On behalf of Task Force 17, I’m transmitting linguacode friendship messages to you all.  The start of a new year is the perfect time for reflection and renewal.  Now that we’ve recorded all of our personal logs about the Blood Dilithium campaign, we’re charting a new course into the year ahead.  Task Force 17 is primed to join you all in deep space exploration across the four quadrants of everything Bravo Fleet has to offer!

Task Force Updates

In the earliest days of 2401, Deep Space 17 detected high energy discharges from all stellar phenomena and spatial anomalies across the Typhon Expanse.  In response, Task Force 17’s priority mission is to go forth and explore these anomalies: what are their origins, how can we protect spaceflight travellers from their hazards, and why have they supercharged after tons of blood dilithium was shunted into subspace?

We embark upon this priority mission with mixed emotions.  Since the last update, Erill’Yun Mek has stepped away as Task Force Commanding Officer, but not one moment before guiding us through the crown jewel of his most recent reign: the Blood Dilithium campaign.  With the Intelligence Office’s guidance, Mek elevated our haunted dilithium story into an intricate event that shall echo through the halls of Bravo Fleet canon forevermore!

I, Captain Andreus Kohl, have taken over as Task Force Commanding officer and that means we have a new Task Force Executive Officer among our ranks.  I’m delighted to announce that Kai, aka Captain Romaes Anjin, has been appointed as the new Task Force Executive Officer! A Bravo Fleet veteran of nearly twenty-three years, Kai most recently served as TFXO in Task Force 72 and brings a wealth of experience to the task force. You can find him writing for the new Prometheus Squadron, or aboard the USS Venture RPG. Kai will be helping to drive our activity in the coming months, so if you need any assistance with writing, creating wiki pages, coming up with competitions or taking part in gaming opportunities, feel free to reach out.

Fiction Updates

• When members of the USS Issedon’s away team went missing on a planet of telepathic pitcher plants, the remaining crew members discovered it wasn’t only the garden that needed pruning.  Captain Jamie Taylor unravelled the insidious plot of one greedy individual from the Devore Imperium trying to make a profit from blood dilithium, while Doctor Roger Harrison toiled tirelessly to protect the telepathic crew members from the deleterious effects of blood dilithium.

• In the distant Gradin Belt of the Delta Quadrant, the USS Chicago became haunted by a sensor ghost trailing their movements.  Captain Kohlir‘s hunt for blood dilithium was brought to an abrupt end when that ghost signal revealed itself to be a cloaked Hirogen ship that attacked the Chicago and destroyed her port nacelle.  Stranded alone in the Delta Quadrant, Kohlir’s crew sent out a distress call, hoping it would be received by their peers in the Fourth Fleet rather than another Hirogen hunting pack.

• Captain Carrie Metrios led her crew into a new adventure, of the self-reflection kind, when the USS Kisson was assigned to offer mental health treatment to telepathic Starfleet officers recovering from the psychic influence of blood dilithium.

• Captain Kelvin Walker and his senior staff were arrested by Starfleet under accusations of identity theft and conspiring with rogue Klingon raiders.  After the crew were imprisoned and interrogated, they were subsequently rescued by Starfleet officers.  In a plot twist, Walker learned their captors had no affiliation with Starfleet whatsoever.  The accusations against Walker were proven all the more unfounded when Walker was given command of the USS Reliant!

• After assisting the Kadi at Witheld and utilising class-V probes to send all traces of blood dilithium back into subspace, a confrontation with the Devore allowed Commander Elbon Jakkelb to draw upon past experience and get the USS Sarek out of yet another sticky situation. With their time in the Delta Quadrant at an end, the crew dealt with their recent shared trauma while returning to their old stomping ground in the Typhon Expanse. It wasn’t long before a temporal vortex provided the crew with a new mystery to solve and an opportunity for Lieutenant Yuulik to right a past wrong.

• Nearly 40 years old and following a significant refit, the USS Olympic was reassigned to Task Force 17’s Sarek Squadron, bringing together the best and brightest from Starfleet and the Romulan Free State. Commander Jeffrey Holmgren and his new team escorted the Warbird Vishatha to the Typhon Expanse on a mission to complete a survey of a site over 200 years old.

• After emerging from the protective haze of a nebula in the Gradin Belt, the USS Ulysses escaped the clutches of a Hirogen attack squadron with the tactical assistance of some old friends from the Sundered Wings fleet action: Captain Tarken of the USS Sojourner and Commander Elbon of the USS Sarek’s stardrive section.  Amid systems malfunctions and telepaths driven to rampage by blood dilithium, the Ulysses‘ victory came with a price paid in blood.  Captain Tharia sh’Elas was murdered by one of the prisoners the crew rescued from the Devore detention planet, Haess IV.  Commander Gor took command of the Ulysses and lead the crew safely home to the Alpha Quadrant.

• Prometheus Squadron has been assigned to Task Force 17!  Captian T’Prynn of the USS Intrepid and Captain Keziah Nazir of the USS Prometheus have joined forces to explore the mysteries of the Typhon Expanse and the unknowns of the Typhon Frontier beyond.  While the USS Intrepid takes the lead on exploration, the USS Prometheus’ first mission assignment is a tactical initiative to evaluate a possible threat to Federation security that emerged amid the Blood dilithium crisis.  Captain Nazir has been tasked with unravelling the security risks and political implications of Captain sh’Elas’ murder by a being from a species otherwise unknown to the Federation.

Task Force Recognition

Task Force 17 has made a terrific showing in award-winning activity this quarter! Well done to all of you who have earned new medals and badges over the last couple of months. The task force medal chest grows ever larger thanks to the following:

Awards

• Lieutenant Roger Harrison – Medal of Achievement
• Lieutenant Commander S’Lone tr’Khellian – Medal of Achievement
• Captain Romaes Anjin – Legion of Merit
• Captain Andreus Kohl – Jonathan Archer Order of Merit
• Fleet Captain Erill’Yun Mek – Rachel Garrett Order of Heroism

Promotions

• Kianaa – Cadet Sophomore Grade
• Deneva de Souza – Cadet Sophomore Grade
• C’era Shau Mr’ira – Cadet Junior Grade
• Yigehl – Cadet Junior Grade
• Kelvin Benedict Walker – Lieutenant Commander
• Andreus Kohl – Captain

Conclusion

The members of Task Force 17 have kicked off the new year with a bang!  Thank you all for the enthusiasm and affection you pour into our hobbies of roleplaying, gaming, competing and writing.  We’re so much stronger, and have tons more fun, as a community together.