USS Mercury Plot Summary for July

After extensive questioning by Mercury CO Aron Kells and DSX CO Melitta Herodion, Ambassador Lily Ventu admitted that she had been asked to venture out into the Menthar Corridor with the modified troopship to “assist” with the incipient eruption of a supervolcano on 48 Leonis II. The planet was home to an agrarian pre-warp civilization, and while it seemed clear to the crew of the Mercury to what use the troopship was to be put, Captain Kells made the decision that an evacuation of a portion of the population would not take place, as it would be a violation of the prime directive.
However, two away teams were sent down to the planet. The first, led by (PNPC) Commander Harrison Ross, and including Herodion, Dr. Saveron, and Lieutenant Tato Zeme, was to examine the blind observation post of the Starfleet team that Ventu revealed had been assigned to the world, though Ross’s team found no sign of the team upon first inspection and added their potential disappearance to the list of mysteries. The second team, led by Captain Kells and including Lieutenant Commander Roshanara Rahman, Lieutenant Mei’konda, Lieutenant (JG) Trel’lis, and Ensign Kotir Arith, landed a shuttle within the volcano itself and beamed out to the planet’s surface to determine if any mitigation might make the eruption less severe.