| BREAKING NEWS: Starfleet Denies Involvement in Kelterre Aggression Tensions mount amid mysterious attacks, disappearances, accusations of Federation conspiracy. |
Three days ago the USS Helios, under the command of rookie CO Cmdr. Fiona Skye, was destroyed while on patrol near the Kelterre Sector. Only roughly 35% of the Helios crew survived to be rescued by the USS Rutledge in an operation which also saw the arrest of over five hundred civilians, declared pirates.
These civilians, incarcerated aboard Deep Space 13 to await criminal charges, told GNN corespondents that the Helios launched an unprovoked attack on their mining operation, and that her destruction was the result of her stubborn refusal to cease her assault even when faced with insurmountable odds. Commander Mathilda Konieczko, 38th Fleet Public Affairs Officer insisted that the people in custody are pirates, lying for their own benefit.
Faced with one GNN journalist's observation about the convenience of Starfleet deciding that the miners are pirates who can't be trusted just when those same miners are accusing Starfleet of wrongdoing, the PAO questioned the credibility and objectivity of that journalist: ironically employing the very same discrediting strategy he was pointing out.
Despite the 38th Fleet's stalwart insistence on the truth of their version of events, the timing casts considerable doubt.
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These civilians, incarcerated aboard Deep Space 13 to await criminal charges, told GNN corespondents that the Helios launched an unprovoked attack on their mining operation, and that her destruction was the result of her stubborn refusal to cease her assault even when faced with insurmountable odds. Commander Mathilda Konieczko, 38th Fleet Public Affairs Officer insisted that the people in custody are pirates, lying for their own benefit.
Faced with one GNN journalist's observation about the convenience of Starfleet deciding that the miners are pirates who can't be trusted just when those same miners are accusing Starfleet of wrongdoing, the PAO questioned the credibility and objectivity of that journalist: ironically employing the very same discrediting strategy he was pointing out.
Despite the 38th Fleet's stalwart insistence on the truth of their version of events, the timing casts considerable doubt.
A mere twenty-four hours earlier, starships all around the sector received the following distress call:
| Mayday! Mayday! This is Echomet World Guard vessel Amses-2, we are under attack from a Starfleet vessel. |
Following that call, several nearby ships, both civilian and military, responded and changed course to assist. Unfortunately, the Amses-2 had gone silent. Shortly thereafter, a Starfleet vessel, the USS Axiom, admitted to being Amses-2's alleged attacker, and attempted to cancel the response to the distress call. Luckily, responders continued to Axiom's location to investigate. When they arrived, they found the Jupiter-class carrier floating beside the wreckage of an Echometan patrol squadron.
The official story from Axiom CO, Capt. Sara Desimone, is that Starfleet doesn't know who destroyed the Echometan Squadron, and Axiom was only there to help the crew of a Federation transport that had been wrongly accused of the attack. According to 38th Fleet PAO Mathilda Konieczko, "There was no attack of Echometan vessels, one was briefly detained by tractor so that Federation citizens could be recovered."
Echometan authorities tell a very different story, however, in which they discovered a Federation craft picking over the wreckage of one of their patrols and responded by detaining suspected criminals and opening an investigation. The Axiom reportedly arrived and immediately began demanding the release of the prisoners, which Echomet was unwilling to do. When verbal persuasion failed to stop Echomet from impounding the offending vessel, Axiom fired her phasers on and destroyed the 'hullmag equipment' (a primitive grappler-like device, used for towing) of two Echometan patrol vessels and detained a third with a tractor beam. Axiom then proceeded to use a tachyon beam to forcibly lower the shields of the vessel and abducted the prisoners out of the Echometan brig.
When confronted with Echometan sensor data confirming their version of events, Commander Konieczko condescendingly repeated, "It wasn't an attack, and I think you know better." When asked about the disposition of the prisoners after their so-called 'rescue' from Amses-2, the Commander cited an on-going investigation as reason not to answer.
The destruction of the Echometan patrol squadron was not the first such unexplained attack to occur in recent weeks. Just eight days prior, an Annatari Unit Array (a flight of four automated droneships) was destroyed in the exact same manner. Starfleet was the first to arrive at the site of the wreckage, followed by Echomet.
Similarly, the Echometan vessels reported finding Federation starships salvaging the debris. While this didn't seem suspicious to GNN when reported alone, when put in the context of the more recent Echometan encounter with the Axiom, it is potentially the start of a troubling pattern. In the end, Annatari authorities chose to overrule Starfleet on the scene and instead entrust the Echomet World Guard with the recovery and return of the drone debris.
Local officials examining the debris have even suggested that the damage inflicted could only have been done by an extremely powerful starship, such as those operated by Starfleet -- possibly even Starfleet itself.
It's been suggested that all of these events are part of an imperialist campaign by Starfleet to diminish the influence of the local powers, to pave the way for the Federation's expansion. The recent colonization of Tau Zeta (and resultant Federation border expansion) would seem to at least support the idea that the Federation is interested in expanding out into Kelterre and beyond. It is therefore not terribly difficult to believe that there are those within Starfleet who might take it upon themselves to reduce the competition.
It's also been suggested that all of these incidents are part of a larger scheme to frame or discredit Echomet, specifically. GNN sources within Starfleet have implied that some within the higher echelons of command blame Echomet for the destruction of the USS Sirocco, earlier this month by a Waydi extremist. Some local Starfleet forces also seem to harbor a resentment towards Echomet for the circumstances of their rejection of Federation membership.
Finally, perhaps the simplest explanation has some precedent in recent history. It's possible that one or more Federation starships have gone rogue, a result of inexperienced officers being placed in stressful command positions, or some other combination of factors. There's a surprising amount of evidence to support this.
Commander Skye, of the Helios, only gained her position two years ago, as a result of the death of the ship's assigned Captain during the Iconian War. Could she have snapped under the pressures of command, and perceived an innocent group of civilian miners as a threat? Hopefully an investigation will tell. There's also the matter of the USS October currently MIA, which stopped reporting in just one day before the first mysterious attack on the Annatari. Is this just a coincidence? Is it possible that the October suffered the same fate as the destroyed drones? Or could it be that this is no coincidence at all, and the October itself is responsible for these attacks?
This combination of incidents paints one disturbing possibility: Is Starfleet orchestrating attacks on the local powers, and using its superior technology to cover it up? And if so, to what end?
From comfortable lives within the Federation's borders, most of us will never have to face a situation like this, but our neighbors and our very newest members aren't so fortunate. Nobody wants to believe that the Starfleet we trust and rely upon is capable of such things, but these are the questions that many of Kelterre's inhabitants are being forced to ask, right now.
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