Messier Report #2 (MD 5)

Posted on Sun Mar 31st, 2019 @ 12:58am by Stephen Spires

After the embarrassing fiasco that was Canopus Station's entry into Messier 4, the command staff launched a scheme to retrieve the prodigal Engineering and Support modules that are necessary for survival. What they found was a quagmire of unprecedented proportions. The following is an account taken directly from acquired mission logs.

The USS Resolute, commanded by Benjamin Ingram who also wears the hat of Canopus Station's commanding officer, flew to an uncharted system. In a degrading orbit around an inhospitable planet was the Support module. The Engineering module was found adrift further away from the planet, yet it had been commandeered by mutinous Starfleet Marines under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Sytex.

While the crew of the Resolute determined the best way to reclaim each module from their respective fates, a scientific survey team was sent down to the surface to collect samples from the planet. It was determined that the planet, now known as Xilos, was destroyed through a barrage of orbital bombardments that rendered it a toxic wasteland. In the process, Lieutenant Commander Meilin Jiang initiated a reckless first contact with the Xilosians, a pre-warp society and survivors of a grievous regional adversary they dubbed The Concordance.

The survey team suffered near fatal exposure within a large tower whose signal had drawn them there. After barely escaping with their lives, the team was abducted by a Xilosian patrol and taken back to their sole remaining underground bunker. Words were exchanged, promises were made, and by the time the Resolute bravely reclaimed the wayward modules, the Xilosians were loaded up into the Agricultural Dome within the Support Module.

Asked whether or not this sacrificial act of benevolence violated Starfleet's Prime Directive, Ingram stated unequivocally, "No," citing "the Xilosians' natural evolution has been perverted by the Concordance."

It is this reporter's understanding that Chief Science Officer Jiang was benched during the next away team, however.

In securing the two modules, Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci is to be commended for her "lasso" maneuever in pulling the Support module from the steeled grip of Xilos' gravity well. Likewise, Lieutenant Theylan th'Zohan and Doctor Vereyn Kiiz devised a virtually non-lethal means to subdue and apprehend the mutinous Marines.

At the end of the day, Canopus Station's crew accomplished their goals and guaranteed another day for more than just the Carpathians below and the denizens of the station itself. In time, the Xilosians will be relocated to a habitable planet. Finding one is reportedly the sole duty of CSO Meilin Jiang.

Starfleet has had far worse first contacts.