– Sirius Sector Block, Risa Sector, Newborn Borg Hive-


“Counselor… What have they done… Good Lord…”

“Captain, I am Da’Lexian. Prince of the Borg. Resistance. Is. F U T I L E.”

“Counselor… Where-”

“Where is your Commander Reaver? He is a part of my Hive, he is one with me and my Beautiful Borg. Captain Talons… I am fond of you. You have two choices: First, allow my drones to assimilate you without a fight. Or, simply leave. Other vessels will serve to be assimilated. As I said, I am fond of you. I do not want to see your blood spilled. But do not infer my words incorrectly; I will annihilate you if you try to stop me.”

“Couns… Da’Lexian. Stop you from what?”

“Turn your small fleet around Captain. I am giving you your lives and expecting nothing in return.”

“I am afraid we cannot.”

“You intend to continue on your Death March?”

“Counselor, I swear to you that if we can rescue you and Kenneth we will do so no matter what. But we will remove this Borg infestation!”

“I am your Counselor no longer! Hear me Captain! I have become Death: Destroyer of worlds! I will wipe out all imperfections, your Federation among them! Not even the Undine can dare impede me! I shall rise above and become a horror far worse than the Iconians! Come Captain, let it begin with your first move!”

The transmission is suddenly cut and the helm is alerted to new transmissions from the fleet. Hal hurriedly manages to connect the communication link to the entire fleet. Jacien, Steven, and Twenty Four all appeared on the split screen. All three were standing on their bridge, Jacien conversing with his science staff and Twenty Four with his tactical officers. Steven however lunged directly towards the Viewscreen.

“What was that!? Tell me that wasn’t Doctor Heliree!”

Talons lowered his head, about to respond but cut off by Captain Rasilek.

“It sounded nothing like him! There must have been a mistake! Are you certain that was him!?”

“Captain Rasilek! Please!” Jacien cut in. “That was without a doubt Doctor Heliree. He has been claimed by the Borg.”

“I Trust the rest of you know what this means.” Steven spoke, his arms crossed.

“I do not understand the conundrum. He is but one man assimilated by the Borg. I must say, that given the circumstances, that a rescue attempt has too low a possibility of succeeding. Our only option is to remove the Hive, entirely.”

“Captain Twenty Four, I fear you are not up to date on latest Starfleet research. Captain Talons, will you brief us?” Jacien spoke as he took his command chair.

“Only a few within Starfleet was aware of this research. I myself was only chosen to be informed because my ship was a suitable site for the work. Doctor Heliree came aboard my ship, officially, as a counselor. However his true nature was secret. He was continuing his research into advanced weaponry and instruments. He has four projects. The first is the Hilbert Effect. The second is the Delta Assault. Those two are still within the applied theory stage. The third, the Hymn de Nephilim is already being field tested. The fourth, the DIVA System, has been completed by Heliree himself, though never applied.”

“Talons, all of these projects were to be aces against the Borg!” Stevens cut in. “Having Heliree assimilated throws all those projects out the window and gives the Borg a serious advantage against us!”

“I must point something out, Captains.” Twenty Four cut in. “Doctor Heliree is not a normal drone. He has a self-identity, not a simple designation. He also claims to be ‘Prince of the Borg’. No such rank exists within the Borg Collective.”

“Then, you imply…” Jacien spoke as his mind ponders the situation.

“You infer correctly Captain Mandrake. Da’Lexian and his Borg, he is not connected to the collective.”

“Explain this.” Talons spoke, taking his seat.

“When your ship was attack, Captain Talons, the Borg did not follow their standard format. They were not upfront about their attack. They did not attempt to assimilate the ship or any information. Nor did they assimilate any crewmen.”

“They assimilated Narciso and Captain Talon’s XO!” Steven spoke, stating a fact.

“Having reviewed the security logs, I believe Commander Reaver was assimilated as a precaution. I believe this was a precision attack. They were only after one thing.”

“They were after the counselor!” Talons spoke surprised by the revelation.

“Correct Captain.”

“But why would the Borg only go after one person?”

“When under certain circumstances, the Borg have been known to do strange activity. If I am correct, they were after a new leader. This gathering of Borg have been cut off from the Collective in some way or another. Doctor Heliree was that leader.”

“So instead of a Queen they got a blood thirsty Prince. What a royal disaster.” Talons spoke, his head to the side thinking. “Cherrosk, what is the status of the Borg?”

“They are not moving sir.”

“They are lying in wait for us. Fine. This must end. If we’re correct, the Borg Collective does not know anything about the Heliree Projects. There is a chance that they will, we know the Borg do not allow strays. Captains, the Pallas Helena will take point! Hal, take us on these coordinates and keep the formation. Red Alert, ready all phaser arrays and torpedo bays!”

The Pallas Helena’s shields flared up and encased her body. The impulse engines flared and she lunged forward, cutting through the void of space, head first into the mass of Borg vessels. Behind the elegant odyssey are her sister ships. The armored Gran Pulse takes the right flank, her coordinates sending her on a round-about to lay heavy distracting fire. The Caelian took a position on the left flank, close and tight and ready to counter any anomalies. The Deep Sky followed in close, directly behind the Pallas Helena in a train like formation.

They hastily closed in on the waiting Borg…


– Borg Hive, Within a Queen’s Diamond. –

“Look… They would rather forfeit their lives in the face of Perfection…”

“This is wrong… stop this…”

“AGH! QUIET! They will be assimilated!”

“You can stop this…”

“Quiet!” A tightly bounded hand suddenly punches through a monitor, shattering right through it. The hand is slowly retracted and was grabbed by a Borg medical drone, which instantly began to repair the damage. The hand belonged to the new Prince of the Borg: Da’Lexian. Who growled to himself as he watched the ships advancing in the viewscreen. “Leave us!” He shouted as he sent away the medical drone. He turned sharply, the cords connected to his scalp whipped as he did so, his body bound by plating and bindings. He jerked his shoulders and skeletal-mechanical wings sprouted out from under his flesh. The blood splattered on the consoles behind him and as they burst out he winced from the extreme pain. Soon a sick smile graced his pitch black lips and he stood in perfect posture. “I could swear that the nanites read my mind… Such a beautiful design, perfect, and coursing through my veins.” The wings were not intended for flight, they had other functions. They served as tools and instruments, allowing the manipulation of things in tandem with Da’Lexian’s hands.

The Prince of the Borg moved towards a surgical bed and began to stoke the arm of the person atop it. His dark purple eyes looked down at the body, currently halfway through surgery; the skin in several places was sliced open for implants to be inserted. “Soon you too will be perfection…” His hand rose up and he stroked the cheek of the drone-to-be. “My knight… My protector…”

The Prince began to walk out of the room but he stopped short. “Imzadi…” He jerked his head to the side and placed his eyes on the body once more. After a moment he managed to force himself away and back into the central most room of the diamond. He looked to a large monitor and watched the Federation vessels finally come in range. “Your Death will only be the beginning.”


The Borg Spheres surrounding the small Hive suddenly began to move rapidly. They began to fire their Plasma arrays with astounding accuracy. The Spheres began to spread out, in an attempt to encircle the four ships. The Pallas Helena did not stray from her path, her forward shields were reinforced and she was determined to fight.

Captain Talons watched the spheres on his viewscreen, and took in the readings the sensors were giving. He typed hastily, writing commands to the other vessels while shouting commands to his bridge crew.

“Captain! The spheres are going after our critical systems! They know exactly where to hit!”

“We saw this coming Cherrosk! Keep the forward shields up! Marietta, Ric! Are we ready!?”

“Aye sir!” Ric’s voice could be heard through the intercom. “All personnel have been moved into position and we are ready to go!”

“Good! Be careful with that saucer Ric, she’s not got a scratch on her! Start Separation, now!” Talons shouted and as soon as his sentence was over the ship gave a jerk and started to separate. The Pallas Helena’s saucer section launched forward and sliced past a sphere, sending a relentless assault with its’ ventral phaser arrays. The Sphere, not seeing the attack coming took heavy damage. The Caelian merged in ahead of the Stardrive section of the Pallas Helena and unleased a rapid volley from its auxiliary cannons, finishing off the sphere and dodging out to its starboard and circling to the left flank once more, cutting between the Pallas Helena and the Deep Sky.

The saucer section also circled back from its’ port side and took a position behind the Caelian. The Gran Pulse suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the wall of Borg spheres and positioned itself at the epicenter of a destructive assault.

“Fire at will.” Captain Twenty Four ordered calmly as his bridge crew cheered; two disabled spheres in their wake already. The Gran Pulse lit up with a surprising display of anti-proton devastation. The beams were widespread yet aimed properly, hitting sphere and sphere and causing them to slide off their formation.

The Deep Sky passed ahead and gave a sharp turn to her starboard, flashing her broadside to the spheres and firing a massive and overloaded phaser array. Its’ arcing path hit three key spheres and cut through their weakened shields causing explosions and destroying them completely. Those elite model phaser arrays given by Stonewall were more than paying off. The Deep Sky continued to its starboard to circle around, but without warning it was hit on its primary hull by a massive force. The odyssey class vessel was slammed to the side.

“Son of a bitch! Talons, they got us with a plasma charge!”

“Understood Rasilek! You may break formation and join the Gran Pulse!”

“Gotcha! We’ll start going after the remaining spheres!”

“And the rest of us will start cutting our way through those cubes! Make haste!”

The Saucer of the Pallas Helena was the first to break past the shattered wall of spheres. It soon came face to face with a Borg cube, which stopped short while on a collision course causing the saucer to cut to port. Ric took advantage of the situation and began a focused assault with his phaser arrays and managed to tear a hole in its’ shields. A volley of photon torpedoes was fired and passed through that hole, exploding along the hull of the cube creating various hull breaches. However the cube was still active.

The cube retaliated and fired off plasma beams, directly hitting the dorsal section of the saucer. Its’ shield withstood the assault but were drastically weakened. They tried evasive maneuvers only to end up surround by three cubes.

The Caelian quickly closed in and deployed a tractor beam, grasping the saucer section and pulling it away as the three cubes each launched a volley with their plasma cannons, the maneuver allowing the saucer to just missing the massive spray.

The Gran Pulse and the Deep Sky made short work of the leftover spheres and regrouped with the others. The saucer section was reunited with the Stardrive section and the Pallas Helena was made whole. The formation was reestablished but the troupe was met with shock, the three cubes that joined the fight were tactical cubes and one was headed directly into their formation.

The cube showed no sign of slowing or stopping, forcing the Federation vessels to split randomly. The Pallas Helena, the Caelian, and the Deep Sky broke to the port while the Gran Pulse was forced to pull to the starboard. Like wolves, the tactical cubes separated their prey. The Gran Pulse was suddenly surrounded by all three tactical cubes and was smashed on all sides by the plasma cannons.

The bulkhead above Twenty Four suddenly buckled and fell down, right beside Twenty Four who did not flinch. He rose from his seat hastily and moved to a nearby operations station. “Get those plasma fires extinguished!”

“Captain, the primary hull integrity is below seventy percent! Those cubes have us pinned!”

“Divert auxiliary power to the structural integrity field!”

“Captain! The shields are failing!”

“Fire the beam arrays! Aim for their weapons systems!”

The Gran Pulse continued being bombarded but shot out a focused anti-proton beam, disabling one cube’s weapons, but the cube did not withdraw. Instead all three cubes ceased their firing and seemed to position themselves in a triangle, with the Gran Pulse at their center. The Borg diamond suddenly appeared and fired a beam at the closest tactical cube. The beam continued to a second cube and then the third which shot the beam to the first, completing a disrupting field.

A shockwave blew out from within the field, heavily damaging the Gran Pulse and hitting the other vessels, edging them away.

“Talons come in! We are in need of assistance!”

“Captain! I hear… music…”

“Talons, we need immediate assistance!”

“Captain! Something’s wrong with Edgar!”

“What? Edgar? STOP! That’s an order!”

On the viewscreen, a red-shirted crewman, Edgar, suddenly lunges across the bridge violently and harshly tackles a yellow-shirted female officer by a station console. He savagely beats her until blood is seen splattering on him and the surrounding equipment. Another crewman runs up and fires a phaser on Edgar, who falls to the floor. As the crewman goes to check on the female officer, another crewman barbarically jumps onto the crewman and bashes his head with a phaser rifle. A female officers’ scream is heard from somewhere off the viewscreens’ visual focus. Twenty four is seen firing his phaser before he and the other bridge officers fall to the floor, unconscious.

The viewscreen cuts off but a faint voice could be heard singing intangibly. It’s a sensation that the voice is emanating from within a persons’ own mind, and not around them.

“Talons, Are you there?”

“I’m here Jacien!”

“Rider, They’ve just deployed the Hymn de Nephilim.”

“I know…”

“We have to finish this, now.”

“Jacien, you’re ship is capable of countering this.”

“It is… The Caelian can disrupt the weapons relay, but the resounding shockwave will destroy the Gran Pulse.”

“We’ll tow it out before that can happen.”

“You can try.”

“Talons to the Deep sky, we need you to tow the Gran Pulse. Expect to be under heavy fire. We’ll try to take some heat off of you.”

“Understood, let’s get our men out of there!” Steven shouted as he ordered his bridge to be ready.

The Caelian moved back and aimed its’ deflector array towards the cubes, making sure it had enough distance to not be hit itself. The Deep Sky’s nacelles flared up and it moved forward. The Pallas Helena came up behind it and cradled itself above the Deep Sky’s nacelles, providing additional cover. Both ships moved in conjecture and made a mad dash towards the Gran Pulse. As they came close to the cubes relay beam they pulled to the starboard. The Deep Sky grabbed the Gran Pulse with a tractor beam only to be met with resistance. The Deep Sky suddenly stopped short and buckled, it’s aft jolting upwards causing its port nacelle to slam up into the ventral hull plating of the Pallas Helena.

“Gods! Brace yourselves!” Steven shouted as he grasped his command chairs’ arms to hold himself down. His bridge crew was thrown forward, some falling down the partisan arc; Steven managed to catch his Operations Officer.

The ship continued to roll, as if its anchor was lodged. The Pallas Helena was pushed upwards, the crew falling to the floor from the impact of the nacelle.

“Report!” Talons shouted as he forced himself up and back onto his chair.

“The tractor beam failed and the Deep Sky’s nacelle scrapped our secondary hull!”

“Captain, we’ve got hull breaches all along the lower decks!”

“Cherrosk, Seal them with emergency forcefields. And Hal, Turn us around and get a lock on the cubes!”

“Aye sir!... Captain! The Deep Sky is already adjusting itself! It’s going right into the shockwave’s epicenter!”

“Steven! What are you doing!? You’ll be under the effects of the Hymn de Nephilim if you go in there!”

“We won’t be in there long enough!”

“What do you plan on doing!?”

“We’re going to use repulser beams to knock them out of there! We’re too far for tractor beams to work. We’ll punch through like a bullet! It’ll Work!”

“Dammit it man, for your species, you do not like to listen do you? Good Luck!” Talons answered then inputted new commands into his arm console. “Focus fire on the nearest cube!”

The Deep Sky punched through the beam relay and was met with extreme disturbance. The ship rocked violently and the hull took extreme damage and began to buckle in some areas. Coming close to the Gran Pulse, the Deep sky used its’ deflector to send out an amplified repulser beam. The Gran Pulse was violently pushed along the Deep Sky’s path, and both punched out from within the effect zone. However once out both ships rolled and went dark.

“Talons to the Deep Sky… Steven come in!”

“Son-of-bitch…” Captain Rasilek stood up from under debris and walked while using a fallen support beam for balance. He looked around and helped his tactical officers onto their feet. “We’re here Rider… We took a beating but we’re here.”

“Can you last for now?”

“Yes, we’ll be okay so long as they don’t come after us. We’ve gotten word from the Gran Pulse, they’ve taken a serious beating. They’re worse off than us, but we’ve got it under control. Go finish this thing.”

“Copy that. Talons to the Caelian.”

“No need to tell us Rider, We’re launching counter measures now.” Jacien coordinated with his bridge crew and his deflector began to hum loudly. The Caelian fired a torpedo spread of chroniton torpedoes. Right before they came into contact with the relay beam connecting the cubes, an anti-neutrino resonance pulse was discharged from the charged deflector. The result was a massive cascading burst within the triangulated area causing a massive shockwave to spread like wildfire. The three Borg Cubes were destroyed instantly from the sheer intensity of the wave.

The Gran Pulse and the Deep Sky were protected by the blunt impact force, as the Pallas Helena placed itself as a shield. The Caelian wasn’t even spared, as the end result was greater than they predicted. They took a massive hit to their deflector, causing a power surge throughout the ship.

The final Borg Vessel, the Prince’s Diamond, was all that remained. But it stayed eerily quiet…

“Captain Talons…”

“Everyone alive?”
“Few injuries on the bridge sir.”

“Get to treating the wounded Ms. Demark. Bridge to Main Engineering.”

“Jake here sir.”

“How are we?”

“We’re dead in the water Captain. We’re trying to restore power now, we’ve got a lot of injuries down here.”

“Shit… We’re in as bad condition was the Gran Pulse and Deep Sky. Hal, hail the Caelian.”

“Rider?”

“Jacien? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, our viewscreen is missing.” Jacien sat in his command chair, staring out into the void of space from the massive gash where his viewscreen was. He could see the other ships, looking capsized. He could also see the Borg diamond beyond debris. “We were hit directly by wreckage from a cube. We couldn't move in time.”

“We can send shuttles to you.”

“No. We've got it under control. How are you and the others?”

“We’re all dead in the water.”

“I feared that. Our systems were fried as well. Yet we can assume that the final Borg vessel is disabled as well.”

“I hope you’re right Jacien. Rider out.” Talons moved towards a nearby console and brought up the damage reports of the Pallas Helena. The results made him cringe.

“Captain… We’re being hailed…”

“Onscreen Hal.” Talons turned and faced his viewscreen. The image of Da’Lexian came on, he seemed shaken and uneasy.


“The voices…. So little voices… It seems right… but no, need chaos… need to bring order… to all…”

“Da’Lexian?”

“Captain Talons!” Da’Lexian’s head jerks to the side and the look in his eye changes to one of pure rage. “This shall be your end!”

A violent force suddenly causes the Federation ships to shake. A pulling sensation is felt and is instantly gone as quick as it came. The crews were all knocked to the floor, the ships hulls’ began to buckle and collapse from the sudden and overwhelming force.

“Transmission from the Caelian, audio only, sir.”

“Talons! We’ve all been pulled directly near the diamond!”

“Cherrosk, confirm!?”

“Aye sir! Sensors read that we’ve been pulled right next to the Borg octahedron!”

“See Captain? I told you… I have become Death… You put up an interesting fight… But I have a compromise to finish this. Your vessels are on the verge of destruction. Mine is merely disabled. I will have weapons within two hours. But I do not want to wait.”

“Tell me, ‘Prince’, what is your proposal?”

“I shall bring you onto my Vessel. All the Captains… And we finish this without use of our technology.”

“Your proposal is invalid. You cannot be trusted.”

“Captain I can just as happily place myself on your bridges and massacre you that way…”

“Help me Captain…”

“What?... I accept your proposal!” Talons shouted out. Before he could take in a breath he vanished from his bridge and appeared in a large chamber within the Borg vessel. He looked around; trying to figure out how it was that he could be there and took heed of those around him. Captain Twenty Four was kneeling down, injured and taking raspy breaths. Captain Mandrake stood beside him, and having noticed him began to assist while effectively taking in his surroundings. Captain Rasilek suddenly appeared right beside Talons, from out of thin air.

“Rider!” Steven exclaimed while taking a defensive stance.

“That was not transporter technology. My crew had managed to bring up our shields.” Jacien spoke as he helped Twenty Four to his feet.

“No… it was…”

“It was I who brought you here.” Da’Lexian walked in from the opposite side of the large chamber. He was a distance away but it was obvious that he was attached by machines to the ship; a large apparatus connected to his back and took in the connections of the cords from his skull. “We shall end this now… Imzadi…”

A heavy figure dropped down from a non-visible ceiling and landed heavily, directly before the Federation Captains. The figure stood up on his feet, revealing himself to be a highly modified heavy tactical drone. Talons, however, recognized the mutilated face instantly. “Good Lord! REAVER!?!? Narciso, how could you!?”

“Hahaha!! Dear Captain, I am Da’Lexian! And I perfected him!”

Da’Lexian was suddenly raised up high; a shielding forcefield was established around him, giving him the appearance of a roman emperor looking down on a coliseum, waiting for bloodshed.

Reaver suddenly threw a wide swing of a punch, a long blade extending out from his prosthetic arm. The blade caught Jacien on his right arm as he jumped backwards, Twenty Four braced his jump. Steven reflexively gave a kick to Reaver’s armored chest. The only recoil was on Steven, who was forced back onto his ass.

Talons jumped backwards, checking to see if Steven was alright. “Dammit! This isn’t going to work!”

“We need to stun him and get him back to one of our ships! We can restore him back to who he was!” Jacien shouted as he grasped at his belt and pulled his phaser. He fired three shots, all of them hitting Reaver directly. The small assault managed to stun Reaver for a few seconds, but he began moving again and lunged forward, grappling with Twenty Four.

“I’ve got him restrained!” Twenty Four exclaimed as he struggled. “There must be a way to disable him!”

“The only way I can think off will kill him!” Steven shouted.

“Talons! Help Twenty Four, I think I can disable him!” Jacien shouted as he ran behind Raver and began pulling at different implants. Talons tackled Reaver on his flank and helped to restrain him. Jacien continued to look over the implants but was baffled. “He’s been modified to much! I’m not sure what’s what!”

Steven came up and began to look with Jacien. “What about this?”

“No, that cord supplies energy to his upper implants, it’ll kill him!”

“What about the lower implants? Will that kill him?”

“… No, it’ll only disable his motor function…”

“Is it this cord implant!?”

“I have no idea! Rider!?”

“We have no choice! Pull it!” Talons ordered. Both Steven and Jacien grasped the implant and pulled it out with sheer force. The implant took some flesh with it, making it a gruesome procedure. Reaver fell to the ground, hard. He did not stop moving slightly however. He was still active and thus still living.





The troupe was forced to jump back as the sound of machinery racked the chamber. Da’Lexian was lowering himself down. As his feet touched the metal floor, Da’Lexian pulled forward and disconnected himself from the ship. Without speaking he ran forward and delivered a swift punch to Talons’ sternum, knocking the air right out of him and making him collapse. Not letting the others take a moment to understand what had happened, Da’Lexian gave a swift low kick to Jaciens’ legs, knocking him over as well. Steven dealt out a serious punch which caught Da’Lexian on his jaw, but he did not move an inch. His purple eyes turned and looked at Steven, they became bright and a haze appeared to come out of his eyes. His eyes narrowed and Steven felt a massive blow to his stomach, sending him flying out until he hit the wall. Without looking he ducked and dodged a punch from Twenty Four. In retaliation he suddenly whipped his head and ‘hair’ upwards, the cords slashing Twenty four on his chest and face, making him flounder backwards until he fell, deep cuts on his skin bleeding out.

Da’Lexian rolled his head and looked down at the Captains, his eyes flashing bright. He let out a sudden shout and grasped his head. The walls on the room suddenly buckled in, as if being compressed from the outside.

“Haha… That’s your perfection?”

“Quiet Talons!” Da’Lexian screamed out in excruciating pain. “I AM perfection! I AM the Borg!”

“No you are not! You are Narcissus Neves-Heliree! My ships’ counselor and an outstanding scientist!”

“Save Reaver, Captain…”

“I am Borg!”

“You are NOT!”

“SILENCE!” Da’Lexian jumped and landed atop Talons, injecting his assimilation tubules into his neck. “You shall be BORG!”

“LIKE HELL!” Talons tapped his combadge. “Marietta! NOW!” The diamond suddenly jerked and shook as if hit by a massive earthquake.

“You would fire on us and destroy us all!?”

“You only have his shell! The real Narciso, would happily die, but that’s not the plan!” As he finished his sentence the entire group, Da’Lexian and Reaver included, were beamed onto their respective ships with the last two being beamed onto the Pallas Helena.


-A while later-


“All ships. We are to set course to the Stonewall Fleet Starbase! I trust you’ve all made enough repairs to go to warp.”

“Captain…”

“Don’t worry Marietta, we got them both… But we still need to find out if we can revert them back to their normal selves…”

“I know we’ll liberate them… I just know it.” Marietta continued on the repairs to the bridge, but a single tear made its’ way down her cheek.

Congratulations, Rob! :woohoo: B) :side:

:silly: Congratulations Dilen!!!whooop!!

Huge gratz, Rob! Welcome aboard! o7 *big hugs*

Congratulations, Rob! Welcome to the team :)

One of the great honors and privileges of being an Admiral of Stonewall Fleet is to share in the positive experience it affords others and to our community.

A founding principal of Stonewall Fleet is to seek out new forms of diversity, to spread the Federation ideals of unity and acceptance, and boldly go where no person has gone before. As a long time Star Trek fan myself, I am reminded of that very simple ideal every time I watch the introduction to an episode of Classic Star Trek or The Next Generation. Yet for so simple a statement, it carries such significant weight; not only to our past and the present, but also to our collective future.

In any fleet or membership based group, there must come a vision - one which is guided by the decisions of senior leaders to help influence the actions of others toward a common goal. They are tasked with the welfare of the membership, including delegating such authority to those who embrace and best represent the principles of the group as a whole.

By the powers vested in me by the Admiralty of Stonewall Fleet, I would like to announce the following promotion to Fleet Captain effective immediately:

Rob

As a Fleet Captain, Rob (@captrobjenkins82606) will be responsible for general Fleet Captain duties such as assisting members in game, hosting events, fleet invites, and general forum/chat moderation just to name a few. Fleet Captains are a more senior member of the fleet due to their expanded abilities and knowledge of the game. They participate and assist with the day to day operations of this vast community we all appreciate and care about.

If you are in game and need assistance, feel free to reach out to any of the Fleet Captains, or to any Admiral that may be online at that time.

Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Rob to his new role as Fleet Captain!

Admiral Parker Anderson

maybe all times should be listed as UTC which is constant all year ;p

The Eastern US is currently in Daylight Savings Time. All event times are Eastern Daylight Time. I'll make sure Nick is "taken care of" for this oversight :-D

Dilen, if that was supposed to answer my question - it didn't.
The Pride announcement implicitly says EST at each particular hour. On the other hand the announcement starts with "all times are Eastern". The only place known to me in the Eastern zone, which is currently on EST is Southampton Island in Nuvanut, Canada. The whole US Eastern coast (and I would imagine "all times are Eastern" means "we use the time as it it currently used in the Eastern coast") uses EDT right now, which is EST+1. Hence my confusion, and I wouldn't like to miss something by an hour because of this.

Check out this awesome poster that Fleet Captain Eurrsk put together for our social media networks!

[attachment=2350]StonewallPride2014.jpg[/attachment]

http://fleet.stonewallgaming.net/pride

So are the times listed actually EST as stated or EDT, Eastern Daylight?

–Eta Eridani Sector Block, Aldebaren Sector, Near Deep Space K-7.-


“Captain, Deep Space K-7 has received our transmission and has granted us permission to enter Fleet Starbase space. We are to rendezvous with an escort at the given coordinates.” Hal spoke as he received confirmation from the helm console.

“Set course to the given destination and get us there with haste. We have no need of an escort; it’s a waste of time.” Talons griped at the mention of having to go through the motions.

“Well sir, we are near the neutral zone with the Klingon Empire. It must be a precaution. I have heard that there were attacks on cargo ships which were deployed to fleet starbases.” Chrissy called out. As she finished the Captain turned his head and looked towards the science station where she was located.

“Ensign… who let you on the bridge?” He asked, seeming stern.

“I.. urr… Um… *gulp*.”

“I am kidding Ensign.” Talons replied with a slight smirk as he returned to his original position, facing the viewscreen.

“Ah.. Yessir.”

“It’s ‘Captain’, Ensign.”

“I’m sorry sir?”

“Captain is how I prefer to be addressed. Unless it’s crunch time, then you may use ‘sir’.”

“Understood sir!”

“..It’s not crunch time yet, Ms. Demark. I’m sure you’ll know when.”

“Yes Captain.”

“Very good.” Talons stood from the command chair and walked to the viewscreen, placing a hand on Hal’s shoulder. He turned and faced the rest of his bridge crew. “Alright people. Here is where we stand. We were ordered to be sent into the battle zone with the Borg, and operate in conjunction with Task Force Omega. On route to the Conduit, we were taken by surprise by a Borg Sphere. In the attack, two of our crewmembers were taken from us-”

“And none of our equipment was assimilated sir, err, Captain.”

“Thank you Ms. Demark.” Talons raised an eyebrow at her and returned to speaking. “A good point nevertheless. We are now within the Eta Eridani Sector Block, passing Deep Space K-7 and going to dock at our Fleet Starbase for repairs and information. First thing however, is to keep track of the Borg Sphere. Once docked, there will be no shore leave. I do not expect us to stay long, just long enough to repair and depart, having informed the fleet of the Borg presence.”

“Captain we’ve reached the coordinates for rendezvous. We are being hailed sir, audio transmission.”

“Patch it through.”




“U.S.S. Pallas Helena, This is Captain Twenty Four of the U.S.S. Gran Pulse. We are here to Escort you to Stonewall Fleet Starbase. Be alert, Klingon raids have become a problem for us.”

“This is Captain Talons, we thank you for the escort and warning. Let us go in haste.” Talons patted Hal’s shoulder and told him to cut the link. “Set a course.”

The Gran Pulse came about and lined up with the Pallas Helena. Both engaged their warp drives and the vessels took off in a hurry, a rescue mission to be undertaken yet.


–Borg Sphere, Federation Space, Somewhere between Risa and Transwarp Conduit.-


The noise around was disturbing and worrisome. The sound of the technology was strange, but everything was dark and hazy. Narciso’s eyes slowly opened, starring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. The pain in his neck was suddenly evident, and he cringed upon feeling it, tears rushing out of his eyes. He sat up with some difficulty, looking around him desperately, trying to make sense of where he was. The alien technology could only point towards one local: A Borg ship. He came down from the surgical bed he was on and gave himself a look over. His skin was bruised in many places, but he didn’t feel any fractures. He then began to look around the room. There were four corridors linked to the room, but no one could be seen within them, as they winded after a certain point. Narciso began a slight panic, and picked a corridor at random to run down. His goal; find Reaver. The young counselor ran, enduring the immense pain he felt, the corridors all surprisingly empty. He came to a large door, petal shaped. As he got closer, the door opened and he stumbled inside the chamber. He stopped and gave a jump to the side, after coming face to face with a Borg Drone. The drone acknowledged his presence, but did nothing else to him and continued on its way. With the drone gone, he continued walking further into the chamber. It seemed to be a control room, what seemed to be the Borg equivalent of a Bridge. He came up to one of the consoles and began to investigate it, thinking he could send out some form of distress signal.

Having become enthralled in trying to work the console, the hand that fell on his shoulder took him by surprise. He jumped and turned almost dying of fright. He was met by an assimilation drone, whose mechanical arm suddenly pierced his abdomen without warning. His hands grasped the arm tightly; the feeling of his blood slowly spilling on them was surreal. His vision grew dark and he fell backward, staining the console with his blood.


The surface was cold and slightly clammy. It was hard and metallic, and not at all comforting. Reaver’s eyes shot open and he instantly jumped off the surgical bed and onto his feet, taking a defensive stance and trying his best to ignore the intense and sharp pain that went up his leg. His eyes darted to every corner around him and he found drones working nearby but completely ignoring him. He heard a faint scream and instantly took off towards it, running and dodging past the drones.

His leg bothered him but he didn’t care. He was in enemy territory and he needed to find an escape. He needed to find Narciso and escape. He came to a door, petal shaped, and ran through it. The sight made him sick to his stomach… “What have they done to you… Imzadi…” A pain in his neck made him cringe and fall to his knees. He could feel the nanites swarming through his blood vessels. A pair of legs wearing thigh high boots was the last thing Reaver could see before he blacked out completely.


–Eta Eridani Sector Block, Aldebaren Sector, Fleet Starbase System: Stonewall.-


“Captain Talons, Welcome to Stonewall Fleet Headquarters.”

“Admiral Nicholas Swinford, Captain Twenty Four. Thank you both for providing your aid in this troubling matter. We need to act swiftly.”

“Of course Captain. Follow us this way.” Admiral Swinford spoke with a stern yet calming voice. Both Captains followed after him. “As you can see, we are already proceeding with repairs to your ship, Captain. And no need to worry about time, us Stonewall crew are fast and efficient. Also, we’ve begun to clean out that remainder of Borg presence on your vessel. It’s remarkable that they only affected the life support systems and nothing else.”

“Yes, that was peculiar. They were not acting to what we now consider to be normal Borg standards. I already have my crew reviewing the ships logs for further information.”

“Good Captain, if you would, I would have you share your logs with us for further analysis.”

“Of course, Admiral.” Captain Talons continued to follow Admiral Swinford and Captain Twenty Four into a conference room, where two other men stood in waiting by a window overlooking the docked vessels.

“Admiral, Captains. I’ve been briefed on the situation thus far.”

“Ah, Captain Rasilek, Good that you are up to speed.”

“As am I Captain, My crew is at your disposal.”

“Captain Mandrake, I am glad to hear that.”

“At your request Admiral. You know we are always happy to help.”

“The Admiral does so because you two are efficient.”

“Yes… Thank you Twenty Four, that is high praise coming from you.” Jacien spoke with a slight smirk.

“You are welcome.”

“Captains, have a seat.” Admiral Swinford took his as he spoke, and pulled up a datapad and began to scroll through it. “Talons, I’ve asked that all the information you have gathered regarding that ‘chaotic anomaly’ be sent to Jacien and the U.S.S. Caelian. Their experience may yet yield results you may have missed. Now, the four of you are to work in conjuncture as a small task force. Your goal will be to hunt down that Borg sphere. If possible, gather all the data they have. But the primary mission is to search and destroy.”

“Admiral, you mean search and rescue, do you not?”

“No Captain Talons. Destroy. This Borg sphere managed to infiltrate federation space. If this one passed through, who is to say that others have not? For all we know, they have opened another conduit within are space and another Vega incident is on the horizon! Now do not misunderstand. If you can rescue them, do so immediately. I do not wish a Borg fate on anyone. But the mission is as stands: Destroy.”

“Understood, Admiral.”

“Now… I do not need to explain the dangers and the possibilities involved with this troubling situation. Jacien, your ship is tasked with information gathering and debunking any more anomalies you may run into. Twenty four and Steven, your ships are to be the main firepower. The Gran Pulse has been equipped to deal with the Borg Threat, seeing as you were to be sent to Task Force Omega Twenty Four. And your ship Steven is equipped with advanced weaponry. You Talons, however your goal is to lead. I expect this to be dealt with efficiently Captains. You leave as soon as your ships are ready. Dismissed.”


All four Captains stood and left the conference room. Talons however seemed agitated. As he walked out into the wide corridor he was crashed into by a running woman who turned out to be Marietta.

“CAPTAIN! Captain! CAAAAPTAIN!!” Marietta screamed as she flailed about.

“Good lord woman, pull yourself together!”

As Marietta continued her scene, a worn out Cherrosk came running up behind her, out of breath. He seemed like he was going to speak but he soon bent over, bracing himself by placing his hands on his knees and then raising one of them, giving the signal for a moment by lifting his pointer finger.

“Any day now Cherrosk.”

“Yessir. *huff**puff* forgive me sir, I tried to restrain her but she was *cough**wheeze* she was going to break through the bulkhead. *pant**pant* Why do we let her have an assault minigun!?”

“Marietta-!”

“CAPTAIN PLEEEEASE!!! We have to go rescue them!!”

“We are going to woman now go suit up!”

Marietta instantly became composed and made a saluting pose, a scary look in her eyes. “AYE SIR LET’S MURDER THE BASTARDS! COME ON CHERROSK!” Marietta grasped the poor man by his collar and began to drag him back to the ship.

“My, my, Talons. With crewmembers like that I am amazed the Borg would ever mess with you.” Spoke Jacien.

“I rather like that attitude in my officers.” Steven said as he laughed.

“Their energy would be better used preparing their ship.” Twenty Four spoke only to receive stares from the other three captains. “I shall beam to my ship, once ready I shall contact the Pallas Helena. I expect no delays.”

“Nor do I”

“Me neither.”

With that, all three captains beamed out simultaneously leaving Talons alone. He decided to walk back to his docked ship, taking the time to clear his mind. Something about this did not feel right. There WAS something on the horizon, but it was something far more… dark.


–U.S.S. Pallas Helena, Main Bridge.-

“Captain, the repairs have been confirmed as all finished. All repair crews have cleared the docking area. Even the work bees are back within our hanger. We are clear to leave dock Captain.”

“Good Hal. Set a course to leave the Starbase, set thruster to quarter power.”

“Aye Captain, we are clearing the Starbase bay doors now… Ship’s clear sir. We can engage warp drive at your command.”

“Captain, I have transmissions coming in from the Caelian, the Gran Pulse, and the Deep Sky. All are confirming ready for launch.” Cherrosk called out.

“Good, is our tracking still ongoing?”

“The signal is strong Captain. It’s coming from an region of space between Risa and the Transwarp Conduit. Setting a course.”

“Send the course coordinates to the other ships. Engage at warp eight upon confirmation.”

“Aye sir. All ships confirming and ready to jump.”

“Engage!”

The warp bubble began to form around the massive federation ships, the blue hue of the nacelle’s warp particle emissions began to shine brighter and brighter and faster than a flash the troupe left faster than the speed of light, in diamond formation. The Pallas Helena took point, with the Caelian to her port and the Gran Pulse to her starboard. The Deep Sky brought up the aft completing the diamond.

“Captain, the U.S.S. Caelian is hailing us, patching her through to the main viewscreen.” Cherrosk spoke as he worked his console. The image of Captain Mandrake came on, his Vesta’s Bridge visible behind him.

“Captain Talons, My crew and I have made a breakthrough already in dismantling that anomaly that trapped your ship.”

“Jacien, tell me what you’ve learned.”

“It is quite fascinating Rider. The anomaly is agitated Dark Matter.”

“Is such a thing possible?”

“Apparently yes it is. You see, the dark matter is spewed out and then bombarded with Triolic and Thalaron energy. Not in that order though. The Thalaron acts as a conducting agent and the Triolic energy particles act as the catalyst. It’s extremely volatile and to be frank, I am amazed your vessel took as little damage as it did. Also, we found Tachyon particle traces, which explains the power drains.”

“Did you find anyway to counter the anomaly?”

“Well your way got the job done, but I don’t recommend using it again. I’ll let you know when we come up with something solid. Hold a minute Rider… My operations officer informs me of something of large scale on our long range sensors. Not something that would be picked up by standard scans. It’s coming from the end coordinates you’ve given to us.”

“We’re getting close. Anything on sensors?”

“Negative Captain… wait, we are getting a signal Captain! It’s Borg.”

“Red Alert, All ships, Red Alert.”

The troupe hastily dropped out of warp and came face to face with a horrifying sight. Directly before them was a small Borg Hive. A grouping of ships and the like en masse.

“How did the Federation not pick this up!?”

“Captain, our long range scans never registered this conclave. And our close proximity scans are barely registering the Borg signals. They must have found some kind of way to hide from our sensors.” Cherrosk replied.

“Captain! We are being hailed sir! It’s coming from an unknown source.”

“Unknown source… patch it through.”

“Aye sir, bringing it up on the main viewscreen.”

“Holy Mother of God…”

The face that appeared was beautiful yet shocking. The horror of the Borg and their danger has grown and grown.

aww thanks again everyone, I got warm feelings in my tummy!!

and Look forward to working with you Travis!!

Welcome to the team, Gareth! =D

For anyone who is wondering if they should buy this game, this weekend it is ftp on steam.

A judge just ruled that the marriage ban in CO to be unconstitutional as well.

2/3 of the cases the SCOTUS hears involves appeals from lower federal courts and usually address constitutional issues or federal law. So my layman's opinion is that they'll hear the case sooner rather than later.

Quote by Jerran

Since there have been no lower federal courts that have upheld other state bans in the recent wave, chances are pretty good that the supreme court won't even take up the case. That will leave the lower court decisions in place, but only in those districts where the decisions have been made. Unfortunately, that means it won't be decided on a full, national level.

Eventually they wont have a choice, there will be too many cases piling up for review. Utah is just the one that will be first, the other 15 states homophobes are still pushing.

Since there have been no lower federal courts that have upheld other state bans in the recent wave, chances are pretty good that the supreme court won't even take up the case. That will leave the lower court decisions in place, but only in those districts where the decisions have been made. Unfortunately, that means it won't be decided on a full, national level.

Saw that, so stoked.