View source for Omega Crisis of 2383

In-game name for "Perfection," a 2006-2008 joint mission.  Sequel to "War Games" (2005).  Resulted in the [[Battle of Union]] and the opening of [[The Round Table]].

=Timeline=
''Canonical dates may not necessarily conform to game clock on individual ships.  As in any exercise of this scale, perfect coordination was not possible.  The dates given here should be considered authoritative.''

====9 December 2383====
*A Klingon task group is exploring the [[Old Theatre]] (exercising the Empire's rights under the terms of the [[Tripartite Treaty]]), when it disappears without warning.

====10 December 2383====
*James S. Wilk (USS ''Cox'') takes command of a search-and-rescue group, hoping to find the Klingon group or its survivors.  He is joined by a small Klingon expeditionary group assigned to the same mission.

====11 December 2383====
*Wilk reports that the search area has been narrowed to four sectors.

====13 December 2383====
*Massive explosion picked up by [[Starbase 900]]'s long-range subspace telescope.
*Communications from the S&R group are lost.
*A final burst transmission from the ''Cox'' is received, but is barely decipherable.
*The ''Cox'', the combined S&R group, and the original Klingon TG are declared missing, presumed destroyed.

====14 December 2383====
*Overnight analysis confirms initial findings from the ''Cox'' transmission: the S&R group encountered the Omega Molecule just before it was destroyed.

====16 December 2383====
*Task Force 38's highest-ranked brass meet in secret aboard the ''Tornado''.
*Tenson informs his staff of the Omega revelations.
*Task Force-wide Red Alert declared.

====17 December 2383====
*Task Group Commanding Officers' briefings held.

====19 December 2383====
*Admiral Tenson and Admiral Janeway discuss the situation over subspace.  Janeway agrees to help Tenson prepare a cover story to keep the Empire out of the loop.
*Starfleet's elite Omega Team meets to devise a method for containing the Omega Field, which is now known to be moving at low warp speed towards Starbase 900 and [[F'hoca Gateway]].  No one has any idea what could have caused this.
*U.S.S. ''Hornet'', patrolling the Klingon border, encounters a bird-of-prey, whose captain demands passage to the Gateway so his crew can join in the search for the missing Klingon ships.  Starfleet Command, reluctant to allow the Klingons to learn about Omega, denies their request.  In response, the bird-of-prey calls in two battlecruisers, which shoot down the ''Hornet'' over Takka III.  The few survivors, including Commander Enfield, are rescued more than a week later.
*The ''Tornado'' arrives at Starbase 911 to meet with the Klingon ambassador to [[Union]], ostensibly to negotiate Gateway travel for the remainder of the crisis.  News of the attack on the ''Hornet'' changes the agenda, however, and Adm. Tenson is informed that the Klingon High Council has disavowed the attack as the work of "rogue and outrageous elements" within the Empire.

====20 December 2383====
*Tenson announces that, due to a "large-scale plasma storm" in the vicinity of F'hoca Gateway, Gateway travel will be prohibited for all non-essential traffic until the "storm" has passed.  The press corps, too eager to find a "Borg angle" on any major news from Task Force 38, fails to notice the holes in the admiral's cover story.

====21 December 2383====
*The Klingon Empire files a formal protest in response to Tenson's order to close the Gate, contending that denying access to Klingon search-and-rescue teams is an abrogation of the Tripartite Treaty.
*U.S.S. ''Shadow'' commences its search for the origin of the Omega Field
*U.S.S. ''Exploration'', protected under an experimental "stealth mode," enters Romulan space to secure a special jamming device requested by Omega Team.
*U.S.S. ''William F Halsey'' arrives at Utopia Planitia to pick up Omega Team and a planetary defense system bound for New Victoria.
*U.S.S. ''Searcher'' disappears.

====24 December 2383====
*U.S.S. ''Shadow'' encounters an unknown race called the Ch'tar, who suggest (with considerable evidence) that an ancient and extinct race called the Elite is responsible for the Omega Field, and that an artifical intelligence system called GUARDIAN is responsible for their sudden deployment.
*U.S.S. ''William F. Halsey'' attacked by [[Norther Pirates|pirate raiders]]; it is to be the first in an intense wave of pirate strikes all over the northern part of the Raeyan Sector.
*U.S.S. ''Exploration'' reaches Romulus and secures the necessary equipment.

====25 December 2383====
*The Klingon Ambassador to Union, reflecting the Empire's growing ire, snubs a scheduled meeting with Admiral Tenson to discuss the situation.
*''W.F. Halsey'' is boarded during a second pirate attack, but is able to fend off the assault and resumes course for Starbase 900.

====26 December 2383====
*The ''Searcher'' reappears.  Captain Takato reports that his ship was attacked by the same band of pirates that attacked the ''Halsey''.

====27 December 2383====
*The ''William F. Halsey'' successfully delivers Omega Team to Starbase 900.  Admiral Tenson orders the New Victoria planetary defense system the ''Halsey'' is carrying instead be diverted to fortify [[Union]], anticipating possible Borg involvement in the Omega affair.

====3 January 2383====
*Starbase 911 detects a massive warp field overload near defenseless New Victoria and recognizes the pattern as the Dead Man's Warning: an emergency signal sent at the cost of a warp core breach and--usually--the sender's life.
*The [[USS Excelsior|U.S.S. ''Excelsior'']], docked at Starbase 911, is dispatched to New Victoria to investigate.

====5 January 2383====
*The ''Excelsior'' reports from New Victoria: the colony has been destroyed, apparently by a huge band of pirate craft.  The ''Excelsior'' finds fewer than a hundred survivors out of the thousands of residents.
*Captain Dovan of the ''Excelsior'' notes certain irregularities in the New Victoria attack, such as the unheard-of size of the attacking pirate force.  He (correctly) concludes that the attack must have been financially backed by a government.  However, Dovan, who had recently been involved in a disturbing incident with Starfleet Intelligence, fingers the wrong government, privately accusing the Federation of attacking its own colony.  He leaks newly obtained video footage of the attack to the press.
*Now with video footage of Federation, Klingon, and Cardassian vessels (all actually controlled by pirates) attacking New Victoria, media goes crazy.  Tenson does his best to stem the rush of conspiracy theories.

====7 January 2383====
*Tipped off by intelligence gathered by the ''Excelsior'', the ''Shadow'' races to [[Nu Lambda IV]] to prevent a second pirate attack.  It arrives just in time to witness the WMD attack that kills everyone in the colony.

====9 January 2383====
*The ''Shadow'', the ''Excelsior'', and numerous other Starfleet and civilian ships fight against further pirate attacks throughout the sector.
*The ''Zodiac'' arrives at colony Raxia VI too late to prevent pirate archcaptain Sam Trystin from robbing the planet of supplies.

====10 January 2384====
*Trystin attacks and disables the ''Searcher''.  A heavily damaged U.S.S. ''Hawking'' tractors the ''Searcher'' back to Union.
*Political pressure to divert all TF38 resources from the continuing "plasma storm" situation and focus on defending the colonies mounts.
*With the ''Searcher'' and the ''Hawking'' out of the picture, Commodore Marcus Solwick of the ''Zodiac'' is assigned to capture or kill Sam Trystin.

====13 January 2384====
*Trystin attacks and destroys the ''Woodland'', which is lost with all hands.

====15 January 2384====
*The ''Tornado'' arrives at New Victoria to survey the destruction.
*U.S.S. ''Melbourne'' renders aid to Bracon II, suffering from a mysterious plague that has never before been seen outside Klingon space.  Foul play is suspected.
*U.S.S. ''Intelligence'' is reactivated to help deal with the growing crisis.
*Commodore Solwick exhaustively researches Sam Trystin; intelligence gathered by him and the ''Zodiac'' crew proves invaluable in the coming days.
*Omega Team defeats GUARDIAN and prevents the Elite from sending the Omega Field through [[F'hoca Gateway]] and destroying the entire Raeyan Sector.  The Omega Field is stopped less than a light-year away from the Gateway, and Omega Team is still a long way from devising an effective containment method.

====18 January 2384====
*The ''Excelsior'', the sole Federation dreadnought currently at Union, receives a seemingly friendly tip from the Klingons that they have picked up weapons fire at New Victoria.  The ''Excelsior'' responds, leaving Union underdefended.
*Klingons cross the border in force.
*Klingon fleet attacks and destroys the ''Tornado'' at New Victoria.
*The crew of the ''Melbourne'' conclusively proves that the Klingons have been backing the pirate attacks all along.
*TF38 places itself on a war footing.

====19 January 2384====
*Adm. Tenson found drifting in his captain's yacht in open space and is rescued
*Klingon fleet captures Union.
*Capture of Klingon bird-of-prey ''Renlaar'' by ''Excelsior'' crew

====20 January 2384====
*Fleet rendezvous at Comox
*Task Force 38 all-force mission briefing in preparation for the recapture of Union

====21 January 2384====
:''See also: [[Battle of Union]]''
*Union retaken by Federation forces
*Arch Captain Sam Trystin, refusing to surrender, is apprehended.  The ''Ion Storm'' is impounded, pending trial.
*[[F'hoca Gateway]], Starbase 900, and the Omega Field are destroyed, cutting off access to the [[Old Theatre]] forever.
*Access to [[The Round Table]] opened for exploration via the new [[Union Gateway|Union]]-[[Solaria Gateway|Solaria]] link
*Klingons under General Long'ta sue for peace.  As negotiations begin, Task Force 38 stands down from Red Alert after more than forty days. 
*The Omega Crisis comes to an end.



=Credits=
Original information created by the players of the U.S.S. Excelsior-C simm.  Permission for its use on the SB900 websites given by Alcar Dovan.