S01 E04: USS Intrigue: Sphere of Doom

 

S01 E04: USS Intrigue: Sphere of Doom

(This adventure was inspired by the Political Actions Mission Brief entitled “Sphere”.)

First Officer’s Log. Stardate 45134.2. Commander Nyri Elatrai of the USS Intrigue reporting. Our ship has arrived at the famed Dyson Sphere, now called the Montgomery Sphere, first encountered by the U.S.S. Enterprise-D almost seven years ago. Since its discovery, Starfleet has sent several science vessels to study the sphere. They recorded some impressive data until the Dominion War broke out and the ships had to be called away, leaving ninety percent of the sphere left unstudied. Now that Starfleet has the resources and the time to resume its study, the sphere’s presence has created a diplomatic issue. We are here to mediate a summit regarding the future of the Montgomery Sphere. The Tzenkethi and the Ferengi state that they have the right to study the sphere along with Starfleet.

            Commander Elatrai (a Betazoid) and Captain Sekoba (a Vulcan) looked around from inside the Franklin Dome. (The dome was named after Ensign Matt Franklin, a Stafleet officer who was on the USS Jenolan when it crashed inside the sphere. Franklin’s energy pattern had been stored inside the Jenolan’s transporter buffer, but it degraded to the point that it could not be restored.) The dome inside the Montgomery Sphere had been built by Starfleet to be an observation post and relative point from which to study the sphere. The dome was much like a space station, with a breathable artificial atmosphere, live-in quarters, meeting rooms, and workstations. The view was incredible. One could see the vast innerspace of the sphere, a round space with no horizon—just a huge grey surface that appeared to stretch in every direction as far as space itself.

            Security officer Lt. Rita Smeets said the Tzenkethi were ready to beam in. A Tzenkethi ship had entered the sphere half an hour ago. It could be seen in a stationary position below the dome. Smeets also said the Ferengi were fast approaching the sphere and would arrive shortly. Commander Elatrai saw two Tzenkethi beam in on the other side of the room. She and the chief diplomatic officer, Lt. Murray Chevalier, walked over to greet them. Captain Sekoba was sitting at the head of the table going over her dossier. Smeets approached her to discuss security matters before the Ferengi arrived. It was agreed that each party would bring no more than one ship. Given that none of the races coming to this summit trusted each other, they had ordered that no weapons would be allowed in the dome. Still, the Starfleet officers were concerned that hostilities could break out at any moment during the summit.

            The Tzenkethi felt the sphere could be used as a weapon, or, once the Federation discovered more of its secrets, Starfleet might suddenly have a technological edge that would upset the balance of power in the Alpha and Beta quadrants. The Ferengi were there because, if the other major powers were there, they wanted to be there too. Besides, they thought maybe they could sell it or the technology inside it.

            Captain Sekoba quickly reviewed what was known about the sphere. As the Enterprise-D had discovered, the sphere was constructed around a G-type star, allowing the entire sphere to harness the radiant energy of that star. The result was that a population living on the interior surface of the sphere would have a virtually inexhaustible source of power. The interior surface of the sphere had a class M atmosphere and was equivalent in size to over two hundred and fifty million class M planets.

            The type G star had started to go unstable over two hundred years ago, which is apparently why the sphere had been abandoned by its original makers, whoever they were. The star experienced severe bursts of radiation and matter expulsions. Six years ago, Starfleet had attempted to stabilize the star by boosting its nucleonic gradient with a polymodal pulse actuator. Their attempts were only partially successful. The radiation was lowered and the expulsions became infrequent, but still not enough to plant a colony, which had been Starfleet’s goal after they researched it more.

            The Ferengi delegation had finally arrived and took their places at the meeting table inside the Starfleet-built dome. Ferengi ambassador Flarpt looked across the table at the Tzenkethi ambassador, Zamarel Vik Kre-B. They knew each other from previous negotiations with the Federation.

Captain Sekoba mentioned that it was very important to find a way to stabilize the star (which was affectionately dubbed by Starfleet as the “Jenolan Star”, after the 23^rd century Starfleet ship that crashed inside the sphere). If they didn’t stabilize the star, then it would eventually go nova and quite possibly destroy the entire sphere. Any efforts by Starfleet to tame the star at present had been halted until these negotiations were completed. The others had also demanded that Starfleet turn over to them any sphere data they had obtained. Captain Montgomery Scott, the Starfleet officer whom the sphere was named after, had been part of the research team and had voiced his opinion that Starfleet should maintain strict rights to the sphere. Scott--or “Scotty”, as he was called—had been found by the Enterprise-D inside a ship that had crashed inside the sphere. He had been in the ship’s transporter buffer for seventy-five years. He was presently still active in Starfleet as head of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, but chose not to be at this summit because he was not interested in politics.

During the meeting in the dome, there were two research teams from the Intrigue that were elsewhere in the Montgomery Sphere. One team was on the shuttlecraft Colossus. They were exploring what was called the Prairie Region of the sphere. It was a spot that consisted of one hundred square kilometers that seemed to have natural vegetation. There were trees with red and blue leaves and over a dozen varieties of flowers. There were glowing red stones buried in the ground that the explorers had found six years ago. The team found more of the red stones. The energy readings were as mysterious as they had ever been.

A team on the shuttlecraft Great Pyramid was exploring the Medieval Region. It had old buildings made of substances similar to wood and stone. The insides of the buildings had inexplicable light sources--lights that would activate when movement was nearby, but no one knew the energy source of the lights.

 

            The talks in the dome were interrupted when Captain Sekoba received an urgent communique from her ship. An alien ship of unknown origin was approaching fast and was headed toward the sphere. Its intent was unknown. The captain immediately beamed back up to the ship, leaving Commander Elatrai in charge of the negotiations.

            Sekoba was back on the bridge of the USS Intrigue when the alien ship hailed them. An alien appeared on the forward viewscreen. He identified himself as Bri’ix and said that his ancestors had constructed the Dyson sphere, which they called B’anrt’xim. His long-range scanners, which were far more advanced than that of any of the races present, had picked up activity within the sphere. He had come to warn them to leave. Bri’ix appeared humanoid, with orange skin and brown wavy hair. His physical appearance was within expected parameters. The sphere had an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, conditions that supported humanoids.

            The captain called the ship’s civilian anthropologist, Kalta Neved, to the bridge. Then she had her ops officer patch the audio from Bri’ix to her first officer, who was still inside the dome. Then she asked Bri’ix to explain why he wanted them to leave. He said that B’anrt’xim had been built as the ultimate expression of reverence for their god, Ra’zmi. But instead of accepting this gift, Ra’zmi punished them for creating this new world to replace the perfect world he had given them. He made B’anrt’xim’s star give off harmful radiation. His people, the Ach’ead, were forced to leave B’anrt’xim, never to return. Ra’zmi promised that anyone who tried to make a home in B’anrt’xim would be destroyed.

            The captain explained to Bri’ix that Starfleet ships had been in and out of the sphere for the last six years, even building a new permanent structure inside. And their scientific research revealed that the state of the star was organic in nature, not sudden enough to suggest outside influence. Bri’ix still insisted that Ra’zmi would prevail in the end.

 

            In the Franklin Dome, Commander Elatrai explained this new development to all the delegations. None of them took it seriously. There was no way to prove that this Bri’ix wasn’t some scam artist come to scare them away. Lt. Chevalier was thinking that it was always a possibility that the sphere’s owners would show up. But why now, after six years? Had it taken that long for them to get here?

            Flarpt, the Ferengi ambassador, said they all should have squatters’ rights, since the sphere had been abandoned. Commander Elatrai said that Captain Sekoba would deal with the new alien for now. She asked if everyone had seen the research data that Starfleet had gathered on the sphere. The Ferengi and Tzenkethi had only received the report two days ago. They both said they had read most of it. The Ferengi, of course, were only looking for something they could sell, and saw many opportunities here. The Tzenkethi were more interested in weapons or technology they could use for power. They also saw much potential here.

            The commander’s Betazoid telepathic sense began to tingle. She sensed some kind of deception in the minds of the two Tzenkethi that were present. She told them as much. They knew she was Betazoid. However, they denied any deception. She let the captain know she sensed something was amiss. It was not her style to try to probe their minds to actually know what they were thinking, but she would keep her ears and eyes open.

 

            Bri’ix said he could prove his story. His sensors detected a shuttle in the topsoil area. Sekoba said yes, the Prairie Region. Bri’ix claimed that if he flew his ship to within twenty kilometers of the area, the krr’aa stones would float up towards his ship. They were used by his people to summon spirits. Sekoba surmised that the krr’aa were the red stones in the area. She didn’t see how his story would prove anything, but she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Starfleet had no right to claim the sphere if it belonged to Bri’ix’s people. She ordered the shuttle Hanging Gardens to escort Bri’ix and his ship to the Prairie Region.

 

            Chief Science Officer Gailard Hughes was in the Prairie Region. He had just been informed that the Hanging Gardens would be coming along with an alien ship. He collected three of the red stones and scanned them again. He could not explain their inner glow, nor how they could be used to summon spirits, as Sekoba told him of the alien’s claims.

            Then he saw the alien ship and the shuttlecraft arriving. As the alien ship got nearer, the stones started vibrating. The ship got closer. The stones started levitating. He yelled for Ensign J’Datek, his Klingon science officer, to come see this. The rest of his team were scattered elsewhere in the region. They were both mesmerized as the stones floated above their heads and stayed right there in mid air. Then Hughes saw something. It seemed to be floating on the other side of the stones. It looked like a lizard. A Gorn? No. It had a much longer face, like a crocodile. It was transparent, like a ghost. He asked J’Datek if he saw it. Yes, he saw it too. So it's real. A real transparent crocodile? Maybe it was a hologram. He tapped his communicator badge and hailed the shuttle.

            Lt. Kuiper aboard the Hanging Gardens said he also saw the image. The alien Bri’ix had just told him, over ship-to-ship comms, that it was one of their gods. The image was activated by the stones receiving radiant energy from the electromagnetic waves from his ship. The shuttle’s sensors and Hughes’s tricorder did not pick up any readings from the image, holographic or otherwise. Hughes wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a real god or an image of a god.

            Bri’ix and Kuiper both landed their ships. Bri’ix introduced himself to Hughes. Suddenly, the lizard image solidified and became a giant humanoid-looking reptile. Bri’ix clasped his hands and raised them above his head. Then he lowered his arms and said to the humans, “the great god will not speak in front of strangers. He wishes you all to leave our home.” Kuiper and Hughes did not see the god speak or even move. They asked how Br’ix knew what it wanted. He told them when the god appears in this form, the ter’mata, it means he is displeased. Then, just like that, the god disappeared.

            Kuiper gathered all the sensor data and said he would take his shuttle back to the Intrigue. He also picked up some of the red stones for study with the starship’s advanced computer systems. He assured Bri’ix that Starfleet would try not to anger his gods and that they would leave if they found out they were violating any cultural taboos by being here. Bri’ix seemed to understand. For now, at least.

 

            Lt. Meredith Bravo looked down the hallway of a building in the Medieval Region. The automatic lights activated immediately. The walls looked to be of stone, but they were actually some type of metal, probably an isotope of the same metal as the exterior of the sphere. She walked down the hallway, followed by Cadet Camsol. They passed several rooms. None of them had doors. They entered one. It had red carpet and reddish-orange walls. There was a structure about one meter high, with a round transparent disk. Their tricorders picked up an unusual molecular pattern in the structure. Bravo touched the structure. It felt cold and smooth. She could feel it vibrate. Camsol also touched it. He said it was like a cramfra crystal from his home planet Teeselia. His people often held the crystals and let the vibrations lull them to sleep.

            They left the room and walked further down the hall. Within one of the rooms, they saw movement. Bravo walked into the room and saw two Tzenkethi holding a large black trunk. The trunk’s lid was closed. When asked what they were doing, the Tzenkethi claimed they had every right to be there, and that they were taking samples for study. Starfleet themselves had removed objects from the sphere for study, so why not the Tzenkethi? Bravo felt that what the Tzenkethi were doing was looting, instead of just taking for study. But she did not want to cause an interstellar incident over objects on an abandoned sphere. She told them that Starfleet would be watching them. The Tzenkethi beamed up to their own shuttle with their trunk, but not before Camsol got a good tricorder scan of its contents. He said the trunk was full of the mysterious automatic lights. So this was what the captain had warned them about concerning the Tzenkethi. Commander Elatrai’s Betazoid sense had been correct.

 

            In the Franklin Dome, Commander Elatrai was just informed about the Tzenkethi that had been in the Medieval Region. Still at the meeting table, the Tzenkethi claimed they were within their rights.

            Ambassador Flarpt was dismayed. He said to Ambassador Zamarel, “You did not tell us you would be sending a shuttle to explore this sphere.”

            The Tzenkethi ambassador answered, “We were merely collecting data. The Starfleet report was much too modest. We needed our own samples for research.”

            Flarpt said, “Then we will be sending our own scout ship!”

            “We will be monitoring everything that goes in or out. But certainly study as much as you want,” Elatrai said.

            “We should make it a joint effort,” Chevalier said. “We can send teams to different regions and report findings to each of our governments.”

            “But we will not be sharing our latinum with you,” Flarpt said.

            Elatrai said, “Please do not try to sell anything from the sphere until we have done more research. Especially now with someone claiming to be its owner.” Flarpt went on to say there could be no harm in selling several of the objects that he read about in Starfleet’s report. And the sphere was so big, who would miss a few things? Chevalier tried to explain that there was still a lot of scientific knowledge that could be gained, and that’s where the focus should be for now. Flarpt also mentioned the unstable star, and that they should remove whatever was valuable now, in case the star couldn’t be saved. Elatrai knew that the star was also an issue that Starfleet was working on.

 

            Bri’ix had beamed over to the Intrigue for a face-to-face meeting with the captain. She asked him where were the rest of his people. He said they had made a home for themselves in another galaxy. The sphere, B’anrt’xim, had signaled his people that it had been discovered by outsiders. So he was sent to warn the outsiders away. It had taken him years to get here. He said his god was happy with them on their new home. The captain tried to learn more about how the sphere was constructed. Bri’ix was reluctant to tell her. He said it was too advanced for her to understand. She could appreciate that he was from a more advanced species and that they would have their own Prime Directive about giving technology to a less advanced species.

            She took him to the science lab where they were studying the red stones. He saw the stones lying on a table. He moved the stones on the table into a circular configuration. He waved his hands over them. Then, floating above the stones, the same lizard-god image appeared, only this time it was much smaller. The image still did not move or speak. Then, Bri’ix crossed his hands in front of his chest and the image disappeared. “I must return to my ship,” he said. “Is something wrong?” Sekoba asked him. He said nothing. A light overtook him and he disappeared. He had transported back to his ship.

 

            The away team and everyone else in the dome had beamed back to their respective ships. They would continue the negotiations later. Commander Elatrai was back at her station on the bridge, in the chair to the captain’s right. She said the Ferengi just wanted to sell everything in the sphere. The Tzenkethi said the sphere could be weaponized by Starfleet. It could be used to imprison enemies. Whole races could be trapped inside. Elatrai and Sekoba knew Starfleet would never do that, but they did see the possibilities if someone else controlled it. It only had one opening. The opening wasn’t large enough to get a planet through, but what if the opening could be enlarged? The sphere did not have its own propulsion system, but what if scientists and engineers could find a way to move it, perhaps at warp speed? Imagine how it could be used as a great starship or a generational ship.

            Elatrai’s thoughts were interrupted by Ensign V’sek reporting that Bri’ix’s ship was powering up. Sekoba ordered the visual to be put onscreen. There was a large magnetic energy flux coming from the ship. And it was moving on a course toward the Jenolan, the star at the center of the sphere. Sekoba ordered V’Sek to hail the alien ship. The hail was unanswered. V’Sek said the energy buildup was strong enough to destroy the Jenolan Star, which would cause a catastrophic radiation wave that would eventually destroy the Montgomery Sphere.

            Then, something else happened. The Tzenkethi scout ship headed in the direction of the alien ship. The Intrigue tried to hail the scout ship, but there was no answer. Just as the Intrigue hailed the Tzenkethi cruiser, the scout ship crashed into Bri’ix’s ship, destroying both ships. The Tzenkethi ambassador appeared on the viewscreen of the Intrigue. Ambassador Zamarel said when his ship detected Bri’ix’s ship and what it was about to do, he could not let it happen. Firing their weapons would not have been enough to stop the ship. He sacrificed his scout ship to save the star and the sphere. The Tzenkethi were not concerned that they had also just saved the Ferengi and the Starfleet ships. They simply wanted the Dyson sphere to remain intact. Logical, thought Sekoba, in a Tzenkethi sort of way.

Chief science officer Lt. Hughes and chief engineer Lt. Bravo studied a piece of the engine from Bri’ix’s destroyed ship and came up with an idea to stabilize the Jenolan Star. Just before the ship exploded, it had an energy signature that could be inverted to resonate on the frequency of the star’s radiation. They could reignite the engine under controlled conditions to recreate the energy signature. Once they had the correct resonance frequency, the Intrigue’s deflector dish could be set for that frequency and aimed at the star. The problem was the Intrigue by itself couldn’t produce the required volume. They would need the Ferengi ship and the Tzenkethi ship to emit the same frequency. The engineers of both ships were able to rig their own “deflector dish” in order to aid the Starfleet ship. After several hours of prep, they were ready.

 

            Commander Elatrai sat in one of the chairs in front of Captain Sekoba’s desk in her Ready Room. Elatrai was drinking a cup of Vulcan mint tea. Sekoba had introduced her to it, and she thought it was wonderful. She didn’t know why humans tended to turn their noses up at it. The commander said, “The Jenolan Star has been stabilized.”

            “Excellent,” said the captain.

Elatrai continued, “Debris from Bri’ix’s ship contained similar matter to that found in the outer hull of the sphere. So Starfleet Command is satisfied that it was his people that built the sphere.” Sekoba said, “Was there any concrete evidence of the ‘god’ that Bri’ix spoke of?”      Elatrai said they were not able to make the red stones produce the lizard image again. The best they could determine was that the images were holograms. Kalta Neved, the ship’s anthropologist, said that many races worshiped images of beings that may have been real in the past. The image became such an icon that it became all the people had left. That could have been the case here.

            Elatrai still found it shocking that Bri’ix was willing to kill himself and everyone else just to keep them from having the sphere. Were his religious beliefs that strong, or was there something in the sphere he didn’t want them to find? Maybe someday they would know.

            Elatrai said the negotiations had ended with the Tzenkethi and the Ferengi being allowed to study the Montgomery Sphere, along with Starfleet, and all parties would regularly share their findings with each other. They could temporarily bring objects to their ships for more in-depth study, but all objects had to be returned to the sphere. The Ferengi agreed to those terms, but wanted a chance to renegotiate later. Elatrai knew Starfleet would never allow them to sell anything from the sphere, but she left it open for now.

            The Tzenkethi Coalition, the Ferengi Alliance, and Starfleet Command were sending one additional ship each to remain stationed in the sphere to do continuous research. Once the other Starfleet ship arrived, the Intrigue would be leaving for her next assignment. Both the captain and commander were pleased with the outcome of the mission. The three polities had worked together to stabilize the star. It was something that was completely unexpected, but a good sign for future relations. This was indeed a momentous occasion.

           

-by the Honorable Kavura

Thank you for reading my Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log mission report. Captain’s Log is a solo role-playing game by Modiphius Entertainment.