The Lost Fleet

Members of Bravo Fleet: I’m happy to announce that we will be launching our 4th Fleet Action on Friday, May 5th. Yes, that is two weeks away! So, why did we wait until now to announce it? Picard Season 3. We wanted to be sure that we cleared the hurdle that was PIC S3 before we announced it. Now that the season is over, I’m happy to present to you:

It wasn’t a ship. It was dozens – hundreds. Soaring through the aperture in the mere seconds of its existence, spilling not just before the Sef but past it, encircling it. Trojet was no engineer, but any scholar of wormholes had inevitably seen at least footage of these warships. With their purplish hue, with the beetle-like build of the smaller vessels, there was no mistaking their design.

 

‘What the hell are Dominion ships doing here?’ Trojet snapped at Fillian. ‘And how did they come through this wormhole?’

 

‘I’m scanning them!’ Fillian’s voice was borderline hysterical, but he was acting, hands moving smoothly over the sensor control. Perhaps he had some nerve under pressure after all. ‘They’re at full battle stations, Doctor; weapons armed and shields raised!’

 

For his part, Trojet could only gape, even when the comm systems chirruped to life with an incoming hail. Rather than establish a full connection, Trojet fumbled so badly with the controls he only established a one-way audio link, and the bridge filled with a brusque, angry voice.

 

‘Unknown vessel, identify yourself!’

 

Rather than reply, Trojet gave Fillian a startled look. ‘We’re a Federation science ship, why are they acting like we’re a threat?’

 

‘Doctor…’ The assistant looked up. ‘Something’s very wrong here.’

 

‘I know that! The Dominion have stayed in their space for decades – did we just open a wormhole on top of one of their Gamma Quadrant fleets?’

 

‘I don’t think so.’ Filian worked his jaw, clearly unsure of his own words before he made an attempt. ‘I did a full scan to figure out their origins, and factored in disruptions to space and time. Doctor, judging by this reading of their quantum particles, these ships are from the year 2374.’

 

The colour drained from Trojet’s face. ‘That’s not possible.’

You can read the full opening story for Fleet Action IV: The Lost Fleet here.

We originally developed the concept for this Fleet Action and its plot back in December and January. We went with an idea that we thought for sure Picard wouldn’t touch. What would Picard have anything to do with the Dominion? Then we got a few episodes into S3 and thought… oh crap. But we’re safe, and we’re happy to bring this Fleet Action to you that we think will be a blast, and a lot of effort has gone into making the story as fun as possible for everyone. The best part of this story is that since it launches May 5th, 2023, it will take place before Season 3 of Picard due to our 2:1 ratio of OOC to IC years (so every year in the real world is only 6 months in-universe). So this is a prelude to those events with a tie-in of some Changeling mischief. 😉 I’m also happy to announce (yes, this early) that we’re planning a second Fleet Action in the late summer to fall time period. We’ve actually been planning to do two Fleet Actions this year for a while now, but the stars aligned as if by… perfection… for us, and I think that’s worth announcing now.

But, in the here and now! This Fleet Action will have a similar layout to both Echoes of the Tkon and Sundered Wings so not many changes there. However, something new we’re trying this time based on feedback from the membership is that there will be a large bank of mission concepts for each person’s writing across the Fleet Action, each of which were personally created and cultivated by a member of the Bravo Fleet Senior Staff. These concepts will be Mission Briefings that people will be able to pull from and claim as their own with varying degrees of difficulty and detail to hopefully suit people’s tastes and schedules. So, best not to try and start writing now when these Mission Briefings will be up for grabs! You are, of course, welcome to your own stories as well!

Look for more announcements as we get closer to launch! And remember, Victory is Life.