TBR032 Session Notes

Posted on Tue Feb 1, 2022 @ 6:19am by Commander Carl Hedley
Edited on Sun Mar 13, 2022 @ 7:45pm

Unedited Notes by Tom TBR032 "Into the Targ Pit" 1/15/22

Reassigned to Starbase 364. Construction started in 2350s, finished in 2369. Home to 20th fleet from there until the end of the Dominion war. When the Romulans weren’t a threat anymore, it was mothballed. Still Brown Dwarfs and dust blocking sensors into the Expanse, and weird shit goes on inside. USS Venture, Thunderchild, Bellerophon stationed there to explore the Shackleton Expanse.

Shackleton Pinwheel - On the far side, seen from dozens of lightyears away unassisted. Big ol’ orange spiral of ionised Hydrogen and Helium a lightyear across. Pair of red giants orbiting close enough that their photospheres almost touch. Currently unresearched

The Washboard - Entire volume has messed up, bumpy spacetime. Near the edges, warp fields compress and expand, makes things pretty hazardous.

The Washboard Triplets - Cause most of the messed up gravity stuff. Three massive white dwarfs in a complex multi-body orbit. Probing is pretty difficult because of the tidal forces. Stars are apparently identical in mass. Big enough to be neutron stars, but aren’t. For some reason. Some messed up ancient stuff is going on, probably. Who can really tell?

OK, job time. Abandoned Targ farms. Most of them have been put to sleep using the ventilation systems, but some rooms remain Targ infested. For some reason, the Admiral in charge seems to think that’s a good job for the Potemkin’s bridge crew. Clearly holds a grudge. Probably jealous we’ve been doing so much fun stuff while he’s stuck behind a desk.

About 500 of the blighters, but the station is protected from transporters and scanning and stuff. So now we have to go in and do it the hard way. There’s a central shaft with lifts, and observation rooms around the edges.
Send in the drone! Pride flies it in to get a looksie, find out exactly what we’re dealing with. Unfortunately, the jefferies tube at the bottom is stuck! One judicious application of phaser later, burning through something which coats the whole door, and boom! Open sesame! Turns out there’s a whole forest in there or something! That certainly shouldn’t be here, but it apparently has for the past 16 years.

It’s pretty humid, which seems to have messed up the sleepy gas. There’s a whole ecosystem down here! There’s even clouds! Very fun! Carl makes a note of several suggestions to give the admiral for utilisation.

Anyway, down the tube we go, to get to the control room! Scott goes first, obviously, with the rest following behind. It’s all very natural, and the trees bear unmistakable signs of Targ, but there aren’t any critters visible just yet. Also, the door seems to be not just jammed, but locked. Scott gets it open, but there’s some built up vegetation which makes quite the racket as it opens up, and seems to be summoning Targs.

We head inside, but unfortunately the door won’t close again. Other doors in the cardinal directions, one lift, one lab, one storage. Controls all over the place, but currently in standby mode. Targs are definitely coming. Elli takes a look at the door, which seems to be jammed up with plant goop.

Doc thinks he can science up some fancy agent orange to get rid of the goo, but he doesn’t have materials on him. Luckily, there’s a lab and a storage section, so the nerd squads heads in to look while Carl and Scott watch the door, ready to stun any Targs which show up and try to make a nuisance of themselves.

There’s some programmable matter goo in the storage area, along with either anesthetic or death serum for Targs. Doc should be able to make his plant dissolver with the programmable stuff in the lab, especially after Elli swaps the computer to federation standard. So he does that, and uses it to dissolve the plant matter into green goo and lets us shut the door.

With the Targs no longer a threat, we turn on the computers and get to work. It’s in Klingon, and we need a login to get to the farm controls. Carl and Ellit manage to get the computer turned on, but it turns out the oxygen is running out because the vents are off. Easy enough to fix, though, we just crack a door a couple of inches.

With that sorted, check the sensors. They’re alright, need recalibrating, but one of the lenses is broken so Carl and Scott need to trek out into Targ country to replace it. Fun! Easy enough for Elli to build a replacement, and the Doc manages to work out a frequency of sound which should repel Targs!

We head out, and the repellent seems to be working because although there are lifesigns, we don’t run into anything vicious on the way. Make it to the sensor alright, follow Elli’s instructions and it glows green, so presumably it’s working. Seems to have messed up the tricorders, though, so that’s fun. Looks like there are some Targs around, too! Remaining calm, Carl instructs Scott to shoot it, and he does so with aplomb, stunning the beastie. When they reach the edge of the clearing, its big brother shows up, six times the size and albino. Carl stares it down so that Scott can get a shot in, then shoots it himself.

Just barely manage to get out of its way, but Scott catches a graze on the way past. Fortunately, the drone gets a shot in and stuns it. It snores pretty badly. After that, they make it back safely, but considering the dozens of Targs converging on them, show the better part of valour and retreat into the control room again.

Sensors are working now, luckily, and show 512 Targs. Most of them are around the edges of the enclosure, and only 30-odd are awake, all of which are hovering around the window. Looks like there’s only one big’un, fortunately, but it looks like it could wake up at any moment.

Ventilation system seems fine, but it’s all gunked up with vegetation. Drone can clear that up, though, no worries, so we get that going right away. Then it’s time to put some Targs to sleep. Elli starts gearing everyone up with sleepy gas distribution systems and respirators, so they don’t stupidly get asphyxiated again, or inevitable spray themselves in their own faces with the sleepy gas. While that’s going on, Doc hooks up Scott with some medical care and gets him fixed up nice.

 

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