Game was 6/11/20.
The away team moves out but there is a problem: even though Fal's leg has been restored, he is still addled from the unknown Wabai pain medication. The away team continues moving through the temple but then they suddenly realize that instead of ten Wabai soldiers, there are twelve and one of them is missing his shoes and socks! Fal cries out, "Always wear shoes, otherwise the captain gets mad!" Galan'naar calls out, "Count off!" The Wabai stare at the two resurrected soldiers; the poor soldier carrying one of shoes sheepishly explains, "I don't know what happened. I woke up on the ground missing one of my boots and the sock." Fal cries out, "I have a hypothesis!" Jessa turns to the Wabai combat medic, but she shrugs helplessly as attempting to counteract the painkillers now could cause further damage. Galan'naar decides, "Alcohol please." Ssleestak jokes, "Zug is buying!"
The combined away team makes their way up the stairs without encountering any further problems until they reached the top. The massive slab covers the way out, so Ssleestak knocks on the slab while Fal calls out, "Open sesame!" Above them, the natives pull the slab free; the away team scrambles out and regroups on top of the ziggurat while the natives watch them warily. They part for the same old crone from before as she moves forward, pokes Ssleestak in the stomach, and belts out a roar! Ssleestak smiles widely, gives her a thumbs up, and cries out, "Krenim!" Mel sighs but pats Ssleestak on the shoulder.1)
A few moments later, Edgly beams them all back up to the Solstice. They exit the transporter room to find their ship in pieces! They smell burnt circuitry and see several plasma fires still burning. Power flickers, and in some places is out altogether. Ssleestak and K'tral immediately head for main engineering while Jessa rushes to her office to check on her dog. Mel turns to Armina and tasks her to take care of the Wabai and Zug. Thal'tirian and Threy'shaan bring Fal to sickbay while Phillip, Shan'taar, and Mel head for the main bridge.
Ssleestak and K'tral run into main engineering and immediately assess the situation. To their horror, they find the port nacelle has been completely destroyed and the starboard nacelle has partially melted. The main computer is heavily damaged and Sola is offline. To make matters worse, there are several breaches in the hull, three of which are severe. They immediately get to work, and Ssleestak begins prioritizing the repairs; the immediate priority is to stabilize the EPS grid.
Mel, Shan'taar, and Phillip stride on to the main bridge to find it open to space, the atmosphere held in place by an emergency force field! The main viewscreen is gone and the phaser turret has been destroyed. Saval looks up from the captain's chair and nonchalantly asks, "What?" Mel replies, "I need to clean up first. I'll be right back." She turns around and heads to her quarters. Shan'taar heads to tactical while Phillip settles into flight control. The flight control station is only half a meter from the breach, but Phillip does not care. His copilot Thri'shayn greets him with, "Yup." Phillip replies, "Yup." Shan'taar dismisses Virgil and tells the Trill, "Get some rest."
Mel returns to the bridge ten minutes later, having taken a quick shower and changed her uniform. She and Saval relocate to the back of the bridge and Saval says, "We have fifty-five casualties, some serious, but no fatalities. We have three major breaches, however. The first is at the front of deck one and extends down to deck two. Luckily, Paj was secured in the back room, so he is fine. There is another breach on deck four and one on deck seven where the Krenim attempted to target main engineering. The computer core is offline; forty percent of it has been damaged. So, how are you?" Mel quickly explains their adventures on the surface and how Threy'shaan and two of the Wabai were killed in the fight but resurrected. She adds, "And Fal lost his leg but that was also restored." Saval muses. "They are not alone."
Mel eyes her and Saval replies, "The Solstice was erased for three minutes. The Krenim weapon ship was targeting Kordikar. Captain Kras ordered us to dump all available power into the temporal shields and get in the way before starting a collision course. We… disintegrated before we reached the Krenim vessel, but our presence scattered their weapon, sparing Kordikar until presumably they could recalibrate."
Mel muses, "Cidhela is going to be so mad." Saval retorts, "Thankfully, that is not my problem. However, Ensign Kras is in the main computer core repairing it. On a side note, she has named the Prophet Alexandria." Before they can continue any further, Shan'taar suddenly interjects, "Three Miranda-class Starfleet vessels have just entered the system! We cannot identify them or communicate with them right now, but they'll intercept us in an hour." Mel looks at Saval and asks, "Reinforcements from the Canopus Sector?" Saval replies, "Not that I am aware of."
Swims finishes treating Fal and releases him. Jessa hugs Raj fiercely and then takes him out for a walk. She stares at the damage before returning Raj to her office and heading up to the bridge. She steps out of the turbolift and stares forward at the breach; she exclaims, "We don't have a viewscreen! You can see space!" Phillip retorts, "We're going back to the basics!" Saval interjects, "We were erased from history." Jessa nods numbly and takes Armina's seat. Forty-five minutes pass as the Starfleet officers work on repairing their crippled vessel. Finally, the three Miranda-class ships are close enough to be identified as the USS Boston, the USS Sacramento, and the USS Montgomery Scott. The senior officers have no idea why these three ships are out here, especially since they are assigned to Starbase 211 on the other side of the Federation!
Phillip suggests, "What about using some of this excess energy to send a message? Like Morse code?" Mel contacts K'tral and shares Phillip's suggestion. K'tral agrees to help and channels pulses of energy through the main deflector dish. They quickly forge a message that says, "Comms offline. Shit is real!" A few moments later, they receive a message back that reads, "Understood, permission to come aboard?" The Solstice replies in the affirmative, and Saval issues in all-ship hail to inform the crew of the incoming reinforcements.
Armina steps onto the bridge and perches next to Jessa. Jessa offers to move, but Armina waves her away and reports, "Some good news, Zug and the Wabai are talking civilly in Two-Forward." Mel tries to process this information, and the senior officers joke a bit about Schrodinger's Klingon, referencing Boloth. Chief Edgly and Ensign Thal'tirian run onto the bridge just as people start beaming aboard. Down in main engineering, Ssleestak looks around and suddenly finds a swarm of gold-shirted Starfleet personnel moving about and pitching in. He hails Mel and asks, "Did we spring a leak? There are a lot of Federation here all of a sudden." Mel quickly explains, realizing Ssleestak didn't pay attention to Saval's message.
Almost two hundred additional Starfleet personnel beam over to the Solstice. Mel spots the one person wearing command-red on the bridge, a female Andorian, who makes her way to the command well. She sports commanders pips and introduces herself as Commander Shil'vala. She explains that their flotilla left Starbase 211 three months ago. She adds, "Captain Aaron Englyss would like to meet you. Do you want him to come here or do you wish to go to the Boston? Mel replies, "Here is fine." Shil'vala nods and adds, "The Montgomery Scott is an SCE ship, retrofitted to be able to tow another starship at warp nine. Well, it can once the damaged ship's spaceframe is stable. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go keep two hundred engineers in line." She taps her combadge and says, "Captain Englyss, you're clear to beam over."
Captain Aaron Englyss and two Bynars materialize on the bridge. Mel immediately recognizes Captain Englyss, as they both fought in the Cardassian theater. Before she can say anything, the two Bynars surge forward and ask, "Is your AI operational? We would like to communicate with it!" Mel stares at the Bynars and demands, "How do you even know about our AI?" The Bynars reply, "We will let Captain Englyss explain," and Captain Englyss casually flips them both off. Mel sighs but directs the Bynars to Lieutenant K'tral in main engineering.
The diminutive Bynars immediately head for the turbolift and a few moments later they sidle up to Lieutenant K'tral. She hails Mel and asks, "Is this legitimate?" Mel replies, "Yes, just point them in the right direction." K'tral shrugs slightly and gestures for computer interface terminal. The Bynars immediately head over and plug in with their portable computers. As K'tral watches, the computer begins to rapidly repair its systems. Within a few seconds the ship's computer is at sixty percent effectiveness; a few seconds more and that jumps to eighty percent.
Fal leaves sickbay and heads to the main science lab. He checks in with his staff and make sure that no one has been seriously injured. Once that is taken care of, he heads to main engineering the pitch in, but is surprised to find there is a blue-toned Horta shimmying about assisting with the repairs. He talks to the Horta and learns that her name is Lieutenant Korais Belchokk Kuraht. Kuraht explains that she is a geologist, although to her geology is the same as cuisine. She adds, "I am also a sensor technician and I have made it a point to study social sciences to better understand you bipeds." Fal admits, "We can be emotionally unpredictable." Kuraht agrees and tells Fal that she was one of the hatchlings from Janus VI that Kirk and Spock saved a century ago. Ssleestak interjects, "I met Kirk too!"
Mel and Aaron head to the ready room and settle in. Aaron brings forth a satchel and opens it to pull out two cups and a clay jar. He pops open the jar and pours two fingers into one cup and only one finger into the second cup. He then slides over the second cup to Mel. He toasts, "To those who have given their all." Mel agrees and they drink. The liquor is homemade mead which is very smooth going down but hits like a torpedo barrage once it reaches her stomach. Mel definitely appreciates the spirit and asks, "Where did this come from? Aaron smiles and replies, "This is homemade by Bjornson. He gave it to me about five years ago." Mel grimaces but changes subjects by asking, "How did you know we were even here?"
Aaron sighs, and replies, "I can't say much due to the Temporal Prime Directive. But, in your future Ensign Kras and Alexandria Tovan will travel back to my past. They will help us save Starbase 211, and Jen warned us that this day was coming. We have known about this for years, and she told us about the AI Sola." Mel jokes, "So this has been a special present for the Bynars for four years? It's like meeting Santa Claus, but this time Santa is real." Aaron snorts in agreement and then asks, "So, how are you doing?" Mel grumbles, "There's been a lot of doom, and the damned Krenim."
Aaron nods and asks, "Did you have to put your combadge in a little dish?" Mel is startled but nods. She then realizes that it was Aaron on the other side of the glass, but to him that happened years ago. Aaron confirms what she suspects and asks, "So do you have any idea who that third group was?" Mel replies carefully, "I do, I have met her before." She then fishes out her bottle of Romulan ale and offers some to Aaron. Aaron accepts and they start swapping war stories. Mel tells Aaron of the trials and tribulations of poor Ambassador Jannek, and how he lost his booze.
Aaron and Mel talk for about an hour and a half before Aaron returns to the Boston at 0200 hours. Mel returns to the bridge and Ensign Thal'tirian immediately pounces. She asks Mel nervously, "Do you have a few minutes?" Mel groans but brings Thal'tirian back to the ready room. They settle in and Thal'tirian explains, "With Zug beaming aboard we now have biosignature for a Tizit. Chief Edgly recognized a few things in his pattern and did a comparison check. He then brought his findings to me and I did some digging. Captain, the Ra'vin'ka and the Tizit are the same species!" Mel sits back, stunned, and asks, "How? They don't look anything alike!" Thal'tirian nods and says, "There appears to be about five thousand years of divergence. However, although their eyes appear differently, they have the same basic structure. Their DNA is almost a 90% match, and they have several similar internal organs."
She continues, "I did examine the database, and I found a reference to an old religious group considered heretical. This group came from Vin and spurned the Three Gods in favor of reincarnationist beliefs. According to Ra'vin'ka myth, the Three Gods smote these heretics five thousand years ago and were never seen again. This group was called Ti'Vin, captain. In modern times, ‘Ti'Vin' is a racial slur on Ra'Vin'Ka." She adds, "This seems to be the same strain of religious extremism we found in the Holy Ra'vin'ka Imperium. I felt you needed to know this as soon as possible." Mel agrees and thanks the young Andorian for her due diligence. Thal'tirian departs a few moments later and Mel heads to her cabin to go to bed.
Down in main engineering they all hear Sola call out, "What the fuck?" as she comes back online. Ssleestak replies, "Be polite!" Sola then grumbles "Oh, it's you", when she seemingly recognizes the Bynars, but then adds nervously, "I am missing three minutes of time." K'tral jokes bleakly, "You are missing more than that." Sola performs a self-diagnostic and begins swearing in multiple languages for several minutes. Fal exclaims, "Oh my!" Sola grumbles but immediately starts streamlining the repairs. Time passes as the engineers continue to lock down the EPS grid and at one point Sola tells K'tral, "Move ten centimeters to your right." K'tral complies, and then the panel she was working on explodes with a sudden plasma fire! They quickly put it out and K'tral realizes if Sola had not warned her, she would have been seriously burned.
Sola says, "To paraphrase Captain Deline, keep engineering, assholes!" As the work continues, exhaustion begins to set in for several of the Solstice officers. Fal starts drooping and then falls asleep on top of Lieutenant Kuraht. K'tral helps him off the amused Horta; he immediately wakes up and slurs an apology. K'tral realizes Fal isn't going to be any help and tells him, "Come here, I have something I need you to work on." She then leads him to Ssleestak's office and puts him down on the floor. He's out cold a moment later, and she covers him with a blanket and whispers, "Dream of spicy food, my friend."
Ssleestak starts to drag a bit immediately after that and then realizes he has yet to go to sickbay for his seared skin. He departs main engineering and heads up to deck four. He walks into sickbay and Doctor Vrax looks up at him and says simply, "I have a cream for that." Vrax leads him to a biobed and bids him, "Strip and lay down." Ssleestak sheds his uniform and complies. Vrax begins a full body massage with the cream to heal Ssleestak's skin, and Ssleestak growls with happiness. He adjusts the temperature on the biobed up several degrees and soon falls asleep, like a lizard basking on a sunny rock.
At 0400 hours on the main bridge, Jessa sidles up to Phillip and asks, "Are you all right?" She notices the flight control panel is dead and when Phillip looks at her blankly Jessa realizes he is in shock. She tells him, "We are going to get food, and then you are going to bed." Phillip numbly stumbles along behind Jessa and follows her to Two-Forward. She replicates something filling and make sure he eats although Phillip doesn't really taste anything. She then leads him back to deck one to his quarters. Once they get to the door, she tells him, "Come see me in the morning." She then opens the door to his cabin and shoves him inside unceremoniously. She heads back to her cabin to snuggle with her puppy and crash.
It takes Phillip several seconds to realize that the cabin is empty. He has enough brainpower left to ask Sola, "Where is Peel?" Sola replies shortly, "She is in sickbay." Phillip stumbles to the turbolift then heads down to sickbay. He enters sickbay to see Vrax giving Ssleestak a massage and promptly decides he does not want to know. Without looking up, Vrax tells him, "She's over there." Phillip stumbles to Peel's biobed and looks at the readouts. She was hurt badly, but someone brought her to sickbay when she lost consciousness. Thankfully, the medical staff healed the worst of the damage and she is currently asleep. Phillip grabs a chair and sits down quietly next to her biobed.
The combined away team retraces their steps through the ziggurat and the two dead Wabai rejoin them, also having been resurrected by the temporal reset – although one is missing his boot and sock. They get to the top of the stairs and the natives move the slab. The old crone roars at Ssleestak before Chief Edgly beams them aboard. The Solstice is in shambles, and the crew splits up to handle the repairs. Phillip settles into flight control even though it’s dead. Mel changes and gets a report from Saval; she learns the Solstice was erased for three minutes. Fal is treated and released. Shan’taar detects three Miranda-class vessels entering the system, but they cannot communicate until the Starfleet vessels are fifteen minutes out. They identify the U.S.S. Boston, the U.S.S. Sacramento, and the U.S.S. Montgomery Scott from Starbase 212, literally across the Federation.
The crews of the Boston, Sacramento, and Montgomery Scott pitch in to help; Mel meets Commander Shil’vala and then Captain Aaron Englyss of the Boston – and then the Bynars. The Bynars help repair Sola while Mel and Aaron talk and try to keep the temporal paradoxes straight. Aaron returns to the Boston and Thal’tirian reveals to Mel that the Tizit and the Ra’vin’ka are the same species! Fal falls asleep in engineering and Ssleestak falls asleep in sickbay as Dr. Vrax massages cream into his seared skin. Jessa brings Phillip to his cabin, but he relocates to sickbay to be with Peel.