One Giant Kaboom - Outline

Brief Summary

The planet Karbin is about to launch their first warp-capable spacecraft and USS Challenger is there to observe as part of first contact preparations. There's one small problem: our engineers spot a design flaw. There's a fifty-fifty chance these brave astronauts are going to explode when they turn the warp drive on. Can the crew do something about it without violating General Order One?

Mood: Exploration, meeting new people, and some sort of daring rescue or stealth mission.

Basic Outline

1. Blue Skies - The ship arrives and starts observations of Karbin.
2. Huston, We Have A Problem - The crew discovers the problem, does the Prime Directive debate, and makes a plan for what to do next.
3. Under Pressure - The crew must implement the plan they came up

Potential Character Beats During the Mission

• Reflection on the past and how far we've come
• Admiration for fellow space travelers
• Should we interfere or not? What are your thoughts on the Prime Directive?
• Show off historical and spaceflight knowledge, engineering and science skills, and ability to think quick.
• First contact preparation such as medical, military, and cultural studies.

Background

The planet Karbin is an M-class world located twenty light-years from the nearest Federation outpost. First discovered in 2203 by USS Valiant NCC-978 under the command of Captain Talas sh'Verka. The world is home to a sapient species called Karbels. At the time, the planet was entering its information age and had already achieved primitive spaceflight, comparable to the Apollo and Soyuz programs on Earth. They have left their equivalent of the Cold War behind and by all appearances are slowly making their way toward nuclear disarmament and a loose confederation. After thorough orbital scans from behind the cover of sensor-jamming fields, the planet was marked as off-limits under the conditions of General Order One.

Fly-bys were scheduled on a per-decade basis so Starfleet could monitor the planet's development. The last such visit was conducted in 2251, which showed that the Karbels had achieved interplanetary flight and visited several of their system's planets. However, the next stop was postponed due to lack of an available ship following T'Kuvma's War. Recently, the Corps of Engineers vessel USS S'Harien was passing nearby and detected tetreyon emissions consistent with early subspace technology. A quick scan showed a spacecraft with a warp ring being assembled in orbit. Rimward Border Command determined that the S'Harien was not properly equipped to take a closer look and requested support from Exploration Command, which detailed the mission to USS Challenger.

Our orders were to observe what was expected to be this world's first successful warp flight and gather information necessary to conduct a successful first contact afterward. However, shortly after arrival, we will discover a small, teensy problem: due to a design flaw stemming from their poor understanding of warp physics, this ship is a death trap, and there's a good chance all fifty people aboard are going to get smeared across the system mid-flight. This is what people in the business call a tricky situation. Due to a lack of nearby subspace relays, advice from Starfleet Command will likely arrive long after the test flight.

Outline

Act 1 - Blue Skies

The Challenger arrives in the Karbin system and begin their observations. The ship must be careful to remain undetected - while Starfleet is capable of hiding its ships from telescope and radar using holograms and sensor dampening fields, the presence of warp technology may also mean primitive subspace scanners. While studying the Karbel ship, the crew will realize that there is a design flaw in the warp drive, which has about a one in four chance of blowing out its coils mid-flight. Given their flight plan, if this happens the astronauts aboard will be stranded on a radioactive ship weeks from the nearest Karbel rescue ship.

Plot / Post Ideas

• Helm: Plot our course to remain undetected. Know things about early warp craft and the history of spaceflight.
• Engineering / Ops: Study the Karbel ship.
• Science / Comms: Study the Karbel, especially their culture.
• Tactical: Help the Karbel ship remain undetected by examining the alien sensors and provide advice on their military capabilities.
• Medical: Learn things about Karbel biology and the Karbin ecosystem.

Act 2 - Huston, We Have a Problem

Now that a problem has been found, we need to decide what to do about it. This is a sticky Prime Directive situation, but there are several possible courses of action. The crew will need to debate the issue and devise possible plans in order to advise the captain on the best course of action. I expect this section to go fairly quickly.

Potential Positions to Take - these are certainly not all-inclusive but may be good starting points.

A strict view of General Order One would be to remain hands-off. They are technically pre-warp still and even if they achieve warp flight a sudden, unexpected alien encounter could prove disastrous. If some Tellarites had shown up and told Zephram Cochrane his ship was a piece of junk, how would that have affected Earth's development? This is a observation mission for a reason.

A more lenient view might be that pre-warp is just a technicality. They have the tech and even if this test fails another should succeed soon. As such, Starfleet General Order Three applies: we must respond to ships in distress. Of course, the test ship is not actually in distress yet and it's entirely possible they never will be, so that's a rather thin cover.

A purely pragmatic view might be that sooner or later these people will achieve warp flight, and soon after encounter the Federation. Challenger's mission logs are not secret, and even if this one does get classified that won't last forever. If the ship blows up and the Karbel learn in twenty years we did nothing, this would damage our relations - and while not strategically important yet, at the current rate of expansion, both the Federation and the Klingons might find them a useful ally or member.

Plot / Post Ideas

• Helm: Evaluate the Test Ship's flight plan.
• Engineering / Ops: Devise fixes or rescue plans.
• Science / Comms: Continue science
• Tactical:
• Medical:
• General: Thoughts about the scope of General Order One. How much risk is too much? Contribute ideas for how to proceed.

Act 3 - Under Pressure

There are a couple story branches we could take here. These are the main ideas I have at the moment but if someone comes up with a more interesting idea I am open to suggestions.

Plan Cautious - We take a hands-off approach. There is still a good chance that nothing will go wrong and blundering in without taking time to observe and plan may cause more harm than good. Naturally, to keep the plot interesting, something will go wrong with the test flight and there will be a mid-flight drive failure. However, having achieved warp, General Order One is now much more relaxed and we can come in to answer the distress call. This will involve stabilizing a tumbling ship before sending a medical and engineering team aboard to tend to survivors and prevent the ship's fusion reactor from exploding, and everyone else will need to keep the planet from having a meltdown of their own. Plan Cautious posts would involve a daring rescue effort made more difficult by how unfamiliar we are with the Karbel and their lack of experience with the galaxy.

Plan Sneaky - This is the part of the episode where people get surgical disguises and poke around the test ship to fix the problem ahead of time. If no one ever knows we were there, then there is no prime directive violation. This will require stealthy security measures, jury-rigged technical know-how, and some tricky flying to get into range without being seen. If we get caught, everyone will assume we are little gray men there to sabotage their ship, so maybe don't get caught unless you want to get dissected, or worse, expelled. Plan Sneaky posts would involve a stealth insertion, disguises, and trying to fix a ship built by aliens in a deniable manner.

Plan Bold - Throw caution to the wind, show up in orbit, and say hello. This will likely delay the launch of the test ship and potentially give us a chance to 'notice' the flaw in a way that lets the Karbel save face. It's a very risky plan that will require people to do a lot of diplomatic work, but it will ensure that no one gets exploded or dissected, and done right it will make a great first impression. Done poorly and someone might let the nukes fly. Plan Bold would mostly involve wowing the Kerbal with each department's skills and knowledge - fancy flying, phaser demonstration, curing cancer, that sort of thing. Convincing the captain that he's not going to get fired for pulling a Pike would be part of the challenge.