Summary of Events Stardate 0509.24

Stardate 0509.26

Would you like to do more than just read? How about shaping the story? Start your career in the Center Seat. Get started right now with the Quick Start Guide:

To get started, answer the following questions:

Game Type:

Pure Combat
(Do you play for pure combat? You know that other events might decide the nature of that combat, but you just want to blow things up. And think about this: Do you like to micromanage combat, allocating power to personalize your attack/defence strategy, making combat a personal match of wits, or do you just like quick matches that can be over in minutes?)

Non-Combat
(You don't care about the combat. You like to write and you want to explore.)

Mix
(You appreciate both aspects of game play. You accept that the ship you love to write about may lose battles from time to time.)

Alignment:
Federatinn
Klingon
Romulan
Other (specify)

Ship name:

Command crew:
(You can stick to the TOS crew configuration of science officer, helm, navigator, communications officer, etc, or you can use the TNG idea of Operations Officer combining some duties.You can also customize your bridge crew configuration. You're the Captain)

Note: unless you have something else in mind, all players in this stage of the game get a Heavy Cruiser to start. The 'something else in mind' I mentioned is if you decide you want a mission-specific ship like a scout or police ship, which is likely to be a frigate or destroyer. Just remember that you might be limiting yourself in a case like that. And don't be intimidated by the need to create a command crew. If you're a story-teller, you're used to this, but it isn't necessary to start. And if you're in it for pure combat, the command crew is recommended but not necessary.

That is really all you need to start. I will happily walk any new players through the first few missions. If you are concerned that you don't have enough time to contribute, don't be. This game is as casual as you want. Exploring takes as much or as little time as you want. Write once a day or once a week. A hundred words or a thousand. The most intense level of this game, heavy combat takes a commitment of no more than one email a day. And even in that case, if you miss a day, it's forgivable. Even the moderator has a RL and the occasional computer issue. The game is turn-based. Combat results will be posted online daily. And if it still doesn't make sense, think of it like your favorite role-playing/writing group gathering for some table-top, Dungeons and Dragons-style game playing.

Summary of Events:

TNG Era:

Captain Reggie Farrell reports an agreement in principle between Kazon-Ogla First Maje Jabin, Kazon-Oglamar Eeluk and Federation Ambassador Endara Khan on non-aggression between Federation forces and Ogla and Oglamar forces. The agreement includes limited cultural and humanitarian exchange. Final details have yet to be announced.

Following reports of similar findings of two thousand year old human biomatter and Vulcan hull fragments in two locations in the Alpha Quadrant, the USS Guadalcanal has been ordered to transmit all data, including holographic data through the Durandal wormhole to Starfleet Command for study. The Guadalcanal has further been ordered to continue their survey of the Delta Quadrant and to ascertain the status of the Romulan Warbird Decius.

The USS Lily Sloane reports that its probe passed through the subspace rift in the Coramonde system, but vanished seconds later. The last transmission of the probe contained hundreds of repititions of a single word that linguists believe may belong to an ancient Vulcan dialect. The data has been transmitted to Starfleet Command and the Vulcan Science Academy for further analysis.

Starships USS Archer and USS Arizona report little change in the situation in the Triangle Zone that marks the convergence of Klingon, Romulan and Federation territory. They have attempted to appeal to passing Klingon ships to pull back, but so far have had no success. A Vulcan diplomatic team is preparing an approach to the Klingon Ambassador in an attempt to mediate a cease-fire before the fighting spreads.

TOS Era:

An unsubstantiated transmission originating from Klingon space reports the destruction of two Klingon
taskforces well within Klingon space. This might add credence to Klingon accusations of a group of Federation starships destroying a Klingon freighter in the Morska sector. The same transmission stated that two 'Federation Battlecruisers' had been destroyed in the combat. 'Federation Battlecruiser' is the Klingon designation for a Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser.

ENT Era:

Starfleet Command has received a message packet, delivered by a Tellarite freighter, from Chalenger NX-07 detailing their journey thus far, and providing detailed starcharts and sensor readings. According to Captain Carpenter's logs, they have not had direct contact with any Romulan ships, either civilian or military.

Columbia NX-02 is continuing to track a suspected Romulan vessel that recently attacked a ship in the Denobulan system.

Yorktown NX-03 has been sent to investigate the disappearance of two Sloane Class light cruisers, which had in turn been investigating the disappearance of the EX-01 Roddenberry. The Sloane Class ships had been following an ion exhaust trail which may have been a clue to the disappearance of the Roddenberry.

Command College

"What Are Your Orders, Captain?"

(TNG Era) "Too Much Information" Resolution

The shuttlecraft Apollo followed a holo-presence probe through the planet's atmosphere, and maintained an altitude of 100 meters above the site of the downed USS Coramonde. As soon as the probe reached the surface, it began to transmit telemetry to the hovering shuttle. In the Agamemnon, the crew is forced to wait, as any data transmitted from the probe to the shuttle could conceivably contain contaminated material. Finally, several hours later, the computer on board the Apollo reports that the protected memory from the Coramonde has been downloaded and scanned for any alien or malicious data. It reveals bio and metallurgical scans of the biotech as it was drawn down to the surface. Stress readings from the impulse deck and hull reveal that the ship was being drawn down to the surface, and Captain Edward Hubble ordered maximum reverse impulse and warp power diverted to shields and the structural integrity field in an attempt to keep the ship intact as it came down. The power that brought it down was not revealed. Captain's logs stated that the ship had been pulled forward in time as it traveled through the rift, which was bathed in neutrinos. Finally, the bioscans confirmed the presence of human DNA in the biotech, while metallurgical scans revealed traces of Vulcan hull material quantum dated at two thousand years old. None of this adds to their knowledge of the biotech, but it does answer the question of time travel, and it goes a long way toward explaining the fate of the Coramonde.

While the holo-presence probe was inside the Coramonde, it confirmed that there was no life left on the Coramonde except for the biotech, which seemed to have absorbed the crew, in much the same way that it attempted to absorb Lt. Keller. With the protected memory removed from the Coramonde, Captain Decker chooses to destroy the downed ship in order to prevent it from falling into unauthorized hands, and to remove the threat from the biotech infecting the ship. After confirming that there is no other life on the planet, Captain Decker orders the Coramonde targeted with photon torpedoes and destroyed.

The Agamemnon breaks orbit from the unnamed planet, and Captain Decker orders the ship to return to the rift in the hope that they can safely return home. Once they arrive, she is relieved to discover that the rift is stable, and probes sent through show that it is safe to return. As the Agamemnon passes through, its scanners are unexpectedly inundated with line after line of signal code, repeating a single, indecipherable word that appears to be Vulcan in nature. As the science department struggles to shunt the data to auxiliary drives to stop the code from overwhelming the computer core, Captain Decker starts to wonder if this happened to the Coramonde at some point, and if the data will reveal the connection between the two thousand year old Vulcan hull material, the two thousand year old human DNA, and the dangerous biotech. Does the time travel phenomenon stretch back two thousand years, or were ancient Vulcans interacting with ancient humans. She doesn't doubt that the Vulcans can translate the code, but she also wonders if they would be happy to see or share information about what they were doing with human DNA two thousand years ago. She knows that she might hold the key to solving a mystery that spreads from the Alpha Quadrant to the Delta Quadrant, if only she handles it correctly...

Due to the probable sensitivity of the subject matter, Captain Decker records a small portion of the data and deletes the rest, which consists of nothing but repititions of the same indecipherable word. Then she proceeds directly to Starfleet Command to physically hand the recording to Starfleet Command. She also reports on the fate of the USS Coramonde.

(TOS Era) "Our Fleet's In Jeopardy"

More than a month ago, the USS Xerxes completed a dangerous journey across Klingon space to investigate a loss of contact with the Federation outpost at Archer IV. It discovered that the outpost was still safe, but desperately needed reinforcing. Section 31 has dispatched a fleet to cross Klingon space to do just that. The fleet consisted of the Heavy Cruisers USS Nelson USS Halsey USS Farragut USS Churchill and USS Eisenhower. In the Morska sector, the fleet encountered and destroyed a Klingon freighter. In the Mempa sector, the fleet was faced with a full-sized Klingon task force. It was victorious, and no distress signal was sent to alert more Klingons. Unfortunately, during the battle, the Nelson sustained massive damage, requiring the fleet to remain in the sector for two days. Then, on its first day of waiting, another Klingon taskforce happened upon the fleet. The Klingons were again destroyed before they could get a signal out, but during the battle, the damaged Nelson was destroyed, and the Halsey was crippled. Again, the fleet will have to wait two days before the Halsey can continue the mission.

Fleet Captain Tiberius is now faced with a diminished fleet and the real possibility of failing in his mission. Waiting in the Mempa sector for two more days seems to present the risk of losing yet another starship. They dare not leave the Halsey alone while they continue on, nor does it seem prudent to divide the fleet in order to guard the Halsey while it completes repairs. Also, requesting reinforcements would still require a two day wait since the closest starship is a day away from the neutral zone. Every possible alternative endangers the mission and the fleet.

Choose what you think should be the next course of action, and write a brief summary.

There are no predetermined right or wrong answers. Feel free to discuss the challenge with other players. Every player who submits an entry receives a "Command College Point". Ten of those equal an experience point. The most popular choice will determine the next step taken. If the next step involves combat, (to be determined by a 1d6 roll), I will post the results of that combat.

Captain's Log

(From last week) "...how this got started..."

9) The Q entity (or other ultra-powerful being) causes mischief on the surface of the planet and in orbit.

Class M
Age: 3-10 billion years
Diameter: 10,000-15,000 km
Location: Ecosphere
Surface: Surface water abundant; if water covers more than 80%, planet is considered Class-O or Class-P
Atmosphere: Nitrogen, oxygen, trace elements
Life forms: Extensive vegetation, animal life, humanoids
Example: Earth, Vulcan, Cardassia Prime

(Ent Era) Columbia NX-02
Captain Erika Hernandez

I'm not exactly sure how to explain all this, or to even
adequately express what happened. All I can do is try to start with how this got started and go from there. While investigating the apparent disappearance of a planet in the Tau Ceti system, we were suddenly scrambling to gather sensor readings as the planet reappeared. There were no obvious phenomenon to explain what had happened, and fortunately we had maintained a good distance from the planet's position, so the ship was never in danger. We made contact with authorities on the planet, and found that from their point of view, as well as all of their artificial satellites, there had never been any change in their situation. They even showed us sensor records of the Columbia in orbit during the time that the planet had
seemed to vanish. At that point, I decided to take a huttlepod down to investigate readings from the surface.

However, as our shuttle dropped through the atmosphere, we suddenly found that the planet and the ship, and the rest of the system for that matter seemed to have disappeared. Then there was bright flash inside of the cabin, and the rest of my team was replaced with Captain Jonathon Archer. Captain Jonathon Archer of the Enterprise, currently in a completely different sector of space, almost a hundred lightyears away. Whoever it was that appeared in the
shuttlepod never tried to convince me that he was Captain Archer, but rather launched, without prelude, into a passionate reading of what the linguistic banks later identified as Klingon love poetry. Just for the record, I contacted Jon after it was all over, and he confirmed (with  a bemused chuckle) that he had not somehow transported himself across space into my shuttlepod to recite Klingon poetry. In any case, whoever it was finished his poetry reading and
vanished with a flourish and another flash of light. The crew returned at the same time. We then completed our investigation, but unfortunately could find no explanation for the strange incident.

(For Next Week: Expand the following into a log entry of at least 100 words. Members post answers to the yahoogroup or the 'comment' feature on the blogsite. Lurkers feel free to leave comments on the blogsite)

"...a concept we never considered..."

Developer's Diary:

There's been more attention paid to the quadrant simple combat game this week, to add to Fantasy Trek's quick-play value. While Operation Reinforce is now being guided by the "What Are Your Orders, Captain?" feature, I decided to run a random sector assault with a Klingon CA, the DuranQo. The random 1d6 roll tells me what I'm facing, DEFSAT, frigate, light cruiser, heavy cruiser, dreadnought, or reusable shipyard for quick repairs. Once you find the shipyard you can always go back to it between combats. And of course, you only face each class once. I'm kind of enjoying the challenge of having to allocate points to offense and defense before I roll for the AI. It is definitely a challenge when you get an opponent even closely matched. In the round I'm playing now, I'm at full health, thanks to that shipyard, and I'm facing the dreadnought. If I get past that (which is a long-shot), it's a quick whack at the DEFSAT and all done. Quick update: The Dreadnought took out the DuranQo on the first volley. Oh well, that's one more ship in the Black Fleet. The only pain to the whole thing is the task of setting up the template. And that isn't much of a pain, unless you're on a palm pilot that just has an on-screen keyboard.



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