New Beginnings (BOTF)

New Beginnings was the first "episode" of the "second season" of forum RPG.

Recaps for episods are written by Ian Peters as Star Logs. Here is the entry:

Captain's Star Log: January 5th, 2162, 05:00 hours
I'm not entirely sure where to begin. It is difficult to condense the events of the last several days into a short log entry, but I will attempt to do so not only for documenting the events for ship's records, but also to help me put them into some sort of perspective. After nearly 37 hours of work, I have finally completed my reports for Starfleet Command. This log is all that remains.

Three days ago, a plot orchestrated by Terra Prime, a purist organization from Earth, was uncovered onboard my ship. Sleeper agents had been planted amongst the crew...they had been implanted with control chips that were designed to activate upon command. Ship's first officer, Commander Cam Barnes, was the first agent to be uncovered after we discovered extensive sabotage he had caused to our weapons systems in an attempt to destroy the ship. Once uncovered, Commander Barnes killed himself using a poison capsule implanted in his jaw, thus keeping us from discovering any information from him other than he had been sent by Terra Prime to sabotage our mission. An autopsy of Barnes' body discovered that the Commander may not have been in control of himself when he committed these actions against the ship, but that did not make the loss of such a fine officer any easier.

Once Poseidon launched from spacedock, we recieved a distress call from an old friend and collegue: MACO Colonel Liam Drake. Colonel Drake, who had been reported to have left the service, was sent on a covert mission by Starfleet Intelligence to infiltrate a Terra Prime base. It was also revealed that Terra Prime planned to destroy prominant targets throughout the Coaliton in an attempt to destroy the new Coalition of Planets and the peace it helped to create. Their major goal was to free Earth from alien influence to maintain the "purity" of Humanity. Poseidon recieved orders from Admiral Black at Starfleet Command to warp to the base's location and put a stop to their plans. We were also informed of the posibility of Terra Prime infiltration onboard the starship Atlantis, a ship commanded by Captain Kori Barnes, our old Tactical Officer and brother to former exec Commander Barnes.

While on course for Atlantis, Poseidon was intercepted first by the USS Daedalus, the first vessel in a new line of starships that were reported to only have reached the planning stages. This turned out to be a deliberate act on Starfleet's part to cover up the new ship's development for emergency situations. Daedalus was commanded by Poseidon's old CO, Commodore Kyle Weymark.

Once we intercepted Atlantis, Daedalus opened fire on our vessel. Our replacement exec, Commander Korvid, was killed in the battle. It was later revealed that Terra Prime agents had infiltrated Daedalus as well as Atlantis and that our contact with Atlantis had all been orchestrated as an elaborate plot to destroy Poseidon before she could reach Terra Prime's base. I led an away team over to Atlantis and discovered that the alien crewmembers had been brutally tortured and murdered by Terra Prime agents. In the course of our mission, it was also revealed that Admiral Black had been the orchestrator behind the Terra Prime plots against the Coaliton. Black managed to escape to Daedalus before she warped out of the system but Captain Kori Barnes, who was also a Terra Prime agent, was killed in a firefight on Atlantis' bridge.

Once Atlantis was secured, Poseidon pursued Daedalus to Terra Prime's base. After an extensive conflict with the more advanced vessel, Daedalus was secured by our forces and the Terra Prime agents were put into custody. Like with Atlantis, Daedalus' alien crewmembers were found tortured and murdered. An examination of ship's logs revealed that Commander Forbes of Starfleet had been responsible for planting the sleeper agents onboard my ship and that Admiral Black had been in command.

Side Note: Colonel Drake and Commodore Weymark were both seriously injured in the course of our spacefight with Daedalus'' and they still remain in comas in Sickbay. Doctor Devereaux expects them to make a full recovery once we return to Earth, but due to their injuries we could no longer call on them for expertise and assistance once we reached Daedalus and Terra Prime's base.''

Additional Side Note: During the away mission to Daedalus'', it was discovered that Ensign Revik was capable of some unusual abilities uncommon to most Vulcans and other sentient beings; he has the ability to project his mind into a physical form. While he was unconscious on Poseidon he had projected himself over to Daedalus. How he accomplished this is still somewhat of a mystery.''

Upon securing Daedalus, myself and 1st Lieutenant Clow led an away team down to the surface. In the course of our investigation, I was captured by Black and Forbes and was asked to join their cause. When I refused, I was subjected to torture at their hands. Lieutenant Clow and his team were able to locate me, and after another battle resulting in the accidental death of Commander Forbes, Black was placed under arrest by Clow and the base was neutralized of all further threats.

We transported Black back to Daedalus only to discover that he had laid one final trap for us to keep Daedalus out of Starfleet's hands. Our people were able to evacuate in time but Black attempted to escape. I pursued the Admiral but I was transported away before I could secure him. Daedalus self-destructed moments later so I can only assume that Black did not survive. The planet that Terra Prime's base was located on was also destroyed in the resulting explosion of Daedalus' warp core breach.

With our recent losses, Poseidon has several posts that need to be filled. I have already promoted Lieutenant Clow to the rank of Commander and reassigned him to Starfleet as Executive Officer of this vessel. Our Chief Helm Officer was killed in one of the attacks, but I am thinking of asking Ensign Marc Abbott to take on the position. He has proven himself to be quite a qualified pilot and I hate to think that those talents are wasted scrubbing bulkheads in Engineering. 1st Lieutenant Elran, formerly of Daedalus' MACO contingent, has been reassigned as our new MACO CO. While I do not know the Andorian well, he was invaluable in the completion of our previous mission and maintained order amongst the ranks. Therefore, it is clear to me that he will be a fine choice for our new MACO CO.

We are now only an hour away from Earth. It is time that I prepare myself for the questioning and debriefing that the near future undoubtedly holds for me. However, it is my hope that the investigation will not last long and that Poseidon can finally return to the mission she was designed for...peaceful exploration of the universe around us.

END LOG ENTRY.

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