THE ATRIAN REACHES – Crew of the USS Eagle rescue hundreds of refugees plucked from the past and imprisoned on an uncharted planet by a previously unencountered race known as the Collectors.
With the crew of the USS Eagle scattered across the uncharted planet, and the ship itself powerless and trapped on the surface, their investigation into the origin of the military distress call that matched technology used on Earth in the 1940s had reached a critical phase.
Separated into three away teams, the crew made contact with people from Earth’s past, including a group from World War II responsible for the distress signal. As the teams worked to overcome the energy barriers and get everyone to safety, two groups converged underground. There, they stumbled upon a chamber full of advanced technology, not in keeping with any of their other discoveries so far.
Working on the assumption they had found the control centre for the energy fields, and perhaps for the entire wider region of the planet, Lieutenant Commander Kettick accessed a console and immediately encountered an interface, referenced as the Keeper, which issued grave warnings of system failures and urged immediate evacuation. Unable to return those displaced to their original timelines without knowing what technology had brought them there, and with a catastrophic shutdown imminent, Commodore Nicholotti gave the order to evacuate everyone on the planet.
Meanwhile, Commander Falt aboard the Eagle had come up with a plan to take off from the surface. By reconfiguring the landing thrusters to use old-fashioned chemical rocket fuel they were able to lift-off but didn’t have enough power to make it into orbit. Fortunately, they did get clear of the energy fields and were able to restart the warp core. With power restored the crew quickly brought the ship back online and rapidly mobilized for the evacuation, rescuing hundreds of refugees displaced to the future.
The limited information the crew was able to extract from the Keeper revealed a mysterious species known as the Collectors as being responsible. Preliminary data suggested the Collectors were capable of time travel, choosing individuals they projected were about to die in their own time period to rescue. Their motivations remain unclear, and further analysis is needed.
Mission complete the crew had an unusual start to shore leave as they attempted to settle into life aboard a ship they were sharing with hundreds of refugees thrust into the future. “Time travel is always messy.” Commander Alora DeVeau commented when asked about the events on the planet. “This is worse. These people have lost everything. We’ll do what we can to help them.”
Written by Tomas Falt
