Trial By Fire

Arriving at their first assignment to find the Seventh Fleet decimated, the crew of the USS Argus set out to rescue the survivors before the Dominion fleet returns. Meanwhile, one of those survivors has made a discovery on the surface of a nearby Dominion-occupied planet that could change the course of the war.

Summary

	Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Prologue

13,000 years in the past, Heran looks out over the city. She and Girgan are the last two to evacuate, and she contemplates how it has come to this. Girgan tells her that the visitors have left and now they need to before the city is destroyed, and sadly they turn towards a portal and leave Atlanti forever.

On Tyra III in 2374, Lieutenant Sara Parker is part of a team from the USS London helping to evacuate an archeological expedition to the ancient ruins of a Preserver city before an expected Dominion attack in three days. However, before they can complete the mission, the London is attacked and destroyed, stranding them on the planet.

Chapter 1

Following the death of the USS Argus' Commanding Officer in a Dominion ambush, Jonozia Lex, the ship's First Officer is promoted to Captain and assumes command. His first mission is to rendezvous with the Seventh Fleet in the Tyra system to halt the Dominion's advance.

First, he's assigned a new First Officer, Thomas Patel, and has to choose a replacement for the ship's tactical officer, who was also killed. He selects Lieutenant Katherine Sheridan, a woman with a questionable past who isn't trusted by his new XO.

Chapter 2

The Argus arrives in the Tyra system to find the fleet decimated. They begin a search and rescue of the survivors, including the systems only M-class world, Tyra III, where several escape pods have made planet fall. On approach, they detect two Jem'Hadar fighters in orbit along with the remains of the London. The news hits Lex hard; the London was the ship his wife, Sara Parker, was serving on.

Meanwhile, Sara Parker has been using the windy passages of the temple to avoid the Jem'Hadar's search party, but with help apparently not coming, she decides to take a risk. Scanning her immediate area with her tricorder, she finds the entrance to a secret passageway.

Chapter 3

Argus' Second Officer, Lieutenant Commander Shathren ch'Var quickly points out there may be survivors from the London on the surface of Tyra III, along with those from the escape pods and the crew begin to devise a plan to take out the Jem'Hadar ships and land several rescue teams on the surface using the starship's runabout, the USS Tigris, and two shuttlecraft.

Chapter 4

The plan isn't completely successful as one of the Jem'Hadar ships tries to ram the Argus immediately after the first is destroyed. Thanks to Arkin Jora's quick reaction, the ship avoids any major damage, but there are several casualties, including Commander ch'Var. Worse, they soon detect a group of dominion ships entering the system. Lex decides to take the Argus back and help speed up the rescue operation, leaving the Tigris as a base of operations on the planet.

In the meantime, the search party lands on the planet and splits into five teams; Blue, Red, Gold, Orange, Green, and Purple. They are each assigned a search area and head off into the jungle.

Chapter 5

While the search teams begin to encounter Jem'Hadar search parties, the Argus reaches the remains of the Seventh fleet. Sara reaches the end of the hidden passage, where she discovers a control room full of advanced technology that seems to be expecting her arrival. Then she hears a familiar voice saying, "Hello Sara."

Chapter 6

The Argus engages several Dominion and Cardassian ships in an attempt to buy some time for the damaged USS Monitor to escape. Fighting off the enemy ships, they detect a much larger force heading for the system, and Lex orders the USS Valkyrie and USS Brunel to retreat to Starbase 375, while the Argus returns to Tyra III and retrieves its rescue teams.

As the search teams continue to encounter resistance, Sara receives a 13,000-year-old message from Jonozia. Her husband tells her not to let the temple be destroyed no matter what. It then supplies her with a phaser from a storage compartment and starts to explain the technology. Called the Tantalus field, it includes a viewer that can show her anything with its range, a portal that can transport her there, and a disintegrator that can target anyone it shows.

Chapter 7

Most of the teams manage to complete their objectives, but both the Red and Blue teams have been ambushed, and Lieutenant Richard Parsons and Commander Thomas Patel captured along with several survivors from the escape pods. Having taken control of the rescue teams in Patel's absence, Kate Sheridan decides to mount an assault on the temple and get them back, but first, she orders the Tigris and the shuttles back to the Argus with the wounded and medical personnel.

Starting to experiment with the Tantalus Field's controls, Sara starts to view areas of the temple, testing its range. She comes across a group of archeologists being attacked by a Jem'Hadar patrol and use it to make the Jem'Hadar disappear.

Chapter 8

The shuttles and the Tigris dock with the Argus and tell Lex of Sheridan and Patel's plan. With the Jem'Hadar all out searching for the search teams, it leaves the temple wide open for Sheridan's attack.

Meanwhile, on the planet, Sara discovers that with the Argus in orbit, it's also in range of the Tantalus field uses its portal to transport the group of injured archeologists to the ship's sickbay. She then uses it to clear the guards out of the holding area and transport herself there to free the prisoners, including Patel, who was taken to see the Vorta Yessic.

Chapter 9

With the Argus in orbit, the crew sets about attempting to salvage the technology on the surface, while Sheridan leads a fresh contingent of security personnel against the remaining Jem'Hadar.

In the Argus brig, Yessic gets a visit from a Changeling now posing as a member of the crew, and he orders the Vorta commit suicide to prevent any information falling into the hands of the Federation.

Chapter 10

The Argus loses contact with the teams on the surface when an energy field suddenly appears around the temple. When Parsons increases the power of the ship's scans to punch through the interference, he finds the temple's power source fluctuating and that the energy field seems to be there to force it to implode if it goes critical. Trying to find out why his further scans set off the Omega Directive. Lex immediately halts any further investigation and sends Arkin down in a shuttle to retrieve the away teams.

On the surface, Sheridan and the security team load up the shuttle, but they're unable to contact the science team in the control room. With time running out and the shuttle ready to leave them behind, the science team uses the portal to reach the shuttle in time, and once the shuttle has returned safely to the Argus, the ship warps away to escape the temple's destruction. On board, Lex immediately confiscates the research from the science team and puts both away teams under guard until they can be debriefed.

Epilogue

During their voyage back to Starbase 88, Lex and Patel find Parker and Sheridan in the 1888 club. Patel apologizes for his earlier treatment of Sheridan and informers her of her promotion to Lieutenant Commander and the position of Second Officer, while Lex convinces Parker to stay aboard the Argus and take over the post of Science Officer in Commander ch'Var's place.

Memorable quotes

"Congratulations, Sir."

— Jonozia Lex mistaking Thomas Patel for his new Commanding officer

"I'm looking forward to rediscovering all your little peculiarities."

"Like?"

"Like, exactly how far down those spots go."

— Sara Parker and Jonozia Lex, shortly after meeting up while on shore leave at Starbase 1

"I think she'll surprise you, Commander."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

— Jonozia Lex and Thomas Patel, discussing Kate Sheridan's inclusion on the rescue teams to Tyra III

Story notes

• This story takes place shortly before the opening episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's sixth season, "A Time to Stand".
• The decimation of the Seventh Fleet depicted in this story is also mentioned in that episode.
• The Tantalus field first appeared in "Mirror Mirror". This is presumed to be where it originated there too.

Background information

• "Trial By Fire" is the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Adventures of Argus' relaunch.
• This is the second time that the series pilot episode was rewritten and retitled.
• The original pilot was titled "Beginnings".
• The first rewrite of the pilot was title "The Eternal Flame" and was the only episode released under the "Digitally Remastered" banner.
• "Trial By Fire" is actually a mixture of new material, the prologue and first act of "The Eternal Flame" and the original second episode "The Blood of War". The main plot of "The Eternal Flame" is to be reworked for the sixth episode.

References

1888 club; Amundsen; Archimedes; Atlan; USS Atlantic; Atlas (Star); USS Aurora; Battle of Tyra; Michael Bower; USS Brunel; Burton; Shathren ch'Var; Chase; USS Christopher Pike; USS Constitution; Elisha Darwin; Demetrius; USS Destiny; Fitch; Gadd; Gav; Gering; Girgan; Goran; Heran; Juan Hernandez; Homtian; Hudson; USS Kennedy; IKV Kimtar; USS Liberty; USS London; Luciano Mantovanni; Laura McKenzie; Meyers; Minos Korva; USS Monitor; Mox; USS Munich; Omar'iklan; Omega Directive; Omega molecule; Richard Parsons; USS Pasteur; Preservers; USS Reliant; Rema'tuklan; Clara Reyes; Rhodes; Antony Richmond; Roma; sh'Shaen; Malcolm Skinner; Sloane; Solarion; USS Sovereign; Starbase 1; Starbase 375; T'Kare; Taktuta'Klan; USS Talis; Tantalus field; Thirteenth Fleet; USS Thunderchild; Ezri Tigan; USS Tigris; Toran; Tucker; Tyra III; Tyra system; Gregory Wallace; USS Valkyrie; Vamir; Vorac'Talon; Yessic; USS Yosemite

External link

• "Trial By Fire" at USSArgus.com