A/N: Melana’s back and this time she’s recapping two missions!  One about her first trip to Deep Space Nine and the other about how she helped the Bajorans get an Orb of the Prophets back from the True Way.

 

This is Melana of the I.K.S. HAR’NUC and I just got a message from J’mpok.  He told me that he got a message from Commander Sarish Minna of Deep Space Nine and wants me to report there right away.  Apparently, because of Ambassador Worf, the Klingons still have ties to Bajor. So, they negotiated my services at Starfleet.  Then he has the nerve to tell me not to forget whom I truly serve!

I’ll tell you right now, I serve no one!  I’m in the KDF because it benefits me and I’ll leave when that stops becoming true!  Thankfully, I knew better than to tell J’mpok that. Plus, I heard Deep Space Nine is one of the hotspots in the Alpha Quadrant.  So, it will definitely be fun to visit. I immediately set course for Deep Space Nine.

It wasn’t long until I arrived and they let me dock, though not without giving me a warning not to cause trouble.  I looked around and this station lives up to its reputation. Unfortunately, I’m here on business so I told my crew to enjoy themselves while I talk with the Commander.  Maybe I can join in the fun next time I come here.

I went to Operations and finally met the Commander of DS9 face to face.  

She gave me this long history about the Cardassian Occupation and Bajor and how, even after the treaty, the Cardassians refused to give the Bajorans their stolen artifacts back.  Now, the True Way’s stealing from the new Cardassian government and one of those objects is an Orb of the Prophets. Apparently, the orbs are precious to the Bajoran people, possess unusual powers, grant vision to supplicants and can be sold for a ton of latinum.  All right, I added the last part. Then the Commander told me that she wants me to travel to the Badlands and get the Orb for the Bajoran people. I told her that I’d track down those responsible for stealing the Orb of the Prophets. That Orb might sell for latinum but, if I give it to the Bajorans for free, I get a valuable ally and one that owns the wormhole.  Plus, I never get involved in religious matters, and, if I turned down a challenge like this, my crew would mutiny big time.

After getting the mission, I contacted my crew and told them to prepare for a glorious battle.  Then I beamed aboard the HAR’NUC and set a course for the Badlands. As soon as we arrived, K’Gan told me that the plasma storms and gravitational anomalies were interfering with our sensors.  Meaning we have to search the Badlands the old-fashioned way. We also got a distress call from a Bolian freighter who was under attack by The True Way themselves. So, I set course for the freighter.

I’ve got to say, the True Way don’t really put up that much of a fight.  At least they’re weak compared to the Vorgons from my last mission. After the HAR’NUC destroyed the True Way ships, the Bolian captain hailed us and thanked us for rescuing him.  Then told us that he knew that he never should have cut through the Badlands, but it takes weeks off his journey. Honey, you never take dangerous shortcuts unless it’s an emergency.  After pointing that out, I asked the Bolian what happened and he told me that he passed by some strange anomaly that he just had to scan. Then a bunch of Cardassian ships appeared out of nowhere and ordered him to surrender in the name of Gul Kardek and the True Way.  He told me that he was trying to leave, but they disabled his engines. Apparently, they were about to board him until we showed up. He told me that, if I’m looking for the True Way, I should head for that anomaly he scanned. I thanked him and recommended that he gets his engines repaired and exit the area.

I took the Bolian freighter captain’s advice and headed for the anomaly he scanned earlier.  Then I scanned it myself and ended up running into the same Gul the Bolian captain ran into earlier.  Gul Kardek gloated about how I’ve fallen into his trap and will never locate his base. Apparently, he never heard of the human expression, playing possum.  He put up more of a fight than his True Way subordinates did, but I still managed to defeat him.

After the battle, Thraak told me that the anomaly was a tear in the fabric of the spacetime continuum.  It’s dormant right now, but he can widen it into a portal. He also detected traces of orb energy in the area that we might be able to follow.  I contacted Commander Sarish aboard DS9, told her the situation and asked for backup in case we need it. She told me that she’d be along in the Defiant shortly, something I thanked her for big time.

Then I scanned the anomaly again, successfully this time, and K’Gan pinpointed that the trail leads to that nearby moon.  So, I set course for it and who should be waiting but a True Way ship and orbital weapons? K’Gan said that the True Way must have been doing something down there if they went this far to defend their base.  Thanks for the observation, sweetie, but I think I can figure out that much on my own. It took a while, but I managed to destroy the True Way ship. Then I took out the orbital weapons without breaking a sweat.  After all this, I finally got to scan the moon and found out what I already knew. This is a True Way base and I am finally beaming down.

I took my standard away team with me and Thraak was able to detect orb energy nearby as well as a number of Cardassian lifesigns.  I pointed out that it looks like we’ll have to fight our way to the orb, something that made me and my crew very happy. As soon as we entered the building, one of the Cardassians set out an alert claiming that hostile parties have entered the base.  Then he told all of his forces to move to high alert. You can bet that we had to fight our way through a few Cardassians with Thraak pointing out during the fight that the orb energy’s coming from the office on the lower level.  After a few more minutes of fighting, the Cardassian told me that the orb is his and we’ll never have it.  Seriously, am I fighting a True Way leader or an overgrown three-year-old?

It took awhile but we managed to defeat the True Way patrols with help from my away team and my adorable little arctic puppy.  

Thraak told us that his scans indicate that Gul Kardek sealed himself in his office. Thankfully, it’s a security lockout we can override.  I went to the nearby console and did just that. Then I went to his office and got one hell of a welcome from the Gul himself. He said that the orb is the property of the Cardassian government, the true Cardassian government.  I think both the Bajorans and the Cardassian Union would disagree with you on that, honey. He finished it by telling us that we can’t have it. Yep, I’m dealing with an overgrown three-year-old. Then we had to fight Kardek while he bragged about how we’ll never defeat him.  I have to admit, he does put up a fight. However, he did bring in reinforcements whenever he could, as K’Gan pointed out. I actually had to use my pheromones to disorient him.

After shooting at Gul Kardek, he finally beamed out, something K’Gan made sure to tell us.  Kardek still left his reinforcements here and we took care of them rather quickly. After the fighting was over, I lowered the forcefield on one console and downloaded the data from another.  

You would not believe what the data was. Apparently, our “traditional” Cardassian is making deals with a Bajoran and, I have to say, she may be old but she looks rather good for her age. So, either she aged well or she’s had work done.  I also can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen this woman before. Anyway, she left a video letter for Kardek and commended him for the clever way he opened a pathway to their universe. They plan to make good use of it. Then she talked about the other matter he spoke of, which is helping Kardek defeat the Federation.  Right now, they can’t because they have their own territorial issues to work out. Then she offered to arrange a meeting with Kardek in the usual place and ended the transmission by saying her name was Leeta. Again, I’ve heard that name before, but I can’t remember where.

After reviewing that transmission, I beamed the orb to our ship.  

I hope the Bajorans are going to give me hazard pay for this. Maybe I’ll get a chance to look at Deep Space Nine’s technology.  Hey, it’s the only station with combined Cardassian, Bajoran and Federation technology! Can you blame me for wanting to look at it?  Thraak told us that we have the Orb of Possibilities and asked if we’re ready to beam up to the HAR’NUC.

As soon as we beamed up, Commander Sarish greeted us with the Defiant in the Badlands and asked what our status was.  I told her that we got the orb, Gul Kardek escaped and we’re about to track him down. She told us that she’ll be here with the Defiant, and may the Prophets smile upon us.  I don’t really believe in the Prophets, but I replied in kind. Then, after I ended the transmission, Sarish bragged about how she arrived just in time. Considering we were ambushed by True Way ships right after the Defiant showed up, she couldn’t be more right.

It took a while but, with our combined forces, we managed to destroy the True Way ships.  K’Gan managed to detect a plasma wake that he thinks belongs to Gul Kardek’s ship. K’Gan told me that he can modify our deflector dish to emit ionizing radiation, which should interact with the plasma wake and illuminate it.  He warned me that the illumination effect won’t last very long. It’s better than nothing, so I ordered him to make the modifications and prepare to emit radiation on my command. Let me tell you, I wasted no time in commanding K’Gan to emit the radiation.

I followed the trail and who should be there but that anomaly from before and Gul Kardek with a Galor class escort?  After a few hits on Kardek’s ship, he turned tail and ran. His escort stuck around until we blew it to bits. I scanned the anomaly and K’Gan told me that it leads to the infamous Mirror Universe.  Yeah, I remember reading about that before, but a part of me always thought it sounded ridiculous. I guess it was ridiculous enough to be true. Then K’Gan informed us that ships are emerging from the portal, so I immediately ordered shields up.  Commander Sarish said that the ships do look like mirror universe ships. After destroying a few of them, Sarish warned us that more ships were coming through. Let me tell you that these ships are tough.

After destroying the Mirror Universe ships, Commander Sarish congratulated me on retrieving the orb.  Then told me that I have to return it to the temple on Bajor and she’ll notify the Vedeks that I’m on my way.  I immediately left the Badlands and I plan to return the orb to the Bajorans as soon as I deal with a problem the Deferi are having.

A/N: So, what did you think?  Feel free to request a Star Trek Online mission for me to make a Captain’s Log for, or team up with me for a mission with your own Star Trek Online character for a chance to be mentioned in one of my recaps!