Secret at Arista III

The first episode of Constellation, wherein the unlikely and unorthodox crew of the USS Mazu is assembled, unconventional steering methods are applied, an enigmatic mission is given in riddles and operatic clues, secrets and dangers are concealed beneath the clouds of Arista III, and...PIRATES?

Opening Log
"Personal log, Capitan Lenara Ral.""Captain.""It seems strange to hear myself say that. Admiral Davis clearly thinks I’m ready.""I believe I’m ready.""… At least, I hope I am.""I’ve just arrived at Deep Space K-7 where I’ll rendezvous with my new ship, The Mazu.""Actually, the Mazu is far from new. I can hardly believe this old Constellation class is still in service! But she’s held up pretty well, and just finished her latest retrofit.""The main thing is, she’s mine. Old or not, she’s my ship. Finally!""We’ll be heading out soon to do a quick border patrol of the Gorn Hegemony. They tend to stick to themselves, so it should be uneventful.""Then, back to looking for Orion pirates. It’s not the most glamorous job, but she seems like a good ship.""Though, what’s a ship without a crew? And right now I have to finish selecting my Bridge Officers, which has proven tougher than I expected. I’ve served with some amazing people on the Chiron and even the Borealis. That said, I’m not sure anyone from the Borealis would accept the offer…""I can hear Admiral Davis right now: “Stop thinking like that, Ral.” And he’s right. I should make the best decisions about the crew, then let them make their own choices! Fortunately, I have a little more time.""The Mazu’s holding position here, while the engineering team squashes any bugs that may have been added in the retrofit. Considering how old she is, there are bound to be a few. The Chief Engineer seems —""*alert*""And it looks like Admiral Davis wants a word. Looks like I can put off picking my team for a little while longer.""Ral, out."

Synopsis
Captain Lenara Ral has just been assigned her first command - the Constellation class USS Mazu, assigned to patrol duty along the border with the Gorn Hegemony. She’s making preparations at Deep Space Starbase K7, where the Mazu is finishing up retrofits, when contacted by Sector Admiral Patrick Davis. There’s been a change to the mission. She has been assigned a senior staff by the admiralty, and will be leaving the station in one hour. Orders will be transmitted at that time. She boards the Mazu and meets the senior crew members who were already on board - Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Izottiat Azollahr, a veteran Andorian officer, human helmsman Lieutenant Isaac Ramirez, and Chief of Security Lieutenant Commander Karina Morganth. Lieutenant Walter Neumann, a human officer in the diplomatic core finds himself sent to the Mazu on short notice with no orders. Specialist First Class Cade Nahil, a Bajoran medic recently enlisted in Starfleet, has been sent from K7 to the Mazu with a handful of other medical staff, also with no specific orders.

Ral informs Neumann that he has been granted a field promotion to Lieutenant Commander, and will be serving as the Mazu’s Executive Officer. Cade has been assigned as the ship’s Chief Medical Officer.

After an hour of rushed preparations, the orders that arrive are cryptic, but point them to the Arista system, about ten light years from K7. They arrive to find a station of unfamiliar but vaguely Federation design in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant planet. An away team takes the Mazu’s runabout to the station, and discover that the station appears to have been attacked, data and equipment have been stolen, and most if not all of the crew has been killed. From what data they can salvage, they discover that the staff is not Starfleet, and that operations appeared to be normal until an intruder alert in the external research ring of the station 4 hours prior.

In the research ring, the away team faces off with a group of Orion pirates who engage a measure to drop the ring into the planet’s crushing atmosphere. Meanwhile, the Orions’ ship comes out of cloak in orbit and attacks the Mazu. The Orion boarding party beams out with the aid of pattern enhancers to overcome the planet’s interference, stranding the Mazu’s away team without enough time to escape back to the core of the station before the ring drops. As the Orion ship escapes, the away team are able to re-power the pattern enhancers and beam back to the Mazu just in time.

Back in orbit, the Mazu discovers debris from one of the station’s runabouts, and evidence on that ship’s black box that another runabout escaped to warp, carrying Doctor Jennifer Prescott - a human researcher from the station. Ramirez identifies 14 Eridani as a likely nearby destination for the runabout or the pirates - or possibly both.

Fleet Admiral Grasic contacts Captain Ral with orders to retrieve the Mazu’s runabout from the station’s remaining core, destroy the station, and return to K7. Their new mission going forward will be to retrieve the runabout and Dr. Prescott. The Mazu will be reporting directly to Grasic.

In researching the small amount of data retrieved from the station, the crew finds limited redacted Starfleet files on Dr. Prescott that end 7 years ago. In a follow-up conversation with Admiral Davis, Captain Ral learns that Davis knows nothing about this mission. He asks if she trusts her senior staff, and tells her to keep him in the loop.