S01 E09: USS Intrigue: Zoo Topia

 

S01 E09: USS Intrigue: Zoo Topia

 

(This adventure was inspired by the Space Megafauna Mission Brief entitled “Zoo Hypothesis”.)

First Officer’s Log. Stardate 45136.7. Commander Nyri Elatrai of the USS Intrigue reporting. We have received an urgent distress call from scientists at an observation post near Magentis III, a gas giant whose ring system forms a unique ecosystem for spaceborne, silicon-based life-forms.

            “Approaching Magentis III,” said helm officer Lt. Myers Kuiper.

            “Standard orbit,” ordered Captain Sekoba.

            Commander Elatrai, the ship’s first officer, stared at the gas giant. The red and blue gases swirled in concentric circles, like stirring a giant margarita. The giant rings around the planet were the widest she had ever seen; wide enough to hold fifty Galaxy class starships side by side, and about twenty-five stacked on top of each other.

            “Sir, we are receiving a hail from a Dr. Auvean,” said Ensign V’Sek at ops.

            “Onscreen,” the captain ordered.

            “This is Dr. Auvean; head of the Magentis Research Laboratory.”

            “This is Captain Sekoba of the USS Intrigue. We came in response to your distress call.”

            “Captain, our observation post studies the creatures that inhabit the planetary ring system. We have tagged all the creatures so we can keep tabs on them. Four of our specimens have disappeared in the last month. No trace. Nothing on our sensors.”

            The captain said, “Doctor, is it possible the missing specimens have died? Or were possibly consumed by some of the other specimens?”

            “Our tags would still be able to let us know if that happened.”

            Commander Elatrai said, “Doctor, could they have left the planetary rings? Would you still be able to detect them if they did?”

            “All of the creatures that live here are dependent on the rings. The rings are their natural habitat. They would die if they left. And yes, we would still be able to detect them if they did happen to leave.”

            Sekoba said, “We will do everything we can to assist you. To start with, we must run our own scans of the area. Please send us your records of your specimens and their tags.”

            “Yes. Yes. Of course. Transmitting now.”

            “And doctor,” Elatrai said, “would you mind if we had a look around your lab? It might give us some clues to help you.”

            “Certainly. We are at your disposal.” The transmission ended. V’Sek reported receiving the requested data from the observation post, including the coordinates to beam an away team over. The captain told V’Sek to let Auvean know they would beam an away team over in one hour. Next, she ordered her chief science officer and her zoologist to study the lab’s data. Then she ordered eight sensor buoys to be sent to different areas of the rings. She also ordered ship’s sensors to scan the rings and the surrounding area. They had to be sure that nothing was missed. The Intrigue had advanced sensor suites that may pick up something the lab’s sensors could not.

 

            S’Rotex, the ship’s Vulcan space zoologist, pulled up the data from Dr. Auvean. He had always wanted to visit Magentis III. Its unique environment was home to some of the most fascinating species in the galaxy. The planet was a gas giant that was not capable of sustaining any kind of known life. But the rings around the planet were teaming with silicon-based life forms. The rings were referred to by zoologists as the Magentis Nature Reserve. It was home to over a hundred indigenous species. The most prominent was the gigantic quagrets, starfish-like creatures that fed off the minerals and ice that made up the rings.

            He read the report of the four that had disappeared. One quagret, one dhochok (similar to a le-matya on Vulcan), one ch’kagron whale, and one brovaniy (similar to an earth horse). No two the same, all large, and all predatory. It did not seem like the animals were taken randomly.

 

            The sensor buoys relayed their readings to the Intrigue’s sensor suites. Ensign Indam monitored the readings. The inner rings were gaseous, mostly methane. The outer rings had more ice and rocks. The size of the rocks varied from point oh three millimeters to twenty thousand kilometers. This was the largest planetary ring system in the galaxy. The various rocks and minerals supported thousands of living creatures. It was like a jungle, or perhaps an ocean, teaming with so many different life forms, some predatory, some not.

            So far, all the readings were within normal parameters according to the records of this ring system. Indam remembered once reading about a humanoid city that was built on a ring system. It was somewhere in the Beta quadrant. That must have been a feat to build. As an engineer, Indam would love to have an opportunity to do something like that. She had joined Starfleet in hopes of getting some great opportunities. As the only Cardassian in Starfleet, she felt she had done her people proud so far.

            Then she saw a blip on the screen. Buoy 7-Z had picked up something anomalous. It was a quantum tachyon field. She checked the readings again. No mistake. She called chief engineer Lt. Gailard Hughes to have a look at it. Huges was in his office. He told her to send it through.

            Lt. Hughes looked at the tachyon readings. He had already seen the records on the ring system and its inhabitants. There was nothing there that could cause those kinds of readings. He sent commands from his console directly to the buoy. He told it to run a molecular scan. Then a scan of the EM band. He just wanted to see if anything else could be there. The readings kept changing as the animals that lived there kept passing by. The sensors had no problem filtering out the indigenous animals. Tachyon readings could be a sign of a cloaked ship or some kind of time travel or a transporter. But then the buoy started getting more readings. There was a subspace field with a higher than normal energy variance. There were no naturally occurring elements in the rings that would cause that. He had seen enough. Now it was time to report his findings to the captain.

            Captain Sekoba was on the bridge when Lt. Hughes hailed her from engineering. He told her what he had found. She ordered a visual to be sent to the main viewscreen on the bridge. Hughes sent the visual then headed up to the bridge. Sekoba could see an anomaly in the rings. It looked like a visual distortion, an area with uneven waves of light. When Hughes made it to the bridge, he recommended the ship move to the area of the anomaly. The area was close enough that they couldn’t use warp speed to get there, but it was far enough away that it would take eighteen hours at full impulse. Sekoba ordered the pilot to take them there.

 

            When they arrived at the point of the anomaly, the ship’s advanced sensor suite picked up a strong subspace dilation. Lt. Hughes said it had an inertial core rotation that suggested it was caused by artificial technology. Not only that, but it was very unstable. Commander Elatrai asked if it could be the cause of the animals’ disappearances. Hughes said it was highly likely. Ensign V’Sek at ops reported that sensors showed the anomaly was an artificial quantum portal. Then Hughes said he had read theories about creating a quantum tunneling terminal. It would have the kind of subspace dilation and inertial core rotation as this anomaly. But as far as he knew, the idea was experimental. Chief Engineer Lt. Meredith Bravo said if such a thing could be built, it would be wildly unstable. There was no way to make the core rotation steady. And the tachyon emissions would fluctuate too much to regulate the subspace field.

            “So you are saying,” said Commander Elatrai, “that what we are looking at might not be there for long.”

            “That is correct,” said Lt. Bravo.

            Captain Sekoba said, “Is there any way to know for sure that the anomaly is the cause of the animals’ disappearances?”

            “Not from here,” said Bravo. “The subspace field distortion would erase any trace of sensor readings of the animals.”

            “If it is a portal,” said Hughes, “the animals may have gone through it. It is large enough that our ship or a shuttle could go through it and search for the animals.”

            “But that would be very risky. And there’s no way to know if we could get back,” said Bravo.

            “There is another issue,” said V’Sek. “There is a subspace tear around the anomaly. The tear is growing in size. The rate of growth is miniscule for now, but it needs to be contained or it could eventually consume the rings, the animals, and the gas giant.”

            “Ensign V’Sek,” said the captain, “send a class one probe into the anomaly.”

            The ensign prepared and launched the probe. He also announced that in the few minutes they had been talking, the readings had not changed, meaning that the anomaly was stable, at least for now. The captain took it under advisement.

            Then V’Sek said he was getting readings back from the probe. The probe was in a large area that had many different species. None of the species were recognized by the Federation database. And the probe did not detect the animals that had disappeared. The captain asked for the coordinates for the location of the probe. V’Sek said that was unknown.

            Captain Sekoba said she would send a runabout with a small crew through the anomaly to search for the animals. Then Bravo gave the captain one other important piece of information. She said the readings from the probe showed the portal entrance to be unstable. The probe went through because it had found a small pocket of zero turbulence. A runabout would not make it through in one piece because the turbulence would tear it apart. However, the Intrigue could possibly get through because its inertial dampers would hold it together. Sekoba said the runabouts also had inertial dampers. Bravo said the runabouts couldn’t produce enough power to the dampers for the amount of turbulence in the anomaly, but the Intrigue could. What about saucer separation and just sending part of the ship through? No good, said Bravo. Same problem as with the runabout. It would be too small to generate enough power to the inertial dampers.

            Then the bridge crew had a discussion about whether they should risk the ship for a few animals. First, if nothing was done, more animals may go through the portal. The rings had their own ecological system that could be thrown off. Second, all life was important. Third, exploration was part of the ship’s mission profile. How could they turn away from this chance? It was risky, but there were always risks in space, and this ship had the best chance of making it safely through the portal and bringing back the animals. Fourth, the answer to whatever caused the portal was probably on the other side. So the decision was made. The ship went through the portal.

/--------------------------------------------/

            The giant space tardigrade spat some kind of venom at its enemy. Its enemy, a creature that looked like a space dragon, breathed fire at the tardigrade. The tardigrade floated around the fire and attached its legs to the dragon. Commander Elatrai watched the whole scene and then shook her head. She looked around the bridge. The Intrigue was still intact.

            “Ensign V’Sek, location,” Sekoba said.

            “We appear to be inside a large…facility, captain. Larger than a starship or a starbase. As for the location of the facility, unknown.”

            “Also picking up various lifesigns, sir,” Lt. Hughes said from the science station. “Several Ferengi, Orions, Pakleds, Nausicans, and lots of other species, both familiar and unfamiliar. And several--Captain, I believe I have found three of the four missing animals. They are in separate berths. And two of them are badly injured.”

            “Captain,” said Elatrai, looking again at the tardigrade and the dragon still in their isolated battle, “I would say this is a place where they make animals fight each other for sport. See the other spaceships around? I bet they are watching the spectacle in front of us. Maybe even placing bets on them.”

            Judging by the information available, the captain agreed.

            “Captain, a force field has just been erected around the ship. We’re trapped” said Ensign V’Sek.

            The captain ordered V’Sek to scan the other ships and see if they were trapped as well. He said some appeared to have locked thrusters as if they were docked. While others did appear to be trapped.

            Then a small ship appeared in front of them and hailed them. The visage of a Ferengi appeared on the main viewscreen.

            “I am Ringmaster Smeenk,” the Ferengi bellowed. He was wearing about ten gold necklaces and rings, and an ornate bright green suit with silver trim and gold flecks. “Welcome to my arena. I am now transmitting my dossier. You can bet on the upcoming fights. You may also request whatever fights you want from the list of animal gladiators. You will be given the forms to place your bets. If you don’t go to a betting bay and place a bet within two hours, you will be sent home. Good day.” The image disappeared, along with the ship.

            “His dossier has been received, captain. In case you were interested,” said Ensign V’Sek.

            “Indeed,” said Sekoba.

            “Captain,” Hughes said, “This Ringmaster Smeenk is kidnapping animals and making them fight against their will. We can’t let him keep doing this.”

            “We will do what we can, Lieutenant,” Sekoba said. “V’Sek, transmit the dossier and other info to Lt. Chevalier, Kalta Neved, and S’Rotex for research. Tell them they have one hour to give me their recommendations. Hughes and Bravo, keep scanning the area. Look for ways to free the animals and get out of here. Also find the location of this place so we can report to Starfleet Command and have it shut down. I will be in my Ready Room.”

 

            One hour later, they were meeting in the observation lounge. Lt. Hughes said, “This whole area is a giant spaceship. The largest I’ve ever seen. It was built from some type of tritanium alloy and other unknown substances. I think it’s from outside our galaxy. And it could be thousands of years old. It’s hard to say because the force field prevents us from moving. And the probe we sent in was destroyed.”

            “Anything else on Smeenk or anyone else here?”

            “Smeenk used to be a Daimon in the Ferengi Alliance,” said Elatrai. “He disappeared without a trace two years ago. He tied up all his affairs before he left. He had no family, so no one went searching for him. As for other people here, we were able to identify a Pakled prince named Jelmelgradon. He’s still known to be heir to the throne of the Pakled planet Melgomakin. We’ve also identified a few other Orions and humans suspected of being in the Orion Syndicate. And many others unidentified, not Federation citizens. As far as the animals, there’s the three we told you that disappeared from Magentis. Still haven’t found the fourth. It was probably killed in one of the fights. Some of the other animals have been identified as being part of large herds of spaceborne creatures. None have been reported missing, since no Federation world has ever kept count of them. But we’re pretty sure they were captured and brought here.”

            Sekoba said, “And does anyone have any ideas how to shut down this operation and free the animals and return them to their homes?”

            “Sir,” Lt. Bravo said, “this ship seems to have a working life support system. If we could find its main control room, maybe we could shut down all the force fields around us and the animals. And it should also provide a way to control the portal that brought us here. They probably have multiple portals going to different parts of the galaxy. We should be able to use it to send all the animals back.”

            “An excellent idea,” said Sekoba. “So the first step is to find the ship’s control room. How do you recommend we do that?”

            Kalta Neved said, “I say we strike a deal with the Ferengi. He is obviously the one who controls the ship. I can pretend to be a wealthy entrepreneur. I can entice him into showing me around the ship. You know male Ferengis always have a thing for humanoid fee-males.”

            “Kalta,” said the captain, “you are a civilian. And that plan puts you at significant risk. I can ask one of my Starfleet crewmembers to assume the risk.”

            “But I’m the one who’s best at acting. And pushing a Ferengi’s buttons,” Kalta retorted. “I have the best chance at succeeding.”

            Commander Elatrai said, “We need to do something soon, captain. I can sense the thoughts of many of the animals and the humanoids here. The animals are confused, scared, and angry. They don’t know how or why they are here. And some of them have been given drugs to make them fight. And the people who are here to place bets and watch them fight—they don’t care. They don’t care at all about the pain they are causing these poor animals.” The captain knew that Elatrai’s Betazoid telepathy was strong.

            “I have another suggestion,” Lt. Chevelier, the Chief Diplomatic Officer, said. “Smeenk’s record indicates he likes fast ships. Since Commander Elatrai is a pilot, maybe she could do a better job of enticing him. She may have a chance to show off her skills and impress him.”

            “An interesting idea,” said the captain.

            Elatrai smirked. “Me? I’m game. I just hope he likes fast ships more than he likes fast women.”

            “It is a shame,” said Sekoba, “that Betazoids cannot read the minds of Ferengis. However, I am sure you can…persuade him.”

            Kalta said, “Oh, darn. I so wanted to be the one to give him oomox.” She smiled at Elatrai. The commander’s response was, “just keep that in mind if something happens to me.”

 

            Ensign V’Sek sent a message to Ringmaster Smeenk’s ship, using the frequency from Smeenk’s communique. The message said that “Mistress Nyri” wished to speak with him about sponsoring one of the animals. The info Smeenk had sent to the Intrigue made mention of sponsors for the animals. “Mistress Nyri” was the assumed name of Commander Nyri Elatrai. The commander would be posing as a wealthy investor.

            It was only ten minutes before they received a response. Smeenk was anxious to meet with the mistress. And sure enough, his ship showed up five minutes later. They gave him the coordinates, and Nyri was beamed over to Smeenk’s ship.

            Smeenk looked cautiously, then wantingly, at Mistress Nyri. She was a tall brunette wearing a sparkly red jumpsuit, which clung to her figure like a Zonanr face-hugger over a human’s eyes. He knew she was Betazoid, but that didn’t bother him. She couldn’t read his mind, and his minions wore telepathic blocking devices.

            Nyri looked around. It was a small ship. Probably just used for transport, not living quarters. It was dimly lit. She saw two other men: Nausicans with sidearms. Smeenk’s body guards.

            “Oh, my!” said Smeenk. “I’ve always said Betazoid fee-males are the most alluring in the galaxy.”

            “And I have to admit,” said Nyri, “Ferengis always know how to make a woman feel special.”

            Though he did look interested, he wanted to discuss business first. So, getting down to business, she offered him fifty bricks of latinum for his fighting Poshstinji ape.

            “My ape is worth four times that much!” Smeenk bellowed.

            “Hardly,” said Nyri. “It lost that match with the Brogalian worm. And got injured by the Smender lizard. I’m doing you a favor.”

            “Listen, lady,” the Ferengi said. “The ape doesn’t go for less than two hundred bricks.”

            “One hundred bricks, and I throw in another offer.” She sat on his desk and stroked his right ear lobe.

            “Uhhh. What offer?”

            “I’ll take you for a ride in my corvette.” Chief Engineer Bravo had reconfigured the warp drive on the runabout Golden Hind for warp nine, sustainable for about ten minutes. She had also quickly given it a new snazzy paint job.

            The Ferengi was intrigued. They both flirted for a few more minutes, shared some Ferengi ale, then went back to the ship’s control center.

            After a brief communique, they were on the Golden Hind. Smeenk didn’t seem to care where it came from, or even notice that Intrigue was a Starfleet ship. Nyri took the pilot’s seat and told him to buckle in. She asked him where was the best area of open space to go at superfast speeds. He gave her the coordinates, and they were off.

            Commander Nyri Elatrai was enjoying the ride while trying to watch the sensors. Before going to warp speed, she had noticed more large animals and a few more ships. It was hard to believe that everything was encased inside a much larger spaceship. She asked Smeenk where he got the ship. He said he found it abandoned at the edge of the Delta quadrant. He had discovered quite by accident that it could produce the quantum tunneling terminals to anywhere he wanted. So, like a good Ferengi, he put it to good use. Profit. But weren’t the terminals unstable, Nyri asked while she was piloting. He said they could be stabilized for short periods of time at massive energy costs. But he still made unimaginable profits.

 

            Kalta had beamed over to one of the “betting bays”. She struck up a conversation with a Tellarite. He said his name was Triv. He was making bets on behalf of his employer, a wealthy Ferengi named Brask. She asked him about Smeenk and the others who help him run this giant zoo. He said Smeenk had five Ferengi business men working for him. They kept the betting bays open all the time. There was one in each section of the large facility/ship. Each section also had one arena. He showed her a map. Kalta thanked him, and he went about his business. When she looked at the map, she noticed it had the bays, arenas, restaurants, and hotels, but not where the animals were kept, nor did it show anything about the large ship they were on. It did not show the ship’s engineering or bridge. But she did have enough to report to Captain Sekoba.

 

            Nyri had been gradually increasing speed. When they made it to warp nine, Smeenk whooped, leaned back in his chair, and started laughing. Then they slowed to warp seven, and he said, “That was fun! Turn around and do it again!” Nyri steadily decreased speed and said, “You know what I would love to do?” She reached over and stroked his ear lobe. “I would love to see the command center of this giant ship.”

            “The command center?”

            “Ships are sort of my hobby. I’ll bet the command center is state-of-the-art. Surely if you own it, it must be the best in the galaxy.”

            “Uhh. It is!” He gave her the coordinates, and she programmed them into the helm. Due to the vastness of the ship and the fact that their route was too crowded for them to continue at warp speed, they had to slow down to impulse speed. It took an hour and a half to get to the command center. Nyri tried to take everything in that she saw along the way. More ships, animals, arenas. A few respites, sections with lodging. Smeenk had his own secret city here. All based on a highly illegal business. Well, illegal by Federation terms. There could be Orion worlds where the same type of business thrived, though on a much smaller scale, she presumed.

            They made it to the command center and beamed over. Smeenk had several workers to keep it operational. Nyri counted ten people. Perfect! She thought. While Smeenk was distracted talking to one of his workers, she tapped her badge. Suddenly, five Starfleet officers with phasers beamed in. Nyri drew her own phaser from her boot.

            “I am Commander Nyri Elatrai of the Federation Starship Ingrigue. We are taking control of your operation, Ringmaster Smeenk,” Elatrai said.

            Smeenk turned and looked at her. “What?! You can’t!”

            “Yes, we can. What you’re doing here is illegal. All of you move to that corner.” They all did as she said while the Starfleet security team took them into custody.

            “I have a whole team of operations. You can’t arrest all of them.”

            Elatrai told him, “While you and I were on our joy ride, more of the Inrigue’s crew were talking to your people and gathering intel. And two runabouts were following us that you didn’t even notice. Our other five runabouts were sent to different locations in this vast ship arresting more of your people. The only other thing we needed was to find your command center so we could send all the animals back to their homes.”

            Smeenk was still yelling as the Starfleet transporter beam took him away,”You can’t do this!! Nooo!!”

 

            Dr. Auvean shook Elatrai’s hand. “Thank you, Commander,” he said.

            “I’m just sorry we only found three of the four missing animals.”

            “I know you did your best. What will happen to the large ship?”

            Elatrai said, “Starfleet Intelligence wants to study it to learn more about its origin. Beyond that, we don’t know. But the quantum tunnels it created were causing subspace rifts. All the areas where there had been a tunnel will have to be flooded with a barion beam to repair the subspace ruptures. So the quantum tunnels will not be used again. It’s really too bad. They would have been a great way to travel long distances.”

            “I’m just glad you shut down that business. We try to keep these animals as safe as possible. We hate to see people interfering and using animals for personal gain.”

“Starfleet values the importance of all life,” said Commander Elatrai. “Maintaining healthy animal populations within ecosystems is crucial for biodiversity and environmental balance.”

Elatrai assured Dr. Auveen that Smeenk and all his workers and customers had been arrested. He thanked her again. Then she watched the outpost viewscreen as three of the large “starfish” floated by. “Are they aware of us?” she asked. “Oh, yes,” the doctor said. “That formation and the movement of their bodies is their way of showing gratitude to us!”

How beautiful, she thought. The commander smiled and waved back at them.

 

-by the Honorable Kavura, 1/6/25

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.