Deep Space 10
| USS Mercury | ||
|---|---|---|
 INACTIVE STATUS | ||
| ||
Deep Space 10 -- or DSX, as it tends to be known by the misbegotten folks who call it home -- at first appears to be a sister station to many others the Cardassian Union abandoned in their waning years of influence, including Lemok Nor, Empok Nor, and Terok Nor, more famously known as Deep Space Nine. DSX began its service as a Cardassian mining facility called Jempok Nor, located at the furthest reaches of the Menthar Corridor, in more prosperous times when they could finance such far-flung installations. The Cardassian Union retained a nominal presence on the station through the Dominion War, though to be assigned there was never to be mistaken for a promotion, and Cardassian officers would often share moribund jokes regarding "command of Jempok." Finally, and in 2388, with the commissioning of the USS Mercury and Starfleet's interest in exploring the Menthar Corridor, the Cardassians' new Detapa Council offloaded the station upon the Federation. It took several months for the SCE to bring the station back to a near-habitable level, and because Starfleet is not over-confident about its newest station's potential, it has assigned only a skeleton crew there until the Mercury proves that it's worth the use at least as a base. Appropriately, the old Deep Space Ten, somewhere past the Romulan Empire, was recently decommissioned, freeing up the name to match that of its sister station on the other side of Cardassian space.
As it stands, DSX is ugly, woebegone, and barely functional -- but for the crew of the USS Mercury, it may be just what they're looking for.