Bravo Fleet
It’s the end of Phase 2’s competitions, so I hope you all got your submissions in for puzzles, writing, ribbon races, the works! But here in the storytelling mines, Horizon continues!
Week 5 (21st – 27th August)
USS Vesta
Tempers flare as the starship approaches Kepara Colony in search of ancient Tkon technology. Chief tactical officer Lieutenant Loian challenges XO Commander Derohl in a heated debate over the validity of their captain’s orders. The pair exchange some home-truths in front of the rest of the bridge crew, initially unaware that Captain Adams is watching from the wings…
USS Atlantia
Tekris, a local farm boy is shown a strange item by his friends – a contraption decorated with unusual symbols that they discovered whilst exploring in a cave. Tentatively, Tekris agrees to meet his friends that night to go searching to see if they can find anything similar in the caves on the outskirts of town…
USS Centaur
The Centaur is sent to investigate an unknown installation in the Oros system, one made of unusual materials, in orbit of a planet of a pre-warp civilisation. A runabout team is dispatched to bypass the debris field surrounding it while the Centaur conducts repairs. The away team disembarks in EV suits, only to soon encounter a robotic identified as ‘KR’ curious of their presence, who enlists their assistance in repairing the station.
Upon KR’s sudden but inevitable betrayal, the robot plunges the facility on a course with the planet, and they are forced to vent him into space to be destroyed by their runabout’s weapons. The team scrambles to restore power to the installation so it can maintain orbit, and beam matter, anti-matter, and a photon grenade into the reactor chamber at the exact right time and right level to reignite the core. With the installation stabilised and power restored, the team finally has access to the databases, and discover they have all along been stood upon a vast repository of information on the Tkon…
USS Atlantis
The Atlantis’s crew continue their investigations, confirming the Borg drone to be dead and inert. While first officer MacIntyre remains suspicious of his captain’s odd behaviour, cooperation with the People in the uncovering of the tomb carries on peacefully – until a self-defence measure is triggered. A subspace alert transmitted from the planet draws the attention of a nearby Vaadwaur task group, which the Atlantis has no choice but to use force to defeat. With a Tkon artifact recovered from the surface and a group of Vaadwaur survivors in the brig, Captain Theodoras has several hard choices before her on her next move.
USS Endeavour
With their captain cut off and hunted in the streets of Jhorkesh, Endeavour’s Hazard Team is forced into a dangerous fight to free their runabout and rescue him in the nick of time. Once back aboard, Captain Rourke explains that their mission was a failure: the smuggler Argus has been interred in a Romulan prison camp, and his crew have no means of accessing his archives. Rourke contacts Command and formulates, with the assistance of Starfleet Intelligence, a plan to break Argus out of the minor borderlands Romulan prison camp Tagrador, an operation that he embarks on himself, along with Strategic Operations Officer Lieutenant Dathan, against the protestations of his XO Commander Valance.
The mission goes awry, Rourke betrayed by an Intelligence asset who decides to collect the bounty rather than receive payment from Starfleet, and he and Dathan are imprisoned in Tagrador itself. As Rourke is confronted by a Romulan officer who challenges him over his destruction of the IRW Erem, Commander Valance tries to rally her inexperienced officers in mounting a rescue – until acting XO Lieutenant Thawn forces her to see that her only choice is to take a chance, release the seasoned officers in the brig, and trust her long-time rival Lieutenant Kharth…
USS Arcturus
Crew left behind on the USS Arcturus during her previous mission are forced to navigate their duties with half-truths and obfuscations from their superior officers. From the lowliest engineers worrying about loved ones on the away mission, to operations managers forced to deal with bolshy ensigns taking shuttles on mysterious expeditions, to the first officer Captain Rakan herself left in the dark, the reunion of Arcturus’s saucer and hull sections does not provide the illumination anyone had hoped for…
USS Nova
The runabout team on the Trent investigate the mountain ranges of Koruku III, and recover a piece of ancient technology aeons old. Vex and Harrington consult on their findings, and conclude they lack the facilities on their runabout to continue the investigation. They agree to return to Starbase 72, but suspect Koruku III has still further mysteries to be uncovered…
USS Galileo
In the aftermath of the mission to Koruku III, Commander Harrington is assigned command of the USS Galileo, a ship with a past enough to make even seasoned officers superstitious. After a tumultuous encounter with his new first officer, Harrington begins the Galileo’s mission.
USS Odyssey
Signs of the Tkon Empire have been found on the world of Outré, but the crew soon begins to suspect the ancient empire itself may not be wholly responsible for the planet’s oddities. Outré itself seems to have been artificially altered on a massive scale, terraformed to a level beyond present Federation methods – and on multiple occasions, bringing its natural resources closer to the surface for easier access and contributing to its biological richness. Further secrets among the ruins are accessed and explored, including a trove in the underground complex, but one of the most telling discoveries is equipment giving the crew access to a holographic program. After a difficult conversation, they uncover the truth of Outré. Its people fashioned themselves and their world in the manner of the Tkon to draw their attention, but were largely overlooked.
Star charts recovered from the ruins, however, show Odyssey their next clue: a Tkon outpost believed to be in the centre of what the people of Outré called the Belt of the Tkon Outreach, a region of space beset with a vast number of artificially-placed spatial disturbances. If there are secrets of the Tkon themselves to be found, they must be at the end of such a dangerous voyage…
USS Elysion
Downtime after their fraught encounter with Omega and the Tuurei gives the Elysion’s crew a chance to contemplate what they’ve just been through – and give voice to doubts on their captain’s decisions. Meanwhile, Ransom has had his first officer transferred off the ship for his insubordination, leaving him relying on the trust Chief Banquo as he embarks on his next mission: uncovering secrets of the Tkon. A meeting with an information broker of the Delta Quadrant points him towards Abaddon’s Repository, a junkyard where all manner of possible secrets lie – but which it will take a trip through underspace to reach.
Starbase 86
The sweep of the Azure Nebula for Omega continues, as does the blockade of the border. News of the latest Starfleet priority – hunting the Tkon – prompts an exchange of resources and knowledge with allies in the KDF, though the sharing is not without its fraught difficulties, and Klingon policy clashes with Starfleet. At last, a compromise is extracted: a limited exchange of information, including Starfleet access to a Klingon archaeological site in the nebula that may contain further information on the Tkon…
Vondem Rose
After successfully escorting the freighter Costaguana to her destination, Captain Sadovu is forced to face one of her most irritating opponents yet: Starfleet customs inspectors. By exploiting loopholes in import laws, turning a safety red flag into a repair opportunity, and reminding Starfleet of her work protecting the space lanes, Sidda soon enough ensures the Rose can be back on her way, delivering her precious, difficult cargo.
Roosevelt Station
Her mission into Cardassian space necessitating the aid of civilian assets, Commander Enigma secures the assistance – and a ship – from her Betazoid family of House Starling. With a mixed team of Betazoid civilian and Starfleet officers joining her, Enigma makes ready to face the challenges awaiting them on Cardassia.
USS Heracles
The Heracles and her crew investigate the world of Megara. Study leads them to another nearby star system – and a Tkon outpost. But exploration soon enough meets the significant challenges of Tkon defence systems that repel the team through instantaneous teleportation, and the away team is forced to consider a new approach.
USS Sutherland
Investigation of a Tkon artifact acquired by the Sutherland leads Captain MacLeod and his Science Officer to the Romulan Republic colony world of Mol’Ecurai. There they discover an underground complex in the jungle, Tkon in origin, and secure a great deal of scans, data, and information. While the Republic insists the complex’s discovery be classified, MacLeod is successful in returning to his ship with a lot of data – but very few answers.
Lead Expeditionary Force
Lieutenant Karai’s participation in the examination of ruins on M-113 leaves her confused and suspicious of the behaviour of her superior officers. Taking surreptitious scans of the site, she conducts her own examination of the findings, and stumbles upon one of the causes of concern for Captain Riano: the presence of the Tkon. Curious still, Lieutenant Karai consults with the archaeologist Doctor Jawanda, expert on the Tkon, and they compare notes.
USS Ahwahnee
On his mission to Gorman III, Captain Vordenna is forced to contend not only with the solitude or the uncertain challenges before him, but above all, the weather. Attempts to avoid the pre-warp people fall short, as Vordenna falls prey to a literal trap that casts him into unconsciousness. Taken to a nearby village by a local, Vordenna awakens and is left unsure if he has been rescued or captured. One thing is, however, clear: that sat above the mantelpiece in this humble home of a pre-warp people is a powerful, ancient Tkon weapon.