2417.12

Captain's Personal Log:   <Begin recording>  The Christmas program reactivated again this year.  The apprehension I felt that it would fail was not warranted, and it did not fail to deliver again this year.  We ended up in the Canadian Rockies of old Earth in an old Log Hotel, the likes the old train lines from earth would build.  Most striking was the tree, with an unlit star floating above the top.  The crew puzzled out that it was the north Star, a guiding star Polaris, visible form earth.  Interestingly, Polaris is actually three stars.  We took the Cromwell out of orbit, and reoriented the star to fit the Holodeck star pattern to put Polaris into the correct setting, and the Star lit dimly.  Additional crew, whom I dubbed Team Popcorn, for their raining down of popcorn down on us from the upper levels from trying to hit the star, discovered the gravity void surrounding the star.  Brutally efficient, yet elegant in thought, Six began destroying the ballistrades on the upper level which housed the power source for the force fields for the star's void.  Removing them from the equation, and the Star was lit and topped the tree.

We had a number of guests this Christmas.  The program seemed to separate the arrivals with civilians arriving in the town and crew arriving in the lodge.  In addition to Six, who now calls herself Cromwell's Drone, we had Magnus, Seranin and Anna, three Borg transwarp scientists.  They, unfortunately had a previously poor encounter with the Borg, but were rescued by our newest engineer to join Cromwell, Ensign Nerik.  Their encounter with the borg, predisposed them into thinking Six was taking over Cromwell, so they ambushed her, believing she had assimilated Nerik.  Luckily Nerik was present to foil the scientists attack on Six, by taking out the older scientists knee in the process.  A hobbling Angus and wife Seranin finally arrived after the star was lit.

The lighting of the star also lit the way for Santa again this year.  Many gifts were distributed, including a ficus for our new crewmen including Six, Nerik in Engineering, Lochlan Monroe on Helm and Navigation, Ensign Dribu in Veterinary sciences, and El, who finally arrived after Brinn went to retrieve her from her quarters. 

Santa arrived dispensing presents and advice.  Six got a regeneration chamber, Thorn got a medical service dog, Michael and Cully got Whiskey, but different flavors, as if that meant something to them.  I will admit, the attraction to whiskey is still lost on me.  Crewman Lini got her own medical tricorder, El got a bathrobe and brushes for her fur, Kamaia got schematics for a Bajoran Lightship and Navigation maps from Voyager, Ensign Dribu's lost notes were found, Ensign Nerik received his first PTB and Ensign Monroe got a holocube with flight training with the experts.

Six quickly gave away presents, and seemed to enjoy the party, darting between various groups throughout the evening.  Later that evening as others exchanged gifts as well, Brinn gave away stuff animals.  For Six a Crocodile, El got a Husky dog and Rose Snow Leopard.  Seeing as Santa gave Thorn a dog, we will have to see how the two interact.  Brinn received a gift of Slave reintegration techniques from Thorn, and How to Woo a Woman in 70 days from El.  Are Brinn's girls trying to tell him something?  Does he even get it?

One of the best present I received was the return of crew for new tours of Duty.  Dr Adair-Lovett and Lt Sheval ch'Kayag both returned.  I missed having any in depth discussions as I caught them leading our Helmsman out of the program late in the evening; Something about peeing on a snowman and Rudolph.  Lt Shaouli in engineering also returned, nor have I had a chance to catch up with her either.  Perhaps my biggest surprise was Lt Martis, whom was on leave from command training, and was a fitting way to end the evening dancing with her, the one who greeted me to Cromwell, and set me down the journey to now, and gave me a hard time along the entire journey.  I owe so much to her.

For all the trouble the program gave me, I finally was able to teach the program how to make a decent French 75.  I did not dance as much as I would have liked, but dancing with Ensign Pania was, um, memorable.

Our entire downtime was not taken up by the Christmas program, although that was the majority of it.  The crew of Cromwell has been informed of Six of Twelves inclusion into the crew.  After a reserved and hesitant staff meeting, we managed to set up safety protocols that should prevent Six from returning to the Borg before we are ready for her to do so, and to protect the Cromwell crew from assimilation.

We also returned Borg tech to the Borg.  My main reason was to throw the Borg off to the fact that we have Six of Twelve.  The Borg aboard the Borg Probe that Ensign Nerik destroyed while rescuing the transwarp scientists were likely looking for the Borg scout ship that Cromwell destroyed over RAK.  The Borg Ensign Nerik encountered self destructed their ship.  By returning the tech from both locations, the Borg will draw the conclusion all recoverable tech has been returned and we resisted.  They will not be looking for Six.  We do however have two cortical nodes for examination.  Ensign Pania and Major Reynolds have discovered the cortical nodes have a "Shelf Life", which may explain why the borg seek to recover them quickly after a drone is deactivated.  Ours are "dead" now, although Ensign Pania says the ones we had were still active when Six and she recovered them.  I am not sure how much more data we will get from them, but we have definitely discovered something new.

In an effort to integrate Six into Cromwell better, I have assigned her to a busboy position in Ten Forward.  Ensign Pania also suggested giving Six music to listen to and to learn to play the Vulcan Lyre.  A contest was held among the crew for music suggested to six to listen to.  'Six's Playlist' was thus created, and had varied and appropriate music as varied the crew.  <Pause recording>

<Begin recording>  Lastly, we morn for the crew we lost this year.  To those who have given all, or have moved on to new rotations and new tours of duty off Cromwell.  I miss Jinx, and Kaylan, and have resisted naming a new XO.  DFA Command no longer accepts my delay and is assigning one to Cromwell.  We will find out who in the new year.

<End recording>

2417.11

Captain's Personal Log:   <Begin recording>  Thorn, Brinn and Six found Vash's shuttle hidden in the mortuary.  They were able to create internal shielding in the form of a faraday cage, first to make a new regeneration chamber for six, and secondly to make a flyable shuttle.  After getting things up and running, they were able to use the replicator to manufacture crude weapons, but still an upgrade from what was available from the local technology.  Shutting the shuttle down, they once again hid the shuttle for use later.

Cerin, ( http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Unnamed_hybrids#Baby_001?li_source=LI&li_medium=wikia-footer-wiki-rec  ) daughter of the Bajoran Cerin Mika, and the infamous Dukat rescued the crew from the palace and got them to safety in a secret rebel base.  Dukat also was Kira Nerys's niece's, Vedek Kira Ris', father.  Dukat knew how to turn a bad situation worse.  Vedek Kira told us  "My aunt had a saying, "Everyone has their reasons. That's what's so frightening. People can find a way to justify any action, no matter how evil."  

As if to prove the point, I was strung up by Kira and her Hawk guards next to Xavier.  The previous night Calib was killed and turned to a dry husk.  This seems to be our fate as well.  That was, until intervention by the Cromwell crew.  Cerin knew Vedek Kira was up to something, and Ensign Pania's information caused Cerin to rally her rebels to attempt a rescue of their Cromwell captain.  They were able to link up with Thorn's group and between the two, moved on the Palace Bridge.

Ensign Pania was able to puzzle out the Canopic Jars, and traced the four jars of the Pah-Wraith.  Opening the fourth should have brought danger to her, but the Pah-Wraith was reluctant to kill someone who spoke the ancient languages, and left her alone, perhaps in some distorted sense of honor or appreciation.

The combat action is detailed in the after action reports, suffice it to say, all fought hard and well.  Injuries were taken by Thorn, and a life threatening injury by Brinn, a local who helped us, was saved by Six.  However, we were up against a god, or nearly so, as he was still reforming.  He took on the body of Xavier, the first host he did not outright kill, or render brain dead like the Hawk guards.  Absorbing the last of the power from the hawk guards, The Pah-Wraith controlled Xavier had full control of his abilities.  We think it may be the nanites Six had injected early when she was attempting to assimilate the crew for the borg that kept him alive, when the others could not absorb the power the Pah-Wraith brought to the enslavement.

Kira, who had origingally hidden Vash's shuttle, knew of the work the crew had been doing in what they had thought was secret.  Xavier and Kira re-stole the shuttle, they went to the Pyramid to release more Pah-Wriaths that were, or should say should still be, imprisoned there.  Rapid action by the crew limited what Kira and Xavier could do.  However, they were able to weaken the magnetic fields of the Pyramid, but had to use the Red orb to escape through time back to our present.  First Priest Iah, Cerin and the others, who had come back, arrived through means similar to ours, and adapted to the environment volunteered to stay behind.  Using Bajoran chantings to strengthen their own resolve, and Human knowledge and use of their own bodies to generate a magnetic field, they were able to hold the magnetic field in place until we, the Crew of Cromwell, were able to pass through the alien structure, dragged forward through time by Kira and Xavier using the red orb.

Arriving back in our own time, we found we had been gone less than twelve hours, only during the time of the magnetic surface storm.  Kira and Xavier arrived a short time later, and seeing us, and realizing their attempts to release the Pah-Wriaths in the past had failed, they escaped into space.   We believe we may have seen the descendants on RAK on the horizon.  They must have been successful in keeping the magnetic seals in place until we reached our own time.  We will put a marker out reporting indigenous life, prohibiting others from making contact.  The planet's natural magentic feild will continue to imprison the remaining pah-wraiths.

Cromwell spent two months attempting to track Kira Ris and the Red Menence (The Pah-Wraith in Xavier), but they put up a hard trail to follow. We believe the Pah-Wraith is set on returning to Bajor, and causing problems with the Celestial beings, based on writings originally discovered by Lt Janos, which prompted our own curious search for Rub al'Kali, or RAK, as we call it now.  Ensign Pania had been dispatched to warn the Bajorans and to let them know what had occurred.

Losses on this mission were higher than expected.  Besides the capture of Xavier, we have lost a number of our crew to Borg, to the Pah-wraith/smokemonster but we have gained new allies and the Borg Six of Twelve is still with us.  (Portions redacted)  We will work with Six on the aforementioned plans.  If all goes well, Six will be a weapon deployed against the Borg.  She is changing though... I am beginning to have second thoughts about this plan.

DFA Command has called off the search for the Red Menace as we call the Pah-Wriath Xavier.  Rescue of Xavier may be difficult if not impossible.  We will have to await hearing from him and the Pah-Wraith.  Xavier means New House, and was the patron saint of missionaries, perhaps an ominous sign that the Pah-Wraith chose him?

<End recording>

Back at the DFA Academy:

Tas and Paige began Second year finals and practical exams.  Paige was elected Leader of Delta Six.  The mission immediate went off without a hitch...except for that whole rescue the crew and passengers of a party vessel.  Other than a few drinks and dancing, no harm was done.  They are now off to New Kyushu for the real test.

Inbound:

Ensign Nerik and Lini Cer'Dan also encounter a ship, a civilian vessel named Blackcrow, that had partially been assimilated by the Borg.  The crew gave their lives defending the family of three scientists, Angus, Seranin and Anna, who had been studying Borg transwarp conduits.  Ensign Nerik was able to defeat the remaining two borg, and with the help of cadet Baylor and Crewman recruit Lini, stop the radiations leak, and bring the ship and scientists to Cromwell.

2417.10

Captain's Personal Log:   <Begin recording>  Vedek Kira placed the entire crew under house arrest on the death of Jiri, not for her death, but that we somehow, aided in releasing a Pah-wraith.  I believe this actually worked against Vedek Kira's plans, at it forced the Cromwell Away teams to talk, and compare notes.  We all had pieces of the puzzle, but now that we put our pieces together, we are slowly getting the bigger picture.  These people are here to try and stop the Pah-Wraith from escaping.  Perhaps we can help.

We know that Vash has a ship, but not where.  She came here with a Q.   Our shuttles and drop ship are unlikely to be here.  Brinn and El have access to a crashed ship, perhaps their parts could fix Vashes ship if we could find it.  It only seats two though so I am not sure we would benefit.

Six needs to regenerate, but is with us, also under arrest. I am not sure how we will help her now.

<end recording>

Brinn, Six, El, Rose and Terros journey to El's crashed ship.  It is all pre warp tech, so it is limited in what it can provide.  What it did have was...prewarp tech, which meant shielding was mecahnical, and not done with forcefields.  Sometimes old is better.  The group was able to make a faraday cage out of an old cryogenic chamber from the ship.  The Capacitor battery did not discharge so was able to be used to power the system.  It worked well...Perhaps too well.  Terrros took advantage of the situation to trigger the cryogenic cycle and put the borg to sleep in retribution for trying to assimilate him.  Resistance is not futile.

The captain, Cully and Dribu bluff their way out of the Palace, to check on Major Reynolds and Vedek Wishi.  They deliver Thorn's cat, Squeaker, to them, their excuse to see them at the temple where they are being held.  Squeaker likes to sit on the Window sill of Reynolds and Wishi's Apartment.

Kamaia, Vash and Sheval explore their prison, the Palace where Vedek Kira has her quarters and office.  They find out her plans for everyone and how they will integrate into the Madina Saba society.  But Vash's sticky fingers for "Interesting and important archeological items", which translates to valuable, found her picking up a sealed chest.  Timing was bad, and nearly fatally so, because Vedek Kira returned while the three were hiding in a nearby room.  When the hawk guards began a systematic search, a Cardassian by the name of Cerin appeared from a secret trap door and snuck them out of the city.

Cromwell crew, the cats of the universe, have once again scattered even under the unwatchful eye of Vedek Kira.  New stories are beginning to be told.  Certin tells Kamaia Vedek Kira is trying to release a Pah-Wriath.  Kira tells others she is trying to keep them sealed.  The people fear to die, and the priests are looking to turn the dead into mummies.  Six, Brinn and Thorn see a pair of hawk guards and a priest consumed by saw beetles while sneaking about the Mortuary.

Back at the DFA academy:

Tas and Paige pass first year finals.  The infection was a virus that could be controlled with graviton waves.  Although a very rough 24 hours, the team of Delta Six survived, and found out it was all holographic simulations.  Second year begins with Codey, Tas's Cardassian Vole escaping and creating dissension in Delta Six with Connar.  Paige and Tas are called to the Commandant's office for breaking regulations.  So who let the Vole out? Tas and Paige go camping with Azel, Tas's little sister.  Marshmallows were served.