Stationed

The promenade on Starbase 86 was alive. Travelers poured from docked transports into the bustling throng. Hawkers, restaurateurs, officials, priests and all manner of ship’s personnel milled in and around each multi-tiered walkway. Market stalls formed a thin line along the length of the promenade’s bottom level. Humanoids jostled with tentacled Glexians selling lemtret fruit. A tall Edosian in a long, flowing tribble-fur robe swept ostentatiously past as a group of Tygarians haggled over a vendor’s last clutch of taspar eggs. Jestral tea flowed from three large metallic urns, the steam from which wafted an earthy aroma out over a crowd that had gathered around a krix-harp player. The soft, lullaby notes had a calming effect on passersby. Some stood only for a few seconds, others for half an hour or more; dragged by the music, however briefly, from the path of the ever-turning wheels of commerce.

Starbase ops was an oasis of comparative calm. Port control monitored communications from a small fleet of Klingon battlecruisers, soon to embark on a quest for new glories in the Delta Quadrant. An Engineering team huddled over an MSD pool table, conducting that morning’s diagnostic and debug routine. The Chief Science Officer sat in her booth, raktajino in hand, reviewing a series of reports disseminated from the latest expedition to the Azure Nebula. A chime sounded, a voice announced as a matter of protocol, “Outer sensor net reads vessel inbound, bearing one-six-two mark seven,” there was a pause as further information populated the officer’s display, “Sovereign Class, prefix NCC-75504, USS Majestic.”

Perched in one of the station’s four upper tower complexes, The Task Force 86 operations area was also beginning its day. Captain Felrak Vordenna shifted uncomfortably at the desk in his office. Both desk and room were considerably larger than those he would have normally occupied aboard the Ahwahnee. Nevertheless, he sighed as report after report pinged through to his monitor. His thick, reptilian fingers ran across the peach fuzz on his scaly head. The door sounded. He looked up and spied the bulky Tellarite through the translucent glass.

“Tursk!” He exclaimed, altogether more enthusiastically than intended at the chance to avoid the morning reports. The computer rightly interpreted the outburst and the doors slid open.

“Flagship’s here,” his wrinkled face beamed.

Felrak rose from his seat, “Thank the Conservators…”

Tursk stepped in further, “Thought you might have settled in by now. I could certainly get used to it here. This place has the best arboretum I’ve seen. Even the Klingons seem impressed.”

“Yes, thank you Commander for reminding me of what I could be up to if I wasn’t stuck behind this desk.” Felrak frowned, “Personally I’m rather looking forward to onboarding Captain Mek. I’m sure he’ll be far better equipped to deal with…” he glanced towards the monitor, “The growing smuggling operation on Rutia IV…”

Tursk raised a hairy eyebrow, “I don’t know, sir, if you ask me it seems like you’ve been handling it well enough. Cross-border crime’s been through the roof since we’ve been dealing with the chaos D’Ghor left behind.”

“That’s just the thing, Tursk.” Felrak appeared wistful, “I don’t hate station life. The work’s valuable. There’s plenty to do. You can wander the decks for days. The problem is that it’s just all so… Stationary.”

Previously, in TF86

• Some time in 2156, Earth starship Pioneer is lost with all hands while attempting to escape from a Klingon minefield and an attacking bird of prey.
• On July 21st, 2156, Phoenix NX-08 is launched from Earth Drydock under the command of Captain Nat Lopez. After responding to a distress call from ECS freighter Calvary, she is attacked by the Romulan warship Decius.
• On June 28th, 2374, Lieutenant Commander Rebecca Sandoval is recalled to active service having previously resigned her Starfleet commission following the destruction of USS George Washington at the Battle of Wolf 359.
• On June 6th, 2388, flagship USS Majestic reaches Starbase 86, transporting Captain Erill’Yun Mek to assume command of the Fourth Fleet’s Task Force 86. Captain Felrak Vordenna stands relieved.

Where We’re Going

As part of our ongoing lore development, we now have an Infobase page for our base of operations; Starbase 86. This is still under development, but it’s hoped that the page will be a good jumping off point into the wider TF lore for players who have not yet got their avatar ships. After some discussion on Discord (thanks again to all who took part), we’ve settled on the USS Majestic as our flagship. Mentioned above in the intro to the report, she’s a Sovereign Class and will have a permanent home at Starbase 86. As an NPC ship, anyone writing fiction in our TF86 area of Relay Station Bravo will be able to interact and add her to their stories.

Next steps are to create infobase pages for the Majestic, and to start work on an NPC crew for the ship and station. Our story is developing too. As hinted above, illicit smuggling and pirate activity is now on the rise in The Triangle region after the shake-up that was the Archanis Campaign. This is beginning to spill over the border into Federation space. This development is unacceptable to TF86 command and must be dealt with swiftly in the coming months!

TF 86 Competitions

Very pleased to announce the winners of the TF86 May competitions! Extremely strong showing from everyone who entered, and the results were tight.

The champion wormhole travelers are:

3rd Place – Kitashahi reaching level 11

2nd Place – Treylana Hess reaching level 11 (tie broken in Treylana’s favour due to an earlier submission)

1st Place – bri.white reaching level 25 and completing the game! Amazing!

Our premier pirate whackers are:

3rd Place – Capierno with 3100 points

2nd Place – Darthcrusader with 3250 points

1st Place – Aelle with a mind boggling 3380 points!

Our members with magnificent memories are:

3rd Place – Aelle with a time of 44 seconds

2nd Place – bri.white with a time of 39 seconds

1st Place – LadyBlue with a lightning fast time of 34 seconds!

Well done all, and it was great to see so many competitive entries. Medals are forthcoming! Wherever you are in the fleet, have a great June.

~Captain Felrak Vordenna, Task Force 86 Commanding Officer