Casting Shadows

Two months ago, we launched a series of Actual Play videos on YouTube covering all aspects of play for a Star Trek Adventures campaign. That campaign, called First Response, is now in the middle of its second ‘Adventure’ and has videos revealing its Session 0, character creation, reactions to play, GM and player advice, and 6 videos covering the play sessions held so far.

Star Trek Adventures is a 2d20 game from Modiphius that uses the conceit that play is to feel like an episode of a Star Trek series and many of its mechanisms feed into that conceit. Three strong elements that assist with the creation of this feel are the Momentum/Threat pools, the focus on framing distinct scenes in specific moments of time with specific characters, and the use of troupe play to populate the ship with Supporting Characters the players create and play when their Main Characters are involved with something else or seem less appropriate to interacting directly with the events of a given scene.

For reasons that I completely understand, without a compelling reason to watch an Actual Play video of an RPG, our natural interest in characters and/or the events of play can be left unsatisfied because we just cannot, or at least do not, watch. While many do watch these for learning purposes, for reference, for the purpose of comparison, or simply for entertainment, just as many never even glance at how other people play. Some among those, however, will still be curious about what happened in the game. For those people and others, as well as for archival purposes, I will recap the events of The Nature of Threat, the pilot episode of our Star Trek Adventures: First Response campaign.

What follows below is a brief summary of the events with some cues as to the developing characteristics and character of the characters, but for the juicy, funny, and enigmatic roleplaying parts, you will need to watch the sessions: Pilot – Part A Part B Part C Part D

Main Characters

Acting Captain T’lyak, a Commander in Starfleet and newly appointed CO of the USS Avicenna, a former destroyer in the process of an overdue refit for duty as a ship in a newly-formed crisis response flotilla. T’lyak is a Vulcan quite taken with human philosophical thought, particularly stoicism, who through a series of unfortunate events had to take command from the captain, Commander Stein Anders, to save the crew, and as a result of that action and the investigation into the actions of Anders, has been reassigned from his post as the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Avicenna to being the provisional CO responsible for overseeing the refit.

A question this character raises for me is, if he were a human, would the promotion be provisional?

Security Chief Korsakov, a Lieutenant in Starfleet and an experienced member of the Avicenna’s crew from back when it was still the USS Dauntless. Korsakov has had a storied career which has caused him to grow from a purely military outlook to one which has him expanding his knowledge through question and study to address the situations he has encountered in the past. Korsakov is one of the few survivors of an encounter that left part of the command crew, including the original captain of the Dauntless/Avicenna – Stein Anders – dead or insane. In his possession is an alien device which may be the root cause of that encounter.

A question this character raises for me is, what truly motivates the Chief of Security, is it altruism, self-interest, or some curious interplay of both?

Flight Controller Yang, bold as brass with highly-honed piloting skills for large and small craft, this newly-assigned Ensign is a fresh face aboard the Avicenna. Yang comes from a family well-placed in politics and Starfleet, but has kept these ties to himself. As a new and untried officer aboard a small ship with the potential for such dangerous assignments, Yang seems to fear only one thing – the transporter.

A question this character raises for me is, to what degree is Starfleet a calling and a home to this talented young ensign, and to what degree it is just a stepping stone to other pursuits?

Context

The campaign is being imagined as a new Star Trek show set to run on Thursday nights at 7pm with a launch date for its pilot episode being September 9th, 1970.

After the devastating loss of the Gamma 7A system and the Vulcan-crewed Federation Science Vessel Intrepid sent to investigate the sudden loss of communication from the system, a growing awareness began to spread inside Starfleet that a new service would need to be created that would be able to respond to threats of this type and on this scale. Despite the obvious need, debate raged in the halls of power of the Federation as costs and resources were assessed and turned to political advantage. Finally, under an alliance brokered by several Earth and Vulcan ambassadors between their planetary governments and those of the Andorians, the Deltans, and the Medusans, sufficient votes were gained to push the Gamma-Intrepid Bill beyond the stages of theoretical and ethical debate to the birth of a new service: Aid & Relief, known more commonly as Crisis Response. While new ships designed for the rigors of what would lay ahead were commissioned, Starfleet pulled older ships – particularly aging warships – and rushed through refits and partial refits to meet the need. The benefit to them was twofold. First, it allowed the more modern front-line ships to focus on serving their intended duty of exploration while maintaining readiness to respond quickly against the growing tensions in hot spots such as the Romulan and Klingon neutral zones. Second, it improved the image of Starfleet in one swift action.

The USS Avicenna has been operating in a defensive support role for the Aid and Relief / Crisis Response duty assignment for nearly a year under her new name, but following a hushed-up incident involving the death or disabling of several key members of her crew, is in spacedock for a long overdue refit to complete the shift to her new role. Formerly her duty assignment was as a destroyer under the name USS Dauntless. She served honorably and well for a small number of captains, most recently and most notably under Commander Stein Anders. Part of the last round of ships reassigned as a result of the Daimler-Ang Procurement Accord, several aging destroyers of the Alaric subclass were rescued from threat of decommissioning following the sudden implementation of the Organian Peace Treaty.

When the campaign launches, the ship has barely begun its refit and is more the ship of war it was than the first response vessel it is to become. It has a human crew of 180 with but two exceptions, T’lyak and his replacement as CMO, Ishryth th’Chjyem [J’im] an Andorian on loan via an exchange program to help strengthen cross-cultural and cross-service ties within the new service.

Scene 1: The crew receives a communiqué from Starfleet confirming T’lyak as the Acting Captain with orders to depart spacedock and make best-possible speed to rendezvous with the USS Potemkin at a Federation Outpost on the planet Xenon 5 near two problematic borders: the Romulan Neutral Zone and the (relatively) newly discovered and diplomatically unclear demarcation line between the Federation and the Gorn Hegemony. The outpost of 500 personnel has been hit by earthquakes and is in need of assistance. The Avicenna is being assigned as protection and support for the Potemkin – a hospital ship not long out of refit herself and renamed after the famed virologist, Jamal Jose Potemkin from the early crisis years of the Mars colonies.

In preparation for this unexpected departure, the CO requests a report from the Flight Controller, Ensign Yang, to confirm Starfleet’s belief that the ship is operational. Inundated with reports, requests, complaints, and advisements, and feeling the pressure of the CO’s eyes on his back, the ensign is unable to accurately sort through all the data, but is left feeling like the ship is indeed operational though some systems clearly need attention. This incomplete report would come back to haunt the crew later.

Although Lt. Korsakov could not hide his enthusiasm for getting underway and breaking in a new ensign, there was no disguising the looks which crossed the bridge as the orders were received. Recognizing the uncertainty in the crew with the new state of command and with the notion of a Vulcan being in command of an Earth vessel and with an Andorian now responsible for medical operations, Commander T’lyak, as Acting Captain of the Avicenna, takes matters into his own hands and instructs the Communications Officer, Anya Smith, to open intercoms so he may address the entire crew.

So effective was this speech, that the crew immediately took it on board as a point of pride that they were among the first to be living the rhetoric of Starfleet. [Create Advantage: Normalized Alien Starfleet Crew; reduces Difficulty to diffuse tension and resolve conflicts arise from interspecies tension and cultural misunderstanding].

T’lyak then turned his attention to Ensign Yang and through his practiced medical manner and command training, got him focused on the task, not the pressure and the young helmsman took the ship smoothly out of spacedock and on to her destination of Xenon 5. As urgency was stated in the orders, the Acting Captain called for a sustained run at Warp 6 – the maximum the engineer might recommend.

Episode Ship Traits: Uneasy Crew – generate 1 Threat in any encounter, Weapon Control Systems disconnected
[Note: If I had this scene to do over again, I would have proposed that rather than Create Advantage, a Ship Trait: Unified Crew could be created to negate Uneasy Crew as a better use of the Determination Spend which was featured in this scene.]

Scene 2: Operating with a skeleton bridge crew there has not been time to reorganize, Lt. Korsakov spearheads efficiency measures in bridge console assignments. Ruggedly-built of durable and replaceable components, the engineers working with the Security Chief act with confidence and speed in re-organizing the duty stations on the bridge. This includes specific detail to the tactical duty station with its precision targeting equipment for phasers and photon torpedoes, but due to Ensign Yang’s report clearing the Avicenna for departure, one vital item about the weapon systems is not flagged for Korsakov’s attention.

Scene 3: Arriving at Xenon 5 and moving toward the planet to enter orbit, the Avicenna immediately detects the Potemkin and questions race through the bridge crew. Why is she not in orbit? Why is she not responding to hails? Why does she seem to just be… drifting?

Quick scans reveal that there is no one aboard – the ship is deserted but fully operational. Communications remains unable to raise the ship, but does manage to break through some interference to initiate a weak connection with the stricken outpost. The earthquakes appear to be ongoing as the connection is broken by the collapsing state of the room visible behind the speaker from the outpost, but his chilling question hangs hauntingly in the safe environment of the Avicenna’s bridge. So desperate is his situation and so fragmented the communication that he is not even aware that he is not speaking with the crew of the Potemkin.

Potemkin! Why did you do it? You’ve killed us all!

Location Trait: Energy Discharges raise Difficulty of Transport, Scans, and Communications

Scene 4: Wasting no time, T’lyak issues orders to ready shuttles, assemble Landing Parties, and conduct detailed scans of landing zones for shuttles and stable beaming sites for transporters. The outpost has five surface levels and as least as many below the surface, the depth of which could cause additional interference with transporter locks beyond that of the energy discharge interference (first from the outpost’s reactors, and later from the planet). He once again stirs the crew with reminders of their mission and his intention to see to it that the wounded are removed from danger and given the care that they need.

Lt. Korsakov requests permission to inspect the shuttles and once he arrives at the lower access point on Deck 8, finds the Andorian Medical Chief is performing a tangential duty by inspecting the medical treatment options available on each shuttle. The intense medico is managing an obvious temper to refrain from berating a member of the engineering crew assigned to shuttle maintenance. The problem the CMO has identified is that only two of the three shuttles berthed in the newly expanded shuttle bay are operational and cleared for use. The one that is not operational is the one that would be the most effective in dealing with time-sensitive cases. The new bay houses two Type 4 shuttlecraft (Febris, Salk) and a newly-designed and low-warp capable medical launch (Fontana). The engineer tries to explain that the shuttle was newly assembled and delivered to the Avicenna and nothing aboard has been configured or prepared for operations given that until a short time ago the Avicenna was moored in spacedock for an extensive refit. The Andorian, focused on the practical, simply grates, “If it doesn’t fly, why is it here?”

Offering to relieve the CMO of this futile duty, Korsakov notes himself still struggling with the changes in the chain of command aboard the Avicenna. As the Acting Captain’s orders summon the crew into rapid activity, the Security Chief organizes the flight engineers to handle two tasks, strip the Fontana of any useful equipment it may be carrying to augment the older shuttles’ medical facilities, and to do what can be done to get the Fontana ready for duty.

During the action of initial assessment and preparation, unnoticed at the unmanned tactical station a sensor reading showing a wave of moving particles rising from the planet below is briefly visible, before being lost in the automated cycling of the device.

Commercial Break 1 (Yes, the videos include parts of period commercials)

Scene 5: The Communications Officer Anya Smith summons off-duty officers to the bridge to fill out the duty stations which arrival in the disaster zone has made essential. Ensign M’Buto takes over the sciences station and begins a deep probe of the outpost. Disruption from the site’s reactor make scans difficult, but M’Buto is well-known for his acumen in interpreting sensor data. He briefs the Acting Captain and Ensign Yang on the way to Transporter Room 1 (Deck 3), where he issues an order for Korsakov to join them. Based on the information gleaned from M’Buto’s report, T’lyak orders a hold on shuttle launches, and instead orders two landing parties – one for the lower levels and one for the surface levels – to commence rescue operations. The risks are different but equal, and the Acting Captain has himself, Ensign Yang, and Lt. Korsakov take on the subsurface search for survivors. While the structures are more stable, the risk of being unable to get a transport lock is far greater. Working with Transporter Chief Ahearne, M’Buto establishes a stable lock (Create Advantage) on the subsurface personnel transporter pads and takes on the assignment to keep a continuous scan on that zone to ensure the lock can be held and that transport can be initiated immediately.

Korsakov banters with Yang as the three put on requisitioned phaser belts and field kits. Each kit includes tricorders with medical scanners; a lightweight collapsible travois; and a number of other small tools useful in a crisis.

The landing parties beam down…

Location Trait: Energy Discharges raise Difficulty of Transport, Scans, and Communications by 2
Added Advantage: Stable Transporter Lock on Sublevel 5 Transporter Pad reduce the Location Trait for transport by 1.

Scene 6: Materialization is somewhat slow (hinting at future problems), but the trio of characters soon finds themselves on a small transporter pad set in an alcove in a darkened corridor lit with flickering emergency lighting. The alcove is near the personnel turbo lifts to the upper levels and a number of stairwells going various places. According to tricorder scans by Ensign Yang confirming the information gleaned earlier by M’Buto, the closest group of wounded is at the end of the high-arched corridor, in the outpost’s engineering section where it is very obvious the reactor is on its way to critical failure. The young ensign also detects two others on a level below this one.

Korsakov takes point, perhaps from habit, and heads for the obviously askew doors into engineering at the end of the hall. The other two keep pace with him and after a brief hesitation, follow him through the small gap the buckling of the doors has opened, rather than expending time on opening them further.

Inside, they find a group of 5 people and can see the damage wrought on the reactor and the threat building in the room as energy discharges intermittently blast through it. Two of the five are seriously wounded and unable to move on their own. The less-injured ones in the group are doing their best to administer first aid, but being wounded themselves are finding it challenging. Also challenging will be retrieving the injured and getting them back to the safe(r) transport zone. The entry is one level up and the walkway and stairs which connect it to the lower level where the wounded are has also buckled and become untrustworthy like the doors.

Korsakov leaps down, followed by Yang, and they help the five get close to the exit where, using their collapsible stretchers and T’lyak’s vulcan strength, they manage to get everyone – including themselves – out of the room quickly and efficiently. As they race down the corridor to the pad, the force of the quakes, the weakening of the structure, and frequency of falling debris continues to escalate. Given the severity of the injuries, T’lyak decides to beam out with the five immediately. That process is even slower than for their arrival. With no room on the pad for them, Korsakov and Yang have to wait and with that wait in mind, especially given the obvious difficulty the Avicenna is having getting a stable lock, the two look for a way to get to the other two wounded they detected as quickly as possible.

Commercial Break 2

Scene 7: Korsakov and Yang choose a service stairwell, eschewing lifts and Jeffries tubes, and find that the 6th subsurface level is devoted mainly to large-scale industrial cargo. The tricorder readings are growing more and more erratic as the reactor burns itself out in engineering above them so it is a complete surprise when they force their way into a cargo bay to discover the two life signs they were seeking were just the first of hundreds. The two were on an upper catwalk of the cargo area and literal hundreds of survivors were down below.

Location Trait: Particle Wave raises Difficulty of Scans, and Communications by 1

Scene 8: As T’lyak is attempting to beam up with the wounded from the Outpost’s engineering section, on the Bridge, the Communications Officer Anya Smith, having been given the Conn by T’lyak as he left for the surface, is suddenly warned by the Science Officer, M’Buto (an experienced man but with a fresh set of ensign’s insignia on his sleeves) that a particle wave was rising up from the planet below on a collision course with the Avicenna. He might have detected it sooner, but was distracted by the need to assist with the waves of difficult transports being conducted in the rescue of wounded from the outpost – including the CO’s.

With an inexperienced young officer at the helm, evasion options seemed limited to Lt. Smith. She hesitated a moment about her options, then calmly guided the helm officer, Joanna Parker, to attempt to evade while she ordered Ensign Mondragon at tactical to raise the shields.

Ensign Parker turned the Avicenna’s forward shields into the wave as they initialized. At first it seemed like the resulting impact was force from the wave, but it later became evident it was an effect of ship systems behaving erratically as the wave easily penetrated the hull and began a deep scan. To their horror, though, the bridge crew saw an arc of impossibly intense energy lance between their shields and the surface boiling off soil, and devastating the already ravaged area around the outpost. Acting quickly, Smith ordered the shields dropped and for the helm to maintain evasive maneuvering to get out of the wave. Somehow, the wave followed their course and kept varying degrees of contact – even as they expanded their orbit out from Xenon 5 toward the point where the Potemkin lies deserted in space.

Scene 9: Before the crew can really assess the effects of the impact and scan, an urgent communication is from Starfleet Command is announced by the ensign working the communications console. Lt. Smith has it put on the main viewer and finds herself looking at a dignified older woman of some obviously well-established position in the Federation’s diplomatic corps. Both parties are concerned and confused by not being greeted by the person they expected and the transmission is terminated somewhat firmly by Anya Smith which further shocks the diplomat who reveals herself to be an Ambassador named Yang who is desperate to learn the status of her two sons.

This, on top of the emergency on the planet, the beam, and the extended silence of the CO, sets the bridge crew to whispering and distraction. Quickly responding to the potential she sees in the crew to slide back into uncertainty by the magnitude of the problems and the irregularities of the situation they are facing, and aided by the quiet but inspiringly competent and professional M’Buto, Smith restores order and establishes efficient communication between departments with the ensign at the Comm station assigned to overwatch of these interactions.

Location Trait: Particle Wave raises Difficulty of Scans, and Communications by 1
Ship Trait: Unified Crew – negates uneasy crew

Scene 10: Sick Bay Cut Scene – The Andorian CMO J’im and Vulcan Acting Captain T’lyak are seen racing against time and against the random fluctuations and shut downs of essential medical systems to save the lives of critically injured personnel from the outpost.

When a nurse, flustered by the types and amount of trauma, loses her balance as the ship bucks and lurches, dropping a tray of medical devices. The focus shifts to the effort of will it takes J’im to restrain himself from lashing out (aided by the Advantage created by T’lyak in Scene 1).

Scene 11: On the surface, Korsakov and Yang make their way down among the wounded and displaced taking refuge in the heavily reinforced cargo area deep below the surface. Looming in the gloom of the emergency lighting are the large shapes of industrial machinery and vehicles, large turbo lifts, and hundreds of scared and injured people. Korsakov is quick to spot the person in charge from among the harried-looking security and maintenance officers running about and makes his way to the older man – a lieutenant in the blue of the science and medical division.

While Korsakov establishes contact and gets the needed information to begin planning evacuation, Yang scouts the lifts, and access points to the surface while attempting to make contact with the ship. With some effort he reaches the Avicenna and alerts them to the scale of the task ahead.

With the main source of power to the outpost gone, and with the tremors increasing in strength, they are on a quickly counting clock racing toward death of one kind or another. Engineers are scrambling to gain access to auxiliary power but are bickering about how it should be employed. The Avicenna, via M’Buto, is able to inform Yang that the outpost shuttle deck is clear, but unstable and the outpost’s shuttles have been destroyed by debris.

As he makes his way back toward Korsakov, Yang is surprised by a more personal note of communication from M’Buto who informs him that his mother (Ambassador Yang) had contacted the ship inquiring about her sons… plural. Knowing that no other Yang is serving on the Avicenna, M’Buto is letting him know that his brother must have been assigned to the Potemkin and so is lost with its crew.

Reeling from that realization, Yang finds Korsakov similarly upset and exerting self-control. The older man requests the still open communicator and tries to secretly alert M’Buto to something but is too cryptic to be understood.

What had unsettled the security chief was discovery of stacks of crates and containers containing fragments and broken pieces of technology, masonry, and other artifacts of an alien culture. The design and aesthetic of those fragments were immediately recognizable as being of the same culture that had designed a complete artifact he has hidden in his quarters from the last mission of the Avicenna under her former Captain – Stein Anders.

[Flashback] Months ago, on a different world, under a different sun, in a distant sector, M’Buto (wearing the stripes of a Lieutenant Commander) and Korsakov complete an emergency beam down. In the near distance, a shuttle, the Salk, has two security personnel behind it. One dead or wounded, the other firing his phaser at a target we cannot see. Screams, yells, and phaser fire can be heard all around, but primary among those screams is a scream of babbling and hysterical madness.

In the rear of the shuttle, Captain Anders is lying on the deck. A smooth and moderately sized device of alien design rests on the deck near him. Anders heels are beating a rapid tattoo on the deck plates as his body dies. His mind is gone and the mad howl is pouring from him.

Making up his mind in an instant, Korsakov activates (some viewers may wonder if he is actually reactivating) the device. [Flashback Ends]

Both off-balance, but both professionals trained for crisis, Korsakov and Yang review their findings and reach the same conclusion – they need the Potemkin. Korsakov orders Yang to return to the Avicenna to make their report and be ready to lend his specific piloting talents to the rescue effort. Transporters alone will be insufficient to complete the evacuation in time and the most critically injured need the medical trauma aid the shuttles can provide as soon as possible. Korsakov remains to help establish order and begin the difficult process of getting the survivors to the shuttle deck.

Commercial Break 3

Scene 12: T’lyak, surgery complete and aware of a curious mental pressure assaulting his highly-trained and resistant mind (Kolinahr Talent), responds to a call to the bridge. M’Buto has been conducting extensive scans of the particle wave and as the CO steps from the turbolift the experienced ensign delivers his report. The wave is indeed a scan of immense power and complexity, and one capable of interacting with the ship’s systems, but more importantly, it would seem that the target of the scan is the intelligent life aboard the Avicenna. On a related and curious note, a reaction is taking place in Korsakov’s room that emulates the signal’s interaction with life forms, but is not sending a signal, it is receiving one.

Again, the Acting Captain does not hesitate. Ignoring a signal from Starfleet Command, but authorizing Ensign Yang’s request to beam up, T’lyak begins to issue orders. First, he assigns Anya Smith to lead a boarding party of bridge officers, medical staff, and engineers to bring the Potemkin back into the relief effort. Next, he assigns Yang to head up the launch efforts trying to get the shuttle Fontana into action while medical personnel load all three shuttles for the specific traumas which have been prevalent in those recovered by the landing parties. His main focus, however, is on dealing with the particle wave, and for that he calls on ensign M’Buto to collaborate with him on a risky effort to use the navigational deflectors as a means to isolate the Avicenna from the beam (extended task).

Scene 13: Knowing that time is critical, and being particularly sensitive to timely action, T’lyak acts daringly and quickly, dropping the standard safety precautions and theoretical double-checks. When they are certain their modifications, 30 minutes in the making, will work, they activate it. While making their adjustments, sensors reported that specific individuals on the crew were beginning to attract more and more of the beam’s scanning energy. Sporadic reports from the crew sent over to the Potemkin revealed that a similar chain of events had happened to them upon arrival, including a similar devastating blast from their shields down to the outpost below, and ending with the sudden and instantaneous disappearance of the entire crew. Speculation that the crew had been translated into energy as the end result of the scan was not investigated. Other events took precedence. The Potemkin, it turned out, had discovered that a cloaked Romulan warbird was in the system waiting for them when they arrived to aid the outpost personnel deal with the significant but normal dangers of an earthquake.

Once activated, the altered navigational deflector screens caused an immediate de0energizing effect on the particle wave which began a long, slow collapse back down to the planet, sparking a spectacular aurora effect over the outpost and its sheltering – and very artificial-seeming mountain range. It also revealed the deadly surprise the Potemkin had found.

Scene 14: The sudden collapse of the particle wave revealed, in the brightness of the resultant auroras, the presence of a cloaked Romulan warbird. Impact with the wave forced the cloak to dissipate and created curious sensor readings that M’Buto could only speculate about without risking a deeper scan. The worst case scenario would be the powering of the dangerous plasma weapon reportedly in the possession of the Romulan fleet.

Suspecting that the vessel had sustained damage and its commander would be under pressure to gain the upper hand, T’ylak had the vessel hailed. To the crew’s relief, the vessel replied and the Vulcan CO of the Avicenna began a cautious negotiation for a prevention of hostilities with the Romulan subcommander aboard the warbird. Analysis of the bridge behind the subcommander, and speculating on the absence of a commander and the presence of significant energy fluctuations aboard the immobile ship, T’lyak came to the conclusion that the vessel was indeed incapacitated in some way and that if he could figure out a way to allow the Romulan to save face, the rescue could be completed without further risking the lives of the crew or the evacuees.

Scene 15: With the beam disabled and collapsing, the three shuttles from the Avicenna and the four from the Potemkin launched into the auroras it left behind, and into the sights of the warbird. The drop to the surface was extremely difficult and the landing zone wildly unpredictable, but the pilots, following Ensign Yang’s lead, were able to manage several runs for seriously wounded personnel without incident.

The first run was a moment of challenge for Yang as he realized that he would be – hopefully briefly – separating families and couples due to his strict orders to take only the most serious cases in order to maximize the limited space and facilities aboard the shuttles. He stuck to his duty and took the patients assigned to him, demonstrating that a leader also follows the rules.

On the bridge of the Avicenna, the negotiation was entering shaky ground when Ensign Mondragon notified the CO that although weapons systems were functional, targeting systems were not. The Avicenna could not hit anything she fired at. The need to reach the Romulan commander became that little bit more urgent.

In the ruins of the outpost, Korsakov and the few security and medical officers had to try to contain fear and speculation among the survivors, and at several points the frightened personnel began to work themselves toward panic. Keeping a cool and forceful hand on proceedings, Korsakov kept things moving efficiently toward evacuation to the surface level and extraction via shuttle and transporters once there. To help ensure that happened, the last two to be extracted were Korsakov and the senior engineer left alive. As the surface became less and less stable and as the coils of the particle wave lit the night sky with purple, orange, and green hues, they boarded the glistening and still unmarked Fontana for a rapid lift back to the Avicenna by Yang.

Scene 16: Skilled in diplomacy, in firm control of himself, and focused on diffusing tension, T’lyak was reaching a point of détente with the Romulan when both the Potemkin and the Avicenna sensor operators began an urgent cry that a huge ship was dropping out of warp close to their position.

The ship crossed above the Avicenna and lanced the warbird with multiple tractor beams.

A harsh and sibilant message was sent to the Avicenna: The Gorn had arrived. They were claiming the system and the warbird. The Avicenna was free to depart with the Potemkin and all personnel – immediately. As support, the Gorn ship began to pull the Romulan vessel apart.

Completing the evacuations, the Avicenna departed the system, mourning the loss of the crew of the Potemkin and dreading the review of their performance by Commodore Stone – nominal head of the Aid and Relief service.

Commercial Break 4
End Credits

DVD Commentary