The Sim

In 2375, after a grueling war with the unrelenting Dominion, the United Federation of Planets and its allies brought a new era of peace to the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Or so they thought.

For years following the Dominion War relief efforts helped to rebuild the structures and ships destroyed during battle. Faith in the Federation from its citizens, however, was not so easy to regain. Instead of peace, a new era of paranoia and political unrest emerged threatening to plummet the Federation into a civil war, which in itself could have far reaching consequences throughout the Alpha Quadrant.

Meanwhile the Cardassian empire was quickly able to recover itself and lock down its borders, threatening to destroy any ship - including the former relief vessels - that passed into their territory. This new unease with the former allies of the Dominion only helped feed the paranoia which was slowly causing the ‘mighty Federation’ to crumble.

Although relations with the Klingon Empire remained as-was, the Romulans insisted on breaking off all contact with its former allies. As with the Cardassian situation, the citizens of the Federation only saw this as another sign that peace within the Alpha Quadrant still had not been achieved. Pressurising the government into taking action, talks with the Romulans were initiated but quickly called off due to an “internal Romulan security hazard”.

By the year 2388, the “security hazard” had been narrowed down, through intelligence efforts, as being a war between the Romulans and an unknown race along their furthest borders. Although not intended to become public knowledge it was not long before rumours emerged and widespread panic ensued. After a series of denials by Starfleet Intelligence the information was eventually made public which commenced a series of political reforms within the government.

In early 2389 a new president, G’ath, was elected into the seat of power in the Federation. G’ath promised the public that he would do everything in his power to ensure the safety of the Federation and to avoid a repeat of the Dominion War. As a result the “Excalibur Class Starship Project” was started, and the USS Redemption was built. The Redemption was promised to be the new Flagship of the fleet, armed with the latest technology in order to safeguard against the Romulans' new enemy should they venture into the Alpha Quadrant.

In 2390 when rumours emerged through unofficial channels that the Romulans were losing their war on the far side of the Beta Quadrant, news that the USS Redemption had been completed was of a great relief to G’ath and the people of the Federation. Intended by the-powers-that-be to be more of a ‘show boat’ than a ‘warship’, the Redemption launch was covered by a quadrant-wide media frenzy. Promised to ease civil and political unrest, the launch was over-hyped - which inevitably led to the crisis that ensued.

During the launch ceremony of the Redemption, midway through G’ath’s speech, the President was shot by an unknown assailant and killed. In the process the Redemptions executive officer was also fatally wounded. Witnessed by billions of people throughout the quadrant, civil unrest grew exponentially following the launch of the USS Redemption. Through his death, G'ath had failed. To avoid a civil war G'ath's assassin required to be caught and punished for his crimes.

These are the voyages of the USS Redemption…