Captain RoBobby McMillan reporting.
When the USS Gibraltar was sent out to the Romulan neutral zone once again, I expected a peaceful mission. We were only going to scan a couple of planets and an interesting looking nebula, after all. But unfortunately, like my first officer Commander Johnson already predicted, it was just silence before the storm.
We received a distress call from the Galaxy class starship USS Grissom. It was a general distress call, meaning their crew had very little time to send one out in the first place. They were in orbit of planet Delta 4, an as of yet unexplored L-class planet on the edge of the neutral zone. Engaging at maximum warp, Lt.Cmdr. Duke brought the Gibraltar to the coordinates.
En-route, lieutenants Penny Billstrom and Mitsuki Renari worked together with crewman S'Age at science, to determine what was the cause of the distress call. It didn't take long to find out that the Grissom was under attack... by two Romulan D'deridex class warbirds. It would be tough for the Gibraltar to take them on, but it seemed we had no choice.
Unfortunately, the stardrive section's warpcore chose that moment to explode. The shockwave hit the Gibraltar and what was left of the Grissom hard. Luckily, we managed to divert power to our shields and surrounded the Grissom's saucer section with it to offer at least some protection. Still, I knew that it wouldn't be enough: once the shockwave was passed, the Romulans would come down upon us like sledgehammers.
Seconds passed... but nothing happened. A quick look on both the viewscreen and the sensor readouts said exactly the same thing: there were no Romulans. Not anymore, anyway. Both ships, the planet and the debris of the Grissom's stardrive section were gone. Vanished.
This looked eerily familiar. Last time the Gibraltar was in this sector, we encountered a ship that could make a planet disappear. And now yet another planet had miraculously vanished, and with it two Romulan warbirds. There had to be a connection. We needed more data... and there was one place where we might find it.
The USS Grissom.
Leaving Commander Johnson in charge of the Gibraltar, I led an away team over to what was left of the Grissom. A terrible sight greeted us: consoles had exploded, support beams had fallen down and there were fires raging throughout the Grissom's Bridge. Structural integrity throughout the saucer section was dangerously low: it wouldn't take much to let the saucer explode. We needed to work fast.
Thankfully, it wasn't too difficult to find sensor logs for the last several weeks. They were badly damaged of course, but perhaps they could be cleared up on board the Gibraltar. Once the download was in progress though, Lt.Cmdr. Duke informed me that there was a power build-up in the EPS systems. If it blew, the saucer section would blow up as well.
At that moment, Lt. Renari found the Captain's logs. One of those logs was locked with a code that none of my crew had ever seen.
Computer, secure the next part of this log. No-one may access it, but myself and Starfleet Command. Authorisation, McMillan Tango Charlie 07.
Right... the log. It was encrypted with an omega code. I realised I didn't have much time to find out what exactly was happening here, so I sent the crew back to the Gibraltar, stating that they had to start beaming out as many of the Grissom's survivors as possible. I stayed behind, and downloaded the log for myself. As I read it, my worst fears came true.
The Grissom had detected omega particles on the planet surface.
A call from Lt.Cmdr. Duke brought me out of my train of thoughts: she requested that I'd beam back immediately. Not a bad idea, since the ship was about to blow up. I rematerialised on the Bridge of the Gibraltar, just in time to see the saucer section of the Grissom go up in a ball of fire.
The number of casualties was staggering: only 113 people made it back, out of roughly 1200 crewmembers. We're en-route to Starbase 12 now to bring these people home. We mourn the deceased, and are offering counselling to the survivors who need it.
The destruction of the Grissom was a terrible tragedy. Still, at the risk of sounding callous, it wasn't in vain. We've learned that there were omega particles on the planet which has disappeared. Perhaps there were omega molecules on the previous planet we saw disappear, too? Could those be responsible for this vanishing act? And if so, what part do the Romulans play in all of this?
I recommend Starfleet sends out ships to the neutral zone, to scan various planets there for the presence of omega particles. After all, I have a feeling this will not be the last time we'll see a planet disappear...
Computer, end log and transmit to Admiral Braveheart, Starfleet Command.
Disclaimer: Because T'Lara was unable to attend, we decided that this would be a good alternative. Think of the Gibraltar as the Malta substitute! :)
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