Scratching The Surface
| Star Traks: Boldly Gone | |
| Episode name | Scratching The Surface |
|---|---|
| Season | 7 |
| Episode number | 3 |
| Writer(s) | Alan Decker, Anthony Butler |
| Year | 2502 |
| Stardate | 177753 |
| Chronology | |
| Previous in series | Devastating Logic [BG] |
| Next in series | In One Door, Out The Other [BG] |
| Previous in timeline | Devastating Logic [BG] |
| Next in timeline | In One Door, Out The Other [BG] |
A Vulcan strike team is on its way to Dr. Natalia Kasyov's house, leaving us with two important questions. Can the USS Anomaly get there in time to stop them? And, more importantly, why the heck are they going there in the first place?
Summary
Picking up where the last story left off, the crew of the USS Anomaly has learned that a Vulcan strike team is heading to Dr. Natalia Kasyov’s family home in Siberia on Earth. Captain Reginald Bain cannot understand why they would be going there, so Kasyov asks to speak to him and Lieutenant Shelly Marsden in private. In the Captain’s Lounge, Kasyov explains that her parents are the caretakers of a Starfleet Intelligence warehouse called the Kantelov Annex, which stores various evidence and equipment that Starfleet Intelligence has gathered over the years. Her family home and farm are built on top of a steppe that conceals the warehouse. The Vulcans must be after something in the Annex. Bain decides not to warn Earth and possibly tip off the Vulcans that their plan has been exposed and instead has the Anomaly race to Earth as quickly as their anti-singularity drive can take them.
Lieutenant Commander Tovar is in the brig on the Romulan Warhawk Shakalak when he feels the ship drop out of warp and, he presumes, slide into orbit over Earth. Audrey Bain transports outside of his cell, still disguised as Sub-Commander Nural. She explains that she was stuck in the cargo hold with the rest of the crew until the Vulcans finally gassed the Romulans with a knock-out gas and left the ship, leaving only two on board. She was unaffected due to being human and thanks to some alterations made to her by Section 31. So she faked being unconscious until the Vulcans left and then went to rescue Tovar. Tovar tells her about the coordinates he got from Colonel Strep’s mind and that he informed Bain. They go to engineering to subtly sabotage the ship’s cloak, so the Anomaly can detect the Shakalak without the Vulcans knowing anything has happened.
Tovar and Audrey beam down to the coordinates and find themselves freezing outside of an assuming farmhouse. They quickly enter through the exterior entrance to the house’s basement, and soon stun a Vulcan who has come downstairs from the main level to investigate. Tovar takes his body armor, then he and Audrey head upstairs, where they surprise and stun another Vulcan.
The Anomaly arrives and established contact with Tovar. After a quick exchange of information, Kasyov beams down with Marsden and Cabral’s hovercam. Commander Vioxx beams over to the Shakalak with Centurion Nortal and Sub-Lieutenant Zantak and retakes control of the ship. Bain sends Dr. Fred Nooney over to ascertain the condition of the Shakalak’s Romulan crew. Nortal discovers that the Vulcans sent a distress signal before Vioxx stunned them. They detect five Vulcan ships heading toward Earth. Bain has Commander Prosak launch in the USS Navigator, giving them three ships against the Vulcans’ five.
Tovar and Marsden have a brief reunion and come close to kissing before deciding that it is not the time. The group moves into the Kantelov Annex, the entrance to which is hidden under a grain silo. Cabral finds a Vulcan holding Kasyov’s parents, Yuri Kasyov and Dasha Kasyov in a small office near the annex entrance. Tovar and Audrey, still masquerading as Nural, quickly stun the Vulcan. Yuri tells the away team that Strep mentioned something called the Kolch'ak Device, but he doesn’t know what it is. Kasyov locates the device in the annex manifest, and Cabral’s hovercam heads over to scout the situation while Yuri and Dasha arm themselves with phasers from the office.
The Vulcan ships arrive and are caught off guard by the assault from the combined force of the Anomaly, Shakalak, and Navigator. One is instantly destroyed. The remaining four split up, with two remaining above the planet while two others break for Siberia. The Navigator and the Earth defense network quickly dispatch the two who remained behind while the Anomaly and Shakalak pursue the other two.
The away team engages the Vulcans, stunning several before the Vulcans activate a portable forcefield, protecting their group and the crate they are working to open. Strep retrieves the Kolch’ak Device, which was designed centuries earlier by an Andorian scientist to enslave Vulcans by controlling their minds. The Vulcans plan to use it on the Romulans. Strep activates it, and Audrey pretends to be controlled, chasing the away team out of the aisle. She the reveals that she is fine as the group comes up with a new plan.
The Anomaly and Shakalak shoot down one of the two remaining Vulcan ships just before Strep activates the Kolch’ak Device. As soon as he does, Sub-Commander Remax declares “Destroy our attackers!” and charges at Bain while the Shakalak locks weapons on the Anomaly. On the Shakalak, Dr. Nooney barely avoids getting shot by the now-mind-controlled Romulan crew. On the Navigator, Prosak fights with the bridge crew to take control of that ship. Lieutenant Gworos stuns Remax, and Bain orders the ship to the asteroid field to get some cover. The Shakalak, Navigator, and Vulcan ship pursue, but as soon as they get some distance from Earth, the Romulans snap out of their mind-control. All three ships turn on the Vulcan ship, which flees back toward Earth. But as soon as they get in range of the Kolch’ak Device, the Romulans resume their attack on the Anomaly.
After going through several crates, the away team finds a portable wormhole generator. Tovar throws the generator at the Vulcans’ shield, activating it. Gale force winds start on both sides of the wormhole, which is much worse for the Vulcans inside the shield dome, who are smashed and battered about. Cabral is able to steer his hovercam through the wormhole into the shield dome and destroy the generator. With the shield gone, the away team is able to take out the Vulcans and destroy the Kolch’ak Device. Kasyov takes the opportunity to introduce her parents to Cabral, and she tells them that she is in love with him.
The Anomaly disables the final Vulcan ship before losing power as well under the combined assault of the Shakalak and Navigator. Before they can blow up the Anomaly, though, the Romulans snap back to themselves with the destruction of the Kolch’ak Device. Bain has Vioxx tow the Anomaly to McKinley Station.
Tovar returns to serving on the Anomaly and finds Audrey waiting for him in his quarters. She tells Tovar that he did a good job dealing with the Vulcans and asks about Marsden. He replies that Marsden is coming to his quarters for dinner shortly and they will be having a much-needed long talk. Audrey says to go get her and to not sleep with Prosak again before beaming away. The door chime sounds, and Tovar goes to answer it.
Featuring
- Captain Reginald Bain
- Commander Prosak
- Commander Vioxx
- Lieutenant Commander Tovar
- Lieutenant Shelly Marsden
- Sub-Commander Remax
- Dr. Natalia Kasyov
- Centurion Nortal
- Sub-Lieutenant Zantak
- Engineer Selex
- Cabral
- Audrey Bain