Flashpoint (Veritas)

USS Veritas
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Veritas Mission History
Year 1 (2393-2394)
The Forgotten Land · Rag and Bone · Aftershock · The Mother Road
Year 2 (2395)
The Irresistible Prize · Kallo Ver & The Hunt for the Lost Romulan Treasure Fleet · The Omega Paradox · Hope Lost · Flashpoint
Year 3 (2396)
Limbo · Dawn · Home · Sentinel · Play the Part · The First Colony · Tour de Ketar V · Charybdis · Lost and Found
Year 4 (2397)
E Pluribus Unum · Nadira · Free Flight · Pirates of the Quantum Realms · Forever and Always · Heartbeat · Home Is Where the Heart Is · Wandering Star
Year 5 (2398)
Here Kitty Kitty · Reunion · Chasing Shadows · Endeavour · Loopy · Fissure
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"Flashpoint" was a joint storyline with the USS Veritas and the USS Montreal regarding the destruction of Astrofori One by the Tholians in late 2395 in the Menthar Corridor and the immediate aftermath in the Shoals. For information about USS Montreal's part of the plot, see: Flashpoint (Montreal).

Flashpoint

• Stardate 239511

Prologue

In 2491, Jhalib Ekal returns to the Temporal Integrity Commission upon learning that Captain Roshanara Rahman believed, after experiencing a temporal phenomenon and witnessing a future event in which the Veritas encounters a Tholian vessel, that the Veritas fires a quantum torpedo and initiates conflict with the Tholian Assembly. Deciding that their organization was out of options, Narm'ei Constable dismisses Ekal from TIC service and opts to implement their "final resort" - but Ekal learns of these measures, and fearing for his own life and that of his family, steals his CRI brace and travels back in time to 2395 to warn the Veritas of what's to come, even if that means changing his own future.

Meanwhile, in 2395, Commander Zhou Tai-Sheng of the USS Montreal rescues a group of survivors before they were taken by Tholians, made up of crewmembers from the USS Artemis, commanded by Felicia Nickson. The Artemis, tasked with transporting a subspace telescope along the border of the Shoals and the Tholian Assembly, encountered a subspace eddy - when it's crew was forced to abandon ship, the Artemis fails to self-destruct. With Zhou seriously injured by Tholian forces, command of the Montreal is handed to Commander Mei'konda, and the crews of the Veritas and the Montreal are tasked by Nickson to locate the Artemis and it's cargo - but if all else fails, to destroy the vessel.

Summary

After the Tholians suddenly attack and destroy the space station Astrofori One, Starfleet is on high alert, with ships being moved to prepare for further hostilities. Yet back in the Shoals, far from the rest of the fleet, the USS Veritas and USS Montreal are ordered to locate a lost Starfleet cargo ship, the USS Artemis, and secure its top-secret cargo before the Tholians are able to find and retrieve it, which could result in a full scale, devastating war.

After an early battle with three Tholian vessels, the USS Veritas finds the Artemis within Tholian territory thanks to the aid of a time traveler known as Jhalib Ekal. He is a temporal agent from the late 25th century who has come to the present to warn Captain Rahman that temporal agents have sabotaged Veritas, believing the sacrifice of the ship will prevent that costly war with the Tholians. Arriving at the Artemis, her captain Felicia Nickson reveals the secret cargo is a powerful subspace surveillance array. Captain Rahman ordered first officer Commander Evan Delano to lead an away team to the Artemis to assess the state of the ship and the cargo. Meanwhile, she ordered Engineering to prepare a back up demolition plan in case they must scuttle the Artemis before the Tholians discover her.

Now, an engineering team is aboard Artemis to begin implementing the plan, while Delano's team apprehended a pirate from the Artemis whose comrades had stolen some of the cargo. Still within Tholian territory, the crew hope to finish their mission without issue, but three Tholian ships dropped out of warp and demand that Veritas forfeit the Artemis.

While the crew navigated the standoff, an engineering team led by Ensigns Geoffrey Teller and Wil Ukinix successfully scuttled the Artemis by intentionally overloading the ship’s slipstream drive. The engineering team escaped via an Orion vessel in the Artemis shuttle bay, while Veritas extended its warp field around the Tholian fleet to ensure they escaped the resulting explosion.

Meanwhile, a man named Jhalib Ekal was recovered by Veritas shortly after the mission to find the Artemis began. The man later identified himself as a 25th Century time traveler affiliated with a group known as the Temporal Integrity Commission (TIC). TIC apparently intended to sabotage Veritas in an attempt to prevent a war they believed we would start at some future date. While the crew had thought the sabotage was thwarted thanks to their efforts, a series of unexplained and catastrophic power losses resulting in failures of multiple systems occured shortly after they'd returned from Tholian space and were in orbit of an M-class moon of a gas giant. With life support threatened, Captain Roshonara Rahman gave the order to abandon ship.

MSNPCs

• Commander Zhou Tai-Sheng
• Captain Felicia Nickson
• Jhalib Ekal

Log Entries

Captain Roshanara Rahman Captain’s Log, Stardate 239511.19 We have located the Artemis on long-range sensors and are proceeding at best possible speed. I notified Commander Mei’konda and the Montreal earlier this morning. They are farther away and will take longer to rendezvous with us, but we can’t afford to allow the Artemis to fall into Tholian hands. The ship is already technically within Tholian territory. If the Tholians catch us, our mere presence may be enough to push the current tensions into all-out war.

Ensign Geoffrey Teller Chief Engineers Log - Stardate 239511.19 - Acting Chief Geoffrey Teller, reporting It's taken days to find the fault someone worked into our power systems and I'm still not sure how they pulled it off. If we hadn't found it, most of the forward EPS grid would've overloaded catastrophically and the ship would've been destroyed. We've finished repairing the sabotage and are bringing the tactical systems back online in a few minutes, after which I hope to give some of the Engineering crew some off time. We've all been living on caffeine and ration bars and that kind of effort, while commendable, breeds errors if it goes on too long. I never realized just how much personnel management someone like the Chief has to do. I might even need to go into the office and start filling out some of the crew evaluation forms soon. I think I'll just give everybody a promotion and call it a day.

Ensign G'var Security Officer log - Stardate 239511.18 - Ensign G'var, reporting For the last two days Commanders Blake and Kelrod have been running the crew through combat simulations on the holodecks. Lt. Cmdr. Blake has assigned me the task of training the Gamma shift crew in close quarters drills. I have been assigned Security Chief Endilev along with Crewmen Bicondova and Welling. The Team and I have had little rest. We have been working through the alpha shift for their training time. Commander Kelrod's expectations are that we get all crew through the holodecks for close quarters as well as ship to ship combat. Tholians are an unknown when it comes to hand to hand combat, Starfleet's own records are limited. It seems the Tholians don't board ships, so much as capture in them in their webs and flood them with radiation, eliminating the Crew and any need for close quarters combat. Chief Endilev and I have been working with the Medical and Engineering crewmen on techniques for self defense, while Crewmen Bicondova and Welling have been running ship to ship and spatial combat drills. My Team has worked tirelessly and without complaint, each deserves commendation for their work in preparing their shipmates for any coming battles with the Tholians.

Captain Roshanara Rahman Captain’s Log, Stardate 239512.07 Commander Delano’s team has returned to Veritas, along with an unexpected “guest” Ensign G’var apprehended, one of the pirates responsible for some of the cargo’s theft, who’s currently being treated in our sickbay. Meanwhile, Ensign Teller has beamed over to Artemis along with Ensign Ukinix and a small team of engineers to begin work on scuttling the ship. Whatever equipment they can salvage for our own use on Veritas is welcome, but I’ve made it clear to them our priority is removing Artemis from the map.

Ensign Geoffrey Teller Acting Chief Engineers Log, Stardate 239512.07 Acting on the Captains orders, the engineering teams are modifying several systems aboard the abandoned USS Artemis to implement my 'slipstream scuttle' plan. Ensign Ukinix and Crewman Chalmers are currently working to salvage what we can, transporting spare ordinance and parts back to the Veritas. We should be ready to implement the plan in a few minutes. I have to admit to some misgivings at this point - I'm confident the plan will work, but it breaks my heart to destroy a ship like this in her prime. To the spirit of the Good Ship Artemis, I thank you and wish you calm seas on your last journey.

Ensign G'var Security Officers Log, Stardate 239512.07 Away Mission to the Artemis was successful to a degree, Commander Blake and myself were successful in restoring Auxiliary power and averting the re-engagement of the ship's self-destruct sequence. We were also able to rescue three of the ships crew from members of the Orion Syndicate who had boarded the ship in hopes of salvaging highly classified and state of the art surveillance equipment. I was also able to capture three Syndicate Members, whom Dr Alora is treating us Sickbay now. Meanwhile I have returned to Ensign Alken and mine's quarters for a shower and change of uniform. While apprehending the Three Pirates I sustained injury. Thanks to the Medical staff in sick bay along with the aid of Commander Del Vedova my wound has been stabilized and healed. However, My blood is still afire, the scent of the female Orion, Mistress IA, is still in my nostrils. The last hour I've tried to meditate, even used cold packs to try and calm myself. Whatever that woman did to me, the effects are lasting.

Captain Roshanara Rahman Captain’s Log, Stardate 239512.22 The wider situation between the Federation and the Tholian Assembly remains tense, but for now, the all-out war Ekal warned about has been averted. How long that lasts, I can’t say. The sleeping giant of the Alpha Quadrant has finally awoken. For now, Veritas has made its way to a small habitable moon of a gas giant where I plan to allow the crew shore leave. But first, I wanted to check-in with my former first officer.