TASK FORCE HURQ MEVIK
KDF Task Force Hurq Mevik ("Outsider's Blade") is a group consisting of KDF, Romulan Republic, and mercenary ships, currently operating in the Zenas Expanse. The task force boasts a sizable force consisting of around 50 KDF and House vessels, though more than a half of them are raiders or raptors/destroyers. The majority of these ships are divided into scouting, raider, heavy, and support squadrons, consisting of 3-5 vessels each. Additionally, there are around a dozen unassigned ships which are used to fill in for the eventual casualties and to form ad hoc squadrons as situations require. Romulan Republic presence has waned in the last year and now consists of a single squadron of light scouting vessels. Mercenaries keep a constant presence, though their numbers wax and wane depending on current job opportunities. At any point in time there are at least a dozen mercenary vessels whose captains have signed long-term contracts with the Empire.
Task Force Hurq Mevik is headquartered at Starbase 151.
HISTORY
Six months before the full-scale invasion of the Cardassian Union in 2372, the Klingon Empire sent a small task force to the area northwest of Union space known as the Zenas Expanse. Its mission was two-fold: establish an outpost that would support a future invasion force, and map the Expanse to locate any valuable resources. Two scout wings were dispatched for the latter task, and after more than three months of exploration, they reached the same conclusion the Cardassians had a long time before: the Expanse was mostly empty and devoid of any useful resources.
However, one of the scout ships, I.K.S. Rakh, while returning from a scouting run, detected an M-class planet in one of the few star systems, originally named LM-161. Preliminary scans of the planet's surface were inconclusive due to the presence of magnesite in the planet's mountain ranges. They did find that the world was rich in game, and sensing a tension among his crew due to the long and uneventful tour of duty, the ship’s captain decided to go down to the surface and enjoy some hunting – while taking all the necessary research samples, of course. Local wildlife proved to be a good challenge, and the captain's hunting party spent a good part of the day pursuing elusive prey though a lush woodlands – only to stumble upon a hundred meter tall spire "hidden" in a canyon, surrounded by magnesite-rich hills.
Almost the entire crew was assembled to study this building that was the only sign of any sentient life on the planet. However, after almost two days of work, multiple sensor modifications and attempts to find an entrance, the captain finally gave up. Holographic images and extensive scans were taken, and the ship departed to report their findings. This report spent more than 40 years gathering isolinear dust in the Imperial databanks.
In late-2412, following the discovery of the Solanae Dyson Sphere, a joint task force was formed to explore and recover the Sphere’s secrets. The Empire sent some of their greatest scientific minds to help with this monumental task, while computer experts were instructed to search all official and less official Imperial databanks in search of any relevant information.
At the beginning of the Earth year 2414, a 40 year-old report about a ruin, now identified as a Solanae structure located in the vicinity of the old Starbase 151, in the Zenas Expanse, was brought to the attention of High Command. Task Force Hurq Mevik, originally stationed at SB 249 in Eta Eridani, was relocated to SB 151 with orders to repair the station and secure the Solanae structure (now designated as the "True Matter" facility). Hurq Mevik was also ordered to put pressure on any True Way presence in the region, in the hope of weakening them enough to make them recall their forces from Eta Eridani and Pi Canis, where their pirate activity was causing trouble.
The research teams took another year to finally breach and enter the facility, only to find it was nothing more than an old resupply station. The Iconian gate was a wreck, beyond repair, destroyed when the builders withdrew long ago; the interior had already been stripped of anything useful. Disgusted, the researchers gathered up the few loose artifacts and trash that remained and sealed the facility again.
In the meantime, Task Force Hurq Mevik had grown in strength, acquiring a number of tributary worlds and setting up mining and industrial facilities. The task force had become truly self-sufficient, and was even able to send some surplus back to the Empire. With their original mission over, High Command decided to re-task Hurq Mevik with a more general mission of expanding Imperial influence and stifling any Breen and True Way expansion efforts in the region.
While the task force has mostly been left to their own devices in the Zenas Expanse, Hurq Mevik is occasionally called upon to assist with more distant events. Notably, Hurk Mevik assisted in repelling the Undine assault on Gornar and the Herald invasion of Qo’nos.