FASA Friends, I re-discovered these posts related to the Unity on another discussion board from a long, long time ago. How long?
Near Christmas of 2011!
I kid you not! This is how long I've been working on the Kephan Unity, her people and her Star Navy. Off and on for nearly a decade!
The outline of these stories deal with the Kephan starship H.H.S. Mount Carmel and her crew. Anyway, please permit me to post the rough outlines from those long ago days. The story details have changed from long ago and probably still need to be modified. But I hope they will put a smile on your faces today.
Here's the first one from late December of 2011.
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1)After crash landing on Organia, a renegade member of planet Gideon's governing council asks for help from the Organian leadership.
2)Despite having grave misgivings, Admiral Orzelski of the Star Navy prepares to send new orders to the HHS Mount Carmel.
3)Captain Anthony Wrenfield, commander of the Mount Carmel, gets a rough awakening after another “late night with the books”. Crashing into his bedside side-table after his awakening, he is carried into Sick Bay quickly.
4)Wrenfield awakens in Sick Bay, groggy. He thinks he's in an Italian restaurant, complains about the food and décor. Adm. Orzelski finally contacts him in Sick Bay, with Science Officer Yenell of Orion and Dr. Albert Laurentian on either side of his bed. The Admiral relays orders she received from Tri-Planetary Command (TPC). They must to go to Organia and assist them regarding the Gideon councilor in any reasonable way.
5)Some time later, the Mount Carmel arrives at Organia. Their leader Ayelborne greets both Wrenfield and Yenell outside their capital city, escorts them to the Gideon councilor Pannis. He tells them of Gideon's supposed “overpopulation problem”. He tells them of High Councilor Hodin's scheme to spread a viral infection – unwittingly supplied by Captain Kirk of the Enterprise – into the general population, killing his fellow Gideonites by the billions to eliminate this “problem”. Wrenfield discerns this as genocide, agrees to help Pannis on behalf of the Unity. Ayelborne advises them on the shortest path to Gideon. Pannis joins the Mount Carmel as they leave Organia.
6)Sometime later, the Mount Carmel arrives at Gideon, the Captain and Science Officer escorting Pannis to his capitol. They're met by his older brother Vinnus, an advocate for the common people, considered a “rabble-rouser” by the Gideon Council. He agitates for an end to the murderous plans of the “Hodinites”.
7)Days later, after making their own investigations among the people, Wrenfield and Yenell appear before the Council in a rare open public session. When the Captain asks if they ever tried to colonize the other world in their system or their moons, or even in orbital stations around their world, the Council admits it never occurred to them to do so. This is the opportunity for both Pannis and Vinnus to lead a revolt, overturning the Council and ending the threatened genocide.
8)Vinnus, tired of years of struggles against the “Hodinites”, decides to lead the first colonial mission of Gideonites. With help from Wrenfield, he chooses a habitable but supposedly empty world in the Coal Sack Nebula – Cheron. While the Captain contacts Organia for help securing colony ships for hire without alerting Federation authorities, Pannis and Vinnus bid each other a bittersweet farewell.
9)A fleet of 150 colony ships of various sizes arrive to transport three million Gideonites to their new home. The Mount Carmel will lead them to their destination.
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And now the second story outline. It was posted on that other board in July 2015.
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1) The H.H.S. Mount Carmel, at the head of a colonist convoy from the planet Gideon, finally arrives at the long-dead world of Cheron. This was the planet of a race of people who were half-black on one side of their bodies and half-white on the other side. During much of their history those who were half-black on their right side fought a race war against those who were half-white on their right side.
2) Professor Wrenfield, captain of the Mount Carmel beams down to the capital city of Cheron. His science officer, Yenell of Orion, joins him along with medical officer Dr. Laurentian and Vinnus of Gideon, who leads the colonization movement. They are stunned by the collapsing ruins all around them, punctuated by still-smoldering fires here and there. Ship scanners reveal there are still two life forms wandering in the area thought lifeless. The team investigates.
3) Meanwhile within the Romulan Star Empire, the niece of the Praetor bursts into his office, demanding a chance to avenge the Empire for it's defeat at the hands of the Federation a century before. She made such demands in the past, usually dismissed by him as excessive zeal. This time, she reveals a proposal to use old cloaked vessels to sneak into Federation space, then setting up a secret base at the site of their final defeat at the Earthling's hands –the planet Cheron. From there, they would use the system's resources to build a small fleet to strike Earth without notice. The Praetor agrees and approves it, knowing it's suicidal but good in keeping the humans off-balance and scared. Plus it would get rid of obsolete ships doomed to the scrapyards anyway.
4) The Kephans are in their third day of exploring the capital city as the Gideon colonists begin beaming down to Cheron's greener plains. The team discovers the two detected life-forms – Bele and Lokai – who escaped from the U.S.S. Enterprise long ago. Their 50,000 year old hate for each other raged on, as they represented each opposing side in Cheron's race war. The team barely stops their fight, surprising them both. When the team tells them they're Kephan rather than from the Federation, they're even more shocked. Lokai calls the “The Mad Ones”, which is a common epithet for the Kephan Unity.
“So what else is new?” groans Wrenfield. “We've been called worse.”
5) A small force of Romulan ships, patched-up and barely space-worthy, sneak by a Federation outpost on the Neutral Zone. Their cloaking devices active, they are just able to infiltrate into enemy territory unseen by outpost scanners. The Praetor's niece commands the ragtag force in a refurbished D-7 cruiser the Klingons sold to the Romulans years ago. She is sure of victory and glory in the near future.
6) It is a week since the colony fleet arrived at Cheron. Bele and Lokai are held in separate brigs on the Mount Carmel, chided by a very angry Vinnus for trashing their planet due to having differing skin colors. Wrenfield is an unwitting witness to Vinnus' fury, as the Gideonite vows that his people will restore what the Cheronites destroyed.
“Cheron is dead,” he says, “and you killed it, both of you! New Gideon is born!”
Seething, Bele and Lokai are speechless and ashamed, each now plotting schemes to escape the brig and return to the planet.
7) Meanwhile, the cloaked Romulan fleet arrives at the Cheron system, as the colony fleet leaves to pick up more colonists at Gideon. The Mount Carmel remains in orbit, unaware of the new arrivals. While the Gideonites rapidly clean up the polluted zones near the city, Vinnus files a formal petition for “New Gideon” and Gideon itself to join the Kephan Unity. In the middle of transmitting the request, the Romulans “uncloak” and attack the Mount Carmel. Several Romulan troop transport shuttles land at the city, the Praetor's niece leading the expedition. They capture Yenell and Dr. Laurentian, who have remained on the planet.
8) Bloodied but unbowed, the Mount Carmel strikes back, splitting the old Romulan craft one by one. In the confusion of battle, Bele and Lokai find their way to the shuttle-craft bay, stealing a shuttle and making their escape back to the capitol city.
9) As the battle winds down, only the Romulan D-7 and the Mount Carmel remain. Professor Wrenfield hails them, asks them to either surrender or retreat. When the enemy commander discovers they aren't from the Federation but the Kephan Unity, they cease the attack.
“For all we know, Mad Ones,” says the commander, “your lunacy may be contagious!”
Back on the planet, Bele and Lokai overpower the Romulans holding Yenell and the Doctor, then take the Praetor's niece hostage. They demand the colonists leave Cheron for good as price for releasing the niece.
10) On a hunch, Wrenfield beams down to the planet, meets Bele and Lokai. He asks if they knew if either side in Cheron's race war sent colonists off-world to escape the carnage. Both remember there were attempts to do so. The Professor suggests that if they knew any still-working means to contact them, they should do so. If successful, they would free the Romulans. Agreeing, they tell him of an ancient transmitter on the city outskirts and the “return home” codes to broadcast. They find it and broadcast.
11) Three days later, several small clusters of cargo ships arrive, carrying groups of young Cheronites of both half-skin colors. Bele and Lokai meet them along with Vinnus and the Professor. The youngsters have no race hatred in them, are pleased that their old homeworld lives again. They greet the Gideonite colonists, pledge to rebuild the planet with them. The Romulans are set free, but they refuse to return to the Empire in disgrace. Wrenfield then proposes to ask the Empire to make the Praetor's niece their Ambassador and the crew as colonists. They answer “yes” within a week.
12) At the end of that week, the Gideonite colony fleet returns with a new batch of arrivals. The Romulan D-7 is scuttled to keep it out of Federation hands. The Praetor's niece boards the fastest of the colony ships to her assignment on Kepha, the Unity's capitol world. Bele and Lokai, still bitter at each other, wander off into the wilderness, preferring a lifetime of exile to any truce with each other. Vinnus thanks Wrenfield and his crew for all their help, as the new mixture of Gideonite, Cheronite and Romulan settlers restore the planet to wholeness. The Mount Carmel leaves orbit to escape suspected Federation ships tracking them.
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As I said, these outlines and more have been slow-cooking in my brain for a long, long time. I just hope they still taste just as good as when first put together. (Sorry for the dumb food analogy.)
Thank you for your continued interest and support in this endeavor. It is always appreciated.