Chapter One: The Journey
Sitting comfortably in her guest quarters on the starship, Mandalay, Commander Jeanne Serea sipped her herbal tea with her long, brown hair loose and free around her shoulders. It was a three and a half week trip from Sector 001 to Jetal at safe warp speeds and Serea had felt herself become more distanced from the only home she ever knew, Earth. She had felt comfortable on her old ship, the USS Callahan, but never like a real home should feel. She was not sure if it was the claustrophobic conditions one may start to get on a starship but no holodeck program could make her at home than the real thing despite having her hard working, friendly crew mates around her.
Serea shut her eyes tightly and set her cup of green tea on the table in front of her as she stood up from the couch.
"No, not that again," she whispered to herself as she tried desperately to avoid thinking of Teprem III.
Hastily, Serea grabbed the padd that contained the information for her about her new posting on the Deep Space 13 station.
"What an ironic name for a station with a bad reputation," she said to herself.
The first padd contained the basics on the station itself and the other basics onward:
Deep Space Station 13
An old Cardassian mining station built during the period of expansion of the Cardassian Union. Built approximately 2350 in the Starfleet Standard timeline, the station had been designated Terok Liptal by the Cardassians. The station orbits the planet of Jetal, a class M planetoid that had been occupied by the Cardassians and the Dominion. The station is similar in design, parameters, and construction to that of the Federation station Deep Space Nine, built a year later than the former.
Specifications
General:
Description: Abandoned mining station
Diameter: 1007.67 meters
Height: 674.09 meters
Weight: 8,670, 000 MT
Max. speed: Stabilizing thrusters only
Defense (recently updated by Starfleet):
6 Starfleet Phaser Strips
6 Photon Torpedo Launchers
Transport:
Primary Docking Pylons: 6
Secondary Docking Ports: 9 on Docking Ring
Runabouts: 3 normally assigned
Shuttles: 4
History
Not much is yet known about the history of Jetal due to the planet only recently being researched and visited by Federation scientists and historians. The many cultures of the early Jetallan civilizations involved many variations of a caste system. The main basis of the caste system is not yet known but certain physical traits have been determined as a factor. Many wars and coups were fought because of the restraints of the societal caste system. It has not yet been learned why the system was no longer used.
The inhabitants of Jetal are currently at a pre-warp status but are highly developed in other technologies. The societal achievements in the evolving culture of the Jetallan home world centered on technological, militaristic, and biological/medical advancements while lesser so to rarely in theology and arts. By the year 2212, the Jetallans had successfully mastered interplanetary space travel and proceeded to plant colonies on two of the nearby orbiting planets, Jetal Tandorran and Jetal Uttand, of the Benall solar system. It is unknown whether schematics had yet been drawn to create a warp-type space vehicle.
In the year of 2349, the Cardassian Union moved into the sector where the Benall system is located approximately twenty-five light years from Cardassia Prime. During the following year, the Cardassians occupied the planet Jetal. The inhabitants, the only populated planetoid in the sector, were forced into work camps and encountered many of the same atrocities that were later devised on the planet Bajor. The planetary colonies were destroyed and the inhabitants moved back to the Jetallan home world to work in the camps. The Cardassians forced the Jetallans to mine iron, cobalt, and other precious metals from the crust and mantle of their planet. The Cardassian posted by the Cardassian Union to oversee the system was Gul Camet.
The occupation of Jetal continued through the alliance with the Dominion and the Dominion War with the Federation. At the hand of the Jem'Hadar, the Jetallans on the station and planet were treated more inhumanely; used for experiments and hunting/training for the young Jem'Hadar. When the war was over, the station was abandoned by the Cardassians according to the new sections of the treaty signed. Section A3: Part 354 of the treaty designated the Terok Liptal station as a sentinel post for Starfleet to watch the Cardassian Union. The station was liberated by Starfleet officials and Starfleet Command appointed a commanding officer to command the station as the Starfleet presence in the sector.
Current Senior Crew Compliment:
Commanding Officer: Cmdr. Jeanne Serea
Jetallan First Officer: Vice Cmdr. Vedrann Tennal*
Second Officer: To be assigned
Chief Tactical/Security: Lt. Cmdr. Rilar Gital
Asst. Tactical: To be assigned
Chief Medical Officer: Lt. Cmdr. Anja Senecal
Asst. Medical Officer/Surgeon: Bithar Keddan*
Chief of Science: Lt. Junior Grade L'Nara
Asst. Science Officer: To be assigned
Chief Engineer: Lt. Syrreiya Naetharr **
Asst. Engineer Officer: Lt. James Michael
*Jetallan crew member
**Starfleet trained Jetallan crew member
Information on the Planetoid: Jetal
Inhabitants:
The Jetallans are humanoid in anatomy with variations in appearance similar to other humanoids. Features prominent for Jetallan identification are:
· The earlobes are shaped similarly to Vulcan ear structure but instead are curled at the top of the upper earlobe
· Markings along the neck consist of a light grayish tone . . .
Serea looked down from the padd for a moment. She had already read over the section discussing the planet and the basic environmental issues. She was not interested in reviewing schematics and history but instead wanted to learn more about the crew she would be working with. Serea picked up the stack of bios on her senior crew members. She particularly wanted to see what the Jetallan individuals were like, especially the liaison she would be working closely with. As she settled against the pillows on the couch once again, Serea began with another sip of her tea.