Something is wrong with the stars along the Gorn border.

Within the Federation-held Cestus Sector Block, the borderlands, and deeper into Gorn territory than Starfleet knows, stars are behaving erratically: elevated flare activity, sustained coronal mass ejections, significant spikes in high-energy radiation output. The disruption is not uniform. Some systems are severely affected, others barely at all, and the affected stars share no obvious common characteristics of type, age, or lifecycle stage. No natural model accounts for the pattern. Named the ‘Wildfire Phenomenon’ by scientists, whatever is happening, it is not something stellar cartography has encountered before, and it is not stopping.

The consequences in Federation space range from inconvenient to urgent. Inhabited worlds near affected stars deal with elevated surface radiation, erratic weather, failing crops, and power and communication systems that cut out during peak flare events. For well-established colonies with robust infrastructure, this is manageable, if uncomfortable and disruptive. For smaller colonies, terraformed worlds, or outposts without hardened systems, it tips into crisis. Across the region as a whole, sensor resolution is degraded, subspace communications are unreliable, and Starfleet struggles to see which situations are worst.

And then there are the Gorn.

Gorn biology responds to specific stellar light conditions. When certain kinds of stars produce certain outputs, Gorn behaviour changes – and Wildfire is triggering this. Hunting and breeding instincts become dominant, juveniles who normally fight each other for dominance begin cooperating in packs, adults become relentlessly territorial and aggressive. This is not strategy. The Gorn are not making political calculations, nor can they be negotiated or reasoned with. They are being driven by instinct, and instincts powerful enough to persist even if they leave an afflicted star system.

The border that was tense but navigable is no longer either. Gorn forces are actively raiding Federation space: striking at ships, hitting colonies to establish breeding grounds, abduct people, or simply to relish violence.

These raids, combined with the wider disruption, bring further cascading problems: colonial expansions stalled mid-development, civilian research at risk of collapse, transport links failing industry and shipping, and countless more. Into the gaps have come the inevitable local opportunists – smugglers, criminals, the Orion Syndicate – who exploit the chaos through actions like looting colonies struggling after a natural disaster or Gorn attack, or striking shipping routes under the cover of disruption to sensor systems.

The situation on the Klingon-Gorn border is no better – perhaps. Klingon Houses loyal to Chancellor Toral have no interest in sharing their status with the Federation. Friendlier factions may turn to Starfleet friends for aid. The Klingons will be facing the same scientific and humanitarian disruption and the same violence, across a border where Klingon houses may pounce at any opportunity to seize the upper hand against one another. And there always lingers the risk that Chancellor Toral will take the Gorn aggression as an excuse to invoke his authority, act with a heavy hand, and retaliate to a degree that not even the stars can stop.

The Fourth Fleet is responding to all of this: humanitarian relief efforts for colonies in crisis, scientific investigation of a phenomenon that no one yet understands, and a shooting border that requires active defence. Ships across the region are being asked to operate in degraded conditions – limited sensors, patchy comms, stretched resources – while managing a threat that won’t negotiate and a civilian population that is frightened, isolated, and increasingly desperate.

Stories in this campaign sit across a wide range. A crew might be running convoy escort to a colony that’s been dark for three days, not knowing what they’ll find when they get there. They might be attempting close stellar observation of an affected star while managing system failures and the very real possibility that the flares are drawing Gorn attention. They might be defending a settlement from a Gorn breeding raid, or dealing with the aftermath – survivors, trauma, and the risk of lingering Gorn eggs. They might be operating in Gorn space itself, where the stars are just as disrupted and the situation is even less controlled, trying to gather scientific data or locate a missing vessel before the Gorn find them first. They might be sustaining the unglamorous infrastructure of a crisis – keeping relay stations functioning, triaging which colonies get help first, holding a command post together when Command itself is hard to reach.

The crisis does not have a single front and it does not have a simple solution. It has a wide, fractured, dangerous region where a lot of things are going wrong at once, and a fleet that has to respond to all of them.

Starfleet has issued the Fourth Fleet with the following orders:

– To defend Federation territory against Gorn attack, and rescue Federation citizens from abduction;

– To study the Wildfire phenomenon, surveying the afflicted stars so a resolution might be found;

– To aid colonies and infrastructure afflicted by Wildfire and Gorn, providing crucial humanitarian aid;

– To maintain stability amidst further disruption from local Klingon, civilian, criminal, and other factions.

THE CAMPAIGN

The campaign of Wildfire is a series of independent stories all contributing to the greater narrative. Members will write about their ships and crews on this mission of defence, humanitarian aid, and scientific investigation amidst the Wildfire Phenomenon and the Gorn attacks.

Any member with their own command is welcome to participate in Wildfire, writing the story of their ship and crew coming to the aid of the Cestus Sector Block. 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 will last for eight weeks.

THE STORY

This campaign is about a scientific mystery against the backdrop of military threat and humanitarian disaster. The Cestus Sector Block is a Federation frontier with a long history with the Gorn, but one its residents never expected to become current affairs. It is a large region of several sectors, a thick reach of star systems stretching across both sides of the Gorn-Federation border and nudging into Klingon territory. Across this entire sector block, the Wildfire Phenomenon is making stars – many, not necessarily all – behave erratically, and it is like a red rag to a bull for the Gorn. Ardana Station acts as a launching and fallback point for the campaign, outside of the effects of Wildfire but near enough for the Fourth Fleet to rally there for briefing and resupply before venturing forth.

Members have significant freedom on the type of story they can tell in this campaign. The Gorn attacks leave room for purely military stories, or you can draw on the horror tropes and tales akin to those from Strange New World. Those attacks and the consequences of Wildfire offer opportunities for missions about humanitarian aid in disaster relief or engineering challenges. Dealing with the Klingons opens the door to diplomatic stories, while the local criminal opportunist can offer less faceless enemies than the Gorn. All of these can see tension heightened with the disruption to sensors and comms across the region, building mystery, isolation, and confusion.

Studying the Wildfire Phenomenon itself is a key part of the campaign. Starfleet needs ships to scan and survey the stars, which means not just missions about managing sensors and studying in labs, but going to dangerous places to collect data.

The cause of Wildfire is a live plot; your ships will not find the answer yet, but the truth will be revealed over the course of the campaign. Keep an eye out for an update in Week 3.

TASK FORCE SCENARIOS

In addition to this briefing, each Task Force has its own scenario – its own mini-briefing – covering the primary missions of the Fourth Fleet’s units:

– Task Force 17: To press into dangerous territory to study Wildfire.

– Task Force 21: Colonial support of the Cestus system and environs, and defence of SB-611.

– Task Force 47: Support operations in the vicinity of K-74, and cooperation with affiliate forces.

– Task Force 72: Maintaining relations with Klingon Houses in the region.

– Task Force 86: Holding against Gorn incursions and keeping local crises from escalating.

– Task Force 93: Running humanitarian relief in a vulnerable cluster of star systems.

Members may engage with these freely or tell their own story. You are not forbidden from telling similar stories in another Task Force – any member could write a mission of venturing into Gorn territory to study the stars, even if not a member of Task Force 17.

Participating in a Task Force scenario can be as simple as building your mission plan around it and writing it. Some scenarios have a more narrow regional focus, but there is always space for ships to share a system or even a planet in independent stories. Communicate in your TF lounge if, for example, you’re a TF21 writer wanting to visit the Cestus III colony itself.

Each scenario includes a list of ‘Encounters’ – story prompts pertinent to the scenario. Some are ‘non-unique’ and can be taken on by multiple members separately, as they explain a generic concept which could happen repeatedly in different areas. Others, using a named location or specific concept are listed as ‘Unique’. If you want to write a mission in one of these areas or using one of these encounters, TF staff can help you – reach out to them directly or in the TF lounge. Competing claims will be resolved as simply as ‘first come, first served.’

Members may of course write joint missions, particularly using key TF locations or encounters. This might consist of two ships operating in a similar area, with both members largely writing on their own, but communicating OOC to share story points. It might be a more traditional joint-writing, with a series of joint posts and direct collaboration.

TF assets and flagships may be abroad in this campaign. If their activity is not directly addressed in the scenario, feel free to ask your TF staff about featuring them in your story, if you so wish.

Members from other Task Forces are welcome to write in a scenario that isn’t their own. A TF93 ship visiting Cestus III is better than no stories being told there, for eg. If you do, let that Task Force’s staff know. Each TF’s lounge is a private space where its members plan and share ideas you can’t see. Staff can tell you what’s already in motion, head off collisions, and fold your story into the wider picture. Scenarios are meant to give each TF its own lore and cohesion, so staff will want to know who is writing in their space.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

– Gorn Hegemony wiki article

– Cestus Sector Block wiki article

– Wildfire Phenomenon wiki article

– Ardana Station wiki article

– Gorn Hegemony starships wiki article (Coming Soon)