[LogicalLeopard]

Could do that. Would take some discussion.

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If you could respond to the thing I put in the storyline? XD

Done!

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Just make sure he gets brought to sickbay, Doc Cushing would like a few words with him.

Loved your entry! Man, I was REALLY thinking Kowalksi was going to be the one that bit it, but then you hit us with the Wash-style ending of poor Patel! It was shocking, and sad!

[Blaster]

Same. I was expecting the security to die...... turns out this isn't as star trek as I thought XD

[Silynn]

Same. I was expecting the security to die...... turns out this isn't as star trek as I thought XD

Well, sort of. Amita Patel was a security officer, part of the three-man security team led by Chief Hayes. Amita was a specialist as a qualified shuttle pilot.

It was tough reading through it again, as Amita (which hopefully came across) was a very friendly and likeable sort. Like Wash in Serenity... it hits you like a truck when you realize what happened. The final scene of Christopher going up to her was great and sad.

More exciting stuff to come that will hopefully trigger some emotions.

[Blaster]

Just dont kill that other security officer and I'm good.

[WelshAvenger]

Loved your entry! Man, I was REALLY thinking Kowalksi was going to be the one that bit it, but then you hit us with the Wash-style ending of poor Patel! It was shocking, and sad!

I'm very glad that you thought that. Silynn and I wrote it to be a gut punch but Silynn gets most of the credit for fleshing out Amita's character so that you felt bad when she died.

It was tough reading through it again, as Amita (which hopefully came across) was a very friendly and likeable sort. Like Wash in Serenity... it hits you like a truck when you realize what happened. The final scene of Christopher going up to her was great and sad.

More exciting stuff to come that will hopefully trigger some emotions.

It's strange, when I hear that someone has had an emotional response to something I've written, I kinda think in my head, 'Really? Wow!' I realise that I shouldn't think that about character deaths, even security personnel who have only been in the story for five minutes, but I do. Try digging through the Disavowed posts in the Off Topic forum, I really struggled writing deaths until Scarlett and Silynn gave me advice.

Just dont kill that other security officer and I'm good.

I make no promises

[Blaster]

BTW if we want to get that traitor uncovered before Welsh and Silynn decide to send a distress call we need to get the story moving. XD

I make no promises

Dont you dare XD.

[WelshAvenger]

BTW if we want to get that traitor uncovered before Welsh and Silynn decide to send a distress call we need to get the story moving. XD



Dont you dare XD.

Welsh and Silynn aren't able to get a distress call out, we have a plan to do escape and evasion tactics until we can get to the mountain village that was our destination.

[LogicalLeopard]

BTW if we want to get that traitor uncovered before Welsh and Silynn decide to send a distress call we need to get the story moving. XD



Dont you dare XD.

That's the thing, we dont want to do that quickly because we want Welsh and Silynn to be able to come to the end of their thread. Realistically, it's very hard for a shuttlecraft to go missing and no one notice it. So the traitor is working behind the scenes to keep it a secret. Hes the one who assigned the crew to their shuttle and told Chief Hayes to keep radio silence. I'm assuming he's altering logs and such as well.

I dont know if we ever discussed a motivation for the traitor, but I'm thinking that hes bitter over the war and hates Cardassians. Maybe they killed his parents. Helping the Nausicaans means hurting the Cardassians, because this is their space. It also means depriving them of resources, which they need. And keeping Welsh and Silynn's mission under wraps potentially gives the Nausicaans more hostages to stay on the planet and keep bothering the Cardassians.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the traitors motivations?

[Blaster]

disillusioned with the Federation maybe? Also I dunno how none of the fighter technicians missed a shuttle. Considering they would help on those too.

[Silynn]

I vaguely thought the traitor was involved in the very first space combat encounter, when the ARES took some very precise damage from Nausicaan and/or orion raiders. In the discussion, there was some blackmail or such going on by some Orion Syndicate or another. But that may have been the tie with the initial player who was involved.

A veteran from the war with a deep hatred of Cardassians would be the perfect tool...er... agent to cause this mayhem and betrayal. Yet, I don't think it would be strong enough to knowingly kill random Starfleet comrades. For something involving Cardassian bias and denial of resources, I'd think there is someone with power pulling the strings. A greedy Federation Councilor with ties to some consortium who wants said resources, who is looking for an excuse to involve Starfleet in a more heavy handed approach? A lower Starfleet Admiral, with *deep* hatred of Cardassians. With the vengeance motivation driven by loss of children who were officers in the war, loss of family from even cardassian disputes pre-Dominion War, or perhaps a splinter and shadow Maquis cell doing their proxy war to initial conflict/response.

For the purposes of this specific Chapter, it may have to be defined in any detail. But having some overarching thing/cause in the background may help our ARES Sim Officers with some grand plot background in which we may come into contact from time to time.

[Blaster]

This could take a while to flesh out. But we should get an idea soon. Im not sure yet.

[Silynn]

disillusioned with the Federation maybe? Also I dunno how none of the fighter technicians missed a shuttle. Considering they would help on those too.

It's probably not that the shuttle is missing. But it's missing was on a 'need-to-know' basis, considering how a Security team with orders from the Captain to keep things secret for operational security.

It wouldn't be strange or even out of the ordinary, when a technician's task is to just prepare and pre-flight a shuttle for a mission planet side, right?

Now, after several hours to half-a-day, it may be odd that the shuttle hasn't returned. Concern may be after a full day. "Why hasn't Shuttle Juliet returned? Is it staying planet-side at the settlement?"

But even then, an inquiry made to the Officer of the Deck (shuttle) and relayed to Security to log and relay to the First Officer and eventually Captain could be altered or hidden. At least for another day or so.

Conspiracies and insider threats are dangerous, but eventually things can unravel and become exposed. But the traitor or agents of mayhem are also very aware of that and usually have some of their own contingencies for their own exit plan. Perhaps sabotage on the ship, causing a distraction and mayhem to cover their own escape (ship to planet teleport). Then whomever is involved can have fun tracking down this person who may no longer be alone and with allies.

Of course, capture or any involved parties could shed some light on something, but if they are hardcore (i.e. willing to kill Starfleet personnel), they could be fanatical enough to ensure they don't "talk".

Really depends on how far things want to be taken. It doesn't have to get resolved all in this chapter. It could remain a mystery for now.

Just ideas and food for thought.

[Blaster]

Honestly, I want death... XD (I'm a bit mean)

[LogicalLeopard]

I vaguely thought the traitor was involved in the very first space combat encounter, when the ARES took some very precise damage from Nausicaan and/or orion raiders. In the discussion, there was some blackmail or such going on by some Orion Syndicate or another. But that may have been the tie with the initial player who was involved.

A veteran from the war with a deep hatred of Cardassians would be the perfect tool...er... agent to cause this mayhem and betrayal. Yet, I don't think it would be strong enough to knowingly kill random Starfleet comrades. For something involving Cardassian bias and denial of resources, I'd think there is someone with power pulling the strings. A greedy Federation Councilor with ties to some consortium who wants said resources, who is looking for an excuse to involve Starfleet in a more heavy handed approach? A lower Starfleet Admiral, with *deep* hatred of Cardassians. With the vengeance motivation driven by loss of children who were officers in the war, loss of family from even cardassian disputes pre-Dominion War, or perhaps a splinter and shadow Maquis cell doing their proxy war to initial conflict/response.

For the purposes of this specific Chapter, it may have to be defined in any detail. But having some overarching thing/cause in the background may help our ARES Sim Officers with some grand plot background in which we may come into contact from time to time.

I think it could actually be a combination of all of what you said. More of a grand conspiracy. If you think about it, you had the Maquis split off and fight for their homes during the realignment of the border. But I'm sure you also had many officers who fought the Cardassians in those wars and weren't happy about giving up Federation territory. Even if they didnt quite run off to help the Maquis directly. But after the Dominion War, maybe some of those officers, and politicians by the way, are thoroughly DONE with the Cardassians, and want to not only watch them suffer, but take back the land they were given in the treaty. Think of guys like Jellico, Miles OBrien, etc, that fought against the Cardassians for decades prior to the Dominion War, watched some of their friends join the Maquis and die at the hands of the Dominion, then had to fight the Dominion because the Cardassians let them come right in an inhabit their territory.

So you've got a cabal of Federation councilors, assorted regional politicians, AND Starfleet officers who are trying to get that land back and cause the Cardies as much pain as possible. It's sort of the same thing you saw in Star Trek 6, only not with Klingons.

Perhaps the plan here is for the Nausicaans to establish a base on Dorvan V and launch "attacks" on Federation space. Then, the Feds will have an excuse to come in and occupy the territory. This cabal could have worked something out with the Orion Syndicate, and the Nausicaans are basically foot soldiers. It would also explain why the Nausicaans put up a shielded base.

An idea like that may be able to come back later in other chapters. It doesnt have to be strictly defined yet, but those are some ideas.

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It's probably not that the shuttle is missing. But it's missing was on a 'need-to-know' basis, considering how a Security team with orders from the Captain to keep things secret for operational security.

It wouldn't be strange or even out of the ordinary, when a technician's task is to just prepare and pre-flight a shuttle for a mission planet side, right?

Now, after several hours to half-a-day, it may be odd that the shuttle hasn't returned. Concern may be after a full day. "Why hasn't Shuttle Juliet returned? Is it staying planet-side at the settlement?"

But even then, an inquiry made to the Officer of the Deck (shuttle) and relayed to Security to log and relay to the First Officer and eventually Captain could be altered or hidden. At least for another day or so.

Conspiracies and insider threats are dangerous, but eventually things can unravel and become exposed. But the traitor or agents of mayhem are also very aware of that and usually have some of their own contingencies for their own exit plan. Perhaps sabotage on the ship, causing a distraction and mayhem to cover their own escape (ship to planet teleport). Then whomever is involved can have fun tracking down this person who may no longer be alone and with allies.

Of course, capture or any involved parties could shed some light on something, but if they are hardcore (i.e. willing to kill Starfleet personnel), they could be fanatical enough to ensure they don't "talk".

Really depends on how far things want to be taken. It doesn't have to get resolved all in this chapter. It could remain a mystery for now.

Just ideas and food for thought.

A good set of forged orders to the Officer of the Deck, with an estimated operation time of a week or so would solve most of the issues. The only difficulty would be getting the bridge to go along with it. You'd need to forge the approved launch so the bridge crew wouldn't have any questions either, like forging a shuttle launch schedule through ops. It does seem very orderly, though. A doctor shuttling down to treat patients in a remote area.

Perhaps the signature on the orders are Biiqs', because he is the CTO, yet hes never actually BEEN on the Ares. So, the Ares crew think they're taking orders from the new CTO (who already ordered a runabout and a bunch of equipment down) and the CTO has no clue, and isn't talking to people on the ship, because hes dealing with Nausicaan attacks, sabateurs, and planning rescue operations.

The whole thing can unravel with an offhand comment about the shuttle, since Biiqs is coming aboard.

[Silynn]

A good set of forged orders to the Officer of the Deck, with an estimated operation time of a week or so would solve most of the issues. The only difficulty would be getting the bridge to go along with it. You'd need to forge the approved launch so the bridge crew wouldn't have any questions either, like forging a shuttle launch schedule through ops. It does seem very orderly, though. A doctor shuttling down to treat patients in a remote area.

Perhaps the signature on the orders are Biiqs', because he is the CTO, yet hes never actually BEEN on the Ares. So, the Ares crew think they're taking orders from the new CTO (who already ordered a runabout and a bunch of equipment down) and the CTO has no clue, and isn't talking to people on the ship, because hes dealing with Nausicaan attacks, sabateurs, and planning rescue operations.

The whole thing can unravel with an offhand comment about the shuttle, since Biiqs is coming aboard.

Precisely. I'm sure the agent of mayhem didn't think Biiqs would return to the ARES. Figuring with all the things going on, that he'd be planetside for a few more days at least.

Going further, it could be just an moment of curiosity by Biiqs to check on or locate Jei, his old shipmate from the USS TIAN AN MEN. Perhaps to clarify a detail from the incident planetside with the bomb. And in that innocent query, to discover she was assigned to Dr. Cushing and his mission, which there is no log or even known current whereabouts of said mission.

Then with Biiqs unraveling that whole thread, the time-table for the traitor's carefully laid plans are shot and things can get chaotic then. hahaha.

Lots of potential from a wide array of our current members.