Mission Proposal - A Race from Extinction

[Solluk]

Mission Title: A Race from Extinction

Synopsis: While the Tempest explores the Gamma quadrant, they encounter a small, fast ship that identifies itself as a Diplomatic Courier from the Isharian people.  It turns out that the Isharian envoy aboard the courier is asking for political asylum- not just for himself, but for his entire civilization.  The Isharians have just passed a referendum declaring that their system no longer recognizes the Godhood and Authority of the Founders.  They know that they risk a harsh retaliation for this, and want the Federation to accept their entire population as political asylum seekers.  With potentially severe political ramifications for helping the Isharians, the Captain of the Tempest must decide how to respond to their request while considering competing Federation directives.  Things turn grimmer as it becomes clear the Isharians are on the cusp of genocide, and the Tempest is the only ship that can prevent them from being utterly erased as a people.

Starting Point: The Tempest encounters an Isharian Diplomatic Envoy.

End Goal: The Tempest must successfully evacuate Isharian survivors while fending off Dominion forces.

Story points that must be passed?:

I) Tempest encounters the Isharian Envoy and learns of the situation.

II) Returning to Isharia with the Envoy to further assess the situation, the Tempest finds the homeworld largely destroyed, having been bombarded from orbit.

III) Tempest science personnel detect activity on the Isharian moon, where the Isharians have established a secret shelter containing 15,000 Isharian survivors.  These are the last of the Isharian people, and the Isharian envoy requests political asylum for them.   Such a quantity of people would push the Tempest's evacuation capacity to its uppermost limit.

IV) If the Tempest retrieves these survivors, they notice that a stealth Dominion observation probe has been left in the system when the ship detects the probe's transmission of data to the Dominion.

V) The Tempest must race to Deep Space Nine with the refugee asylum seekers aboard, contending with Dominion forces along the way, alternatively evading and engaging them as necessary.

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)

- Flight: The Tempest will be involved in a running firefight, requiring the talents of a skilled pilot for the ship itself, and possibly for Runabouts as well if they are launched to perform escort or interdiction duty for the mothership.  If Runabouts are launched for escort, Flight control officers on board will need to work hard to keep the Runabouts within the Tempest's own subspace field perimiter, so that they can keep up with the much faster Tempest while remaining in formation and ready to help fend off attackers.

- Engineering: The Tempest will be taking damage during the fight, and possibly redlining its engines to get the ship back to Federation space.  If Runabouts are launched for escort, Engineering may need to figure out how best to envelop the Runabouts with the warp field so that they can keep up with the much faster Tempest, while still remaining in formation and ready to help fend off attackers.

- Operations: Thousands of refugees will need to be accommodated, plus power transfers and damage control or security teams will need to be dispatched and coordinated during the running firefight.

- Security and tactical: Tactical will have a lot to do during the running firefight, and security teams may be tasked to repel boarders when the Dominion occasionally beams an infiltration party through weakened shields.  Security teams will also have to help manage the refugees.

- Medical: Some of the refugees may require medical treatment, there may be things such as the births of pregnant Isharian women, plus there will be casualties during the running firefight.

- Science: In addition to detecting the secret refugee shelter, the science teams will be the ones to notice the stealth Dominion probe, and will probably invent several sensor tricks during the battle to help the ship evade Dominion patrols.

[Solluk]

Mission Title: When Worlds Collide (A Sequel to A Race from Extinction)

Synopsis: With tensions between the Dominion and the Federation at a high thanks to the Isharian situation, the Tempest is not surprised to encounter a Dominion Battleship when they return to the Gamma quadrant.  However, they are surprised when the Battleship asks for their help.  Commanded by an amiable Vorta named Timerin, it is explained that the Dominion have detected an entire planet travelling at Warp 8, hurtling towards a planet important to the Dominion.  They have tried communicating with the planet, and they have tried disrupting its warp field, to no avail.  The Dominion gained a respect for the Federation's technical acumen during the Dominion war, and now they are hoping for Federation help with their problem.  If the Tempest will help them stop the runaway planet, then the Dominion will forgive any perceived trespasses against them.

Starting Point: The Tempest encounters a Dominion Battleship that requests their help.

End Goal: The Tempest manages to stop the runaway planet, saving a Dominion world and restoring diplomatic equilibrium.

Story points that must be passed?:

I) The Tempest encounters a Dominion Battleship that requests their help.

II) The Tempest follows the Dominion Battleship to the Warp Planet, quickly analyzing the situation.  The Warp Planet's warp field seems to be generated from deep under its surface, randering the mechanism immune to bombardment.  The subspace field is so powerful that no one can be beamed down.  The planet does not respond to hails, and no life signs are detected.

III) The Tempest crew brainstorms possible solutions to the problem.  Meanwhile, stellar cartography is able to determine that at some point in the past, the warp planet must have intersected the path of a singularity, potentially changing its course from its original destination.  Clever science officers may be able to deduce its original origin- a system that went supernova a century ago- and its intended destination- a yellow star with no planets.   But now it is on course to impact a planet that seems very important to the Dominion.

IV) Science officers believe the planet is probably programmed to decelerate and stop when it arrives at its destination.  It might intend to use stellar radiation or gravitic signatures to determine this.  If these signatures can be spoofed, then the planet might stop on its own.  But in order to create a signature powerful enough to fool the planet, the Tempest herself would have to stand in the planet's path, and use every ounce of its power to do so.  Dominion Battleships do not have Deflectors capable of doing this, so only the Tempest can do the job.  But if the planet failed to stop, the Tempest would be destroyed as it would be temporarily unable to maneuver thanks to depleted power levels.

V) Runabouts are launched to tow the Tempest out of the way once the signature spoof is attempted.   Possibly a Saucer separation is performed to evacuate all nonessential personnel.

VI) The signal spoof is performed, and the planet stops.  The Dominion world is saved.  As the Warp planet stops, sensors detect life signs coming from the planet.  Apparently, a dormant sleeper population is now being awakened.

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)

- Flight: Flight control officers will be moving the Tempest into the path of the Warp Planet, possibly conducting a saucer separation, and possibly piloting runabouts which are on standby to tow the Tempest out of the Warp Planet's path.

- Engineering: Engineering crews will have to work with Operations to prepare the main deflector for its signature spoof job.  Also, Engineering will be scheming on ways to stop the Warp Planet when it is first encountered, probably meeting with other department heads in brainstorming sessions.  During the critical signal-spoofing attempt, several systems aboard will be pushed past their limits to generate the necessary power.  This will cause overloads and minor explosions that must be addressed in the aftermath.

- Operations: Operations crews will have to work with Engineering to prepare the main deflector for its signature spoof job.  Also, Operations will be scheming on ways to stop the Warp Planet when it is first encountered, probably meeting with other department heads in brainstorming sessions.

- Security and tactical: Tactical will probably be scheming on methods to stop the Warp Planet using force.  Possibly they will meet with other department heads in brainstorming sessions.  The Security personnel aboard ship will doubtless be operating under heightened security, facing the possibility that if things go awry, the Dominion may take its wrath out on the Tempest.  Never mind that the Warp Planet may present some kind of threat on its own, or may need to be boarded.

- Medical: During the critical signal-spoofing attempt, several systems aboard will be pushed past their limits to generate the necessary power.  This will cause overloads and minor explosions that must be addressed in the aftermath.  Some of these overloads and explosions will create casualties that Medical must deal with.

- Science: Science is heavily involved.  It is their stellar cartographers that will figure out the critical flight path of the Warp Planet.  They will probably brain storm with other department heads to figure out ways to stop the Warp Planet.  They will probably be the ones who figure out the idea of spoofing the destination star, convincing the planet to stop.

Note: Some officers will probably rightly point out that if the planet has any kind of sensor, then it will probably stop itself before crashing into another planet anyway.  However, the Dominion will point out that they can't really take a chance that the planet will stop, because if it doesn't, the result would be catastrophic.  They have to try to stop it in advance of its arrival.

Note 2: The Dominion may mention at some point that they are evacuating the occupants of their threatened Dominion world, but that the world has value to them beyond the occupants.  If there are detective-minded officers in the Security department, they might enjoy a subplot of investigation that leads them to the conclusion that the threatened Dominion World is actually the secret ancient origin planet of the Founders, and holds a spiritual significance to the Dominion.

[Solluk]

Mission Title: A Star to Call Home (A Sequel to When Worlds Collide)

Synopsis: Life signs are detected on the Warp Planet, and it becomes apparent that previously hibernating life-forms are waking up.   Soon, communication is received from the confused inhabitants, who expected to be somewhere quite different after their long journey.  Their planetary warp system stopped somewhat abruptly, taking damage.  Worse, the damage extended to the hibernation chambers of qualified engineers, so nobody on the planet knows how to fix it.  Both angry with the Tempest, and requesting aid, they demand to be helped to their proper destination star system.  The Tempest must try to repair the planetary warp drive and get the Warp Planet on its way while dealing with an ever more disquieted and riotous population.

Starting Point: Life signs are detected on the Warp Planet, and it becomes apparent that previously hibernating life-forms are waking up.

End Goal: The Tempest repairs the planetary Warp Drive and gets the Warp Planet back on course to its destination star.

Story points that must be passed?:

I) Life signs are detected on the Warp Planet, and it becomes apparent that previously hibernating life-forms are waking up.  Angry administrative figures on the planet soon contact the Tempest demanding aid in getting to their intended destination.

II) Tempest personnel beam down to the planet to study its amazing warp system and determine the likelihood of repairing it.  Meanwhile, the planetary population becomes riotous, requiring security intervention to protect the work of the Tempest personnel.

III) As the Security personnel are on the cusp of being overcome by rioting natives, Ops and Engineering Personnel, likely with the help of innovative Science solutions, figure out how to get the Planetary Warp Drive Back online.

IV) Setting a corrected course and turning the Planetary Warp online, the Tempest crew beam up just before the Warp Planet zips off to its intended destination star, a journey that will take another year to complete.

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)

- Flight: If the Saucer was previously separated, the Flight Control officers will re-unify the ship.  Flight Control officers may also be involved in setting the Warp Planet's corrected course.

- Engineering: Engineering crews will have to work with Operations and even Science to repair the Planetary Warp System.

- Operations: Operations crews will have to work with Engineering and even Science to repair the Planetary Warp System.

- Security and tactical: Security teams will be safeguarding the away teams as they try to repair the Planetary Warp System.  When the local population riots, angry at the Tempest away team for sabotaging their civilization, Security teams will have to fend them off while the away teams complete their repairs.

- Medical: The away teams, particularly the security personnel, are highly likely to be injured during their riot control.

- Science: Science crews will have to work with Engineering and Operations to repair the Planetary Warp System, helping to come up with innovative solutions to problems.

This is the final mission of a three-part Gamma Quadrant story arc.