Star Trek: Shadowplay

[Crazedwraith]

Star Trek: Shadowplay
By David ‘Crazedwraith’ Cutter.

Star Trek is owned by Paramount. I am making no money from this and I have claim to only the original characters.

***
Prologue

“What are you doing here, sir?”

“I’d be careful about asking that Mr. Runik. We starship captains tend to be a very philosophical bunch, at times.”

Captain Tom Mather grinned at his 2nd officer. Runik of course merely raised his eyebrow in the incredibly sardonic way all Vulcans seemed to have mastered.

“Yes Sir, of course, Sir. If you would allow me to clarify the matter, sir, I was enquiring to as your purpose on boarding the ship sir. Since we’re not due to leave dry dock for another 12 hours, 3 minutes and 32 seconds sir.”

“I just wanted to look around, see if those ground Techs actually did their jobs. I don’t want to get 50 light years out and then spend a week floating around aimlessly while Brea actually has to put the ship together herself.”

“Yes, sir that would be inconvenient. Wouldn’t it sir?”

“Indeed it would Runik. You haven’t seen Commander Davis, have you?”

“No sir, our first officer is still on leave, sir and thus has left sir.”

Tom snorted in laughter at that and ran a hand through his full shock of white hair.

“Is that a faint smidgen of humour I detect in your comments, Mr. Runik?”

“Sir, I am a Vulcan.”

“Is that supposed to answer, Commander?”

“Yes sir. Vulcans do not indulge in humour sir.”

“I think Lt. T’Lii would have something to say about such radical stereotyping. Lt. Commander.”

“I hardly think words would be the first things exchanged, Sir.”

Tom struggled to keep his stern expression in place. But Runik’s arid (if unacknowledged) humour always cracked him up.

“Very well, Mr. Runik. I think I’m going to check out one of the dry–dock’s observation pods. If Greg checks in tell him I’d like to speak to him.”

“Very well, sir. Have a Safe flight. Sir.”

***

Commander Greg R. Davis sat in the lounge over looking the slip where the USS Ranger (NCC–74566) was docked for refits and nursed his 22nd beer of the evening.

Damn synthol, Oh for the Days when binge drinking actually meant something.

Greg checked his watch, saw that he had another 10 hours of leave and then became immensely annoyed that he could, in fact, still understand his time piece. He reiterated his last thought:

“Damn. Synthol…”

A soft monotone voice sounded behind Greg’s left ear.

“Oh I don’t know. It has its perks; like incompetent officers being able to report to duty after 22 plus beers. Still having their meagre skills intact.”

Greg turned his head to glare at the intruder and saw a man who was extraordinarily ordinary. A man with features so plain he seemed to blend into the background even while standing right in front of you.

“Who are you?” Greg intoned, “and what are you doing here?”

“I’m not,” said the man as he gave brilliantly understated smirk at the officer he had at a disadvantage.

“Ah, I see,” Greg muttered, “So: Intelligence, Section or am I just crazy?”

Outside a small shuttlepod began a trip around the Ranger

“ You owe us a favour Mr. Davis.” Said the Agent.

“Aww…crap,” swore Greg.

“I take it then that you understand?” The Agent didn’t wait for a reply, “good, In about two weeks time you will be on a highly sensitive mission. Your objective will be to destroy a certain piece of technology. You will not. You will, in fact, steal said device and bring it back for section study. Understood?”

“And compromise my ship?”

Outside the ship circled the Ranger’s primary hull.

“No, just your mission.”

“Go to hell.”

“I thought you might say that. Perhaps a demonstration is in order?”

Outside, the shuttlepod exploded. Greg came halfway out of his seat hissing, but the Agent was there. Instantly restraining him.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Greg hissed. The agent’s smirk became slightly more apparent.

“You recall your Captain has a certain fondness for inspecting the exterior of his ship after every refit? Unfortunately it appears that the fusion reactor of the pod he took out today suffered from an unrequested fusion energy surplus.”

Greg surged forward or at least tried to but somehow the Agent managed to keep him in place.

“Now you listen to me, son. We do not exist. We cannot be held accountable. However we can hold you accountable for your actions. Now are you clear on the mission or will a freak storm demolish a certain house in England?”

Greg just gritted his teeth. It was clear.

[darthdavid]

This looks like it has distinct potential.

[JME2]

Agreed. I like it.

[Crazedwraith]

Chapter I

Greg walked around the Bridge in silence. Four pips lined his collar. It was his bridge now. Bloody hell what a way to gain a command: by indirectly causing the assassination of your captain? It sounded like something from that awful Terrain Empire you learnt about in Starfleet History lectures.

There was no else here. He dismissed the ensign who’d been on duty. There was no sound except the slight hiss of the life support system recycling air. Not even the ever present of the warp core was present while his ship was confined to dry–dock. Externally the ship was pristine all fine white decks, brilliant running lights with no scratches or blemishes of any kind. Internally the very soul of the ship had been lost with it Captain.

He paced his bridge running a hand over the rail above the two command chairs. Trailing his fingers over the secondary control console there. He walked past tactical, the door to his ready room and the engineering station.

He’d been given a mission. A small empire out beyond the Romulan Republic was suspected of developing Omega technology. A substance that could, when stabilised, generate energy outputs that rivalled warp cores from handheld devices. This was the kind of technology he had to bring back for those Section dogs.

He passed the sweeping navigation console and the science station. He paused just the entrance to the conference room and admired the worn metal plaque fixed to the wall there. It was properly the one thing that had never been replaced or gone under extensive repairs on this ship. It read:


USS Ranger NCC–74566
Intrepid Class
Built at Antares Shipyards 2471


Then followed a long list of builders, designers and so forth. Below that was a simple two-line motto taken from an ancient text:


All that is gold does not glitter
Not all those who wonder are lost

Greg sighed. Then went to his ready room for a drink.
***

The crew was not happy. To many changes had been made in to shorter time. After weeks about grumbling about refits and having nothing to do, It suddenly seemed to the crew that they actually shouldn’t be heading out at all, now. Greg knew why they had to but still agreed with his men.

His senior staff was grouped about the conference table. Lt. T’Lii, his science officer, has sat at immediately to the right end of Greg. As about as far from First Officer Runik (opposite, the captain at the end of the table.) as she could be without stealing the head of the table from the Captain. Still she greeted him with a smile as always. Opposite her was Lt. Commander Ed. Shaw, a dour man with a taste for flinging firepower around like sugary treats. Next man to him was not a starfleet officer but a federation marine. Lt. Eric Preston commanded the three five–man marine squadrons at the Ranger’s disposal and was a dab hand with his pair of phaser pistols on top of it. Sitting to Runik’s right was Carla Brea, the Bajoran engineer. The two people sitting with T’Lii were a small passive man named Sam Carson, the CMO and the new ops officer. Wide eyed Ensign Travers. Greg cleared his throat:

“As all of you now know, the Ranger is on course for the Romulan Republic. Our mission as assigned by Starfleet Intelligence...” Here Greg paused wondering if any was going to insert to old cliché about oxymorons.

“…Has nothing to do with them what so ever. On the far side of the republic is a small set of system calling themselves the Selcian Union, they’re technologically primitive and still seem to thing warp drives and transporters a rather neat new inventions… Officially our mission is to turn up wave the federation flag and open the hand of friendship.”

At this point, Runik butted in.

“If I may interject sir, I would wonder what exactly is so wonder about this planet, and why are we being sent? Logically, if our mission is as you say it could be met using any starfleet vessel and there are many closer to hand to this…Selcian Union. Why would we be rushed out of refit in the circumstances of our departure and sent on a routine mission?”

“A very good question, Mr Runic. Logical one might look at where this assignment come from and read between the lines. Assuming your Vulcan intellect can stoop that low of course. Our official mission stands. We are on a peaceful diplomatic mission. However the Romulan Republic, despite nominally being an ally of the Federation, not to mention still being in a few million credits in debt to us is dangerous and unknown territory. I want combat drills in all departments to be a priority. Everyone clear? Dismissed.”

***

Captain’s Log. Stardate 65301.2

The Ranger is almost to the Romulan Border. Long range sensor suggest a pair of Romulan Birds–of–Prey are standing by at the rendezvous point, ready to escort us across there territory in accordance with the 2390 Remus Accords.

The crew, despite being on such an apparently mundane mission is restless. They’re good men and women, every one of them. A well-oiled and practised crew but they were the old man's crew not mine. They were Tom Mather's hand picked team, not mine. They worked for Tom. Now I’m in command the whole balance is gone. Usual procedure after such a calamity is to allow a cool off period for the crew. A new captain is generally allowed to play with the roster as much as he likes preceding launch. Yet Starfleet has barely buried the old man before I’m being booted out the airlock so to speak.

I just hope it doesn’t get the good men and women of this command killed.




Then as if the fates were mocking the sentiment, the Ranger gave an all mighty jerk as venomous green disruptor fire enveloped it…
****

Author's notes:

• Runic is pronocued roo-nick
• T'Lii is pronocued Tuh-Lee
• A cookie to the first person wh ocan identify the 'ancient text' that the Ranger's motto came from

[NecronLord]

[*] A cookie to the first person wh ocan identify the 'ancient text' that the Ranger's motto came from[/list]

Lord of the Rings. All that is gold does not glitter, is I believe, the title, written by Bilbo Baggins.

[darthdavid]

Lord of the rings. It's bilbo's poem about strider. Easy as canned cake.

EDIT: DAMN YOU NECRONLORD!!!!

[Crazedwraith]

[*] A cookie to the first person wh ocan identify the 'ancient text' that the Ranger's motto came from[/list]

Lord of the Rings. All that is gold does not glitter, is I believe, the title, written by Bilbo Baggins.

*sigh*
You are allowed to comment on the fic as well as steal the cookies necron.



Yup poem for Aragorn written by Bilbo. And since Aragorn was a ranger...

[NecronLord]

You are allowed to comment on the fic as well as steal the cookies necron.

<Snip>

Yup poem for Aragorn written by Bilbo. And since Aragorn was a ranger...

*Munches*

I'll actually read the fanfic tomorrow morning, then I'll comment. I just came to steal the cookies.

[JME2]

Nice chapter CW, very nice indeed.

[CJvR]

Nice, but I doubt that the officers would exchange insults during a mission briefing, even if it was aimed at an uninsultable Vulcan.

[Crazedwraith]

Chapter II

The Ranger shivered continually as a pair of Romulan BoPs surged past, layering the Intrepid with countless green stingers from two banks of rapid-fire disrupters.

Power surges wreathed the hull of the Ranger sending showers of sparks from random consoles. Hapless ensigns were sent flying and Captain Davis staggered onto his bridge.

“Report! What the bloody hell is going on, Lt.?” Greg practically screamed at the Night watch commander.

“A pair of D’dras class birds of prey, sir. No IIF signals from them, they just decloaked and started blasting away.”

“Tactical?” more shudders ran through the ship and smoke started billowing from a blown out wall panel.

“Shields at 40%, sir. Each attacker appears to be highly manoeuvrable and packs around six pulse disrupters but no plasma torpedoes or heavily shielding.”

“Very, well. Lay down covering fire, ensign. Mr Tanner, evasives; Theta pattern.”

The acid green Romulan ships swooped past the Ranger again, berthing swarms of energy darts. But this time the Ranger swerved and heeled oddly in space. Her phaser strips birthed bloody red streaks, dancing through the void into oblivion. The Romulans flashed by apparently untouched by the energy blasts.

Aboard the Romulan vessels the crew gave sigh of relief. They had made it through the phaser barrage. The breathe had barely left their lips when dual linked quantum torpedoes smashed straight though their shields and immolated them.

The remaining Bird of Prey swerved and looped crazily until it was back in line with the Ranger. It’s Commander uttered two harsh words in Romulan. If a universal translator had been present it would have said:

“Ramming Speed”

***

Aboard the Ranger the crew watched in stunned almost silence.

“They’re moving to ram us,” cried and ensign as the bird of prey streaked towards then.

A series of harsh Romulan words shrieked out over the comm system as a series of harsh phaser blast lanced and eroded the bird of prey’s stark lines until it detonated. The wreckage smacked in to the Ranger at a combined speed of nearly twice full impulse. Lights flashed and exploded; consoles erupted, spewing sparks throughout the bridge. The inertial dampers half failed and everyone was thrown about by inertia.

And then it stopped.

When Greg’s head eventually stopped spinning and his stomach stopped retching he looked up and yanked himself back into his seat. There blinking on his console screen was the belated translation of the BoP’s last transmission:

YOU CANNOT WIN. THE TAL SHIAR WILL HUNT YOU DOWN TO THE ENDS OF THE GALAXY. YOUR PERVERSIONS OF OUR GREAT RACE WILL STOP.

LONG LIFE AND PROSPERITY TO THE ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE.

[darthdavid]

So the tal shiar is in on this game too...

[Crazedwraith]

Chapter III

Captain’s log; Stardate 65301.9.

The repairs after the attack of duo of rogue Romulan frigates are well under way. The crew is working with its usual efficiency and it seems to be taking their minds of their depression and concern about to commander of this vessel.

I, however, am still worried about our attacker’s claimed identity. The Tal Shiar has not been seen for over fifty years. It is widely believed they were eliminated in the upheaval after the Shinzon incident, which caused the collapse of the ‘Star Empire’ and birth of the Romulan Republic.

By all account it was ruthless group much in the same vein as the Klingon Blackfleet or the rumoured Section 31 of the Federation. However I am oddly reassured by the fact there is no recorded tendency of the Tal Shiar for using suicide tactics and kamikazes. They much preferred to plant bomb on other people than their own agents. It appears likely that our attacker were nothing more than your run of the mill extremists using the Tal Shiar name as scare tactics.

However, the Birds of Prey that attacked us have been identified as the ones waiting at the rendezvous point. Further investigation has revealed the debris field of a light cruiser sized starship. We believe this to be our original escort that was destroyed by the Tal Shiar extremists.

This has left me with a small problem. I either can go by standard protocol and wait at the assigned point after sending a message to the nearest starbase, which would invite further assaults from militia, or head on to our objective, which has the prospects of causing a diplomatic incident.

At the present stage, I believe the safety of my crew is of more concern that few ruffled feathers and have order us to proceed towards our objective upon our already agreed upon flight plan. While this will make us more easily found by the Tal Shiar, certainly if they have the intelligence process of their namesake however flying through unauthorised Romulan space is likely to cause more than ruffled feathers.


***

Gah, I'm having a spot of difficulty getting from here to the next point I've more or less figured out in my head. The mission to steal/destory the Selcian's omega tech. Just starting Chapter IV off with " and then the ranger reached to orbit of Slecia Prime" doesn't seem to cut it.

[Knife]

Hmm, not bad at all. Your chapters are getting shorter and shorter though. Take your time and don't be afraid to branch out a bit.

A short note, though;

Opposite her was Lt. Commander Ed. Shaw, a dour man with a taste for flinging firepower around like sugary treats. Next man to him was not a starfleet officer but a federation marine. Lt. Eric Preston commanded the three five–man marine squadrons at the Ranger’s disposal and was a dab hand with his pair of phaser pistols on top of it

Proper nouns like Starfleet and Federation should be capitalized. Marine shoud be too, if you value your life.

And it should be a squad, not a squadron. A squadron typically relates to aircraft or naval assets. A squad is an infantry unit. Also, five men in a squad is odd. Typically infantry units are based in even numbers so that every single soldier/Marine has a buddy and every team has a supporting team, ect. ect.

The exact number of people in a squad will vary in every country/service/time/universe but usually you'll see squads from 8 to 12 so you have two to three teams of four troops. You can add a squad leader to that or a section leader or whatever.

And though I an NOT the right person to bitch about gramar or spelling, you may want to re-read it a couple times and work some of that out.

All and all, though, tis a good story shaping up there.

[CJvR]

Gah, I'm having a spot of difficulty getting from here to the next point I've more or less figured out in my head. The mission to steal/destory the Selcian's omega tech. Just starting Chapter IV off with " and then the ranger reached to orbit of Slecia Prime" doesn't seem to cut it.

You could have them arrive tired from constant probable sensor ghosts chasing them all the way, might be a result of battle damage - or not... Dropping out of highwarp to conduct a proper sweep and equipment recalibration could be something of a relief. Mentioning the silence of Romulus might also be a good way to open up, they flew unescorted through Romulan space that must make you nervous even sticking to the agreed flight plan.

[Crazedwraith]

Chapter IV.


It was an impressive display. Two Centuries of Torgoth’s first Legion were lined up. 5 ranks of twenty stood to attention on each side of the path to the landing pad. They were dressed in full battle armour. Helmets covered their brows and their chest gleamed with well-polished chain mail. In their hands, they carried large phase–blasting rifles and their belts were weighted down. With Blaster pistols, short swords and survival knifes and if this wasn’t enough the hilts of combat knifes stuck out from the top of the majority of right boots.

But just as uniform as their weapons and armour was the expressions of shock and awes and half a dozen aliens appeared from no–where.

As the glimmer of the transporter faded around him, Captain Gregory Ronald Davis smiled and waved at the military might surrounding him.

At the edge of the landing pad an officer cautious approached the new comers. He had purple skin, white hair (Although he was apparently quite young as this species went) and had scales radiating from his eye sockets. His dress put Greg in mind of an ancient Japanese military uniform only with out the pockets or cap and an additional long flowing cape attached with a pair of elegant pins at the officer’s shoulder blades.
He spoke and his voice was high and melodic.

“I am Centurio Aml Alyz. I will be you’re guide for the duration of this diplomatic visit.”

“I am Captain Greg R Davis of the Federation. It is my honour to establish negotiations with the Selcian Union. But first can, I ask you a question?
What’s with all the shocked faces? I was lead to believe you had transportation technology.”
“Well umm y–yyes, sir” mumbled the Centurio, “We regularly utilise cargo transporters, sir. I don’t think anyone ever considered too use them on living beings. I suppose we could see past the disintegration stage of the process. Please sir, pay the superstition of soldiers no mind.”

Nonetheless the assembled troops kept shooting strange glances at the federation party, kept fidgeting and most disturbingly shifting their rifles around restlessly.

Greg was almost relieved when his team and traversed the walkway and entered an extravagantly appointed hovercar. Which shot away out over and through an urban sprawl of skyscrapers punctuated with small purple parks of local plant life.

20 minutes later, Greg, T’Lii, Lt. Commander Shaw and the two federation ambassadors who’d been shipped along especially for the occasion, piled out of the hovercar and into the main conference room, housed in an elegant building of glass spun around a intricate metal frame.

3 hours after that Greg had met more high ranking members of the military and government that he’d suspected could be fit in a room of that size, swilled down several pints of the local coffee equivalent and was concentrating on not blowing off his own foot. (Mainly in a diplomatic sense, since none of the away team carried weapons. At least none of the away team carried weapons officially. Prior experience meant that Greg knew Ed Shaw, at least, was carrying a type I phasers. Discretely carrying, Greg hoped)

***

Captain’s Log Stardate 65311.6.

According to Federation Ambassadors Smith and Smith (no relation, as that would be unprofessional) early signs in the negotiations are good. The Selcians would be a find asset to the federation and with the numerous untapped resources in their system to starfleet as well. There is a good future in starship building for the Selcians. If they join up, that is and, of course, if they overcome their strange and apparently superstitious distrust of the transporter. I seem to remember one of their ministers, I forget what of now, summed up the Selcian view on transporters as:

“A fine thing for cargo, where it doesn’t matter if it swaps the places of a few metal particles around but for a living creature? Never. Such a suspension of life is asking for trouble and also even a few carbon atoms scrambled out of place could ruin the delicate balance of the body and cause all sorts of nasty mutations or tumours”

Of course Lt. T’Lii did try to explain the various safety mechanism that could be built in and how even the basic theory of transporter technology was being misrepresented by this statement. Quite passionately in fact which quite surprised Ambassadors Smith but not convince the Selcians one jot I’m afraid.

The Ranger is now settling into its quiet orbit. However I think it will be a while until boredom sets in. The past few weeks of dodging sensor ghosts and fretting over invisible Romulans has had the crew tense and wound up. The usual feeling of wasted time Starfleet crews feel while nurse maiding diplomats is instead a period of quiet relaxation. A sort of breather I suppose. The quiet after a storm. Only the storms not so much a storm as the impending promise of a storm unfulfilled.

Finally the Selcians have transmitted up a schedule for our stray here and one item has particular caught my interest. An experimental energy source research. Lt. T’Lii and myself will be touring the research labs the day after tomorrow and it promises to be quite intriguing.

[The Guid]

I like it.

I feel like you could perhaps expand it from just the one central character, I always think that helps. Then again if you perservere with the single person perspective that can be more effective in the long run, I just think its harder to write.

[Crazedwraith]

To paraphrase JME2: You didn't want it but you've got it!

OR

Just when you thought I'd given up and let the damn thing die...


Chapter V.

Lt. T’Lii looked around her and knew shortly it would all be ruined. It was a pity. She rather liked the place. It was always nice visiting these silly little backwaters. Especially ones that had never heard of Vulcans, thus no stupid gawking at the happy Vulcan and much more gawking at that extremely nice looking young (apparently) lady over there.

There’d been much joking yesterday among the science staff over what this wonderful new power source of the Selcians would be. Most of the betting had been on simple matter antimatter annihilators with an outside bet on quantum singularity technology. The truth was more terrible than they could have possibly imagined.

The first clues had come in the first briefings. The expected devices would have outputs rivalling modern warp cores using zero point effects, a more stabile version of the reaction in a Quantum torpedo, let alone a first generation M/AM reactor.

Worse yet further diagrams and blueprints scaled such devices as barely the size of a desktop interface.
By the time, the briefings turned their attention to the physics of the project, as opposed to simply wowing its audience with obscene figures; it was mere a formality confirming the energy source. It was derived from a type of high–energy particle the Selcians called Baraheidons. The Federation had a simple and infinitely more apt term for it: Omega. The End. It certainly would be when these people made the inevitable screw up. At their current levels the Omega Particles already synthesised could vaporise half their planet as well as destroying all of subspace in a light-year radius.

T’Lii glanced over towards her Captain, from the tightened expression on his face she knew he knew it to. In fact, It was a look he’d been wearing more and more lately. A cold calculating look that said I wonder what it would take to kill you? It was spine chilling look and a look that seemed to be permanently stamped on to the Captain’s formerly dashing looks. Ever since he became a Captain in fact.

Despite being almost half a century older than Greg is, she had studied in the same year as him at the academy. Due to their long life spans Vulcans were admitted to the academy from any age from 20 up to 60. Never in all that time had Greg seemed so cold. Perhaps she was being silly. It was just an expected change due to his promotion but her instincts (which ‘normal’ Vulcans denied having of course) told her this was something different. He had never looked that way when he was first officer, even when it was his responsibility to conduct crew evaluations and recommend promotions among the junior crew.

So it seemed Greg had got himself into a lot of trouble again and usual T’Lii would have to drag him out kicking and screaming or end up picking up the pieces.

Suddenly people started moving around her, T’Lii started, cursed her internal monologue and tried to catch what the hell was going on.

***


Captain’s Log: Supplemental

Our tour of the Selcian Energy Advancment Research (SEAR) ended quite badly. Disastrous would be more apt. They were, in fact, experimenting
With Omega Particles at sufficient levels, my science officer tells me, to tear apart their planet.

Ambassadors Smith report little headway in negotiations on the matter and our entire itinerary with them has been cancelled and replaced with nigh continuos talks on the matter but Smith tells me there is very little hope.

With no other options, I have had to unseal the Omega Protocols.

***

All the senior staff were looking at him if he were mad. Which Greg decided he almost certainly was or was going to be by the end of the week. Which on a cosmic scale was really the same thing, when you thought about it.

“Ambassadors Smith, will be resuming talks with them tomorrow morning, thus we will act at 1800 Hours. The Strike team will consist of A four man marine group, Lt. T’Lii and myself ”

Runik started to object. Regulation 13c slash iii or somesuch.

“Mr Runik under Omega Protocols any and all regulations can be suspended on Captain’s discretion. For example I could technically burn you down right here and now if I could think up a half decent explanation.”

The Vulcan, doing nothing for the stereotyping of his species, merely raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t worry though, Commander, I doubt my court martial–er would see it that way. Lieutenants Preston, Shaw and T’Lii, will you kindly scan the SEAR complex and formulate an Attack Plan. Present it to me at 13:30 hours at the latest. Dismissed.”

The officers filed out by T’Lii gave him that all to piercing look, she’d got down to a find art and it wasn’t even followed or preceded by a wry grin. This was trouble. Greg sighed and reached for his brandy, He’d better not have to blast an old friend. He’d go spare.

---

Author's Note: Thanks to the helpful note from Knife I'm changing what I stated in Chapter I the mairne detahcment is not three squads of five but three squads of eight. The smallest unit tin STnadard operting procedure is a half-squad of four.

Next time: I hopefully try my hand at some action.

[darthdavid]

Saw it coming 20 miles away but It's a good plot direction none the less. Maybe those pansy feddies will finally get omega power.

[Crazedwraith]

Not another chapter but the...

The History of the future (of the future) [does that make it the history of the future’s future?]

aka

Some Interesting stuff about the timeline and background of Star Trek: Shadowplay.

Timeline
2373: Start of Dominion War
2375: End of Dominion War
2377: USS Voyager returns to Earth via a transwarp conduit. It brings back many technologies for Starfleet R&D to drool over.
2379: Shinzon Incident. Romulan Star Empire Collapses.
2380: Federation/Klingon forces move in to restore order.
2381: Romulan Republic formed. Treaty of Remus signed.
2385: Federation Peacekeepers finally move out of the Romulan Republic. Valiant class destroyer enters service.
2400: Millennium bug causes panic by making all non Stardate systems think they had travelled back in time a hundred years. Wide spread horror among historians, children and anybody silly enough to use an obsolete system.
2401: 1st run of Renown Dreadnoughts commissioned.
2403: The Great Pirate Wars embroils the federation. The Orion syndicate tries to gain legitimacy and is blasted back to the stone ages. 2nd Run of Renown dreadnoughts commissioned.
2407: Present Day. (I.e. for Star Trek: Shadowplay)

The Big Three:
The Federation.

The Dominion War was a real eye opener for the federation. In the years since the War Starfleet’s emphasis has always been on defence and keeping the peace. Instead of multitasking vessels starfleet vessels became highly specialised towards a particular area. (Although they could perform many other duties in a pinch)

The UFP has near doubled in size in the thirty years since the war. Tripled if you include its allies: the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Republic, who are members in all but name.

Advances in warp technology (inspired by transwarp and Slipstream drive techniques brought back by the Voyager) and the co-operation of the Klingon, Romulan and Dominion governments have enabled the federation to explore and claim vast swathes of the Alpha Beta and Gamma quadrants.

Romulan Star Empire/ Republic.

The Dominion War and the Shinzon incident that followed a few years later destroyed the Star Empire. After its exertions on the behalf of the free peoples of the Alpha quadrant against the Cardassian/Dominion/Breen offensive, it was economically and financial stretched.

This was heightened when Remans subverted huge amounts of material and stole secret projects (already pilfered from the Dominion during the fall of Cardassia.)

The thing that really finished Off the Star Empire however was the Remans Assassination of the entire Romulan senate. This was an effective beheading stroke by Shinzon that landed him as head of the empire. His unfortunate (for him) demise lead to the disintegration of order with in the empire. And chaos ruled the area for several months.

Then the Federation took a hand. Backed up by the Klingons they waged a quick effective military campaign to secure the area and unite it under a democratically elected government under President Donatra. However, terrorists and other extremists continued attack on the new republic necessitating a continued federation presence for over a decade until the Republican Navy could keep order.

The Treaty of Remus, 2381
Federation Agreement made with the government they put in power. Replaces the treaty of Algeron made with the Star Empire. On of very few causes transferred from the Algeron to the Remus treaties is the federation ban on cloaking technology. Other clauses of note are the abolishment of the neutral zone and the seeding of that space to the republic. Also all Military ships are forbidden to cross into each other’s space without a pre–agreed upon flight plan and military escort from the other nation.


Klingon Empire.

Much like the Romulans, the Klingons were economically drained after the war. Chancellor Martok has concentrated the empire’s efforts into a quiet introspective regime of self-improvement rather than trying to wield military or political influence against its neighbours.

The Klingons only notable military endeavour in the past few years has been their aid of the Federation in the Stabilisation of the Romulan Republic. It caused wide spread controversy among the Klingons and a rift between those who felt Martok was either compromising his own economic goals, or was simply being a federation lap targ, and those who thought of themselves as honourable warriors rejoining the fray in the aide of great comrades.

Chancellor Martok himself has faced political backlash from the decision to take the Empire to war, mainly for unfortunately erroneous claims that several Romulan factions vying for control were in possession of the same thalaron WMDs that Shinzon himself used to take power.

This has severely damaged his reputation among the empire, but Martok remains in power because the people feel his political opponents are either worse to unlikely to gain power even with their support.




Miscellaneous:
Renown Class Dreadnought
This vessel is the pinnacle of Federation Military technology. The last great vessel pushed through by the warriors in starfleet.

713 metres in length, the Renown was a fall back to the ancient times of the Excelsior and the Constitution; a simple and starkly elegant design melded with the most advance weapon technology known.

Prominent design features include the forward sweep of the nacelle pylon, a ventral disk on the primary hull (housing no less than four torpedo tubes) and the impulse engines housed in the secondary hull as well as the tradition saucer mountings.

The Renown was nearly stopped before it was born. At the time it was designed pacifistic elements, long lain dormant in the Federation in the wake of the Dominion War, began lobbying for the emphasis on the military side of starfleet to be abolished and for them to return to exploration.

They nearly succeeded. Due to the fuss they raised only three Renown Class Vessels were built. They were still however designated Dreadnoughts by the Admiralty. (Or “enhanced ‘scare the shit out of the enemy’ explorers” by those who remembered the designations given to warships by the pacifist faction)

1st Run Renown class Starships:

USS Renown NX–80000
USS Infamous NCC–80001
USS Notorious NCC–80002

Luck would swing the Renowns way. Less than 2 years after the USS Notorious left the construction docks at Mars; the Orions made their foolhardy gambit towards legitimising their seedy criminal empire in to an actual one. Not only did this silence the pacifist factions but the Renowns distinguished themselves in the fray. In one incident the USS Renown herself held off three Orion battleships and over a dozen frigates from destroying the Melville colony until the rest of its assigned taskforce arrived. The Renown took heavy damage but was still spaceworthy. This testament to the design lead to the ordering of another dozen Renown– Dreadnoughts.

2nd run Renown class Starships:

USS Hotspur NCC–80010
USS Lancaster NCC–80011
USS Manchester NCC–80012
USS Exeter NCC–80013
USS Indefatigable NCC–80014
USS Ra NCC–80015
USS Hathor NCC–80016
USS Horus NCC–80017
USS Osiris NCC–80018
USS Isis NCC–800219
USS Setesh NCC–80021

Valiant class Destroyers.
Introduced in 2385 these vessels replaced the Defiant class escorts. Who ever they never really gain the popularity of their famed predecessors and a spell of bad luck coupled with the bad fates of the famed SS Valiant and the Defiant class vessel of the same name gained the Destroyers a rep as an unlucky posting among the superstitious nomcoms. Being assigned to one was not considered the markings of a long prestigious career.

However, this rep was entirely undeserved. The Valiants were well-designed reliable and capable vessels.

Structurally they are similar to the Prometheus and nova classes. A wedge shaped primary hull is joined to a long tapered engineering hull with the nacelles on short pylons tucked in as close as possible.

Their primary armaments consist of three pulse phaser ball turrets. 4 short Type X phaser strips and a forward torpedo tube. They are fast at both impulse and warp. With good endurance.

40 of the class were commissioned and several more, of an uprated design, are under construction.

Federation Marines
A wing of the Federation that had lain dormant for centuries until just before the Dominion War. In the last thirty years it expanded geometrically and now rivals starfleet.

The Federation Marines are more than just the classical definition of Marines but instead field the entire ground forces of the federation from Infantry to Armour to commandos.

The Marines popularity has grown so much it in fact rivals that of starfleet. In fact the majority (55%) of Starfleet non-commissioned officers are drop outs from marine training.

This has created an odd sort of tension between starfleet and the Marines. The Officers view Marines as jarhead ground pounders who steal valuable recruits and waste potential. Marines in turn regard Starfleet Officers as incompetent effeminate ferry drivers.

The non-coms however greatly admire the marines and often display a sort of hero worship to them. This however greatly annoys the down to earth marines.

***
I'll give a cookie to someone who states the influences on the klingon/RR section or maybe I won't its really too obvious...

[Crazedwraith]

sheesh, who does one have sacrifice around here to get reviews?

[Shroom Man 777]

I like it, I like it.

So will the Klingons rename their blood wine (or whatever it was called) into Freedom Wine?

Love the Marines, btw.

[Admiral Cross]

The story seems pretty good so far...

The chapters could be a bit longer, its quality over quantity. Seems pretty interesting, you could expand into some detail a bit more around some history of the characters, where do they come from...etc, we already know that the new captain has had some dealing with Section 31. Which could provide a very interesting arc... we could use the perspective of other characters more, shift the story line a bit, as for the most part, it focuses on the current captain. Other then that... its great

[Crazedwraith]

The story seems pretty good so far...

The chapters could be a bit longer, its quality over quantity. Seems pretty interesting, you could expand into some detail a bit more around some history of the characters, where do they come from...etc, we already know that the new captain has had some dealing with Section 31. Which could provide a very interesting arc... we could use the perspective of other characters more, shift the story line a bit, as for the most part, it focuses on the current captain. Other then that... its great

Bah, All of that may be true, but it least I don't stall my fics for months to rewrite them.

[Shroom Man 777]

Are you talking about me?