rather than through after action reports.

Flight Officer's Log

Upon returning to Baldur IV to try and contact the Bajoran Railroad we discovered that a fight had been fought around Hope's End. A sensor beacon left in geosynchronous orbit by the Bajorn Railroad had the unhappy message that they had relocated and were in dire straights thanks to the USS Niven's lack of aid. The readings from battle indicated that it was a Keldor-class Cardassian warship that had done the shooting. As we were mulling this over, a message came in from Starfleet requesting that we check in on the mining outpost of Lakeland 3, which had fallen out of contact. Upon arrival we found the outpost in shambles with 3 dead on site. While trying to determine what was going on, a crew memeber was exposed to some algal slime that triggered an agressive haluconagenic reaction requiring sedation. Soon afterwards extreme plant life started attacking and a wheeled ATV appeared with a survivor of the outpost. The away team survived a harrowing drive and river trip (with requisite water serpent attack) to arrive at the mining complex itself. Detecting odd life-sign readings from the planet, Lt. Cmdr. Dyan realized that the planet itself was some kind of sentient organism that interpreted the Federation miners as a hostile threat. After negotation to allow the survivors and away team to leave, everyone was evacuated and Starfleet Command notified to send a First Contact team.