What You Call Faith

• Real Life Date: 17th - 28th of June 

• Stardate: 93542.4 - 93549.5

• Archive Link

Starbase 777 was requested to perform a supply run to Fatum I - a mixed species colony localized on a small planet of the same name, known for its wariness around strangers, and a religious culture rooted deeply in storytelling and mysticism. Even though their relations with Starfleet remained cautious, they were ultimately cooperative - with Starfleet vessels making annual visits to provide rare supplies and support the colony’s modest settlement. This was Starbase 777’s first visit to this colony. As a show of good faith towards Fatum I, a civilian priest was send alongside the away team. 

After landing near the warehouses and meeting a young Betazoid called Rami Fobosse, the away team broke apart into smaller groups and ventured out to help the colony with various things, given that there was damage from stormy weather. By then, the away team began to notice various oddities. In the warehouse, an odd circular pattern was noticed on its floor tiles; similar ornaments were noticed on the power generators that the engineers ventured out to perform maintenance on, alongside odd claw- and nail-shaped scraping marks on the inside. The doors all had a flush design, with no gaps between them and the doorframes. In the medical center, after taking care of the workers there, the medical officers noticed a plaque by the door, dedicated to a meteorological researcher. Upon inquiry, they were met with silence…

After work was done, the colony held a small celebration, with its leader, a man named Arnin Fobosse, coming out to hold a very brief speech. However, said celebration was then swiftly interrupted by a panicked worker, who brought the news of "the fog coming". Immediately it made the whole village explode into mass panic, and the away team got separated - those who were swept away ended up in some civilian’s house, full of scared civilians who locked themselves in; another group was reached out to by Rami, and ended up in her house. Two of the officers ended up separated entirely, having to seek shelter in a random shed. The civilian priest was lost entirely.

As the scans were performed, the away team would discover that this fog was once brought to Starbase 777 - when a mysterious capsule was found by a patrol out on a random moon. Using the available information, they began to plan out their next steps. The two officers meanwhile, would end up finding their way to the medical center; there they would receive assistance from a doctor, who gave them oxygen mask for the whole group, as well as informed them that the meteorologist, Alexandra Deima, has allegedly “wandered into the fog and died”, but the woman suspected that it was not the whole truth. She also revealed that the capsule was sent out by Deima, who hoped that it would breach Fatum I’s orbit and be picked up by a Starfleet vessel, who would be able to better study the mysterious phenomenon, but her probe was promptly shot down… and not too long after that, she would disappear. With the masks and this new information in hand, the detective and the medical officer began their trek to Rami’s house - all the while hounded by the fog itself, who took on the appearance of the lost priest-turned-serpentine creature.

All the while, the Eventide, noticing that something was wrong, attempted to breach the planet’s orbit and go down to investigate. They were promptly chased away by a large creature, flying after them through the fog.

The reunion of the away team (sans the Romulan priest) would end up successful - and huddled in Rami’s house, they would begin asking her some questions. The whole dialog almost went sour, however, when the doctor’s concerns were brought up to Rami, who vehemently denied that Deima’s demise was lied about, greatly offended by the implication that Arnin, her father, had something to do with her mother’s death. In the end, the away team would brew up a plan - to go to the main church, hopefully find Arnin or one of the colony elders there, and ensure that they perform a ritual - a mysterious happening underneath the church, in the caverns, that reportedly appeases the fog and its spirits. Before that, however, the away team, with a modified tricorder in hand, ventured out to find their lost civilian.

They would find him in a chapel of a cemetery. After they convinced him that they were, indeed, real, the priest would then reveal that he has tied down one of the four church officials, Omur, who he stumbled upon in the fog and hid from it together, until the man attempted to kill him, raving about the Romulan being a “heretic”. Desperate, the village elder offered to go with the away team to the church, and ensure that the ritual would be performed. After promptly taking him under the arrest - he did attack a civilian, after all - the away team swiftly left for the church.

Inside, they would find a staircase down, normally hidden behind a statue. As they walked, they would discover a laboratory, with the fog contained in a sarcophagus-like structure, pumped out into the village via large tubes. Alongside the fog, a mummified body was inside of the tomb - the latter scan implying its identity as the lost scientist, Alexandra. Standing in front of it were the rest of the elders, as well as Arnin, gone mad from the fog’s influence, and Rami, knocked out on the altar, primed for being the next inhabitant of the fog-filled casket, just like her mother was.

The away team made quick work of neutralizing the elders and Arnin - the former ones gave up willingly, while Arnin received a well-placed throw of a dagger into his thigh from the livid priest, and a knockout via a spanner from one of the engineers. Rami was discovered alive, and attended to by the medical officers; and the hellish machine that was pumping the fog into the village, was turned off.

With the coast cleared up, the Eventide could finally contact the away team again; after cleaning up the mess, they would leave Fatum I behind…