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Wednesday, March 4

Survival Report: Lieutenant David Brown

(The following report is written by Lieutenant David Brown)
(Vessel: Type-6 Shuttle, Eagle / Type-7 Shuttle, Invictus)
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I'm not sure why I am the one writing this, as there were two well qualified PAO officers present for these events. Yes, Tessa has a valid medical excuse, but I think Cassie is milking her broken arm a bit much...either that or they both know how much I hate public speaking (or writing) and decided to gang up on me...which in retrospect seems most likely. And since Cassie said my last mission report (Worst Vacation Ever) wasn't sufficient, I'll see if this one meets her approval.

Well, our 'vacation' started like the others. We were flying down to the planet in formation...then suddenly they were gone, and the planet was drastically altered from what we expected. There was also a vessel present on the ground...a vessel which soon proved itself hostile as it lifted off and began firing at us. There were two more ships in orbit which we assumed were also hostile, and the 'Eagle' had no weaponry with which to fight back, so we tried to flee to the mountains in the hopes of losing the enemy ship in the canyons. Tessa's excellent piloting and the sound design of the Eagle got us there...but the landing was not what one would hope for. The 'Eagle' was not going to fly again without a dedicated engineering team and some spare parts, neither of which we had.

Tessa and Cassie both bore the injuries they had sustained like the Starfleet officers they are, and we left on foot, hoping if we got away from the crash site we would evade any search parties the enemy sent out. Alas, that was not to be. They either had excellent scanners or great trackers because they seemed to have no difficulty in locating us, and given the ability they had to camouflage themselves (it looked like a personnel cloaking device, even though I could see no sign of that technology) and their greater numbers...we were captured.

The leader called himself Boreth, and during the course of their interrogation (during which he threatened to kill us and clubbed Tessa over the head, leading to her head injury) he revealed that we were nine years in the future, and he was searching for some sort of doorway, which was presumably what brought us here. He wasn't interested in the truth, and I believe he would have killed us once we were no longer useful, so I tried to play along in hopes an opportunity to escape would present itself...but I failed, and Cassie and I were shot and left for dead.

Upon awakening, we decided to track down an old style SOS call Colony Girl had picked up, which led us to a cave in which was parked the shuttle Invictus...which according to the logs had been on the planet for four years, and had left the Arcane the day after we did (Yeah...I can't work that math out either). We could not, however, locate the pilot...I fear four years on the planet was not kind to him, and he was no longer alive by this point. The shuttle, however, was perfectly functional, so we piloted it back tot he surface in the hopes of picking up some sign of the other shuttles from the Enterprise, or some clue to the mysterious 'doorway' that would get us home. Unfortunately, the enemy ships were still present, but this time we had a path to orbit...so we took it, going into warp as soon as we exited the atmosphere.

So I'm a little unclear on this next point...I was sure our sensors still read the enemy craft when we entered into warp...but the Enterprise logs show that they detected our craft as soon as it exited the atmosphere. In any case...we escaped the planet, but the shuttle only had a top speed of Warp one, leaving us years away from any type of civilization, and I had injured crew to take care of, not to mention the other missing shuttles who may be in even worse shape then we were. So we went back to the planet, and this time we detected no enemy vessels, but three Starfleet ones...one of which threatened to arrest us, which made me wonder if we were in the right universe after all. But it was the best chance we were going to have, so I contacted the Enterprise, and they at least knew who I was and offered medical assistance.

Since we've been back...everything certainly LOOKS like it's where I left it, so I can only conclude that if this is a different Enterprise, a difference which makes no difference is no difference. The most jarring part was that while by my count we were on the planet for three days...five passed on the Enterprise. But I suppose after a time travel adventure that spans close to ten years, missing two days isn't much to complain about.

There you go, Colony Girl. A page and a half...you can stop (literally) breathing down my neck now. I am hitting the post button as...

NOTE 1: -- There was no barrier in our time, we could detect ships in orbit, and we picked up no radiation sources that would account for time travel.

NOTE 2: -- The soldiers reminded me roughly of alligators with short spikes spikes. Their leader looked almost human, with the exception of the ears which looked pointed, but much larger than a Vulcans'. I did find several matches to the name I heard for their leaders, but the term 'Founder' is so generic I'm not sure the matches were valid. Thankfully I noticed no other extraordinary tech beyond the personal cloak (which I'm still not convinced was actually tech)...but that was enough. I was surrounded before I had any indication they were even there.

Lieutenant David Brown
Security Department
USS Enterprise-D

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March 4, 2365 -- (Original Devron Timeline)