Posted by Rear Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Several Days Later - Arrival At Deba Colony
[snip]

It was several days later and the Sentinel finally dropped out of warp outside the Deba system, a nearby Ion storm had halted comm efforts till they had gotten to the system. Which soon revealed a cooling truth, after three efforts to hail the colony they had gotten nothing but static! Entering orbit scans found the colony showed signs of pillars of smoke from some kind of explosions and the once rich fields of farming and milk produce were still burning strong by some form of fuel. Life signs didn’t show any sign of the expected colonists either.

Something bad had happened to the peaceful colony of Deba III!

Amber gasped out loud. “Captain… no comm traffic.” She looked at him and shook her head. “I am getting no responses and they aren’t broadcasting.” She glanced at the view screen as it showed the chaos below and her chest tightened. Surely not everyone wasn’t gone. Maybe comms were just down…

Ens Amber Josen Comm

“Captain, I’ve established a synchronous orbit at 1,030 km above the colony,” Black Wolf reported. The helmsman then zoomed in on the colony to maximum magnification. “That’s the best visual I can get, sir.” He clenched his jaw at the destruction on the surface below.

Black Wolf (Helm)

Cerny was hunched over the scope at the science station. Its blue light shined on his eyes as he twisted the dial on the side in order to adjust the scanning. The scope dutifully and quietly droned on as readings kept being taken: quack-quack-quack-quack…

“I’m not picking up life signs expected from the colony,” he reported. “There is evidence of explosions on the surface. I’m reading fires at the colony. The fields appear to be on fire. Crops seem to have burned off a while ago, something else is acting as fuel. Could be an accelerant. I’m attempting to identify now.”

While still looking through the scope, he pressed a button on the science station, which made a click noise. The button was to trigger a spectral analysis of the fuel that was burning, to see what it actually was and whether it was a known substance.

– Ivo Černý, XO/CSO

The computer began to process the request of analysis just as the Captain spoke....

“Thank you Ms. Josen, Mr. Blackwolf. Stand by, steady as she goes.” A sick feeling roiled in Th’elin’s stomach. His antennae lashing in slow motion, he swiveled his chair toward the Science station. “Mr. Cerny, leave the surface be for now, I want a sensor sweep of the system itself. I want to know about any warp signatures or ion trails… Anything that might give us a sign that this was an attack on the Colony. If someone destroyed five hundred people and their homes and fields… They could be out there now, waiting. Once we’re sure the system is secure, we’ll try to locate survivors and see if we can find out just what happened here.”

The Andorian turned his eyes to the view screen once more, slowly swiveling back to center. The bleak expressions surrounding him didn’t do much for his state of mind.

-Zarath, CO

“Aye,” Cerny acknowledged the Captain’s order. He looked away from the scope to press a series of buttons and switches, after which he looked into it again.

Myasnikov began scouting the astrometrics and navigational library of the system and surrounding space. If they did find a trail, he thought to himself, he could try to anticipate where it went.

Myasnikov, Navigator

Return scans for Ion trails showed nothing in evidence same for warp signatures. Further while their were nebula and such some light years off nothing was close that could cause such a problem like this. The only thing of note was the nearby Ion storm, but that hadnt passed through the system based on scans.

GM CockRoach

“I’m not reading any obvious warp trails,” Cerny reported as he kept twisting the knob to see if he had missed anything. “No evidence of propulsion at all.”

Myasnikov looked at the XO. “Commander Cerny, sir. Could the ion storm disrupt ion trails? I am seeing no where a ship could hide… except that storm we passed through.”

Myasnikov, Navigator

Cerny looked up from the scope and turned to face Myasnikov. “It’s a good question,” he said. “However, the ion storms’ path did not actually pass through this system. If we posit that a hostile space vessel destroyed the colony, and then left to hide in the ion storm, there should still be evidence of its presence in this system before it entered the ion storm.”

Naturally, this didn’t rule out a spacecraft that used a previously unknown form of propulsion, but Ivo decided not to throw that speculation out into the discussion yet.

“Whatever has happened here, it appears we have missed all of the action, Captain,” T’Pria commented, dryly. “Perhaps the colonists did not wish for the Federation to get their hands on their produce?”

• Lt T’Pria (CE)

Amber spoke out of turn. “I can’t see a whole colony sacrificing everything just cause they didn’t want to share. You don’t murder your whole group for a few liters of milk and some security pictures.” Her voice had an edge to it. This was waste, and murder, she thought… plain and simple. And to her, it made no sense.

Amber Comms

A beep-beep-beep from the Science console grabbed Cerny’s attention, and he turned to look into the scope again.

The processed request for a spectral analysis of the burning crops showed that a gel like substance that registered as shuttle fuel was coated over the fields and was causing the ongoing burning. Further scans also now picked up that the nearby mines were also on fire the rich coal, and other deposits super heated by a similar method. The colony while showing minor out breaks of fires was more intact but still no life signs showed up, though there was some interference due to localized sporadic power sources fizzing off and on.

GM CockRoach

“Sensors indicate that the crops are apparently covered in a gel-like substance. Composition is similar to shuttle fuel. It seems as though a nearby coal mine is also burning, having been started in a similar fashion. I’m also seeing sporadic energy readings. Indicates at least some of the colony’s power is functioning partially.”

He looked up from the scope again, and turned to face everyone else on the Bridge. “The power oscillations are producing interference. I haven’t seen any life signs but I can’t rule out that someone might still be down there.”

– Ivo Černý, XO/CSO