Life
Mission Info
| Status | Completed Mission | |
| Description | While on patrol in deep space the Saratoga encounters something unexpected: a pod of gormaganders. An endangered species, the crew decide to observe the alien animals as they travel to their breeding grounds in a nearby asteroid field. The trouble is that a Kzinti ship is in the area and the gormaganders are their prime targets. |
|
| Mission Group | Lost Missions | |
| Start Date | Sun Sep 21st, 2025 @ 1:29am | |
| End Date | Thu May 28th, 2026 @ 1:29am | |
Mission Posts
Mission Summary
Captain’s Log, Supplemental.
The Saratoga has avoided a border war, but the real threat is still inside our own walls.
A diplomatic away team, sent to a conference of all things, went missing for fifteen days on Biranu Station. They came back looking and acting exactly like themselves, but they aren't who they say they are — they're biomechanical duplicates. Medical scans say they are a 99% match to the crew I know, but that tiny fraction of a difference is a massive security risk. Sethan went so far as to risk his own sanity, using a mind meld to force their memories and emotions directly into my head to prove their souls are still intact inside those synthetic bodies, but out here you don't have time to debate philosophy.
While the junior officers were paralyzed by fear, an endangered Gormagander pod drifted across the border into contested space. Three Kzinti whaling ships immediately moved in, sinking heavy grapples into the lead creature and tearing into its hide. Driven by survival rather than sentiment, I made a choice. I reinstated the duplicates, knowing that if they were ghosts wearing my friends' faces, I needed to see how they handled the pressure.
They took their stations with an almost unsettling, predatory focus. Lieutenant Zhi’rev locked the forward tractors onto the Kzinti cables and tore them away. Then the mask slipped. Zhi’rev deliberately overrode the power levels, melting the Kzinti weapon ports and pretending it was a calibration error. The poachers panicked and retreated, allowing the pod to escape under our protection.
The mission was a success, but the implications are terrifying. If Zhi’rev lied to protect those creatures, he is mimicking deception too well - which is odd for a Vulcan of any type. If it was just a surge of synthetic aggression, I have a weapon sitting on my Bridge. I didn't discipline him for the lie; instead, I'm going to watch where this instinct leads. I’ve ordered Security to quietly monitor all internal communications off the record.
I will keep this crew close. Trusting them is a risk, but until I know exactly what is driving them, I will be the only one truly awake on a ship of shadows.