The Last Outpost

This episode looked not to happen. With changes behind the scenes and a series of delays, a lot was against it actually running as planned. One mis-step this week and Asteroid Field could have been shelved. But, as usual, you guys pulled together and Asteroid Field soars in to it's mid-season. With a bit of an explosive ending. Only this time, the entire team was put in danger.

Three major threads were running through this episode:

- Slowing the rate of infection
- Designing an effective delivery method
- Locating the source of the nano-virus

Rogan, Thrace and the science team danced around Professor Fox's grey goo scenario while an understaffed Engineering began designing modifications for Starfleet drones to prepare for widespread radiation bombardment. Doctor Hampton and Mark Chaplain avoided each-other as both returned to the station to track down the source of the outbreak. Barnes, Costello and Mitchell monitored the situation within the quarantine zone and eventually determined that Taren Station was the source of the initial infection. As the team gathered in Sickbay for their hourly conference, Commander Chaplain finally made contact with Taren.

He learnt that a Starfleet shuttecraft made an undocumented supply run to Taren, just before infected ships departed from the outpost. He then discovered that the same shuttlecraft made another under-the-radar trip to Pioneer Station just an hour earlier, to deliver the very cargo container which Chaplain himself pushed in to Sickbay. Given the hectic situation, the container had not yet been vetted by Rogan. With a communications problem afflicting several stations in the region, Chaplain arrived at Sickbay to secure the container while Rogan and Barnes evacuated the staff.

However, with most of the team trapped in decontamination and the remainder still in the Sickbay ward, the container burst open, releasing an unknown substance in to the ward, the lobby and the CMO's office. It also revealed a secondary device which was rolled over to the remaining staff and detonated. The entire team was incapacitated and the blast was forceful enough to blow through the Sickbay doors - exposing the rest of the deck, and potentially the station.

A series of out-of-context messages documented Pioneer coming to terms with it's senior staff being out of action and determining whether or not the virus had been released. Before anything was confirmed, somebody gave the order to abandon station. What effect this will cause remains to be seen.

- Who was pulling the strings of Shuttlecraft Baldwin?
- What was the cause of the communications failure?
- Are more infected ships out there, travelling between worlds?
- Has the nano-virus been released aboard Pioneer?
- Who survived the Sickbay explosion?

Change is on the horizon, my dears. But I'm afraid not everyone will make it over the final hurdle. Thank you all for attending, you saved Star Trek: Asteroid Field, today. Rate and discuss, above and below!

Your feedback will be included in the Season 2.0 Report - which will have a major role in determining the future of this SRP.

I wanted to start off by saying that at the time of writing this review, this episode has 4 excellent votes. These votes are, in my opinion, very well deserved. The episode was, as Grizz stated, at risk of not running due to recent problems that put the future of the SRP at risk. I think I'll start off by praising the members of Asteroid Field for a moment.

When the SRP needed you all the most, you were there. Not only were you there, you gave it 300%. The result was one of the best episodes of an SRP I have ever seen. In some regards, I consider Asteroid Field a more worthy venture in my life than any of the fantastic TV shows I watch on a regular basis (of which NCIS, NCIS: LA, and Bones are inclusions). Today was a prime example of the spirit of the RP, driven by the characters and leaving us with that anxiety we are filled with waiting for the next episode.

Asteroid Field, Asteroid Base. No matter what the title is, the deciding factor in any production is whether it connects with its audience. After several problems, it looked like Asteroid Field was going to be shelved. Honestly, this made me quite nervous since I do look forward to it so very much. Then you all came in today. As I've previously stated, it takes a great crew to make a great production. Everyone at this episode of Asteroid Field was fantastic at driving their characters and the plot forward with such stalwart determination that I couldn't help but be proud of everything that was happening. It made it all feel very real. I imagine Griffiths felt so as well (he was our mystery spectator in case anyone didn't know).

Now enough about that! Alow me to talk about the actual episode! I'll say it was the first time I've been put in charge of pretty much every department on the station. I'd like to think I did a decent job although I can see how tough it is to give everyone something to do on a weekly basis! Because I was put in charge of all stations and took the conference call in the beginning, it was difficult to rate every single thing happening. When you're trying to follow every little update from every department, things tend to get a bit hectic. I loved it though because me being busy meant that more was being contributed to the plot by everyone and that's always fantastic to see.

Call the Bush Administration for Engineering is constructing a weapon of mass depression! As the virus spreads throughout the sector, Engineering is building the one thing that can repress the deadliest outbreak we've seen in the history of the SRPs (AB && AF). Meanwhile Science is isolating the virus and trying to locate its origin. Medical is trying to kill this thing with fire (perhaps not as literally) whilst making a few mistakes in the process and managing an entire station. Administration gets a makeover when an old face arrives and begins digging with everyone else. The entire station is buzzing in unity and the work is getting done even while the Federation researchers on other stations are falling prey to the deadly nano-virus. It's harmonious...

... But this is Pioneer Station. The Accobar System. Harmonious simply won't do. As the station gets closer and closer to an answer, a package delivered by Mark Chaplain himself explodes, releasing gasses and another explosive into the room(Author's Note: You're determined to utterly obliterate my Sickbay at any cost, aren't you?). This highlights one of the things that makes me all giddy about Asteroid Field, which I will go about gleefully explaining now.

No matter what happens, no matter how unstable things seem, they will change. Our Dear Lady Grizz has told us over and over again. She's told us. She'll rock the boat. Then set it on fire. Then watch it sink and watch the survivors build a new boat. OK so I'm being a bit dramatic here but the main point of it all is that at the end of the day change occurs. We saw it in this episode. Just as everyone seemed completely in focus, a mystery package rolls into place on-set, ensuring we all have a bloody good time (hehe puns). When we totally forgot about the container and went and got all focused again, the thing explodes. Surprise everyone! Enjoy your instant furlough, courtesy of mystery express! (too soon?)

So of course, we now get to the point where we ask the dreaded questions. Was it the virus? My money's on no. If someone wanted to cause an outbreak, killing everyone to get there was not the way to do it especially when brilliance has already been demonstrated in the delivery. Who's pulling those strings? This is hard to say. Everyone has made a number of not-quite-friends-but-not-quite-enemies in the time they've been in the SRP. There's a much more important question here, and one that warrants immediate speculation: Did anyone survive? It seems hard to imagine. Everyone who's ever been a part of Asteroid Base: Alpha knows that you can't have a good cliffhanger without threatening to kill everyone every once in a while. Oh an answer, you say? Well I'd say if you have to know then attending the next episode should be your top priority!

Something else happened on the station. Sickbay exploded with the fury of a thousand butchered Chief Medical Officers (OK I'll stop with the exploding Sickbay). More importantly, a series of decisions was made. If you didn't notice, these decisions were made with no Senior Staff in a conscious state. Somebody called the Abandon Station. But who was it? Who has that kind of authority? CHAPLAIN. No wait he's maybe dead. ALICIA. No wait same deal. THRACE?! Right there beside Rogan in the Quite Possibly Dead department. So who? Well I wonder who took a number of conference calls and didn't come out of their office except to attend the first hourly meeting ... but then again I'm imagining things, of course. Who tends to take the heat for administrative decisions? Hopefully most of you know where I'm going with this.

Starfleet will have many questions to answer, and undoubtedly there will be massive changes aboard the already battered Pioneer Station. The Senior Staff may simply awaken to an empty station and have to survive whilst - oh wait I'm rambling. The character development, the energy and soul you put into your RPing, and the plot that drives you in every direction you thought impossible. These things and so much more are what sets Asteroid Field on my calendar as THE place to be on a Saturday. I hope that you guys see it that way as well. Oh, and Grizz, thank you for keeping this going and hopefully this review said one or two things of value ;).

P.S.: There are no refunds for dying on a Rogan-Headed Expedition of Adventure. Just saying.

~Andzzy~

I'm not quite sure what I can say to describe  the events of this episode...

It was definitely brilliant, and now I wish I had taken out life insurance.

The episode was good even if the engineering department was "understaffed".

To say the least considering the massive importance of the ENG role I am glad I was not wearing a red shirt during the explosion.

I'm glad we did this episode and not cancel the show Grizz :). Everyone was involved in the plot and put their best leg forward to make this one of the best mid-season episodes I've ever attended in any SRP. I think I can already guess which characters will probably not survive the sickbay incident ;).

I think I don't have to say much more, Andzzy already said it, besides, I'm not one for lengthy reviews of other SRP's (although I tend to ramble on in reviews about my own ones, dammit, i don't even like to type all that much in a forum box! haha). I'll be looking forward to the second half of the season, especially the character development part (and then especially my own one, ofcourse, but I am really curous about some other characters in the show aswell, characters which will hopefully survive to see the light of day again...). But first, a well-deserved mid season break. The rumor goes that Asteroid Field is returning on 23-10, but for some reason I think you will be indisposed that day...

Whatever the outcome, I have to agree with Andzzy in that you managed to involve all characters in this plot, something which I have rarely seen, something which is very hard to do in an RP, so kudos for that. Do I really have nothing negative to say? Well, perhaps one thing: Never scare me with an unannounced resignation ever again!

If any remaining participants could vote as soon as possible, that would really help in speeding up the final report.  ^-^

I absolutely adored this episode, Grizz. :D