Posted by Lieutenant Jeffrey “Bob” Jeffers (Chief Engineer) in Main Sim-Deep Space Nine-Meeting of Mystery
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The Klingon crews all slowly began to prepare for combat. While their weapons were secured, a Klingon warrior did not need a blade or disruptor to be deadly. The Romulans also became more guarded, glaring at the Changeling and Vorta. The Cardassian representative spoke up for the first time, his voice filled with contempt.

“Admiral, what is this?” he demanded. “You call my government and ask them to send a representative, only to bring the faces of the Dominion? They did great harm not only to my people but to the peoples of both the Alpha and Beta quadrants!”

“Gul Daras,” the admiral responded, “I understand the pain more than you could know. The reason you have been invited is that this could lead to better relations for all involved if we handle this right. I want to be clear that the Federation is not going to do anything that would be counter to relations with any of you. Now, let’s get this meeting started. This is Founder Shara and her Vorta assistant, Erisa. She will be briefing you on the situation.”

The admiral stepped aside as the Changeling, who appeared very similar to past representations of her species with slicked-back hair and rough, simple features, moved forward. Meanwhile, the Vorta, who had long black hair that mostly reached down to the small of her back and was styled with twin looping braids starting at the front of her head and sweeping around her ears, stepped to the console on the back wall.

“Good afternoon,” Shara began. “First, I would like to ask that all questions be held until the end of our presentation. Seven standard days ago, the Dominion began testing a new form of faster-than-light travel. This new technology is designed to punch a temporary hole in subspace using a quantum waveform generator, creating a temporary wormhole. Once the ship enters subspace, it can travel upwards of 150 light-years per minute.”

On the console screen, footage of a Dominion battleship appeared. The ship projected a small blue energy beam from its deflector, opening a hexagonal rift in space. Swirling blue and purple waves filled the geometric energy portal, which then moved toward the ship that had created it. The battleship disappeared inside, and a new feed showed a similar portal opening up and moving again in the same manner, with the battleship emerging from it.

“When the ship wishes to return to normal space, it punches a new temporary wormhole and exits. Early tests showed no ill effects or issues. That footage is from one of those early tests,” Shara explained.

Bob nearly laughed out loud. 150 light-years a minute! He thought. It couldn’t be done. Everyone knew that the maximum warp speed was warp 9.9. The speeds that they were talking about would be revolutionary. His interest was definitely piqued now. He listened more intently.

“So, we proceeded to a longer test. The test ship was another battleship-class vessel, as they are currently the only ones with the power output to operate the drive. It was to make a jump from the Founder homeworld, 300 light-years away, and then reemerge. A support fleet of fourteen ships was sent ahead to provide assistance in case of any issues. When the battleship emerged, everything seemed fine at first. We were receiving reports one moment, then all of a sudden, there was silence. The last normal message indicated that something was wrong on the test ship and that the support fleet was moving to assist. Then we received this.”

A Dominion logo appeared on the screen, followed by audio filled with static, digital artifacts, clanking metal, and electrical arcs. A multitude of voices spoke simultaneously, but every word was audible: “WeeeeEEEEEeeee LiiiIIIIiiVeeeee…. NeeeeEeeEEEEdddDDDdd… MoooorrRRRE… PaRRTtttzzzzZZZZZ.”

After the audio finished playing, Shara spoke again. “We sent a recovery fleet of fifteen more ships to investigate. To date, we have lost contact with three Founders and forty-five Vorta. The Vorta lines involved had to be permanently boxed. This is what happened when one of them emerged from its cloning chamber.”

New footage appeared on the screen, showing pods opening amid blaring alarms. Vorta were screaming in terror and madness. Some were attempting to be violent, obviously failing against the Jem’Hadar, while other Vorta who were sane were desperately trying to help the screaming Vorta or operate the computer consoles. to stop the chaos pod after pod of clones were opening one after another cascading down the line each time as if the system registered the broken mind as death and automatically started the next clone which became insane as well

“There was no saving any of them. It was a cascading failure of each line, all forty-five Vorta clone lines are halted until we can figure out a way to erase whatever corrupting and traumatic force is behind it” Erisa said sadly.

((Again, character thoughts can go here.))

Bob raised an eyebrow. Now that’s alarming! We live. Need more parts? Hmm. He thought to himself wandering what that could mean. The madness alarmed him more. He waited for Shara to press on with the presentation.

“Founder Odo, with great difficulty, managed to convince the Great Link to give the Federation a chance. Admiral Rivers suggested involving the Federation’s allies as a courtesy to the Treaty of Bajor. In exchange for assistance, the Dominion is willing to offer limited exploration of the Gamma Quadrant to the powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. No more than six ships will be allowed at a time, and each must have a Dominion representative aboard to ensure that no one accidentally wanders into restricted areas of Dominion space,” Shara explained.

The Cardassian representative, Gul Daras, stood up. “Who will decide which ships get to go, for how long, and when?”

Admiral Rivers stepped forward. “The Federation and the Klingon Empire will hold these passes and will provide them as they become available. We will also discuss constructing a new station on the Gamma Quadrant side of the wormhole. This station will be considered neutral space, providing a place for ships to dock and wait their turn.”

Gul Daras rolled his eyes. “Of course, the mighty Federation and Klingon Empire get to decide. How fair is that? Both will likely reserve these passes for their ships,” he complained.

“Gul Daras, if the Cardassians are so eager to stick their necks out, you can always tag along on one of our ships!” Kromak growled, eliciting a laugh from the rest of the Klingons. This seemed to hush him up.

Admiral Rivers resumed speaking. “The mission for this task force is as follows: Enter the Gamma Quadrant and link up with the Dominion Fourth Fleet, led by Changeling Shara. Then, seek out the lost fleets, determine what happened to them, and assess any potential threats. The Klingon contingent was in the area and is not currently ordered to participate. You are free to refuse this mission, though I have received word from the Klingon High Command that Captain Kromak is given full authority to make the decision herself. Everything will rest on your shoulders regarding the ships and crews of the Empire,” Admiral Rivers said, looking at Kromak.

Kromak stood and declared in a booming, proud voice, “We will not let the Federation and Romulans hog all the glory and honor!” Her words brought a cheer from the Klingons in the room. Admiral Rivers nodded before continuing.

“To represent the Bajoran people, Commander Aria has been appointed. For the Romulan people, we have Starfleet officer Lieutenant A’zna T’arn.” The Starfleet Romulan stood and nodded. “I will be leading from the RRS Vornoth. However, the Romulan people—what’s left of us—and my own support will be given to the fullest on this mission,” A’zna said very simply. then Admiral Rivers continued “And as you’ve all heard from him twice now, Gul Marak Daras will represent the Cardassian Union,”

After ensuring everyone knew each other’s names, Admiral Rivers spoke again, “I am assigning the lead ships of this task force to be the IKS Gorkon and the USS Chimera, with Commander Kromak and Captain Andreassen in joint overall command. All other ships will report to these two. Gul Daras and Commander Aria are free to choose whichever ship they wish to observe from. I will leave you all to work out any questions and finer details. The task force is to set out in two days to give the USS Cthulhu a chance to finish swapping her diplomatic module for a combat module.”

“Work is almost done, actually. We may only need one of those days!” Captain Roth reported.

The admiral nodded and turned to leave. Shara also turned to leave, while Vorta Erisa stayed behind. “Founder Shara will be returning to the Fourth Fleet to prepare. I will, of course, be joining one of the Alpha Quadrant ships until I can be returned to my Founder’s ship,” she said with a smile. “I am free to answer any questions you may have, though any classified information will need to remain classified.”

GMT Phoenix

Lunan slid up to Andreassen to ask, ‘What do you know about Commander Aria?’

“Nothing off the top of my head,” Freja replied.

-Lt. Commander Lunan Farrah: XO-

Keitah stood quietly, hands clasped behind her back, absorbing every detail. The Dominion’s new technology was fascinating, even if the implications were terrifying. A ship traveling at such speeds, disappearing into subspace her mind couldn’t comprehend it in that moment. What could have gone wrong? And what had happened to the crews of the lost ships? The thought of facing something unknown, something that had driven even the Vorta to madness was unsettling.
Keitah had never interacted with a Founder before, and though she had heard countless stories of the Dominion War, this was her first real encounter with the former enemies of the Federation.

Lieutenant Naisyr
(Counselor)

“We live, need more parts. What does that mean?” Bob said aloud to no one in particular, he was deep in thought.

Lt. Bob Jeffers (CE)

“Something sinister, sounds like,” Freja remarked quietly, then speaking louder for the benefit of the founder, “Is there anything pertinent to note about the areas of space we will be traversing? Things that could effect our ship systems or navigation would be good things to keep aware of as we progress on the mission.”

~Freja Andreassen~