A month ago, it began: the Blackout. In pockets of space across the known expanses of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, in every government’s territory, from barren frontiers to the beating hearts of civilisations, subspace changed. Harmonic oscillations began fluctuating at an unprecedented and unpredictable level, leading to a catastrophic failure of all technology reliant upon the stability of subspace to function. Interstellar communications broke down. Warp drive failed.

The Blackout was not total. Some regions were entirely untouched, watching in horror as territories near and far went completely dark on communications, sensors, and became unreachable. Other sectors were unaffected, but found themselves surrounded by these bubbles of unstable subspace such that travel or communication beyond a dozen light-years was impossible – or required vast, circuitous routes. Some were left completely in the dark: systems cut off from even the nearest star, ships thrown from warp and stranded in deep space, unable to reach aid, unable to call for help.

Across the Federation, Romulan territories, the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union, chaos threatened, born of panic and lost resources, with their governments incapable of providing resolution or even answers. It could have been the greatest crisis since the invasion of the Borg. Then it got worse.

A year ago, Underspace tunnels opened across and beyond known space, unleashing the chaotic potential of a subspace network of corridors spanning the galaxy until it was forced closed by Cardassian scientists. When those apertures to subspace opened again during the Blackout, some thought it was the answer: access to these passageways, however hazardous, could reconnect the splintered galaxy. Until through dozens, hundreds of these apertures, flooded ships. Fleets. An invasion.

They called themselves the Vaadwaur, aliens from the furthest depths of the Delta Quadrant, whose empire had once spanned territories more vast than warp travel could allow. Masters of Underspace, they had ruled until a millennium ago, when an alliance of their enemies and uprising vassals overthrew and destroyed them – or so they believed. A surviving battalion was found and saved by the crew of the USS Voyager on their journey home, who went on to find other survivors, and banded together to form a new Vaadwaur Supremacy.

It was they who were behind Underspace’s reawakening a year ago, a harbinger of things to come. Now they strike across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, their ships flooding through the tunnels to emerge at sites they deem worth raiding, occupying… or razing.

Some places, particularly the better-defended, they have simply hit on lightning-fast strikes, taking advantage of surprise and the Blackout to leap from Underspace. Then they devastate fleets and fleet-yards and centres of commerce, infrastructure, and civilisation before disappearing back through Underspace, leaving chaos in their wake and making off with whatever valuable resources or technology they can seize.

Elsewhere, their intention is to take territory, and their intention is to hold it. Where infrastructure can be turned to their advantage, where riches can be seized and held, or simply where they believe their enemy needs a conquering boot pressed hard on their neck, the Vaadwaur fleets have arrived and they have stayed. They devastate local task groups, orbital defences; drop ground troops and seize control of star systems to harness their benefits or simply to prove their domination. With the Blackout, their control of an area need not be absolute; with the Blackout, forces in a neighbouring system may be unable to reach a conquered territory to liberate it. Or they may be free, but too few in number to stage a counter-attack and cut off from reinforcements themselves, only able to rally, and plan, and stand in futility. The Vaadwaur will come for them soon.

In some places, the Vaadwaur’s strikes have been even more violent. Rather than attacking to secure a strategic foothold or raid for resources, some worlds have simply been targeted for violence, their essential infrastructure destroyed, or even populations slaughtered. This last seems not to be cruelty for cruelty’s sake, with the Vaadwaur using their Underspace-based communications systems to parade their atrocities across the galaxy. They are warnings and they are threats and they strike at the very hope of their helpless enemies.

Through what few long-range sensor arrays can pierce the Blackout, and from the Vaadwaur’s open, taunting celebrations announcing to the galaxy where they have struck and where they have conquered, the Federation has some idea of the scope of the invasion. They know they are not the only power to be targeted, that every major power of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants has been hit, and most of the more minor ones. It seems the Vaadwaur’s plan has been to somehow orchestrate the Blackout, strike and establish strategic footholds and, now, to fortify and to wait, as the Blackout chokes the life and hope out of their opponents. Or, perhaps, more forces are coming. Perhaps a fleet will find its way everywhere through Underspace eventually.

Starfleet is incapable of orchestrating a coordinated assault, as there is no means for its chain of command to universally communicate. Captains and task units are largely taking their response upon themselves. The one exception to this is the Fourth Fleet, whose place as a unit with a galaxy-wide force on the cutting edge of every crisis has left them uniquely prepared for this.

Fourth Fleet Engineering has reactivated and repurposed the technology behind Project Pathfinder, using the narrow window of a passing pulsar to open a micro-wormhole. Through this, a series of one-way messages have been sent to the Fourth Fleet’s captains, appraising them of the situation and giving them their orders. Wherever possible, they are to assist in efforts against the Vaadwaur with the following mission priorities:

– To repel the Vaadwaur invaders and liberate conquered worlds and territories

– To assist regions devastated by the invasion and the Blackout

– To build alliances in pursuit of these goals

This last is a challenge. The Federation’s friends have been few and far between in recent years with growing aggression from the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union’s confrontations with Starfleet, and the discovery of the Romulan Free State-backing Tal Shiar’s decades-spanning plots against the Federation. But the Blackout has splintered those governments – and others – just as much as it has shattered the Federation. Some stretches of space are cut off from the rest of the galaxy, but span the border to neighbouring governments. News arrives of conquest and devastation of foreign worlds, and despite all political tensions, Starfleet will lend a helping hand wherever it can. It will take a united Alpha and Beta Quadrant to repel this galactic threat. Captains with the opportunity to make common cause with neighbours are urged to do so, to take advantage of the isolation from cold or hostile central governments and build new bridges. Elsewhere, task units are being sent even into Klingon or Cardassian or Romulan space to help them against the Vaadwaur.

This last speaks of the uniqueness of the Fourth Fleet in facing this invasion. It is not only that they have the mandate to face challenges such as this: they have the expertise. The Fourth Fleet knows Underspace better than anyone else in Starfleet, and they have the best chance of finding and accessing apertures, and navigating the network. They can act as reinforcements and pathfinders for other forces, challenging the Vaadwaur’s mastery of Underspace and reaching regions the invaders assumed no reinforcements could ever touch.

The Fourth Fleet is also the unit with the best access to Starfleet’s experimental technologies: transwarp, quantum slipstream, and other devices accrued or theorised over the centuries, unused due to limited resources or fears of danger or unreliability. If there was ever a time to use them, these forms of faster-than-light travel, this is the time, this is the emergency. Where possible, Fourth Fleet ships are the first equipped with these technologies so they can breach the barriers of the Blackout, and travel the galaxy on missions of aid, of diplomacy – of liberation.

The Blackout is one last concern of the Fourth Fleet. Underspace’s opening answered scientists’ questions about the cause, and initial expeditions into the network have given confirmation: the Vaadwaur caused the Blackout. Outposts the size of the Vaadwaur’s mightiest starships have been deployed within the Underspace tunnels themselves, emitting subspace resonance waves to disrupt the harmonics that render warp travel and subspace communication possible. The unpredictable routes of the Underspace tunnels and choices the Vaadwaur have made in deploying these Blackout Outposts explain the seemingly haphazard way territories have been cut off.

Ships capable and captains brave enough to enter Underspace tunnels have been charged with navigating the dangerous and volatile network, finding these outposts – and taking them out. This is no small task, as they are fiercely defended even if located, and captains will have to use all their guile to accomplish the task. But, if successful, they can collapse the Blackout, even in a region, and the masses of reinforcements lying in wait can rush to turn the tide.

There are still questions. Why have the Vaadwaur done this? How have a people who, only a quarter-century ago, were reduced to a mere battalion of survivors from an empire that fell a thousand years ago been able to marshal the soldiers, the ships, the highly advanced technology, to launch such an invasion? Even if the Blackout can be ended and the invaders repelled, how can the Federation hope to defeat the masters of Underspace forever?

THE CAMPAIGN

The campaign of Nightfall is a series of independent stories contributing to the greater narrative of the 2025 Fleet Action. Members will write the stories of their ships and crews rallying against the Vaadwaur invasion, and the Intelligence Office will respond to these and advance the campaign’s plot.

Any member is welcome to participate in Nightfall. If you have a primary command, you can write the story of your squadron, starship, and crew responding to the crisis of the Blackout and Vaadwaur invasion. You can start a Mission on BFMS under this fleet-wide Mission. If you want to write with another member, you can do so! Your ships or characters can work together on missions. BFMS supports this.

This campaign lasts for six weeks across the three phases of the Fleet Action. While after each phase there may be additional updates to the state of the galaxy, the fundamental concept – repelling the Vaadwaur invasion – will remain. Members will be expected and encouraged to plan their six-week story from the very beginning, with new developments limited to optional opportunities or complications you can integrate if you wish.

THE STORY

This may look like a complex story, but it can be summarised thusly: sections of the galaxy are cut off from each other, and an ancient alien foe is invading. It is up to you on how wide a scope you want for your own mission. These are a few of the scenarios/challenges being faced by Starfleet captains:

Racing to Help: The Blackout is like a series of barriers cutting off regions of space from each other. In most stories, your ship will have to overcome this. They might travel via the dangerous networks of Underspace, volatile and under the control of Vaadwaur ships. They might have experimental FTL technology installed so they can reach their destination. This could be a short prelude of a story, or could be a whole mission of a ship pathfinding a route for reinforcements, such as by navigating Underspace, locating a Borg transwarp conduit, or seeking a source of benamite to fuel a Quantum Slipstream Drive (this is a particularly good option for writers who wish to write a mission about science rather than combat).

Defence/Liberation: Your ship must defend against Vaadwaur invaders flooding through an Underspace aperture, or liberate territory they have conquered. This might be a world, a system, or a whole sector cut off from the rest of the galaxy by the Blackout. This might not even be a region in Federation space, but help given to an ally – or enemy.

Humanitarian Support: Regions have been cut off from each other by the Blackout, causing untold chaos. The Vaadwaur have invaded many places. Ships are needed to provide humanitarian and medical relief. This may or may not be happening under the shadow of an ongoing invasion, and may or may not be in Federation space.

Diplomatic Outreach: In some regions, a neighbour – like a hostile Klingon House – might be a closer source of reinforcements than a Starfleet unit. Everyone is cut off from their central command. Can your crew convince enemies or the untrusting that they should band together against a bigger threat? Especially when neighbours also have to contend with the Blackout and the Vaadwaur.

End the Blackout: Deep in Underspace, Vaadwaur Outposts have been deployed. They are the cause of the Blackout. End their operations by sabotage or destruction, and lift the subspace barrier preventing travel and communication so reinforcements and help can arrive. But this is truly stepping into the lion’s den, striking the Vaadwaur in their turf, if a wily captain can even navigate Underspace successfully.

These stories don’t have to be told in isolation. A story set in a border region might face all of these challenges. It’s okay to write a vast narrative about your ship – or ships! – racing at transwarp to liberate conquered worlds, help them recover, make common cause with neighbouring Klingons to eject the Vaadwaur, and venture into Underspace to end the Blackout as a multi-pronged mission. It’s also okay to focus your story on only one of these challenges. Your story might focus on just one ship trying to defend just one world against the Vaadwaur. Or it could be a covert or scientific adventure of a ship navigating Underspace to find and sabotage these Blackout Outposts, forced to occasionally exit the tunnels to evade Vaadwaur patrols and finding themselves who-knows-where in the galaxy. Or a wholly diplomatic story of crossing the border to convince a foreign neighbour to send ships.

This might also be an opportunity for collaboration. We don’t encourage direct joint missions in Fleet Actions, because the point is to write as much as you can over six weeks, not to get caught up waiting 48 hours for a tag in a joint post. But if multiple writers with multiple ships wanted to band together to write about the invasion of a whole sector, the challenges listed above could provide each writer with separate missions that still feed into one another, with each writer responsible for a specific operation or location.

CAMPAIGN TABLE

Like Labyrinth, Nightfall includes a Campaign Table. This is a mechanism which presents a selection of tables, sometimes branching, offering different story prompts, developments, and details. Members are invited to roll on those tables – or, if you prefer, simply choose an option! – to sketch out a framework and starting point for your story.

This is a less expansive Campaign Table than the one in Labyrinth, which sought to capture some of the vastness of encounters that could be faced on an expedition through Underspace. This focuses on fleshing out the possibilities of, primarily, the Vaadwaur invading a specific region (though tables exist for engagements in Underspace and diplomatic outreach). It can be used to define the nature of the invasion itself, or to determine your ship’s mission priority in responding to the invasion. It may also serve as a set of options for writers to choose from to determine which story prompt they pursue first – or, perhaps, a clearer set of options in how to share a mission about defending an invaded region among multiple writers.

In short, while you can use this Campaign Table to generate a story prompt from scratch, it presumes that you are writing about your ship responding directly to the Vaadwaur invasion. You are welcome and encouraged to use it as an aid, a list of exact options, or merely food for thought in planning out your mission.

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Areas of Responsibility (AORs) are a major point in this Fleet Action. Every story has to take place somewhere. The Vaadwaur are invading potentially everywhere. In past campaigns like this, such as The Lost Fleet, the mission briefing system fleshed out the Deneb Sector Block and provided members with options and details of the places they were fighting the Dominion. But this story isn’t about one sector. It’s about the combined expanses of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

Members will always be welcome to create a wholly new, member canon location being assailed by the Vaadwaur. For those of you with starbases, using that locale may be preferable! But there is a lot of the setting, in Star Trek canon and fleet canon. We want writers in this FA to care about the places their characters are trying to save – and there’s no point in saving the galaxy if you’re only saving places nobody has ever heard of before. Someone should get to be the Big Damn Hero.

This FA is thus introducing Areas of Responsibility. These are the regions – worlds, systems, sectors – that have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy by the Blackout, and are now under attack or have been conquered by the Vaadwaur. This can include locations that are canonical to Trek and fleet canon. The full guide on AORs is located here.

The AOR system for canonical locations is like the Mission Briefing systems for the Lost Fleet and We Are the Borg Fleet Actions of 2023: a list of canon locations has been provided, and once the request form goes live, members may ‘claim’ an AOR on a first-come, first-served basis. The form does not include the locations of member-owned starbases; while members are not restricted to using those locations if they have them (and may request an AOR), it’s their right to determine what happens in their own backyard during the invasion. TFHQs are also not for general request, and the writing of those regions is for the TF staff to determine; if you want to write in a TF region, consult the guide above and make sure you speak to the pertinent TF staff. Members who want to write a member canon location do not need to fill the AOR form.

Once a member is assigned an AOR, they can do more or less what they want with it. Canonical locations should not be irreparably destroyed, though of course the galaxy will take some time to heal from this invasion. Major changes should be run by the Intelligence Office. But the nature of the Vaadwaur assault and the extent of the damage is for the member who owns the AOR to determine. They are welcome to invite other members to write with them in the AOR, but the member who requisitioned the AOR should have the final say on decisions that affect the region.

Under no circumstances should a member who has requested an AOR feel obligated to write with anyone else. Even if their AOR is really cool. They have the right to simply say ‘no’ to any request to ‘share’ their AOR, and no further explanation is necessary or should be expected.