Mess Hall: USS South Carolina
0513 HRS
Rayean Transit Corridor
(TF Timeline) Day of Annex
The main lights were dim, set at their low level for the night shift, anyone who entered the mess hall for their breakfast now would be greeted with no less than 3 tables covered in padds containing various intelligence briefings, ship movements and Commanding Officer logs and enough coffee mugs unreturned to fill a small cafe on Earth. Feeling tired and frustrated, Kara continued to stroke her right temple in a circular motion as she read the same line from the padd in her left hand for the third time, clearly unable to take in the details it contained.
It had been just over a week since she had received word from Command that she was to halt all her work on the propulsion project she had spent the last 2 years at Avalon Fleet Yards spearheading and assume command of Task Force 93, had Command not sweetened the deal with allowing her to place her Flag on DS6 so that she could once again be close to Roman, she would have strongly objected to leaving her project.
Now though, sitting in the small mess hall of the cramped Defiant Class starship that Roman had sent to collect her from AFY, head about to explode from the amount of information she had attempted to consume, she had wished she had put up more of a fight in accepting the position in active operations again. Kara took a sip from her now cold coffee and attempted to read the latest report from Deep Space Six on this so called ‘Sovereignty of Kahless’ that she had been hearing so much about. Long range scans and sensor data passed on by the SS Warden had suggested that the Klingon rebels had went into open confrontation with the Klingon Defence Force and had ramped up their movements along the Federation border, before she could read another line, Kara was suddenly thrown to the floor, swiftly followed by a combination of padds, empty coffee mugs and cold coffee as the alert klaxons in the roof and bulkhead around Kara beamed bright red, from the floor she slammed her comm badge “Thrace to bridge….report” she demanded, utilising the table Kara had, only seconds ago, to stabilise herself to her feet.
“Torpedo hit to the starboard nacelle” called Commander Lenord Denton, the CO of the South Carolina for this mission, Kara could recall Roman talking about him being recently promoted to XO of DS6. “Did you say Torpedo?” Kara asked, unsure if the noise from the alert klaxons had muffled Dentons report “Yes man, unknown origin, we have dropped out of warp” There was a short pause and some muffled discussions in the background before Lenord Dentons voice came through on the comm system “Ma’am, we have 2 Klingon Birds of Prey decloaking directly ahead…. Wait… make that 2 fore and 2 aft…we’re surrounded”
Kara didn’t bother to answer, she had read enough over the last few days in her reports to know exactly what was happening
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News from Task Force 93!
- Starbase Bravo: In the aftermath of the Battle of Hawkeye Island, Starfleet command has decided to rebuild Starbase Bravo in orbit of Raeya III. The new starbase is an unity class to show how Starfleet wants to work towards a peaceful Raeya Sector Block. Delegations from all race in the quadrant meet for the grand opening of the Starbase which will be used as the new command center for Task Force 93.
- Hawkeye Island: The crew of Hawkeye Island continue to investigate the abnormal actives in the abandoned science complex. The have found a nest of creatures created by the crazy scientist who plans to unleash them on the island. She had apparently been working with the Eternal Light and rebel forces on Raeya III. At the command centre, the acting XO is battling political turmoil as a member of the Raeya III government arrived to discuss a political alliance.
- USS Hypatia: Hypatia arrives at a Science conference at the request of Admiral Tovok. The Admiral is reassigning Hypatia and her crew to work as an a Emergency Response Vessel.
- USS Sirona: The implications of the events of this mission are complicated to say the least, having recently been stuck in the Mirror Universe dealing.
- USS Ajax: Understaffed, but ready nonetheless, the USS Ajax departs Starbase 611 after a successful refit cycle. With barely enough crew to be considered operational, it will be a difficult beginning to the current rotation, but the Ajax and her crew will carry on in the best traditions of the ship and her name. Unbeknownst to all but Lieutenant Tigan, the Ajax and her crew have been requisitioned by Starfleet Intelligence as a localized, mobile asset in the Raeyan Sector Block and given fully independent status, rather than being administratively tethered to Starbase 611 as a ‘Garrison Vessel’. With so much effort being focused on the region along the Klingon Border due to the ongoing civil war within the empire, Lieutenant Tigan orders the Ajax towards the Romulan Neutral Zone to patrol the area and look out for pirates or smugglers along the border region.
- USS Shanghai:The Crew raced to the New Anchorage system where they have their anchor colony, planning their tactics as they raced through slipstream. As Klingons beset the USS Warspite, the Shanghai finally entered the fray. With at least six birds of prey on the field, a disabled Sovereign, and an unarmed hope class. The Vesta entered the battle with a string of micro warp jumps, attempting to throw off the Klingons as best they could, but as soon as that plan was revealed the Klingon’s lead ship arrived – a Negh’Var class decloaking and entering the battle. With little other option, the Shanghai turned to face its new foe. Its fighters worked to handle the birds of prey, and the crew of the Shanghai was a bit torn on whether they should risk breaking the temporal directives to assist the Warspite.
- USS Atlantis: In orbit of a Quantum Mechanical Black Hole near the Neethia system, the Atlantis sound a strange object that, upon further analysis, we realized was an artifact of the long-extinct Rall Empire, a culture that disappeared 35,000 years ago. However, the object itself, which we learn was fired from the planet Aione II 31,000 years ago. Something Rall survived the fall of their civilization.First Contact with the Rall did not go as planned. The Atlantis has been taken over, with most of her crew transferred to Rall prison ships. Our chief engineer is being forced to fix the engines for them, while our XO undermines his efforts. The chief flight control officer has absconded with our shuttlepod, the Magnus, to find help, and she has made contact with the USS Findlay. Fascinated by the mixed-species nature of both our Counselor and her unborn child, the Rall saw in us a chance to solve their current crisis. They will use our ship to take them back to the stars, and want our crew to breed with the native Aioneans, their food stock, to improve their genetic diversity. Some of our crew complied with the Rall order. Others have resisted. Some have suffered, But the time to retake our ship is rapidly approaching…
- USS Armstrong, USS Devonshire and USS Valiant have joined the Task Force recently and just getting started. I know I am looking forward to see what comes out of these three.
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Canon Updates
There are several canon updates in progress or ready for you to have a read through! With the closing of the Gorn story arc, the Task Force canon will be focusing more on the Romulan and Klingon side of the TF bringing an awesome opportunity for compelling storytelling.
- Sovereignty of Kahless– A revised back story to the SoK has been established to bring them more in line with what we will be working on as a Task Force, please have a read through their page and intelligence brief.
- Deep Space Six– Having spent years being over run with Romulan refugees and overworked trying to relocate these refugees, Deep Space 6 finds itself thrust back into action on the front line with the recent SoK activity in the Rayean Transit Corridor.
- Task Force Wide Mission Arc – Coming soon….. Watch this space.
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Bravo Fleet and Task Force 93!
There are some new policies in place regarding sim activity levels, which I know sounds scary out of context. These new classifications give you the power to tell your story, your way, without having to be worried about volume – I would strongly urge all COs to look over the new policy shift and determine which classification is best for you, your crew, and the stories you’re trying to weave.
Bravo Fleets First Competition is live – I’d love to see plenty of great entries from TF93 in our Design a Logo Competition
Our Task Groups have been re-organised to form some structure around the Task Forces Area of Operations and bring in some much needed nostalgia to the Task Force
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In Conclusion
Well it’s only been just over a week and what a week it has been, I’ve been really amazed at the engagement and activity levels of every player within the Task Force, I can’t wait to see what we can do together.
Coming up with be the announcement and final details of the TF wide mission arc, the Task Force fiction site on DS6 going live and lots of joint posts.
Keep doing what you’re doing, writing great stories and hosting great games.
Jolan Tru, Quapla’, Peace & Long Life