October Plot Summary for the USS Mercury

Following the recall of Cmdr. Melitta Herodion, Dr. Saveron, with the assistance of Lt.(JG) Trel’lis and [PNPC] Cmdr. Ari Capronne turned from attending the auction announcement from Tol, the Ferengi owner of the Menthar Anchorage, to the monumental task of obtaining enough latinum to make a serious wager on the coordinates of the alleged Iconian gateway; and though an offer came by way of one Trayden Jora, the team was extremely apprehensive about taking the offer, as it came with a corollary: A message, from Jora, delivered to Lt. Cmdr. Isaac Bale.
Meanwhile, on the Mercury, Lt. Cmdr. Bale was himself overseeing methods for searching for the gateway under acting-XO Lt. Cmdr. Roshanara Rahman. Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Breeman, recently arrived R&D specialist from the USS Excalibur, assisted in the modification of several probes to search, while Ensigns Alora DeVeau and Kotir Arith attempted to trace the ship that had discovered the gateway in the first place.
On Deep Space 10, Captain Aron Kells attended his hearing into potential General Order 1 violations that occurred at 83 Leonis II. Examinations were limited to only a few individuals, including Kells’s XO and the Mercury’s acting CO, Cmdr. Harrison Ross, who appeared via hologram. At the same time that Ross, back aboard the Mercury, ordered the auction team to return when it became clear they would not raise the necessary funds, [PNPC] Lt. Cmdr. Damos, Starfleet’s JAG prosecutor, abruptly dropped the charges against Captain Kells moments before Shyn, the presiding judge, offered her verdict. Kells was left to return to his ship, now seeking the gateway, as he attempted to seek his own answers.