This series is submitted by Star Trek Adventures Uber-Fan Daniel Li
Episode 1×1: “A Cure Worse Than the Disease”
By Fred Love
From Strange New Worlds
Airdate: March 12, 2022
After taking on crew at Risa, the USS Lexington sped to Fosstarian II, responding to a distress call sent by the planet’s head of state, Regent Thestra Zammeline. The Regent broke the Fosstarians’ isolationist policy due to a new outbreak of the Outlander Virus that devastated the planet 200 years earlier. ImmuntiCorp, a massive biomedical equipment company based on Fosstarian II, cured the pandemic by constructing a massive artificial ring around the planet’s equator that bombarded the planet with continuous gamma rays, suppressing the Outlander Virus and its subsequent variants. The gamma rays had the expected side effects and required constant water purification and anti-radiation treatments, but was the only known way to suppress the virus. However, eventually a variant evolved that was unaffected by the gamma rays, leading to the current pandemic.
With the grudging cooperation of ImmuntiCorp CEO Th’lacen, an away team of Sabin Trall, Captain Birdsong, and Doctor Grelox from Lexington visited a medical facility within the ring structure and successfully identified the genetic drift of the virus and found a theoretical way to cure it with basic 23rd-century antiviral agents, eliminating the need for gamma rays. They also discovered that someone had been systematically redacting genetic information from the records from the last 100 years or so, and that Th’lacen’a bloodstream contained antibodies capable of fighting off the Outlander Virus—the crew decided not to press the issue further. Dr. Grelox successfully stabilized one of the infected Fosstarians during a seizure brought on by the viral symptoms, saving the man’s life.
Meanwhile, an away team of Cmdr Ter’Rec, Cmdr Thalon, and Ensign Gao repaired a water treatment facility within the pandemic zone that had been abandoned by ImmutiCorp staff. While Thalon and Gao watched the perimeter, Ter’Rec used the automated systems to replace the gamma filtration membrane, resuming the supply of clean water to the neighboring city. The noise attracted the attention of some sick, thirsty, desperate Fosstarians nearby, who begged the away team to bring them back to the ship. Thalon and Ter’Rec refused, while Gao tried to question the Fosstarians for information they didn’t have about ImmutiCorp. One of the Fosstarians, hearing the away team call for transport, became so desperate he attacked Gao and got knocked unconscious in the struggle—but not before pulling out one of the seals on Gao’s EV suit, exposing him to the Outlander Virus. Emergency transport failed due to radiation interference, requiring a shuttlecraft to scramble to extract the away team.
Th’lacen tried to bribe the Lexington crew to give her their data and leave the system, and when that failed, dispatched a strike ship from the ring structure to attack the Lexington. However, Captain Birdsong intimidated the ship’s commander by pointing out Lexington’s superior tactical systems, and the corporate ship withdrew without fighting. After conferring with her senior staff about Prime Directive implications, Birdsong agreed to Zammeline’s request to apprehend Th’lacenusing the Lexington’s transporters to beam her directly to the brig, which was successful.
Interrogation by the Fosstarian authorities revealed that ImmutiCorp developed a vaccine against the Outlander virus about 100 years ago, but kept it secret because it would be more profitable to continue operating the ring structure with its gamma rays rather than make the whole planet immune. Instead, the vaccine was distributed only to top executives of ImmutiCorp, and its knowledge was confined to them—even the shareholders were not told.
With the new cure being distributed planetwide, the outbreak of the new strain is subsiding and the Outlander Virus is permanently a thing of the past. Ensign Gao is resting in sickbay and is expected to make a full recovery, sparing Lexington from incurring its first redshirt fatality.
For now, the Lexington remains on station in orbit of Fosstarian II, rendering assistance to the planet’s disaster relief. Whether the Fosstarians will continue their isolationist policies in a post-pandemic world remains to be seen, but that will be a job for the Diplomatic Corps later. Due to the quick departure from Risa, Lexington is still short about 60 crew members and is still without a first officer assigned. Captain Birdsong hopes to return to Risa to take on the remaining crew before the next mission.
Geoff: Ter’Rec, Birdsong
Fred: Sabin
Jeremy: Thalon
Peter: Grelox, Gao
Modular laboratory focus: virology
Crew support used: 3
Lexington damage: 0
Casualties: 1 sick
On the next Star Trek Adventures…
1×2 “Plato’s Cave”
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