[Adster94]

Hello,

First of all thank you to all those who attended the first episode, I am very glad that everyone who attended enjoyed themselves and I look forward to seeing how everyone reacts to how the story will develop over the next couple of episodes Now the mission synopsis:

After the successful construction of Starbase 124, and arrival of the final elements of Task Force Omega, the Federation now has a very distinctive presence within the Hydra sector. The taskforce began to scout out the systems in the Hydra sector, to make sure that it was safe for the 5 convoys, currently en-route to Starbase 124, to arrive in the sector but this didn't go as intended...

On multiple occasions the starships Antares and Cairo ran into Cardassian ships, which led to further armed conflict - now that the Cardassians are taking a more aggressive stance in the sector, it is impossible to say that the convoys are safe to travel undefended.

The Phoenix and Columbus were the first ships to escort the SS Stormdodger, a Federation freighter carrying supplies for construction efforts, back to Starbase 124. However, this shipment of resources was eventually destroyed by the Cardassian fleet, that was discovered by the Antares/Cairo in the Alioth system.

The Alioth system was clearly a staging ground for an attack on Starbase 124, due to the fleets early discovery the attack began far earlier than, we presume, Gul Gadar was wanting - this led to the destruction of the Stormdodger, which was caught off guard when it arrived in the Serris system.

Before the attack on Starbase 124 began, the Melbourne and the Farragut were on patrol, through the Beol, Poseidon and Xi Entrades star systems. In the Poseidon system where they discovered a pre-warp civilisation, on the two planets in the system - on Poseidon 2, there was a colony; whilst on Poseidon 1 a small mining colony - however, due to them being pre-warp contact was not made.

Once the Melbourne and the Farragut reached the Xi Entrades system they began their sweep, leading to a shocking discovery...the Cardassians had built their own outpost. In orbit of Xi Entrades 3, the Cardassians had managed to build an outpost without Starfleet realising it...this explains how and why the Cardassians have been so aggressive in their previous attacks.

However, they did make a startling discovery on one of the inner planets, Xi Entrades 1, there were a group of Ferengi stranded that claimed that they were chased into the star system by the people on Poseidon 2, but how can a pre-warp civilisation, chase a warp ship into another system? And what were the Ferengi doing here in the first place?

After the first battle at Starbase 124 had concluded, the battle damaged Task Force Omega began emergency repairs, at the drydocks in the vicinity of the outpost. After the taskforce was ready to go, the Admiral decided to push towards Xi Entrades and find out more about this outpost, as the Melbourne and Farragut were forced to retreat before any substantial data was recovered - this mission was pure force recon, and not a retaliatory strike.

Whilst en-route to Xi Entrades, a brief stop in the Poseidon system led to an interesting discovery - the inhabitants of Poseidon 2 were gone...a supposedly pre-warp civilisation had somehow disappeared from the planets surface. Long range sensors picked up an unidentified vessel, in orbit of Poseidon 1, the Task Force continued on to Xi Entrades, except for the Challenger and Columbus, which then proceeded to investigate the vessel.

When they arrived at Poseidon 1, the sensor contact disappeared - but the Challenger and Columbus proceeded towards the last known coordinates of the unidentified vessel. After a short time, the sensor contact appeared again, but then rapidly disappeared, something was definitely going on.

Early speculation was that the ship had some form of cloaking device, that had never been seen before, this was later confirmed...a large vessel decloaked near the Challenger and Columbus, whilst moving out of the system. Before a full sensor scan was complete, it cloaked again, but very shortly appeared in the path of the Challenger forcing it to stop.

First contact was made...the ship belonged to the Zephan Sovereignty, who claimed that we had invaded their territory, a number of threats were received from the vessel before it turned around, whilst forcing the Challenger to initiate emergency evasive procedures, due to a near collision - the Zephan ship proceeded to fire on the Columbus then it warped out, when we lost the sensor contact...

Who are these Zephans? where did they come from? Why did they completely abandon their mining colony, and their other colony? From the threats received in their last transmission, this is not the last we have seen of them...

Could everyone who attended - if they would like - post a kind of "Captains logs", which doesn't have to be long, to get more involved in the role-play and provide a more detailed account from multiple perspectives.

My thanks to Ben Hurley, Conner, Dentari, Jonathan F-G, Jordan, Lazereth, and Sammygm for attending.

Star Trek: Hydra will continue next week! See you all there!

Regards

Adster94
Starfleet Reserves Commanding Officer

[Adster94]

Admirals Log, supplemental:

It has been a hard week, ever since we have entered this region of space we have been under constant threat of attack. The Cardassian 11th Order, seems relentless in their efforts to destroy our Starbase in this sector, but why?

Why are they so aggressive? The Federation and the Cardassians are currently in a state of peace, and yet they still attack? I can't help but wonder if there is more to this situation than meets the eye. After the loss of the Stormdodger, mining efforts have been somewhat delayed.

But now that these, Zephans have showed themselves, I can only see further conflict down the line, is there a way to reason with them? They see us as the invaders, when we had absolutely no idea that this space was occupied, but equally we can't back down - this sector is too valuable, and if the 11th Order are part of a bigger plot, we cannot allow them access to this sectors resources.

I only hope that I can find a way to peacefully end any future confrontations with the Zephans.

End Log.

[Dentari]

Captains Log: Having arrived at Starbase 124, the Farragut was quickly called into service and sent on a patrol through the Beol, Poseidon and Xi Entrades systems. The U.S.S. Melbourne, commanded by Captain Philip Grimes, was the other half of the patrol group. The Melbourne picked up what we believed to be a pre-warp civilisation on Poseidon 2, this civilisation had the ability to locate us in orbit and attempted to make contact, however, Admiral Moorey ordered that the Melbourne and Farragut make no contact and continue on the assigned patrol route.

Having continued onwards to Poseidon 1, the Melbourne discovered that this was also populated and further scans confirmed that the inhabitants were the same species as that on Poseidon 1, being ordered once more to maintain communication silence, both the Melbourne and Farragut set course for Xi Entrades. Traversing the vast expanse of the Xi Entrades system proved, for the most part, to be fruitless. Upon reaching Xi Entrades 1 the USS Melbourne located a group of stranded Ferengi on the planets surface, which it proceeded to take aboard as refugees. The Farragut picked up vast mineral reserves at Xi Entrades 2, but beyond that all was quiet.

Xi Entrades 3 proved to be the Farragut's first contact with a Cardassian force, facing overwhelming odds, Captain Grimes suggested a tactical withdrawal from the Xi Entrades system. Having escaped the initial Cardassian task force, the Farragut and Melbourne were once again forced into conflict with a Cardassian task force; luckily for us this group was much smaller and we made relatively short work of them. Presumably the Cardassians were launching an all out offensive against Federation holdings in the Hydra Sector, as simultaneously, Starbase 124 came under sustained heavy attack from a large Cardassian Task Force which was headed by Gul Gadar. With one of the Melbourne's nacelles damaged, the Farragut was forced to head on alone to support the remainder of Task Force Omega at Serris 3.

The fighting was fierce; the entirety of Task Force Omega was present at the battle, including the Melbourne which had hastily made repairs to its heavily damaged nacelle and warped into the fray. We pushed the Cardassians back without losing a single ship, despite our best efforts, Gul Gadar escaped. I fear that this will come back to haunt us all.

My crew remained steadfast under pressure. My chief medical officer reports no fatalities which certainly raised morale. Regardless, several crew members including my tactical officer were badly injured and will remain, despite their protestations, in sickbay for at least several days. So far I would be inclined to say that the Federation has the upper hand, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

This situation calls to my mind the words of William Blake:

“In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree”.

End Log.