- (Holding position at 3 AU from) the planet Acebi, which is the fourth planet of the Aorya system in the Gamma Quadrant.
Summary:
- 2393.01.08
The pre-warp culture of the Acebi people is about to become not so pre-warp anymore. On a mission to evaluate and investigate the Acebi warp project more thoroughly, the Atlantis away team, consisting of Commander Velden, Lieutenant Montgomery, Doctor Kadar, Ensign Gambit and Ensign Connor, had beamed down to the planet in a deserted alley disguised as Acebi citizens, careful not to contaminate the Acebi culture. They were even wearing replicas of the necklaces every Acebi citizen has to wear. During their brief investigation, it became clear that the Acebi value truth above everything else.
When the away team visited the warp test site, they were caught wearing false necklaces. When Commander Velden, trying to talk their way out of this uncomfortable situation, was caught telling a lie, the truth-loving Acebi guards called in the Adjudicators: the truth-enforcers. The away team fled, but was unable to elude the Adjudicators, who used shock prods to deliver a paralysing electrical current to the members of the away team, causing them to loose consciousness.
They woke up in a prison cell, where they soon found out that their fake necklaces had been replaced by real ones, which emitted a powerful and painful jolt each time the wearer told a lie. When questioned, they were unable to lie, but they couldn't tell the truth either because of the Prime Directive; the truth might damage the Acebi culture irreparably.
Meanwhile, on the Atlantis, Lieutenant Jomorr discovered a powerful ion storm in the making. The atmosphere of the planet would protect the away team and the Acebi population sufficiently, but the Borhyas, currently in orbit around Acebi, would be heavily damaged if its shields were not raised. Lieutenant Rofellian and Ensign Andrusia volunteered to take a Runabout to the Borhyas to raise its shields.
A little later that day, Commander Djesco, on a mission to evaluate the crew of the Atlantis, questioned Lieutenant Fletcher about his condition: she believed the multiple personalities, all fighting for control inside his head, made Fletcher unfit to be a Starfleet officer.
