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Mission Summary

THE LIGHTS OF HYPERION

Summary by Shawn Collins

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After fleeing the space station known as Limbo, the starship Phoenix sets course for the Elandipole system to rendezvous with the surviving Starfleet leadership, with 7,000 refugees from LIMBO in tow. Among the new arrivals aboard are a Gorn named Chaucer, the haunted Jacen Barnes who saved Kassandra Thytos’ life in the Pits arena back on Limbo, a young Human girl named Buttercup, a former Federation ambassador named Arthur Embry, and the fugitive Selyara, who was the reason the Phoenix had come to Limbo to begin with. Also among the survivors is the traitorous former Starfleet officer, Evangeline “Sedna” Montoya.

The Phoenix crew, still desperately short-staffed after their flight from Earth, sets up ramshackle living quarters in one of the ship’s cargo bays, which the refugees quickly take to calling “Shantytown”. Though the crew does its best to accommodate the huge number of refugees, shortages of food and medicine soon create tension between the Limbo survivors and the Phoenix crew.

Some of the crew visit the Vulgar Tribble to mourn the death of their crewmate Solomon Arn at the hands of the psychopath Rawyvin Seth during the Limbo mission.

En route to Elandipole, the Phoenix must travel through an uncharted sector of space known as the Hyperion Expanse, known for its dangerous magnascopic storms. Due to the dangers of this area of space, the Phoenix cannot travel at full speed, and so the trip to Elandipole is expected to take two weeks.

Meanwhile, thanks in part to Neo-Essentialist goading, the Romulans have begun an invasion of Federation space. The Romulan fleet smashes through Starfleet's weakened defenses along the Neutral Zone and lays siege to Bolarus. Ambassador Xana Bonviva decides she cannot sit idle while her homeworld is attacked – she takes a shuttlecraft and leaves the ship, leaving her husband, Chief Engineer Jake Crichton, and her children Dahlia and Benito, behind.

As tensions between the Phoenix crew and the refugees grow, Arthur Embry – a former Federation negotiator and diplomat – emerges as the head of a large faction of refugees. Embry recruits Jacen Barnes and the Vulcan refugee Savaar as his lieutenants, and sets about consolidating his hold on Shantytown. Meanwhile, the orphan girl Buttercup is “adopted” by Kassandra Thytos and her marine unit.

The situation in Shantytown continues to deteriorate, as food shortages and the dense population lead to outbursts of violence. Though he seems to want to keep the peace, the Phoenix crew begins to grow suspicious of Arthur Embry’s consolidation of power among the refugees. In the cargo bays, the makeshift replicator system set up to feed the refugees malfunctions, leading to growing fears of a food riot.

In Main Engineering, a radiation spike results in the manifestation of a strange spatial phenomenon – a cloud of shifting, pulsing light, which appears near the warp core’s intermix chamber. The apparition appears for only a few moments before disappearing.

In the cargo bays, Embry begins a plan to seize control of the ship. He recruits a reluctant Jacen Barnes to help him.

Throughout the ship, more sightings of the shifting clouds of light are reported, always coinciding with spikes in radiation. The phenomena appear in the ship’s marine armory, in Shantytown, and even in Sedna Montoya’s cell in the brig, causing radiation burns severe enough for Montoya to be moved to Sickbay. Captain Kane orders an investigation into the strange phenomena, though the crew is distracted by growing unrest amongst the refugees. Selyara resolves to try to stop Arthur Embry before he becomes a threat to the ship.

Science Officer Thomas Varn and Chief Engineer Jake Crichton determine the strange clouds of light are emitting tetryonic particles, meaning they are coming from subspace. They develop a plan to isolate one of the phenomena on an abandoned deck of the ship, to see if they can prevent further manifestations. During the experiment, the cloud of light responds to their trap, leading the crew to conclude that it is intelligent – a photonic lifeform!

Later, during a senior staff meeting, Lieutenant Byte coins a name for the newly discovered lifeform: the Amaterasu. Through analyses of their readings, Byte theorizes that photonic entities are drawn to the radiation emitted by the ship and its equipment, especially the warp engines. Due to the danger the Amaterasu pose to the ship if they were to manifest inside the warp core itself, work begins on a plan to destroy them, should it become necessary.

In the cargo bays, Arthur Embry executes his plan. After forcing a confrontation between himself and ship security, Arthur Embry is shot with a stun ray in front of a crowd of his supporters. The refugees fight back, and Embry’s lieutenants quickly take control, directing the riot out of the cargo bay and into the rest of the ship. Meanwhile, Jacen Barnes questions his loyalty to Embry.

An Amaterasu appears in Sickbay. Doctor Cade Foster, not willing to leave his patient to die from radiation burns, releases Sedna Montoya from her restraints. Sedna quickly overpowers Dr. Foster, knocking him unconscious, and leaving her free to roam the ship. Elsewhere, manifestations of Amaterasu begin to increase, as the creatures are drawn to the increased energy output from phasers being used all across the ship.

Barnes and Selyara, united in their desire to capture Embry and put an end to the riot, develop a plan to dematerialize several refugees and store them in the pattern buffer of the ship's transporter system, which helps turn the tide in favor of the outnumbered Phoenix crew. However, a contingent of refugees, led by Savaar, manage to breach Main Engineering, taking the crewmen there, including Jake Crichton, as hostages. Back in Shantytown, Arthur Embry grows frustrated by his inability to control the rioting crowd, and leaves to find Savaar. Along the way, he discovers Sedna Montoya, and the two form a shaky alliance.

In Main Engineering, the ship’s marines, led by Kassandra Thytos, breach Main Engineering. They disable the refugees, but Savaar manages to evade them and nearly kills Jake Crichton. Crichton is saved by a timely intervention from the Gorn, Chaucer. With the riot now contained, the crew breathes a sigh of relief – until the bridge contacts them with readings of a huge spike inside the warp core. The crew's worst fears have been realized - an Amaterasu has manifested within the intermix chamber, threatening to create an energy reaction that could obliterate the ship!

Barnes and Selyara, on their way to Main Engineering, come across Embry and Montoya. Embry makes a last ditch attempt to win Barnes’ allegiance, which Barnes rebuffs. After a brief scuffle, Montoya manages to stun Barnes unconscious, but is then overpowered by Selyara, who uses her “thinkstrike” ability to psionically overload Montoya’s nervous system, simultaneously dropping her into a comatose state. Meanwhile, Embry claims the phaser Montoya has been using, and takes Selyara as his hostage, directing her to lead him to the Phoenix’s battle-bridge, from where he hopes to seize control of the ship.

In Main Engineering, Captain Kane and Jake Crichton struggle with the decision to create a graviton pulse, which would annihilate the Amaterasu but would save the ship from probable destruction. New readings lead the crew to conclude the Amaterasu are “mating” with one another, and though their radiation spikes are potentially harmful, they have no ill-intent towards the ship itself. Savaar, still held captive by the marines, uses the distraction to break free, grabbing a phaser rifle and attempting to kill the Amaterasu before it can destroy the ship. Instead of hurting it, the creature is drawn to Savaar’s fire, and the cloud of light envelops the Vulcan, killing him with horrific radiation burns.

Embry and Selyara reach the Battle Bridge. Still threatening her with a phaser, Embry forces Selyara to help him initiate a saucer-separation. As the drive section separates from the saucer, Embry opens a channel to Main Engineering, demanding an audience with Captain Kane. Kane works with Kassandra Thytos and Jake Crichton to find a way to dislodge Embry from the Battle Bridge, while Barnes questions Kane’s refusal to talk things out with Embry. Then Crichton reveals that he’s discovered what Jacen Barnes has been hiding since coming aboard – he is really James Barton, a former Starfleet officer!

From the drive section's Battle Bridge, Embry orders Selyara to fire a warning shot at the Phoenix’s helpless saucer section. Selyara reluctantly complies. When this still fails to produce Captain Kane, Embry orders Selyara to target the saucer for destruction. Finally, Captain Kane appears in the Battle Bridge to have it out with Embry.

The crew manage to reconnect the saucer and drive sections while Embry is distracted with Captain Kane. Realizing he’s been duped by the captain, Embry resolves to kill Kane once and for all, only to be ambushed by Selyara, who thinkstrikes the former diplomat into a coma.

The weapons fire has drawn more Amaterasu to the Phoenix, and radiation spikes throughout the ship threaten the crew. Once again, they wrestle with the decision to activate the graviton pulse and obliterate the Amaterasu. Before they can decide, an manifesting Amaterasu damages equipment in the main deflector, taking the graviton pulse offline. Jake Crichton and the Gorn Chaucer make their way to deflector control, intent on repairing the damage and, if necessary, to activate the pulse.

In Main Engineering, Science Officer Thomas Varn discovers a way to lure the Amaterasu away from the ship. After making the necessary changes to the deflector’s energy output, he is about to notify Jake Crichton when another Amaterasu appears near him. Varn is enveloped by the creature, suffering severe radiation burns. The nearby Engineering crew manage to draw the creature away, but they fail to save Thomas Varn’s life.

The crew in Main Engineering signal Jake Crichton that it’s safe to activate the deflector. The pulse discharges, but instead of being destroyed, the Amaterasu are drawn away from the Phoenix, just as Thomas Varn had predicted. With the rioting over and the Amaterasu dealt with, the crew reestablishes control of the ship. Arthur Embry and Sedna Montoya, both seemingly brain-dead after being psionically attacked by Selyara, are transferred to Sickbay. The refugees are released from the transporter buffer, and repairs to Shantytown and the ship itself begin. The Phoenix exits the Hyperion Expanse, its crew thankful to be alive, but mourning the losses they have endured.