Too Close for Comfort...

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Mission Summary

The USS Arizona, fresh from their recent patrols in the Gavarian Corridor, docked with Starbase 900 to effect repairs that were sorely needed thanks to a rather nasty encounter with a group of Romulan vessels that had been preying upon Federation transports throughout the Corridor for several months. The Arizona had lost a great deal of their crew, not the least of which being their recently promoted First Officer, Lieutenant Commander Aiden Roberts. His death, and the death of nearly seventy other members of the Arizona crew left a visible mark on the morale of the vessel. Commodore Cowell ordered, during their brief stay in dry dock, that the members of his crew take some time to gather their thoughts and mourn their lost comrades while the ship was put back together.

Their short shore leave was made all the more brief when Rear Admiral Ricky Wegener passed down to his Task Force Executive Officer a mission of critical importance to continued operations in not just the Archadian system, but the Delta Quadrant as a whole. In his mission brief, Commodore Cowell learned that the Archadian Confederacy had suddenly, and without cause or explanation, cut off communications with the Federation, to include Starbase 900. Rear Admiral Wegener relayed that such a move might indeed signal a shift in alliances on the part of the Archadians, which could have a devastating impact on the overall political dynamic in the Delta Quadrant. Worse case scenario, the Archadians could demand that Starbase 900 be dismantled and the Federation remove themselves from their system, something that would jeopardize Starfleet's entire Delta Expanse Initiative.

With repairs to the Arizona far from complete, Commodore Cowell decided to take the two shuttle craft attached to his vessel, complete with two teams, to Archadia III in order to find out just what was transpiring on the surface. The first team, led by Commodore Cowell himself, was designated to meet with the local government officials and gauge just what their stance was in relation to the Federation as well as try to determine the purpose behind the silence. The second team, led by the Arizona's Second Officer Lieutenant Colonel Anastasia DeVries, was tasked with infiltrating the local population to see if they could hedge out any details that would likely be glazed over if not utterly ignored by the ruling class.

Commodore Cowell and his team landed in the Archadian space port, which resided in the center of the capitol city's Nede Quadrant. The welcome that the first team received was cordial, if not brief, with a follow-up meeting scheduled after the Starfleet officers had been given a chance to browse the city and collect themselves after their flight. Nothing about their first encounter with the First Minister and her various staff members seemed to coincide with them being at odds with the Federation at all, a fact that didn't sit well with anyone in the team. Once left to their own devices, the various members of the 'diplomatic' team split up and investigated the city on their own.

The first group, composed of Commodore Cowell and the Arizona's Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Commander Aral Aix made stops in the Nede Quadrant only to find that the citizenry seemed to be blissfully ignorant of the affairs of state, nor did they seem overly curious about them given their comfortable lives. Upon Lieutenant Commander Aix's recommendation, the pair departed for the much less fortunate area of the city, called the Shala Quadrant, where the citizens were far less content with their lot in life and lips were much more willing to part when properly motivated. The two managed to locate a bar, and within a bartender who traded the promise of a replicator and a generator in exchange for information. The name the bartender gave Commodore Cowell instantly put him on alert, going so far as to make a hasty retreat back to their designated meeting spot while explaining to his Science Officer that a plot more fowl than he had first imagined might be afoot...

The second group, composed of Lieutenant Xylia Lischka and Ensign Marcus Schenk, focused their attentions on the more upscale parts of the city. While the pair endeavored to gain information about the state of affairs, their search area proved to be far too apathetic to their inquires to garner anything but frustration and defeat. By the time the two groups met back up, it had come to the appointed meeting time and so their report of findings fell to the wayside.

The 'diplomatic' team was escorted to the Ministry Complex by the Chief of External Affairs, the building a skyscraper that dominated the skyline of the entire city from any point. The team found the Archadian First Minister, Kala'Shen, to be a very gracious hostess. During their conversation, it was revealed that the Archadians have been in constant contact with who they have come to believe it their Federation liaison, and gave no indication that they were at all disassociated with the Federation in any way. This news barely had time to settle in the minds of the team, however, given that their departure came only minutes before the Ministry building was bombed, killing almost everyone inside.

Commodore Cowell didn't even get a chance to make a hasty retreat with his team before they were waylaid by a group of local police, who arrested Commodore Cowell and his team with a great deal of 'excessive' force. The team was transported to a nearby prison facility where they were held in preparation for their executions...

Lieutenant Colonel Anastasia DeVries divided her team up and sent them out into the city to hunt down intel in an undercover fashion while she herself did the same. Lieutenant Colonel DeVries found herself in a rather seedy bar, such was her habit, and engaged a good share of the patrons in conversations that led her to the bartender. After some rather peculiar exchanges between herself and the bartender, Lieutenant Colonel DeVries was given a name, 'Mr. Lynch', and was directed to a table containing three men... one of whom she knew rather well. Lieutenant Colonel DeVries made her way over and engaged the group of men only to find that the man she had known in years past seemed to have absolutely no idea who she was. At first, given his occupation, it seemed that he was simply acting out the part of an ignorant patron. This, however, became less and less likely as the Lieutenant Colonel began dropping hints that she had thought would bait him into a reaction... and got nothing.

This strange event didn't even truly sink in to Lieutenant Colonel DeVries' mind before the Ministry building was destroyed. Lieutenant Colonel DeVries filed out of the bar with the other patrons to see what was going on, and upon seeing what had been hit, leaped into action. She hurried out of the Shala Quadrant, encountering Mr. Darek Halsey on her way out. Together, the pair made for the prison facility that the news bulletin had informed the public the away team who were being accused of the bombing were being held with an unorthodox tactic.

Lieutenant Colonel DeVries and Mr. Halsey, in their rescue, took the most bizarre route imaginable, they walked right in the front door. Some very smooth talking on the part of Lieutenant Colonel DeVries made the initial entry rather easy. She had the receptionist believing that not only were the two Starfleet operatives part of the Archadian police force, but that they were authorized to take the prisoners to another location. Their plan had worked until they entered deeper into the complex and met with 'Mr. Lynch', who recognized Lieutenant Colonel DeVries as an intruder. While Mr. Halsey made the actual jail break of Commodore Cowell and his group, Lieutenant Colonel DeVries and 'Mr. Lynch' exchanged words. While the exact nature of the conversation has yet to be recounted to the crew, it seemed rather plan to Lieutenant Colonel DeVries that there was more to the events happening around them than simple terrorism.

The team managed to facilitate their escape thanks to the automated recovery protocols of the Runabout Phoenix, which had been left unmanned. The away team discovered, sadly, that one of their members and their second runabout, had not been so lucky. Upon their return to the ship, the crew was faced with the reality that they had been set up from the start, though the puppeteers had so far managed to allude them. Commodore Cowell decided that given their fugitive status on the surface further contact, at least by his own crew, would only end in further failure. This prompted Commodore Cowell to up-channel his findings to Rear Admiral Wegener, and take the Arizona out of the Round Table, into the vastly unexplored Delta Quadrant...