Bravo Fleet
Here we are! At the end of the first week of Phase 2 and the halfway mark of Echoes of the Tkon! As we dive into the next stage of adventure and exploration in a race to save the galaxy, I gotta say: Whether you’re writing the pursuit of knowing on the Tkon, or about the continued challenges of the ongoing Omega Crisis, you are all absolutely knocking it out of the park, and it has been a joy to read your work.
Week 4 (14th – 20th August)
USS Odyssey
With Odyssey’s first officer resigning after the controversies of their previous mission, Captain McCallister appoints Commander Duncan as his new XO. Instructions from Starfleet to investigate any leads on the ancient Tkon Empire seem irrelevant to the ship in the far-off Delta Quadrant, and the crew focuses their efforts on studying the world of Outré, rich in resources and a prime opportunity for some much-needed shore leave. Scientists leap at the chance to return to their mission of exploration, and Captain McCallister makes the most of this time to take leave with his sons and build a closer bond with his new first officer on a beach excursion.
But studies of the planet suggest it has been cultivated, rather than grown wild, and underground surveys stumble upon the ruins of an ancient civilisation. At the same time, Captain McCallister discovers wreckage strewn on a beach that leads him on a mission to explore deep under the sea’s surface. All over the world the Odyssey’s crew come across the same signs: there were once Tkon on Outré…
USS Nova
As the runabout Trent drops out of warp at Koruku III, Commander Vex orders his crew to descend through the stormy atmosphere to the planet surface below. Once in position, the Starfleet team discuss options on how to displace the native population, and are forced to conclude nothing will work so well as an attack. Mindful to not harm the locals, the order nevertheless comes to destroy storehouses and infrastructure from the air, which terrifies and drives the populace away. With a relief team in orbit, the runabout’s mission concludes successfully, leaving the officers troubled and disturbed by what they have done.
USS Atlantis
The Atlantis is sent to investigate a Tkon Delta Quadrant outpost, identified by starcharts recovered from a private collector. Captain Theodoras consults the experts among her crew on what to expect of the Tkon, but continues to obscure the true purpose of their mission from her staff. Upon arrival at the outpost system, the Atlantis finds another vessel there, the captain alleging they are seeking a missing ship, and the two crews make common cause.
Starfleet begin their investigation of the dig site, their early findings including bodies buried under rubble – and discover the remains of not just a Vaadwaur, but a Borg drone.
USS Vesta
The Vesta’s last, controversial mission proves to cost the crew not only their disobedient science officer, but their chief medical officer. As Captain Adams secures new senior staff and the crew reel from the changes, she is briefed to embark on a hunt for Tkon technologies – back on Kepara, the world they all thought they had left behind…
USS Atlantia
Captain Hess’s troubles are interrupted by a new mission: the investigation of a Tkon ship lost on a world in the Delta Quadrant. As home to a pre-warp civilisation, Starfleet has left the world uninvestigated – until now.
USS Endeavour
In pursuit of knowledge on the Tkon, Endeavour seeks out the private archives of the Fae Diwan, a monastic order of truth-seekers in the Romulan Republic. Negotiation with the monks leads them to a series of star charts suggesting the Tkon moved another star system from the same cluster as Horizon’s original location, but the records are incomplete. With the rest of the collection in the hands of a salvager named Argus, Endeavour travels to the Neutral Zone world of Jhorkesh, a hub of commerce and smuggling immediately beyond the border with the Romulan Star Empire. But the away team meets two challenges: first, the discovery that Argus has been thrown in a Romulan prison, and second, that the Romulan Star Empire has issued a bounty for Captain Rourke – one the local forces intend to collect.
SS Vondem Rose
Personal business for Captain Sidda is interrupted by an intercepted distress call from the freighter Costaguana, under attack from Orion raiders. The Vondem Rose stages a timely rescue, and learns of the cargo stolen by the raiders: ancient artifacts of high importance to Starfleet. Smelling an opportunity, Sidda commits to recovering the cargo and escorting the Costaguana to New Providence, in exchange for a cut of the profits. A successful assault on the raiders’ asteroid base puts the Tkon artifacts, and more loot beyond, into the Rose’s hands.
USS Heracles
The Heracles is ordered back into the Gamma Quadrant in search of a Tkon world. They discover a mysterious system whose makeup defies scientific explanation, where they are challenged by ships of a previously unknown species. Captain Vax talks them down from a confrontation to arrange a meeting, and acquires from them a Tkon idol and encrypted device. Decrypting it gives them a heading to a new system, to which they travel with their new ally Thý’ella, only to be intercepted by a series of Romulan warbirds. The Romulan Commander demands Vax hand over the Tkon items, and when the captain refuses, battle breaks out, and the Romulans are defeated. With the system secured, the Heracles sends an away team to the surface of the world their map directed them to, where they find ancient technology and download its database.
Roosevelt Station
Commander Enigma is ordered to continue investigation of the Tkon artifact recovered from within Breen territory, an investigation directing her to the Cardassian home system itself. The crisis overriding all other political concerns, Enigma taps old friends, contacts, and even family to secure access to Cardassia, and an incognito ship for her journey…