NURIOOPTA SOLAR NEBULA – An apparent Starfleet practice exercise has resulted in the lockdown of Amity Outpost’s transporters, preventing arrivals and departures and leaving residents and visitors frustrated.
Amity Outpost, the Federation’s far-flung diplomatic space station positioned in the greater Barossa Solar Nebula in the Delta Quadrant, has become a hotbed of rumor and speculation. The appearance of a nearby spatial anomaly was rapidly followed by a Starfleet exercise, leading to the temporary lockdown of the space station. This culminated in the sudden departure of Amity’s Defiant-class vessel, the USS Independence-B.
Both the Federation Diplomatic Corps and Starfleet have denied any correlation between these events, which took Amity Outpost’s residents by surprise. As part of the purported exercise, the Independence-B, along with Amity’s fleet of Starfleet shuttles and cruisers, suddenly departed all at once.
However, just under forty-eight hours later, long after the exercise had been declared a “success” by a Starfleet spokesperson, the Independence-B quietly docked with the space station without fanfare. This occurred long after the rest of Starfleet’s vessels had returned. On board the Independence-B were believed to be Ambassador Niarivi Vataix, Daughter of the Eleventh House of Betazed, and a select skeleton crew of Amity’s most senior and experienced Starfleet officers, including Amity’s Starfleet attaché and First Officer Wil Ukinix.
The unannounced departure of the Ambassador and Amity’s top Starfleet officers has been rare since Amity’s operations began in late 2398. When contacted by the FNS about the events, the Federation Diplomatic Corps referred any questions to Starfleet. Crewman C’lem Phan’ta’go stated via comms, “protocol states that all media inquiries must be immediately directed to the Councillor for Culture and Press Affairs or the Starfleet attaché, I’m afraid.” The Starfleet attaché had not responded to questions at the time of this article’s publication.
Despite the silence, speculation amongst Amity’s residents and visitors continues. Captains of several trading ships believe their readings from the anomaly indicate a “parallel universe gateway.” An unnamed Talaxian captain said, “There’s a rumor from decades ago of a Hirogen hunting ship falling into one of these anomalies and never coming back. And they were apparently messing with the benamite in the Nebula to make some advanced weapon to hunt prey. I’ve heard they never came back!”
Capt. Ebes Th’zhaonnahr of the trading vessel Zodiac agreed that the Independence-B might have investigated and traveled through the anomaly. “Starfleet can’t resist a scientific challenge like that,” he speculated. “Of course they went through. They can’t help themselves – they may have even traveled to one of those mirror universes.”
Rumors of Starfleet making contact with a dark, brutal parallel universe similar to ours but with a tyrannical empire of humans first emerged in the mid-late 2250s but have never been confirmed by Starfleet. Some have referred to it as a “mirror” of our universe. These rumors resurfaced in the 2370s near the Bajoran wormhole terminus in the Alpha Quadrant.
The mystery surrounding the USS Independence-B’s return to Amity Outpost continues to fuel speculation and intrigue, leaving many questions unanswered.
Written by Kit Ivanovic
