Have to post because evil taskmaster Llywarch forced me!
Anyway, previous screenshots display Taskforce Avalon (Starfleet) and Theirr (Romulans) in a joint operation to liberate starbase 234 from the clutches of Jenari D'ian, an ambitious Orion with a grudge against the 26th. Two weeks of planning paid off, but not without a cost. While Vanguard (SB234) was retaken and heavy losses were inflicted on the opposition, the 26th and their Romulans allies didn't come unscathed from the battle. Numerous lives were lost and many ships damaged. The loss of the flagship, the U.S.S. Monsoon, was quite a blow to the 26th.
More to come as a new episode in our story is drawing near.
Would one view a person awakening from Cryo-sleep as proper?
Not super-human, not special forces, just plain Military Veteran.
Along the lines of woken up by federation scientist and acclimated to Federation society.
Again no super-human-AI-borg-picard rediculous archetype we see so much.
Thanks for any and all input.
*Edit, forgive my mispellings, on an ipod and autocorrect is turned off haha.
Some of the forum pretties from our last big RP event "The Battle of Starbase 234". Murphy loves nothing better than to wipe his TRIBBLE on a nicely types plan, and he did.
In February, the 26th Fleet made it a point to attend the RP Roundtable. We were pleased to see so many role players there supporting this great hobby, being passionate and generating ideas amongst the community. One thing that we noticed, that we've all contended with, is the amount of grief we have for being role players. This isn't anything new, it's been a constant in all MMOs, despite the term MMORPG.
So, our answer to this dilemma is simple. Provide a setting where role players can interact together without fear of griefing and harassment, open up the 26th Fleet's headquarters to the general public.
How does one gain access to the base? Simply send an IC docking request in the SB381 comm channel and one of our members will grant you permission to visit the base. Please see our FAQ at the bottom of this post for further information; and please any questions or concerns, see our staff. We want to make Praetorian a welcoming and enjoyable experience for everyone!
We look forward to role playing with you all in the very near future!
Regards
Corris Sprint
Guild Leader
*****
Commodore's Log, Stardate 91146.76
It has been four weeks since I have been to Praetorian. Spending the past month evaluating Task Force Avalon on their daily patrols in Tau Dewa has been tiresome, but essential; it's been our main focus to ensure we provide a safe area of space while the Romulans colonize their new home world, mol'Rihan. We have faced difficulties at every turning point, but always found a way to over come them. I am proud of those who serve with me. They have proven themselves time and time again.
So much as changed in these past four weeks. I have had the privilege of being here since day one, when the 26th was assigned to this station. On arrival it was nothing but an empty docking station, barely able to support a fleet of ten ships. Now look at it. It's the main staging area in the Neutral Zone. The station itself has grown exponentially since we first arrived. Not only has the station itself grown, but so has the 26th Fleet. It seems like it was only months ago we were a small group of Federation officers, trying to make a difference out here.
As I enter the main level of the station, it's bustling with people. Although we are in a war zone, the atmosphere is surprisingly energetic. There seems to be dozens of people at the bar socializing with each other. It would appear that the station is not just a staging ground in the Neutral Zone, but a hub for those passing through, trading stories, sharing a drink or simply making new friends. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, considering the growth Praetorian has seen this past year.
The interior of the station has remained clean and welcoming. The added decor through the main level allows for the station to be more inviting to new travelers stopping in. By the looks of the inside, you would never guess Praetorian was used primarily as a war front station, constantly under siege from opposing forces.
As I walked through the halls to my personal quarters, I was always greeted by the friendly staff. No matter how busy they appeared, they seemed to make the effort to say hello, even if it was a simple nod and a smile.
All of this wouldn't be possible without the leadership we have here. Admiral Hunter and Captain Sprint have done a fantastic job taking this station from what it was, to what it is now. The fact is, the station and the fleet continue to grow on a daily basis. The leadership here, including myself, have always worked towards a friendly and healthy environment, not just for our staff, but to those who stop in, whether for business or pleasure. While we continue to focus our efforts in Tau Dewa and any other force that threatens the station and the Federation, we will always ensure that we provide a simulating atmosphere for everyone on board the station.
FAQ
Q: What sort of character is going to be welcome on your station?
A: Simply put, most. We're a guild that tries to find more ways to say 'yes' to role play, so as long as it's consistent with Star Trek canon I doubt we're going to see a problem. We're trying to recreate some of the atmosphere from Deep Space Nine, with Starfleet officers, Federation allies, civilians, etc freely roaming the station.
Q: Are we going to run into any erotic RP out in the open on your starbase?
A: No, you're not. If we see it happening we'll kindly ask that it be taken elsewhere. We're trying to generate a PG13 atmosphere on the base, adult RP should be taken to private quarters. You have your own ship interior for that. If it happens more than once we might have to think twice about inviting you back to the base for RP.
Q: Can I blow up your starbase?
A: Please don't. Like all fleets, we've worked hard to get where we are now, and would appreciate it not being destroyed by a natural disaster or a bomb. However, if you have an idea that you think other guests would enjoy, please bring it to the fleet's leaders so we can discuss it. Our goal is to make an atmosphere where all are welcome and comfortable to RP.
Q: Can I create a mini (or large) plot involving your station and fleet members?
A: Mini plots are fine and encouraged. Larger plots should be run by our fleet officers to ensure they don't contradict any established storylines.
Q: I understand that I cannot blow up your station, but can I sabotage it?
A: No.
Q: What sort of conflict can I start on the station?
A: If the conflict is 'serious' IE gun fights or similar, that will need to be worked out as a storyline with the fleet officers. If it is something like a verbal confrontation or perhaps a bar fight, then have at it but be prepared for IC consequences.
Q: How long are we permitted to stay on the station for each session?
A. You can stay as long as you want., provided there is no unnecessary drama. Remember, we want the base to be welcoming to all types.
Q: Who are your Senior Members?
A: Our senior members are here.
Q: Which members can I contact if I have a problem with someone or something?
A: See above list of senior members.
The Cast and Crew of Star Trek Praetorian are taking a moment of relaxation and adventure upon the Holodeck. Captain Llywarch in his usual boisterous manner has decided everyone is going to play his favourite Spy thriller for the tenth time. Tux's and dresses, drinks that are stirred and not shaken as people take on roles of the bad guys, the distressing damsel and the thugs!
Captain Llywarch sleeps very heavily as the Downpour begins. Huge fat heavy drops begin to fall and cake everything in mud. Rhys continues to sleep the sound of his loud snore filling the tent. When your officer picks his or her head up to look at him his blue dog that is laying on his hairy chest stares at you. If you attempt to poke the Captain or wake him the dog will growl and if not stopped then will bark at you.
The conclusion to a recent plot involving political unrest and miscarriage of justice on a border colony:
The catchy, urgent theme song of the local news plays over their logo. It slowly fades to show a smiling, attractive and nonthreatening human woman, professionally dressed behind her anchor's desk.
"Good evening, Idzer II, and welcome back to your Eyewitness News. Our breaking story today: A series of overnight police raids in northern and western Kellton."
The holo-image cuts over to show footage from an affluent-looking suburban neighbourhood. The camera pans slowly across the front of a comfortably large house before shifting to reveal the sea of police skimmers haphazardly parked all along the street, blue lights flashing erratically in the pre-dawn air. Investigators and crime-scene techs can be seen moving to and from the house. The newsanchor narrates over the footage.
"Early this morning, residents of the well-to-do Northtree housing development received a rude awakening as tactical units from the Kellton police department launched a pre-dawn assault on the house of Dalton Fel, chief prosecutor for the justice department of Idzer II. A man matching the description of Mr. Fel was then seen being taken from the house in restraints."
The footage changes to a much less stable version, with attached audio. The darkness becomes even deeper, clearly from an earlier time in the night, and is lit only by the flickering of police lights. The sound of a house alarm cuts across the commands of a uniformed officer to back away from the perimeter. Ignoring the order, the camera zooms in, showing an unconscious human male being dragged out the shattered front door by tactical officers in full kit.
"According to an official statement released by Senior Inspector Kagiso Masondo, Kellton 1st Precinct, the man arrested in the heavily-armed assault was not in fact Mr. Fel, but an infiltrator surgically altered to match his appearance. The real Dalton Fel was discovered by the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery aboard a Nausicaan vessel, where he had been held and physically abused for just over one month."
The scene changes abruptly to early dawn in an industrial district. A large, slightly dilapidated warehouse dominates the scene, with yet another gaggle of police skimmers drawn up out front. Officers can be seen carrying crates of tagged evidence out of the main doors and loading them into cargo transports.
"Three more Nausicaans were discovered when KPD units raided a vacant warehouse in western Kellton, along with a cache of weaponry and a large quantity of contraband, including dangerous narcotic substances. The estimated street worth is in the hundreds of thousands. One hour ago, Governor Sellem made a statement regarding the raids."
The image flashes over to show a primly dressed female Benzite standing before a podium. The flashing of holo-imagers strobes against the backdrop, depicting the seal of the Idzer colonial government. The governor begins to speak.
"I wish to assure the citizens of Idzer II, and the Idzer system, that justice will be carried out in full against these criminal elements who hoped to infiltrate our society. With the assistance of Starfleet, and the captain and crew of the U.S.S. Discovery, their plans have been uncovered before they could come to full fruition. We owe a debt of gratitude to these personnel, without whom the person masquerading as Mr. Fel may have been able to continue to corrupt our society from within undetected. I thank them for their service, as does Dalton Fel, who is on his way to a full recovery."
The audio erupts with a riot of questions from the press, and the camera feed hooks back into the studio, where the newsanchor remains at her desk, shuffling her prop papers - a centuries-old staple tradition. She resumes speaking in her measured, clear tone.
"The governor's office has released an additional statement, saying that the fate of Specialist N'tak, whose assault of Merai Theln sparked the entire investigation, is currently under review, and that releasing him to Starfleet's custody is an option which remains on the table now that the primary opposition to such a move, Fel's imposter, is no longer offering input. Up next: IEN's analysis. Could your neighbour be a surgically-altered ganglord infiltrator? Find out, after the break."
She resumes her nonthreatening smile, as the image pulls back and the music plays out to commercial.
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 31+
Mission Summary: You have been selected for the prestigious Alpha Flight course, the Federation's most elite pilot training program. Drawn from around the Federation and it's allies, Alpha Flight pushes the quadrant's best pilots to their limits. As stakes rise, egos clash and safety protocols are pushed to the wayside you realise not everyone is cut out for the course, and only a handful will graduate to receive the golden wings. Will you be another dropout, a line on a memorial plaque or will you meet the challenge and prove that you are the best pilot the Federation has to offer?.
Congratulations, Remair! We're all proud of you mate. We're also waiting on your next master piece, so get crackin'! :P
The Year was 2285. Admiral Kirk had just engaged in a brutal fight that had taken a friend but he had not yet stolen the Enterprise. Tensions between the Major Interstellar Governments is at an all time high with the discovery of the Genesis planet. An all out Alert to secure all Black level projects has been put out by Starfleet Command. The Great Experiment the USS Excelsior NX-2000 has been sent out to secure the science project of the Original Starbase Preatorian. The Station was seated near the Mutara Nebula.
The Commander of the station, Admiral Felix Johnson had been working on a Device known as the Subspace inhibitor. In theory the device would stop a starship from forming a Subspace bubble and it would pop any subspace bubble already formed and pull the ship violently into real space causing damage to the warp coils.
The Admiral invited several of the command team of the Excelsior to witness the device At first the device seemed to work as planned. The Excelsior was not able to make a subspace bubble and escape to warp. At first the Admiral and the assembled celebrated the success of the project.
((We really had the whole fleet show up as NPC's in Wok uniforms who died horridly))
The Success of the device was short lived however as it began to enter a cascade failure. The ensuring failure tore the planet nearby in half and nearly destroyed the station and ship. The tech was then mothballed and left to drift in the empty space. Over the years the area of space traded hands several times. But now in the year 2413 the officers of the 26th fleet find themselves in need for the Technology developed so long ago. With modern day advancements the technology may be salvaged and the marching klingon menace could be stopped.
The 26th fleet marches on toward the abandoned Preatorian to secure the device that now sits firmly in deep Borg space. It will take everything within the officers to finish their objectives. Can they complete it without becoming part of the collective themselves?
The order has been given and the fleet is mobilizing. Over a century ago Starfleet attempted to mimic the effects of oth Omega molecule. They thought that perhaps with technology they could control the effect that such forces exert on space time, and the fabric of sub-space. They were wrong. Another Starbase called Praetorian was lost, and the planet that it orbited was cracked in half, thousands of men and women were killed.w
Now, a century later I'm sending the 26th Fleet back to that long forgotten Starbase to reclaim this pandora's box. My hope, my prayer is that with advances in Starfleet technology we'll be able to properly harness these powers. Is it arrogance to assume that we can control this? That we won't destroy ourselves like they did?
I'm not sure that we have a choice. With the Klingons bearing down on us, we can't possibly hope to stand them off forever, much less defeat them in a straight up fight. Starfleet claims that the resources of the fleet at large are spread too thin in peacekeeping actions. I had hoped Admiral Quinn would take this relocation of KDF assets as an opportunity to strike at the Empire while they're focusing on Praetorian. He raised a good point though that my officers have also raised.
Captain Levesely is arranging an intelligence gathering operation, with any luck we'll have more information on the enemy units. Until then, we're going to the Omega Lionis sector to reclaim the Subspace Inhibitor. If nothing else, we won't allow the Borg to get their hands on this technology. Even if it's over a century out of date.
As the clock runs down, our Romulan allies prepare their own response to the mass of Klingon ships poised on the border. Will they stand and fight with their Starfleet allies? Or will they obey their superiors on New Rolumus and fall back to the Tau Dewa sector? Only time will tell. Join us this week for another exciting segment of The Corridor, Season 3 of Star Trek Praetorian!
//Burst Trans
//All Ships
//Priority High
To: Theirr Net
From: Cmdr. Nymas
STAND TO
Klingon multi-squadron battle group detected staging for cross border operations against Starbase 381, probability of incursion high. All Command staff directed to proceed according to CASE WHITE.
All vessels within the vicinity of Starbase 381 and Eta Eridani are directed to come to war readiness immediately and execute priority recall. All shore leave for personnel of vessels so effected canceled indefinitely.
We will not fire the first shot, but if the enemy is determined to test us, we will show them that like Romulans always have, we shall fire the last shot.
She was the pride of the Invasion fleet. She was less then three months out of the shipyards and had yet to be worn in by her crew. General Wu'hk has been given his glorious assignment by the Chancellor. His house had called in every honour debt and favour they were owed to build this massive fleet for the Empire. Most of the ships in this fleet were Ancient D7s but the General had planned to win this war with sheer force of numbers.
With most of Starfleet engaged on almost every front in their own space it would impossible for Starfleet to pool all of their ships in a similar manner to this. By the time the klingon spear had punctured Federation space Starfleet would be unable to masse. The Enemy of the Empire will fall in a single glorious campaign. Wu'hk would make sure to leave nothing left of the Federation, He would not allow this Kingdom to stand to menace the Empire again.
The last ship in the fleet had finally begun to take its position in the mass warp jump formation. It had taken hours to sync every ship but the theatre he was about to unleash on the next Federation colony should be enough to take the system without firing a single shot. After that he would repeat and strengthen his position. The only bump he foresaw in plan was the Starfleet Starbase in the direct path he had plotted out. He had sent a small squadron of ships to gauge his enemies defenses. They should be arriving soon.
The roar of the Warp drive aboard the Bortas Cruiser was exhilarating. Wu'hk was ready. He knew that this fleet was the last feat of strength for the Empire. Either he would crush the Federation or this war would fall to its feet. He felt a brief moment of strong gravity as all the ships tore a hole in subspace and distorted the space behind it.
Admiral's personal log, stardate 91185.05
It's been several hours since the probe ended. To be fair, this probe was as severe as any raid conducted by the Blackwings or the Klingons in recent years. My people stood their ground though... they rose to meet the challenge. Praetorian handled herself marvelously. The recent upgrades to the stations shields, armor weapons and emergency systems came at just the right time. Overall I think we've only a dozen casualties, and most of them were minor.
The fleet however wasn't so fortunate. Looking over the damage reports and the casualty lists...
I've presided over nothing less than the butchery of the men and women under my command. Before in the assault to reclaim the Sub-space Inhibitor.... hereby refered to as the SSI... and the resulting Borg engagement, to this latest massacre of good men and women.
I can't kid myself, I have gallons of blood on my hands. I have oceans of it... and to think that one time, I thought I could wash it away by protecting a few colonies. Or helping build a new Romulan Republic.
During the assault, our lone SSI device was detonated by a two officers and a Mercenary. We don't have the materials on base to construct another device and the detonation has disrupted Sub-space around the station. Our warp coils have been fried like unprotected electronics against an EMP. In short, we're going nowhere until replacement parts can be shipped in, and that could take weeks. At last count, we have 25 days until the Klingon Fleet arrives here in system.
Facing the Klingons doesn't frighten me. I've been at war with them my entire adult life. What I worry for, are the civilians now left defenseless in their path. The only ships we have capable of doing anything about the Klingons are our Romulan allies, and their orders expressly forbid taking hostile action against the Klingon Empire.
I have six Federation colonies clueless to the danger facing them and no way to protect them. Billions of people are going to die and theres nothing I can do. The Empire will roll over their broken battered bodies and claim it to be a glorious victory in the name of the Empire. They'll sing songs, fornicate and get drunk on their precious blood wine... on the ruins of dead families.
Admiral Quinn wants a status report on last night's 'probe'. I'm due in the holo-confrence in twenty minutes. I have to explain to the Commander In Chief of Starfleet that I'm helpless, because all of my ships have shredded sails.
Lt. Berel came to me after the attack was concluded, and she had something to show me. A picture taken by her nose mounted camera.
I think the picture as presented in this personal log says a lot more than most people would realize. Here is a ship that's easily well past her decommissioning date, but her crew continues hold her together, despite the odds. They manage to get the job done, regardless of the challenges they face or the handicaps they suffer.
If the Hartford survives this war, I'm going to recommend that they make her into a museum ship. Park her right next to the original Excelsior, and the Yorktown.
Stardate 91185.38
USS Liberty
After the KDF probe on SB381
Hawke stood in the turbolift doorway, collecting himself before venturing on the bridge of the Liberty. He took a deep breath and walked over to the aft tactical alcove.
At least the life support and gravity are working again. Up here, anyway, he thought. He could smell the acrid odors of burnt metal and fried cabling. A light dusting of soot covered most surfaces and a fallen support strut bisected the bridge diagonally. Hawke continued forward, past the science station where LCMD Tolan had worked like the devil to keep the KDF ships as weak and toothless as she could, cycling between various exotic emissions until the deflector simply gave out. Then she rerouted power and used the sensor pallets, continuing to fight in her own way until the SSI activated. Tolan had received only minor cuts and scrapes and was already back at work, poring over the sensor logs and computer data, trying to find the answers Hawke wanted.
He crossed from port to starboard, passing the captain's chair that he'd barely used, he was a pacer, and paused at LCMD Suris' helm station. The entire right side of the console was burned out, its' circuitry fused and useless. Suris had wrested full manual control from the computer after multiple plasma torpedoes had damaged the connections and rendered computer-directed flight impossible. Hawke smiled as he thought of the normally buttoned-up Vulcan grimacing and snarling as she manually executed the complex tactical maneuvers that had kept them alive.
He glanced to port again, to ChEng Brohl's station. Brohl hadn't stayed there long. Soon after the first contact with KDF forces, Brohl had raced down to engineering to oversee damage control and power distribution personally. It had been Brohl's expert, and Hawke's mind, near-magical, ability to route power to critical systems that had kept them in the fight for so long. The Bolian just had a knack for giving the right amount of power at the right time, often before the order to do so was even given.
That only one of the bridge's consoles had exploded was a miracle. Unfortunately, it had been the console where his friend and XO, Phillip Randell had been directing the Liberty's considerable firepower into enemy vessels. Hawke ducked under the fallen strut and continued to the starboard tactical station. He ran his hand over the shattered transparent aluminum of the console. Randell had sustained shrapnel lacerations, several broken bones due to concussion, and severe burns. The docs at SB381 had tried to be optimistic, but Hawke had seen it in their eyes. "He's strong and he's a fighter, but it could go either way," they had said. Hawke's fists were shaking as he turned from the tactical station and made his way aft to the Liberty's ready room.
The lights in the ready room flickered to half-hearted life as he entered. Debris was strewn about. Hawke tended not to have a lot of loose knick-knacks in his ready room, since a CO ended up spending time picking everything up after every combat action. But this had not truly been his ready room. The young man to whom it actually belonged was laying on a slab in the starbase's morgue, awaiting transport back to Sol. LT Patrick Kelley's wife of seven months would be waiting in Earth Spacedock to collect the body of her husband. The child in her womb would have no memories of her brave father. She would have only stories of his unflinching duty in the face of combat. She would learn of how, when a long burst of plasma fire had vented deck 4 to space, her daddy had raced down to try to manually activate the emergency force field to seal the breach. The K'Tinga-class battlecruiser then fired a second volley into the gaping, plasma-scorched wound. But not before Kelley had raised the field and closed the blast doors, sealing himself out. LCMD Tolan estimated that Kelley's action had saved another hundred lives. The odds that the Lieutenant's body would have remained in the hull had been astronomical, but he had been found wedged between collapsed bulkheads. The exposure to vacuum had preserved him surprisingly well, and despite the extensive and gruesome plasma burns, his wife had been able to identify him over long-range comms between choked sobs.
Hawke's fists were shaking again. He took another deep breath and continued into the ready room, pausing among the rubble to pick up a frame from the floor. Despite a long crack down the face of the display, the slideshow was still functioning, showing stills and motion clips of Kelley and his new bride on vacation, at home, at Kelley's graduation from Starfleet... Hawke dropped the frame and walked to the desk. The several items that had been affixed to it were still intact, as though nothing had happened at all, as though this vessel had not lost nearly a third of her children, as though Hawke's best friend were not lying in a coma, as though...
Hawke grabbed the Vulcan IDIC sculpture on the corner of the desk and wrenched it with all he had. Silently at first, he pulled it back and forth, straining the fastenings. As he twisted it around, a strangled growl escaped his throat, growing steadily louder until, with a feral scream, the sculpture came free and Hawke hurled it across the room, into the aft bulkhead. The momentum of his action half-threw him into the chair behind the desk. He sat poised for a moment on the edge of the seat, then slowly he slid down until he was sitting on the deck, out of breath.
He sat staring out the ready room window, trying to let his rage bleed off. He'd call his wife tonight, and she'd cry for him and with him. She'd speak soft, soothing words of wisdom and comfort, and do her best to convince him that he'd done all he could, and that the lives lost were not at his hands, but the hands of the Klingon attackers. Hawke would listen to all of this and thank God for Sarah. Her words would make sense and help him exorcise his self-pity.
But at his core, he knew that all of Sarah's encouragement and sympathy would not answer the questions that smoldered in the pit of his stomach. Why? Why had there been no warning? Why had no one detected a force of forty Klingon craft crossing the border and penetrating deep in to Federation territory? Where had these vessels come from? Was no one watching the KDF armada? If they didn't come from the armada, surely someone would have noticed forty Klingon ships missing from their posts simultaneously, wouldn't they? The 26th fleet had had little more than an hour's warning. Not nearly enough time to muster a full defense of the station. Fifteen ships against forty. That they had won at all was a fact worthy of discussion in Academy tactical classes for years to come, but if they'd had time and additional ships, the victory would have been more decisive and less costly.
He knew CMD Corvus had advocated operations that would harass and distract Klang forces in the systems from where the armada had drawn it's numbers. These ideas were rejected. 'Business As Usual' was the order of the day, directly from Starfleet command and the politicians. So no measures were taken that might dissuade, distract, or otherwise change the disposition of the armada. The politicians and diplomats would take their time, have lavish dinners and civilized meetings, all while the KDF held a disruptor to the head of every colonist from the border to SB381. Politicians. In the 23nd century, then-LCMD Spock once said that "...the point of diplomacy is to prolong a crisis". Politicians talked endlessly, trying to convince the wild targ knawing on your arm that it's in the targ's best interest to forgo the meal in its mouth.
Then there was the SSI. How had a non-Starfleet individual, let alone a mercenary, been granted access to a highly classified Starfleet weapon system? How did BlackKnife even know about the device? Not only that, someone had allowed BlackKnife to activate the SSI. And if BlackKnife hadn't activated it, that means that someone else, someone in a Starfleet uniform, had. Whoever had done it, there were deaths directly attributable to their actions. Fully a third of Liberty's casualties had come when the number one port nacelle was lost, the deuterium tanks ruptured, and the EPS conduits blew out. That all came about because the SSI was activated while a good portion of the fleet's defenders were at warp giving chase to KDF stragglers. So many questions.
Hawke's breathing calmed. His pulse slowed and his eyes narrowed. His rage was under control, and his mind was fully engaged. Now, he was asking questions. Now, he was thinking.
This morning Federation citizens awoke to further horror on the war front. It is official, Klingon forces have finally landed on Federation soil. The Eta Erindi sector has been a hot bed of Piracy, Slavery and of course, the decade long war with the Klingon Empire.
As of this writing, the Capital of Ibor Three, New Denmark, has fallen to a deployed Garrison of Klingon Shock Troops. Reports on the ground indicate that civilian casualties have been as high as five hundred thousand, following the surrender and execution of what appears to be a majority of the local defense forces. Iborian colonists have made numerous attempts to flee the planet, all have thus far ended in death and destruction.
High in orbit, a squadron of Klingon warships have shot down no less than nine civilian ships attempting to flee the surface. Starports worldwide are jammed with frightened citizens attempting to flee the planet.
This travesty comes as a shock to Federation Citizens in the Eta Erindi Sector, many of whom have chosen to flee the war zone for fear that rumors of an advancing armada of Klingon warships numbering in the thousands is true.
Since the conflict erupted in 2400, Starfleet has been able to defend Federation Colonies from hostile fire. Ibor Three is located J235 sector of Eta Erindi, a planet which falls under the jurisdiction of Starbase 381, known locally as PRAETORIAN.
Readers will recall that Praetorian is the home port of the 26th Fleet, the domain of former Admiral Jennifer Hunter. Hunter was relieved of her post last year in the midst of the Columbia controversy which has seen the forced retirement of no less than four Flag officers within the President's inner council.
The question on everyone's mind right now however, is 'Where is the 26th Fleet'? Why have they allowed a colony in their jurisdiction to fall to the Klingon Empire, without so much as firing a shot? have they fallen prey to a secret Starfleet weapon of mass destruction, as rumors suggest?
Klingons believe that to die gloriously in battle was to guarantee entrance to Sto'Vo'Kor, where they will spend eternity feasting and fighting and never die. Those who died dishonorably are sent to Gre'Thor, where they spend the rest of time being tortured and tormented by the demonic Fek'lhr.
"Where did you end up?" Commander Jessie Corvus muttered under her breath as she pushed the floating remains of a Klingon engineer out of her way. His eyes were frozen over, his mouth locked open and full of frost, preserved in the state he died: screaming in agony and terror as he asphyxiated and froze to death when he fell from his ship. This man had died ugly.
She would know. She'd been the one that killed him.
"Say something, Commander?" a younger female voice chirped into her helmet.
"Stay sharp, Ensign, and remember your training. We're going to see a lot more like this inside and don't want to get tangled." Her duskier voice buzzed in the radio. "And be respectful. We're walking on somebody's grave."
"But they're the enemy, ma'am."
"More important then. How someone treats their enemy dead says a lot about them." The Commander frowned. "Enough chatter. Prepare for contact and magnetize."
The pair of Starfleet officers' feet touched down hard against the rough metal deck plating, clinging to it with a sharp humm as their gravity boots energized. The slightly shorter of the two turned back and looked. The stark whites and lights of the Harpe stood out against the void, yet looked tiny at only a dozen kilometers away. Light glinted and glimmered all around them, a sea of metal debris, shrapnel, dead bodies and dismembered starships.
"Corvus to Harpe. We've reached the main body of the Klingon cruiser, just ahead of engineering. Looks like deck 3." She looked back down the dark corridor., twisted metal casting dangerous looking shadows. "Varoh?"
The young Bolian Ensign Ryzi Varoh looked down at her tricorder. "Negative life signs. No gravity on any decks, and they lost atmosphere when the aft blew. Some trace atmospheric readings further up, maybe near the bridge, and getting trace power up there. Auxiliary batteries, maybe."
Corvus nodded. "Agreed. Okay. Harpe, we're going to proceed inside. How're the other teams?"
"Nothing so far. Team 3 ran into a very irate jackal mastiff."
"Any casualties?"
"Negative."
"What I like to hear. Keep me posted." She tapped her comm and looked over at Varoh. Like Corvus, the Ensign was wearing a full environmental suit, a light projected from the small lamp atop the helmet. The Commander beckoned her junior officer and companion. "C'mon, kiddo."
The two tiny white figures began walking into the shattered neck of the Klingon cruiser, vanishing from the Harpe's viewscreen. The hulk slowly listed to one side silently in space, everything from the base of the neck back gone. During the battle, Praetorian station's phasers had sliced the ship's shields to ribbons before the Harpe crossed it's T, hammering the exposed ship's hull and engines with a barrage of cannon fire that left it decapitated. Ironically it was this brutal damage that lead to this opportunity. When the Klingon cruiser's core lost containment, the command section was far enough away to not be vaporized by the matter/anti-matter annihilation.
They walked carefully, their heavy gravity boots pulling them to the deck with each plodding step, eyes scanning the gloom. Without power, this was little more than the duratanium skin and diburnium bones of a dead ship, it's warp core heart ripped out.
"I'd... I'd have expected more bodies." Varoh said.
"Sucked out with the decompression." Coruvs replied evenly, stepping over a door frame. "Force fields failed when they lost power, no gravity, and they must've been running with compartment doors open to make it easier to get around. Ship this size, probably carries up to 700 crew and assault squads. Klingons like big crews on their cruisers. Extra hands for ground and boarding actions, and less automation to break."
Ensign Varoh gulped and looked around. "That's... a lot of Klingons."
"A lot of people died here, Ensign." Corvus corrected. She sighed inwardly, wondering if she had ever been so green. The care and feeding of ensigns was difficult but essential work in Starfleet, even if they did struggle with not making a mess on the rug. "We killed between six and seven thousand people in maybe fifteen minutes. Nearly three times what we lost at Wolf 359. At least five times our own losses, despite being outnumbered three to one. Something to think about."
"Not sure the colonists would mind..." the Bolian woman replied, blanching at one of the few remaining dead bodies in this portion of the ship. There wasn't enough left to identify the species.
"Prolly not. Can't say I blame 'em for feelin' that way either,"the Commander drawled. Dead ships made her reflective. "But most of these guys are just... guys. You know how the holos say that Klingons die with batlh on their lips or somesuch?" She met the Ensign's eyes for a moment. "They don't. They say something else."
"Oh..." Varoh blinked, not sure what to say to that. For a flash, the Commander?s eyes blazed with a fury that made Andoria balmy.
Walking in silence, Jessie suddenly put up her hand in a stop gesture and unshouldered her phaser rifle. Without power, the turbolift doors ahead was sealed. Making some adjustments to the weapon's setting, she aimed carefully and began slicing through the door with the beam. The turbolift's metal went white hot as it melted, quickly giving way as she cut out an entrance. A firm kick and a rush of air later and the way was open.
"Corvus to Harpe, we are at the main turbolift and making our way to the bridge. We'll try to patch into the computer there."
"Understood, Commander."
"C'mon." Jessie said, demagnetizing her boots and leaping into the chute. With a light tap of the wall she spun about in midair, remagnetized her gravity boots and clung to the far side of the wall. "Watch that first step, Varoh."
"Uh, okay, one moment..." Ryzi pursed her lips and leaped into the dark shaft. She hit the far side roughly, nearly bouncing off before she was able to grab hold of a rail with one hand, pulling her feet in close enough to let the magnetic pull of the gravity boots handle the rest. "Whew!"
"5.3, Ensign. But only because you got extra points from the Russian judge." the Commander said dryly, watching her struggle to her feet from a few meters up the shaft. "I'm increasing your zero-g training when we get back to the Harpe. Not as punishment. You need more practice."
Varoh pouted anyways once she thought the Commander wasn't looking. "Aye aye, ma'am."
Corvus chuckled and simply walked up the side of the turbolift shaft. "My Captain Senses are tingling, Varoh. Don't make faces at me behind my back."
The Bolian meeped and pulled in her tongue.
"You're a very lucky Ensign, Varoh. Back in my day, I didn't get posted to nearly as nice a ship as the Harpe."
Ensign Varoh rolled her eyes. "Is this going to be another story about your first ship was made out of wood, and used two sticks for nacelles and a rock for a warp drive?"
Commander Corvus grinned. She'd already gathered that the Ensign was a little spooked by this place, so making jokes helped lighten the mood and keep her mind off the creepiness. At least she hoped it did. She certainly found it spooky. "We had to share the rock, too! And when Science was borrowing our rock, they made all us Ensigns get out and push!"
Laughter from the young woman, which was the intended reaction, as they came up on the bridge door at their feet. An alert from their tricorders sounded inside their helmets.
"Peachy. Gotta love Klingon engineering. Ugly as sin, noisy, and sloppy, but triple redundant everything and rugged as a Vangarian rock toad." Jessie smirked. "Okay, it'll depressurize when we pop the door so..." She looked around and pointed about a meter behind them. "Set up the portable force field generator there. Tell me when we're good."
"Aye aye." the Bolian ensign replied, unpacking a small generator from her kit and affixing it to the shaft's wall. A moment later a transparent blue wall of light snapped to life, blocking the passage behind them. "We're good, Commander."
"Outstanding." Jessie nodded, carefully shouldering her phaser rifle and beginning to cut through the bridge door.
A bright orange light illuminated the darkened bridge, small sparks flying as a blazing rectangle was drawn on the turbolift door. It collapsed inwards a moment later, and two Starfleet officers stalked onto the deck, phaser rifles at the ready. A few moments later the taller of the two gave a thumbs up and they both shouldered their weapons and pulled off their helmets with a loud hiss of air.
"Ugh, and I thought it smelled bad inside the suit!" Ryzi groaned, holding her nose.
Jessie chuckled dryly and pointed her rifle light ahead. "Yeah, well, there's a reason for that. Look."
So far they'd seen few bodies, those they had found were frozen solid or badly mangled. Not the case here. The remains of the bridge crew were scattered about, slumped over their consoles or chairs, or lying dead on the floor. The red bridge lights combined with the harsh angles, dark metal, and dead bodies to create the look of a hellish abattoir. To human eyes, anyways. To Klingons, red was easier to see in, and a Klingon butcher?s shop filled with more pink than a teenage girl?s bedroom.
?Oh.? Ryzi made a face. Truth was, Ensign Varoh had never seen dead bodies up close or ever had to take another life with her own two hands. She had fired the guns that killed this ship and everyone onboard, but that was a far cry than seeing her handiwork up close. She?d never had to smell death.
?Ensign!? Commander Corvus hissed sharply. She had already moved into the bridge, stepping over a dead Klingon warrior. ?Check on their comm computer. We may?ve just gotten lucky here. The bridge is still whole, so computer might be too.?
?Huh? Oh. Right! Aye aye, ma?am!? Ensign Varoh snapped to attention and scampered off to try and fire up the computer.
Jessie sighed to herself, despairing over the demands of command including trying to shape fresh faced academy graduates into something resembling a proper officer. Being an abject failure at ?proper officering,? at least in her own mind, she felt singularly unqualified for it. While more than a few of the brass would not disagree with that assessment, they had still saddled her with the young Bolian rookie.
She walked across the bridge towards one of the other consoles, pausing as she passed the ship?s captain. A muscular Klingon woman with striking features and long raven black hair, she hardly looked older than the Commander. Except for the obvious details of head ridges and teeth, the dead woman could have easily passed as Jessie?s sister. It would be proper to say even in death her eyes kept their ferocity, or that she had been proud and defiant to the very end, dying in a manner as befitted a true Klingon warrior.
But that?d be a lie. Her eyes were dull, unfocused and glassy, her jaw slack with a dumb look of bewilderment on her face, her body slumped awkwardly in her chair. The first thing death always stole was dignity.
Commander Corvus stopped and regarded her fallen counterpart. After a moment of silence she reached over and closed the dead captain?s eyes.
She sighed deeply and set back to work, grunting as she heaved a Gorn?s limp remains off the navigational console and tried to fire it back up. The only sounds in the tomb of a bridge were the grinding thum of the struggling life support, the low-pitched growls of the Klingon computers, and the higher pitched beeps of the two officers? tricorders as they tried to translate the controls.
Ensign Varoh was having some success with the communications logs. She was downloading it to the Harpe as she went, transmitting through their comms back to the ship to pass on to Intelligence. Mostly routine communications. A parasite had killed several ships? gahk colonies and their captains were requesting an emergency resupply, complaints about logistics delivering a Gorn-crewed ship several crates of Orion female ?uniforms? but no size XXXXL-pants, a ?Dear Kang? letter from the ship?s first officer?s mate, so on.
One message caught her attention. It had been flagged as priority conversation between this ship and the Klingon command ship, whose name she didn?t quite catch. It sounded like a Ferengi hoarking up phlegm, whatever it was called.
Curious, she keyed up the message. The ship?s captain had recorded it for it some reason. A Klingon officer in the full regalia of an Imperial General, with the greatcoat and heavily laden sash appeared on the main screen. It was all in Klingon, of course, but the universal translators made short work of that.
?Captain M?kota! Are you prepared to move out?? the general grinned.
A snarl from another speaker. Female. Probably Captain M?kota. ?General Wu'hk! nuqneH! Final preparations are underway and the last ship will be in position to warp within the hour.?
?Glorious!? Wu?hk replied loudly, gesticulating as he hammed it up. ?The Federation sits like an old Grishnar cat, toothless and gray and ready to be put out of its misery. When songs are sung of our victory, your name and that of your house will be as the first to strike, the very tip of our d?k tahg to drive into the very heart of our ancient foe!?
A very unladylike snort from the Captain. ?My name, General? Will they sing of me, or will you write the songs? You know why I am here.?
?Like I could forget?? the General muttered darkly to himself. His ferocious grin quickly returned. ?Your?. family. Yes. Captain, your actions here will more than restore your family to honor. Even after that unfortunate matter a century ago...?
?General.? Captain M?kota?s voice went deadly flat. ?You are making a great many promises. Myself, Captain K?lor, I can name a dozen captains in my wing, and they each a dozen more, to whom you?ve made your promises. You come with an armada of ancient ships dragged from the boneyards and promises of glory and restoring our honor.?
Wu?hk narrowed his eyes. ?Am I detecting a rebuke, Captain??
?A polite warning.? The Captain?s voice had turned venomous and anything but polite. ?If you do not fulfill your oh so numerous promises, the full wrath of the Federation will be as nothing next to me.?
?Your overstep yourself, M?kota.? The General?s face darkened. ?If we fail, Captain, then neither you nor I nor your house will matter. This?? He chuckled ruefully and waved about. ?? this is our one glorious strike. The blow that shatters our blade should it be blunted. Now do you understand??
A pause for several seconds before the Klingon woman replied. ?I see.?
?Good.? He nodded, his expression calming. ?Good. I look forward to your report from the Federation station?s bridge. I?ll bring a crate of the best bloodwine. Qapla!?
?Qapla!?
Commander Corvus snorted. ?Well ain?t that just a kick in the head.?
With the restoration of Subspace by Subcommander Nareya, Lt. Commander Taris and Ensign Maris Starbase Preatorian was able to continue scanning for the Stabilizing agent needed to get the Subspace Inhibitor into Mass Production. After a few hours of searching planetary systems Preatorian sensor systems found a small Blue Gas Giant thats lower levels were made of almost a pure Compound needed for the SSI.
The 26th Fleet gathered in Orbit around the nameless Gas Giant and began to lower itself down into the atmosphere of the planet. Several steps were undertaken to avoid the crush depth rated for most of these ships and to keep the mission as danger free as possible. Commander Jessie Corvus of the USS Harpe had her ship outfitted with Several high tech positioning devices to act as the eyes and ears of the Fleet as it traveled thru the thick soup of gas inside the planetary atmosphere.
Once the Fleet had reached the sweet spot inside the planet were the compound percentages were highest. The fleet engaged in the Riker Manuvure first attempted by Admiral William T. Riker(Ret.) during the Son'a Incident in 2375. The ships opened up their Ram scoops and began to draw all the gas around them into containers aboard the ships.
USS Hartford traveling thru the Thick gas of the planet
After a few minutes deep within the gas of the planet a radar blip showed up several times at different ranges. As a precaution in this dangerous situation the order to charge phaser banks was given. After another moment the USS Minerva was hit along the broadside by something large. No structural damage occurred at this point. For the next few minutes more and more blips showed up on the radar and more ships began to be hit by objects hidden by the gas.
The Fleet banding together to ward off the Attackers
While this was happening what scientists aboard Preatorian are now calling a Storm front moved in. A front of higher pressure denser gas began to move in on top of the Fleet. The ship were not able to move out of the low Atmosphere of the planet at Impulse power. The ships began to slow sink into the planet. Due to the good work of the Crew of the Harpe a test was made and the Harpe ejects its hard won gas back into the space around it. The Aliens for a moment were exposed to the Officers of the 26th.
Image of the Aliens in the Gas Layer
The aliens began to force the Harpe up and out of the heavier gas layer. Finally after enough communication from the aliens the Universal Translator began to Operate. The Aliens in the gas layer told the fleet "You steal children." Upon a second look at the gas the 26th was sucking up it was found that the alien creatures had let their larva spawn into the gas. One by one the ships began to eject their loads back into the space around them.
Close up of the Alien being from the Bridge of the USS Harpe.
The Aliens began to force the ships out of the heavier gas layer by force. The ships of the 26th were rocked and battered for several minutes until they were able to get free of the Planets gravity under their own power. Commander Corvus tried the whole time to communicate with the Alien beings pushing the ships. She told them several times how sorry the fleet was for disturbing their children but we needed the gas ourselves to save our children.
After a few minutes and reforming the fleet a huge plume of the gas needed to power the SSI was offered up by the Aliens below that was clear of their Larva. For most Officers in Starfleet these days, First Contact is something they had read about in books only. So for some of these officers in the 26th Fleet their whole view on what it means to be a Starfleet officer. With their mission a success and their Nacelles full of the precious gas needed to produce the SSI in large numbers the 26th Fleet stands a real chance to stop the Klingon Fleet from bowling over more colonies in their path.
At this point it is not known if the alien beings had a natural or technological control over the gas of the planet.
I joined the 26th Fleet about a month or two ago, and haven't regretted it for a moment. It's an active, engaging, and spirited group with some fine RPers, officers, and storytellers. As a newby to STO and CoH Virtue refugee, I'd heard that STO didn't have RPers or an RPing community.
I'm glad I heard wrong. That event above with us discovering strange, ship-sized aliens in the gas giant (really, it felt like an episode of TNG) was entirely played out by members of our fleet, either in our ships or with me volunteering the Harpe's bridge and other players taking stations to play out the whole bridge captain scene. It wasn't planned by me, and my entire knowledge of the plot was llywarch asking if anyone playing a ship captain minded using their bridge for characters who, ICly, had no ship (like some players prefer to RP more junior officers. Not everyone wants to be Kirk). I volunteered.
And I had a wonderful time and am quite happy that I did.
But we've had improvised scenes, action, so on, with the fun of freeform RP where nothing is on a rail.
I'm @Dr_Reverend, roleplayer and player of Commander Jessie Corvus, captain of the USS Harpe, and I recommend checking out the 26th Fleet.
I have been in the fleet since late January this year. I've been in a couple of fleets (RP and non RP) and they were all kind of deadbeat. Nobody was talking to each other, everyone was playing on their own and what not. However, this fleet has to be my favorite.
Everyone is nice, nobody is ever left out, and there is a place for everyone whether you're a pro role player, or a beginner. I was pretty green when I joined the fleet, and was pretty bad at role playing. However, after a while in the fleet I learned a lot.
But there isn't only roleplaying. Often there are OOC (Out Of Character) events, such as grinding for fleet marks, omega marks or whatever you could imagine. Basically, it's a fleet where we do everything.
In game I'm @chokopop23. I've got several characters, but my main character is Donar Ratek. Come find me in game.
Starbase Praetorian was just hit by an unknown object. Soon, everyone aboard the Starbase headed to their respective ships, trying to get a clear picture of what happened. After several scans, the USS Minerva uncovered that it was a missile of Klingon origin. Immediately alerting the fleet, she began a Tachyon sweep, scanning for cloaked ships. After several minutes of scanning, the Minerva detected a cloaked Klingon vessel in the vicinity. Again alerting the fleet, and engaging a pursuit course the Klingon vessel de-cloaked and engaged her Slipstream Drive.
Meanwhile, back at Praetorian the USS Harpe, USS Camelot and USS Restoration and several other ships were evacuating people from the Starbase. At the same time Ensign Maris was in Engineering, trying to defuse the missile. After a some heart stopping minutes, the brave Ensign managed to defuse the missile.
Back in orbit, the Minerva was still scanning for other cloaked vessels, whilst other vessels were still evacuating. After the missile had been disarmed, everyone stood down from red alert, and began beaming aboard damage control teams to assist Praetorians Engineering teams with the repairs.
The Klingons however, managed to get away with 20 SSI (Sub Space Inhibitor) devices. Or so they thought. Luckily for the valiant crew of the 26th fleet, and the rest of the Federation, the Klingons stole 20 pieces of useless metal.
The 26th fleet manages to fend off another Klingon attack. But how many more will they be able to withstand?
TO: All Elements of the 26th Fleet. CC: TFA Command, STRAT OPS Command, Starbase Preatorian Command, JTF Thairr Command Team.
I. Situation: As of the publication of this Operational order a Fleet of Klingon ships is 18 days away from entering Preatorian Local space.
A. Enemy Forces. The Size of the Approaching fleet at last check was Five hundred and seventy six ships of varying tonnage. The Spearhead of this Attack consists of Four Bortas Heavy cruisers and Sixteen Hegh?ta Heavy Bird of Preys. The fleet also has a squadron of eight Siege Cruisers outfitted with Station cracking weaponry. The rest of the Fleet consists of Several types of Bird of Preys from several houses and their subsequent lesser houses. At least 55% of the fleet heading toward Preatorian at writing consists of the Klingon D-7 class. The expected course of action the Klingon Fleet is expected to take once reaching Preatorian local space is to attack and destroy both the Station and Elements of the 26th Fleet under orders to protect the station. It is also thought at this time the Klingon?s secondary objective is to secure the Transwarp gate in order to launch a sudden attack on Sol itself.
B. Friendly Forces. At the time of this Operational Order the only Forces available for the Defense of Preatorian station consist of only the 26th fleet. With an increased push by the Borg in the Gamma Orionus Sector and The increased activity by several other factions the rest of Starfleet is increasingly bogged down in their own areas of responsibility. All Task Force Avalon and Task Force Echo ships are being Recalled to Preatorian space for redeployment in Defense and Logistic hindering attacks.
II. Mission From here on out the 26th is going on the offensive. The subspace inhibitor is going to be placed in layers in front of the approaching Klingon fleet. The altitude and positions of the device are being randomly generated by the Computers best guess. The total stoppage of the fleet is not at this time the goal. The desired effect of the device at this time is to grab small portions of the Fleet out of its Formation while it travels at warp. This gives us a two fold advantage. At worst the Entire Klingon Formation has to stop and wait for the rest of its ships to realign its warp coils and prepare to jump again. At best it gives 26th?s ships a tactical advantage in preparing ambushes for Klingon ships suddenly brought out of warp without warning. Ensign Maris of Starbase Engineering has developed three enhancements to the SSI Device to ensure the safety of Subspace and the people who maybe caught inside the range of the device. The first is a redundant safety system that in the event of total collapse of the innards it would purge the insides with a small amount of Plasma making sure that nothing more dangerous then a puff of green would occur. The second is a system that shuts down the Devices field once it reads Klingon ships caught in its web. This allows the Elements of the 26th to Enter the fray with the vulnerable ships without having to wait the hours it might take to cross space at Impulse or damaging their own Warp drives. The last Enhancement to the SSI Device is stronger signal shielding to keep The klingon ships from locking onto it and either destorying it with Disruptors or Claiming the device for their own for further study. While the enhancement might not be a perfect solution to the situation I imagine that finding a Volleyball sized device in a AU worth of space to be strong enough odds to warrant its use.
III. Execution
For the successful outcome of this Operation the 26th Fleet will have to Operate on all chambers for the next 18 days. Every Officer and Enlisted man will have to perform as if the Federations very survival depended on our work and in many ways it does. The following missions are tasked out.
A. Task Force Avalon: From now until five days Prior to the arrival of the Klingon Force Task Force Avalon is to undertake weakening strikes against the Klingon force as outlined in the mission statement prior. It is left up to the TFA XO to draw up the specific plans and outlines to get this task accomplished. Loss of any ship or any damage that could put a ship out of commision at this time is considered Unacceptable losses. Any strike you make against the fleet at this time must be quick and with overwhelming power. Any situation that might seem like a long drag out fight is not to be engaged at this time.
B. Task Force Echo: TFE?s job at this point is to herd the fleet using the SSI device toward a ?Clear? area of space known as Skyfall Nebula. The Natural Dangers of this place should hinder and thin the Klingon Fleet. Once the SSI devices are in place to guide the Klingon fleet where we want them TFE is to link up with TFA Command and help them engage in their mission.
C. STRAT OPS: STRAT OPS at the time of this Op Order is to provide 26th Fleet Command with Several back up plans to be on Admiral Sprints desk by no later than two days from now. Plans are to include a fallback position for the Entire fleet and Station personnel in the Event of Preatorian being over run including where we can effect repairs and resupply. A plan on dealing with potential enemy agents inside the fleet is also needed based on recent intel. A final plan is needed for how to keep Visual confirmation on the fleet at all time could be possible.
D. STARBASE SECURITY: At this time Starbase Security is to start an ECP(Entry Control Point) at the Starbase Transporters into the Ops level. Station Security is to check the ID and do a body scan of every officer and enlisted man coming thru Preatorian station. Be on the lookout for KDF officers in disguise as Starfleet Personnel.
E. STARBASE ENGINEERING: Engineers are to test, retest and cert each system on Preatorian and to make sure she is battle ready for the Klingon Fleet. Recheck every bulkhead and bolt aboard the station. I want all EPS Relays double insulated against shock by next week.
F. STARBASE SCIENCE: All Starbase Science Officers are to report to Commander Seyela to help in the joint Starfleet/Romulan Science project and continue work until such a time that the project needs to be packed and shipped to avoid it falling into KDF hands.
G. STARBASE MEDICAL All Medical officers are to make sure the sickbays and Triage centers are up and ready for the upcoming battle.
H: OTHER: If your job or current Assignment is not covered by this Operational order report to Admiral Sprint at once for your tasking.
This weekend (Sunday to be more Precise) we have an event scheduled. Click the link for more info. We would like you to invite you to our "mini events", to check out our fleet whilst we're doing stuff, instead of just having quiet conversations on the Starbase. Although, that is still highly encouraged! Just send an IC docking request to us in game, using the SB381 channel, as stated here. You have the chance to mingle with our fellow fleet mates or attend our "mini event".
......parsing data
......parsing data
......keying encryption algorithm to background radiation signal
......qubit handshaking in process
......qubit link established
CAPTAIN'S EYES ONLY
TO: ALL TFA COMMANDS
FROM: CAPT Vempati
CC: RADM Sprint, RADL Llywarch
SUBJECT: OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS TO BEGIN
Captains,
The KDF has pricked us, and we have bled. We have suffered losses: Personnel, ships, materiel. Ibor III has been overrun and thousands slaughtered.
We shall not take this laying down.
At this time the Klingon armada is mired in the Skyfall Nebula, hampered by the SSI and the navigational hazards of the region. Their border regions have been stripped of most of their defenders to form their great fleet. The Empire's borderlands have been made vulnerable and we are going to make them pay for their arrogance.
Effective immediately, aggressive raiding of all KDF installations is to begin under OPERATION RIPOSTE. The U.S.S. Arthur Currie, T?m?raire, Louis Fizeau, Kollontay and Repulse have already been undertaking probing attacks with positive results. A second raiding party is to be formed consisting of the U.S.S. Harpe, Discovery, Okoboji, Vanguard, Patriot and Lakarian, under the command of CAPT Sinclair. These vessels are to target every KDF listening post, outpost, resupply depot, repair yard and refueling station they can find. Any military target you have the firepower to take out, you burn. Any resistance too stiff, you bypass. If the Klingons break up their armada to respond, you will return to Praetorian via the transwarp gate and the task force will be consolidated to overwhelm the KDF elements piecemeal. If they do not respond to these raids we will destroy their capacity to make war. As of this moment, the gloves are off.
CMDR Hawke is in possession of extrapolated sensor data and intelligence that pinpoints the likely location of resupply and repair bases throughout Archanis. Additionally, Praetorian Tactical will be conducting long-range scans for targets of opportunity. Co-ordinate your actions as required.
While the raids are commencing, the Klingon fleet will be contained by OPERATION PICKET. The U.S.S. Minerva and U.S.S. Catalyst, in conjunction with Praetorian's science department, will be analyzing the Skyfall Nebula for projected paths of least resistance through the navigational hazards that the Klingon fleet may be expected to utilize. The extrapolated exit points will then be heavily mined with cloaked M/AM proximity warheads. While this will not hold the fleet back forever, it will bleed them, and may buy us a few extra days to run rampant in their back lines. Strat-Ops' Crisis Battle Group will provide cover for the survey and mining ships.
Remaining Task Force and Fleet elements are to continue current operations until further notice.
You have your orders, Captains. Let's finish this.
This is an outtake from "Operation Picket." In order to stop the Klingons, the fleet decided to mine the Skyfall Nebula.
Minerva has developed an additional device to hamper the Klingon's fleet movements in the Skyfall Nebula and CAPT Prinn has greenlighted these devices to be deployed in addition to the mines we are enroute to set up.
The Skyfall Nebula is filled with harsh gravitational anomalies with points of gravitational sheer that can break a ship apart. After being on site mapping these anomolies to give safe paths through the nebula during the fleet action Minerva has compiled a lot of data on the safe paths and the sensor readings from the sheers. By retrofitting standard probes to emit graviton particles we were able to create a sensor echo of one of the anomalies on a test site, the only way to tell the real anomalies from the sensor echos is to send a probe or ship into it, and see if it is destroyed.
By deploying these probes in the safe routes we will make it very difficult for the Klingons to map out a safe exit path. Due to the gravitimetric distortions the flight time of any probe is limited, meaning we will have to transport them directly to their designated area, but also means the Klingons can only probe the anomalies at close range. If this is successful it leaves the Klingons with 3 options:
A - Painstakingly close and probe each anomaly in turn to see if it is real or a sensor illusion, slowly the fleet's movements.
B - Turn around and retrace their path out of the Nebula and go around, putting them back in the path of existing SSIs and significantly delaying the fleet.
C - 'brute force' the maze we are creating by sending light ships to find out which anomalies are fake and which will rip a ship in half. This is the most expedient method, but will cost them ships. Additionally from my past experience with the Klingons this assignment will be given to the levies from the minor houses, which will result in friction between the minor houses and the fleet command if not outright desertion.
All of the above are favourable. Deployment of mines should not be inhibited by additionally deploying these devices. Attached is a map of the most effective deployment locations, at any place where the safe route turns sharply, meaning that once a fake has been identified the Klingons cannot simply fly through without hitting a real anomaly on the far side.
Minerva is in the process of refitting all 47 remaining probes for this purpose and we request Catalyst does the same. If this delays the Klingons long enough we may be able to return to Praetorian in time to take on more probes and mines to make a second pass at the periphery of the Nebula. Note: due to the high power drain on the probes these devices will not last more than two weeks, even with the modifications. It is highly unlikely the Klingons will remain in the Nebula this long, and ensures that no operation needs to be carried out afterwards to clean up the devices.
<attached file - map of Skyfall nebula, safe routes and ideal deployment locations for graviton echo probes and mines marked>
<attached file - designs for retrofit probes>
Comments
Anyway, previous screenshots display Taskforce Avalon (Starfleet) and Theirr (Romulans) in a joint operation to liberate starbase 234 from the clutches of Jenari D'ian, an ambitious Orion with a grudge against the 26th. Two weeks of planning paid off, but not without a cost. While Vanguard (SB234) was retaken and heavy losses were inflicted on the opposition, the 26th and their Romulans allies didn't come unscathed from the battle. Numerous lives were lost and many ships damaged. The loss of the flagship, the U.S.S. Monsoon, was quite a blow to the 26th.
More to come as a new episode in our story is drawing near.
Not super-human, not special forces, just plain Military Veteran.
Along the lines of woken up by federation scientist and acclimated to Federation society.
Again no super-human-AI-borg-picard rediculous archetype we see so much.
Thanks for any and all input.
*Edit, forgive my mispellings, on an ipod and autocorrect is turned off haha.
*Shakes fist*
Briefings use an abbreviated SMESC format.
Briefing 1
Briefing 2
And the pretty pictures.
Deployment Zones
Jumping off points
Phase 1
Phase 2
26th Fleet, Task Force Theirr [RP]
Star Trek: Praetorian Official Website
"Ruthlessness is the mercy of the wise."
So, our answer to this dilemma is simple. Provide a setting where role players can interact together without fear of griefing and harassment, open up the 26th Fleet's headquarters to the general public.
How does one gain access to the base? Simply send an IC docking request in the SB381 comm channel and one of our members will grant you permission to visit the base. Please see our FAQ at the bottom of this post for further information; and please any questions or concerns, see our staff. We want to make Praetorian a welcoming and enjoyable experience for everyone!
We look forward to role playing with you all in the very near future!
Regards
Corris Sprint
Guild Leader
*****
Commodore's Log, Stardate 91146.76
It has been four weeks since I have been to Praetorian. Spending the past month evaluating Task Force Avalon on their daily patrols in Tau Dewa has been tiresome, but essential; it's been our main focus to ensure we provide a safe area of space while the Romulans colonize their new home world, mol'Rihan. We have faced difficulties at every turning point, but always found a way to over come them. I am proud of those who serve with me. They have proven themselves time and time again.
So much as changed in these past four weeks. I have had the privilege of being here since day one, when the 26th was assigned to this station. On arrival it was nothing but an empty docking station, barely able to support a fleet of ten ships. Now look at it. It's the main staging area in the Neutral Zone. The station itself has grown exponentially since we first arrived. Not only has the station itself grown, but so has the 26th Fleet. It seems like it was only months ago we were a small group of Federation officers, trying to make a difference out here.
As I enter the main level of the station, it's bustling with people. Although we are in a war zone, the atmosphere is surprisingly energetic. There seems to be dozens of people at the bar socializing with each other. It would appear that the station is not just a staging ground in the Neutral Zone, but a hub for those passing through, trading stories, sharing a drink or simply making new friends. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, considering the growth Praetorian has seen this past year.
The interior of the station has remained clean and welcoming. The added decor through the main level allows for the station to be more inviting to new travelers stopping in. By the looks of the inside, you would never guess Praetorian was used primarily as a war front station, constantly under siege from opposing forces.
As I walked through the halls to my personal quarters, I was always greeted by the friendly staff. No matter how busy they appeared, they seemed to make the effort to say hello, even if it was a simple nod and a smile.
All of this wouldn't be possible without the leadership we have here. Admiral Hunter and Captain Sprint have done a fantastic job taking this station from what it was, to what it is now. The fact is, the station and the fleet continue to grow on a daily basis. The leadership here, including myself, have always worked towards a friendly and healthy environment, not just for our staff, but to those who stop in, whether for business or pleasure. While we continue to focus our efforts in Tau Dewa and any other force that threatens the station and the Federation, we will always ensure that we provide a simulating atmosphere for everyone on board the station.
FAQ
Q: What sort of character is going to be welcome on your station?
A: Simply put, most. We're a guild that tries to find more ways to say 'yes' to role play, so as long as it's consistent with Star Trek canon I doubt we're going to see a problem. We're trying to recreate some of the atmosphere from Deep Space Nine, with Starfleet officers, Federation allies, civilians, etc freely roaming the station.
Q: Are we going to run into any erotic RP out in the open on your starbase?
A: No, you're not. If we see it happening we'll kindly ask that it be taken elsewhere. We're trying to generate a PG13 atmosphere on the base, adult RP should be taken to private quarters. You have your own ship interior for that. If it happens more than once we might have to think twice about inviting you back to the base for RP.
Q: Can I blow up your starbase?
A: Please don't. Like all fleets, we've worked hard to get where we are now, and would appreciate it not being destroyed by a natural disaster or a bomb. However, if you have an idea that you think other guests would enjoy, please bring it to the fleet's leaders so we can discuss it. Our goal is to make an atmosphere where all are welcome and comfortable to RP.
Q: Can I create a mini (or large) plot involving your station and fleet members?
A: Mini plots are fine and encouraged. Larger plots should be run by our fleet officers to ensure they don't contradict any established storylines.
Q: I understand that I cannot blow up your station, but can I sabotage it?
A: No.
Q: What sort of conflict can I start on the station?
A: If the conflict is 'serious' IE gun fights or similar, that will need to be worked out as a storyline with the fleet officers. If it is something like a verbal confrontation or perhaps a bar fight, then have at it but be prepared for IC consequences.
Q: How long are we permitted to stay on the station for each session?
A. You can stay as long as you want., provided there is no unnecessary drama. Remember, we want the base to be welcoming to all types.
Q: Who are your Senior Members?
A: Our senior members are here.
Q: Which members can I contact if I have a problem with someone or something?
A: See above list of senior members.
http://imgur.com/a/Dl2oM
Also we got this.
http://imgur.com/a/tn5Zc
**The communal tent during the night.**
Captain Llywarch sleeps very heavily as the Downpour begins. Huge fat heavy drops begin to fall and cake everything in mud. Rhys continues to sleep the sound of his loud snore filling the tent. When your officer picks his or her head up to look at him his blue dog that is laying on his hairy chest stares at you. If you attempt to poke the Captain or wake him the dog will growl and if not stopped then will bark at you.
Congratulations, Remair! We're all proud of you mate. We're also waiting on your next master piece, so get crackin'! :P
The Commander of the station, Admiral Felix Johnson had been working on a Device known as the Subspace inhibitor. In theory the device would stop a starship from forming a Subspace bubble and it would pop any subspace bubble already formed and pull the ship violently into real space causing damage to the warp coils.
The Admiral invited several of the command team of the Excelsior to witness the device At first the device seemed to work as planned. The Excelsior was not able to make a subspace bubble and escape to warp. At first the Admiral and the assembled celebrated the success of the project.
((We really had the whole fleet show up as NPC's in Wok uniforms who died horridly))
The Success of the device was short lived however as it began to enter a cascade failure. The ensuring failure tore the planet nearby in half and nearly destroyed the station and ship. The tech was then mothballed and left to drift in the empty space. Over the years the area of space traded hands several times. But now in the year 2413 the officers of the 26th fleet find themselves in need for the Technology developed so long ago. With modern day advancements the technology may be salvaged and the marching klingon menace could be stopped.
The 26th fleet marches on toward the abandoned Preatorian to secure the device that now sits firmly in deep Borg space. It will take everything within the officers to finish their objectives. Can they complete it without becoming part of the collective themselves?
http://i.imgur.com/vSLKX4nl.jpg
The order has been given and the fleet is mobilizing. Over a century ago Starfleet attempted to mimic the effects of oth Omega molecule. They thought that perhaps with technology they could control the effect that such forces exert on space time, and the fabric of sub-space. They were wrong. Another Starbase called Praetorian was lost, and the planet that it orbited was cracked in half, thousands of men and women were killed.w
Now, a century later I'm sending the 26th Fleet back to that long forgotten Starbase to reclaim this pandora's box. My hope, my prayer is that with advances in Starfleet technology we'll be able to properly harness these powers. Is it arrogance to assume that we can control this? That we won't destroy ourselves like they did?
I'm not sure that we have a choice. With the Klingons bearing down on us, we can't possibly hope to stand them off forever, much less defeat them in a straight up fight. Starfleet claims that the resources of the fleet at large are spread too thin in peacekeeping actions. I had hoped Admiral Quinn would take this relocation of KDF assets as an opportunity to strike at the Empire while they're focusing on Praetorian. He raised a good point though that my officers have also raised.
Captain Levesely is arranging an intelligence gathering operation, with any luck we'll have more information on the enemy units. Until then, we're going to the Omega Lionis sector to reclaim the Subspace Inhibitor. If nothing else, we won't allow the Borg to get their hands on this technology. Even if it's over a century out of date.
//Burst Trans
//All Ships
//Priority High
To: Theirr Net
From: Cmdr. Nymas
STAND TO
Klingon multi-squadron battle group detected staging for cross border operations against Starbase 381, probability of incursion high. All Command staff directed to proceed according to CASE WHITE.
All vessels within the vicinity of Starbase 381 and Eta Eridani are directed to come to war readiness immediately and execute priority recall. All shore leave for personnel of vessels so effected canceled indefinitely.
We will not fire the first shot, but if the enemy is determined to test us, we will show them that like Romulans always have, we shall fire the last shot.
Cmdr. Nymas
JTF XO.
She was the pride of the Invasion fleet. She was less then three months out of the shipyards and had yet to be worn in by her crew. General Wu'hk has been given his glorious assignment by the Chancellor. His house had called in every honour debt and favour they were owed to build this massive fleet for the Empire. Most of the ships in this fleet were Ancient D7s but the General had planned to win this war with sheer force of numbers.
With most of Starfleet engaged on almost every front in their own space it would impossible for Starfleet to pool all of their ships in a similar manner to this. By the time the klingon spear had punctured Federation space Starfleet would be unable to masse. The Enemy of the Empire will fall in a single glorious campaign. Wu'hk would make sure to leave nothing left of the Federation, He would not allow this Kingdom to stand to menace the Empire again.
The last ship in the fleet had finally begun to take its position in the mass warp jump formation. It had taken hours to sync every ship but the theatre he was about to unleash on the next Federation colony should be enough to take the system without firing a single shot. After that he would repeat and strengthen his position. The only bump he foresaw in plan was the Starfleet Starbase in the direct path he had plotted out. He had sent a small squadron of ships to gauge his enemies defenses. They should be arriving soon.
The roar of the Warp drive aboard the Bortas Cruiser was exhilarating. Wu'hk was ready. He knew that this fleet was the last feat of strength for the Empire. Either he would crush the Federation or this war would fall to its feet. He felt a brief moment of strong gravity as all the ships tore a hole in subspace and distorted the space behind it.
http://imgur.com/a/doMoR
USS Liberty
After the KDF probe on SB381
Hawke stood in the turbolift doorway, collecting himself before venturing on the bridge of the Liberty. He took a deep breath and walked over to the aft tactical alcove.
At least the life support and gravity are working again. Up here, anyway, he thought. He could smell the acrid odors of burnt metal and fried cabling. A light dusting of soot covered most surfaces and a fallen support strut bisected the bridge diagonally. Hawke continued forward, past the science station where LCMD Tolan had worked like the devil to keep the KDF ships as weak and toothless as she could, cycling between various exotic emissions until the deflector simply gave out. Then she rerouted power and used the sensor pallets, continuing to fight in her own way until the SSI activated. Tolan had received only minor cuts and scrapes and was already back at work, poring over the sensor logs and computer data, trying to find the answers Hawke wanted.
He crossed from port to starboard, passing the captain's chair that he'd barely used, he was a pacer, and paused at LCMD Suris' helm station. The entire right side of the console was burned out, its' circuitry fused and useless. Suris had wrested full manual control from the computer after multiple plasma torpedoes had damaged the connections and rendered computer-directed flight impossible. Hawke smiled as he thought of the normally buttoned-up Vulcan grimacing and snarling as she manually executed the complex tactical maneuvers that had kept them alive.
He glanced to port again, to ChEng Brohl's station. Brohl hadn't stayed there long. Soon after the first contact with KDF forces, Brohl had raced down to engineering to oversee damage control and power distribution personally. It had been Brohl's expert, and Hawke's mind, near-magical, ability to route power to critical systems that had kept them in the fight for so long. The Bolian just had a knack for giving the right amount of power at the right time, often before the order to do so was even given.
That only one of the bridge's consoles had exploded was a miracle. Unfortunately, it had been the console where his friend and XO, Phillip Randell had been directing the Liberty's considerable firepower into enemy vessels. Hawke ducked under the fallen strut and continued to the starboard tactical station. He ran his hand over the shattered transparent aluminum of the console. Randell had sustained shrapnel lacerations, several broken bones due to concussion, and severe burns. The docs at SB381 had tried to be optimistic, but Hawke had seen it in their eyes. "He's strong and he's a fighter, but it could go either way," they had said. Hawke's fists were shaking as he turned from the tactical station and made his way aft to the Liberty's ready room.
The lights in the ready room flickered to half-hearted life as he entered. Debris was strewn about. Hawke tended not to have a lot of loose knick-knacks in his ready room, since a CO ended up spending time picking everything up after every combat action. But this had not truly been his ready room. The young man to whom it actually belonged was laying on a slab in the starbase's morgue, awaiting transport back to Sol. LT Patrick Kelley's wife of seven months would be waiting in Earth Spacedock to collect the body of her husband. The child in her womb would have no memories of her brave father. She would have only stories of his unflinching duty in the face of combat. She would learn of how, when a long burst of plasma fire had vented deck 4 to space, her daddy had raced down to try to manually activate the emergency force field to seal the breach. The K'Tinga-class battlecruiser then fired a second volley into the gaping, plasma-scorched wound. But not before Kelley had raised the field and closed the blast doors, sealing himself out. LCMD Tolan estimated that Kelley's action had saved another hundred lives. The odds that the Lieutenant's body would have remained in the hull had been astronomical, but he had been found wedged between collapsed bulkheads. The exposure to vacuum had preserved him surprisingly well, and despite the extensive and gruesome plasma burns, his wife had been able to identify him over long-range comms between choked sobs.
Hawke's fists were shaking again. He took another deep breath and continued into the ready room, pausing among the rubble to pick up a frame from the floor. Despite a long crack down the face of the display, the slideshow was still functioning, showing stills and motion clips of Kelley and his new bride on vacation, at home, at Kelley's graduation from Starfleet... Hawke dropped the frame and walked to the desk. The several items that had been affixed to it were still intact, as though nothing had happened at all, as though this vessel had not lost nearly a third of her children, as though Hawke's best friend were not lying in a coma, as though...
Hawke grabbed the Vulcan IDIC sculpture on the corner of the desk and wrenched it with all he had. Silently at first, he pulled it back and forth, straining the fastenings. As he twisted it around, a strangled growl escaped his throat, growing steadily louder until, with a feral scream, the sculpture came free and Hawke hurled it across the room, into the aft bulkhead. The momentum of his action half-threw him into the chair behind the desk. He sat poised for a moment on the edge of the seat, then slowly he slid down until he was sitting on the deck, out of breath.
He sat staring out the ready room window, trying to let his rage bleed off. He'd call his wife tonight, and she'd cry for him and with him. She'd speak soft, soothing words of wisdom and comfort, and do her best to convince him that he'd done all he could, and that the lives lost were not at his hands, but the hands of the Klingon attackers. Hawke would listen to all of this and thank God for Sarah. Her words would make sense and help him exorcise his self-pity.
But at his core, he knew that all of Sarah's encouragement and sympathy would not answer the questions that smoldered in the pit of his stomach. Why? Why had there been no warning? Why had no one detected a force of forty Klingon craft crossing the border and penetrating deep in to Federation territory? Where had these vessels come from? Was no one watching the KDF armada? If they didn't come from the armada, surely someone would have noticed forty Klingon ships missing from their posts simultaneously, wouldn't they? The 26th fleet had had little more than an hour's warning. Not nearly enough time to muster a full defense of the station. Fifteen ships against forty. That they had won at all was a fact worthy of discussion in Academy tactical classes for years to come, but if they'd had time and additional ships, the victory would have been more decisive and less costly.
He knew CMD Corvus had advocated operations that would harass and distract Klang forces in the systems from where the armada had drawn it's numbers. These ideas were rejected. 'Business As Usual' was the order of the day, directly from Starfleet command and the politicians. So no measures were taken that might dissuade, distract, or otherwise change the disposition of the armada. The politicians and diplomats would take their time, have lavish dinners and civilized meetings, all while the KDF held a disruptor to the head of every colonist from the border to SB381. Politicians. In the 23nd century, then-LCMD Spock once said that "...the point of diplomacy is to prolong a crisis". Politicians talked endlessly, trying to convince the wild targ knawing on your arm that it's in the targ's best interest to forgo the meal in its mouth.
Then there was the SSI. How had a non-Starfleet individual, let alone a mercenary, been granted access to a highly classified Starfleet weapon system? How did BlackKnife even know about the device? Not only that, someone had allowed BlackKnife to activate the SSI. And if BlackKnife hadn't activated it, that means that someone else, someone in a Starfleet uniform, had. Whoever had done it, there were deaths directly attributable to their actions. Fully a third of Liberty's casualties had come when the number one port nacelle was lost, the deuterium tanks ruptured, and the EPS conduits blew out. That all came about because the SSI was activated while a good portion of the fleet's defenders were at warp giving chase to KDF stragglers. So many questions.
Hawke's breathing calmed. His pulse slowed and his eyes narrowed. His rage was under control, and his mind was fully engaged. Now, he was asking questions. Now, he was thinking.
Now, he was dangerous.
This morning Federation citizens awoke to further horror on the war front. It is official, Klingon forces have finally landed on Federation soil. The Eta Erindi sector has been a hot bed of Piracy, Slavery and of course, the decade long war with the Klingon Empire.
As of this writing, the Capital of Ibor Three, New Denmark, has fallen to a deployed Garrison of Klingon Shock Troops. Reports on the ground indicate that civilian casualties have been as high as five hundred thousand, following the surrender and execution of what appears to be a majority of the local defense forces. Iborian colonists have made numerous attempts to flee the planet, all have thus far ended in death and destruction.
High in orbit, a squadron of Klingon warships have shot down no less than nine civilian ships attempting to flee the surface. Starports worldwide are jammed with frightened citizens attempting to flee the planet.
This travesty comes as a shock to Federation Citizens in the Eta Erindi Sector, many of whom have chosen to flee the war zone for fear that rumors of an advancing armada of Klingon warships numbering in the thousands is true.
Since the conflict erupted in 2400, Starfleet has been able to defend Federation Colonies from hostile fire. Ibor Three is located J235 sector of Eta Erindi, a planet which falls under the jurisdiction of Starbase 381, known locally as PRAETORIAN.
Readers will recall that Praetorian is the home port of the 26th Fleet, the domain of former Admiral Jennifer Hunter. Hunter was relieved of her post last year in the midst of the Columbia controversy which has seen the forced retirement of no less than four Flag officers within the President's inner council.
The question on everyone's mind right now however, is 'Where is the 26th Fleet'? Why have they allowed a colony in their jurisdiction to fall to the Klingon Empire, without so much as firing a shot? have they fallen prey to a secret Starfleet weapon of mass destruction, as rumors suggest?
Klingons believe that to die gloriously in battle was to guarantee entrance to Sto'Vo'Kor, where they will spend eternity feasting and fighting and never die. Those who died dishonorably are sent to Gre'Thor, where they spend the rest of time being tortured and tormented by the demonic Fek'lhr.
"Where did you end up?" Commander Jessie Corvus muttered under her breath as she pushed the floating remains of a Klingon engineer out of her way. His eyes were frozen over, his mouth locked open and full of frost, preserved in the state he died: screaming in agony and terror as he asphyxiated and froze to death when he fell from his ship. This man had died ugly.
She would know. She'd been the one that killed him.
"Say something, Commander?" a younger female voice chirped into her helmet.
"Stay sharp, Ensign, and remember your training. We're going to see a lot more like this inside and don't want to get tangled." Her duskier voice buzzed in the radio. "And be respectful. We're walking on somebody's grave."
"But they're the enemy, ma'am."
"More important then. How someone treats their enemy dead says a lot about them." The Commander frowned. "Enough chatter. Prepare for contact and magnetize."
The pair of Starfleet officers' feet touched down hard against the rough metal deck plating, clinging to it with a sharp humm as their gravity boots energized. The slightly shorter of the two turned back and looked. The stark whites and lights of the Harpe stood out against the void, yet looked tiny at only a dozen kilometers away. Light glinted and glimmered all around them, a sea of metal debris, shrapnel, dead bodies and dismembered starships.
"Corvus to Harpe. We've reached the main body of the Klingon cruiser, just ahead of engineering. Looks like deck 3." She looked back down the dark corridor., twisted metal casting dangerous looking shadows. "Varoh?"
The young Bolian Ensign Ryzi Varoh looked down at her tricorder. "Negative life signs. No gravity on any decks, and they lost atmosphere when the aft blew. Some trace atmospheric readings further up, maybe near the bridge, and getting trace power up there. Auxiliary batteries, maybe."
Corvus nodded. "Agreed. Okay. Harpe, we're going to proceed inside. How're the other teams?"
"Nothing so far. Team 3 ran into a very irate jackal mastiff."
"Any casualties?"
"Negative."
"What I like to hear. Keep me posted." She tapped her comm and looked over at Varoh. Like Corvus, the Ensign was wearing a full environmental suit, a light projected from the small lamp atop the helmet. The Commander beckoned her junior officer and companion. "C'mon, kiddo."
The two tiny white figures began walking into the shattered neck of the Klingon cruiser, vanishing from the Harpe's viewscreen. The hulk slowly listed to one side silently in space, everything from the base of the neck back gone. During the battle, Praetorian station's phasers had sliced the ship's shields to ribbons before the Harpe crossed it's T, hammering the exposed ship's hull and engines with a barrage of cannon fire that left it decapitated. Ironically it was this brutal damage that lead to this opportunity. When the Klingon cruiser's core lost containment, the command section was far enough away to not be vaporized by the matter/anti-matter annihilation.
They walked carefully, their heavy gravity boots pulling them to the deck with each plodding step, eyes scanning the gloom. Without power, this was little more than the duratanium skin and diburnium bones of a dead ship, it's warp core heart ripped out.
"I'd... I'd have expected more bodies." Varoh said.
"Sucked out with the decompression." Coruvs replied evenly, stepping over a door frame. "Force fields failed when they lost power, no gravity, and they must've been running with compartment doors open to make it easier to get around. Ship this size, probably carries up to 700 crew and assault squads. Klingons like big crews on their cruisers. Extra hands for ground and boarding actions, and less automation to break."
Ensign Varoh gulped and looked around. "That's... a lot of Klingons."
"A lot of people died here, Ensign." Corvus corrected. She sighed inwardly, wondering if she had ever been so green. The care and feeding of ensigns was difficult but essential work in Starfleet, even if they did struggle with not making a mess on the rug. "We killed between six and seven thousand people in maybe fifteen minutes. Nearly three times what we lost at Wolf 359. At least five times our own losses, despite being outnumbered three to one. Something to think about."
"Not sure the colonists would mind..." the Bolian woman replied, blanching at one of the few remaining dead bodies in this portion of the ship. There wasn't enough left to identify the species.
"Prolly not. Can't say I blame 'em for feelin' that way either,"the Commander drawled. Dead ships made her reflective. "But most of these guys are just... guys. You know how the holos say that Klingons die with batlh on their lips or somesuch?" She met the Ensign's eyes for a moment. "They don't. They say something else."
"Oh..." Varoh blinked, not sure what to say to that. For a flash, the Commander?s eyes blazed with a fury that made Andoria balmy.
Walking in silence, Jessie suddenly put up her hand in a stop gesture and unshouldered her phaser rifle. Without power, the turbolift doors ahead was sealed. Making some adjustments to the weapon's setting, she aimed carefully and began slicing through the door with the beam. The turbolift's metal went white hot as it melted, quickly giving way as she cut out an entrance. A firm kick and a rush of air later and the way was open.
"Corvus to Harpe, we are at the main turbolift and making our way to the bridge. We'll try to patch into the computer there."
"Understood, Commander."
"C'mon." Jessie said, demagnetizing her boots and leaping into the chute. With a light tap of the wall she spun about in midair, remagnetized her gravity boots and clung to the far side of the wall. "Watch that first step, Varoh."
"Uh, okay, one moment..." Ryzi pursed her lips and leaped into the dark shaft. She hit the far side roughly, nearly bouncing off before she was able to grab hold of a rail with one hand, pulling her feet in close enough to let the magnetic pull of the gravity boots handle the rest. "Whew!"
"5.3, Ensign. But only because you got extra points from the Russian judge." the Commander said dryly, watching her struggle to her feet from a few meters up the shaft. "I'm increasing your zero-g training when we get back to the Harpe. Not as punishment. You need more practice."
Varoh pouted anyways once she thought the Commander wasn't looking. "Aye aye, ma'am."
Corvus chuckled and simply walked up the side of the turbolift shaft. "My Captain Senses are tingling, Varoh. Don't make faces at me behind my back."
The Bolian meeped and pulled in her tongue.
"You're a very lucky Ensign, Varoh. Back in my day, I didn't get posted to nearly as nice a ship as the Harpe."
Ensign Varoh rolled her eyes. "Is this going to be another story about your first ship was made out of wood, and used two sticks for nacelles and a rock for a warp drive?"
Commander Corvus grinned. She'd already gathered that the Ensign was a little spooked by this place, so making jokes helped lighten the mood and keep her mind off the creepiness. At least she hoped it did. She certainly found it spooky. "We had to share the rock, too! And when Science was borrowing our rock, they made all us Ensigns get out and push!"
Laughter from the young woman, which was the intended reaction, as they came up on the bridge door at their feet. An alert from their tricorders sounded inside their helmets.
"Commander, I'm reading atmosphere ahead." Ryzi said. "It's pretty thin, but it's breathable."
"Peachy. Gotta love Klingon engineering. Ugly as sin, noisy, and sloppy, but triple redundant everything and rugged as a Vangarian rock toad." Jessie smirked. "Okay, it'll depressurize when we pop the door so..." She looked around and pointed about a meter behind them. "Set up the portable force field generator there. Tell me when we're good."
"Aye aye." the Bolian ensign replied, unpacking a small generator from her kit and affixing it to the shaft's wall. A moment later a transparent blue wall of light snapped to life, blocking the passage behind them. "We're good, Commander."
"Outstanding." Jessie nodded, carefully shouldering her phaser rifle and beginning to cut through the bridge door.
A bright orange light illuminated the darkened bridge, small sparks flying as a blazing rectangle was drawn on the turbolift door. It collapsed inwards a moment later, and two Starfleet officers stalked onto the deck, phaser rifles at the ready. A few moments later the taller of the two gave a thumbs up and they both shouldered their weapons and pulled off their helmets with a loud hiss of air.
"Ugh, and I thought it smelled bad inside the suit!" Ryzi groaned, holding her nose.
Jessie chuckled dryly and pointed her rifle light ahead. "Yeah, well, there's a reason for that. Look."
So far they'd seen few bodies, those they had found were frozen solid or badly mangled. Not the case here. The remains of the bridge crew were scattered about, slumped over their consoles or chairs, or lying dead on the floor. The red bridge lights combined with the harsh angles, dark metal, and dead bodies to create the look of a hellish abattoir. To human eyes, anyways. To Klingons, red was easier to see in, and a Klingon butcher?s shop filled with more pink than a teenage girl?s bedroom.
?Oh.? Ryzi made a face. Truth was, Ensign Varoh had never seen dead bodies up close or ever had to take another life with her own two hands. She had fired the guns that killed this ship and everyone onboard, but that was a far cry than seeing her handiwork up close. She?d never had to smell death.
?Ensign!? Commander Corvus hissed sharply. She had already moved into the bridge, stepping over a dead Klingon warrior. ?Check on their comm computer. We may?ve just gotten lucky here. The bridge is still whole, so computer might be too.?
?Huh? Oh. Right! Aye aye, ma?am!? Ensign Varoh snapped to attention and scampered off to try and fire up the computer.
Jessie sighed to herself, despairing over the demands of command including trying to shape fresh faced academy graduates into something resembling a proper officer. Being an abject failure at ?proper officering,? at least in her own mind, she felt singularly unqualified for it. While more than a few of the brass would not disagree with that assessment, they had still saddled her with the young Bolian rookie.
She walked across the bridge towards one of the other consoles, pausing as she passed the ship?s captain. A muscular Klingon woman with striking features and long raven black hair, she hardly looked older than the Commander. Except for the obvious details of head ridges and teeth, the dead woman could have easily passed as Jessie?s sister. It would be proper to say even in death her eyes kept their ferocity, or that she had been proud and defiant to the very end, dying in a manner as befitted a true Klingon warrior.
But that?d be a lie. Her eyes were dull, unfocused and glassy, her jaw slack with a dumb look of bewilderment on her face, her body slumped awkwardly in her chair. The first thing death always stole was dignity.
Commander Corvus stopped and regarded her fallen counterpart. After a moment of silence she reached over and closed the dead captain?s eyes.
She sighed deeply and set back to work, grunting as she heaved a Gorn?s limp remains off the navigational console and tried to fire it back up. The only sounds in the tomb of a bridge were the grinding thum of the struggling life support, the low-pitched growls of the Klingon computers, and the higher pitched beeps of the two officers? tricorders as they tried to translate the controls.
Ensign Varoh was having some success with the communications logs. She was downloading it to the Harpe as she went, transmitting through their comms back to the ship to pass on to Intelligence. Mostly routine communications. A parasite had killed several ships? gahk colonies and their captains were requesting an emergency resupply, complaints about logistics delivering a Gorn-crewed ship several crates of Orion female ?uniforms? but no size XXXXL-pants, a ?Dear Kang? letter from the ship?s first officer?s mate, so on.
One message caught her attention. It had been flagged as priority conversation between this ship and the Klingon command ship, whose name she didn?t quite catch. It sounded like a Ferengi hoarking up phlegm, whatever it was called.
Curious, she keyed up the message. The ship?s captain had recorded it for it some reason. A Klingon officer in the full regalia of an Imperial General, with the greatcoat and heavily laden sash appeared on the main screen. It was all in Klingon, of course, but the universal translators made short work of that.
?Captain M?kota! Are you prepared to move out?? the general grinned.
A snarl from another speaker. Female. Probably Captain M?kota. ?General Wu'hk! nuqneH! Final preparations are underway and the last ship will be in position to warp within the hour.?
?Glorious!? Wu?hk replied loudly, gesticulating as he hammed it up. ?The Federation sits like an old Grishnar cat, toothless and gray and ready to be put out of its misery. When songs are sung of our victory, your name and that of your house will be as the first to strike, the very tip of our d?k tahg to drive into the very heart of our ancient foe!?
A very unladylike snort from the Captain. ?My name, General? Will they sing of me, or will you write the songs? You know why I am here.?
?Like I could forget?? the General muttered darkly to himself. His ferocious grin quickly returned. ?Your?. family. Yes. Captain, your actions here will more than restore your family to honor. Even after that unfortunate matter a century ago...?
?General.? Captain M?kota?s voice went deadly flat. ?You are making a great many promises. Myself, Captain K?lor, I can name a dozen captains in my wing, and they each a dozen more, to whom you?ve made your promises. You come with an armada of ancient ships dragged from the boneyards and promises of glory and restoring our honor.?
Wu?hk narrowed his eyes. ?Am I detecting a rebuke, Captain??
?A polite warning.? The Captain?s voice had turned venomous and anything but polite. ?If you do not fulfill your oh so numerous promises, the full wrath of the Federation will be as nothing next to me.?
?Your overstep yourself, M?kota.? The General?s face darkened. ?If we fail, Captain, then neither you nor I nor your house will matter. This?? He chuckled ruefully and waved about. ?? this is our one glorious strike. The blow that shatters our blade should it be blunted. Now do you understand??
A pause for several seconds before the Klingon woman replied. ?I see.?
?Good.? He nodded, his expression calming. ?Good. I look forward to your report from the Federation station?s bridge. I?ll bring a crate of the best bloodwine. Qapla!?
?Qapla!?
Commander Corvus snorted. ?Well ain?t that just a kick in the head.?
With the restoration of Subspace by Subcommander Nareya, Lt. Commander Taris and Ensign Maris Starbase Preatorian was able to continue scanning for the Stabilizing agent needed to get the Subspace Inhibitor into Mass Production. After a few hours of searching planetary systems Preatorian sensor systems found a small Blue Gas Giant thats lower levels were made of almost a pure Compound needed for the SSI.
The 26th Fleet gathered in Orbit around the nameless Gas Giant and began to lower itself down into the atmosphere of the planet. Several steps were undertaken to avoid the crush depth rated for most of these ships and to keep the mission as danger free as possible. Commander Jessie Corvus of the USS Harpe had her ship outfitted with Several high tech positioning devices to act as the eyes and ears of the Fleet as it traveled thru the thick soup of gas inside the planetary atmosphere.
Once the Fleet had reached the sweet spot inside the planet were the compound percentages were highest. The fleet engaged in the Riker Manuvure first attempted by Admiral William T. Riker(Ret.) during the Son'a Incident in 2375. The ships opened up their Ram scoops and began to draw all the gas around them into containers aboard the ships.
USS Hartford traveling thru the Thick gas of the planet
After a few minutes deep within the gas of the planet a radar blip showed up several times at different ranges. As a precaution in this dangerous situation the order to charge phaser banks was given. After another moment the USS Minerva was hit along the broadside by something large. No structural damage occurred at this point. For the next few minutes more and more blips showed up on the radar and more ships began to be hit by objects hidden by the gas.
The Fleet banding together to ward off the Attackers
While this was happening what scientists aboard Preatorian are now calling a Storm front moved in. A front of higher pressure denser gas began to move in on top of the Fleet. The ship were not able to move out of the low Atmosphere of the planet at Impulse power. The ships began to slow sink into the planet. Due to the good work of the Crew of the Harpe a test was made and the Harpe ejects its hard won gas back into the space around it. The Aliens for a moment were exposed to the Officers of the 26th.
Image of the Aliens in the Gas Layer
The aliens began to force the Harpe up and out of the heavier gas layer. Finally after enough communication from the aliens the Universal Translator began to Operate. The Aliens in the gas layer told the fleet "You steal children." Upon a second look at the gas the 26th was sucking up it was found that the alien creatures had let their larva spawn into the gas. One by one the ships began to eject their loads back into the space around them.
Close up of the Alien being from the Bridge of the USS Harpe.
The Aliens began to force the ships out of the heavier gas layer by force. The ships of the 26th were rocked and battered for several minutes until they were able to get free of the Planets gravity under their own power. Commander Corvus tried the whole time to communicate with the Alien beings pushing the ships. She told them several times how sorry the fleet was for disturbing their children but we needed the gas ourselves to save our children.
After a few minutes and reforming the fleet a huge plume of the gas needed to power the SSI was offered up by the Aliens below that was clear of their Larva. For most Officers in Starfleet these days, First Contact is something they had read about in books only. So for some of these officers in the 26th Fleet their whole view on what it means to be a Starfleet officer. With their mission a success and their Nacelles full of the precious gas needed to produce the SSI in large numbers the 26th Fleet stands a real chance to stop the Klingon Fleet from bowling over more colonies in their path.
At this point it is not known if the alien beings had a natural or technological control over the gas of the planet.
I'm glad I heard wrong. That event above with us discovering strange, ship-sized aliens in the gas giant (really, it felt like an episode of TNG) was entirely played out by members of our fleet, either in our ships or with me volunteering the Harpe's bridge and other players taking stations to play out the whole bridge captain scene. It wasn't planned by me, and my entire knowledge of the plot was llywarch asking if anyone playing a ship captain minded using their bridge for characters who, ICly, had no ship (like some players prefer to RP more junior officers. Not everyone wants to be Kirk). I volunteered.
And I had a wonderful time and am quite happy that I did.
But we've had improvised scenes, action, so on, with the fun of freeform RP where nothing is on a rail.
I'm @Dr_Reverend, roleplayer and player of Commander Jessie Corvus, captain of the USS Harpe, and I recommend checking out the 26th Fleet.
Everyone is nice, nobody is ever left out, and there is a place for everyone whether you're a pro role player, or a beginner. I was pretty green when I joined the fleet, and was pretty bad at role playing. However, after a while in the fleet I learned a lot.
But there isn't only roleplaying. Often there are OOC (Out Of Character) events, such as grinding for fleet marks, omega marks or whatever you could imagine. Basically, it's a fleet where we do everything.
In game I'm @chokopop23. I've got several characters, but my main character is Donar Ratek. Come find me in game.
Starbase Praetorian was just hit by an unknown object. Soon, everyone aboard the Starbase headed to their respective ships, trying to get a clear picture of what happened. After several scans, the USS Minerva uncovered that it was a missile of Klingon origin. Immediately alerting the fleet, she began a Tachyon sweep, scanning for cloaked ships. After several minutes of scanning, the Minerva detected a cloaked Klingon vessel in the vicinity. Again alerting the fleet, and engaging a pursuit course the Klingon vessel de-cloaked and engaged her Slipstream Drive.
Meanwhile, back at Praetorian the USS Harpe, USS Camelot and USS Restoration and several other ships were evacuating people from the Starbase. At the same time Ensign Maris was in Engineering, trying to defuse the missile. After a some heart stopping minutes, the brave Ensign managed to defuse the missile.
Back in orbit, the Minerva was still scanning for other cloaked vessels, whilst other vessels were still evacuating. After the missile had been disarmed, everyone stood down from red alert, and began beaming aboard damage control teams to assist Praetorians Engineering teams with the repairs.
The Klingons however, managed to get away with 20 SSI (Sub Space Inhibitor) devices. Or so they thought. Luckily for the valiant crew of the 26th fleet, and the rest of the Federation, the Klingons stole 20 pieces of useless metal.
The 26th fleet manages to fend off another Klingon attack. But how many more will they be able to withstand?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASj81daun5Q
TO: All Elements of the 26th Fleet. CC: TFA Command, STRAT OPS Command, Starbase Preatorian Command, JTF Thairr Command Team.
I. Situation: As of the publication of this Operational order a Fleet of Klingon ships is 18 days away from entering Preatorian Local space.
A. Enemy Forces. The Size of the Approaching fleet at last check was Five hundred and seventy six ships of varying tonnage. The Spearhead of this Attack consists of Four Bortas Heavy cruisers and Sixteen Hegh?ta Heavy Bird of Preys. The fleet also has a squadron of eight Siege Cruisers outfitted with Station cracking weaponry. The rest of the Fleet consists of Several types of Bird of Preys from several houses and their subsequent lesser houses. At least 55% of the fleet heading toward Preatorian at writing consists of the Klingon D-7 class. The expected course of action the Klingon Fleet is expected to take once reaching Preatorian local space is to attack and destroy both the Station and Elements of the 26th Fleet under orders to protect the station. It is also thought at this time the Klingon?s secondary objective is to secure the Transwarp gate in order to launch a sudden attack on Sol itself.
B. Friendly Forces. At the time of this Operational Order the only Forces available for the Defense of Preatorian station consist of only the 26th fleet. With an increased push by the Borg in the Gamma Orionus Sector and The increased activity by several other factions the rest of Starfleet is increasingly bogged down in their own areas of responsibility. All Task Force Avalon and Task Force Echo ships are being Recalled to Preatorian space for redeployment in Defense and Logistic hindering attacks.
II. Mission From here on out the 26th is going on the offensive. The subspace inhibitor is going to be placed in layers in front of the approaching Klingon fleet. The altitude and positions of the device are being randomly generated by the Computers best guess. The total stoppage of the fleet is not at this time the goal. The desired effect of the device at this time is to grab small portions of the Fleet out of its Formation while it travels at warp. This gives us a two fold advantage. At worst the Entire Klingon Formation has to stop and wait for the rest of its ships to realign its warp coils and prepare to jump again. At best it gives 26th?s ships a tactical advantage in preparing ambushes for Klingon ships suddenly brought out of warp without warning. Ensign Maris of Starbase Engineering has developed three enhancements to the SSI Device to ensure the safety of Subspace and the people who maybe caught inside the range of the device. The first is a redundant safety system that in the event of total collapse of the innards it would purge the insides with a small amount of Plasma making sure that nothing more dangerous then a puff of green would occur. The second is a system that shuts down the Devices field once it reads Klingon ships caught in its web. This allows the Elements of the 26th to Enter the fray with the vulnerable ships without having to wait the hours it might take to cross space at Impulse or damaging their own Warp drives. The last Enhancement to the SSI Device is stronger signal shielding to keep The klingon ships from locking onto it and either destorying it with Disruptors or Claiming the device for their own for further study. While the enhancement might not be a perfect solution to the situation I imagine that finding a Volleyball sized device in a AU worth of space to be strong enough odds to warrant its use.
III. Execution
For the successful outcome of this Operation the 26th Fleet will have to Operate on all chambers for the next 18 days. Every Officer and Enlisted man will have to perform as if the Federations very survival depended on our work and in many ways it does. The following missions are tasked out.
A. Task Force Avalon: From now until five days Prior to the arrival of the Klingon Force Task Force Avalon is to undertake weakening strikes against the Klingon force as outlined in the mission statement prior. It is left up to the TFA XO to draw up the specific plans and outlines to get this task accomplished. Loss of any ship or any damage that could put a ship out of commision at this time is considered Unacceptable losses. Any strike you make against the fleet at this time must be quick and with overwhelming power. Any situation that might seem like a long drag out fight is not to be engaged at this time.
B. Task Force Echo: TFE?s job at this point is to herd the fleet using the SSI device toward a ?Clear? area of space known as Skyfall Nebula. The Natural Dangers of this place should hinder and thin the Klingon Fleet. Once the SSI devices are in place to guide the Klingon fleet where we want them TFE is to link up with TFA Command and help them engage in their mission.
C. STRAT OPS: STRAT OPS at the time of this Op Order is to provide 26th Fleet Command with Several back up plans to be on Admiral Sprints desk by no later than two days from now. Plans are to include a fallback position for the Entire fleet and Station personnel in the Event of Preatorian being over run including where we can effect repairs and resupply. A plan on dealing with potential enemy agents inside the fleet is also needed based on recent intel. A final plan is needed for how to keep Visual confirmation on the fleet at all time could be possible.
D. STARBASE SECURITY: At this time Starbase Security is to start an ECP(Entry Control Point) at the Starbase Transporters into the Ops level. Station Security is to check the ID and do a body scan of every officer and enlisted man coming thru Preatorian station. Be on the lookout for KDF officers in disguise as Starfleet Personnel.
E. STARBASE ENGINEERING: Engineers are to test, retest and cert each system on Preatorian and to make sure she is battle ready for the Klingon Fleet. Recheck every bulkhead and bolt aboard the station. I want all EPS Relays double insulated against shock by next week.
F. STARBASE SCIENCE: All Starbase Science Officers are to report to Commander Seyela to help in the joint Starfleet/Romulan Science project and continue work until such a time that the project needs to be packed and shipped to avoid it falling into KDF hands.
G. STARBASE MEDICAL All Medical officers are to make sure the sickbays and Triage centers are up and ready for the upcoming battle.
H: OTHER: If your job or current Assignment is not covered by this Operational order report to Admiral Sprint at once for your tasking.
This weekend (Sunday to be more Precise) we have an event scheduled. Click the link for more info. We would like you to invite you to our "mini events", to check out our fleet whilst we're doing stuff, instead of just having quiet conversations on the Starbase. Although, that is still highly encouraged! Just send an IC docking request to us in game, using the SB381 channel, as stated here. You have the chance to mingle with our fellow fleet mates or attend our "mini event".
We look forward to see you!
http://imgur.com/J6jBoHF
http://imgur.com/a/byXNN
http://26thfleet.enjin.com/gallery/m/9239606/detail/99567#pid=1396263
http://26thfleet.enjin.com/profile/1943409/pics/detail/album_id/320253#pid=2002387
Unfortunately I missed it, but people had a lot of fun by the sound of it. Business as usual tonight as far as I know, so pop by and say hello!
=^=
\ \ \ \ INCOMING BURST TRANSMISSION \ \ \ \
\ \ \ \ STARFLEET ENCRYPTION PROTOCOLS ENGAGED \ \ \ \
......parsing data
......parsing data
......keying encryption algorithm to background radiation signal
......qubit handshaking in process
......qubit link established
CAPTAIN'S EYES ONLY
TO: ALL TFA COMMANDS
FROM: CAPT Vempati
CC: RADM Sprint, RADL Llywarch
SUBJECT: OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS TO BEGIN
Captains,
The KDF has pricked us, and we have bled. We have suffered losses: Personnel, ships, materiel. Ibor III has been overrun and thousands slaughtered.
We shall not take this laying down.
At this time the Klingon armada is mired in the Skyfall Nebula, hampered by the SSI and the navigational hazards of the region. Their border regions have been stripped of most of their defenders to form their great fleet. The Empire's borderlands have been made vulnerable and we are going to make them pay for their arrogance.
Effective immediately, aggressive raiding of all KDF installations is to begin under OPERATION RIPOSTE. The U.S.S. Arthur Currie, T?m?raire, Louis Fizeau, Kollontay and Repulse have already been undertaking probing attacks with positive results. A second raiding party is to be formed consisting of the U.S.S. Harpe, Discovery, Okoboji, Vanguard, Patriot and Lakarian, under the command of CAPT Sinclair. These vessels are to target every KDF listening post, outpost, resupply depot, repair yard and refueling station they can find. Any military target you have the firepower to take out, you burn. Any resistance too stiff, you bypass. If the Klingons break up their armada to respond, you will return to Praetorian via the transwarp gate and the task force will be consolidated to overwhelm the KDF elements piecemeal. If they do not respond to these raids we will destroy their capacity to make war. As of this moment, the gloves are off.
CMDR Hawke is in possession of extrapolated sensor data and intelligence that pinpoints the likely location of resupply and repair bases throughout Archanis. Additionally, Praetorian Tactical will be conducting long-range scans for targets of opportunity. Co-ordinate your actions as required.
While the raids are commencing, the Klingon fleet will be contained by OPERATION PICKET. The U.S.S. Minerva and U.S.S. Catalyst, in conjunction with Praetorian's science department, will be analyzing the Skyfall Nebula for projected paths of least resistance through the navigational hazards that the Klingon fleet may be expected to utilize. The extrapolated exit points will then be heavily mined with cloaked M/AM proximity warheads. While this will not hold the fleet back forever, it will bleed them, and may buy us a few extra days to run rampant in their back lines. Strat-Ops' Crisis Battle Group will provide cover for the survey and mining ships.
Remaining Task Force and Fleet elements are to continue current operations until further notice.
You have your orders, Captains. Let's finish this.
Signed,
CAPT Samantha Vempati
CO, U.S.S. Monsoon [NCC-131801-A]
XO, Task Force Avalon
=^=
Minerva has developed an additional device to hamper the Klingon's fleet movements in the Skyfall Nebula and CAPT Prinn has greenlighted these devices to be deployed in addition to the mines we are enroute to set up.
The Skyfall Nebula is filled with harsh gravitational anomalies with points of gravitational sheer that can break a ship apart. After being on site mapping these anomolies to give safe paths through the nebula during the fleet action Minerva has compiled a lot of data on the safe paths and the sensor readings from the sheers. By retrofitting standard probes to emit graviton particles we were able to create a sensor echo of one of the anomalies on a test site, the only way to tell the real anomalies from the sensor echos is to send a probe or ship into it, and see if it is destroyed.
By deploying these probes in the safe routes we will make it very difficult for the Klingons to map out a safe exit path. Due to the gravitimetric distortions the flight time of any probe is limited, meaning we will have to transport them directly to their designated area, but also means the Klingons can only probe the anomalies at close range. If this is successful it leaves the Klingons with 3 options:
A - Painstakingly close and probe each anomaly in turn to see if it is real or a sensor illusion, slowly the fleet's movements.
B - Turn around and retrace their path out of the Nebula and go around, putting them back in the path of existing SSIs and significantly delaying the fleet.
C - 'brute force' the maze we are creating by sending light ships to find out which anomalies are fake and which will rip a ship in half. This is the most expedient method, but will cost them ships. Additionally from my past experience with the Klingons this assignment will be given to the levies from the minor houses, which will result in friction between the minor houses and the fleet command if not outright desertion.
All of the above are favourable. Deployment of mines should not be inhibited by additionally deploying these devices. Attached is a map of the most effective deployment locations, at any place where the safe route turns sharply, meaning that once a fake has been identified the Klingons cannot simply fly through without hitting a real anomaly on the far side.
Minerva is in the process of refitting all 47 remaining probes for this purpose and we request Catalyst does the same. If this delays the Klingons long enough we may be able to return to Praetorian in time to take on more probes and mines to make a second pass at the periphery of the Nebula. Note: due to the high power drain on the probes these devices will not last more than two weeks, even with the modifications. It is highly unlikely the Klingons will remain in the Nebula this long, and ensures that no operation needs to be carried out afterwards to clean up the devices.
<attached file - map of Skyfall nebula, safe routes and ideal deployment locations for graviton echo probes and mines marked>
<attached file - designs for retrofit probes>