Bravo Fleet
Starfleet Intelligence Division
Office of the Director of Fourth Fleet Intelligence
Starbase Bravo, Mellstoxx System
TOP SECRET – Eyes Only
From: Cmdr. Elizabeth Lockhart, Senior Intelligence Advisor
To: Adm. Alexander Beckett, Director of Fourth Fleet Intelligence
Stardate: 78938.35 (December 9, 2401)
Subject: Increased Syndicate Activity, Changeling Infiltration, and Black Market Technology
Investigations across multiple sectors have exposed an intricate network of criminal activities, ranging from weapons trafficking to smuggling stolen Federation technology. Smuggling rings and criminal networks in locations such as Freecloud, Xandaria, and the off-grid station the Jade Exchange appear to be linked to the broader sale of Daystrom tech and other classified materials. Syndicate operations may be expanding to incorporate or collaborate with other known criminal elements such as the ‘Pirate King’, while reports from Eos Station suggest a spike in other Syndicate activities that may threaten Federation security. On Duraxis, Starfleet operations were disrupted by a near-catastrophic meltdown caused by Borg-origin malware, leading to questions of how such technology reached this backwater colony. The use of illicit technology may have spread beyond the Syndicate and risks becoming a more general and diverse threat.
Additionally, recent operations have uncovered disturbing evidence of Changeling infiltration within these criminal circles. Given these developments, it is imperative that we remain alert to the possibility of further infiltrations within both Starfleet and these growing criminal enterprises.
Everything heats up in the second week of our 2024 campaign, The Devil to Pay. We’re settling in for the long haul now, with more writers getting involved all the time! It’s been a strong week – more storylines, more ships, more adventure! But don’t take my word for it. The numbers speak for themselves. So far this campaign, Bravo Fleet has produced 212,951 words across 146 stories by 27 members. That’s an incredibly steady rate of writing for this marathon, and I’m excited to see where we end up.
I’m also delighted by the level of support coming in from the members. Everyone’s enthusiastic and our Discord chatter is full of conversation about people’s stories. But more than vibes, we’ve got data to back that up, too: so far this campaign, 24 members have written a total of 319 comments, throwing feedback and support behind people’s writing!
It’s a long way to go yet, so let’s have a break and take a look at the story so far…
Week 2
Bravo Fleet Command
USS Blackbird
The Blackbird’s special operations team, the Rooks, successfully infiltrate the black market auction on the decadent Ferengi-run moon of Ilior. There they come face-to-face with Aestri, the Orion Syndicate arms dealer trying to acquire the dangerous device, the Kairos Regulator. The Rooks are forced into sabotage and subterfuge to beat Aestri at the auction, only for her to launch a violent ambush on the streets of Ilior as they return to their ship. The Rooks prevail, but make a startling discovery: Aestri was not an Orion Syndicate arms dealer at all, but a Changeling.
Constellation Squadron
The incipient Constellation Squadron continues to investigate the kidnapping of Remans who were under the care of Starfleet for medical treatment. While seeking to learn the origins of the Romulan criminal organisation they believe to be responsible, a Changeling imposter among Constellation Squadron dies in mysterious circumstances. Having infiltrated the crime gang, Flavia grows closer to learning what governments may be supporting the kidnappings, as the criminals reveal they’re developing a cure for the Remans’ sickness too.
Deep Space 19
Finding himself starting to penetrate the criminal organisation of Xandaria, Lieutenant Hawkins knows the hard work he needs to complete will come with a personal consequence. Though he has rekindled the romance with his old flame, Hawkins uses the opportunity to access the records of Briasyraa, the Orion Syndicate faction leader, he is trying to stop. After finding some buried treasure in her computer records, Hawkins quickly departs to keep up his subterfuge, however a Romulan acquaintance of his former lover keeps appearing and warns him to be careful. Meanwhile the USS Formidable has started its patrol on the edges of Federation space and discovers the arrival of ships from the Romulan Free State. Are their intentions hostile or do they share similar objectives?
Polaris Squadron
As the USS Pacific Paliasades and the Starfeet Corps of Engineers carries out much needed infrastructure improvements for the backwater colony of Duraxis, they find themselves on the wrong side of a localist movement that demands their departure. Tensions flare when a newly installed reactor suffers a near-catastrophic meltdown, and things devolve further when, as colonists take to the street to demonstrate, three protestors are shot, apparently by a Starfleet officer. Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes, a JAG investigator, and a team from the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity arrive aboard the USS Diligent to investigate, and they determine that not all is what it seems: the meltdown was caused by modified malware of Borg origin that was planted by a pair of local colonists, and the shooting appears to have been a false flag operation to frame Starfleet. Now the hunt is on to get to the bottom of how Borg technology found its way to this backwater world, and to determine who the real shooter was of the three colonists.
Back on Archanis Station, a virulent contagion with insidious anthropogenic origins is taking hold across the station. With a near 100% fatality rate, a high rate of spread, and no known cure, Rear Admiral Alex Grayson is forced to issue a shelter-in-place order and impose a quarantine around the station and nearby ships. Now, the crew must hope that these measures are enough to slow its spread, that the station’s population abides by the lockdown, and that the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity aboard the USS Polaris is able to engineer a cure because, if they don’t, there’s a high likelihood that nearly every man, woman and child aboard Archanis Station will be dead by the time the crisis is over.
USS Republic
Meeting with the information broken Ardot on the surface of Kyban, Captain MacIntyre and Commander Sadovu both learn that the rise of a new Last Pirate King was in fact feed to Starfleet Intelligence by Ardot himself, concerned that the return of such an institution and the more dangerous leanings it was adopting. He also informed them of a potential trade between the Last Pirate King and the Orion Syndicate, providing a single word of what might on the table – Genesis. Discussing all the intelligence that Starfleet has been able to compile and with some more information from Ardot, the crew of the Republic put together a potential list of places where they might be able to encounter forces loyal to this new pirate king.
Saratoga Squadron
The USS Argo is the first to arrive to where the freighter was located, they determined the raiders have left the area but not before severely damaging the freighter and stealing its cargo. Captain Nal made contact with the freighters captain to learn about what happened: their crew are injured, and they sustained considerable damage to their systems. Captain Nal had dispatched both medical and engineering to assist the freighter. Shortly after both the Triumph and Argus arrive, but they are no closer to figuring out what kind of weapon one of the raiders are using. Captain T’Prel sends the Argus to patrol the area to see if they can find these raiders.
Task Force 17
USS Yamato
The U.S.S. Yamato arrives in the Badlands. The Captain and her away team depart the ship and dock at The Jade Exchange, a Syndicate black market station. Upon their arrival, the away team has a run in with a group of black marketeers keen on salvaging Borg tech from one of the away team. The black marketeers are dealt with swiftly and the away team retire to the bar to await the beginning of the auction. Back on the Yamato, the rest of the crew can only sit and wait as the mission is underway.
Task Force 21
Eos Division
While the Division mourns the loss of Peter Mitchell, his wife Elena wrestles with the revelation that her late husband was involved with Starfleet Intelligence. Just as Ambassador Rempeck offers cryptic condolences, alarming intel about Orion activity sends Eos into high alert. Meanwhile, Commander Tindal oversees heightened patrols aboard the USS Edison as Orion activity increases across the sector. As Rempeck provides critical intelligence on a dangerous weapons cache tied to Nichols, Elena must weigh the risk of trusting the Ambassador while coordinating with Tindal and the Edison crew to intercept the Orions before their mission spirals out of control.
Task Force 47
Canterbury Division
The Canterbury away team continue with their infiltration of the auction selling stolen Federation weapons technology. However, they discover that their ally has undisclosed affiliations with the very group they are targeting…
Task Force 72
USS Albion
A moment of revenge from Commander Samantha Hyland’s recent past returns to haunt her present as the new XO aboard the Inquiry-class USS Albion. A former crewmate is framed for a crime that she did not commit, masquerading as the crime that she did commit. A desperate denizen of the criminal underworld exercises her flair for Machiavellian deceit to blackmail Sam into perpetrating an audacious heist of suicidal proportions. Trapped between the antipodes of loyalty and duty, Sam Hyland is faced with an impossible mission, break her word or break the law?
USS Fresno
The crew of the USS Fresno managed to flush a smuggling ship out of the Pieris system during their last mission. Starfleet Intelligence was able to use their scans to eventually ID this ship and point them to Freecloud. Suspecting that the smugglers might have something to do with all of the recent surfacing of stolen Daystrom tech, the engineers of Fresno are forced to step up their game and insert themselves covertly onto Freecloud by booking passage on a starliner. While Lieutenant Commander Dren Lor and Ensign Revek look for any leads on sales or auctions of illicit tech, the rest of the team will be finding a way to get aboard the smuggling ship to snoop around and see if they can identify just what the vessel had been transporting to Freecloud.
Task Force 86
USS da Vinci
In a joint operation involving crew members from the USS da Vinci and USS Jaxartes; along with the former covert operative, known as Chameleon, a small Nausicaan pirate ship has been acquired for the next part of their operation to track down the stolen Starfleet vessel. In the very capable hands of Lieutenant Stuart, they are hoping to attract the attention of one of Navaar Orci ships and in doing so get closer to the Orion leader. However, having lost contact with the Broker, several days ago, she is heading off to make her own plans.
USS Truckee
The USS Truckee has been redirected from its second contact mission to join the fleet-wide effort to track down the illicit sale of Federation tech. The crew of the Truckee faced off against a pirate vessel on their last mission, and had opted to track down their base of operations in search of a lead. The Truckee set course for a nebula hiding an asteroid base with the hope of picking up the trail…