USS Darwin-A tasked to investigate strange Borg readings

[StarBase 118 Staff]

POUIYEOG REGION — Borg activity has been detected near the new Starfleet installation in the Delta Quadrant.

An extended celebratory period aboard the USS Darwin-A, which culminated in the promotion of Captain Renos to Fleet Captain, was cut short when Renos received a disturbing message from Outpost Unity: evidence of the Borg at the extreme edges of the outpost’s long-range sensors. Ne delivered the news at a gathering of the senior officers, which unfortunately cast a somber shadow on the promotions of Lieutenant Varaan to Lieutenant Commander, and of Lieutenant junior grade Merrick R’Ven to Lieutenant, which were announced at the same time. Undaunted, Darwin’s crew leapt into action to prepare the ship for departure and a possible encounter with the Borg.

Underway, it was discovered that the Borg energy signatures emanated from an uncharted sector in the Pouiyeog Region, which lies between Outpost Unity and the Delta–Beta quadrant border, perilously close to the lifeline supply route back to Federation space. After six hours at high warp, Darwin arrived at a single-planet system with so sign of Borg ships, and sensors indicating the Borg activity was coming from the planet’s surface.

“Our biggest asset is our intelligence, so let’s keep our wits about us and remain calm. We’re going to be fine,” said Captain Renos as the crew planned its next move.

As the ship neared to investigate, a strange cloud burst forth into orbit on a direct course for Darwin, closely followed by Borg weapons fire from the surface. The cloud was quickly discovered to be composed of Borg nanites, which used the ship as a shield to avoid the weapons fire. When the nanite swarm showed signs of possible intelligence by flashing a strobing light in the pattern of the mathematical constant pi, Renos ordered Darwin to collect it within her containment sphere, and to move out of range of the surface weapons.

Three away teams were formed to descend to the surface, each with a specific goal to neutralize a Borg threat to the region: destroy the crashed Borg ship’s vinculum and central plexus, disable or destroy the ground-based weapons platform, and determine if the Borg survivors are sufficiently separated from the Collective to treat them as individuals. A fourth team remained on Darwin to determine if a dialogue could be formed with the nanites.

On the surface, each away team independently discovered that most, if not all of the surviving Borg drones were devoid of their nanoprobes, leaving them in various stages of biological and mechanical degradation. Each away team surmised that the swarm of nanites in orbit might be composed of or derived from the drones’ nanoprobes.

Back on Darwin, the team started a rudimentary conversation with the swarm once they introduced it to an isolated copy of the Federation’s cultural database. Using snippets from popular culture, the nanites requested help and advised that they do not consider themselves to be Borg. With the mission ongoing, however, only time will tell what these nanites and the stranded Borg portend for the newly created Federation presence in the Pouiyeog Region.

The post USS Darwin-A tasked to investigate strange Borg readings appeared first on UFOP: StarBase 118 Star Trek RPG.

[url={url}]View the full article[/url]