Call Back Yesterday (STA)
Captain’s Log, Stardate 42802.3: We have diverted to the Zeta Gruis system in response to a distress call from its seventh planet. Previous surveys have shown the planet to be uninhabited, abandoned by its native civilization as its star swelled into a red giant. The distress call appears to come from a city in the southern polar regions, still cool enough to be habitable. We may be about to encounter the last remaining natives — or just some interstellar scavengers or archaeologists. The distress call gives no specifcs about the nature of the threat. However, Zeta Gruis is not far from the Romulan Neutral Zone, and it has been less than a year since the Romulans emerged from isolation and adopted a newly aggressive stance. They have not yet ventured this far into Federation space, but we're keeping our guard up anyway.
The crew is drawn to the abandoned planet Zeta Gruis VII by a distress signal and beams down to search the ruins of an alien city. Soon, the crew members begin to catch glimpses of people and things from their past. In time, they may begin to realize they’re hallucinating, but the delusions grow worse, causing the team members to lose track of each other.
Meanwhile, a cloaked Romulan ship jams the ship's comms and transporters, harassing them from a distance so they can’t help the away team.
Once the crew on the planet has overcome the hallucinations, they will be confronted by a Romulan Tal Shiar team, who have used a contraband Ferengi thought maker to create the hallucinations; the team was lured here using the false distress signal so that the thought maker could be used to probe the Starfleet team’s minds and study their weaknesses.
The thought maker normally operates at short range, but the Romulans are experimenting with amplifying its effects. The first experiment failed and allowed the crew to break free, but the Tal Shiar major orders his chief scientist to correct the problem and try again. The scientist warns that this could cause the device to backfire. The device disorients the Romulans and allows the team to fight free. The device overloads and traps the scientist and major in their own memories. If the crew defeats the device and frees the Romulans, the grateful scientist will reveal the source of the contraband thought makers, so the crew can prevent the devices from causing more harm.
System Design
Nathan Dowdell
Line Development
Sam Webb
Line Editor
Jim Johnson
Writing
Christopher L. Bennett
Editing
Jim Johnson
Proofreading
Aric Wieder and Jim Johnson
Cover Design
Richard L. Gale
Graphic Design
Matthew Comben
Layout
Thomas Deeny
Produced by
Chris Birch
Operations Manager
Garry Harper
Production Manager
Steve Daldry
Community Support
Lloyd Gyan
Publishing Asssistant
Salwa Azar
For CBS Studios
Bill Burke, John van Citters, Marian Cordry, Veronica Hart, Brian Lady and Keith Lowenadler
