| SUBMITTED: Stardate 93938.6 | FILED BY: LT H'ajah | SECURITY: Level 1 - Open |
LOCATION: KILUR HOMEWORLD SUBAQUATIC COMPLEX
MISSION: RECOVER INTELLIGENCE ON SPECIES 2492 FROM KILUR RECORDS
OUTCOME: COMPLETE BACKUP OF KILUR MILITARY DATABASE RECOVERED FOR ANALYSIS
KEY PERSONNEL:
CMDR Ailes, Beylara
LCDR Kermit, James
LT H'ajah
CDT Mitsuki, Rumiho
LCDR Kermit, James
LT H'ajah
CDT Mitsuki, Rumiho
NARRATIVE: HARK, SIT NOW, FOR I WILL TELL YOU A TALE OF HEROES AND DANGER. THE FEDERATION STOOD ON THE BRINK OF TOTAL DESTRUCTION. A MYSTERIOUS ENEMY, KNOWN ONLY AS SPECIES 2492, HAD VANQUISHED THREE OF STARFLEET'S MIGHTIEST SHIPS SINGLE-HANDEDLY. MANY FEARED THAT THIS DEADLY FOE WOULD SPELL THE END OF OUR GREAT CIVILIZATION. THERE WAS WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH IN THE SHADOW OF CERTAIN DOOM. LO, THE 38TH FLEET REMAINED VIGILANT STILL.
WE SOUGHT THE MEANS TO DEFEAT THIS FEARSOME ENEMY IN THE RUINS OF KILUR. THE TRAGEDY OF KILUR IS LONG AND TWISTING, BUT IT MUST SUFFICE TO SAY IN THIS ACCOUNTING THAT WE HAD COME TO SUSPECT THAT ITS PEOPLE MIGHT ONCE HAVE KNOWN SOMETHING OF THE FOE NOW THREATENING OUR VERY EXISTENCE. STARFLEET ASSEMBLED A TEAM OF BRAVE COMPANIONS TO FACE THE DANGERS OF THIS RUINED WORLD AND RETURN WITH THE KEY TO OUR ULTIMATE VICTORY.
FIERCELY WE RODE FORTH ABOARD THE USS JULES VERNE. WE WERE FOUR: BEYLARA AILES, DAUGHTER OF KEVIT, COMMANDER OF THE USS WILLIAM OCKHAM AND HERO OF THE ICONIAN WAR; JAMES KERMIT, SON OF JACOB, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER AND ASSISTANT CHIEF OF OPERATIONS FOR DEEP SPACE 13; RUMIHO MITSUKI, DAUGHTER OF TADASHI, APPRENTICE HERO; AND I, H'AJAH, DAUGHTER OF SHAL, OF HOUSE CARGH IN EXILE, KEEPER OF SYSTEMS AND CHRONICLER OF FEATS. TO PASS THE LONG JOURNEY, MANY RIBALD SONGS WERE SUNG AND GRISLY TALES TOLD, UNTIL I WAS ASKED TO STOP.
UPON REACHING THE DEAD WORLD, RUMIHO EXPERTLY GUIDED OUR CRAFT DOWN INTO THE TOXIC SEAS. THE SUBAQUATIC COMPLEX WAS UNPOWERED AND ITS FORMIDABLE WALLS TOO THICK TO PENETRATE WITH ONBOARD SENSORS. YET WITHOUT AUTOMATED ASSISTANCE, RUMIHO DOCKED OUR CRAFT WITH THE AIRLOCK PORT. VERILY, SHE DID SO ON THE FIRST TRY.
KERMIT OPTED TO REMAIN WITH THE VESSEL. JUDGE HIM NOT FOR HIS COWARDICE, AS WE HAD LEARNED THAT THE COMPLEX INTERIOR WAS BATHED IN DEADLY RADIATION. PERHAPS HE FEARED THAT HIS NEW BRIDE WOULD SPURN HIM IF THE INTEGRITY OF HIS SEED WAS COMPROMISED. HEEDLESS OF THE DANGERS TO OURSELVES, WE DONNED OUR ARMOR AND VENTURED FORTH.
WE FORCED OPEN THE OUTER DOOR, AND FOUND OURSELVES PLUNGED INTO DARKNESS. NOT EVEN OUR SUIT LAMPS COULD ILLUMINATE THIS CURSED PLACE. THOUGH WE SEARCHED FOR A MEANS TO OPEN THE INNER DOOR, WE FOUND NONE. THIS INSULT COULD NOT BE BORNE. DRAWING MY WEAPON, I SMOTE THIS INSOLENT DOOR WITH RIGHTEOUS NADION PARTICLES. UNDER SUSTAINED ASSAULT, THE DOOR CAPITULATED AND ALLOWED US TO PASS.
BEYOND THIS RUINED PORTAL, WE FOUND OURSELVES IN A LARGER CHAMBER, DARK AS THE GRAVE AND TWICE AS SILENT. WE SEARCHED THIS HAUNTED PLACE FOR SIGNIFIERS OF ITS PURPOSE. COMMANDER BEYLARA LOCATED A CONTROL CONSOLE. BUT BEFORE HER FINDINGS COULD BE EXPLORED FULLY, RUMIHO MADE A MORE GRUESOME DISCOVERY.
NONE OF US COULD HAVE FAILED TO NOTICE THAT THE FLOOR IN THIS CHAMBER WAS COVERED IN STANDING LIQUID. WE HAD PRESUMED, IN OUR BLINDNESS, THAT THE COMPLEX HAD LEAKED IN THE GENERATIONS SINCE KILUR FELL. PERHAPS IT DID, BUT WATER WAS NOT ALL THAT SPLASHED UNDER OUR FEET.
RUMIHO SLIPPED ON THE SLICK FLOOR AND FELL INTO A SOUP OF DECOMPOSED FLESH. THE FETID VISCERA COATED HER ARMOR AS SHE ROSE AGAIN. SHE HAD STUMBLED INTO A CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED; THE HOLLOW SHELLS OF DEAD KILURITES, SOME RECENT, SOME ANCIENT, WERE ARRAYED ROUND A CENTRAL CONSOLE OF OMINOUS PORTENT. WE MADE THIS TERMINAL THE FOCUS OF OUR INVESTIGATION.
MINDFUL OF THE DANGERS OF ACTIVATING DORMANT KILUR SYSTEMS, WE HAD TAKEN CARE TO AVOID SUPPLYING POWER TO ANY MACHINES WE ENCOUNTERED. YET THIS DEVICE SAT ATOP A TRANSPARENT FLOOR, BENEATH WHICH GLOWED A RESERVOIR OF ENERGIZED FERG. ATTEMPTING TO DISMANTLE THE CONSOLE, I INADVERTENTLY ACTIVATED IT. FORTUNATELY WE DID NOT DETONATE. THIS WOULD SUGGEST THAT THE SUBAQUATIC COMPLEX REMAINED ISOLATED FROM INFECTION BY THE HALCYON WORM DURING THE CALAMITY WHICH ENDED THE KILUR CIVILIZATION.
WE LEARNED FROM THIS CONSOLE THAT WE HAD ENTERED A MILITARY INSTALLATION, BUILT TO WITHSTAND HEAVY ASSAULT, AND THAT SOME SURVIVORS OF THE APOCALYPSE HAD TAKEN REFUGE THERE FOR A TIME. THEY HAD BEEN PERIODICALLY CHECKING THE COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY FOR INPUT FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD, BUT ALAS, THERE WAS NONE. THE LAST OF THESE ATTEMPTS CAME BUT TEN YEARS BEFORE OUR INTRUSION, WHEN THE COMM ARRAY CEASED TO FUNCTION.
WE DOWNLOADED A BACKUP IMAGE OF THE DATABASE FOR LATER STUDY, AND RETURNED TO THE JULES VERNE, VICTORIOUS.
RECOMMENDATION: STUDY MILITARY DATABASE. SEARCH FOR REFERENCES TO ALIEN RACES MATCHING KNOWN DETAILS OF SPECIES 2492, AND FOR ANY CLUES WHICH MIGHT LEAD US TO OTHER SECURE LOCATIONS WHERE SURVIVING KILURITES MIGHT STILL DWELL.
//SIGNED//
tuq cargh qaStaHvIS ghIm h'ajah, shal puqbe'
Lt. H'ajah, daughter of Shal, of House Cargh in exile
DevOps Team, Operations Dept., Deep Space 13
OOC: Thanks to Kermit for running this event.