Nadeshiko

"How troubling."

Congratulations! Welcome to the fleet!

Congratulations! Welcome to the fleet!

Welcome to the fleet!

Congratulations to all the winners! Well deserved.

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Well done!

It was a routine arrest mission - Tiria's squad, sometimes nicknamed the Flying Squad for how often it traveled across the sector, was sent to Telstrus 3 to arrest a rogue scientist. Dr. Alfred VanBuren, a weapons scientist, had been trading weapons with the Cardassians, which was fine, if he had a license and was trading export-approved weapons. He was not, and some of the weapons were illegal even to own in the Federation for *Starfleet*. The black haired woman looked at the planet, and was frowning. Telstrus 3, an older Federation world, had a standard climate control system, and she looked at the Constable handling the sensor readout. "Constable Lain, that weather looks.. unusual. Can you check the functioning of the climate control system and if it'd be safe to fly through it?" She requested, the precise Federation Standard accent still unusual in her ears, no matter how long she had practiced to arrive at it. "Yes, Detective-Inspector." The petite Andorian worked the panel, then frowned. "Ma'am, there's an odd interference. There-" A flash in the screen distracted the five man squad, and a beam from somewhere in the southeastern archipelago struck a satellite, then another, then another. The pilot of the shuttle, a Benzite, cursed, and rapidly moved away from orbit, but Tiria only had eyes for a rapidly forming mega hurricane, dominating the southern continent and spreading, with a gigantic eye. Another, Kazri, an Andorian sergeant sitting at the comm panel, cleared his throat, with a bit of a shaky voice. "We're detecting a message from the archipelago. It's our scientist, and this is apparently a test of a new weapon he's developing - one that can devastate worlds. If we don't guarantee him safe passage to neutral space, he says he placed a virus in another world that would do the same. Distress signals are spreading across the planet." Tiria took a deep breath, as she was the commanding officer on scene, and needed to prune a few options. "Send a signal to the USS Illinois, with a status report and include the message. Can we destroy the climate control system?" While that wasn't technically normal operations for Federation Security, she was trained - especially after the Siege of Resilion IV - to take more aggressive actions. Lain shook her head. "The interference would scatter our phasers - we'd need the power of a starship. Also, we can't destroy enough before the hurricane would reach the size of a continent. Whatever he's done.. we'll need a science ship to figure out." Tiria suspected that was the only reasonable explanation, but she could see with the magnification the sensors were providing them, the *350 km/h* winds tearing apart even reinforced structures. And sensors were suggesting that it was still increasing. Lain frowned. "But.. it looks like this requires a constant signal, and if we can cut it off.." The Andorian paled Tiria took a deep breath. "He'd likely trigger the second system, and without knowing where it is, we can't act." The words were ashes in her mouth. "Priority One distress signal, get Starfleet on scene now, and alert Federation Security." She looked at the strengthening hurricane destroying towns and houses across the continent and had to fight to keep her voice steady. "If anything comes up where we can stop this madness, tell me." The shuttle fell into deathly silence, as all of them silently witnessed the destruction.

Welcome to the fleet!

Welcome back to the fleet!

As part of a new series in the Poll of the Week, we're bringing you into the centre chair. When presented with a situation, how would you react? What would you do? The USS Penda has been sent out on convoy duty - escorting a merchant convoy back towards the Federation core. However, one of the merchants is hijacked in the time it takes you to fight off several pirate ships. Thanks to a nearby Galor-class ship, you were able to defeat most of the attackers, except for two who fled with the hijacked merchant ship. However, the pirates warn you that any attack will result in them killing the captured merchant if you send a team or attack their ship. The Gul is already turning to escort their convoy out of the sector, and will shortly be out of immediate range. Your convoy needs to be escorted to the Starbase at the edge of the sector, and after you send a message to Command, they warn you that the Quick Response Force is already deployed to deal with an issue with one of the colonies in the sector, and cannot come to your rescue. Still.. it seemed the Gul was unhappy with these attacks too, perhaps you could work something out?

Welcome to the fleet!

As part of a new series in the Poll of the Week, we're bringing you into the centre chair. When presented with a situation, how would you react? What would you do? The Admiral in charge of this sector has built outposts in all known colonies, and the QRF is being formed. However, this means that all patrols and responses are very delayed and will be until at least some of it is built. While the pirates are a major threat, they are a known threat, and you, the Captain of the USS Ngô Quyền, is being sent in to investigate the unknown threat in the Silent Zone. With all available ships on deployment, they warn you there are no reinforcements, although a Gul in charge of one of the Galor-classes nearby analyzing a nebula has offered assistance should they press you. The initial surveys of known outposts reveal destroyed outposts - usually by kinetic bombardment, with several planets undergoing nuclear winters. It isn't until week 2 of this survey, reaching the northwest edge of the sector, that you see anything of note - and it's a still intact Federation outpost, strangely devoid of people. The away team sent to investigate reported back urgently that there is a bioweapon there, and it is still active. One of them estimates they have only 18 hours left to live. Records show that it somehow can bypass current quarantine protocols, based on some data left in the record. You call an emergency meeting to determine your options. The away team has decided that they are willing to be left behind to save the lives of their crewmates.

As part of a new series in the Poll of the Week;, we're bringing you into the centre chair, but this time, of an entire sector. When presented with a situation, how would you react? What would you do? The Eta and Theta sectors have been busy lately. As tensions rise between the three Romulan factions, Starfleet Command has informed you it would prefer you to minimise the resources and ships in your region. While the diplomatic summit held by the USS u Cơ, and one of the ambassadors, has successfully resolved the ongoing low level issues onboard Ferinoat IV, there are many other issues facing you. Evidence of a growing pirate issue as well as an unknown—likely hostile—power of a kind you can no longer afford to send the majority of your fleet out on single-ship missions. Although Command can spare one ship-of-the line and five Dakota-classes for escorts, you know that will not be enough to solve all of the problems at once. Calling a meeting of all of the ship commanding officers, as well as the stations throughout the sector, you come to the following conclusions: - There are thirty colonies scattered throughout the Enrothian region, many with no defenses of any kind. - The Cardassians have claimed several systems on the galactic southern edge of the region, but are as of now, too busy setting up Kerok Nor—a Nor-class starbase. Intelligence suggests they are more interested in maintaining peace with the Federation than causing trouble. - Pirate attacks on shipping are up 450% compared to a standard year ago. - While no one has heard of any aggressors like those who attacked the Gardner system, there are outposts and ships which have gone silent in the galactic northwest of the region. - Your ships, the Ambassador-class USS Æthelflæd, the Akira-class USS Penda, the Nebula class USS Æthelwulf, the Steamrunner-class USS u Cơ, the Dakota-class USS Kh'shia, the Ambassador-class USS Harald Hardrada urgently all need time in a drydock for minor refits or repairs. The USS Harald Hardrada is the most damaged, with the USS u Cơ least damaged. - Svann points out if you delay maintenance cycles too long, critical repair time will grow exponentially, where you will have very few combat-capable ships. In the meeting, you decide you can rotate a ship into drydock while leaving the other five on patrol routes designed to keep almost every colony within a day at high warp. Three of the reinforcing Dakota-classes will start convoys throughout space, while the ship of the line — the Sovereign-class USS Ngô Quyền — will investigate the pirates tasked with locating and destroying any of their bases. The other two Dakota-class ships can examine the "silent zone". At this moment, Command would rather you did not start any initiatives with your Cardassian counterpart, Gul Kerit, who has risen through the ranks due to her shrewdness and focus on strategy. For her part, she has limited her involvement to courtesy calls back and forth as both of you worked out a memorandum of understanding for zones of control. The next day, however, you are told you are no longer getting any of the Dakota-classes, and must transfer one of your existing ships out of the sector to receive the USS Ngô Quyền. Command needs the ships elsewhere to deal with rising troubles in the Romulan Badlands, and has decided your sector cannot exceed a certain quota of ships in the near future. What do you do? How do you protect all of the colonies and secure shipping?

Welcome to the fleet!