Rabid Rorses

• Real-Life Date: 2nd - 4th of September 2023

• Stardate: 90668.5

• Archive Link

Upon receiving a request from one of the Mol'Rihan's wildlife reservations, an away team was assembled to assist with a mission of finding and apprehending some poachers. Upon beaming down, they had met up with a park ranger, a Ferengi named Bawbee, who set out to be their guide. She had also informed the team about the dangerous flora of the reservation - a rosebush-like plant, who's pollen caused those who inhaled it to become sick and display rabies-like symptoms, before ultimately succumbing to death.

After gearing up to prevent any contact with the pollen, the team set out to search for the poachers, who were hunting down the local epohh population. The critters seemed to be one of the only living organisms capable of coexisting with the roses, and even fed on them - unfortunately, that seemed to make them a poacher target, attracted by the unusually bright red coats of the epohhs. The poaching resulted in the plant spreading - and with that, grew the deadly area of it's spore-like pollen, and unfortunately it backfired spectacularly...

While hot on their trails, the away team encountered a gone rabid Ferengi, one of the poachers, who attacked them, managing to land a bite on one of the scientists, before getting subdued via stun shots. It wasn't long after that they had discovered the evidence of even bigger, even worse danger - a lone iymn'irrhae, a huge and dangerous Rihan animal, seemed to be going rampant around the area. After only a moment of hesitation, the team continued their mission.

They discovered the poacher camp and the iymn'irrhae, who didn't waste time and attacked them, severely injuring Bawbee and scattering the Starfleet officers around the campground. After a shootout battle, they had managed to stun it -  and kill it, but not before the rabid steed bit another officer, making their situation even more severe.

The surviving poachers were discovered not long after, and given away to the Mol'Rihan authorities. After that, the scientist and medical officers combined their efforts in successfully finding a cure for their sick colleagues - and any future person unfortunate enough to have an encounter with the rabid roses.