U.S.S. Ishtar

Captain's Log, Stardate: 9283.4

Acting Captain Jerricha Lance recording:

While on a routine planetary survey mission seeking suitable worlds for colonization, the ISHTAR encountered a strange alien vessel of a configuration never before encountered by the Federation. The ship was broadcasting a continuous beam with a regular pattern; assuming this to be a distress signal, Captain Gunther decided a boarding party was in order. The party brought back two things - a lone survivor from the vessel, and a dangerous virus.

The survivor was a humanoid alien, her features similar to our own with the exception of her pale violet skin and bright green hair which more closely resembled feathers, and large mammary glands which on a human woman would be considered most abnormal. We later learned that Minya (the name she gave us) has the ability to change her coloring much like a Terran chameleon. As she was wearing no clothing when we found her, we have issued her a standard ship's uniform, altered to fit her unusual figure.

The virus (such as we believe it to be) must have been brought on with her.

According to Dr. Akira, it is an airborne pathogen of a particularly hardy strain. It quickly infected the entire crew, but had a markedly different effect along gender lines. Nearly all the male personnel became delerious and, in some cases, dangerously insane before dying. The female crewmembers were less affected, in some cases displaying behaviour similar to drunkeness, but this was a temporary condition that has since passed. The only surviving male crewman is Ensign Davis, our relief helmsman. Dr. Akira suggests that this is partly due to his unusual genetic makeup - he is 1/4 Vulcan.

Unfortunately, one effect of the madness was that Chief Engineer Dumont brought the warp engines up to 110% and sent us into deep space at Warp 9.8, nearly destroying the ship. We likely would have all been killed had we not happened to pass through an uncharted wormhole which shut down our engines and transported us a third of the way across the Galaxy, into an unexplored region of the Beta Quadrant. I can't help but compare our fate to that of the U.S.S. Voyager, though I hope our trip home is a bit less eventful.

It has been a month now since the disaster. The ISHTAR has been running on a skeleton crew by necessity, as females made up ony 25% of the ship's complement. Dr. Akria was the highest-raking surviving officer, but since she has been busy with the virus, it was decided that I should take command (there doesn't seem to be much need for a security officer at the moment in any event).

Dr. Akira reports that the virus, while eliminated, has not gone without a trace. From her own research and from information gathered from Minya, she has determined that the virus is an engineered one that is meant to act as a super-aphrodesiac. Minya's vessel was apparently a kind of traveling brothel, using the virus to increase the sexual appetites of their customers in order to sell them more services. Unfortunately for them, they came across a shipload of human pirates, and the effect on them was the same as what occurred to the males in our crew.

We are proceeding back to Federation space at our now-maximum speed of warp eight, at which rate we should arrive home in twelve years. Naturally, we are keeping an eye out for any means of cutting down our travel time.

There is one further item of note, which I have until now hesitated to report due to the possibility that I was simply imagining it; however, after speaking with other members of the crew, I must admit the reality of the matter. It seems that the virus has had a lasting effect on the surviving crew, in that all of us seem to be feeling a heightened sexual arousal at all times. So far, we have been able to ignore the matter and concentrate on our duties, but it's becoming steadily stronger. Dr. Akira is unable to provide any answers with the limited resources at her disposal.

End Log

CHOOSE THE POV CHARACTER IN THIS STORY

Captain Jerricha "Jeri" Lance

• Human, 5'10", Scandinavian. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Athletic figure. 29 years old.

Doctor Kellye Akira

• Human, 5'4", Asian. Black hair, dark brown eyes. Slim build. 33 years old.

Ensign Skylar Davis

• Human/Vulcan, 6'1", Pacific Islander on human side. Black hair, green eyes. 24 years old.

Minya

• Unknown species. 5'9". Variable skin, hair, and eye color. Voluptuous build. Unknown age.

Ensign Linda Trask

• Human, Asian/American, slender build, black hair, brown eyes. 22 years old.