SCIMXFOR-Orestes Station Concept Outline

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ORESTES STATION Concept Outline
Version 1.0 (Updated SD 190623)


INTRODUCTION

This document is intended to outline the development and operation of ORESTES STATION, a new station-based role-play unit in Gold Fleet of the ASR universe. Its development will be an outgrowth of previous role-play that has taken place on and around the Orestes region of Gold Fleet.


BACKGROUND OF ORESTES STATION

The history of Orestes begins in 2416, when the USS CIRCE (Captain Cayle Veld, Commanding) followed the trail of a bursite-for-weapons trade ring between the Romulans and the Woren to Orestes Prime, a planet in the Orestes system near The Triangle- the convergence of the Romulan, Gorn Hegemony and Federation borders.

Federation presence on Orestes, at that time, was limited to a small medical facility called the 'Orestes Medical Pavillion,' a Star Fleet- run operation set up to handle basic medical needs on the frontier and provide some emergency releif when necessary.

However, the corrupt government on Orestes- which was serving as the middle man in the bursite-for-guns trade- attempted to forcibly take over the pavillion once it became clear that CIRCE and her officers were not going to leave things uncovered. CIRCE's Marine forces, led by Commander Yuri Kazhdenin and Major Jahoic Azrael, reinforced the limited Star Fleet presence there and, after a fierce battle, eventually removed the corrupt elements of the Orestes government. In the process of this battle, however, Orestes Medical Pavillion was destroyed.

In the weeks following the destruction of the pavillion, the means through which the Woren and the Romulans had been conducting their bursite trade was found: the first stable wormhole into Woren and Lehrren space. This wormhole, located right near Orestes Prime itself, also connected, through other wormholes, to Dalriadan space. These facts, combined with increasing pirate activity, rumors of major Section 31 activity, and the new formal alliances with the Lehrren Alliance, made it clear a more prominent Star Fleet presence was needed in this area. So, shortly after the conclusion of CIRCE's mission, Admiral John R. Brooks, the Commander-in-Chief of GOLD Fleet at the time, ordered a nodal base be established on Orestes, as well as the expansion of the system and planetrary defenses and picket forces. Thus, Orestes Station was born.

Orestes Station was completed and opened in 2418. It now serves as the headquarters of the newly-created Scimitar Expeditionary Force, the mobile forces of Gold Fleet in the region.


DESIGN AND CONFIGURATION

Orestes Station is primarily a surface installation, build practically right on the ruins of the old medical pavillion. All of the administrative offices are located here, as are quartermaster, medical, science and civilian services. Aerospace Operations can also be found on the planet.

Engineering facilities, however, are located primarily on the surface of the small moon orbiting Orestes. This moon, whose translated name is "Forge", was once volcanically active; now, however, it is little more than a dead rock comprised of huge mountains and deep caverns. The main Engineering offices are located on one of these mountains.

In orbit around Forge are several free-floating ship repair structures, able to execute repairs on most ship classes save for the largest battlecruisers and battleships. Also located in the Engineering Complex orbiting Forge are the attached ships of Orestes Station: USS RESOLUTE NX-88231, a new DILIGENT-class destroyer-escort (designed to replace the familiar THUNDERBOLT-class) and the USS CHALLENGER NCC-82012, a new VENTURE-class general-duty frigate. These ships are at the disposal of the station's crew, and are maintained in a state of readiness with at least a skeleton crew on board at all times.

In orbit around Orestes Prime and around Forge are a large number of communication, sensor and weapons platforms; most of these weapons and sensor platforms are trained on the nearby wormhole terminus. Wormhole Operations- where all wormhole traffic is monitored- is located on Forge.

Finally, the picket forces of Orestes- known formally as Task Group Orestes- is comprised of the 2nd Battle Squadron: the USS MISSOURI NCC-121903, an ARIZONA-class command battlecruiser, the USS CASSANDRA NCC-27006, a CIRCE-class battlecruiser, and their escorts (the 103rd Destroyer Squadron).


CURRENT MISSION PROFILE

The mission profile of ORESTES is tied directly to that of the Scimitar Expeditionary Force: to perform large-scale patrol and antipiracy operations in and around the Orestes Sector, the former operational area of the Blue-Gold Joint Task Force, and everything to the galactice south of Voira Tundra. This effectively splits GOLD into two halves: Krima Expeditionary Force to the north, and Scimitar to the south.

This opens up a wide variety of mission threads to the players on Orestes: Romulan stories, as they deal with their relations to the Federation, the Woren, and the Dalriada are up for development. Also, given its proximity to the Gorn Hegemony borders, any instability coming out of the Hegemony will be felt by all Scimitar Forces. An exploration of our relationship with the Lehrren Alliance could open any interesting missions through the wormhole, as would anything involving the Woren and the Dalriada. Finally, the seedy nature of The Triangle makes it a virutal certainty that anti-piracy campaigns and Section 31 activity will be prominent.

Aside from these major force and fleet-wide threads, there are also the unit-specific threads that are natural outgrowths of character life on a space station, as seen in Deep Space 9 or the ASR models of Deep Space 13, Deep Space 4, and Starbase SAIKAI. There is literally a plethora of character- development and personal thread opportunities into which players can sink their teeth into.

There is also the opportunity for cooperative writing with the other Scimitar role-play unit, USS KUSANAGI. As part of Scimitar, both units will be exploring similar mission threads, and therefore the chance to do joint missions or cooperative missions exists prominently.


STAFFING

Orestes Station will have a full player compliment of 11 players, and will open with no fewer than 8. The standard billets for Orestes will be:

  • COMMAND BILLETS: CO, XO, OPS
  • VETRAN PLAYER BILLETS: CIC
  • REGULAR BILLETS: ENG, TAC/SEC, FCO, SCI, CMO, COU, MCO


CONCLUSIONS

It is hoped that this new unit will provide a fun, alluring environment for the players. If successful, this unit will also help to develop and build Scimitar Expeditionary Force from an entry on a piece of paper into something deeper, more fulfilling.


CREDITS

This outline was written by Scott Lusby (ADM Conrad Veld, CINCGOLD) and reviewed and edited by Bryan Bartlett and Lena Rose.


VERSION HISTORY

  • 1.0- First live version (SD 190623)