A Whale of a problem (We're going to need a bigger boat)
Mission Info
| Status | Completed Mission | |
| Description | The Merlin has to make peaceful first contact with a race of aliens who blame them for the acts of cruelty against Humpback Whales. |
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| Start Date | Wednesday 1 July 2020 @ 13:51 | |
| End Date | Thursday 4 March 2021 @ 12:51 | |
Mission Posts
Mission Summary
The USS Merlin encounters a probe similar to the one that was sent to make contact with Humpback Whales and almost destroyed Earth in the process. This one however, is transmitting an old Starfleet signal, not heard in almost a century. The Merlin is ordered to investigate and finds a massive ocean planet inhabited by the Megapteraians, a telepathic race who contacted the whales. The Megapteraians are very similar to the whales, enormous, highly intelligent beings with extraordinary mental powers who live underwater. They use their mental abilities to grow organic technology (like the probe). They also have the Etheria. Another dimension that they created where their consciousness can interact as physical beings. They also find something else, the USS Darwin.
The Darwin was a Constitution class ship that was sent to investigate the original probe and was never heard from again. The ship is abandoned so the Merlin turns it’s attention to the planet.
The Merlin crew find a single island grown for a specific purpose, to house the crew of the Darwin. Their bodies were placed in suspended animation pods and their minds experience the Etheria so they could interact with the Megapteraians. The Megapteraians initially blamed them for the near loss of the humpback whales and punished them repeatedly in a virtual hunt for the last 100 years.
An away team from the Merlin are captures and placed in similar pods, experiencing what the crew of the Darwin have gone through. They then must establish peaceful relations with the Megapteraians, convincing them humanity and whale lives peacefully together. They must also rescue the crew of the Darwin.