Prologue

The planet hung like a huge ball of ice in space. Swirls of mist danced across the atmosphere, while the surface itself was shades of blue and white. There was nothing hospitable about this frozen planet. Which is why it was suprising that a ship was orbiting this uninviting body.

It was a Ferengi D'Kora-class Marauder, and as light from the sun glistened across the ship's hull, a name became visible: Voltan. As the vessel glided around the planet's upper hemisphere, something was launched. A small, spherical object with a tubular tail and fin like additions, shot out of the torpedo launcher. It was a probe. And it was heading for the planet surface. Down through the misty atmosphere, through the cloud formations and into the clear day below. All that could be seen for miles was snow. The flat areas were covered with snow, the mountains were covered with snow, the valleys were covered with snow, in fact, the whole planet was snow covered. Even the majority of the oceans had thick layers of ice on them. As it happened, the probe was heading for one of these ice-covered areas of sea. When it reached it's destination, the probe, which had been specially modified for this mission, emitted a short burst of energy, aimed at a patch of ice. This caused the frozen water to melt, and a hole formed, revealing the cold water below. Once the beam terminated, the probe began moving again, dropping into the hole and submerging into the sea.

The ship's First Officer, Taar Brak, stared at a console. The probe had now gone into the sea and was on its way to the bottom of the ocean. The underwater environment was pitch black and so the probe's lights had come on. They were now scouring the area ahead and the visual information was being relayed to this station on the bridge of the Marauder. The ocean looked eerie Brak thought. It was an uncharted planet; there could be any form of life under the sea. He expected to see a huge man-eating lobster swim past the screen any minute. And he could only imagine how cold it was down there. Shuddering, Brak turned to look at the bridge viewscreen. It showed the starscape beyond the planet they were orbiting: in the distance was a nebula, but the swirls of purple and pink were obscured by an asteroid field, not far from the planet itself.

"The probe's approaching the wreck," Brak's reverie was broken by the young Ferengi officer manning the console. "We should be able to see it now." With some enthusiasm, Brak turned back to the console. The probe was moving along the seabed now. As it moved along, an enormous dark object came into view. As the probe's lights moved across the object's surface it became obvious that it was made from a metallic substance, though some kind of green plant life was growing over areas of it. It was still recognisable as a Starfleet ship, however. The large saucer section had a big gash down the starboard side and the majority of the secondary hull, including the warp nacelles, was buried under the sediment on the seabed. Sticking up at the rear of the vessel was a pod, which all Nebula-class starships possessed.

"Well?" the Marauder's Captain, DaiMon Azov, entered the bridge and made his way over to where Brak was watching the probe's data. Considering he was a Ferengi, he had quite an imposing presence. His subordinates watched the DaiMon as he crossed the bridge.

"We've found her," reported Brak. Azov examined the image being transmitted by his probe.

"Take her up over the saucer," Azov ordered the officer at the console, who carried out the task. The three Ferengi watched as the probe moved up the saucer section. As it got higher the lights revealed the phaser strip, then the ship's registry. It then came to the name: U.S.S. Titanic. "Excellent!" Azov smiled.