The I-400 Saga
In a Federation raid on an illegal Romulan research facility housed inside an ex-Borg cube in late 2399, an unusual Borg artifact was recovered. When studied by the Daystrom institute, it was discovered that the artifact housed a hyper-advanced Artificial Intelligence that could be the key to the realization of a long-fantasized Federation peacekeeping initiative called I-400. The only problem is that the Institute plans to place the artifact in the archive after the New Year, meaning there was only a few days to work on I-400 prior to the New Year's celebrations.
However, unknown to anyone at the celebrations, I-400 gains sentience, and determines that eliminating all life in the galaxy is the only way to save it.
Group Post Count: 288
Included Missions
Auld Lang Syne
Post Count: 81December 31st, 2399: Among the Starfleet personnel gathering at Camp Khitomer to ring in the new century is a newly-assembled crew coming together for the first time. This group of Starfleet Officers is set to become the crew of the USS Missouri, and will be tasked with taking the brand new Bellerophon Class Starship on its shakedown cruise after the New Years' celebrations.
However, unbeknownst to them or anyone else at the party, an unexpected enemy lurks in the shadows; a peacekeeping program that will prove to be a threat to peace not just in the Alpha Quadrant, but the galaxy at large.
With the emergence of the I-400 threat, the Missouri's crew find themselves sliding into their new roles sooner than anticipated, but will it be enough? The galaxy is a large place, and I-400 could have gone anywhere.
From the Inside
Post Count: 86In the wake of I-400's attack on the New Year's party, the first mission of the hastily-commissioned USS Missouri and her crew is to locate and stop whatever I-400 might be plotting. However, the mission is easier said than done, as I-400 always appears to be a few steps ahead of the Missouri, and so far the Missouri has only been providing aid to the victims of I-400's campaign, who speak of hallucinations of old memories and of a woman too quick for them to see.
Finally, it seems the Missouri might catch a break; as Starfleet Intelligence has determined I-400's next target to be an illegal Ferengi dilithium mining operation in an asteroid belt just five light years from the Heartfilia system, run by a known Ferengi arms dealer named Klawe. Wanting to press their advantage while they have the initiative, Commander Cooke decides to converge upon the mine to prevent I-400 from obtaining a vast amount of Dilithium from Klawe.
However, unbeknownst to Commander Cooke, I-400 knows of the threat that the Missouri poses to her plan, and is leading Commander Cooke and her crew into a trap. And she's not alone, as I-400 has recruited two young Hebitians orphaned by the Dominion War to her cause, and they're more than what they seem; as they are also survivors of Dominion genetic experimentation, leaving them with enhanced abilities, and it is these enhanced Hebitians that I-400 plans to use to tear the Missouri's senior staff apart from the inside.
I-402
Post Count: 121After their humiliating defeat, the crew of the USS Missouri decide to lay low. However, before they can do so, the USS Ermiana arrives, giving them supplies and intel that suggests that I-400 is planning to create a synthetic body for herself, and thus assume an "ultimate form."
The crew of the Missouri realize that if I-400's plan comes to pass, it would spell grave news for the denizens of the galaxy. And so, the race is on to retrieve the synthetic body from I-400's clutches. Along the way, two former adversaries will become reluctant allies after they discover I-400's true plan to bring about galactic extinction.
Another potential ally could lie in the synthetic body itself, partially uploaded with the conscience of the Iona interface, revealed to have survived I-400's attack. But is this new form, who calls herself "I-402" as she is neither I-400 nor Iona, really on the side of life as she claims?
Impending Midnight
Post Count: 0The I-400 saga comes to a conclusion in the edge of your seat midseason finale!
Thanks to their new ally, I-402, the crew of the Missouri know of I-400's plan to bring about galactic extinction, which involves flying Planetoid Lazzaro, a sparsely populated Class L planetoid from the Romulan Neutral Zone, into the Great Barrier at the Galactic Core and detonating the dilithium payload I-400 has embedded into the planetoid's crust, creating an energy wave of Great Barrier energy which would wipe out all life in the galaxy.
Intent on not letting that happen, Commander Cooke is authorized to lead a Starfleet task group to organize an evacuation of the planetoid. However, the Federation is not the only galactic power that I-402 has alerted, for when Starfleet arrives, they find a flotilla of ships from the Romulan Star Empire, Klingon Empire, Cardassian Union, and even the isolationist Breen Confederacy on scene, with Dominion vessels en route from the Gamma Quadrant. It seems that all the major galactic powers are setting aside their differences in the name of preserving life in the galaxy, and the stage is set for the ultimate showdown between this hastily thrown together galactic alliance and the entirety of I-400's forces.
When the dust settles, Commander Cooke is promoted to Captain, and the Missouri, still bearing the scars of battle, is formally christened.