- During the Dominion war, the Federation has lost contact with the USS Orion starship, carrying a top secret cloaking device, near enemy Cardassian territory. The USS Angeles starship is tasked to undertake the search and recovery mission.
- In the middle of the three year Dominion war (2373-2375), Federation Starfleet has lost contact with the USS Orion starship near enemy Cardassian territory; the ship had been outfitted with a prototype top secret quantum-phasing cloaking device. Fearing the technology will fall into the hands of the enemy, Captain Janice Willcocks and the Federation's USS Angeles starship is tasked to undertake the search and recovery mission. Arriving at the last known location, Captain Willcocks can only find some floating cargo debris along with the floating dead and stabbed body of the USS Orion's former Captain John Knapp. The USS Angeles' sensors, however, detect an ion trail from warp engines heading off across the Cardassian border. Admiral Max Cervantes from Star Fleet command says that an incursion into Cardassian territory would be too risky. Should Captain Willcocks follow orders and return home or follow the ion trail and attempt to rescue the crew of the USS Orion on the off-chance they might still be alive?—Michael Wells
- The Dominion war (2373-2375) is being waged for control of the the galaxy's alpha quadrant between the Federation with its allies, including the Klingons, against the forces of the Dominion who have arrived from the gamma quadrant through a stable wormhole near a space station known as Deep Space 9. The Dominion is led by a group called the Founders who are changelings that can shape-shift their form. Among the Dominion's allies are the fierce-some Cardassians.
Attacked by Dominion forces on stardate 52568.3, Captain Janice Willcocks was forced along with her crew to abandon their starship. The crew in their escape pods floated for months before being rescued. Six months later, an official Starfleet inquiry decided that under the circumstances, no charges would be filed against Captain Willcocks. The reality being that they were in need of experienced captains in this war, Janice's friend, fleet Captain Jennifer Cole, recommended that Janice be given command of a new USS Angeles modified Galaxy-class explorer starship built at Deep Space 12.
While the commissioning of the new starship with the customary tour of the new vessel is taking place, the USS Orion starship which has been outfitted with a prototype top secret quantum-phasing cloaking device is receiving a cargo shipment while on mission near the Cardassian enemy border. A disguised changeling kills the USS Orion's Captain John Knapp and assuming the Captain's likeness takes his place as commander of the starship and the as yet unaware crew. As the new captain, he orders the crew to activate the cloaking device and to set course for a location inside of Cardassian territory.
Arriving at a gathering of Dominion ships, the Captain, explaining to the crew he is on a top secret diplomatic mission, orders the cloaking device turned off and has the transporter transport him to a Dominion ship. Shortly after transporting, the Captain remotely accesses the ships computers and shuts down life-support systems, killing all the crew. The USS Orion is now in the hands of the Dominion.
When Starfleet is no longer able to contact the USS Orion, it hopes that the problem is only due to a communication glitch but fears the consequences if the top secret cloaking technology has fallen into the hands of the enemy. Captain Janice Willcocks and the new Federation USS Angeles starship is tasked to undertake the search and recovery mission.
Arriving at the last known location, Captain Willcocks can only find some floating cargo debris along with the floating stabbed and dead body of the USS Orion's former Captain John Knapp. Additionally, the USS Angeles' sensors detect an ion trail from warp engines heading off across the Cardassian border. Admiral Max Cervantes from Star Fleet command says that an incursion into Cardassian territory would be too risky. Should Captain Willcocks follow orders and return home or follow the ion trail and attempt to rescue the crew of the USS Orion on the off-chance they might still be alive?
Putting herself into the shoes of her own crew, Captain Willcocks defies Federation orders and crosses into the enemy Cardassian zone to follow the ion trail which leads her to the USS Orion, alone in orbit near an unexplored planet. The ship's sensors detect a changeling and 12 Cardassians on-board. Hailing the Orion, Willcocks is surprised to see someone in who looks like Captain John Knapp at command and demands to know what happened to its crew. The pseudo Knapp gloats over how easy it was to take the USS Orion and dispatch its crew. He also adds how nice it is going to be to add a second starship to his collection. Willcocks orders shields up and weapons armed as the two ships go into battle.
Soon more Dominion ships arrive and outnumbered, the USS Angeles finds itself in peril. Although Lt. Jake Tenenbaum of the USS Angeles has managed to put the Orion's warp engines into diagnostic mode rendering it unable to go to warp speed, the tide has turned. To increase the odds that some of the crew survive, Captain Willcocks orders the command saucer to be separated from the battle bridge containing the ship's engines and then prepares to take the command saucer down to the planet's surface all while under severe attack from heavy enemy fire.
First officer Captain Jennifer Cole takes command of the battle bridge and attempts to send out an emergency buoy to transmit a distress signal to Starfleet command. Unfortunately the buoy is destroyed almost immediately and Cardassians start beaming onto the battle bridge using transporter technology. With the battle bridge about to be lost, Captain Cole uses command codes to lock-down the computer systems to prevent the enemy gaining control of the ship. Taken prisoner by the enemy, the pseudo Captain Knapp beams aboard and gives the defiant Cole one hour to turn over the command codes or face death.
Meanwhile the USS Angeles command saucer crashes onto the planet's surface killing 104 crew members. Captain Willcocks and the remaining crew evacuate the saucer and seek refuge in the surrounding rocky terrain. Cardassian soldiers start arriving and the ensuing phaser weapon fight threatens to annihilate the small crew left of the USS Angeles. To buy time, Captain Willcocks, remotely detonates the command saucer which explodes near Cardassian forces. The reprieve is only temporary, however. Cardassian forces soon gain the upper-hand enabling the USS Orion to capture and beam up Captain Willcocks where the waiting pseudo Captain Knapp attempts to wrangle the command codes from her as well.
Meanwhile on the battle bridge, with the clock ticking, a small number of the engineering crew who managed to avoid being taken prisoner have managed to access the engineering consoles and are working on transferring control of the battle bridge to engineering. With the help of a neutralizer built by the ship's doctor, Captain Cole is able to escape her sick bay holding cell and join the renegades in engineering.
Taking control of the battle bridge once again, Captain Cole is able to activate the ship's communications just in time to hear a broadcast message heralding the arrival en force of the USS Victory and other allied ships who are quick to engage the Dominion ships and the USS Orion in battle. As Cole orders the warp engines to be engaged, sensor's indicate that Captain Willcocks is on-board the USS Orion. As the warp engines engage, she orders the transporter to lock onto Willcocks and attempt to beam her aboard. Suddenly, hit by Federation fire, the USS Orion disappears in a fiery explosion.
Federation ships soon send reinforcements to the planet's surface to rescue the remaining survivors of the USS Angeles while enemy ship after enemy ship is destroyed above the planet. Soon the last enemy ship is destroyed and the battle is won. Captain Willcocks was able to beam aboard the battle bridge and all Federation forces quickly flee Cardassian space to return to Deep Space 9.
Incoming communication from Admiral Max Cervantes of Star Fleet orders Captain Willcocks to take some time off after her harrowing experience and promises her a surprise when she returns to Deep Space 9. The surprise turns out to be a newly built command saucer for the battle bridge. With the battle bridge joined again to the new saucer, the USS Angeles is reborn. The USS Victory informs Captain Willcocks that the fleet is soon to depart on another crucial mission in the war as peace negotiations have broken down due to their actions to rescue the USS Orion. Captain Willcocks requests permission to join the new mission and the adventure continues.
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By what name was USS Angeles: The Price of Duty (1998) officially released in Canada in English?
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