(This story takes place 20 years after Shinzons defeat in Nemesis circa, 2399 [Alternate Universe]; it will feature a semi-new crew, however there will be a right many old faces aswell. (That being why I put the story in the TNG section, I will be pulling a large selection of characters from that series)
It is the year 2399 some 20 years after the events portrayed in Star Trek: Nemesis; but before the story of the future is told, then the past must be revisited with new truths that must be revealed.
(Note: The following Time Line is written as if it were being read from within' Dark Legacies Universe; it details exactly what has happened between Nemesis and this Alternate Realities present, it is also formated to look like fragmented pieces of someones personal logs, whom that is will be revealed later on in the story.
P.S: The word Redacted which appears throughout the timeline means that whatever group the writer of the logs belongs to, has been deemed classified information by Starfleet Command and the office of the Federation President; what group that is however will remain a mystery until later on in the story.)
2379 (Praetor Shinzons Fall From Power)
First Public Entry (No Mention Of Involvement in Redacted)
On the heels of the battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar; political fallout has proven to be troublesome, the prices to be paid will no doubt be steep, the fact that the entire Romulan Senate are dead at Shinzons hands with no new Praetor named doesn't make things any better either. Romulus is very quickly descending into a total tyranical nightmare. The Tal Shiar seems to be hellbent on activating a series of 'Emergency' laws which until now had been laying dormant; these laws would surely pave the way for an intelligence style Covert Martial Law takeover of Romulus, what exactly are they trying to do anyway? Not just that, but why is Starfleet turning a blind eye to all of this?
2 Months After First Entry
Word just came in this morning that the Tal Shiar declared the Romulan Senate of old obsolete; that it would be replaced by a congression of overseers handpicked by the elite amongst the Tal Shair's most worthy agents, the supreme commander so to speak would be the Grand Praetor whom would be 'Elected' at a later date. Yeah I said that right, an election. I still can't get over it myself, but it will probably be a mock one, the romulans are playing at something very sinister here...I just know it.
(The Federations Peace Force Fails)
6 Months After Last Entry
Finally the federation have reacted to whats going on today; seems they are claiming to have just gotten wind of what was taking place on Romulus opting to send a task force in order to restore peace on the Romulan Homeworld; the Tal Shiar responded to that in kind though by engaging the 5 starships that were dispatched in battle forcing them to retreat, they even somehow managed to garner a little bit of support from the Romulan people in the wake of the battle, however that didn't last, desperate Tal Shiar Agents are beginning to take up arms on Romulus as it's new Secret Police Force, or so thats what Starfleet Intelligence is reporting. We're still another year and a half away however, from the Grand Praetor finally being announced...
1 Week After Last Entry
Dear God, Starfleet Command is reporting that the Tal Shiar led overseers are beginning to enact edicts designed to subvert the Romulans free will; using their fears of attack from a new unknown alien race spotted beyond Romulus, in my oppinion Tal Shiar seem to be slowly but surely insuring that its power remains absolute. Ships of the unknown agressors have already attacked and destroyed a few of their vessels just in the past month, those ships as reported by Starfleet, were from the neutral border defense grid that the Romulans had setup in the aftermath of our dare I say, half hearted Peace Mission, it's been noted that those unknown ships were and still are coming from the direction of the largely unexplored Delta Quadrant.
2381 (The Aurora Project Begins In The Arctic Circle)
3 Years Since Last Entry (No explination of length since last entry, nor mention of involvement in Redacted)
It's been almost 3 years since this mess started, the Romulan Star Empire have become incresingly more agressive under the rule of the Tal Shiar; reports keep pouring in by the hundreds to Starfleet HQ, those reports relay the fact that Romulan Ships of all kinds are being spotted at high warp near and even having breached the Neutral Zone, the first Starfleet - Romulan battle took place on Friday, April 13th, 2381 when the USS Defiant stumbled upon a lone Romulan IWB D'deridex Class Warbird, it wasn't before long the Defiant found itself locked in a battle with a ship the size of a Galaxy Class, they were some brave souls, the crew didn't retreat even with the odds stacked against them. They knew the Romulans were headed to Sector 001, and only god knew what they would do once they reached it.
It was around this time that I got curious, and my curiousity paid off ten fold. I found out that Starfleet scientist' had all gathered at the Arctic Circle, to test a new weapon system; it was designed with the real possibility of a new Federation/Romulan war in mind as things were heating up, having been classified project aurora it's basis is that of a recently discovered debris field which somehow ended up on Earth. It is theorized that this ship crash landed sometime in the mid 22nd century, scientist' believe that the ship was in the shape of a perfect Sphear, salvaged equipment from the wreckage indicate that the race and owners of the Sphear are called simply...The borg.
This is where the story gets really strange...See, in secret Starfleet had been working in conjection with the Tal Shiar a year before Shinzon seized power; the result of that temporary alliance was the Advanced Federation Warship U.S.S Aurora for which the Aurora Project and weapons systems were named, it was slow yes but packed more of a punch than any ship in the fleet, including the Starfleet Flagship U.S.S Enterprise-E! A crew had not been selected at that time for the Aurora, nor had all plans been finalized for the newest ship in the fleet. The Aurora was sidelined and research stalled when the Tal Shiar took over power on Romulus in 2379, a secret branch of, well, actually they really work for no one (They claim they do what they do for the sake of Earth and the Federation, but, is that something that can be believed?). The organization which I uncovered was codenamed Redacted, they are the very same people whom took over completion of the Aurora Project and would lead it's final stages of development, which was estimated to take atleast until 2398.
2389 (The Tal Shiar Gains A Foothold In The Alpha Quadrant and The Arrival Of The Borg)
8 Years Since Last Entry (First Mention Of Positing In Redacted)
Time sure goes by fast, it's already 2389 some 7 years since my posting in Redacted. Peace still has not materialized between the Romulans and the Federation as the Tal Shiar still hold major power on Romulus; the Romulan people have all but been corrupted by their government and (Quoting the President of the Federation) It's time to take action, with this in mind the Federation launched attacks on various Romulan held bases, trade routes and planets in and past the neutral zone but none of it seemed to do any good. Our Agents of Influence managed to cut off most trade with the Romulans taking care to uphold our covert nature, we justify our actions by knowing that aslong as the Tal Shiar Government are still in power that all people, civilian and military alike, are in danger and that no one is safe or exempt from the Tal Shiar's reign of terror and path of destruction.
We also gained two new allies, seeing the truth in Starfleets words the Klingons and Vulcans both forge indefinate Military Alliances with the Federation; ushering in a new sense of peace between the three superpowers, this however was not enough to stop the Tal Shiar from attacking and gaining control of several of Starfleets key starbases around the Alpha Quadrant, they also managed to attack and gain control of Deep Space Nine...This forced the immediate evacuation of it and seemed to force Starfleets hand aswell, as they could not let this immoral and unjust war continue any longer (The true account of the attack on DS9 was classified however, being that our Agency was involved and no real Tal Shiar member ever even set foot on the station. This was our way of insuring popular support for the war, we couldn't let some half hearted political party mess up what we had worked so hard to accomplish), word came in from the Federation president himself that he wanted options, and that option was the completion of the Redacted led Project Aurora. (This is exactly what we wanted to happen!)
By this point a sense of urgency has clouded the air, the Romulans seem to be getting more and more brazen in their attacks, which leads Starfleet and us to believe that a war on the galactic scale was just on the horizon, this would mean that every starfaring political superpower in the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants would be plunged into an all out war for supremecy. The Federation were so busy fighting the Romulans however that they had overlooked one very importaint thing, that thing being the fact that strange readings were beginning to be picked up on a line coming from toward the Delta Quadrant.
If those idiots had studied these findings, then they would have known that a massive distortion in the fabric of space, was being detected all along the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. These distortions were what the Borg call Transwarp Appitures, which are exit points all over the galaxy for their Transwarp network, which ment that Borg ships have pretty much invaded the Alpha Quadrant and will surely complicate the situation even more than it already is.
2396 (Aurora Announced To Be 3 Years From Completeion)
Entry Explaining (In The Unknown Agents Words) The War Against the Dominion
For now; The Federation, Vulcans and Klingons seem to be able to hold their own in the fight against the Borg and subsequant war with the Romulans; all three Quadrants are now in the midst of an all out war with every Political Power choosing a side, the current Alliances are now as follows:
Side One (The United Alliance Of Peace)
Leader: Earth (The Federation)
Member 1: Vulcan (The Confederacy Of Vulcan)
Member 2: Qo'noS (The Klingon Empire)
Member 3: Andoria (The Andorian Empire)
Member 4: Ferenginar (The Ferengi Alliance)
Member 5: Rogue Faction (The New Order Of Cardassia)
Member 6: Xandross [Z -And- Ross] Prime (The Xandrossian Conclave; *New Species*)
Side Two (The Dominion)
Leader: Romulus (The Romulan Star Empire)
Member 1: The Founders Homeworld (The Founders)
Member 2: Cardassia (The Cardassian Union)
Member 3: Unimatrix Complex 01 (The Borg; Temporary Alliance Gained)
Member 4: Breen (The Breen Confederacy)
Member 5: Kurill Prime (The Vorta)
Member 6: Xandross VII (The Splinter Faction; Rogue Xandross Agents)
-/\- Classified -/\- (Unknown, non-Public) -/\- Prosecution for illegal decryption of this file, can and WILL be exacted under Article 14, Section 31 of The Starfleet Charter -/\-
Leader: E, S (President's Eyes Only)
Agent 1: Classified
Agent 4: Classified
Agent 3: Classified
Agent 1: Corrupted File [Please Reload]
Agent 2: Classified
Agent 5: Classified
Agent 6: Classified
To make matters even worse Starfleet decoded an encrypted message which was sent to the Dominion Stationed on Romulus; it states that the unknown leader of the new but powerful enemy on the scene in the Borg, have signed a temporary non-aggression and alliance pact with the Dominion and that their ships would join in the war on their side. This was no doubt a major blow to the Federation as its scientist' concluded they had never, nor would they probably ever, see an enemy like the Borg and with such little data to go on, probably couldn't even begin to hazard a guess as to how their society works.
2 Months Since Last Entry
A Redacted agent on the morning of June 6th, 2396 (The following communique came directly from me) issues a direct communication to the president of the Federation; informing him that the Aurora Project would be complete by the year 2398 and would turn out to be its most advanced starship project to date, the weapons and its very nature were designed with the Borg and Romulans in mind, little did anyone know however, that Redacted had rounded up all the material and research data from the Arctic Circle Experiments on the Borg Sphear and subsequantly found Borg Bodies, of which had been dug up there nearly 15 years prior to the current date. We had basicly more or less become the only non-Dominion Intelligence Organization to know anything about the Borg, it was this knowledge and Technology that allowed us to continue the Aurora Class Warship U.S.S Aurora NX-2399 Project to begin with.
1 Week After Last Entry
It is to all of our dismay in Redacted that things seem to be getting worse everyday for Starfleet Command; they seem to have found out exactly what the Borg can do, one of their ships whom were patroling our side of the neutral zone came across a Borg Cube, trying standered hails the crew raised shields when they were unsuccessfull. They then recived a hail with a quick message:
"We are the borg, lower your shields and surrender your ships, we will add your biological and technological destinctiveness to our own. You will be assimilated, Resistance Is Futile..."
That lone ship gave the fight its all but the Borg were able to overpower them and much to Starfleets horror Assimilated the ship into their own fleet; this event prompted Former Captain of the Enterprise, and current Federation President Jean Luc Picard to restudy Starfleets history. The President soon came across an odd address, one that then Captain Jonathan Archer made way back in the founding days of the Federation. Archer had made the claim that he knew about cybernetic lifeforms and a secret branch of what he called 'Rogue Agents', he claimed that there was a form of life out there that roamed the galaxy looking to 'Assimilate' other beings into their own collective hive mind, that they were pure evil and were devoid of all reasoning making them a great threat to peace everywhere. He also went on to say that a secret agency named Redacted, were responsible for their coverup, the captain even got around to mentioning them by name, his exact words were as follows:
"Today I stand before you not as your president but as a fellow concerned advocate of peace; and as such I think it is time we lift the vail of secrecy, I stand before you to warn each and every Federation citizen of a grave threat, one that comes not from here at home on Earth but from a Quadrant 70, 000 Lightyears away. You might say well Archer if they are so far away, how can they hurt us? That my friends is the truth behind the lie...
You see; there is a secret branch of Rogue Agents that don't want me to speak of this, they want me to remain ignorant and as such allow you all to remain so aswell, that ignorance will end right here and right now! This threat comes in the form of a cybernetic civilization known only as 'The Borg' and the members of Redacted don't want you to know about them, I have seen first hand what these monsters can do and they cannot be reasoned with, they are more of a threat than anything Earth and the Federation have ever had to deal with.
I urge you to listen to my words and hear the truth that I am speaking here today, nothing can prepare us for this threat then our being ready; I ask you to heed this warning for if we allow ourselves to forget, then, not only ourselves but our grandchildren and their children will have to deal with our ignorance, our very willingfullness to ignore the truth. I am pushing to have all of Redacted's files declassified and show that these beings are real, you have my word that we will be ready to fight the borg...Not a matter of if but when they attack!"
Upon further study Picard was able to find numerous recollections from various starfleet officials; most of which describing a common phenominon in sightings of the borg, these reports came from the likes of not only James T. Kirk but of Captain Hikaru Sulu aswell, all describing the common shape of a Sphear like vessel with Sulus Excelsior having managed to defeat a Cube...However, Excelsior was very nearly destroyed and had to limp back to port for a major repair effort. We of course could not allow Picard to read any further, so all borg references were stripped from the federations historic archives, Redacted couldn't take any chances.
2398-99 (The Completion Of The Aurora Class Warship)
No Date Stamp Encoded (-Warning-) *Corruption In File Detected _Hack Attempted_ - Classification System Brought Down To 50%! Some Redactions Have Been Partially Removed By An Unknown User...* this E was m Stime b-e-twe-en A-14 S-31 and E-91 S-4 (-Warning-)
This will possibly be my last personal log entry as 31 have asked me to be their eyes and ears on the U.S.S Aurora, no doubt a new life will come with my new posting as we can't allow anyone to know who I am; my post will not be made public in my logs nor will my new rank, all that I will say is that Auroras first official mission will be deep in Romulan held space. We will also have a special side mission aswell, but this one must be kept from the federations prying eyes, it will be the assassination of a rogue 1431 agent whom we think is helping the Romulans.
We all know where this war is headed and it is in everyones best interest that it be ended as quickly as possible, we will not be defeated by the Dominion! I will see to it personally...
-End Of File-