[Adster94]

Mission: Evacuation

Involved Ship(s)

USS CHARLESTON, NCC-42285-A, Captain Kehris (Adster94)
USS ATHENA, NCC-23904, Commander Walter Northam (Noram)

Mission Summary

Alert! The Farronus System, home to THREE new Federation member planets, is under a severe threat of a black hole that has accelerated its growth in the solar system group. The populations on each planet are not huge, but much too complicated and large for one vessel to handle all of them at once. Starfleet has selected three ships to handle the evacuation post haste.

At present, only 2 starships have been able to be committed to this task, the Charleston and the Athena. With the Charleston already en-route and the Athena hot on her heels, they race against time to get as many people off of the colonies as possible.

[Adster94]

USS Charleston
Mission Log Supplemental, Stardate 58888.58, Outskirts of Farronus System

We have finally arrived... it had taken us far too long to reach the Farronus System but we have just dropped out of warp and are preparing to send down all available personnel to help with the evacuation effort. The original plan was to warp directly into orbit, but Commander Yuga advised against such action, namely due to how much stress the warp drive has been under the past few weeks, he believes that the effects of the black hole on subspace, the current instability of subspace in this system, along with instability in our engines could cause an overload in the warp nacelles - stranding us in the system, or worse cause a huge tear in subspace.

We should be in orbit of Farronus III within the hour, based off of Science Officer Zalram's estimates, we have a little over 5 days to get everyone out of the system before the time dilation effects from the black hole start to take effect. She also reports that the black hole is going to cut off the Farronus II colony first, but that is on the far side of the system which would take even longer to reach - that is time we don't have to waste...

The engineering department have been given a tight schedule to try and fix the instability in the warp drive, we have to be able to reach Farronus II and also make it out of the system within the 5 day mark. Since entering the system however we have also lost all communications with Starfleet and the other two ships en-route to assist, the Athena and the August, we did send a message to both ships informing them of our difficulties and that we would have to drop out and focus on Farronus III but we received no reply before being cut off.

I can only hope that one of the ships, if not both, can reach Farronus II before it is too late. The Charleston is a magnificent ship, but was not built to handle an evacuation of this magnitude. In an emergency we can take on up to 10000 people, but Farronus III has a population triple that size... how are we going to get them all off and still make it out of the system?

[Noram]

USS Athena
Commanding Officer's - SD57889.64, Farronus System


We’ve arrived within the Farronus System with about four days before we’ll be forced to leave. The subspace instability caused by the black hole is wreaking havoc with our systems, including comms and warp drive. We actually may have pushed further into the system with warp than was completely safe, but doing so cut hours off of our ETA for Farronus II that we desperately need.

We should be entering orbit within the hour. After that, Commander Jandieri will liaise with the colonial government on the planet and lead the security teams to maintain order during the evacuation. I’ll be on the bridge coordinating our efforts.

Getting the full population off of Farronus II shouldn’t be a problem. Even if the ship were fully crewed we’d have more than enough capacity for everyone. It’s after we’re done here that decisions will have to be made. My inclination is to proceed to Farronus IV next. According to the latest reports, IV's population is only about ten percent larger than II’s. We could pull everyone out there and still have room for some of Farronus III’s people. Not very many though. Farronus III’s population alone is more than Athena and Charleston’s capacities combined. Unless a third or even fourth ship shows up this is going to end in tragedy, even if we pack our ships to the deckheads.

[Adster94]

USS Charleston
Mission Log Supplemental, Stardate 58897.20, Orbit of Farronus III

This is it... we have been in orbit for around 3 days now, we have torn the ship apart stripping away every bulkhead we can to fit as many people as possible but it just isn't enough... We have dumped all of our shuttlecraft, any and all contents of the cargobay, this ship is just a shell now but it still isn't enough...

The total population of Farronus III is 30000 people, 30000 living souls whom we have been tasked to save without the tools to do so, we have managed to accommodate 11357 people on the Charleston, 11357 people of 30000 - I am going to have to live with that. The ship is filled to the brim, Chief Engineer Yuga has said he isn't certain our life support systems can keep the oxygen at required levels for the time it will take for us to reach the nearby Regulon system, he estimates our life support systems will fail 8 hours before we can reach orbit above Regulon IVs L class moon - the only barely habitable planet that is close enough for us to even try over filling the ship.

8 hours, what are we going to do? We have less than a day before we are forced to make the trip... Lieutenant Zelram thinks she has a solution to help boost the time we have before life support systems fail, when she served on the Kraxon, a Cardassian Galor class, they modified their life support system with augmentations from other systems to help boost the available power whilst they waited for rescue - she is helping Zuga now, but the Saurian isn't convinced. Regardless, the work needs to be done en-route and if they don't succeed this entire ships complement is dead.

I don't want to go onto the bridge and give this order, but what choice do I have? The Athena has enough room for Farronus IV's population, but cannot take onboard the rest of Farronus III's population, how can I just abandon them? What happened to the August? She was en-route and should have been here days ago?

We lost contact with Starfleet, so our assumption is that she was either diverted or suffered an accident but I have to order the abandonment of nearby 20000 people... I know what my old CO would say, "these choices are the burden of command" I never truly knew what he meant...but now I do... the word must be given to leave orbit otherwise we may never leave...

[Noram]

USS Athena
Mission Log Supplemental, Stardate 58897.44, Orbit of Farronus IV

“Jandieri to Commander Northam.”

Walter tapped his combadge, “Go ahead Commander.”

“Sir, we’re nearly done down here, the last group from the main Farronus IV colony should be beaming up shortly,” the executive officer reported.

“Good, we’re short on time, get them up here, along with your teams and we’ll head out,” Walter replied.

“Yes sir, but,” Jandieri hesitated before continuing, “there’s a problem. A couple of homesteaders outside the main colony are refusing to leave.”

“Refusing?” Walter asked sharply. “Refusing to be rescued from being consumed by a black hole?”

“Yes sir,” Jandieri sounded abashed. “We’ve been trying to convince them, but they don’t seem to believe us.”

“I see,” Watler said, then closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “Beam back up Commander, you and the evacuation teams, Northam out.” Walter quickly rose from the command chair and nodded to the Saurian lieutenant at the Ops station.
“You have the bridge, Sirramo, I’m heading to Transporter Room One.”



Iona Jandieri felt her eyes widen as the glow of the transporter beam faded and she appeared in Athena’s Transporter Room One. She hadn’t expected Commander Northam to greet her on her return.

“Sir,” she started to speak, but he just beckoned her off the pad.

“You’ve done well Iona,” she felt her spine straighten at the use of her first name. “Better than we could have hoped. We’ve only got one thing left to do here, and I’ll take care of it.”

“Sir, if this is about those,” she began, only to break off as he stepped into position on the transporter pad. “Sir, you can’t beam down, regulations state–”

“I’m aware Iona,” he interrupted again. “Please report to the bridge and take command from Mr. Sirramo. I won’t be long. Energize, chief.”



Walter’s eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting. It was supposed to be close to midday in this region but even though the sky was clear, Farronus Prime’s light seemed dull and faded. Glancing around, he saw a well built rambling single story home nearby, and began walking toward it quickly. As he approached, a pair of figures, a human man and woman, emerged and came to meet him.

“That’s far enough, Starfleet,” the man said. “We already told those others that we aren’t going anywhere.”

“So I’ve heard,” Walter replied. “My name is Walter Northam, captain of the USS Athena.” He held out his hand in greeting. The man eyed it warily for a moment, eyes darting to the phaser strapped to Walter’s hip, then slowly reached out and shook it firmly.

“Jacob Benson,” he replied. “Now why are you here Captain? You won't change our minds.”

“I'm here because I want to understand. Surely you can see that something’s wrong.”

“Pfft” he scoffed. “A Starfleet trick. There’s something here you want, and you need us out of the way to get it. Well we’re not going.”

“I see, well there it is then,” Walter said sadly, shaking his head. “I won’t bother you any longer, good luck to you.” He turned and began walking back down the path toward the main colony, then glanced over his shoulder to see the couple had turned their backs to him.



“Northam to Athena, three to beam up. I need a medical team to meet us in the transporter room.”

Iona Jandieri sprang up from the command chair and darted for the turbolift, passing command back to Lieutenant Sirramo as she went.
When she finally arrived at the transporter room, two medical orderlies were directing hovering stretchers out. Commander Northam, to her relief, watched from the side, face grim.

“What happened sir?” Iona asked, coming to stand beside him, “They attacked you?”

Northam’s face twisted into a humorless smile. “Not exactly. We’ll discuss it in private.”



“This is serious sir,” Iona said from her place across from Northam in the ready room.

“I think the situation in this system has been serious for a while now Iona.”

“This is different sir. A disaster is serious, yes, but we’ve essentially kidnapped these people. They didn’t want to leave their home and we removed them by force.”

“I removed them.” Northam said flatly, “I’ve already begun my report on this matter, and the facts place the blame squarely on my shoulders. Mine alone.”

“Sir–” she began, then took a breath and started over, “But why do this sir?”

He locked eyes with her for several moments.

“I couldn’t accept it,” he explained softly. “Thousands of people are going to die on Farronus III because we can’t help them.” He shook his head gently as Iona started to protest. “No, we’re out of time and out of space. We’re done.” Iona felt her shoulders sink at the grim acceptance in his voice.
“There are thousands of people who want to live and it’s impossible for us to save them. But those two…” He paused, catching her eyes again. “Refusing to let us help them when we want to help so many but can’t? I won’t accept that. I can’t, whatever it may cost me.”