Aid
| "Aid" USS Pacifica NCC-72545 | |
| |
| Mission No. | PAC-01 |
| Total Posts | 201 |
| Start Date | Friday, July 13th, 2001 |
| Finish Date | Thursday, November 22nd, 2001 |
| Story | Daniel Butterworth & Luke Evans |
| Guest Star(s) | None |
| Previous Mission "NA" | |
| Year 2377 | |
| Next Mission "To Deep Space 12" | |
Contents
Introduction
Fresh out of dry dock the newly commissioned USS Pacifica is sent out on its first mission to deliver medical supplies to a growing Federation colony. What began as a simple delivery mission got turned upside down when Section 31 made a appearance.
Summary
!!Warning Spoilers!!
Starfleet’s newest Starship the Sovereign Class, USS Pacifica is docked at Starbase 33 where it is undergoing it’s final fitting before shakedown. One by one the members of ship’s first crew start to arrive onboard led by it’s commanding officer Captain Daniel Butterworth and First Officer Commander Luke Evans, who arrive beforehand to take a personal look at the new ship. With the crew arrivals proceeding on schedule both Butterworth and Evans took the opportunity to meet with the rest of the Pacifica’s handpicked senior officers, including Chief Operations Officer, Lt. Commander Evan Ottaway and the ship’s Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Connie Morgan.
The crew quickly began to settle in to their roles on the Pacifica as final preparations continued for the Pacifica’s shakedown cruise. All of that quickly changed after Butterworth received surprise orders from Star Fleet Command. The ship’s shakedown mission was placed on hold as the Pacifica was ordered to deliver much needed medical supplies to a Federation Colony in the Titan System. After attending a hastily organised senior staff briefing, the crew made final preparations and then the Pacifica quickly got underway to the Titan System.
On route to the Titan System the Pacifica made a quick rendezvous with the USS Star to take on additional mission supplies and more crew members. During the exchange of supplies and crew the Pacifica’s sensors detected an unusual trace of Gamma radiation in the local vicinity. Still without the services of a dedicated Chief Science Officer, Butterworth assigned Lieutenant Commander Data who had been aboard the Pacifica to observe and assist with the ship’s postponed shakedown to investigate the strange appearance, while the Pacifica resumed course to Titan.
Three hours after their meeting with the Star, the Pacifica’s crew were taken by surprise when the sensors detected what appeared to be a cloaked star ship. Commander Evans ordered the Pacifica to drop to impulse moments before a Starship with Federation markings decloaked directly in front of the ship. |Evans knowing the ship from his past took the Pacifica to yellow alert as Butterworth arrived on the bridge to assess the situation. He noticed quickly a change in the demoir of his First Officer as attempts to hail the star ship went unanswered, until Commander Evans provided the codes to open a secure channel to the star ship. Butterworth’s hopes on now getting an answer, failed to reach expectations as the ship’s commander who had identified himself as Commodore Ross immeadiately requested that Commander Evans beam aboard his ship to talk. Butterworth turned to his First Officer for an explanation but in the end he had little choice but to trust in |Evans’ judgment as he allowed him to beam over to talk with Ross.
Onboard the ship, which had now been identified as the Nimitz, Ross and Evans exchanged friendly conversation. This changed quickly following a meeting with another old acquaintance Shane Vance who clued the Pacifica’s first officer in to the reason behind why Ross’ and the USS Nimitz|Nimitz’s]] sudden appearance. Upon learning of Ross’ plan to destabilise the Federation’s relationship with the Cardassian Union Evans made his escape from the Nimitz and returned to the Pacifica with [[Shane Vansan}Vansan]]. Their return to the Pacifica trigged a hostile response from the Nimitz which opened fire on the Pacifica. Not willing to engage in a fire fight with a untested ship and crew, Butterworth ordered the Pacifica to depart the system. After successfully eluding the Nimitz, Butterworth put the Pacifica back on course for the Titan System as he tried to make sense of everything that had just transpired.
With the danger seemly passed Butterworth was able to learn of the events that had transpired with the USS Nimitz. Troubled by the information that he had been given by both Vansan and Commander Evans, Butterworth reported to Star Fleet Command on the situation, who advised him to continue on to Titan while the matter was investigated further. Attempting to put recent events behind them the members of the senior crew gathered at the suggestion of Commander Evans for a friendly game of poker, which he hoped would give the senior staff a change to get to know each other.
The brief respite failed to last for long as the Pacifica fell victim to a surprise ambush by the USS Nimitz which had somehow managed to avoid being detected by the Pacifica’s long range sensors. In their surprise assault the Nimitz managed to overload the Pacifica’s shields and disabled the bridge, injuring a number of the crew including the ship’s helmsman Lieutenant Chris Johnson. The crew transferred ship control to the battle bridge and launched a daring plan to beam an away team across to the Nimitz in an attempt to disable the vessel from the inside. The away team lead by Commander Evans were quickly pinned down on the Nimitz in a fire fight that lead to both Evans and Doctor Morgan being wounded. While unable to reach to engineering the away team was able to distract the Nimitz’s crew long enough for Lt. Commander Horne to restore limited shield power to the Pacifica. Butterworth then made to most of the opportunity to retrieve the pinned down away team from the Nimitz before attempting to leave the area. The Nimitz was not done with yet however as the ship beamed off both Evans and Doctor Morgan from the Pacifica’s sickbay before retreating. The Pacifica attempted in vain to disable to retreating Nimitz before it could engage its warp drive, but had no choice back to follow the Nimitz in pursuit. The Pacifica was unable to catch up with the Nimitz before it had to power down it’s warp engines. Unwilling to give up the chase Butterworth and members of his senior staff including from Nimitz officer Vansan took to the Pacifica’s Delta Flyer the USS Paris and continued the chase.
With the Paris now in pursuit of the Nimitz, Commodore Tim Ross interrogated Commander Evans for the information that he was looking for. Commander Evans was eventually able to turn the tide to his favour as he was able to escape from his interrogator and free Morgan from her confinement. The two officers went about disabling the Nimitz from the inside and were able to successfully bring the ship out of warp by overloading the primary relays in the port nacelle. This allowed the Paris to catch up with and disable theNimitz. With the Nimitz disabled, the crew on the Paris were able to rescue both Commander Evans and Doctor Morgan from the USS Nimitz.
During the rescue mission Shane Vance showed that her loyalty to Section 31 had no waivered as she took Butterworth hostage and beamed back across to the USS Nimitz. Unwilling to sit by Evans returned to the Nimitz to confront his former comrades and rescue his captain. During a final confrontation on the bridge of Nimitz, Evans was forced to shoot and kill both Shane Vansan and Commodore Tim Ross. The death of Commodore Ross trigged the self destruct mechanism on the USS Nimitz, with not enough time to stop the countdown Butterworth and Evans beamed back to the Paris and made their escape with only moments to spare. Following the destruction of the USS Nimitz the crew on the runabout returned to the waiting USS Pacifica.
Guest Characters
- Lt. Commander Data - Mission Advisor (NPC)
- Commodore Tim Ross - Commanding Officer USS Nimitz (NPC)
- Shane Vansan - Crew Member USS Nimitz (NPC)
Noted Ship & Starbase Appearances
Memorable Moments
Chris: "Good ship!"
Chris walked over to the turbo lift
Chris: "Bad crew!" - Lieutenant Chris Johnson on his first impressions of the Pacifica's crew.
The forcefield to the brig was lowered and the two guards stepped in. They quickly grabbed her and pulled her to her feet she gasped in pain as one of the guards grabbed her sore shoulder.
Connie: ;;struggling;; Where are you taking me?
Ross: Relax it's not your turn yet, your off to sickbay to get that arm fixed up.
Connie: Oh how humanitarian of you! -Doctor Connie Morgan during her imprisonment on the USS Nimitz
Out of Character Information
- Aid was the Pacifica's first mission in Bravo Fleet.
- Many notable players made their first appearance for the Pacifica during this mission including the then Chief Security Officer Lieutenant Mark Kirkwood. He returned to the Pacifica in the following year as the Pacifica's new Chief Engineer.
- Lt. Commander Data is the first canon Star Trek character to appear on the Pacifica. Throughout the mission he served as a mission advisor who was originally brought in to observe the Pacifica's shakedown cruise.
- Connie Morgan was awarded to the Bravo Fleet Purple Heart for injuries received during the mission.
