STORY WORKSHOP 2022 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2
(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/f/f0/NL_Header_NIC.png)
Eventually, it is time to plot our story for Episode 2, so I thought I'd open a new Story Workshop thread. I have ideas for what the next Episode will be given the current story projection with Donatra and the Romulan fleet's arrival at the Klingon border, but I bet all of you may have ideas for the storyline ahead as well, so I would like to start a third workshop where we pool our minds into paving the path forward! :)
The conclusion from the last Story Workshop (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php/topic,2812.msg26690.html#msg26690) was as follows:
To summarise, Episode 01 of the new Season will set all of this in motion, with the thelaron bomb in Paris, the message from the Infested, the Praetor ending the Romulan Civil War and declaring war against the Federation and the Klingon Empire both. I think what makes the most sense for Episode 01 besides this build-up of the Season overall, is to focus on Martok and his to-be-decided rival in the Empire. It being in the Theurgy's interest to support Martok, the first Episode could be about preventing war within the Empire and also making sure Martok remains in power.
I would say we did
exactly that, didn't we? :) Some of the older writers may have noticed how the methodology of Episode 01: Advent of War, was different from the more linearly progressed Episodes in Season 01, and I would say that the results are mixed. In so many words, I listened to the feedback after Episode 05 and heard how some writers felt that their characters didn't get to have enough "free time" for character building one-on-one threads. This was something I opened up for a lot more, with a lot of In-Character time passing between each development so that people could focus on characterisation alongside the main story development. In that regard, I think it worked really well in my own opinion.
Moreover, there was some feedback on how some writers wanted to have more latitude for side-missions which they could run in support of the Episode's progression. Taking that feedback to heart, Advent of War was built on what we used to call Story Objectives (now Prompts), which had me taking a backseat role in driving those facets of the story forward. The problem that arose was that these side-missions sometimes held back the progression of the main story development since in order to progress that, there were outcomes that needed to be established in the various Objectives. With the Covid pandemic also slowing the posting ratio, Advent of War was not a quick affair, but I would say we finished it in a grand finale!
So, comparing the way I drove the story in Season 1 and how we did it Advent of War, I'd say that in interest of keeping the pace and the path forward clear, some awesome things could be learned from Advent of War, while other things are better to be run like in Season 1. We are over 30 writers that need to have things to do for their characters, so in that regard, the Prompts are a good fallback option, but I think more clear direction is needed, yet without curtailing creative license, so that is my ambition for Episode 2.
I do know there are pitfalls in paralysis-by-analysis, OOC planning sometimes stalling more than helping progression, but I know some need more direction than others in order to feel they have the fodder they need. It's a fine balance, the needs of all different writers quite varied, but I feel that as GM, the challenge is to advise writers without giving too much instruction, but to always help them with ideas for their characters when they don't know what to do next. This, even when too much help could look like I am favouriting them over others, those whom I know don't need any help at all and I am confident can write anything they put their mind to.
Anyway, for those who want to be a part of the development of the story overall, this is the place! The theme for Season 02 is to prevent another intergalactic war, in so many words, and to go after the Infested as best as they might. With this overall peacekeeping theme, the
Theurgy will be facing situations where the crew have to deescalate rising conflict that the Infested are trying to seed, and also try to neutralise them on an individual basis.
So! Now, we bring out the big brush and sketch up the overall aim with Episode 02, shall we? No rush, though, because we should take our time and chillax with the major storyline until we've had our fill of the Interregnum. Nonetheless, some starting thoughts of mine, which I take from the old Workshop and add some new things:
- The UFP President, Nanietta Bacco, managed to survive Paris, but when Starfleet Intelligence cite that Praetor Tal'Aura of the Romulan Empire is the most likely to be behind the attack, she authorises Starfleet to investigate and act on this threat to the Federation. At the end of Episode 01, however, Garak is on board with what is really happening, and may affect what the President and the few survivors of the Federation Council does.
- The Romulan Star Empire has declared war on the Federation, and Tal'Aura - the Praetor - has implemented the use of thalaron weaponry in order to end the Romulan Civil War swiftly (despite the galactic ban against use of thalaron particles in warfare). Before attacking Federation space outright, she is currently subduing not just the Remans, but has sent the decimated rebel fleet of Donatra's running for the Klingon border. Donatra has ended up a mere renegade leader of a broken fleet instead of the Empress she'd proclaimed herself to be. The Praetor would, since the manipulated Gorka isn't in power, claim that the Klingon Empire are enemies, since they had openly sided with Donatra and even helped give sanctuary to Reman refugees inside Klingon space.
- Starfleet Command would react appropriate to the Praetor's violation against the ban on thalaron weaponry, and mobilise in reaction to the Praetor declaring war against the Federation. The Theurgy has become a second priority since not only has Donatra been defeated - the alleged ally of the Theurgy and Captain Ives - but they have the Praetor to worry about. Needless to say, with the Infested having infiltrated both Starfleet Command and possessed the Praetor, they have everything they need to begin a war. What will they do now that they failed to put their puppet - Gorka - in power of the Klingon Empire? I'd say, with Martok in open support for the Theurgy's mission and the Infested risking exposure, there is plenty of motivation to attack the Klingons, right?
- So, together with a challenged Martok, and possibly a disgraced Donatra, and with a secret alliance with the rebels in the Savi Flotilla, the Theurgy will have to head back into Federation space and try to deescalate the tensions. They need an ally like Ambassador Elim Garak to gain the ear of the President of the UFP, and they have to coordinate with Director Anderson in Starfleet Intelligence to try and be one step ahead of the Infested. As their inside man, Director Anderson would feed intel to the Theurgy that would help them stop further use of thalaron bombs, and help them spread the truth about what's really going on.
- Lastly, we have the Scion High Council of the Savi Flotilla. The Infested there will have an interest in stopping the Theurgy as well, and to further seed unrest in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. I have already mentioned this before, but in regard to the origin of the Infested, it has been suggested already that someone had to be the first Infested. Someone that made the initial temporal breach into a future where the nameless darkness have reached the Milky Way Galaxy. Now, which species are devoted to science... and tend to push too far in their research?
A Savi made the breach, which means that the key to finding the breach might be with the Scion High Council.
Just like in the last two workshops, I realise that some might have more than one idea for an Episode, and unfortunately, I will be asking you all to only pitch one plot arch for Episode 02 per writer. I very much would like to avoid everyone throwing as much stuff on the wall as they can just so that something might stick. That won't be constructive at all. Instead, I want you all to pitch
one favourite story arch. That way, only the plotlines you really believe in will end up in the workshop, and we go from there.
So, have at it and put forth your ideas at your leisure. No rush though, since the Interregnum has just begun. :)
Best,
Auctor Lucan
So I myself have been mulling something over:
Within Trek canon we're getting fairly close to when the impending Hobus supernova is discovered. Picard was dispatched to assist in 2382 in the new novel. The Romulans obviously discovered the impending issue first (and it's implied that the Romulans themselves may even be responsible for the nova). My thought's were that we could somehow work the Hobus nova into our story. The Parasites want to return the galaxy to a state of pure energy, and a nova is just a destructive energy wave really. What if the parasites discover the Nova and within our story, try to accelerate it? They'd effectively wipe out one of the 'big 3' powers in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, and also destabilize the entire region with a massive influx of refugees and sparring powers, beyond the two that are already combatting one another within the Empire.
I think the crew could discover this in a huge variety ways. Maybe they're testing the tech on another local star, and the ship or a small team goes to investigate, discovering that they're working on it on a much grander scale. Hobus is one of the oldest stars in the Galaxy, full to burst with raw energy. The damage would be astronomical. Hell, even in KelvinTrek, Spock makes it clear that the only reason the Nova didn't wipe out half the quadrant was because he was able to stop the blast with Red matter.
I'm not certain if it would make a lot of sense for the crew to actually stop the supernova entirely, particularly if they were meddling with it to try and accelerate it. However, I feel like our characters might be able to at least slow it down, to allow the natural progression of evacuation etc. to save as much life as possible. Obviously, there would be a lot to hash out about this, but that's what the brainstorming thread is for!
Gotta do something with Thalaron radiation. Find some kind of defense against it. I believe that was something that you (auctor) mentioned in Discord Chat, and part of why I made the character that I did.
"We have the need to work on some kind of counter measure for Thalaron radiation weaponry because the Romulans are coming" From Discord General from auctor on 10/22/21.
It will be interesting to see what we do with this, and will have to be something we need to get going on before the end of Interregnum. At least get some theories going for a "thalaron dispersion field" or whatever. I'm working on some ideas that we can develop this with my Nara character. But I'm sure you'll have your own.
We might have to see a full scale Romul;an civil War, especially if the Hobus Supernova happens or is thwarted. I'm not sure we want to see Nero and the Narada make an appearance though? Bip had some good ideas with working towards Hobus being a plot point in the upcoming timescale.
Hell, we might even see part of Starfleet siding with the Klingons against other elements of Starfleet? I'm sure that there's some elements of the Fleet that would have some respect and trust for Martok, knowing him as an honorable man, and maybe having a different view of Kopek wanting out of Khitomer.
We could potentially have the Savi poke the Federation with their own sorta stick, be it diplomatic or otherwise.
Gotta do something with Thalaron radiation. Find some kind of defense against it. I believe that was something that you (auctor) mentioned in Discord Chat, and part of why I made the character that I did.
"We have the need to work on some kind of counter measure for Thalaron radiation weaponry because the Romulans are coming" From Discord General from auctor on 10/22/21.
It will be interesting to see what we do with this, and will have to be something we need to get going on before the end of Interregnum. At least get some theories going for a "thalaron dispersion field" or whatever. I'm working on some ideas that we can develop this with my Nara character. But I'm sure you'll have your own.
We might have to see a full scale Romul;an civil War, especially if the Hobus Supernova happens or is thwarted. I'm not sure we want to see Nero and the Narada make an appearance though? Bip had some good ideas with working towards Hobus being a plot point in the upcoming timescale.
Hell, we might even see part of Starfleet siding with the Klingons against other elements of Starfleet? I'm sure that there's some elements of the Fleet that would have some respect and trust for Martok, knowing him as an honorable man, and maybe having a different view of Kopek wanting out of Khitomer.
We could potentially have the Savi poke the Federation with their own sorta stick, be it diplomatic or otherwise.
Nero and the Narada weren't really super critical to the actual nova. In Beta Canon (I think?) they were mining inside of the Hobus system when they discovered the weird readings right before the star expanded and destroyed the system. In the new books though, the Romulan Government was aware of the Nova already so not sure. what they were up to, either way I'm pretty sure they really just 'Witnessed' it all and then took their rage out on Starfleet after the fact since they backed out of the relocation effort, effectively stranding a large number of Romulans. It's more complicated than that but...
Then we'd have to get into the whole mess of the Narada having borg tech from the artifact.
I love the ideas about Thalaron tech though! There's a huge storyline there.
Sporadic thoughts mainly centered on the original Infested species (good luck in tracking the following):
Ba'Ku, Organians, Cytherians, Vissians, Douwd, Pah-Wraiths, Voth, Iconians, Slavers..were all ideas that came to mind for species who were first to be Infested as for each one of these they are noted for being either chaos oriented and highly evolved, highly advanced tech that led to their destruction, evolved too far too fast and those that survived swore off this or that in order to maintain morality, and etc.
If you choose Pah-Wraiths, for example, that could be why they became corrupted and were cast out of the Prophets (very controversial thought of course). The Douwd could've had that incentive to develop their super-duper powerful abilities in order to eradicate the Infested from within their ranks. For the Cytherians, the Infested could be why they changed from being explorers to having folks come to them after they too evolved powers to eradicate the Infested. I'll admit I'm not as well versed on the Voth and Vissians personally, but they showed up as being advanced tech science-driven. The Organians could be similar to the Douwd and the Ba'Ku are always messing shit up (personal opinion).
For the Iconians, that could be why their civilization came to such an abrupt end despite being at the top of their game 200,000 years ago and with how vague they are in the online lore it could work to our advantage to flesh them out further without constraints. The Slaver empire was super duper advanced, aggressive, and hardcore, then poof destroyed itself. With both the Slaver empire and Iconians, folks are still finding tech spread throughout the empire and it is all super powerful and dangerous, so stuff is there but buried and it takes excavations to find them. Same as with Kzinti, if the animated series had continued, they wanted to incorporate Slavers more and if the board accepts Kzinti then Slavers could be accepted because they came from the same creative genius (Larry Niven I believe) and were both featured in the animated series (which interestingly they both appeared in the SAME episode "The Slaver Weapon.")
Not to break minds or anything, but similar to the Forerunners in Halo when they "reset" the galaxy in an effort to eradicate the Flood, perhaps the Iconians or the Slavers did something similar to seal the breach the void that the Infested came through?
As for how they're introduced: Maguffin for Slavers! Literally, the Slaver boxes are things that are found around the galaxy and are sealed to where time does not pass within them and different items are found inside, never the same things.
Theurgy could find one such box and there's data in there about the Infested breach and how to seal the void or perhaps even an old school Infested itself? But even if not one of those, finding data, be it digital or physical from an informant, would make sense. Maybe they get a tip from an NPC or an old friend, etc?
Also, Slaver tech is super sought after because so much of modern tech was inspired by them, and peoples who find their stuff tend to advance beyond their neighbors nearly overnight (according to the lore in the episode) so again IF this was something they found they'd be a hardcore target by a lot of folks for more than just being
Theurgy and enemies of the Infested. Now they'd be targeted even by supposed allies. Even Martok would think twice about just letting the Federation waltz off with such tech. Also, could be the Savi found a Slaver tech gizmo that caused the breach in this century? Though he is clueless about the manner in which the Scion High Council ended up as Infested, even Echtand suspects they might be the first ones.
Took a break in writing homework and these thoughts spilled forth, so again if you tracked through congrats!
Links for references:- https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Slaver_Empire
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Iconian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slaver_Weapon
Sporadic thoughts mainly centered on the original Infested species (good luck in tracking the following):
Ba'Ku, Organians, Cytherians, Vissians, Douwd, Pah-Wraiths, Voth, Iconians, Slavers..were all ideas that came to mind for species who were first to be Infested as for each one of these they are noted for being either chaos oriented and highly evolved, highly advanced tech that led to their destruction, evolved too far too fast and those that survived swore off this or that in order to maintain morality, and etc.
If you choose Pah-Wraiths, for example, that could be why they became corrupted and were cast out of the Prophets (very controversial thought of course). The Douwd could've had that incentive to develop their super-duper powerful abilities in order to eradicate the Infested from within their ranks. For the Cytherians, the Infested could be why they changed from being explorers to having folks come to them after they too evolved powers to eradicate the Infested. I'll admit I'm not as well versed on the Voth and Vissians personally, but they showed up as being advanced tech science-driven. The Organians could be similar to the Douwd and the Ba'Ku are always messing shit up (personal opinion).
For the Iconians, that could be why their civilization came to such an abrupt end despite being at the top of their game 200,000 years ago and with how vague they are in the online lore it could work to our advantage to flesh them out further without constraints. The Slaver empire was super duper advanced, aggressive, and hardcore, then poof destroyed itself. With both the Slaver empire and Iconians, folks are still finding tech spread throughout the empire and it is all super powerful and dangerous, so stuff is there but buried and it takes excavations to find them. Same as with Kzinti, if the animated series had continued, they wanted to incorporate Slavers more and if the board accepts Kzinti then Slavers could be accepted because they came from the same creative genius (Larry Niven I believe) and were both featured in the animated series (which interestingly they both appeared in the SAME episode "The Slaver Weapon.")
Not to break minds or anything, but similar to the Forerunners in Halo when they "reset" the galaxy in an effort to eradicate the Flood, perhaps the Iconians or the Slavers did something similar to seal the breach the void that the Infested came through?
As for how they're introduced: Maguffin for Slavers! Literally, the Slaver boxes are things that are found around the galaxy and are sealed to where time does not pass within them and different items are found inside, never the same things. Theurgy could find one such box and there's data in there about the Infested breach and how to seal the void or perhaps even an old school Infested itself? But even if not one of those, finding data, be it digital or physical from an informant, would make sense. Maybe they get a tip from an NPC or an old friend, etc?
Also, Slaver tech is super sought after because so much of modern tech was inspired by them, and peoples who find their stuff tend to advance beyond their neighbors nearly overnight (according to the lore in the episode) so again IF this was something they found they'd be a hardcore target by a lot of folks for more than just being Theurgy and enemies of the Infested. Now they'd be targeted even by supposed allies. Even Martok would think twice about just letting the Federation waltz off with such tech. Also, could be the Savi found a Slaver tech gizmo that caused the breach in this century? Though he is clueless about the manner in which the Scion High Council ended up as Infested, even Echtand suspects they might be the first ones.
Took a break in writing homework and these thoughts spilled forth, so again if you tracked through congrats!
Links for references:
- https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Slaver_Empire
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Iconian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slaver_Weapon
I really love the idea of bringing in some of the old species in some form, with a caveat -
The Iconians are little...overpowered. That could just be due to my experience with them within STO, but they always come across as a bit much. Maybe with some adjustments they'd work for our story. Now, the Voth and the Ba'Ku I think are both excellent candidates. I think it's a really cool idea to flesh out some of the ancient civilizations that Trek hasn't done too terribly much with, and tie the infested in with them. The Voth, would be hard to do since as far as I know at least, they're strictly a Delta Quadrant species and thus far the only Federation ship that has had contact with them was
Voyager, and they only returned in 2378, so only a few years ago. I imagine that Intelligence and the Diplmats at Starfleet are still sifting through sensors, personal logs, etc. regarding the journey in the Delta Quadrant. Might be interesting to see some Voth pop up though. Ba'Ku are much closer, but there are so few of them that are fairly intricately tied in to Starfleet as of the events of 'Insurrection'.
Either way, I think using any of those species at a tie in would be really cool, and maybe through one of them the crew might be able to discover a thing or two about the Infested previously unknown. How they use it, or what they discover however, I have no idea. In any case, really cool ideas in my opinion!
One idea! What to choose from??? I kid.
Anyway. I have to agree that the Ba'Ku in themselves are too little a factor to be a major player on the galactic stage, but they could be forced into events. With the increased use of Thaloron weaponry, people will be searching for counter measures and the regenerative properties of the radiation surrounding the Ba'Ku planet could be of interest. I was seeing this as a covert Romulan research outpost is setup on the planet that needs to be seized, or Theurgy gets wind of an expedition to setup the research facility/obliterate the planet and has to send a force to stop it.
If we're also re-introducing other species, how about the infested get a hold of the Gorn and they decide that Cestus III really is worth fighting over as the first shots in a wider war.
The Iconians have a history fleshed out for them due to the works of Star Trek Online which **is** considered canon until CBS dictates otherwise.
It is possible that the Infested were accountable for the multiple race wide rebellions/envious attacks that culminated in their retreat to the Andromeda Galaxy - but other factors would have to be called into question.
If the Iconians do become a factor, I would love to work on that front.
So, after finally giving this thread a read, I have some thoughts. Please don't hate me for them as they are just my opinions.
We don't need the Iconians, at least not at this stage. Perhaps down the line we could have a lost Iconian artefact or weapon be a plot device but for Episode 02, I do not feel that this would be beneficial to us. Also, it was confirmed in the first episode of Picard that it was the Romulan Star that went Supernova, Link 01 (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Supernova) and Link 02 (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Romulan_sun). Perhaps this could be a plot point for a future episode in preventing the stars destruction, perhaps from that Iconian weapon. At this stage though, Romulus is just too far away and I think this episode would be beneficial with us not jumping in giant strides across the Quadrant at every turn.
No, for Episode 02, I pitch that we focus on the Klingon/Romulan border, perhaps also where the two borders meet with the Federation boarder. We have a ship that is designed to split and operate as individual units for an extended period of time and I feel like we should make use of this for the episode without it being a giant emergency. Thea's subspace link would be active this time unlike in Episode 05 after the Versant's attack, so all three vectors would still be in contact with each other. Perhaps we have to stop a Romulan fleet in one area while dealing with Gorka loyalists in another. There is also the Niga threat to deal with as well if that is still a thing come Episode 02. Maybe the Loyalist Romulans plan to target the Reman world that the Klingons gave them. And it doesn't have to be three different threats. It could be two and we pair Vector 01 and Vector 03 together and have Vector 02 operate independently.
I just think that it would allow for a nice bit of overall development along multiple fronts without us having to resort to slipstreaming, Soliton waving, Savi shipping service to get everywhere.
That's just my two cents. Feel free to ignore them.
How could the Pah-wraiths be infested? Both they and the Prophets, are non-corporeal.
@Ellen Fitz
Late to the party ... fashionably /;-D
So I got two ideas, basically not so much referring to anything new for Episode 02, but rather elaborating on threads started in Episode 01.
First and foremost, the meeting with Donatra, who will arrive at the Klingon border son, likely before Theurgy gets there. The idea floated with Actor previously was that the chief diplomat could lead a delegation ahead, potentially on the Allegiant (though I am not sure on its whereabouts since the Green mission), to greet the Romulan first. Now I have seen in the outline for week 2 of the Interlude that Bartok is already leaving Qo'nos to make his way to the border, so maybe this delegation could accompany the amassing fleet - or warp ahead (which I would prefer) to make first contact with Donator and establish a common ground. All writers interested would be welcome to join where it makes sense.
Secondly, to touch back on the imminent parasitic threat, another idea was floated about how people inside Starfleet Command, who are not infected, would probably pick up on the weird going's on and strange decision making over time. Therefor I had two NPCs created in advance that could serve this purpose. The deputy chief of Starfleet security and a Federation Senator. Both survived the Paris bombing.
Around October/November of 2380, Admiral T'Pel starts noticing changes in the behavior of senior command. Wayward orders, an air of unquestioned loyalty, hushed rumors among their direct subordinates. Having worked in Security all her career, she has developed a sixth sense for things seeming off, even only in the slightest. (AL has offered to provide more detailed instances for concern to be picke dup on)
After following and cataloguing the anomalies for two months, she gets in touch with a SFI Handler in late 2380, whom she had previously cooperated with on various covert Strafleet operations, pertaining to the security of the fleet. They have several undocumented meetings over which they discuss their respective findings/concerns. Subsequently, she casually starts mentioning her suspicions to her husband, Senator T'Pel. Theories ranging from a coup, orchestrated by conservative forces within SFC, over a resurgence of the shapeshifters & Dominion, to a measure of foreign intervention by the Romulans. Just to name a few logical possibilities.
Paris gotbombed, while Senator T'Pel is visiting his wife at SFC HQ. In the immediate aftermath and the subsequent handling of the incident by the leadership in SFC, circumventing the political arm of the Federation, both figure out something is completely off the rails here. They get in touch with their SFI contact Hurley in a desperate plee to help them find the surviving members of the Senate and get them off world to safety.
While the two get to work trying to contact the remaining senators, getting them to a safe place on earth, Hurley calls in a favor from an old 'friend', lowlife Stellan Foster the 1st - Kate and Stellan Fosters miscreant father. He's made a career for himself smuggling contraband from and two earth for decades, establishing a well oiled illegal trade organisation in the process. His private ship can travel under false credentials as various alien freighters and other civilian craft, making it the perfect getaway vehicle.
Together, they get all remaining political figures aboard and leave the sol system, not getting in contact with SFC or the president, figuring either would potentially be corrupted, as the highest echelons in the Federation. Not until they have managed to establish a safe exile government. Which would be any governments main goal after an event such as the Paris bombing.
If they were to travel a speed of warp 9, they could cover the distance of roughly 80ly to the Klingon border by week 3 of the interlude. I've previously been in contact with Ellen to have Enyd acquire classified information from the Federation Embassy on Qo'nos, which could turn out to be records of said flight plan. The assumption by both the Admiral and the Senator is, that the Theurgy crew may be right in their thesis of the infected, and as such they seem to be the logical support and ally to seek out, in their attempt to keep the Federation government operable. Which would, however, require their knowledge of Theurgy's last known position to be in Klingon space, somehow.
If this information was to surface on Theurgy, a team would have to travel and meet with the vessel, to bring the remaining politicians to either Theurgy or a safe place elsewhere.
At the same time, what is going to happen to Garak and the President? Is Starfleet One still in orbit around earth? Should Garak be contacted again as well, to reunite the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federation somewhere? And will they attempt to take back control of SFC trough legal pathways?
Phew, that was quite a bit lol
First thoughts off of my head:
1. The enemy is...not really something that can be conventionally fought. there's no reliable way to prevent possession, there is no apparent internal division, and there's no cure (yet) which means the only way to control the infection is expensive and can't be relied upon too much. the ONLY upside is it seems it can only get meat puppets occasionally/at a limited rate. So there is a hard cap on just how many infected there can be, which can be calculated if we can figure out the infection rate, how it spreads, and how long it's been active.
2. as such, any immediate efforts to deal with the problem are basically futile long term, but can buy time to figure out (a) what this thing is (b) how it thinks (c) how to cure the infected and (d) how to permakill or seal it away. Whatever it is has a number of logical flaws in its ideology (chief among them: wiping out life, which increases entropy as part of its existence, to increase entropy in the universe, a goal that is inevitable and pointless to accelerate as far as we're concerned) and has made plans that can be foiled with reasonably low casualties by people who are competent and thinking on their feet, which means it does have a mind that can, to some degree, be understood; it's human enough to be wrong and make mistakes, basically. But you need the first 3 items, I believe, to be sure of (d).
All of this is going to be really hard to attain at present. The political situation is, I believe, the more pressing matter in the short term for reasons outlined above. Civilian government is, apparently, not infected, which means the enemy made a pretty big mistake; Starfleet is pretty thoroughly subordinated to the civilian government, and historically coup attempts and mutiny, when they do occur, are dealt with swiftly and the status quo reestablished, which means there's never been major popular support for the military overstepping its bounds, even at the height of Founder paranoia.
So basically, getting the President a list of infected, with proof, is the key. The enemy cannot, as far as we know, infect sufficient people at sufficient speed to control a significant portion of the fleet. So a decap strike and the sequestering of infected officers is not just possible, but a short term major victory against the enemy. The likelihood of anything more than failure to sequester every last infected officer is low, and while there is a pretty good chance there is an infected agent keeping an eye on the President, we have technology that we know works on them.
It would, I believe, help if we had a quality cloaking device.
tl;dr:
1. Victory possible in theory, currently practically impossible.
2. Short term win to buy us time for working out the kinks of 1. entirely possible and requiring only some careful planning to cover major loose ends and avoid "somebody posted the wrong status update to the wrong Facebook" kinds of stupid SNAFUs.
3. A good cloaking device would make all our lives much easier.
So, after finally giving this thread a read, I have some thoughts. Please don't hate me for them as they are just my opinions.
We don't need the Iconians, at least not at this stage. Perhaps down the line we could have a lost Iconian artefact or weapon be a plot device but for Episode 02, I do not feel that this would be beneficial to us. Also, it was confirmed in the first episode of Picard that it was the Romulan Star that went Supernova, Link 01 (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Supernova) and Link 02 (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Romulan_sun). Perhaps this could be a plot point for a future episode in preventing the stars destruction, perhaps from that Iconian weapon. At this stage though, Romulus is just too far away and I think this episode would be beneficial with us not jumping in giant strides across the Quadrant at every turn.
No, for Episode 02, I pitch that we focus on the Klingon/Romulan border, perhaps also where the two borders meet with the Federation boarder. We have a ship that is designed to split and operate as individual units for an extended period of time and I feel like we should make use of this for the episode without it being a giant emergency. Thea's subspace link would be active this time unlike in Episode 05 after the Versant's attack, so all three vectors would still be in contact with each other. Perhaps we have to stop a Romulan fleet in one area while dealing with Gorka loyalists in another. There is also the Niga threat to deal with as well if that is still a thing come Episode 02. Maybe the Loyalist Romulans plan to target the Reman world that the Klingons gave them. And it doesn't have to be three different threats. It could be two and we pair Vector 01 and Vector 03 together and have Vector 02 operate independently.
I just think that it would allow for a nice bit of overall development along multiple fronts without us having to resort to slipstreaming, Soliton waving, Savi shipping service to get everywhere.
That's just my two cents. Feel free to ignore them.
Entirely possible IMO to "split the party" and target multiple fronts but it'd be complicated from a writing POV and also would run the risk of writing ourselves into a corner with covering too many plot hooks too quickly.
Also, each team is basically on their own. If someone needs to be in two places at once, they're gonna get frustrated.
@GroundPetrel an interesting breakdown of thought there. Let me first say that the
Theurgy has access to the finest quality cloaking device available. A Reman Cloaking Device was installed onto the ship just prior to the Battle Of The Apertures. As for your other points, its is an accurate and concise summary of what we have been dealing with. We definitely wouldn't want an easy enemy to defeat as we would then have to find a new opponent.
Entirely possible IMO to "split the party" and target multiple fronts but it'd be complicated from a writing POV and also would run the risk of writing ourselves into a corner with covering too many plot hooks too quickly.
Also, each team is basically on their own. If someone needs to be in two places at once, they're gonna get frustrated.
We have written across multiple fronts in the past. Episode 05 of Season 01 had the ship separated into its 3 vectors, as well as having characters aboard the Savi ship Versant, and aboard the
Allegiant as it was on it's own mission. We would of course have to manage the plot points for writing but we already do that. And I am not suggesting something as expansive as 3-5 locations. Even just being in two places at once would be enough to heighten the drama. And yes, each group would be on their own, that would be the point. Each group would have to deal with events within their arena with what they have. Each writer would know exactly where their character was from the beginning. So I don't see how that would be a point of frustration. Each writer would have to be a little creative in writing within the limitations of their locations and available characters.
That is the challenge and fun for writers.
Awesome discussions! I will be weighing in here soon, but I will let more writers post their ideas for the coming Episode first now that the Newsletter has reminded about it. Just a quick amendment!
Let me first say that the Theurgy has access to the finest quality cloaking device available.
The
Theurgy itself does not have a cloaking device any more, since if you recall the Battle of the Apertures, the technology didn't quite mesh with Thea, causing somewhat of an engineering nightmare mid-battle. The cloak wasn't operable. Instead that Reman cloak was installed on the
Allegiant, which was of the size that the cloaking device could work on. :)
Best,
Auctor Lucan
Thanks Auctor for the correction.
May I just say add that there is no problem with finishing off the big baddies of the Infested within the first round of the next season as there is the aftermath "mop up job" of dealing with the political and social ramifications therein. Also, moving on to other bad guys and incorporating more exploratory-type prompts in the season could be a nice breather as well.
@GroundPetrel an interesting breakdown of thought there. Let me first say that the Theurgy has access to the finest quality cloaking device available. A Reman Cloaking Device was installed onto the ship just prior to the Battle Of The Apertures. As for your other points, its is an accurate and concise summary of what we have been dealing with. We definitely wouldn't want an easy enemy to defeat as we would then have to find a new opponent.
Entirely possible IMO to "split the party" and target multiple fronts but it'd be complicated from a writing POV and also would run the risk of writing ourselves into a corner with covering too many plot hooks too quickly.
Also, each team is basically on their own. If someone needs to be in two places at once, they're gonna get frustrated.
We have written across multiple fronts in the past. Episode 05 of Season 01 had the ship separated into its 3 vectors, as well as having characters aboard the Savi ship Versant, and aboard the Allegiant as it was on it's own mission. We would of course have to manage the plot points for writing but we already do that. And I am not suggesting something as expansive as 3-5 locations. Even just being in two places at once would be enough to heighten the drama. And yes, each group would be on their own, that would be the point. Each group would have to deal with events within their arena with what they have. Each writer would know exactly where their character was from the beginning. So I don't see how that would be a point of frustration. Each writer would have to be a little creative in writing within the limitations of their locations and available characters.
That is the challenge and fun for writers.
WRT. the cloak my concern is that I don't recall if it covers all three parts if the ship's split.
Otherwise, fair points. :)
May I just say add that there is no problem with finishing off the big baddies of the Infested within the first round of the next season as there is the aftermath "mop up job" of dealing with the political and social ramifications therein. Also, moving on to other bad guys and incorporating more exploratory-type prompts in the season could be a nice breather as well.
As much as I would like to see that occur, I think the issue with the infested could easily take up all of Season 2. Here are some of the issues as I see it and feel free to disagree.
1. The current Romulan offensive has to be turned away. Diplomatically would be the best, but could involve heavy fighting to force an operational pause and possible stalemate.
2. Breaking the stalemate to get to Romulus in order to get at Tal'Aura. Creating the environment for what amounts to a mad dash at Romulus to remove the infestation from Tal'Aura
3. Development and deployment of the temporal technologies in the story prompts with as little interference as possible
4. New technologies to detect infestations throughout the galaxy
5, Gathering the necessary strength for a drive on Sol in order to deploy the new technologies while Starfleet could be hella confused as to what's going on and possibly fighting each other.
5a. This also assumes we're not dealing with other infested baddies like with the Cardassians, Dominion, etc. or other non-infested factions who are looking to take advantage of Federation confusion for their own gains.
6. Highly theoretical, but a dimensional barrier to prevent further infestation.
And just saw the follow up convo XD
Yeah, we could ask Martok for some spares to install on our segments? Could be useful for not getting caught by infected agents if we go for Earth.
Also,
@Ellen Fitz , while I think you make good points, even wrapping up the immediate infected threat in the next couple of seasons, there would still be a lot of "how tf does this thing even work?" to do before proper security against said threat is established. We just have a great opportunity to deal with the bulk of the immediate threat because the enemy has basically completely overextended itself and left an exploitable weakness, probably because it thinks it understands the Federation better than it really does, at least IMO.
I'm really enjoying all these discussions on the content at hand. So I think the Ba'ku or Iconians I'd rather not see here. Iconians I'd have too much issue being so involved in STO to make it make sense and they were defeated by arrogance and lower races and Sela. So in turn they destroyed the Hobus. Ba'Ku I do like the instance of their regenerative planet as a counteractive for the thalaron.
I do like the Infested manipulating the Hobus to terminate it and create havoc across the quadrant. Also like the possibility that the infested's arrogance is their downfall in overplaying their hand. I like a lot of what
@stardust posed.
Also don't think Narada or it's crew matter in this.
So my thought is if we are able to have a remote secret location for the un-infected diplomats to coordinate with the various powers and those not among the infested. That the
Allegiant could have a small task force with one or two intelligence, diplomats, security to escort them to the location. Which would put some of those
Theurgy crew in direct danger with the infested and command.
Otherwise I'm in agreement with a lot of what Stardust and AL proposed. I like a lot of the ideas though. Would like to see some covert ops missions however to further their own infiltration of the infested's chain of command.
It occurs to me: in Episode 01, the Theurgy brute-forced an end to the civil war. They took on a Klingon fleet, fought to get Martok to Qo'nos, fought to save Praxis, succeeded at Andoria and so on. For the entire episode, the Theurgy was in a position of strength as the biggest baddest badass of them all. They achieved a major victory, secured a powerful ally, and are now more badass than ever.
So what if we flip it? The Romulans can't out-fight the Theurgy crew (the Klingons tried that and it didn't go well), so instead they out-think the Theurgy crew: cloaking devices, hit-and-run attacks, diversions, ambushes. Perhaps Scimitar-class warbirds comprehensively defeat the Theurgy, forcing them to abandon a mission and run away or risk destruction. Heck, make it a Kobayashi Maru no-win situation. We don't even need to do heavy damage to the ship to make that work.
The crux is that while Episode 01 focused on the Klingons, Episode 02 will (apparently?) focus on the Romulans and their historical enmity with the Federation and Klingons. The Romulans rarely use brute force, instead winning by other tactics. It might be interesting to see the Theurgy crew try to accomplish their mission while being the underdog, so to speak.
It occurs to me: in Episode 01, the Theurgy brute-forced an end to the civil war. They took on a Klingon fleet, fought to get Martok to Qo'nos, fought to save Praxis, succeeded at Andoria and so on. For the entire episode, the Theurgy was in a position of strength as the biggest baddest badass of them all. They achieved a major victory, secured a powerful ally, and are now more badass than ever.
So what if we flip it? The Romulans can't out-fight the Theurgy crew (the Klingons tried that and it didn't go well), so instead they out-think the Theurgy crew: cloaking devices, hit-and-run attacks, diversions, ambushes. Perhaps Scimitar-class warbirds comprehensively defeat the Theurgy, forcing them to abandon a mission and run away or risk destruction. Heck, make it a Kobayashi Maru no-win situation. We don't even need to do heavy damage to the ship to make that work.
The crux is that while Episode 01 focused on the Klingons, Episode 02 will (apparently?) focus on the Romulans and their historical enmity with the Federation and Klingons. The Romulans rarely use brute force, instead winning by other tactics. It might be interesting to see the Theurgy crew try to accomplish their mission while being the underdog, so to speak.
This might be fun with undercover espionage with particular crewmembers undergoing physical modifications to appear Romulan and infiltrate their ranks to help from the sidelines.
I disagree with the use of the scimitars based on current Reman backstory. Otherwise, absolutely agree with most of the above. But I think we could stretch this across 2 or 3 episodes here.
Two pennies from a newb incoming...
If I were the infested trying to sow chaos and confusion amidst an unsuspecting galaxy, my biggest guns would be subterfuge, misinformation, and misdirection. With that in mind, while we are playing with the Romulans (separating the ship or otherwise) to deal with all of the known threats: thalaron, impending war with klingons/Federation, donatra and her band of rebels, I'd play the ultimate switch-a-roo and have my own thalaron production facilities in fed space (seeing as how the Praetor is one of us, and more than likely shared everything about the WMD's to her fellow glowworms) building and planting more bombs on one or more fed capital worlds - or Romulan. Regardless what we do/or dont, in the end, world(s) will burn.
Point is, like Griff said, the Theurgy has pulled off some pretty impressive victories already - by the skin of its teeth, and not without cost - but a wins a win. So while I really dig Stardust's idea, and really don't have much else to contribute at the moment - it seems to me a pyrrhic victory might be due to us.
Wait, we save Romulus only for them to send a star supernova and wipe out a star system?
That kind of pyrrhic?
1) With Martok in the fold, and the support of the Klingon Empire seemingly secured, it’d be nice to see if we can co-opt some help from Klingon forces moving forward. Maybe an escort fleet to work with
Theurgy whenever it potentially encounters hostile forces? Understandably, I imagine the Klingons will be someone concerned with defending their borders from Tal’Aura’s forces, should they really come to push the war against the Khitomer Accord Powers. But a few Birds of Prey would be nice to have along, or at least on stand-by to call upon should the situation dictate it. Plus, having this as an option would really make the impact of Episode 1 of Season 2 feel authentic; like we actually achieved something of merit, that can and will have an effect on the future of the SIM.
2) With the stokes of war really pushing forward, I’d like to see if there’s a way that
Theurgy’s fledgling Intelligence network that was ‘established’ just prior to leaving Aldea, can somehow have an effect on mobilization of forces. In talks with the other writers of Intelligence, we’ve thrown around the idea of subterfuge having been undertaken as an initial effort; the various assets that each Intelligence character has out there, working to subvert the flow of information, and potentially stymy the advance of the warring sides. Orders being fabricated that send a fleet to the wrong location, or that contradict a previously given order, and result in a delay while it’s veracity is ensured. Of course, there could be room for this potentially having an adverse effect as well; but the idea is there.
3) The Scion High Council of the Savi Flotilla; from what I gather, the power struggle in the Savi is as contentious, if not more so than that within the Romulan Empire with Donatra and Tal’Aura. If that’s the case, maybe it’s time
Theurgy try to make an effort to effect some sense of finality within the Savi ‘civil war’? Again, speaking for Intelligence, I’d absolutely be up to staging a coup there; this is war, and sometimes, it pays to play on the same level as your enemy. Perhaps an outright assassination isn’t in the cards, given Fisher’s commitment to only ‘bend the rules’, rather than break them, but can there be something else that the Intelligence Department can do to go on the offensive, instead of playing ‘fact-finders’ for the rest of the ship? What about taking the Savi leadership hostage somehow? Maybe with the help of the Versant and
Theurgy’s own Savi allies?
4) I think
@BipSpoon ’s idea regarding the Hobus (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Hobus) supernova is an interesting one. Given the havoc wreaked by the event when it finally did happen in 2387, I can see how maybe the ‘Nameless Darkness’ might’ve conspired to accelerate the process. Especially if they have some sort of extra-dimensional, time-sensory awareness that gives them a measure of clairvoyance regarding future events. Maybe with
Theurgy having already made an impact in delaying the inevitability of their efforts, they see fit to be more aggressive.
5) @Tae , There’s been some discussion in the past in the ‘Intelligence Department Newsletters’ that we’ve done, that have aimed at potentially sending an away mission to the secret Tal-Shiar base where Shinzon’s original Thalaron Generator was created, and later stolen by him. The idea being that maybe there was an accompanying bit of research at the location hinting at a means to neutralize Thalaron weapons.
6) Another species to consider for the ‘First’ to be infested, would be the Chodak (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Chodak) from a number of mid-90s Trek games; the Chodak Empire once spanned most of the current day Romulan Empire, and ruled for nearly 100,000 years with a number of servant species. They eventually created a dyson sphere like device, called the ‘Unity Device’ (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Unity_Device) which could literally alter the metaphysicality of the Galaxy, and bend it to their desires. The weapon was deemed so powerful, that a rebellion occurred in Chodak society, with the aim being to destroy the ‘Unity Device’ so as to prevent it being used irresponsibly, but when the rebel faction took control of it, they discovered it couldn’t be destroyed, so instead they sent it forward in time and space. The Chodak Empire then crumbled, with a vast majority of its people going into hibernation, hopeful to someday awaken when the device reappeared, and was retaken by the Empire, allowing them to reign again. In the TNG Adventure Game, ‘A Final Unity’ (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/A_Final_Unity), the device returned in 2371, and was discovered by the crew of the Ent-D. At the same time, a few Chodak scouts were awakened with the expressed purpose of searching for the ‘Unity Device’, and in doing so, they stirred up a hornet’s nest with the Romulans, who were caught off-guard by the Chodak. The Romulans then also took up the charge of hastily searching for the ‘Unity Device’ in the hopes that they’d find it first, and use it to destroy the Chodak, and the Federation. Perhaps an alteration of Chodak history for
Theurgy, could involve the ‘Unity Device’ having been crafted for the expressed purpose of destroying all life by the Infested, and the rebel Chodak were a resistance element determined to stop this.
Star Trek: The Next Generation , "A Final Unity'" (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/A_Final_Unity)
The Chodak Empire (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Chodak_Empire)
The Chodak (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Chodak)
The Unity Device (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Unity_Device)
7) @stardust ’s concept of sending an advance mission to meet Donatra has me interested, because I’ve already alluded to Fisher having had a past partnership with rogue elements in the Romulan Empire who’re loyal to Donatra. His having worked to ferry refugees into Federation custody through the Neutral Zone, and I’ve also put Alarak, the snarky asshole Romulan as seen in the ‘Contact and Negotiation’ (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php?topic=3265.0) thread in play as an ally of Donatra. Again, getting the Intelligence Department to go on the Offensive would be a welcome change from acting as ‘fact-finders’ and ‘point-the-way’ posts.
8) I also think the concept of there being some sort of disruption within Starfleet Command, as non-infected start to have doubts as to the leadership which seems so dead set on steering toward war and conflict. The have to be some within the Federation who aren’t on board with this. I understand the dissemination of information has been thoroughly clamped down upon by the Infested, but there has to be some element of unrest and civil dispute about what’s going on.
9) Speaking to Admiral T’Pel and her awareness of something strange afoot, I’d be more than happy to volunteer that NPC of mine, as mentioned; Fisher’s old mentor, and a recurring element in threads involving Fisher, the eponymous, Richton Hurley. I’ve established that Hurley at one point worked alongside of, and under the oversight of Admiral Anderson until Hurley began striking out on his own. I’ve even gone so far as to call him the ‘Yin’ to Anderson’s ‘Yang’ in terms of SFI. That said, he is committed to the advancement of Starfleet and the Federation, he’s just not as adverse to breaking the rules in order to do so, as say Anderson is.
10) I like
@GroundPetrel ’s idea of getting a list of confirmed infected to the President of UFP, so that some legitimate, above-board efforts can be made to try and restrict their power. Turning Bacco to
Theurgy’s side would go a long way toward sewing discord in the Federation and Starfleet, and maybe help to stymy the mobilization of war. Again, this is a key goal of
Theurgy’s Intelligence Department, and would be an interesting/intriguing way of doing it. Maybe a combination of recovering the displaced Federation Council members and getting an established in-person contact with the President is a path to follow. Two missions in one?
11) @RyeTanker , regarding ‘Getting At’ Tal’Aura, who we’ve established as being infected, there are other power elements in play within the Romulan Empire as established in a number of novels that take place after Nemesis. Aside from the aforementioned Donatra, there’s Tomalak (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Tomalak), who acts as proconsul to Tal’Aura. I’d like to know what’s going on with him, as while he is ‘loyal’ to Tal’Aura, he’s not suicidal either. He would have to see the disastrous path that the Empire is headed down in this war with the Federation and Klingons and be somewhat perturbed by Tal’Aura. There’s also Sela (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Sela), who while not in Tal’Aura’s favor as of this timeframe, is still ‘loyal’ to her, and I imagine she too would be disturbed by the full-on war being set against the Federation. It’s established in ‘Taking Wing’ (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Taking_Wing?so=search), the first book of the ST: Titan series, that Tal’Aura isn’t exactly in favor of a war with the Federation, since the power consolidation within the Empire is anything but. There are a total of six factions which vie for power after Shinzon, and only one of them is outright driven to war with the Federation, that of former Senator Pardek (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Pardek)’s group, though he’s brought to an end by ‘close shave’ thanks to Tal-Shiar Director Rehaek (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Rehaek) who is trying to earn favor from Tal’Aura.
12) In the Novels, there’s at some point mention of a second, unfinished sister-ship to the Scimitar that is later finished and fielded by the Remans. Though it is devoid of a Thalaron weapon, which was only built into the structure of the Scimitar; and there’s also been some conflict in Beta-Canon as to whether or not the Scimitar was originally built by the Tal-Shiar, and then stolen/refit by the Remans, or if it’s a Reman craft from beginning to end.
So yeah, sorry for so much writing here, but I wanted to give each of you some consideration from my end, and what I think could be done here and there. Hope some of this makes some sort of sense, and I look forward to seeing what you all in turn think about my thoughts, and how this all ends up playing out.
@Swift I have already written that there are two other Scimitar-class vessels in the hands of the Reman underground. I named them the Tachi and the Mek'leth. The Mek'leth was still unfinished but the Tachi was complete (minus the Thalaron weapon) but it didn't have any torpedoes... at the time. I'd be happy to write them some more if it came up.
I'd love to see Intelligence go on the offensive and for the politicians to be rescued and swayed. I'm in favor of a lot of what
@Swift brings to the table in his mentions too.
@Swift I think that's all part of the fun of what's to come. The Infested that we're dealing with were introduced later and not in the same mould of the originals has thrown a serious set of wild cards into what our expectations of normal behaviour are for characters as we knew them. Normally Tal'Aura would not be in favour of war with the Federation and Klingons, but does this match the Infested's goal for the the reality that
Theurgy is in? Since word of the use of Thalaron weapons will get out to the Klingon's, can the KDF allow these ships to approach their borders? Will the Klingons launch an invasion to seek and destroy these ships? Did Sela and Tomalak know about the bombing of Paris? Did they try to stop it or support it? Are they aware of the dangers of sending actual/rumoured Thalaron armed ships towards other galactic polities? Are they dead, imprisoned, or Infested themselves now so they don't see a need/can't mitigate an oncoming conflict?
In the end, I think the Infested as we are dealing with them now have massively upset how things are supposed to happen to the point where it's all in What If territory and in the hands of us as the writers what happens next. Maybe the Captain and the diplomats sway the Romulans to allow
Theurgy to go to Romulus and find out if Tal'Aura really is Infested.
This is all a really roundabout way of saying, yes we want to know what's happening at the top levels of Romulan Government, but it may not be what we expect based on other source materials since an unseen, chaotic, and destructive influence has been seeding it's way through the galaxy since 2375.
I have an idea, one that has been brewing for a while. Since the Azure Nebula incident.
The Triangle Region or Sector near the Azure Nebula would have been affected. It is a mostly lawless region between the Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire and UFP. It is home to the Imperial Klingon States. The current progression of the story would be a great time to introduce this splinter group of the Klingon Empire but even more so to introduce the Reman Refugees led by Colonel Xiomek.
(https://i.redd.it/yts92mqvaoy21.png)
(https://www.enworld.org/attachments/triangle_distant-jpg.56535/)
Drawing from the Articles of the Federation, Titan, and Destiny novels, we know that the Remans or a portion of them were placed under the protection of the Klingon Empire and settled on the Klingon planet of Klorgat IV. Tal-Auria attacks Klorgat.
Xiomek appears in the STO universe as well.
I propose the idea that Xiomek is approached by the leader of the Imperial Klingon States to form an alliance to attack the Romulans who attacked the Remans, the Klingons who failed to protect them, and the Federation who stood by and let it happen.
The last we hear of the IKS is in the FASA TNG Officer Manual Supplement and I quote:
Today, the IKS has increased its membership by 20 plants, bringing the total to 25. Though its size is not alarming, it threatens to destabilize the Triangle Sector.
Surplus D-7s, D-10s, D-18s, D-2s, D-32s, K-23s, K-22s, L-9s, L-42s, and L-13s make up the IKS fleet, and there are rumors that they also have a single L-24 Battleship and a dozen t-12 assault ships, plus an indeterminate number of small gunboats and warpshuttles. The fleet may be ragtag and in various states of disrepair, but it is a disturbing sign of IKS naval power.
Even more disturbing is the number of angry Klingons, transported courtesy of the above-mentioned vessels, who fled to the IKS when the UFP-Klingon Alliance Treaty was signed. We have been unable to obtain good estimates of how many emigrated to the IKS, but the figure is in the hundreds of thousands.
The mission of my intelligence vessel was to learn the extent of hostility among the IKS towards the UFP and the true Klingon empire. I can say with great certainty that the IKS is quite hostile toward the Federation, for we barely got out of IKS space alive after being discovered by two reconditioned D-7M K’i’ngas.
As far as attitudes toward other Klingons, the IKS consider themselves to be the “true” Kling Empire. In language laced with oaths and threats, the IKS officer who ‘debated himself’ to address my late Science Officer boasted that Klingon nature tends toward conquest, aggression, and the eradication of one's enemies. The Officer claims that the Klingon Empire, in signing a peace treaty with the UFP, compromised all things Klingon and conceded to their opponents in the Komerez Zha.
The current leader of the IKS, Thought Admiral Kajek epetai-Reshtarc, whips his followers into a frenzy with his oratory against ‘the false Klingons who have allied themselves with the UFP kuve’ and how the ‘soft peace-loving cattle’ of the UFP will one day eradicate the martial spirit of Klingon culture. Kayak always ends his speeches, which are broadcast via subspace radio into the Triangle sector toward the Klingon Empire, with a plea for all Klingons to join the true Klingon spirit, “thriving and expanding in the IKS.”
Though Klingons favor alliances with the enemies of their enemies, the IKS refuses to ally itself or have anything to do with the Ferengi. Like the Klingon Empire, the IKS views the Ferengi as ‘contemptible merchants who happen to have weapons but no bravery or honor.”
This would be in the 2360s era. So we can assume that Kajek is still in power or has been replaced by his son or someone else. Perhaps Kojak, son of Kajek. It is highly likely that following the Battle of the Houses any remaining Mo'Kai loyalists fled into areas controlled by the IKS to lick their wounds and return for a counter offensive. No better time than when a Romulan fleet is about to invade.
Another thought I had with all this Relativity / DTI thoughts. Perhaps the Nova lass, USS Everett NCC 72392 detects the build-up of temporal anomalies following the wake of the Theurgy and intercepts in order to investigate. Obviously, they would be a few steps behind but could eventually catch up or manage to step ahead.
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Everett_(NCC-72392)
They are active in 2381 per the DTI novels.
Interested in seeing where this progresses.
I've started a notebook of ideas. Some will start to manifes in upcoming threads.
Unless anyone else want to weigh in, I'll be summarising and processing the ideas so far into a streamlined suggestion, or two, next week. It may end up in a poll or two if there are too many conflicting ideas. Awesome input from everyone so far! (L)
Best,
Auctor Lucan
I think a poll would be great because like you said, there are quite a number of great ideas mentioned here, from making our way to Romulus, to revisiting old foes, or utilizing present thread ideas to build up more tension, and etc. A poll could elicit more ownership across the Sim from all writers to ensure more activity and motivation for the coming missions.
The only thing I think is that we shouldn't go charging too deep into Romulan Territory just yet. Keep it on the Borders for Episode 2.
On the Borders would be a great place to leave it. Perfect for bringing in the IKS and the House of Kruge plot I'm developing. There is also much to draw from the Triangle. Even potential for setting up other development.
Do we need to add more players though? We have a major war kicking off. There will be battles, refugees and crises aplenty. We already have multiple Klingon houses that may or may not be completely loyal to Martok as is. An then there are the Romulans.
I guess I am just hesitant complicating things too much.
It is all tied together and not as overreaching as it sounds. I am also thinking long game here.
I thought our long game was the infested who are trying to turn the better part of TWO Quadrants against us.
I don't mean to squash ideas, I love new ideas. I just wonder if now is the right time for it is all. Given their highly limited size and available space, I'm not seeing how they could be much of a threat, even with Romulan backing that isn't needed to fight Klingons or Romulans.
Also, the Klingon Empire already granted the Remans a planet so I don't quite see why they would side with the IKS instead of the Empire.
If I read the mapping above correctly, Martok could detail a pittance of his forces and wipe the IKS off of the board and gain himself more territory.
It's a little more complicated than that. For Martok to do that he would have to acknowledge they exist. Most are discommendated Klingons. And the planet the Klingons gave the Remans was attacked by the Romulans and made primarily uninhabited.
The IKS is a minor player in a larger universe. A subplot that runs beneath the larger narrative. If every story and thread focuses solely on the overarching big bad, we fail to explore the wealth of material that encompasses the Star Trek genre. Not even the cannon series dedicated every second of their storytelling to the greater plot.
And the planet the Klingons gave the Remans was attacked by the Romulans and made primarily uninhabited.
When did this happen? I don't remember reading about this.
And I get the need for subplots. I had just never heard of the IKS before this thread. I had to look them up and Memory-Beta is light on information, esecially current info. And I don't see how Martok could not acknowlege them now, especially if they take in traitors to the Empire. All the more reason to eliminate them. Martok strikes me as more pragmatic than needing to attain honour at all costs.
I'll write whatever comes along, either way. Lots of ideas here for people to use and I'm sure we can figure something out.
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Klorgat_IV
Klorgat IV was a planet near the Klingon-Romulan border.
Sometime prior to 2381, the Klingon Empire claimed the planet, assuming ownership of the Reman population present. However, the Romulan Star Empire attacked the planet under orders of Praetor Tal'Aura. During a diplomatic summit on Earth hosted by Federation President Nanietta Bacco attended by various ambassadors, Ambassador K'mtok demanded reparations from Ambassador Kalavak for the attack. (ST novel: Articles of the Federation, ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals)
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Klorgat_IV
Klorgat IV was a planet near the Klingon-Romulan border.
Sometime prior to 2381, the Klingon Empire claimed the planet, assuming ownership of the Reman population present. However, the Romulan Star Empire attacked the planet under orders of Praetor Tal'Aura. During a diplomatic summit on Earth hosted by Federation President Nanietta Bacco attended by various ambassadors, Ambassador K'mtok demanded reparations from Ambassador Kalavak for the attack. (ST novel: Articles of the Federation, ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals)
Ok, so not actually
Theurgy-Canon then. Because
Theurgy-Canon has the empire giving a planet to the Remans that the free from Remus, not merely changing the ownership of slaves from a planet they captured.
The IKS is a minor player in a larger universe. A subplot that runs beneath the larger narrative. If every story and thread focuses solely on the overarching big bad, we fail to explore the wealth of material that encompasses the Star Trek genre. Not even the cannon series dedicated every second of their storytelling to the greater plot.
I'm new, so this should be taken with a grain of salt, but a 26 episode season has more time for subplots than a 5 episode season. If we spend an episode with a focus that's outside our main mission, we'll never accomplish anything. I don't remember the IKR, but I love the House of Kruge (we are pre-Star Trek: Prey (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Prey), which is sad). Since they are smaller players, why not use them during the Interregnum instead? Subplots without distracting from the big bad.
Also if it's not too late
@Auctor Lucan, my request is very simple. I'd like to use the slipstream drive in some way, since Azrin is spending the entire shore leave studying it. :)
It is funny that you mentioned Prey because my interum plot is pulling from that series. The great thing about time travel and being in an alternate universe is that time can be fluid. So Prey happens 6 years from us in the Destiny-verse. Thanks to Infested temporal tampering, it can now happen sooner, at the same time, or never.
I also don't see these subplots spanning a whole episode. Only a thread or two in conjunction with the Episode. Perhaps they are mere SIDE-TREKs.
Side-Treks is a good term lol. Prey is my favorite Klingon series, so if you're planning to adapt it I'd 10000000% want to play!
Then you will want to look at the Red Herring thread Helen Fitz and I are about to launch. I am currently drafting the opener and pulling a lot from Prey.
QUICK UPDATE
Just wanted to post quickly that I have been working on a loose manuscript based on the input here, and I will post it as soon as I feel like it is presentable. I have a good feeling about it, and I hope it will accommodate for a lot of storytelling and characterisation, along with some high stakes and moral dilemmas, not to mention political intrigue and implications make a lot of impact in the Theurgy's timeline.
Until then, make sure to make the most of the shore leave on Qo'noS, everyone! :)
Best,
Auctor Lucan
Awesome and looking forward to it.
QUICK UPDATE
Just wanted to post quickly that I have been working on a loose manuscript based on the input here, and I will post it as soon as I feel like it is presentable. I have a good feeling about it, and I hope it will accommodate for a lot of storytelling and characterisation, along with some high stakes and moral dilemmas, not to mention political intrigue and implications make a lot of impact in the Theurgy's timeline.
Until then, make sure to make the most of the shore leave on Qo'noS, everyone! :)
Best,
Auctor Lucan
Hi Al -
Since it's been almost two months since you teased this, I wanted to see if you had any idea when it might become available for us to look at? I'm looking forward to seeing what you have in mind.
More research was required but I hope to get something presentable up in here very soon, as mentioned in the Discord announcement a couple of days ago.
Best,
Auctor Lucan
PART 1: SYNOPSIS OF EPISODE 02: BROKEN TALON (WORKING TITLE)
Well then, let's see what you think of this proposal for Episode 02. which does pick up on a lot of the things mentioned in this Story Workshop and yet stays plausible to the development we have so far in the story. :)
My first and second drafts of the skeleton manuscript were highly... ambitious in terms of the logistics and ended up convoluted messes where there was a lot of space-hopping back and fourth between coordinates to accomplish things, which in my experience from both Episode 05 of Season 1 and Episode 01 in this Season, becomes almost unmanageable to not just coordinate, but communicate in a way that allows all writers to easily stay on the same page with where the current development stands. Instead, I deleted those manuscripts, took the core elements of the proposed development, and simplified everything into five Chapters that both start at the same time, and run parallel with each other. They all start out from the Prologue, leading to a final Epilogue to tie a bow on things. The reasons why I suggest this simple story progression are as follows.
First, given the fact that we are so many writers, the number of writers involved in group scenes lead to a lot of waiting time. Best exemplified by the current Senior Staff meeting thread in the Interregnum - Tempus Sigilum - which becomes a slog when RL competes with escapism and writing for any number of the involved writers. We have many other examples of this, from both Advent of War, Episodes 4 and 5 in Season 1, and other group threads where there are more than 4-5 writers participating in a scene. So, with this pre-condition of our community's size, space-hopping with different means of propulsion in a manner which would have allowed for the different Vectors/Vessels/Shuttles to rendezvous mid-Episode becomes difficult when one facet of the story development is less quick to accomplish the intended objectives. It ends up with two or even three groups of writers having to wait for a prerequisite objective to be completed.
Secondly, based on the experience of how drawn-out and long-winded our Episodes can become, I wish that we mitigate this as much as we can and actually have us write an Episode that doesn't take us a full year - or more - to complete. The two parts of Episode 05 in Season 1 took us much more than a year and a half. The ambition with Advent of War was to make it a quick Episode as well, but we endued up with so many loose ends of the story development - when the Theurgy finally reached Qo'noS - that in order to give all the writers something to work on, and to settle all matters in a plausible way, we had to extend the story farther than originally intended.
Third, since we are very prolific writers here, adding to the rich tapestry of our magnum opus with lengthy and highly detailed posts, making the plot outline more convoluted than it needs to be makes it harder to keep track of what is going on. By means of starting all five Chapters at once after the Prologue, with their own distinct and clear objectives to work towards, the only challenge - which I believe can be overcome - is to moderate cross-Chapter interactions. What I am talking about there is if a ship in Chapter 2 were to contact a ship in Chapter 4, we need to keep track of the space-time continuum. We'll do this with a new wiki Calendar, which shows what each ship in each each separate Chapter is doing at that time. What we do need to keep in mind is to keep these subspace communications at an absolute minimum so that we don't create plot-holes or continuity issues. This can, of course, be handled with different plot elements preventing communications, but at some turns, we do need the Chapters to correlate with each other as well.
Without further ado, here is the skeleton manuscript for Episode 02, and while I am okay with Broken Talon as a working title for it, I would love if you all could post title suggestions in this thread, and then we'll run a Poll. Non-serious suggestions will, of course, not be considered, so please keep the suggestions in tone with our narrative? :)
PROLOGUE
In the Prologue, I will finally show what it is like behind enemy lines, illustrating more about the nature of the enemy and their plans. So far, we have had very little of that, and at the risk of meta-writing, I believe there is some confusion and misunderstandings that we can clear up in a way that allows all writers to be on the same page about what we are up against. I have already begun to work on a scene from the point of view of the Nicander that crossed over from an alternate timeline.
Furthermore, we will have a scene with Garak and President Bacco, in which the story will advance on that front, setting of a new direction that I hope you all will like. This will correlate with the fallout at Qo'noS and how Martok sent out the real Simulcast after he quelled House Mo'Kai's uprising and Gorka was killed, picking up on what kind of development that may lead to in the Federation as well. What the FNN says and doesn't say will have great impact not just on the public opinion, but also show people of high political influence that everything isn't quite what they seem.
Aboard the Theurgy, repairs and some upgrades (more on that later), have been finished, and Commander Donatra is crossing the RNZ. Therefore, Captain Ives gives the order to use the QSD and jump to where Martok's fleet is at - the latter having a head start from Qo'noS and already waiting for Donatra's arrival. During this time, and following the arrival at the coordinates of Martok's forces, more intel is gleaned from various sources which establishes the objectives of the Chapters in the Episode. The Prologue, and its Supplemental threads, become the starting-point of a multi-facetted ambition to stop the Romulans from invading Klingon Space. That is not all, however, because more trouble is brewing on the horizon in the form of the Hobus supernova being accelerated by the Infested. This, orchestrated by the Scion High Council after the Borg invasion was stopped in the Azure Nebula.
In short, during the cool-down of the Theurgy's QSD, the next phase of the mission takes form, and the crew is divided between different objectives. Before Donatra arrives, there is time for Supplemental threads between characters that have to say good bye to one another, and then, all the other Chapters are launched.
CHAPTER 01: FIND THE THALARON TRIGGERS! (WORKING TITLE, LOL)
Obviously, dealing with the Romulan Empire hinge on the development of some kind of anti-thalaron dispersal field, which is science that plausibly needs two things to be complete. The Story Prompt dealing with this tech has yet to be started in the Interregnum, which may be a good thing. See, the research may show that in order to disperse thalaron radiation, they will need two things.
One of them is sensor data from Ba'Ku, specifically the metaphasic radiation that was contained within the planet's rings. What we need to establish on that front during the Interregnum, is how the Oneida sets out for Ba'Ku in order to get this data prior to Episode 02. The data can then be sent to all ships/shuttles in need of it in all the Chapters of the Episode. The reason why the Oneida is going off alone to do this is that there is frankly not enough story development to work with on that separate front, so it is better to have our NPC guest ship do this quite mundane and uninteresting task, lol.
There is, however, a second component needed for this anti'dispersal tech, and my idea is that it could be scans of thalaron triggers, which can be found in a Romulan R&D facility. With both of these sets of sensor data acquired, the missing pieces to create a countermeasure against thalaron weaponry can be deployed by the Theurgy and indeed, both Donatra's remaining fleet and Martok's forces. This would be a significant factor in stopping the Praetor's forces, and Chapter 01 will detail how the Apache acquires the scans of the thalaron triggers.
How is the Apache to reach the Romulan research facility? My idea here is that the Savi assist with this, sending the Apache to the coordinates that the Intelligence Department has found, using a soliton wave (like the Savi used for the Theurgy at the end of Advent of War). This is an infiltration mission of the utmost importance, and with the Apache having a Reman cloak, it can remain cloaked while sent on its soliton wave to the R&D facility.
CHAPTER 02: EXTRACTING REVAD BEYOND THE RNZ (WORKING TITLE)
In Tempus Sigillum, the means in which the USS Relativity can work with the Theurgy to make the Temporal Defence Grid re-appear in time has been established. During the Prologue, input from the Relativity grants the crew the name of a Romulan Temporal Agent that will be involved in creating the grid. His name is Revad (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Revad), an agent of the Temporal Assessment Group (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Temporal_Assessment_Group). Moreover, Captain Ducane and his crew has deduced from the timestream that Revad's life is threatened by the Infested, whom mean to retro-assassinate him and prevent the TDG from being created. The great difficulty is that this Romulan operative is currently aboard a Romulan carrier that is heading for the Klingon Border. Waiting for the arrival at the border isn't an alternative either, because the Relativity reveals that he is to be assassinated before that.
Given the sensitive nature of objectives with the Tempus Sigillum code, this Chapter opens up for a lot of interesting plot elements to work with. The crew of the Ranger (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=USS_Theurgy#Vector_02.2B03_.22The_Ranger.22) (Vectors 2 and 3 of Thea, sans Vector 1) can only be informed to a small degree why they are crossing the RNZ at maximum warp and delve deep into Romulan space in order to intercept a specific Romulan ship. A ship in all likelihood armed with thalaron weaponry and geared to not just destroy what's left of Donatra's forces but invade Klingon space. The balance for the Ranger's Commanding Officer - Commander Cross - is to keep the crew from questioning orders and keeping morale high, and yet push them towards accomplishing the mission. Moreover, there is a challenge in the approach of the Romulan ship, how to reach Revad, save his life, and survive the cunning Romulan captain's tactics and his squadrons of Stalker-class fighters.
So how does the Ranger escape? Well, because during the end of the Interregnum, we need to have Engineering start working on enabling the Ranger to use the QSD, even if at a less effective output since it would be missing the warp core of Vector 01. More precisely, Vector 2 needs Slipstream Initiators mounted on the hull of Vector 2, so that they can escape back across the RNZ once Revad is extracted. This means that during Chapter 02, Engineering has to finalise this project for the Ranger to escape. No pressure!
Revad's life being saved, and potentially delivered to the USS Relativity, the main objective of this Chapter is completed, but as you can already imagine, a great number of Story Prompts can be created around this Chapter. The correlation with the anti-dispersal tech affecting the situation is present as well, like I said, since one of the key objectives at this point in the story ought to be a way to mitigate the threat of thalaron weaponry.
CHAPTER 03: THE TRIANGLE REGION (WORKING TITLE)
Here, after the Ranger has left, Vector 1 - the Helmet - remains with Martok's forces in the Triangle region, where Donatra is due to arrive. The Flag Bridge of the Theurgy can then serve as neutral ground upon which Donatra and Martok can reach an accord, with the help of the Helmet's Commanding Officer - Natalie Stark - facilitating the arrangement and the Diplomatic Department mediating between the two. There is already a tentative understanding between Donatra and Martok because of a previous summit in which Martok acknowledged Donatra's Imperial Romulan State, but there are a lot of matters to bring to the table in preparation for Tal'Aura's forces reaching the Klingon Border. Donatra has yet to acknowledge the threat of the Infested, and be willing to screen her own officers for Infested infiltration.
While any high amount of detail surrounding the presence of the Imperial Klingon States is something that I am unwilling to incorporate into the story since it adds an unneeded amount of complexity to the story - introducing a story element that a great majority of the writers know nothing about - the IKS does serve as a plot element that can be a disrupting factor during this Chapter. This, because it makes great sense that the scarce forces of House Mo'Kai that fled instead of recognising Mickayla's leadership would naturally flee to the Triangle and join forces with the Klingons there. Moreover, with the Azure Nebula having gone ka-boom in Episode 05, a great majority of the IKS has been obliterated completely or become stranded in the non-subspace envelope following the blast. Naturally, the IKS isn't... impressed with the Theurgy and Martok's involvement in the Azure Nebula fallout to begin with, and with House Mo'Kai arriving and fanning the flames even more, it makes sense that the remains of the IKS would pose a threat in the Triangle.
That being said Chancellor Martok is there in force, as well as Donatra's remaining forces, so the IKS would have to be sneaky as "#%¤" if they are to deal any kind of meaningful revenge. I would think a surgical decloak, hit and run thing against Vector 1 while the diplomatic talks are underway would be most plausible here, since that would have the IKS not just destroy the Theurgy, but also kill Martok with the ousted Romulan Empress merely there as a bonus.
Then, of course, we also have the anti-thalaron dispersal tech that needs to be deployed prior to the arrival of Tal'Aura's forces. The Theurgy would need to be in the role of ensuring that all present ships - Klingon and Romulan - are prepared to calibrate their deflectors to emit these dispersion fields as soon as the sensor data from Ba'Ku and the scan readings of the thalaron triggers are sent to them. Sufficed to say, the implementation of this tech will be crucial prior to the arrival of the Praetor's forces, and the pending battle at the border. A battle at which - after the thalaron radiation is no longer effective - we can show off prominent Romulan characters from canon, and have our characters attempt to deter them from engaging Martok and Donatra's forces.
CHAPTER 04: HOBUS (WORKING TITLE)
So, in the Prologue, the Voice of the rebel Savi has already aided the Theurgy in deploying the Apache to the coordinates of the Romulan R&D facility (Chapter 1). There is, however, a development in the civil war between the rebel Savi and the Scion High Council. As it happens, this development is that the Scions - whom made the breach into the Nameless Darkness and became the first Infested - mean to accelerate the Hobus supernova. Not just to destroy a lot of the galaxy's intelligent life and raze a lot of present civilisation, but by utilising the force of the blast, make another breach into the dark void beyond. A breach far surpassing the original one, which is to be featured in the Prologue.
In Chapter 02 of Advent of War, Quantum Frontier (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php?topic=3005.msg29913#msg29913), Captain Ducane alluded to the Savi constructing something - which Sarresh Morali only held low access information on - and that something would be a structure in orbit of the Hobus star. Here, the idea is that Nicander - in the brig - gleans what is about to happen through his Farsight, which is a kind of astral consciousness projection into the eyes of other Infested. When the plans are relayed to the Voice of the rebel Savi, as in accordance with the alliance with them, the Voice sets out to prevent this from happening. This Chapter is a chance to depict the Savi Civil War, and have the Theurgy aid the Voice in two ways. Nicander's Farsight would be crucial to spy behind enemy lines, and Thea - being an unique A.I. - could play a role in aiding the Voice as well. The Theurgy would not, however, hand over both Thea and Nicander to the rebel Savi on a whim. The only "use" the Voice has for the alliance with the Theurgy is Nicander's ability, so giving away the Theurgy's only bargaining chip with the Voice doesn't happen without a lot of precautions.
Moreover, as was evident in Episode 05, the Savi are scientists. They may be very advanced and have access to cutting edge technology, but they are not by any stretch of the imagination veterans in the art of war. They have always relied on being clandestine and out of sight, but as they fight this war amongst themselves about which version of their Code to believe in - the one made by the Scions or the original Code - it becomes clear that they are in need of help with their tactics if they are to take the fight to the structure in orbit of the Hobus star. This is where the Theurgy can aid again in stopping the Scions from accelerating the supernova and making another breach.
So, the Chapter begins with the Erudite - after having sent off the Apache - heading to the Hobus star. It allows for a chance to go head to head with the Infested of the Savi, and the conclusion of this Chapter revolves around a great turn in the Savi Civil War. Allowing the Hobus star go supernova when it should, and without the Infested using the blast for their own plans.
CHAPTER 05: MAKING THE PRAETOR SEE THE LIGHT (WORKING TITLE)
Aboard the Erudite, the Allegiant will also be, and the mission that Captain Ives will oversee from the scoutship is to try and reach Praetor Tal'Aura. In the Prologue, it is decided that the attempt to try and expose the Praetor to transphasic light would be key for her to call back her troops. The reasoning is that since Nicander could regain his sanity after exposure to transphasic light, evidence being how he has been aiding the Theurgy's mission at every turn since his true nature was exposed and he willingly aided the crew from his cell, there is a high enough probability that the Praetor might call back her fleets if she were to regain her mental faculties.
So, launching from the Erudite at Hobus, the Allegiant - using its Reman cloak - head for Romulus with the mission to reach the Praetor and expose her to the light of the kemocite cannon that the Theurgy crew has been using to keep Nicander from being subdued by the parasite remaining inside him. Therefore, Nicander will be incarcerated aboard the Allegiant instead of the brig of the Theurgy, and the cannon in question being close at hand both to preserve his mind when spying on the Infested, but also to use said cannon against the Praetor. With the cannon being prototype tech and powered by kemocite, the crew is currently only in possession of one cannon, meaning that the cannon will have to be brought to Romulus along with Nicander. With Nicander on the Allegiant, the Savi would not be in direct possession of him either, but able to assist in the Hobus mission via subspace comms (which will be a coordinating challenge between Chapters, but be that as it may). I hope this makes sense, lol.
If the mission to Romulus is successful, and they reach and manage to expose the Praetor to the transphasic light, then the battle at the Klingon border, and the losses suffered there, can be halted on the order from the Praetor. Same goes for the Ranger in Episode 02, which may be in dire straits after extracting Revad, not to mention the crew aboard the Apache, whom is deep behind enemy lines. Until the Apache manages to send the thalaron trigger data, the threat of the thalaron weaponry ought to be substantial, causing a lot of dismay until the the dispersion fields can be utilised. See, reaching the Praetor will not be that easy, and while Captain Ives and those accompanying hir will try their best to turn the head of the raptor, they might not be successful, and thalaron weapons or not, the Romulan Star Empire would remain one of the biggest threats.
EPILOGUE
When the fallout of all Chapters run to a close, the Epilogue is used for closure, in which Thea is reassembled, shuttles return, and celebrations are in order. The Infested in Starfleet Command may still be out there, along with whatever other schemes they have in play, but this Episode comes to a conclusion in the Triangle, where it began.
All the preceding Chapters can have their own Story Prompts and sub-plots added to them, allowing for IC hours here and there wherein there can be one-on-one threads for those so inclined. This ought to balance both individual needs for characterisation and light threads, as well as dedicating characters to a specific sub-plot of a Chapter that they find meaningful. I have, however, not listed all the potential Story Prompts I can see within the envelope of each Chapter, since there is a lot more work needed on those.
I hope this synopsis of my research and notes has been detailed enough, but remember that this is just the skeleton outline. The wide brush strokes of the development, which will only come to life as we write it.
Since this synopsis has been so lengthy, I will end this post here, and post again with PART 2: QUESTIONS, ANSWERS & COMMENTS, which I will address questions and ideas specifically brought up in this Story Workshop. Indeed, since some parts of the comments deal with the Interregnum rather than Episode 02, I figured it was best to separate this Synopsis from the QAC where I deal with the input posted in the Story Workshop separately, so stay tuned for that!
If you have any intermediate comments or questions to bring up prior to Part 2, feel free to post them and I will deal with them as well! :)
Best,
Auctor Lucan
Thank you for all the hard work and thought put into this! Cross looks forward to making things go boom...and he'll endeavor to be careful in the process. Enyd is up for chaos in any fashion, and Hirek delights in the manipulations. Looking forward to Part 2!
I waited a tad too long to toss in my input, but in short, I love these missions. Each mission is interesting, with enough room for most characters to have things to do. It's also going to be complex as hell and take forever, but I fear that's inevitable, given how many writers are involved. We should all be enjoying some more quality storytelling, though.
I will say one thing: it's worth remembering that the Federation and the Romulans are at war, which has all sorts of knock-on effects. Politically, for the Romulans, it's their worst nightmare. For many decades, they've been paranoid about the Federation-Klingon alliance, worried that their old enemies will team up to overwhelm and destroy the Empire. Now, their worst fears are seemingly being realised. As far as the Romulans are concerned, they might be on the cusp of annihilation as a civilisation.
Secondly, there might well be fighting along and inside the Neutral Zone. The Theurgy crew might encounter Starfleet ships attacking bases and worlds inside the Empire proper, or Starfleet Intelligence operatives on unrelated missions. After Paris, Starfleet will certainly be just as eager to counteract the thalaron weapons as the Theurgy crew, just to provide one example. There are all sorts of narrative opportunities.
Moreover, maybe the Romulus mission can have a different tone? Instead of breakneck running and gunning into the Praetor's office, what if it's very cloak and dagger instead, with the away team infiltrating the capital city to meet a contact? They have to interact with the Romulan civilians, see Romulan society, muddle their way through an alien world, and trick their way to the Praetor. Just a thought, anywho.
PART 2: QUESTIONS, ANSWERS & COMMENTS
I'll now follow up on the questions and comments made earlier in the workshop and giving answers as best as I might. Thank you for all the kind feedback on the barebone plot for Episode 02! I have not received any negative feedback on it, beyond suggestions on the Romulus Chapter above, so I am really glad it has been met with such great approval! (L)
For clarity, and not forcing readers to go back and track who said what and where earlier in the workshop, I will segment this QAC by topic, and reference comments as needed in each section.
HOBUS!
As you may have read in the manuscript (see my earlier post), I have fully integrated this idea into the Episode. I think this was a really fitting contingency plan of the Infested now that they have failed to use the Borg for their own purposes. It makes a lot of sense that not only would they seed the intergalactic war for its own sake, but also have it serve as a red herring, shrouding the way they actually mean to destroy as much as possible in the least amount of time.
As for the means of how they accelerate the fate of the star, the methodology of that would be well within the reach of the science that the Savi might apply, so using the Scion High Council to facilitate this development more than makes sense. On their wiki-page (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Savi), it is already stated that...
Yet the growing aches of a society such as the Savi was harmful for them. During the course of their long history, they experienced nine Cataclysms, which had different causes but were all devastating to both their survival and their ability to retain their scientific discoveries. The loss of their home planet was such a Cataclysm, but only the seventh of such an event, in which their scientific discoveries went too far, and decimated their numbers. In five of these Cataclysms, even their Archives were affected, and with their short life expectancy, much of the knowledge lost was forever gone. At some points, a Cataclysm could even be noticed by the species the Savi studied, in the form of a supernova, the creation of a volatile nebula, or some other unexplained event. Still, despite these upheavals, and the need to re-discover many things, they survived, and continued their research. During the millennia the Savi also saw many other civilisations rise, fall and rise again.
After each Cataclysm, while some designs survived, the Savi developed new starships for their Flotilla - each with a specified purpose. Some were made and sent to study celestial objects and others were designed to study life on other planets.
Therefore, I don't believe we need to incorporate some manner of pre-existing Trek lore in the form of Salver weapons or tech from other old civilisations. I think it is easier if we keep it simple, and have the Savi stand on their own achievements in being able to accelerate the life-cycle of a star.
THALARON DISPERSION FIELD
As the manuscript shows, I have also incorporated the awesome idea of having the rings of Ba'Ku play a role in figuring out how to deploy a thalaron dispersion field, added with the scans of thalaron triggers. The triggers would be located at the Tal-Shiar base that has figured in the reports in the Intelligence Department, this being the very same base where Shinzon stole his thalaron generator prior to Nemesis.
The scans of both (the rings of Ba'Ku and the triggers) serve as components for a scientific solution that might help the
Theurgy win the day, by mitigating the threat posed by these banned weapons of the Romulan fleet. It will not only give the infiltration team aboard the Apache something to do in the Episode, but the Science Department. We do need to send away the Oneida prior to Episode 2, however, so that Captain Jackson can reach the planet in good enough time to make sense. This means that the Oneida will be leaving sometime in the middle of the Interregnum.
This also means that the scientific research that yields the idea to travel to Ba'Ku needs to come up prior to that as well! I know
@Tae has a character fitting for this research to be made, and said research would help a lot in having his character Nara Nueva get the recognition she needs, and having her old rank restored via field promotion.
PRE-BREACH, FIRST INFESTED, THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE?
I think this suggestion might stem from a misconception about the "cycles" that figure in the speech and thoughts of Infested like Nicander. The cycles referenced are not meant to suggest that the breach into the "darkness beyond" has been made before. When cycles are mentioned, they refer to time-loops, not cyclical re-visits from the Infested. So, the cycles are the means in which the Infested may repeat their conquest endlessly, for sake of their own enjoyment, since their "clairvoyance", as so aptly put, allows them to re-experience endless versions of their exploits. This, until the cycles are broken, and the paradox cease to be - the timeline hopefully restored at some point. This ending of Episode 04 may shed some light on this for those who have yet to read it, where a new cycle is started: Epilogue (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php?topic=2018.msg10476#msg10476)
So, in short, there is no pre-breach intended in our story, by Iconians or otherwise. The Savi pushed their experiments too far sometime just prior to 2375, causing the breach and the first Infested came into existence. How, and by what means, is something that I mean to finally delve into in the Prologue of Episode 02, as mentioned in my previous post.
That being said, I am intrigued by the 'Unity Device', and I think it may serve us greatly in the forthcoming story if we decide to make use of it somehow. I don't think we need to implement that just for the sake of it at this point in the story though, since such a MacGuffin could be utilised in a more interesting way at a later time. So, I suggest we keep that device in the notes for the time being, until we might use it optimally?
"EXILE/SHADOW GOVERNMENT" IDEA FOR THE INTERREGNUM
This refers to an Interregnum development that was suggested, where a Deputy Chief of Starfleet Security and a Federation Senator - in observing the actions taken by President Bacco in the wake of the Paris Bombing - think that something is wrong with how things are handled, leading them to elope with other Councilors rather than staying with Bacco? That is how I read it anyway. On one hand, there was suspicion against how Starfleet Command, not the Federation Council, was behaving at Starfleet Headquarters when this was first suggested. This, as a consequence of what the Infested are doing, but the Federation Council is another entity. Unfortunately, this is something else entirely, and I cannot allow it since it contradicts the events in Advent of War in many ways.
While it might be interesting to create an exile government that opposes Bacco on the assumption that she has been compromised, the problem is that the surviving members of the Council has already been established to be with Bacco on her ship in Advent of War. Even if that wasn't the case, I don't really see how any perceived malpractice in Starfleet Headquarters - which is by no means readily apparent but something that might be merely
suspected, how would this automatically be the case with the Council?
As previously written, the UFP President, Nanietta Bacco, managed to survive Paris, and when Starfleet Intelligence cite that Praetor Tal'Aura of the Romulan Empire was the most likely to be behind the attack, she and the surviving Council authorised Starfleet to
investigate and act on this threat to the Federation. Later, in Advent of War, it is also made plain that the Praetor
does declare war on the Federation after the Paris Bombing, and even takes responsibility for it, so Bacco's and the surviving Council's actions should be more than merited, right? Moreover, in the FNN news article (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/9/9a/FNN_PADD_ADVENT_OF_WAR.png) we featured in the story, Bacco is still pursuing a diplomatic solution, even if she has ordered defensive mobilisation against the threat.
Therefore, I hardly think the sequence of events suggested, where the two NPCs would persuade Federation Councilors to shirk their duties, even commit treason against the Office of the President in order to try to establish an exile council is plausible in the slightest. Why would they? Merely on the circumstantial anecdotes and observations about Starfleet Command? I mean, why would they do so on their mere word?
More plausible, instead, is that almost all surviving members of the Federation Council would be joining Bacco on the
USS Venture in the direct wake of the Paris Bombing, or in communication with the President from whatever safe shelter they would be. See, I am now talking about the mere
hours immediately after the detonation. Not days and weeks afterwards. Instead or spreading to the wind, in order for the Federation to function, the Federation Council would definitely remain intact, and report to the President. Anything else would be a grave dereliction of their oaths.
That being said, a single Deputy Chief of Starfleet Security and a single Federation Senator that has - as a romantic couple - observed strange behaviour in Starfleet Command? They
might chose to suspect something is terribly wrong, and they could make contact with the suggested SFI contact named Hurley in a plea to go off grid. Just the the two of them, sure, since they might believe that the President may be compromised as well even if there is no proof of that in the story. That, however, does
not include the rest of the Council, whom have not made any such observations, and has
no reason to believe them above their loyalty to the Federation and the President.
As for
Paris One, the President's ship, and if it orbits Earth? It has not orbited Earth at any featured point in the story, since Bacco travelled on a Galaxy-class ship (the
USS Venture) in the Prologue. When
Paris One was featured, on Day 3 of Advent of War, its coordinates were classified (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php?topic=3140.msg31541#msg31541). In the first paragraph of that post, it is also stated that "The days since the Paris bombing had been interesting, sufficed to say. In all honesty, Garak was surprised he had been allowed to remain with the President of the Federation
and the surviving members of the Council."
Therefore, we cannot have parts of the Federation Council whisked away to establish some exile seat of power, I am sorry, but the two NPCs that believe something is wrong with Starfleet Command might do so if they reason that the problem extends to the Federation Council as well. If those two characters wish to leave their duties behind, that is all well and good, but they would not be able to reach the
Theurgy at Qo'noS before they leave. Why not? Simply put, it would offset the chain of command aboard the
Theurgy if we had an NPC Starfleet Officer with higher rank than Ives aboard the ship, so they would have to remain aboard Hurley's ship and remain in subspace communication with the
Theurgy instead. Frankly put, I am not interested in having some family NPC second guessing the direction of the mission and trying to pull rank aboard, so no thank you, lol.
Sorry to disappoint, but while this idea doesn't rhyme with what has been established in the story in Advent of War,
I loved the idea with the Diplomatic Corps aboard the
Theurgy aiding Martok in his talks with Donatra at the Klingon Border, so much that it has its own Chapter in Episode 02, as made evident in the manuscript above! :)
MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING THE NATURE OF THE ENEMY
The comments about the nature of the enemy and the idea that there is a logical flaw in their ideology is a misunderstanding revolving around the word usage of atrophy, I believe, and I hope that the prologue of Episode 02 will help clear that up. Atrophy was a term that emerged at some point in the story as a means to convey what the Great Attractor does, assumed to be a massive black hole of great scale, but it doesn't imply that the cosmic phenomenon atrophies the space around it rather than devouring it. I don't recall why the word came into use, and when, in that context, but is is supposed to reflect the way that the universe is pulled towards something rather than draining it of energy. I hope that serves to help clarify it a little bit, and sorry for the misunderstanding if I have been an ignorant Swede and caused it by seeming too literal in my writing! lol
As for the idea that the enemy can't be conventionally fought, that there would be no reliable way to prevent possession, the occasional/limited rate of added Infested, etc. All of that, I hope, will get some light shed on it in the Prologue as well! Awesome that these matters were brought up in the workshop so that they can be addressed properly In-Character at long last. It seems apparent that the time to indulge you all some more about the nature of the enemy is long overdue. :)
A dimensional barrier was brought up as well, and yes, the breach and its nature will be further detailed to serve the shown interest in this facet of the story.
GOING UP AGAINST THE ROMULANS
A lot of awesome ideas were put forth in regard to facing the Romulans in this Episode, and all of it sounds great! Hit-and-run attacks, diversions, ambushes etc. There are no Schimitar-class warbirds in the Romulan fleet in
Theurgy canon, however, as has been pointed out already. With the
Theurgy not having the torpedo launchers and phaser emitters of Vector 1 when entering Romulan space, they would be at a disadvantage, making it more interesting than if Thea was completely overpowered. Better yet, with the Slipstream Initiators not complete yet when entering the RNZ, they will have to scramble mid-mission to secure a solid escape plan back to Klingon space, by completing the installation of those Initiators.
As for undercover espionage, as in the suggestion where particular crewmembers undergo physical modifications to appear Romulan and infiltrate their ranks, that method might come into play either when infiltrating the Tal-Shiar base, posing as a number of identified Tal-Shiar agents. Alternatively, at some junction in the mission on Romulus, that might work as well, but it has to be a plausible and effective tactic given the mission parameters rather than a shoehorned choice merely for the sake of it. If it fits the situation at Romulus or the Tal-Shiar base, let's do so! But I don't think we should do it if it doesn't make sense. :)
I love the already established way that Intelligence might subvert the Romulan war effort with misinformation and misdirection of communication. Fabrication of orders and throwing the supply lines into disarray by sending them off in the wrong direction is excellent and realistic implementation of Intelligence operations at this juncture in the story. This is also true for Starfleet Command, in case they deploy Task Force
Archeron again, for example!
There was also mentioning of prominent novel-verse characters among the Romulans, and I am sure we can implement a few of hem in the Episode, as the manuscript suggested. As for what the Romulans think about the Praetor's orders, yeah, of course there would be those who find Tal'Aura's declaration of war against the Federation a grave mistake. At the frontline, this might be mitigated by the usage of thalaron weaponry, and the belief that this would allow the Romulan fleets to break the frontlines of the Klingon Empire and claim victory. This, because the Klingon navy has been weakened by not just the Battle of the Houses, but the losses in the Azure Nebula against the Borg. That being said, hell yes, the Romulans would not be 100% in acceptance of the Praetor, and I think we can illustrate this in any number of ways.
There was a mentioning of whether or not Martok and Donatra would also take up using thalaron weaponry to counter the armament of the Praetor's fleets, and that is an
excellent matter to incorporate in the diplomatic talks aboard the
Theurgy in the upcoming Episode.
STAND-BY SHIPS TO CALL UPON & TIME-SHIPS
The problem with having an entourage of ships with the
Theurgy - be it guests ships of Starfleet, Klingon or Romulan origin - poses the problem that they can't keep up with the
Theurgy as soon as it makes a QSD jump. Hell, most can't even match Thea's warp speed. But, having a couple of ships of different origin to fulfil plot functions, like the Oneida in this upcoming Episode, can work if they operate on their own in the story!
So, timeships... Well, having
contemporary timeships isn't just implausible for our story, it undermines the integrity of what we've written, along with the role of the
Relativity. DTI ought to be involved in helping time-displaced people, but that would have to be while working with Starfleet to get things done. Time travel access to deal with helping those people get to 'when' they are supposed to be? Yeah, I can see that. No contemporary timeships in any capacity though... The only available time ship in our story is the
Relativity. The rest are, so to speak, lost in time. :)
I think I, with the manuscript incorporating and addressing the rest of the comments, have addressed the rest in the workshop, but if there are any follow-up questions, I am all ears! :)
SO, WHEN DOES EPISODE 02 BEGIN?
We are currently capped at Day 21 in the Interregnum, and I think we should have the Prologue start on Day 22. That is, unless y'all want or need more In-Character days in the Interregnum for your character plot ideas. I will assume Day 22 is okay, but please let me know if I need to push that onwards.
I will start working on the preparations for the Episode launch, and get back to y'all when I know when the Prologue and the new board will be up! :)
Best,
Auctor Lucan
PS. In case you have other name suggestions for Episode 02 besides Broken Talon, please post them here!
Going to need to get Victor Promoted on day 22 or 21
@Auctor Lucan we still need to come up with an Officer's test for the poor bastard.
Also yes, this is specifically why I created Nara with the specialty she has.
THALARON DISPERSION FIELD
As the manuscript shows, I have also incorporated the awesome idea of having the rings of Ba'Ku play a role in figuring out how to deploy a thalaron dispersion field, added with the scans of thalaron triggers. The triggers would be located at the Tal-Shiar base that has figured in the reports in the Intelligence Department, this being the very same base where Shinzon stole his thalaron generator prior to Nemesis.
The scans of both (the rings of Ba'Ku and the triggers) serve as components for a scientific solution that might help the Theurgy win the day, by mitigating the threat posed by these banned weapons of the Romulan fleet. It will not only give the infiltration team aboard the Apache something to do in the Episode, but the Science Department. We do need to send away the Oneida prior to Episode 2, however, so that Captain Jackson can reach the planet in good enough time to make sense. This means that the Oneida will be leaving sometime in the middle of the Interregnum.
This also means that the scientific research that yields the idea to travel to Ba'Ku needs to come up prior to that as well! I know @Tae has a character fitting for this research to be made, and said research would help a lot in having his character Nara Nueva get the recognition she needs, and having her old rank restored via field promotion.
I'm happy to start with the new episode soon. Still plenty of dates in the Interim for me to use for character developments. Just looking forward to some possible espionage and undercover portions in the Romulan spy network. ;)
Hopefully, this helps folks know who is where and what is what with the episode 2 chapters: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KjU5XQH6Qv8dwJEnN5Rms-gPfhnOoUIlrEQHwI3Y6xc/edit?usp=sharing
Don't forget to use the Cosmic Imperative calendar to ascertain when/where you can write with characters who may not be in your chapter (there are time slots before the separation of the vectors): https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Cosmic_Imperative_Calendar
The bolded/hyperlinked names are active writers; those that are listed as NPC can be offed or maimed to your heart's delight just give the GM of the chapter a head's up on that; the unbolded non-NPC names are those who do not currently have active writers but are not slated to be maimed/killed as their writers may return from their current temporary hiatus.