Topics

Captain's Log, Stardate 76565.53

The day that we've longed for finally is in sight.  After the work we have done assisting and establishing the new Romulan government, the Federation has agreed to officially recognize the Romulan Free State as the legitimate government, and successor to the Star Empire following the Hobus Star event more than a decade ago.  An alliance with the recognized government is also sought, or at least a warming of relations.  The Free State doesn't have the full control of the Empire's region, and the former Neutral Zone is now a lawless barrier between the powers, but this is a first step in a new chapter of Romulan relations.

For our part, the Discovery is nearing the end of her own current mission; mapping out the rest of the unknown regions near the edge of the galaxy.  Its been an absolute pleasure; we may be a warship, but being able to not only do a survey mission, but literally go where no one has gone before.  At least no Federation being.  The crew is looking forward to returning to known space, and likewise so do I.  Our brief break following repair of Discovery did bring some changes.  And while some of those changes were already apparent, its not until now that I get to perform one of the best duties of a commanding officer....

[Deck 6 - Forward Lounge - USS Discovery]

He had been looking forward to this ceremony for a long time, and with the assembled officers and crew, it was finally time.  With official PADD in hand and the small box with him, the Captain stood at the podium... the ceremony had already started.

"Pursuant to Starfleet Regulations and the Uniform Code of Conduct, on the Recommendation of Captain Tekin Nevir, command officer, USS Discovery, Starfleet Command has seen fit to acknowledge and allow the promotion of officers aboard the USS Discovery, citing exemplary work in both duty and beyond.  As the senior officer of command, I, Captain Tekin Nevir, do hereby announce the following promotions of rank:"

The officers about to be called were already at the front... Nevir smiled and looked down the line.  Popping open the box, he pulled out the tiny objects inside, and walked to the end of the line.

"Cadet Lucy Bell Wentock.  I almost called you crewman.  On the recommendation of the staff of Starfleet Academy, you are hereby promoted to the commissioned track, at the rank of Ensign. You are now hereby considered an officer on this ship, with all rights and privileges therein.  Congratulations, Ensign, you worked hard for this." he said, pinning the single solid pip on her collar.  With that, he moved up closer.

"Petty Officer Alexander Graham.  I didn't think we'd have a pilot as crazy as Addams, but you latched onto your Department Head and proved that there is no shortage of guts in Flight.  I can safely say that I have the upmost confidence in your ability to keep Discovery together, and trust your hands wholeheartedly.  By the recommendation of your superior, I hereby promote you to the rank of Petty Officer, First Class, and all the rights and privileges therein."

Finished with the crewman's collar, Nevir then moved down to his ops officer.  "Ensign Danjar-Torra Addams, when you first came aboard, you were a jack of all trades.  I asked you to pick a department, and since then, you have proven yourself more than exemplary as my ops officer.  On the advice of your Department head... and my own recommendation, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade, with all the rights and privileges therein.  Congratulations." he said, putting the open pip on her collar as well, and offering a hand to shake.  He then moved up closer to the last two.

"For ingenuity, innovation... and saving our butts on more than a few occasions." he stated, getting some chuckles from other crewmen.  "Lieutenant Lek, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, with all rights and privileges thereof." he stated, reaching for the Ferengi's collar to pin  the open pip on his rank.  "In addition, you are hereby assigned as not only the Chief Engineering Officer, but as Second Officer of the Discovery.  Congratulations, sir." he said, extending his hand to shake.  He then moved down the line to the officer next to the podium, and despite her straight face, he couldn't help but smile.

"Lt. Commander T'Lara.  I handpicked you as my First Officer for the same reason I was years ago; a fellow science officer who can hold the ideals of Starfleet while performing the tasks required.  And you have not disappointed me one bit.  On the recommendation of me, I hereby promote you to the rank of full Commander... and of course will keep you as my First Officer.  Congratulations." he said before walking back behind the podium.

"This concludes our ceremony.  Please join me in congratulating your fellow officers." he stated, clapping as he took a step back from the podium, which then went out of focus and faded as the computer removed the holographic piece of furniture.

[is]

Hi all!  Its time to honor the best posts for the month of April.  And the nominees are:

Katra Station - Ensign Serena King

[Katra Station / OCC]

Serena looked up in surprise and flinched. For the better part of a minute, her face displayed (in no particular order but a combination of) surprise, concentration, annoyance and I need to throw up.

"Captain, you do paint quite a scenario here. I presume deep Engineering speak won't help, so I'll base my analysis not so much on the what happened, but background." She took a deep breath. "They would likely be a Starfleet Engineer themselves. While it is possible for a civilian Engineer or a related field- think Starfleet Operations and Sciences... The fact is Engineers are a subculture in themselves."

Serena gestured to the Captain's chair. "You can make an educated guess about the circuitry inside there. An Engineer can tell you as well the data nodes it connects to, the protocols it initiates for communications channels, as well as the Captain's Level encryption, how much power it takes in each component and which is sub par, among other things."

At this point, Serena turned somber and delivered her professional opinion in a monotone: "Without credentials, this hypothetical person would need to have a lot of technical knowledge. I'd have to look it up, but I suspect the doors themselves have firmware burned into an EEPROM chip, with instructions feeding into it. You can't even bypass it using the LCARS type Operating Systems, you have to literally pry open panels to get to it. Even then it would set off alarms across the board if it's tampered with. If you wanted me to try it, I suspect my first attempt might take a good hour and that's assuming the security cameras don't see me, let alone Engineers or other passersby."

Another deep breath and the same, professionally detached monotone: "Engineers can spot other Engineers. We don't loiter, we don't hang around in our workplace for no reason, we're task oriented. We work methodically and calmly. We know our tasks and what needs to be done in each area. An Engineer at the Master Console would be collecting diagnostic information, another at the EPS taps would be testing the 'purity' of the flow, etc. We would broadly know what another Engineer is doing, even if we don't know the exact details. That and we have sensors everywhere to detect abnormalities.

"What about civilian Engineers, or Starfleet Operations and Sciences? Again, much the same details. Starfleet Officers know how things work. We wouldn't be looking over our shoulders or being in a spot without doing something. Body language and tasks, that simple."

Serena straightened: "I could analyze further, sir, though that is my expert opinion and depends on any number of factors. Though let me say this, based on your scenario: If this hypothetical person is not a Starfleet Engineer... If they're a good person, then we're dealing with someone with a Genius Level IQ and capabilities. If they're not a good person..." She trailed off and looked at her feet.

USS Challenger - Lieutenant JG Ocras Abisa:

Ocras listened carefully, then spoke again. "I apologize for phrasing poorly, but I do think there is a set of Federation law that does apply to this situation. The Law of Interstellar Salvage and Homesteading is similar to the laws pre-warp civilizations create to deal with property claims in international waters or on nearby planetary bodies."

He paused briefly to run through his memory of a series of classes he took at the Academy on the numerous treaties between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. "I believe that the Federation and the Klingon Empire have both passed laws that enshrine the same rights for individuals claiming lands or property outside the traditional boundaries of their home government. At least, mostly the same rights. I would have to check to see if the Orions have similar laws. I expect they would deny any claim based on Klingon Imperial law due to the Empire ceding control of the colony. At least, if I were trying to win a dispute between three different governments, I would refuse to recognize the property laws of a single government, perhaps even putting forward my own government's property laws instead."

Another pause, then a slightly chagrinned look. "I have been focused on Betazed-oriented politics for the last two years, though, so perhaps the Treaties with the Klingons and Orions have changed since I last reviewed them. That said, if you think the claim would be stronger under Klingon property law, I am confident we can make the case to the Orions to comply."

USS Discovery - Cadet Luby Wentock:

[Rec Car | Bennyrock Train | Gradually Leaving Paradise | Arizona Territory | 1899]

Luby nodded at what Najwa said about her religious text, almost absent-mindedly as they moved to the Rec car.

"I'm surprised though that you want to play poker.  I thought with your adventurous spirit you'd want to try something new!" she gave Najwa a look hoping it conveyed 'If we stay in here longer we can keep Nevill from doing anything rash!'

"Maybe we can do both, and if we can find a cribbage board that too... maybe a few different games to keep us all amused on our way to Washington!"

Luby regarded Alex and smiled.  "I admit we don't but I was applying logic.  As I understand the Cavalry are a sort of Army and keep order.  Like the Sheriff here, being lawful and keeping peace are desirable to all good citizens, ergo... if they are for Peace and Lawfulness surely they're on our side!"

Something gnawed at Luby and finally the back and forth between Don and Alex got to her too much.

"Everyone is entitled to their homes, surely.  As for calling them savages... I think that is gross misrepresentation!" she sputtered out almost spitting the words in indignation.

"If you were wherever you come from naturally and someone came charging into what you call home, telling you that you have to move and your homes were no longer yours... you'd fight tooth and nail to defend that.  Way I see it that's all they're doing.  I'd like to think we can share, but I can't see those in office doing that fairly.  I mean it would be one thing if we were buying the land, or making some kind of recompense for it but we aren't, they're just being herded like cattle out of their lands and if they refuse, rebel or try to stay put they're shot.  If they put up a fight they're shot and the government don't care, it's one less voice to protest against the treatment."

Luby paused for breath, as she was seething inwardly but trying to remain outwardly calm and present this as an argument rather than more of a 'rant'!  "As for calling them savages on the grounds of the fact that they don't worship the same God that you do... you may as well say the same thing of Najwa.  It may be the same god.. just by a different name.  You know I'm a schoolteacher, and I have read many books, history is one of my favourite subjects.  The Ladies Journal that I read in England, and find odd copies I haven't read along the trail until we got to Paradise, had an interesting article in about EugÁ¨ne LefÁ©bure in 1883, then Jules Baillet and Georges BÁ©nÁ©dite in early 1888, and finally Victor Loret in 1898 to present excavating Egyptian tombs in what they are calling 'The Valley of the Kings'.  Egyptians are reckoned, like the Romans, to be one of the foremost civilisations with complex social structure and so on, armies and great palaces, yet they worshipped multiple gods and none that you'd recognise as 'our' God, unless you count Ra, the sun god as a sort of head god over the others."

Luby wet her lips, and took a deep breath then ploughed on, aware that the present company might be rather shocked at her outburst but she wouldn't get her point across if she didn't continue.

"Same with the Romans, even modern armies are based somewhat on the structure that the Romans had in their armies, they were civilised, but despite them being so, they had multiple gods and were known to sort of 'adopt' any along the way that they didn't have... mostly to appease the people they were slaughtering if they didn't get their own way in a rather cavalier manner of 'oooh we don't have one for that... don't worry the more gods the merrier!' way and when they already had a God or Goddess for the harvest they would explain that if the locals called this person 'Lugh' or something they called the Demeter... wait that's Greek... but there you go... Greeks known for their philosophers, hardly what you'd call savages.  Troy might not think so but that's not to do with religion but marriages.  Sorry, it's a pet peeve of mine that people are automatically called savages because we don't share religion or their way of life."

The young schoolteacher seemed to visibly shrink, then said "So... which version of poker we learning, Nevill?  I understand there's something called 'Stud' but I've seen different numbers of cards dealt out."

[OOC: I looked up - Hold 'Em didn't start until 1900s so probably not that version!]

Let's see who becomes Shadowfleet's April POTM!

[< Katra Station / Gamma Brauhaus >]

The votes are in, and the winner of March's POTM is:

HRAFN FALLEG

Please give a warm congrats to her and all who were nominated.

< Katra Station / Gamma Brauhaus >
[DAY TREE - NIGHT]

[As NPC Anth McCutcheon]

"I learned something new today!  Thanks Ensign Sirol, I'd like to learn more about Romulan culture sometime.  We don't interact socially enough with most Romulans so we don't learn such things about the more... " Anth sighed and put his finger along the side of his face tapping where the arms of his glasses folded if he took them off.

"... I dunno what to call it.  See I've probably already said far too much about my research, but yet not told you really anything about it, and we're just chatting, but at the same time, I've not said anything that's classified either, if someone overheard me, well without breaking into my personal papers again they wouldn't find anything that I can't tell anyone.  Same with the Romulans and many other species but, no offence, most Romulans I've come across, present company excluded, are rather stand offish... I've not found one that would share things about their family life.  Oh well,... Commander Rayek ah tr'Lhoell,  but I think rather that Tess ah... Commander t'Lhoell rather softened him and he's so proud of Fvienn too and fatherhood has softened him too but a lot of people are still terrified of him!  But other than how the baby or his wife are he's not that forthcoming about personal life, I don't know if that's a Romulan thing... but what I'm trying to get at is... ordinarily we'd never get to hear about this 'wrong name' thing, we only get the interaction between the department heads and we get whatever information has been deemed suitable to exchange.  We are probably not even learning 10% of the things each culture has to offer."

He paused and smiled.

"As for my personal situation and my bent on the scientific.  I first got into the idea of synthetic life forms when my wife, Louise died in childbirth.  We lost both the twins too.  I would do anything to bring Louise back and well... that's when I started experimenting.  I had her DNA, and well... so I was working with scientists on human Soong-types, then this thing happened... I think there was a mole in the lab that's the only thing I can think of.  As for can I prove my innocence.  It's not so much they thought I was directly involved it is more that they wanted to take my work away from Daystrom so that they didn't get attacked by Leyton, and I was ordered to cease any building work, I could research all I wanted so long as I wasn't actually building anything.  Solluk and Hrafn accepted me here only under those terms.  Plus this is a big place, and remote... so there's a lot of appeal for someone who wants to be inconspicuous yet able to study all kinds of species..."

His eyes widened as Eydis appeared.

"... point in case, I never thought I'd ever see a Tholian up close and personal!  Greetings, I'm so pleased to meet you and learn more about your species!"

"Oh how cool, tell me more.  Would you mind if I set my PADD to record what you say? Or could we have an official meeting on this sometime, rather than this fun social event, could I at least make notes?"

[Hrafn's Quarters - SEVERAL DAYS LATER]

"No judgement, Miss Sirol, each to their own, but that makes sense and if it's pleasing to you, no skin of my nose and a pleasure to serve you, Madam!" James gave a little mock bow with a flourish, falling into, as the person who while he liked and admired Hrafn greatly he was comparatively the newcomer to the family, so he was trying to keep the spirits of the others up as much as he could.  He knew he was fighting a losing battle but he could but try.

"Wot Na-narex- narexian? brain snarks?" Lamar asked, the concentration on saying the word helping to stop him crying a little.

"Narexian's I've heard of but what are brain snarks?" Nerys asked.

"Whatever they are, sounds cool, could I have some too please?!" Tidu chipped in totally unfazed by everything if there was food he enjoyed in the offing!

Once the children were answered, and somewhat calmer and mollified, Crista gave a grateful look to her fiancÁ© for the idea of giving them ice cream, he translated it correctly and gave a little shrug then softly said "It was granny's fail safe for me, glad to see some things cross the generations seemlessly!"; and then to Sirol.

Ujosso taking advantage of the situation of calmer children, gave a wry smile and said.

"When I sometimes accompanied my husband when he was in the KDF, I know if there was a lot of interference around a certain place the only way to get messages thru was to do what Hrafn, Rayek and presumably other people on the Healy did, and record then send a probe out.  I'm not very Science-y minded, I did work in Ops tho so I understand that side of it.  If something has happened around the Wormhole, and that's radiation related potentially... then that's probably all the interference needed.  I think Crista said that we hadn't had anything from Ruthie or Nevir in the past week ish either."

"That's true.  Do you know if we've had anything ... y'know official stuff through.  I don't want to know what DS9 has been sending to us, just if any messages have been getting through.  If not there's two possibilities... well several but in the case of the Healy and Hrafn I mean."

The Afro-American woman from the Deep South offered up a prayer that it was the second conclusion and not the first.

"The worst scenario..." she cast a look to the kids and knew she didn't need to elaborate more than "...or possibly even something happened to DS9.  We know the Healy was damaged, if they couldn't put into DS9 are they limping on to some other station, and of course with the interference on the comms even if they got to another station... they might get a message off but it wouldn't get through, would just bounce back."

Taking a sip of her hot chocolate she brightened up.  "If it's just interference and they thought 'ah well we'd better let them know that we're alive...' then likelihood is that they're safe and sound on DS9, or in Hrafn's case she's probably gone to see her in-laws if she could find transport to Bajor or take a shuttle down.  She's not the world's best pilot but she can fly a shuttlecraft.  And it's simply a matter that she can't get word back to us.  I know Captain Solluk and Mr. Rayek wouldn't begrudge her seeing family if they could spare her for a while.  Yes, that's probably what has happened!"  Crista said definitively drawing a line under the matter, nodding her head in agreement with herself, deciding that Hrafn was alive.

Ujosso suddenly choked on her Ratkajino.  "The kids... Nerys especially..."

"What's the matter Auntie Ujo?" Nerys asked.

Ujosso recovered herself and asked Tidu to stop thumping her enthusiastically on the back which he'd done automatically thinking she was choking on more than a mouthful of coffee gone down the wrong way!

"Thank you Tidu, I'm fine.  Nerys... do you remember when we lost Tidu for a while.."

"Couldn't exactly forget, was a lot quieter!" she teased.

"Oi!" Tidu interjected with a grin.

"Point made..." Nerys reacted with a mock innocent look on her face.

"Forget that..." Ujosso said waving away their sibling teasing.  "...remember you said that he wasn't gone, you could feel him like your Mammy could feel him.  And when you first came here and we had to move the station you said you could talk to your Mammy with your brain.  Now, it's a long way to DS9, I'm not suggesting that you can actually send whole messages but... can you feel her, you'd know if she..." 

The Klingon headmistress stopped suddenly, realising if Nerys couldn't feel her mother it would be like she'd been hit by the USS Enterprise full on at maximum warp.

"It's ok Auntie Ujosso, I know what you mean, I'm old enough to realise and, well we've seen a lot of death on Katra too.  It's mostly..." she gave a sidelong look at Lamar which the adults understood and nodded.

"I can even feel Grandpa Kurt, we can't talk but we give each other little mind tickles at times.  I have the strongest connection after Mammy with him, I think, and I'd like to have it investigated further when Auntie Tess isn't busy, that the females are more attuned..." she shrugged.  "I can have a go at reaching out to Grandpa to sort of test that it's working and then reach out to Mammy..."

"Only if you're sure, darling girl!"  Crista cautioned, psyching herself up to catch the girl if she fell emotionally.

"Tids, come and hold my hand and think about Grandpa Kurt.  Oh Nantie Sirol I don't know if you know... Grandpa Kurt is Mammy's Daddy.  He's part Minarian so we get some of it from there.  Anyhow let's try."

She sat next to Tidu and held his hand, before too long she felt the familar tickle and got a fit of the giggles.

"Well Grandpa is ok, don't know where he is, not sure anyone does as he's working undercover but he's alive and this is working.  Now to see if we can find Mammy..."

Lamar slipped off Sirol's knee and went over to his siblings, leaning up against Nerys his brain almost screaming "MAMMY...WHERE ARE YOU?!"

[Tekin Residence, Bajor]

Hrafn lay on the bed that had been put aside for her use.  She had requested that she stay with her in-laws while repairs were done on the USS Healy, as she knew that she could get up to DS9 within in a short time.  Permission had been granted so long as she was around every other day for departmental meetings with the rest of the faculty.

Half dosing off, bored with the Scientific paper she was reading, she suddenly sat bolt upright when she felt the tickle in her brain, the kids, they were thinking of her.  That was the twins.  Then almost like a lightning bolt, the tickle was stronger hitting her almost to the point of causing a headache.

"Whoa, Lambchops...it seems you've got the family gift too!" she chuckled out loud.  She knew over this distance the fact she got even a tickle was amazing, but she gave back with her mind a sort of peaceful, loving feeling and hoped, praying to the Prophets, that they would feel it and be comforted.

Her father in law came in "Did you say something my dear?"

"I did, I think the probe we sent with messages has got to Katra, you know of my ability to communicate with my children and other empaths and mind users with permission, but we can't obviously hold a conversation over this distance but I got the tickle in my brain... they're worried.  I think they're worried that I'm dead."

"Still nothing to indicate that we can get anything through unfortunately, but Prophets willing... soon."

[Hrafn's Quarters - Katra Station - 20 mins later]

The children were all sat on the floor playing a card game, Nerys determinedly trying to keep the attention of her brothers since she knew that if anything did come back it might be delayed.

Eventually, she felt it, then there was a look of awe mirrored in Tidu's face and a grin split his face in two, Lamar got up and ran to Sirol.

"NANTIE SIROL!!! Mammy's ALIVE!!!"

Welcome to a new mission and a new adventure.  Notes for this mission:

1.  We have returned to the Beta Quadrant, and deep into Romulan space.  Our current mission is patroling the edge of the Free State territory.

2. It is 2200 hours; most senior officers are long since done for the day; this is the time for recreation or getting ready for bed.  Junior officers and crew may be on third shift.

3. The flash has had NO PHYSICAL EFFECT on the ship.  The only way those would know about it would be if they were near a window on the starboard side of the ship.

4. It will take time to reach our destination.  This is on purpose to allow for a different kind of roleplaying where most of us are off the clock as it were.  By the time we reach our destination, it will be into the next day.

Have fun, and make sure to contact your Command staff if you have questions!

Captain's Log, Stardate 76320.3

The Discovery is back on the Romulan frontier, a region of space representing the deepest regions of the former Star Empire closer to the galactic edge.  With more than 12 systems currently in alliance with the Romulan Free State, the new government is growing, and with that new challenges.  One of these being the attention they have received with the other factions in the region.

This lightly explored region of space is both a show of faith and an opportunity; the new Romulan government is more trusting of the Federation's intentions and we got the opportunity to map out more of our universe.  Unfortunately on the other side of that coin; the dangers of pirates, rogues, and of course the Tal Shiar remnants.

So far this has been a relatively calm working day with no activity, and personally I'm hoping for a bit more of that; while we are all fit for duty, I know I haven't been able to shake off the effects of the T'hunga, and I doubt any of the others have either....

[Deck 1 - Captain's Ready Room/Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

The benefits of being a higher ranked officer is the ability to set your own hours, and get the prime shift... the downside is that once you get high enough you are essentially on call.  A Captain would more likely than not take the alpha shift on the Bridge, but that was their place at all hours; even when he was able to retire to quarters.

This was one of those cases where he was still awake, and still on the bridge.  At least, he would be returning to the bridge shortly once his day report was completed.  Patrolling a Romulan sector was tedious work; especially when they were technically sailing into the unknown.

He looked at the chronometer; it was nearly 2200 hours.  This would be the late shift; Gamma, meaning stations, while his main officers on the Alpha shift would be off duty at this point.  Standing up from his desk, he picked up his PADD and walked out to the bridge.

"Scrapped borg sphere debris, a neutron star, and a wayward cargo vessel.  All in all a quiet day's work." he said to no one, handing the PADD to the ops officer on duty.  He stood next to his chair, looking out at the black screen as stars floated by.

With a yawn, the Captain shook his head.  "Perhaps its time to call it a night." he said turning towards the turbolift.  "Or maybe I can hit the lounge." he said, mostly to himself. 

[USS Challenger - Jettis Jyur]

Hi all!  I know its late... like really late... but we haven't forgotten about you!  So here are the nominations for post of the month:

USS Challenger - Jettis Jyur

[Outside City Limits - Rogue Planet]

Jettis suppressed a slight sigh, as at the very least, they had some common ground. It gave him a bit of hope that perhaps, negotiation was possible. At his next question though, he pursed his lips, trying to concoct some idea. If he were highly distrustful, very skittish and in a dangerous situation, what would he need as proof? What logic would convince him? Some sort of irrefutable fact, that even the Romulans couldn't argue with.

An idea suddenly springing to mind, he spread his arms out, palms up. "Look at me. What do you see?" He waited for a beat, before holding out his shirt, where his commbadge had been minutes before their encounter. "Coming in unarmed would be logical, to create a false sense of security. However with no method of contacting our ship, reporting information?" He also motioned towards where is tricorder would typically sit, "or recording information? No utensils for writing or note-taking? Scanning?" Hopefully, even with all his doubts, Vekiron could see the absurdity in that claim.

"It would be foolish to do all of this without any reliable way to gather information. All we have is what we were given, or allowed by the Sheriff." Dropping his arms back to his sides, he leveled Vekiron with a gaze. "All we wish is to get back to safety, and ensure something like this won't happen again. If you join us, we can get to the bottom of why this is happening, and no blood needs to be shed. We can both leave this so called planet."

USS Discovery - Lek

[Fort Rim - Arizona Territory]

Lek felt like an idiot in the preposterous outfit he was wearing.

"As if anyone with visual organs can't tell I'm not a Hyoomon."

He grumbled as he sat in the wagon behind the riding beasts known as horses. He had a rudimentary idea of how to control the vehicle, but he figured he was more likely to die en route to Paradise than at the hands of the Thuriga.

"And even if we succeed, there is still the matter of the warp drive needing two weeks of repairs and figuring out how to get back to our own time."

He sighed and waited for the signal to start the raid. While he waited, he was treated to the front row experience of one of the horses lifting its tail and dropping a massive load of foul smelling feces directly in front of him.

"Why do I think that's the best thing that's going to happen to me tonight?"

Katra Station - Hrafn Falleq

< Katra Station / Gamma Brauhaus >
[DAY TREE - NIGHT]

[As NPC Anth McCutcheon]

"I learned something new today!  Thanks Ensign Sirol, I'd like to learn more about Romulan culture sometime.  We don't interact socially enough with most Romulans so we don't learn such things about the more... " Anth sighed and put his finger along the side of his face tapping where the arms of his glasses folded if he took them off.

"... I dunno what to call it.  See I've probably already said far too much about my research, but yet not told you really anything about it, and we're just chatting, but at the same time, I've not said anything that's classified either, if someone overheard me, well without breaking into my personal papers again they wouldn't find anything that I can't tell anyone.  Same with the Romulans and many other species but, no offence, most Romulans I've come across, present company excluded, are rather stand offish... I've not found one that would share things about their family life.  Oh well,... Commander Rayek ah tr'Lhoell,  but I think rather that Tess ah... Commander t'Lhoell rather softened him and he's so proud of Fvienn too and fatherhood has softened him too but a lot of people are still terrified of him!  But other than how the baby or his wife are he's not that forthcoming about personal life, I don't know if that's a Romulan thing... but what I'm trying to get at is... ordinarily we'd never get to hear about this 'wrong name' thing, we only get the interaction between the department heads and we get whatever information has been deemed suitable to exchange.  We are probably not even learning 10% of the things each culture has to offer."

He paused and smiled.

"As for my personal situation and my bent on the scientific.  I first got into the idea of synthetic life forms when my wife, Louise died in childbirth.  We lost both the twins too.  I would do anything to bring Louise back and well... that's when I started experimenting.  I had her DNA, and well... so I was working with scientists on human Soong-types, then this thing happened... I think there was a mole in the lab that's the only thing I can think of.  As for can I prove my innocence.  It's not so much they thought I was directly involved it is more that they wanted to take my work away from Daystrom so that they didn't get attacked by Leyton, and I was ordered to cease any building work, I could research all I wanted so long as I wasn't actually building anything.  Solluk and Hrafn accepted me here only under those terms.  Plus this is a big place, and remote... so there's a lot of appeal for someone who wants to be inconspicuous yet able to study all kinds of species..."

His eyes widened as Eydis appeared.

"... point in case, I never thought I'd ever see a Tholian up close and personal!  Greetings, I'm so pleased to meet you and learn more about your species!"

"Oh how cool, tell me more.  Would you mind if I set my PADD to record what you say? Or could we have an official meeting on this sometime, rather than this fun social event, could I at least make notes?"

[Hrafn's Quarters - SEVERAL DAYS LATER]

"No judgement, Miss Sirol, each to their own, but that makes sense and if it's pleasing to you, no skin of my nose and a pleasure to serve you, Madam!" James gave a little mock bow with a flourish, falling into, as the person who while he liked and admired Hrafn greatly he was comparatively the newcomer to the family, so he was trying to keep the spirits of the others up as much as he could.  He knew he was fighting a losing battle but he could but try.

"Wot Na-narex- narexian? brain snarks?" Lamar asked, the concentration on saying the word helping to stop him crying a little.

"Narexian's I've heard of but what are brain snarks?" Nerys asked.

"Whatever they are, sounds cool, could I have some too please?!" Tidu chipped in totally unfazed by everything if there was food he enjoyed in the offing!

Once the children were answered, and somewhat calmer and mollified, Crista gave a grateful look to her fiancÁ© for the idea of giving them ice cream, he translated it correctly and gave a little shrug then softly said "It was granny's fail safe for me, glad to see some things cross the generations seemlessly!"; and then to Sirol.

Ujosso taking advantage of the situation of calmer children, gave a wry smile and said.

"When I sometimes accompanied my husband when he was in the KDF, I know if there was a lot of interference around a certain place the only way to get messages thru was to do what Hrafn, Rayek and presumably other people on the Healy did, and record then send a probe out.  I'm not very Science-y minded, I did work in Ops tho so I understand that side of it.  If something has happened around the Wormhole, and that's radiation related potentially... then that's probably all the interference needed.  I think Crista said that we hadn't had anything from Ruthie or Nevir in the past week ish either."

"That's true.  Do you know if we've had anything ... y'know official stuff through.  I don't want to know what DS9 has been sending to us, just if any messages have been getting through.  If not there's two possibilities... well several but in the case of the Healy and Hrafn I mean."

The Afro-American woman from the Deep South offered up a prayer that it was the second conclusion and not the first.

"The worst scenario..." she cast a look to the kids and knew she didn't need to elaborate more than "...or possibly even something happened to DS9.  We know the Healy was damaged, if they couldn't put into DS9 are they limping on to some other station, and of course with the interference on the comms even if they got to another station... they might get a message off but it wouldn't get through, would just bounce back."

Taking a sip of her hot chocolate she brightened up.  "If it's just interference and they thought 'ah well we'd better let them know that we're alive...' then likelihood is that they're safe and sound on DS9, or in Hrafn's case she's probably gone to see her in-laws if she could find transport to Bajor or take a shuttle down.  She's not the world's best pilot but she can fly a shuttlecraft.  And it's simply a matter that she can't get word back to us.  I know Captain Solluk and Mr. Rayek wouldn't begrudge her seeing family if they could spare her for a while.  Yes, that's probably what has happened!"  Crista said definitively drawing a line under the matter, nodding her head in agreement with herself, deciding that Hrafn was alive.

Ujosso suddenly choked on her Ratkajino.  "The kids... Nerys especially..."

"What's the matter Auntie Ujo?" Nerys asked.

Ujosso recovered herself and asked Tidu to stop thumping her enthusiastically on the back which he'd done automatically thinking she was choking on more than a mouthful of coffee gone down the wrong way!

"Thank you Tidu, I'm fine.  Nerys... do you remember when we lost Tidu for a while.."

"Couldn't exactly forget, was a lot quieter!" she teased.

"Oi!" Tidu interjected with a grin.

"Point made..." Nerys reacted with a mock innocent look on her face.

"Forget that..." Ujosso said waving away their sibling teasing.  "...remember you said that he wasn't gone, you could feel him like your Mammy could feel him.  And when you first came here and we had to move the station you said you could talk to your Mammy with your brain.  Now, it's a long way to DS9, I'm not suggesting that you can actually send whole messages but... can you feel her, you'd know if she..." 

The Klingon headmistress stopped suddenly, realising if Nerys couldn't feel her mother it would be like she'd been hit by the USS Enterprise full on at maximum warp.

"It's ok Auntie Ujosso, I know what you mean, I'm old enough to realise and, well we've seen a lot of death on Katra too.  It's mostly..." she gave a sidelong look at Lamar which the adults understood and nodded.

"I can even feel Grandpa Kurt, we can't talk but we give each other little mind tickles at times.  I have the strongest connection after Mammy with him, I think, and I'd like to have it investigated further when Auntie Tess isn't busy, that the females are more attuned..." she shrugged.  "I can have a go at reaching out to Grandpa to sort of test that it's working and then reach out to Mammy..."

"Only if you're sure, darling girl!"  Crista cautioned, psyching herself up to catch the girl if she fell emotionally.

"Tids, come and hold my hand and think about Grandpa Kurt.  Oh Nantie Sirol I don't know if you know... Grandpa Kurt is Mammy's Daddy.  He's part Minarian so we get some of it from there.  Anyhow let's try."

She sat next to Tidu and held his hand, before too long she felt the familar tickle and got a fit of the giggles.

"Well Grandpa is ok, don't know where he is, not sure anyone does as he's working undercover but he's alive and this is working.  Now to see if we can find Mammy..."

Lamar slipped off Sirol's knee and went over to his siblings, leaning up against Nerys his brain almost screaming "MAMMY...WHERE ARE YOU?!"

[Tekin Residence, Bajor]

Hrafn lay on the bed that had been put aside for her use.  She had requested that she stay with her in-laws while repairs were done on the USS Healy, as she knew that she could get up to DS9 within in a short time.  Permission had been granted so long as she was around every other day for departmental meetings with the rest of the faculty.

Half dosing off, bored with the Scientific paper she was reading, she suddenly sat bolt upright when she felt the tickle in her brain, the kids, they were thinking of her.  That was the twins.  Then almost like a lightning bolt, the tickle was stronger hitting her almost to the point of causing a headache.

"Whoa, Lambchops...it seems you've got the family gift too!" she chuckled out loud.  She knew over this distance the fact she got even a tickle was amazing, but she gave back with her mind a sort of peaceful, loving feeling and hoped, praying to the Prophets, that they would feel it and be comforted.

Her father in law came in "Did you say something my dear?"

"I did, I think the probe we sent with messages has got to Katra, you know of my ability to communicate with my children and other empaths and mind users with permission, but we can't obviously hold a conversation over this distance but I got the tickle in my brain... they're worried.  I think they're worried that I'm dead."

"Still nothing to indicate that we can get anything through unfortunately, but Prophets willing... soon."

[Hrafn's Quarters - Katra Station - 20 mins later]

The children were all sat on the floor playing a card game, Nerys determinedly trying to keep the attention of her brothers since she knew that if anything did come back it might be delayed.

Eventually, she felt it, then there was a look of awe mirrored in Tidu's face and a grin split his face in two, Lamar got up and ran to Sirol.

"NANTIE SIROL!!! Mammy's ALIVE!!!"

The poll will be open from now until April 26th, so vote away!

[Carter]

Hello all,

In light of recent events we have decided to do a bit of house cleaning and rearrangement in order to better manage and continue this wonderful site.

Carter, who has done a phenomenal job, is stepping back from active administration of the site.  They will still hold access to the admin account for maintenance and upkeeping purposes, but the day to day dealings are being shifted.

As a result, the two remaining Captains; Nevir and Ian, will be taking on the role of management of the site, as well as our respective ships.

The three XOs, Kyle, Ruth, and T'Lara, will make up the rest of the CLO with myself and Ian.  This will be the council that runs the site and makes sure we are all in communication and transparent (I know we've heard that term multiple times).  In addition to the CLO, will also be the Captain of the station Katra.  Which brings me to...

I would like announce a return of a former player, Kirok, who will be taking over as Commanding Officer of Katra Station.  Kyle Briggs will assist as Executive Officer.  So the following are your Command Level Officers:

Katra Station:
CO - Kirok
XO - Kyle Briggs

USS Challenger:
CO - Ian Galloway
XO - Ruth Sigurdsdottir

USS Discovery:
CO - Tekin Nevir
XO - T'Lara

Those of you on Katra, Kirok already has a plan for the transition between what happened during the last mission, and what will be going forward.  Please watch Katra's board for further details.

As always, feel free to message any one of us 6 with questions or issues, or reach us on our discord.

Alright!  A new mission in store for us.

Things to note:

This is after our trip from Katra Station.  It has been some days already and there was a brief stop at DS9.

Black Alert - Yes, the same one from Discovery.  Black Alert is a status used to indicate a ship is about to run an experiment that would affect the entire ship as a whole.  Discovery used it to alert the crew to prepare for their spore jump.  We are using it to alert the crew to prepare for Quantum Slipstream.

The ship IS currently at warp.  To protect the engines, we are doing our big test while at warp instead of trying to get the ship from impulse to slipstream with the sudden acceleration.

Any questions feel free to ask here, or on discord

Captain's Log, stardate 76052.9

Before we return to Romulan space, we are taking a slight detour to fully test out the quantum slipstream drive.  For this I am setting Earth as the the destination, being the halfway point on our journey.  If something goes wrong, we won't be stranded in space, we'll be as close as possible to Earth.  I can think of no better test, and this way the head of the QSD project can watch how our ship performs on this, working with my Chief Engineer.  With the Gamma Quadrant now a blip behind us, I see no further reason to dely.

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

The bridge was once again lively with activity.  They had just left Deep Space 9, and were currently at warp heading towards Earth.  Even at high warp, this trip alone would be at least a couple of days if not a week; but with the QSD, they may be able to make it within hours.

Nevir walked over and took his seat looking at the holo-projection readings on his chair.  It was still going to take some getting used to; and he still had his PADDs as backup, but this... was admittedly more convenient.

"Alright, I think we've put enough distance.  Confirm all stations secure.  Let's get this thing under way." the Captain ordered, looking up at the bridge crew.

After getting confirmation that the ship itself was ready.  Nevir gave a small grin.  He never got to use this one before.

"Excellent... all hands; black alert!" he stated, as the lights dimmed and a warning siren sounded through the ship. 

[What does this mean?]

Hello Disco! You may have noticed that our next mission "A Gathering of Angels" is already up today, as well as our 3rd mission of the season.  A Gathering of Angels is a fleetwide mission, and because of that and real life delaying the completion of "Clean Slate", I have decided to start this mission concurrently.

What does this mean?

This means that until our current mission has completed, we will have two missions up.  However, keep in mind that A Gathering of Angels chronilogically takes place AFTER Clean Slate.  This will put the Discovery neatly into December.

What is a 'Fleetwide Mission'?

I will not sugar coat it"¦ Fleetwide mission are often convoluted and complicated.  If you get discouraged or frustrated, know that you are not alone and we are available to talk to.  That said, a fleetwide mission is a single mission that involves all of the ships and stations.  In the past, these were special missions that had their own thread.  Having 40+ people in one thread with multiple storylines all in one thread was extremely chaotic and difficult to keep up with, and almost always ended with people giving up.

A few years ago now, the CO's at the time, myself included, decided to try it again.  Fleetwide missions were opportunities for epic situations and indeed battles, and from a player's perspective gave an opportunity to RP with other ships, other crew, and other Flag officers.  But since we knew the issues with a single thread, it was decided to try a mission where each ship had its own thread as a 'part' of the full episode.  This meant that the thread for the ship was used for the Ship and it's nearby locations, and players were not limited to that one ship.  Important events that occurred during the mission were cross-posted to some or all threads.  This proved to be much more effective and fun.

Where do I post?

We encourage people to follow the story from their perspective.  If that means your character is not on the ship you are assigned to, then you can post exactly where your character is.  For the most part, this means either on your ship, or on Katra station.  But if you get the permission IC to visit another ship for one reason or another, then you can go there too!  Just be aware of your duties as an officer or crewman on your ship.

If a character needs to be reached from a different thread, it is highly encouraged to cross post.  This means posting on the thread you are in, and either quoting it or copying it to the thread where the destination is.  I.E: If the Captain calls for an officer currently on New Bajor, then I will post both in Discovery and on Katra's thread.

Why two missions?  Why not just the new mission?

A pet peeve I had as a player was the Command crew ending a mission when the deadline arrived, no matter what happened.  Missions would die or just end with no resolution, and we were left to pretend what happened afterwards.  So when I became First Officer, and then Captain, I made the decision that I would end the mission when it ends, and let there be a resolution to the episode.  But due to the nature of a fleetwide mission, I can't delay our part too long.  So I came to decision to work our mission to its end and start the next mission with the fleet.  We are technically 7 days behind, but the first part of a fleetwide mission is a chance to mingle and interact before the proverbial shite hits the fan.

How will I know how Episode 3 ended?

This is a Star Trek episode, so that means by the end of the run, the main conflict is resolved.  If you are senior officer, you know the resolution and the details involved.  If you were there, you have select details that others might not know.  If you are just a junior officer not directly involved, then you know the general resolution.  For the time being, everyone will have an understanding of the resolution: GU was exposed and the contract was cut.  GU will have to explain themselves to both the Free State and the Federation, but that's going to take a lot of time.

For the most part, details are not needed, as you don't normally read off every little thing that happened as if you were reading from a script.  Please keep that in mind and don't rattle things off like you knew it all and have perfect memory (this is called meta-gaming).

Where do we stand at the beginning of Episode 4?

The TLDR of my initial post is this: unless you are a department head, you are currently on leave to either Katra station and/or Meridian.  All of the active ships are stationed at Katra undergoing refits, but the Discovery is undergoing the most refitting.  All you have been told is a new shield system, and an upgrade to the computer system.  Rumors of 3D holoimages abound, but most people assume that involves a lot of unnecessary systems being integrated ship-wide in a time where the Federation is still rebuilding.

Since Picard is now integrated into Canon, it is known knowledge that in addition to the Dominion War, Borg Attacks, and Hobus Supernova, there was a malfunction or attack that caused synthetic drones (androids) to attack Utopia Planetia and destroyed the rescue fleet being constructed to save the Romulans.  Mars still burns, but the orbital shipyards have been repaired and are functional.  Androids and automatons with AI are banned in the Federation.  This does not include Hologram programs, as they are considered to have an ultimate failsafe in their programming (you can roll your eyes here.. We've all seen the dangers of the holodecks).

The Discovery herself is still in drydock above Katra, and a view outside shows the Primary hull (Alpha) separated and about a kilometer away from the secondary hull (Beta and Gamma).  The Primary hull is dark and offline.

As always, if you have questions, feel free to post them here, or message us via PM or Discord. 

Captain's Log, stardate 75932.8

After a very long travel, the Discovery has gone from the Beta Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant to station at Shadow's main base at Katra Station in orbit of Meridian.  With the central Federation shipyards in use to rebuild the main security and rescue fleet, many of the upgrades slated for the Discovery to receive has been sent out to the far reaches our own space, to stay out of sight of those looking for an advantage over the Federation.

Its a open secret that the Federation itself has been in decline.  Between the end of the Dominion war, the Mars attack, and the Hobus supernova, the major powers of the galaxy are trying to keep in control of their regions.  While Discovery is helping the Romulans in the hope of diplomatic relationships, our own far regions have been without protection.

Its an unfortunate truth, but the Discovery is one of Starfleet's strongest and most advanced ships, and the need to be able to cover more distance is why we are going to be the first to receive a new propulsion upgrade.  This is providing a real test the Engineering corps; Discovery has to have this new experimental drive incorporated to both our compound and our mini warp cores.  In addition, a new direct point shielding system is being installed to assist in our defense systems.  This one is especially important to our Chief Engineer. Finally, the Discovery's unique network of photonic emitters first created for a shipwide availability of both the Emergency Medical Hologram and Emergency Command Hologram is prime for a new operating system that will incorporate holo technology within our controls.  That means the main areas of the ships, including the main bridge, main engineering. main sickbay, and main science lab, are all going through a complete remodel.  This last one I am keeping close to my chest, as I want it a surprise for the crew.

Currently to facilitate these drastic upgrades, we have separated the Primary Hull from the combined secondary hull, and only engineering personnel from the shipyards are on board.  All primary systems are offline.  That of course means my office and quarters are out for the duration, and while living quarters are no issue with my wife on Katra, working from my own ship has been difficult.

[Deck 11 - Main Engineering Lower Floor - USS Discovery]

The Captain walked around the warp reactor of the compound core as the shipbuilding staff worked diligently all around.  The majority of his crew was on leave with the exception of his senior staff, each being on call to supervise their own department.  Security and Tactical was the easiest of the departments for once.  Aside from the new defensive systems, their facilities were mostly left untouched by the remodel.  Engineering and Sickbay would be the hardest departments, especially Engineering, followed by Science and Ops.  Ops had perhaps the more fun of the work... their upgrades were all systemic and internal; afterwards they would be the first to get to play with the new PAHDs.  Photonic Assistive Holo-Displays.  The proof of concepts showed a fully 3-D holographic HUD, and that would be integrated into the Captain's chair, but to facilitate a gradual shift, the others would be slightly 3D from their existing panels.  No longer would the Okudagrams need to be reconfigured every time someone else took the station; the elements of the display would be able to be physically grabbed and moved.

As the Captain walked with his PADD (one of the first with this 'holobevel' initial 3D display), he went down the checklist of what had been done and what was left to do.  Which was a lot... but within a few hours the secondary hull would be in a functional state.  Which was good, since on top of these upgrades they would need to test them out.  The Captain's badge chimed with an incoming call.

"Captain Tekin, here. Go ahead."

"This is Katra Flight control.. you wanted to be informed when the Challenger arrived; it just entered the system."

Nevir smiled, and tapped his badge.   "Understood, give my regards to Captain Galloway.  I'm sure he'll be happy to see his old ship still kicking." 

Hi all!

2020 has been a crazy year.  ( I know this has been said so many times this year, but it bears repeating.. at least a few more times)

One of the things that has been affected is the Post of the Month.  Now these are posts that either made us laugh, impressed us, or any number of ways stood out among the others.  Normally us in the CLO submit a post based on suggestions.  But because of this year, the CLO has honestly had a few months given away.

The PotM are meant as a way of acknowledging the hard work that you the players put in, more than the semi-annual awards we do.  So to continue with this, we are going for a ship nominations, from the players, and voted by the players to submit on behalf of Discovery.

Do you believe there is a post that deserves recognition?  Post below, and we will vote on this.  I will give a week to submit posts (or after everyone does), and then give 2-3 days for voting.

EDIT:

We have two contenders for Disco's PoTM.  Please read below and vote for the one that you want.  The vote will close in 7 days.

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

It sounded crazy, admittedly... but Commander Felder was not an idiot, and certainly not blind to the strengths of others.  Especially when those strengths were rare in the Federation, but beneficial to this kind of mission.  Being raised in the currently-free Earth, there were certain facets that Felder would never have thought of... the facets that someone born in a capitalistic society like Lek seemed to know about.  Evidently the Rules of Acquisition were more accurate than the Federation gave credit to.

"I believe the Captain would agree with me on this... if anyone has insight into this kind of situation, it would have to be you.  Aye sir.... maybe...." Felder tried to think of what he could do.

"If I were to filter for deuterium as material used in the construction of cases throughout the Federation, we may be able to pinpoint sites that GU has set up equipment and see where their attention has been focused on." he said, tapping in controls.  It was still going to take longer than normal, and be more difficult, but it was something that was more specialized than just a scan through interference.

[Admin Building - Capital City - Policyon II]

T'Lara and the Captain saw their host coming out, and that is why T'Lara stopped.  But when Don finished her sentence, the Captain had to think on his feet.

"Exactly, Lieutenant.  It is entirely possible that some of the materials in the crust may be trapping some of the effects close to the planet.  We just haven't been able to really study all the possible effects from the supernova." he stated, turning to nod to Travid.

"Well now, we have a tour of our test area, and demonstrating some of the issues we have been dealing with and overcoming.  And that should be everything then.  So if you would follow me." he said, leading them all back outside into the clean air.  It was a bit more clear that there was a separation between the domed area, and the area outside the dome, as they neared the edge of the dome.  There were certainly a lot more people out there... just about all Romulan or natives to the sector in general.  However they were not being led outside the dome, instead he started them on a trail through a park area, showing native grasses and trees.  It looked like an arboretum.

[Bridge - USS Discovery]

Lek's face scrunched up at Felder's reply as the security chief was absolutely correct. This made Lek look at the problem as an engineer and he nodded as an idea came to him.

"You are correct Commander, so rather than make such an overt display of our actions, let's tone them down. If we take that same Class V probe, while not cloaked, it does have a very effective stealth coating and manually propel it out of the shuttle bay with a pneumatic launcher, it won't have any drive signature to detect and should be able to reach where we want it to be without being detected. If you concur, I can have engineering get on the launcher right away."

Welcome to a new mission!

Here is some information:

The ship has had to cross through the Hobus nebula, which means even in subspace radiation levels were extremely high.  No one on the crew will be sick or dying as a result, it just means that we need to be hyposprayed with an anti-radiation solution (think First Contact before Dr Crusher returned to the Enterprise for an example)

Discovery is currently in orbit of Policyon II.  The Policyon system is a binary star system with 4 planets and 3 belts.  Only two of the planets are terrestrial, and though both were habitable, only the second planet currently is.  There is a belt between the stars and the terrestrial worlds, a belt between the rocky worlds and the two gas giants, and then a final belt on the outskirts of the system.

Senior staff is currently in the conference room for a mission briefing.  Qualified junior officers are manning stations.  The rest can either do ship checks for leaks and radiation, or getting sprayed in sickbay.

Any and all questions can be directed to the command staff.

Enjoy and have fun!

Captain's Log, Stardate 75745.8

The Discovery is orbiting Policyon II, on the far reaches of the Hobus region.  This binary system marked the edge of the Hobus effect; the region of space where subspace itself had been burned and irradiated.  While still travelable, this now mostly empty region of nebula has required full deflector shield and anti-radiation treatments for the crew for travel, and therefore usually avoided.  This is one of those times where it is necessary to enter that space.

Policyon itself is an interesting system.  Of the two habitable planets, only one was directly struck by the Hobus radiation.  The other became a refugee planet for the regions residents, including the Romulans, and without access to the galaxy as a whole, massive mining and use of resources have devestated the planet itself, and threatens to kill off some of the last indigenous life in the region.  Not to mention the lives of almost half a billion people.

[Deck 1 - Main Conference Room - USS Discovery]

Nevir stood in front of the display panel wit the schematics and information on Policyon II.  The senior staff had already been inoculated and treated for radiation after dropping out of warp and setting into orbit.  Now it was the debriefing of their mission, and why they were here, while Sickbay handled the spraying of the rest of the crew.

"... the current clean up effort was given to Galactic United, a privateering operation specializing in terraforming restoration.  Its the same group that developed the Risan climate controls, so they are certainly experienced and capable.  We will be meeting their administration tomorrow morning.  This does mean that we will have to wait on our replacement equipment... including the new shuttle."  he stated, walking back and standing behind his chair.

Felder was the one who spoke up.  "Captain, why are we here?  The Federation doesn't regulate private businesses on their performance."

"No, we don't, Mr. Felder.  But what we do is handle concerns of our allies, in this case being the Romulan free state." he replied, wishing their liaison was still aboard.  It was nice that Discovery was now entrusted to assist without oversight, but it also meant they were responsible for intel.

"GU was hired nearly ten years ago.  In ten years, only a 5 kilometer radius section of their main city has been restored.  Some regions have even deteriorated farther.  Discovery has been tasked as a representative of the Federation and a neutral party between the two to find out why." he stated, looking to all his officers.

"Any questions?"

New mission is up!  We are starting by sciencing our way to a couple of very rare planets.  Tag to the bridge, specifically helm.

Please ask questions either here or by messaging me before posting new information.  It may fit, but it may also not fit, what the story plan is.