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Rogue planet discovered within the Maelstrom

SHOALS — A rogue M-class planet has been discovered by the USS Veritas in the large tetryon storm known as the Maelstrom.

The Veritas crew had been investigating the sudden loss of contact from Yorba Station, a small refueling station in the Shoals. After launching two shuttle teams to check for survivors and recover any data from the remains of the station, those remaining on the ship proceeded to venture further into the storm, finding a pocket of calm space within the edges of the 3-light year-wide storm. Furthermore, the crew were surprised to find an M-class world, inhabited by a civilization that had achieved a 20th-century Earth-equivalent technological level.

“We’ve seen rogue planets before,” said Dr. Tanus Daoz, an astrophysicist at the Aldrin Center on Luna, “but an M-class rogue is practically unheard of. There are so many questions about how a civilization has managed to sustain itself–not to mention the rest of the life on this planet–without a sun.”

Those questions will have to wait, however, as the Veritas crew are now desperately searching for the whereabouts of two of their own, chief medical officer Dr. Nikki Ryan and Federation Security Agent Evan Delano, who both disappeared during an emergency transport from the station back to their shuttle. The crew suspect that the two have somehow been transported to the rogue planet due to the Maelstrom’s powerful “lightning strikes” that seem to be able to channel communication signals from the rogue planet back to Veritas.

Captain Roshanara Rahman has ordered SAR Team Leader Commander Kelrod and chief of security Lieutenant Tuk to prepare a SAR team if necessary to retrieve the missing duo. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Mei’konda and Counselor Raissa Moonsong are questioning the Valtese smuggler Kallo that the crew rescued from the station remains. Finally, chief engineer Lt. Commander Luna Walker and her team have been tasked with finding a way for Veritas to escape the Maelstrom before the storm front reaches the rogue planet, trapping the ship in the storm.

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