Scrap Metal Of The Gods: Difference between revisions
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==Summary== | ==Summary== | ||
Two years ago, Lieutenant [[Shelly Marsden]] and Ensign [[Hector Arroyo]] evacuate the [[Hermes 5]] prototype ship, which is about to self-destruct after an unsuccessful test of the [[anti-singularity drive]]. They get out before the ship explodes, spreading a debris field across that area of space. | |||
In the present on the [[USS Anomaly]], Captain [[Reginald Bain]] informs Marsden that a large chunk of the Hermes 5 survived the explosion and crashed onto [[Carsullis]], a pre-industrial Class M world at a development level roughly equivalent to Medieval Europe. Since they feel she made the mess, Starfleet is sending Marsden to Carsullis to clean it up. Marsden feels it’s a waste of time, but orders are orders. | |||
Upon arriving in a raceabout, Marsden is able to beam up most of the Hermes 5 fragments, leaving only a large one that sits in a largely populated area with lots of Carsullans around it. She can detect energy readings from it, but they are distorted due to whatever structure the Carsullans have built around it. Left with no option but to investigate, Marsden cloaks and lands her raceabout north of the town, replicates a Carsullan wardrobe, and puts on the Carsullan prosthetics that Dr. [[Fred Nooney]] prepared for her. | |||
Based on the number of travelers heading toward the chunk of debris, Marsden determines that the Carsullans have turned it into a shrine. Once inside said shrine, she discovers a fully-functioning backup computer core from the Hermes 5, which absolutely should not be possible. Starfleet puts charges inside the cores that are supposed to detonate during self-destruct to prevent exactly this sort of occurrence. For whatever reason, the charges did not go off (or someone forgot to install them). | |||
After waiting in line to enter the shrine, Marsden has a conversation with the backup core, which Carsullans have named [[The Oracle]]. The core does not want to leave. It enjoys being worshiped and says that, since it has the collective histories of several hundred worlds in its databanks, it can guide the Carsullans’ development, preventing a lot of the deaths from war, disease, and poverty that go along with so-called “normal” development. Marsden is unable to come up with a good counter-argument before she is forced to move along so the next Carsullan in line can consult the Oracle. | |||
Meanwhile, [[Thot-Phul]] has been given command of the Breen Patroller DRAAT, a significant downgrade from the XAXRDAARD, after losing his old ship at the hands of the USS Anomaly. The DRAAT is supposed to be patrolling an empty expanse of Breen territory in the middle of nowhere, but Phul orders the ship to head toward Federation space so he can get his revenge on Reginald Bain. The DRAAT intercepts Starfleet comms about the Hermes 5 debris, and Phul, believing that Starfleet will send Bain to deal with it, orders the DRAAT to Carsullis. | |||
That night, Marsden is sneaking around near the shrine and scanning it to determine if she can find a way to compensate for the distortions caused by the structure that are preventing her from just beaming the core off of the surface. She is approached by a male Carsullan, who notes that her nose is falling off. He removes his own fake nose and says that apparently neither of them are from Carsullus. After Marsden threatens him with her wrist phase, he introduces himself as [[Cole Anfibon]]. He’s not Starfleet, but he’s there to get the computer core. He intercepted Starfleet’s comms about the Hermes 5 debris and hopes to sell the core to other parties who are interested in learning how the anti-singularity drive works. Marsden takes him into custody, beaming them both back to the raceabout where they have a banter-filled dinner. She decides to do Anfibon a favor and not arrest him as long as he leaves Carsullis. He heads out after dinner, saying he will do just that and that he hopes to run into Marsden again sometime. | |||
The next day, Marsden returns to the shrine and surreptitiously several small explosives to the walls and roof. She waits until late that night to detonate them, but, before she can, Anfibon shows up and tells her not to. He has removed all of the explosives, which just look like a blob of grey putty, and has them on him. Just as she snatches the blob of explosives back and threatens to arrest him, the DRAAT obliterates the roof of the shrine with a blast from orbit and beams up the core as well as Marsden and Anfibon. | |||
On the Anomaly, the crew has just completed a mission, and Bain orders the ship to head to Carsullis to rendezvous with Marsden. | |||
Marsden and Anfibon are taken from their cell by the Breen. She secretly shows him that she still has the blob of explosives, since the Breen didn’t see it as a threat and take it from her. The Breen lead them to the computer core, which is steadfastly refusing to reveal any information about the anti-singularity drive. Phul arrives and orders Marsden to get the information he wants out of the core and his crew to eject Anfibon into space. While hugging Anfibon goodbye, Marsden slips him the blob of explosives as he whispers to give him three minutes. | |||
Phul is summoned to the DRAAT's bridge because the Anomaly is approaching. The Anomaly hails the DRAAT, and Phul responds, ready to face down Reginald Bain. Disappointingly for him, Commander [[Prosak]] is in command. When she refuses to get Bain, the two exchange varying demands. | |||
Just before the three minutes are up, Anfibon tells the two Breen escorting him to the airlock that he wants to give them his most prized possession before he dies. He tears the blob of explosives in half, handing one half to each Breen before running off down the corridor as the last seconds tick away. When the three minutes are up, Marsden taps her commpip, setting off the detonator. In the chaos that follows, Marsden has herself and Anfibon beamed back to her raceabout, which the Breen had pulled into their docking bay. She blasts her way out, further damaging the already battered DRAAT. On the Anomaly, Lieutenant Commander [[Tovar]] hits the DRAAT with several torpedoes, taking out the Breen ship’s power completely and allowing him to beam the computer core over to the Anomaly. Phul orders his crew to abandon ship before it explodes. | |||
The Anomaly takes Anfibon back to Carsullis to get his ship. Bain is willing to let him go, since he helped Marsden escape the Breen. Anfibon says that he hopes to see Marsden again some time. Once he is gone, Marsden is certain that she will never hear from him again, but Bain says he has a good feeling about him. Several hours later, Marsden returns to her quarters and is happy to find a message from Anfibon waiting for her. | |||
==Featuring== | ==Featuring== | ||
| Line 31: | Line 68: | ||
*[[Cabral]] | *[[Cabral]] | ||
*[[Cole Anfibon]] | *[[Cole Anfibon]] | ||
*[[Thot-Phul]] | |||
==Author's Comments== | ==Author's Comments== | ||
| Line 38: | Line 74: | ||
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
[ | [https://www.star-traks.com//boldly/stories/series4/4_4_BG_SCRAP/ Scrap Metal Of The Gods] | ||
Latest revision as of 14:55, 18 December 2023
| Star Traks: Boldly Gone | |
| Episode name | Scrap Metal Of The Gods |
|---|---|
| Season | 4 |
| Episode number | 4 |
| Writer(s) | Alan Decker, Anthony Butler |
| Year | 2501 |
| Stardate | 176519 |
| Chronology | |
| Previous in series | Diplomatic Immunity [BG] |
| Next in series | Illusions Of Grandeur - Part One [BG] |
| Previous in timeline | Diplomatic Immunity [BG] |
| Next in timeline | Illusions Of Grandeur - Part One [BG] |
Nothing makes the brass at Starfleet more nervous than to have a large hunk of technology lost on an impressionable, primitive world. In this case, Lieutenant Shelly Marsden lost the technology in question, so she gets to clean up her mess. Lucky her. Join the search for the "Scrap Metal Of The Gods."
Summary
Two years ago, Lieutenant Shelly Marsden and Ensign Hector Arroyo evacuate the Hermes 5 prototype ship, which is about to self-destruct after an unsuccessful test of the anti-singularity drive. They get out before the ship explodes, spreading a debris field across that area of space.
In the present on the USS Anomaly, Captain Reginald Bain informs Marsden that a large chunk of the Hermes 5 survived the explosion and crashed onto Carsullis, a pre-industrial Class M world at a development level roughly equivalent to Medieval Europe. Since they feel she made the mess, Starfleet is sending Marsden to Carsullis to clean it up. Marsden feels it’s a waste of time, but orders are orders.
Upon arriving in a raceabout, Marsden is able to beam up most of the Hermes 5 fragments, leaving only a large one that sits in a largely populated area with lots of Carsullans around it. She can detect energy readings from it, but they are distorted due to whatever structure the Carsullans have built around it. Left with no option but to investigate, Marsden cloaks and lands her raceabout north of the town, replicates a Carsullan wardrobe, and puts on the Carsullan prosthetics that Dr. Fred Nooney prepared for her.
Based on the number of travelers heading toward the chunk of debris, Marsden determines that the Carsullans have turned it into a shrine. Once inside said shrine, she discovers a fully-functioning backup computer core from the Hermes 5, which absolutely should not be possible. Starfleet puts charges inside the cores that are supposed to detonate during self-destruct to prevent exactly this sort of occurrence. For whatever reason, the charges did not go off (or someone forgot to install them).
After waiting in line to enter the shrine, Marsden has a conversation with the backup core, which Carsullans have named The Oracle. The core does not want to leave. It enjoys being worshiped and says that, since it has the collective histories of several hundred worlds in its databanks, it can guide the Carsullans’ development, preventing a lot of the deaths from war, disease, and poverty that go along with so-called “normal” development. Marsden is unable to come up with a good counter-argument before she is forced to move along so the next Carsullan in line can consult the Oracle.
Meanwhile, Thot-Phul has been given command of the Breen Patroller DRAAT, a significant downgrade from the XAXRDAARD, after losing his old ship at the hands of the USS Anomaly. The DRAAT is supposed to be patrolling an empty expanse of Breen territory in the middle of nowhere, but Phul orders the ship to head toward Federation space so he can get his revenge on Reginald Bain. The DRAAT intercepts Starfleet comms about the Hermes 5 debris, and Phul, believing that Starfleet will send Bain to deal with it, orders the DRAAT to Carsullis.
That night, Marsden is sneaking around near the shrine and scanning it to determine if she can find a way to compensate for the distortions caused by the structure that are preventing her from just beaming the core off of the surface. She is approached by a male Carsullan, who notes that her nose is falling off. He removes his own fake nose and says that apparently neither of them are from Carsullus. After Marsden threatens him with her wrist phase, he introduces himself as Cole Anfibon. He’s not Starfleet, but he’s there to get the computer core. He intercepted Starfleet’s comms about the Hermes 5 debris and hopes to sell the core to other parties who are interested in learning how the anti-singularity drive works. Marsden takes him into custody, beaming them both back to the raceabout where they have a banter-filled dinner. She decides to do Anfibon a favor and not arrest him as long as he leaves Carsullis. He heads out after dinner, saying he will do just that and that he hopes to run into Marsden again sometime.
The next day, Marsden returns to the shrine and surreptitiously several small explosives to the walls and roof. She waits until late that night to detonate them, but, before she can, Anfibon shows up and tells her not to. He has removed all of the explosives, which just look like a blob of grey putty, and has them on him. Just as she snatches the blob of explosives back and threatens to arrest him, the DRAAT obliterates the roof of the shrine with a blast from orbit and beams up the core as well as Marsden and Anfibon.
On the Anomaly, the crew has just completed a mission, and Bain orders the ship to head to Carsullis to rendezvous with Marsden.
Marsden and Anfibon are taken from their cell by the Breen. She secretly shows him that she still has the blob of explosives, since the Breen didn’t see it as a threat and take it from her. The Breen lead them to the computer core, which is steadfastly refusing to reveal any information about the anti-singularity drive. Phul arrives and orders Marsden to get the information he wants out of the core and his crew to eject Anfibon into space. While hugging Anfibon goodbye, Marsden slips him the blob of explosives as he whispers to give him three minutes.
Phul is summoned to the DRAAT's bridge because the Anomaly is approaching. The Anomaly hails the DRAAT, and Phul responds, ready to face down Reginald Bain. Disappointingly for him, Commander Prosak is in command. When she refuses to get Bain, the two exchange varying demands.
Just before the three minutes are up, Anfibon tells the two Breen escorting him to the airlock that he wants to give them his most prized possession before he dies. He tears the blob of explosives in half, handing one half to each Breen before running off down the corridor as the last seconds tick away. When the three minutes are up, Marsden taps her commpip, setting off the detonator. In the chaos that follows, Marsden has herself and Anfibon beamed back to her raceabout, which the Breen had pulled into their docking bay. She blasts her way out, further damaging the already battered DRAAT. On the Anomaly, Lieutenant Commander Tovar hits the DRAAT with several torpedoes, taking out the Breen ship’s power completely and allowing him to beam the computer core over to the Anomaly. Phul orders his crew to abandon ship before it explodes.
The Anomaly takes Anfibon back to Carsullis to get his ship. Bain is willing to let him go, since he helped Marsden escape the Breen. Anfibon says that he hopes to see Marsden again some time. Once he is gone, Marsden is certain that she will never hear from him again, but Bain says he has a good feeling about him. Several hours later, Marsden returns to her quarters and is happy to find a message from Anfibon waiting for her.
Featuring
- Captain Reginald Bain
- Commander Prosak
- Lieutenant Commander Tovar
- Lieutenant Shelly Marsden
- Dr. Natalia Kasyov
- Dr. Fred Nooney
- Ensign Hector Arroyo
- Cabral
- Cole Anfibon
- Thot-Phul