These Are Not Our Skies

• Real Life Date: 13th - 17th of February 

• Stardate: 93119.2

• Archive Link

A temporal science outpost, which had been investigating time-space related phenomena for almost two decades straight, had suddenly gone dark. With its territory now barred off under a protective forcefield, and cryptic messages about the "Breach" being sent out to anyone close enough to listen, it was now the away team's mission to discover what had transpired there, as well as search for any and all survivors…

After entering the affected territory, the away team would soon begin to make their way towards the outpost, Chi-13. On their way there however, the severity of the temporal anomaly would become clear - from the changed looks of the planet’s surface, all the way to the flowing river, which was showing them snippets of their pasts. 

It also became clear that through the breach, in came creatures from other worlds. One of them was roaming the land, its mere presence so alien, so incomprehensible, that any attempts to reach out to it telepathically or even look at it, proved to be hazardous.

With the encounter miraculously avoided, the away team had successfully made it to the outpost. There, thankfully, they would discover the survivors - the team of the Chi-13, all safe, sans two. Commander Rhadam, who had perished during the incident that birthed the temporal breach, and Commander Amunn-Ho, who became missing during the same incident.

Out of the group, two officers - a scientist named Kove and a security officer named Kiaso - would volunteer to assist the away team, which separated into two groups.

Kiaso stayed with a handful of those who went down to inspect the laboratory where the incident happened. They would discover alien flora growing through the temporal “wounds” and large traces of chroniton particles, as well as recover valuable data about what had gone wrong in the experiment, and the video of the tragedy itself. After that, a shuttle arrived closer to the outpost, so that the survivors could safely board it.

The team accompanied by Kove, meanwhile, would find themselves outside, where the Betazoid scientist last heard Amunn-Ho’s voice, which only further convinced her that her Chief was alive. On the way deeper into the forest, they would see the occasional temporal anomalies - namely, an old Earth train that passed through the air, gone as soon as it appeared. Their search would eventually bring them to a large, overgrown tree, where they could see a faint live sign at it’s roots… and the creature from before, sitting on top of the tree right above.

Surprisingly enough, the creature - nicknamed Sunhead - did not attack the newcomers. Instead, moving slowly as to not hurt them, it would uncover the large hole in the hollow tree, revealing Amunn-Ho’s form inside of it.

The Aurelian officer, alive albeit hurt and blinded, would uncover the mystery of this outpost. She established contact with Sunhead a while ago, something that was kept secret even after the arrival of the second Commander, Rhadam. It was evident that while the two high-rank officers could work together just fine, their opinions and work styles differed greatly - with Amunn-Ho worrying that the other commander’s methods would end up hurting the unique temporal ecosystem - and life - in the long term. It all culminated when he began to conduct experiments without her knowledge, abusing the older equipment right until it could not hold on anymore - which resulted in the explosion in the laboratory, when they were experimenting on a contained temporal anomaly. It became breached, taking Rhadam’s life in the inferno. Amunn-Ho, who barged in to try and stop the experiment, was taken out of the blast zone by Sunhead.

Amunn-Ho then would plead with the officers, begging them not to reveal what happened - wishing to stay with Sunhead. Seeing the complexity of the situation, the away team offered support - that perhaps, if the case would be looked at by the Starfleet, they would not order the breach to be closed. And while the future of the outpost was left uncertain, the efforts of the away team brought not only understanding for something so incomprehensibly other, but also, hope for the undecidedness ahead of them all.