A New Mission Begins!

Posted on Sunday February 20th, 2022 @ 12:09am by Commander Kanaka Shakura

Fellow Crewmates,

After a lot of soul-searching and a lot of hard work, it's been such a pleasure to see that the Poseidon still has a lot of life left in her. Following on from last month's conversations around the future of the sim, I'm pleased to confirm that we have concluded to continue the sim for the foreseeable future. In light of this decision, and in the hopes of aiding it, the Command Staff has decided to begin implementing changes to the way we do things, in the hopes of providing a much more free-flowing, episodic environment for storytelling and creativity.

These efforts have not gone unnoticed by Pegasus Fleet. The Poseidon was just recently rewarded the TFCO Choice Award for Task Force 11 in recognition not only of these efforts, but also the creative potential that all our crew has demonstrated through the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic. We're grateful to Task Force 11's CO, Captain Harding, for their faith and recognition. You all deserve to be proud of this achievement.

In the hopes of seizing this momentum and beginning a new phase in the life of the Poseidon, we have also now just concluding one of our longest running missions, Spectrophobia. Having had plenty of action and intrigue, we hope to carry on that creative success in what we hope will be a more accessible format: monthly, episodic missions, with an overarching objective and some pointers, but ultimately the freedom will be with the crew to decide what we do. We hope this leads to more enjoyment and more creativity overall.

That's not the only change that's coming. Starting in the next few hours as of this announcement (February 20th 2022), the Poseidon will also be migrating to it's own independent domain. During this transfer, it is entirely possible that we will not be able to access the site from anywhere between a few hours to 3~5 days. We will keep everyone updated via our Discord, and in the meantime we can use this downtime to consider our next moves!

So, to conclude, let me reveal to you the brief for the Poseidon's newest mission: S1-A1-Ep. 2: Our Foremost Virtues...

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The U.S.S. Poseidon is assigned the mission of transporting Cardassian refugees from Starbase 129, the closest Federation starbase to Cardassian space and the Argus Array, to Starbase 47 due to concerns of safety. What seems to be a routine mission suddenly comes into question when a troubling sequence of events comes to light...

MISSION BRIEF

(Current Brief as of 20/02/22)

It has been almost a month since the events that transpired in the Betreka Nebula, and despite the gravity of what had occurred both during and immediately following that assignment, the Poseidon has been afforded little respite. Having gathered and offloaded what it could at its home base of Starbase 47, the Poseidon has now been dispatched to Starbase 129 in order to serve as a transport for a particular group of Cardassian refugees, fleeing the ever deteriorating remnants of the once proud and frightening Cardassian Union. They’re to be shuttled straight back to Starbase 47 for further processing by Starfleet and relevant Federation authorities.

Currently in transit between Starbase 47 and 129, the crew of the U.S.S. Poseidon has some time to collect herself for what should be a straightforward, but nevertheless sensitive mission. With vulnerable people coming into their care, the crew must be sure to have a handle of their own vulnerabilities, all the while still having to grapple with the revelations of what occurred in the Betreka, of which there are still plenty more questions than answers…

[MISSION BRIEF WILL BE UPDATED BY THE 1ST MARCH 2022]

MISSION OBJECTIVES

(Current Objectives as of 20/02/22)

1) The U.S.S. Poseidon is to arrive at Starbase 129 in order to receive the Cardassian refugees. Starfleet will issue further orders for their return to Starbase 47 once this has been concluded.

2) In the meantime, during transit to Starbase 129, the departments of the U.S.S. Poseidon are recommended to use this time to complete any outstanding tasks they have, with emphasis on these tasks for the following departments:

(a) Security & Tactical: Ensure the security of the Poseidon in light of the events that transpired in Betreka; prepare a brief for the Executive Officer.

(b) Engineering: Help continue to update and patch up the Poseidon’s systems, in light of the damage sustained, particularly in the last attack on the Medbay in the Betreka; prepare a brief for the Executive Officer.

(c) Medical & Counselling: In light of the damage sustained to the Medbay while in the Betreka, the Poseidon must prepare to take on the Cardassian refugees with limited medical supplies and a Medbay that is still in the process of being repaired. Management of resources and manpower is imperative.

(d) Intelligence: With the Forensic Away Team to the Akril-Class starship in the Betreka leaving just more questions, gather what information you can on Russhook the Gorn and his known associates; prepare a brief for the Executive Officer.

(e) All remaining departments are free to pursue whatever objectives they see fit, so long as they stay within the parameters of the given mission. They are also encouraged to assist and coordinate their efforts with their fellow departments in the aforementioned tasks, should all parties deem it beneficial.

MISSION RULES AND GUIDELINES

Rules

1) Character Deaths: At this time, Character Deaths are not permissible, unless first agreed by the Command Staff and the Player(s) in question. Depending on the actions of the Player(s) in regards to their own Character(s): if they are deemed life-threatening, the Command Staff will reserve the right to determine that as a potential death scenario, at which time they will communicate this to the Player(s) (See Guidelines (4)).

2) Outcome to plot critical investigations: While the crew are encouraged to be creative in the course of their encounters and investigations, it is expected that all crew will communicate their intentions with the Command Staff. If deemed necessary for the purposes of continuity, the Command Staff may request that the Player(s) alter the outcomes of certain actions, so as to benefit the plot of the sim.

3) General Etiquette: No godmodding. No metagaming. No flamebaiting or griefing. PG-13 rules apply.

Guidelines

1) Be Creative: Apart from the stated Mission Objectives and Rules above, a lot of what happens will be up to you as players. Use this as an opportunity to not only further your character's personal development and relationships with one another, but to also explore the environment of the ship and help to make it feel like a living space.

The Command Staff is also open to ideas for excursions from the stated mission path should players feel they have a good idea that helps with both character and plot development. However, please respect that any decision which is made is final; there's always the possibility that if it is rejected now, it may turn up later.

2) Utilise your Command Staff: As well as being players with characters of our own in the sim, we are in essence your Dungeon Masters (DMs). Feel free to utilise us for this purpose: If you need something from an 'off-screen' character or entity, or need results from a computer diagnostic etc. - ask us and we will happily provide.

The Command Staff will, from time to time, release certain details and information. These will be highlighted to the relevant player(s) when it occurs, and should be utilised by them as they see fit.

3) Challenges: Throughout the Mission, we as Command Staff will - judging on your actions thus far and those you continue to make - set up challenge scenarios which are intended to not only provide a fun and engaging narrative for the sim, but to also encourage greater cooperation and teamwork amongst players.

Whenever a challenge arises, players will need to deduce:
(a) The problem (if not immediately obvious);
(b) The source of the problem (if not immediately obvious);
(c) Potential solution(s);
(d) Who amongst the crew is best suited to dealing with the issue, be that on an individual or departmental level.

The purpose of this is to make use of your roles as characters and give the Poseidon the sense of being a real Starfleet vessel. The Command Staff is again open to creative and interesting ideas from the players on interesting challenges that could occur. The only caveat is that any challenge you devise cannot be for yourself (otherwise that would be too easy).

It is important that you utilise the Discord in order to coordinate your efforts with your fellow crewmates. The more we see you guys actively working together to solve a problem and write collaboratively, the more rewards you will gain.

4) Your actions will have consequences: The Command Staff is following everything that transpires on the ship, and already some of these actions have been utilised to inform our critical plot moments, challenge scenarios, and decisions. It is worth keeping in mind that this is all done to give you all a sense of agency in the setting (i.e. that what you do actually does matter).

Sometimes the consequences will be positive, other times negative. This is never meant as a punishment, but as a way of being engaging and as dynamic a sim as possible.

Therefore, you're strongly encouraged to keep track of what happens on the ship, and if your character is party to something, do strongly consider what consequences their actions might have before you take them.

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Live Long and Prosper,

Cmdr. Kanaka "Kana" Shakura
Executive Officer & Chief Counsellor
U.S.S. Poseidon

Category: Sim Announcement
Tags: New Mission, TFCO Choice Award, Domain Transfer

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