View source for The Zone

{{Mission |
  name =     The Zone |
  image =    [[Image:The-zone.jpg]]|
  ms_num =   PAC-15 |
  posts = 166 |
  sdate = Tuesday, August 10th, 2004 |
  fdate = Thursday, December 23rd, 2004 |
  guest =    |
  story = Daniel Butterworth |
  year =     2380 |
  prev =     [[Operation Typhon]] |
  next =     [[Deck the Halls]] |
  }}

== Introduction == 
The [[USS Pacifica]] encounters the a new dangerous threat near the Romulan Neutral Zone, the [[Rikan Pirate Group|Rikan Pirates]]. 

== Summary == 
A few days into it's patrol of the Neutral Zone the [[USS Pacifica]] detected a distress call from the Federation Freighter [[SS Augustus|Augustus]] who were claiming that they were under attack near the neutral zone. Daniel Butterworth|Commodore Daniel Butterworth]] immediately ordered the ship to red alert and they quickly responded to the distress call. They arrived on the scene roughly 30 minutes later to find the [[SS Augustus|Augustus]] dead in space. Preliminary sensor readings indicated that the freighter had fallen victim to a surprise predatory attack from at least three sides, power readings onboard the ship were almost nonexistent and no life signs were detected. 

The crew began an immediate investigation into the attack and [[Buzz Polaris|Commander Buzz Polaris]] led an away team onboard the crippled freighter to try and ascertain exactly what had transpired. Minutes after arriving onboard the freighter the away team learned that the ship had been boarded and it it's cargo holds had been emptied, the away team also came across members of the ship's crew who had all been killed by handheld weapons. Once the away team had made their way to bridge they began to access the ships records in an attempt to discover what exactly had happened. They managed to retrieve the communication records and were just about to start work on retrieving the sensors logs when there was an explosion in the engineering system that badly damaged the ship ship's warp core, with little time on their hands the away team beamed back to the [[USS Pacifica|Pacifica]] and the ship pulled back to a safe distance as the [[SS Augustus|Augustus]] warp core exploded destroying the vessel. 

Back onboard the [[USS Pacifica|Pacifica]] the crew discovered that the explosion in the engine room on the [[SS Augustus|Augustus]] was caused by an explosive device of sorts that had been planted by whoever had attacked the freighter. The crew turned their attention to the [[SS Augustus|Augustus’]] communication records, where they discovered that the [[SS Augustus]] was responding to a distress call of it's own when it fell victim to the attack which explained the ship ship's proximity to the neutral zone. The crew further ascertained that the distress call had been planted to lure the [[SS Augustus|Augustus]] into the ambush, upon further investigation the crew learned that the Freighter had fallen victim to a pirate group who were operating somewhere in the sector.  The crew decided to use the ship's compliment of fighters as a means of drawing the pirates out of hiding, but as soon as the operation began the fighters fell into trouble. The [[USS Pacifica|Pacifica]] moved to aid it's fighters, but fell victim to a surprise attack as well. Badly outnumbered the crew concentrated on retrieving the surviving pilots before pulling back. During this encounter the [[USS Pacifica|Pacifica]] took quite a beating and headed towards [[Starbase 257]] for immediate repairs.

==Other Characters==


==Noted Ship & Starbase Appearances==
* [[USS Honolulu]] NCC-77902
* [[SS Augustus]] 
* [[Starbase 257]]

==Memorable Moments==

==Out of Character Information==
* This was [[James Harris]] & [[Owen Banks]] last mission on the Pacifica. They both would make a brief appearance during [[Something Old and Something New]], Harris also featured briefing during [[Deck the Halls]].
* This was the first appearance of the [[Rikan Pirate Group|Rikan Pirates]] would play a important role in several of the Pacifica's next missions.