Episode 15: "A huntin' we will go"

The transport was complete. "Set a course for Starfleet Command, maximum warp." Captain McMillan said, eager to get this over with. Why the Gibraltar had been assigned to this rather mundane -or dare he say, boring- task, the Captain didn't know. They had to be looking for Slade, not transporting some xenobiological experiment to Command. But yet, they were busy doing the latter, not the former.

One would wonder if Starfleet is mad at us for not getting Slade yet. 

McMillan shook his head. He couldn't afford to think like this. He knew full well that the life of a starship crew couldn't be action all the time. Still, if Starfleet wanted results, they should keep the Gibraltar out there, where Slade was last sighted, not doing some convoy duty.

Still, this mission was deemed 'top secret', which bothered McMillan. And not just him. The nature of this mission worried the entire crew. Speculations about this 'experiment' could not be avoided, even with an experienced crew such as this one. Lt. Weintraub for instance thought this experiment was a *genetic* experiment: something which was outlawed by the Federation alltogether.

Finally, Captain McMillan spoke up. "Folks, let's concentrate on the task at hand, and trust that Starfleet knows what it's doing. Perhaps they just found a new kind of creature they have to have transported to Earth. Who knows."

It wasn't long after that, that it was time to beam the experiment down to the surface. The crew went to watch the transport, but something went wrong... the hidious creature let out a loud cry at the moment the forcefields dropped, and it beamed down itself!

Damn. McMillan thought. There is an unknown alien creature loose at Starfleet Command...

There was only one option: The Gibraltar crew quickly armed themselves, warned all Starfleet personnel on the ground to stand clear, and then they beamed down themselves, searching for this creature. It was quite a hunt: this creature seemed more intelligent than first thought. 

The folks at the Xenobiology department have quite something to explain.  McMillan figured, as he recieved reports that the creature had taken another transporter to the old medical building. 

"All units, converge at my position." the Captain ordered. Moments later, the moment was there. It was time to enter the medical building. The doors opened. . . and the creature lay there, under the couch, unconscious. Apparently it had been hit by a phaser blast anyway: it just took longer to take effect. Could this have been what Xenobiology had wanted to research?

"Looks like we got it." Commander Arado stated.  "Now let's deliver this to the Science boys, and be done with it, shall we?"

McMillan couldn't agree more.

Episode 14: "Sightings of Slade"

Whilst Captain McMillan was discussing the Slade issue with Starfleet Command in person, Ensign Braveheart was ordered to take the USS Gibraltar to Nimbus III (The Planet of Galactic Peace) to investigate potential sightings of Slade

Following a 'cold reception' communique on arrival at  Nimbus III, the crew were authorised to beam down to investigate the reports.

Upon arrival to what seemed like a market place, the crew found themselves in a sky city, with an unusual transport system, which took them to the surface. One there, they happened upon what seemed like a castle, but turned out to be a village named KoS

Speaking for many minutes with a local lady knight, Jordina McGinnis, we were given permission to enter the village whilst at the same time encountering another helpful local named Dinky Wingtips.

The away team split up with Ensign Westland and Crewman Turbo checking one area, whilst Petty Officer Menkez and Crewman Loire checked another. Team 1 found nothing, however team 2 had found an alchemy shop, which they believed could be a cover, but with no proof, we couldn't make any claims. Braveheart, Westland and Turbo had followed Commander Arado deeper into the village, where we were being followed by another local who kept showing for us not to touch anything.

Upon finding nothing, the team had returned to the sky city by the same method, and despite a minor EMP field, the crew managed to return to the ship where they set a course to Starbase 314 to rendezvous with Captain McMillan

At that moment, Commander Arado asked for the computer to end the simulation, congratulating Ensign Braveheart on passing the bridge officer's exam

What is Slade really up to?

Episode 13: "Kelley's Heroes"

The USS Gibraltar was steady on course to a nearby nebula for scientific research... when all of a sudden, a ball of energy was heading towards them. Without any word of warning, it impacted with the Gibraltar, sending a blinding light through the Intrepid class vessel.

When the light dimmed, Captain McMillan looked around. He was sitting in a Captain's Chair, on the bridge of a Miranda class Starship. His crew were all in their normal positions, dressed in the uniform of this time. Everything seemed normal to him, and his crew. Nobody seemed to notice that they had in fact just been at the Intrepid class ship. Nobody... but Lt. Heron.

The mission of this Miranda-class Gibraltar was clear: defeat the Klingons in one all-decisive battle. Heron knew that this was not how history had gone... and she suspected Q to be responsible for this. The very same Q whom she had hit, a few months ago. Could the superbeing be holding a grudge?

When Heron confronted the Captain and crew, she was first thought to be crazy... but when more and more evidence started to appear, McMillan realised that they didn't belong here. But by that time, they had already started fighting the Klingons. How to get out of here?

Heron provided the answer. Using a late 24th century technique, she incapaticated the Klingon ship. The Miranda class Gibraltar was on its way again... only to encounter the bridge light once more. A flash... and everyone was back on board the Intrepid class Gibraltar. Everyone... but Lt. Heron.

Moments later, she appeared too, as if she was a Q herself too. She informed the crew that she had to leave the Gibraltar. Q had given her little choice. But she would be back. Somehow, someday, somewhere, somewhen. With a flash, she disappeared again, only after letting the Captain promise that they'd get Slade... before she'd get them.

And so, without Heron, the Gibraltar followed her way... to unknowns, awaiting them.

Episode 12: "In the middle of nowhere"

The Gibraltar was still in orbit of Nedra, a Klingon moon close to the Federation/Klingon border. Less than 24 hours ago, the crew had already beamed down, and found out that Nedra had been attacked: its population either killed or escaped, its buildings in ruins. New sensor scans showed an underground city though. . . perhaps there, new information could be found on *who* attacked the planet.

Just as the crew was ready to beam down, an unexpected guest appeared via a temporal rift: this could only mean one person. Auer. Colonel Auer was an old aquintance of the Gibraltar crew. . . of Lt. Heron especially, even though Captain McMillan didn't quite know all of the history between the two. He made it a point to find out though... later. Now, under observation of Colonel Auer or not, he felt it was time to beam down to Nedra once again... in order to get some answers.

Their beaming down raised more questions than answers. Where less than 24 hours ago there was a destroyed city, there now was... absolutely nothing. For as far as the eye could see, there was emptiness. A sandy wasteland. No buildings, no ruins, no underground city. Nothing.

In the distance though, there was a shimmer of... something. Could it be a building? The Gibraltar crew started walking through the wasteland, all the time wondering what could have happened to this planet.

What they found was almost impossible. A small house, surrounded by water, protected by a forcefield... in the middle of this wasteland. How could this be? Q? A natural development? Did the weapons of the attack cause this? Or was it perhaps an entity similar to the chrystaline entity discovered by the Enterprise-D so many years ago?

After returning to the Gibraltar, the latter was seen as the best option. This could very well be a new lifeform! But one with an appitite for planets... and what about the attack on Nedra, before the Gibraltar got there? Could whoever attacked Nedra, work together with that lifeform? The possibilities were endless... and terrifying.

The Gibraltar sent all the information they had to both Starfleet Science and the Klingon High Command, before leaving the area again. Perhaps though... they'd come back here, one day...

Episode 11: "Nedra"

With the Gibraltar having been repaired from the last attack by Slade, Captain McMillan decided to finally go to the Klingon borderworld Ku'Vat. The last two times the Gibraltar had been on its way in that direction, they had been attacked: first by unknown aliens, and the next time by Slade. Perhaps three was the charm here?

It seemed it was. Without all that much interruptions -save from a Klingon ship checking in on the Gibraltar- the crew arrived in Klingon space... only to find out that there were some anomulous readings coming from a planet nearby Ku'Vat... called Nedra. Quickly, the Gibraltar altered course, and soon  arrived at Nedra.

Because of the atmospheric conditions down on the volcanic planet, Captain McMillan called in the help of the Air Corps: Lt.Cmdr. Tao and Lt.jg  Sheridan quickly left the ship in their fighter. When they sent back information about the planet, Captain McMillan ordered the crew to beam down in Environmental Suits.

The search of the city of Nedra went quickly with the help of the Air Support. Everything looked fine... until the team discovered an abandoned, destroyed part of the city. It looked like it had been attacked, not all that long ago. Who could this have been? Scans of a portal that the crew encountered found traces of Klingon DNA, which was to be expected... and some unknown DNA, which the scanners couldn't identify. Could this have been the unknown aliens who attacked the Gibraltar earlier?

Quickly, the crew returned to the Gibraltar, to see if their computer might know more...