USS Veritas Defeats Ancient Defense System, Sentinel, in Menthar Corridor

[StarBase 118 Staff]

GAMMA CAMELOPARDALIS SYSTEM — The crews of the USS Veritas and USS Solaris have successfully neutralized an ancient Menthar defense system that became active at the former site of Astrofori One.

Shortly after arriving in the system, Veritas and its escort, the Solaris, encountered a small unmanned probe of unknown origin. Before the Starfleet ships could investigate, a group of damaged Tholian vessels that appeared to be unmanned emerged from the large debris field in the system and attacked. The probe, meanwhile, collided with Veritas and made contact with the ship’s computer systems in an attempt to take control of the ship. Both ships were badly damaged in the attack, but the quick actions of kept the alien device from succeeding.

The crew of Solaris, however, was forced to evacuate.

A short time later, while Veritas licked its wounds and began to investigate, the ship was attacked again. This time, by a manned, but badly damaged Tholian battlecruiser.

“A lot of officers may dream of their first moments in command, but I doubt they imagine themselves in charge of a damaged ship deep in enemy territory watching their lone escort burn in space nearby,” said Lieutenant Geoffrey Teller, the ship’s chief engineer, who was in command of the Veritas during the attack. “With most of the senior staff cut off from the bridge and a Tholian battleship bearing down on us, the responsibility was enormous and the pressure was incredible. It was a sobering experience that’ll stay with me the rest of my career.”

The Tholian battleship was ultimately disabled, and the crew surrendered.

As life support on their own vessel was failing, Admiral Vamuwene, the ship’s commanding officer, agreed to evacuate most of his crew to Veritas. During negotiations, it also became clear that the attack had been ordered after a case of mistaken identity.

According to Vamuwene, their fleet had been attacked by a Starfleet vessel of identical design to the Veritas. Later, the crew learned the attacker was the USS Minerva, a Veritas-class vessel lost during the Battle of Astrofori One late last year, which, like the Tholian drone vessels, was being controlled by the alien defense system known as Sentinel.

After the battle, the crew identified a connection between Sentinel and Menthar ruins on a nearby planet. An away team was dispatched to investigate while Starfleet and Tholian crew members attempted to liberate several ships from Sentinel’s control to provide fire support for Veritas, which had once again come under heavy attack by Sentinel’s drones, including the Solaris and the Minerva.

Seeing no other choice, Captain Roshanara Rahman of the Veritas made a decision to destroy the ruins, ultimately disabling Sentinel.

 

Written by Evan Delano

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