After a short hiatus, the Tiberius was back in action. We started on Narendra station where the ship was continuing to be repaired. Admiral Walker called a meeting with the senior staff of the Tiberius, the station, and the other Federation ships and Klingon ships at the station to introduce everyone to General Borak, the new head of the Klingons on the station (as well as Admiral Walkers XO). Admiral Walker then met with the senior staff of the Tiberius to inform them that their shore leave would be extended by 2 weeks so the ship can be equipped with some quantum torpedoes.
Following shore leave, the Tiberius was tasked to head back into the Shackleton Expanse on an ordinary patrol. Shortly after the trip began, the crew was ordered to divert course and to rendezvous with an unregistered Federation ship, the USS Cass where they would be given new orders.
Once the Cass met up with the Tiberius, Commander Natalie Sigmund of Starfleet Medical met with the crew to give them a briefing about a plague spreading out of control on a Klingon colony world. Commander Sigmund said the initial reports suggest the long since dead Augment Virus may be back. The crew was tasked with investigating this virus to come up with an antidote. To that end, Commander Sigmund presented a datacore from the USS Enterprise NX-01 to help in their research. However, the crew would have to first figure out how to operate the device and interface it with the ship.
While the crew was figuring out how to operate and interface the device, reports continued to flood the ship of the rising death toll. Three away teams beamed down to the surface, including one team consisting of XO MacKenzie, Chief of Security Torc and Doctor Jerrynn (along with unnamed security officers). Upon beaming onto the planet, Lt. Commader Torc was immediately attacked by an infected Klingon who was trying to bite and scratch through their hazmat suits. Quickly thereafter, another infected Klingon attempted to do the same to Lt. Commander MacKenzie. Luckily, both Torc and MacKenzie were able to repel the Klingons and stun them without their suits being compromised. The group decided to transport the stunned, infected Klingons to the ship in order to use them as samples for researching a cure.
Meanwhile, onboard the Tiberius, Lt. Commander Foxwell (Eng) and Lt. Commander Wegen (Sci...who also happened to be Denobulan), were hard at work studying the device. After some time, they were able to get the device to work and interfaced with the computer via the holodeck. Once connected and the rest of the team was back onboard the ship, the team quickly learned that the antidote that Doctor Phlox created was indeed kept on this device. Any hopes of quickly creating and disseminating a cure were cut short when the computer informed them that the antidote would result in a 100% chance of death and the antidote, Phlox-1, was non-viable. The virus, it turns out, has mutated.
The situation on the planet was getting worse. Desperate to avoid getting infected, three cargo shuttles attempted to leave the planet but were turned back by Lt. Colonel Morok and his blockade in space. The cure was urgently needed as estimates as high as 20% of the population were now infected. But the odd thing was: it wasn't just the Klingons that were infected but other humanoids as well.
Back on the Tiberius, Wegen, Jerrynn and Foxwell started researching the virus thanks to their guests being held in isolation in the brig. The initial tests proved their initial suspicions: this was an altered form of the Augment Virus but they still didn't know who or how it was augmented.
The situation in space was beginning to deteriorate. Some the Klingon ships in orbit began bombarding the planet. In an effort to help Morok get his ships under control, MacKenzie and Torc beamed over to Morak's vessel to provide assistance, which initially seemed to work as tensions started to calm.
Meanwhile, knowing that the virus was spreading unchecked and the infected rate was rising quickly, approaching 60-70% of the population, Jerrynn, Wegen and Foxwell continued to research and study the virus. As it turned out, Jerrynn (who is half Andorian and half Vulcan) started to notice something oddly familiar about the virus (or more specifically how it was changed). He thought the RNA strands within the virus had a Vulcan signature to it, but he wasn't totally convinced. More research was needed. However, before the research continued, Commander Sigmund took out a Starfleet Intelligence badge and said all of this research is now classified at the highest levels.
In space, the situation was turning bad. In fact, it appeared that all-out war was ready to break out at any time. Morok & MacKenzie seemed to be losing control of four Klingon ships, while two others were reporting computer malfunctions. As the ships appeared to be positioning themselves over major cities and weapon systems were powering up, MacKenzie and Morok made one last plea for patience and to not fire on the planet. That is when word came in from the Tiberius that Doctor Jerrynn et al finally broke the code of the virus and that a cure could now be created and distributed. The virus, it turned out, was not Vulcan but Romulan in design. Once again, Commander Sigmund, at this finding, stepped in and said all this information is now classified Top Secret and no one besides senior staff on the Tiberius was to know of the Romulan involvement. Shortly after, Commander Sigmund received a communication and departed the ship.
However, news of a possible cure only made things worst it seemed. Civilians on the surface stole a cargo transport ship (from the company working on manufacturing the cure) and were shot down by the Klingons in orbit. However, Morok and MacKenzie were able to persuade them to stand down as the cure was being made. Slowly, as the cure was being administered, the rioting and chaos settled down and the Tiberius was able to depart the system. Admiral Walker and General Borak gave the crew their many thanks from Starfleet and the Klingon High Council for their great work.
The next day, following some much needed rest, the Tiberius received a hail from Commander Sigmund who didn't say a word but simply showed a Romulan Warbird powered up but adrift.
Tune in next time to the adventure of the USS Tiberius.
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