Defender

Once again, I have returned to the Space Center, this time being Captain on the Deep Space Station (DSS) Magellan, second in command, soon to be first, as the Admiral was retiring. The mission's name was Defender .



Mission Briefing: Just on the border of Klingon and Federation space was a nebula, which harbored a one-planet solar system, completely empty of life. Next to the border in Klingon space was a planet called Fossaria, which was rich in dilithium crystal. But instead of the Klingons mining it themselves, they sent slaves to do it, and were planning to kill these slaves as soon as all the crystal was mined. The Federation would not tolerate this. A fleet was sent to successfully rescue the slaves. They were put on the planet in the nebula, which they named New Fossaria. However, soon the former slaves started to disappear, therefore the Magellan was sent with three objectives in mind: 1. Send oxygen tanks to the surface 2. Find where the people are disappearing to 3. Watch for Klingons



We completed our first objective without difficulty. Then we had a security breach on Deck 4. I sent three officers to investigate: Chief of Security, Strategic Operations, and Divisionary Communications. It was a terrible mistake on my part to send Strategic Operations, for we were approached by a Klingon Warbird, who wanted a fight. Luckily, I had been Tactical Officer on another ship, and knew how to operate the station for a successful outcome. Soon following the destruction of the Klingon Warbird, the SS Tigress, flagship of the Loyalist, a race who loved the Klingons, came on sensors. Scorpion, Admiral of the Loyalist fleet, told us he had taken our three officers hostage and planted a bomb on Deck 4. He was however willing to make a trade: complete access to Security files, all weapons unloaded, and all officers under his command for our ship and crew. We agreed.

Lucky for us, Scorpion suddenly fell and was taken to the brig on my orders. The detonator for the bomb stayed with me. An interesting event happened just then: we ran across a century-old Klingon Warbird, which was still sending signals of distress, although its crew was long deceased. The message told us that the captain's vessel had been boarded by an unknown life form, which slowly took his crew one by one, transforming them into hostile zombies, until he was the only one left. We prayed we should not encounter this creature. Everything else passed smoothly, me guiding the USS Ranger to certain points for a greater field of vision, which we would soon need, for on the Ranger's sensors, an entire alien fleet appeared. I immediately ordered Strategic Operations to prepare for battle, to raise the shields, and deactivate cloaking device. We destroyed the fleet with heavy damage. It was a time for celebration. We soon found it was not to be.

One alien had beamed aboard our ship, and started to do what it had done to the Klingon ship. Everyone on the station was being taken at an alarming pace, but the creature never came on the bridge. Not yet. I made my throat sore that night, shouting orders to prepare my crew, and not a moment too soon. I had just barely posted both Security Officers at the door to the Magellan when the Main Computer announced the creature was coming for us. I screamed to hide behind their computer terminals, but the crew couldn't move. I speak for everyone on board the bridge of the Magellan when I saw we will never forget what we saw next. The thing came running into the room, which we had a short warning of from Security, who ran from the door faster than I thought possible, screeching at the top of their lungs like a frightened little girl. All but three crew members ran, the ones who didn't run being the Admiral, Strategic Operations, and I. An idea came to me at that moment: if we don't fear the creature, it won't attack us. I immediately acted upon this thought, leaping over the desk in front of me, screaming to the crew not to fear the creature. The alien ran by me three times, never touching me once, and as abruptly as he came in, he left. But it was not the last we would see of his type.

My crew was shocked at the sudden entrance and exit of the alien. Perhaps Security was most frightened, for they refused to get any closer to the door than twenty feet, until I threatened to send the to the brig. I was cut short in my threat by the monstrous creature pounding up on the floor. An ignorant Security Officer, who was a little upset with me, pounded back in reply, which engaged a long conversation of pounding. I kept yelling not to acknowledge the pounding, for it was fearing the thing. Eventually Security listened, and would have been severely punished for letting Scorpion escape so he could pound on the floor, when we were once more honored with a visit from the thing. It did not catch us unawares this time. Each and every member of our crew followed my orders and stood their ground while the creature came in and took a member of our crew, Divisionary Communications. He never came again, but our crew did, in the same fashion as described by the dead Klingon Captain. One by one we were taken, until only five remained. We would have died, had Security not had an idea. We could activate tranzine gas, a knock-out gas, which would safely allow us to examine our fellows and free them. We tried this idea, and were rewarded with success.

We received a call from New Fossaria, just a few minutes before the rest of the population was taken. When we looked for the reason, we saw a ship of the type that attacked us in the form of a small fleet of twelve. This ship was more prepared for our tactics, and we were sorely in need of a miracle. That's when I remembered the THX-118, a device with enough power to destroy an entire planet. If it could blow a planet to smithereens, surely it could do the same to a ship. I ordered activation of this weapon, and as soon as it was fully charged, it was fired in a devastating, outright deadly attack. Although we should have been mourning the death of this advanced race, we couldn't help but celebrate.

Scorpion just wouldn't give up. He sent twenty men up to the bridge to kill us. Following common sense, I figured it was best to surrender. They kept us as hostages in the briefing room of our ship. We managed to knockout a guard, which gave us freedom to configure a battle-plan. Luckily, Scorpion didn't know the layout of the ship, and had put us in the armory. We were capable of taking our bridge back, and rightfully did so, with minor casualties. When we counted the bodies, we found one was missing: Scorpion. Scorpion had escaped and was taking his ship, the SS Tigress, around to finish us off. We put up a valiant fight, losing all but the phasers, which were destroyed in the climax of the battle. We were sitting ducks. We had lost everything and the SS tigress was coming around for the final blow that would end our lives in the merciless form of a torpedo. Just as all hope was lost, the USS Ranger arrived on the scene, turning the tables with it. The SS Tigress was destroyed, Scorpion dead, and we knew were the people were being taken. Not for the last time, we held a joyous celebration, which was to be cut short.

In the middle of our celebration, someone looked at Counter Intelligence's station and was shocked to see that the Klingons had amassed a massive fleet of more ships than the radar could count. We had seven minutes to prepare for the battle. I ordered Long-Range Communications to send a request to Starfleet for backup, I directed the USS Ranger back to the station, and ordered the activation of the CRM-114, which would transform every terminal on the staion into a battle station. We were quick, but not quick enough; when the Klingon fleet arrived, nothing was ready: the CRM-114 was still charging, The fleet that was being sent had not yet arrived, and the USS Ranger was still two minutes away. When the CRM-114 was finally activated, it was the only thing operational, with the USS Ranger still thirty seconds away. Even when the USS Ranger arrived, we were still being sorely beaten. Then the fleet Starfleet had sent us arrived. Had the fleet come a second later, we wouldn't have survived. After the fight, we celebrated for the last time.