View source for Federation News Service/Sicarius involvement suspected in Mercadian System

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===Sicarius involvement suspected in Mercadian System===
''Stardate 239205.22''
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[[File:Vesta class.png|thumb|300px|The {{USS|Excalibur|A}} had been investigating mysterious satellites over Mercadia III.]]
MERCADIAN SYSTEM — Potential Sicarius Movement involvement has been uncovered as the crew of the {{USS|Excalibur|A}} finds Federation technology on a pre-warp planet threatened by an anomaly.

The Excalibur‘s away team sent to the surface of Mercadia III in search of answers quickly stumbled into something entirely unexpected. While making their way into a building that seemed to be broadcasting a signal to the satellites in orbit, the team found themselves caught in the middle of a plot to blow the building’s cover to the unknowing society around it. The result was the capture of one officer, Lt. Commander Alex Williams, and the injuring of another, Lt. Commander Tyler Kelly. With the assistance of a local teenager, what was left of the team found a set up using Federation technology, rubber stamped with deliberate signs pointing to the Romulan Star Empire.

“Imagine that, a Federation core,” says Ryan Malloy, an engineering officer serving under Lt. Commander Luna Walker on the Excalibur. “We’re honestly shocked. We just can’t seem to piece together how a Federation core made it to a planet that is home to a pre-warp civilization, and then was set up to look like the Romulans did it.”

Meanwhile, aboard the Excalibur, intelligence officer Lieutenant Collim Kieran discovered a potential link between the whispers of a Sicarius movement and the anomalies appearing throughout the galaxy. This was further backed by the sudden appearance of the freighter Loki and its occupant. Once cornered and captured, Ace, as he is known, transported to the Excalibur where he began a cat and mouse game involving cloaking suits and handmade bombs. Without internal sensors, security officer Ensign Kurt Logan headed off in pursuit of their “guest.”

Thoroughly distracted from the anomaly, it wasn’t until it blinked out of existence that the bridge crew were forced to turn their attention back to the big picture. With the backwash of the destruction of the first planet in the system a few days ago to the temporarily stranded away team on the surface, the crew of the Excalibur has been truly pushed to their limits, and with an intruder still on the loose in a blind ship, it won’t be an easy road home.
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