Recovery of Lieutenant Commander Shepard

As per official news today Captain Laurena Bowells recovered escape pod with unconscious Lt. Commander Shepard. There are still a few facts unknown to public. Lt. Commander Shepard was found aboard escape pod from Sovereign Class vessel with valid Federation transponder signal. She was heavy injured and unconscious, in addition there were traces of drugs found in her blood system. After Lt. Commander Shepard woke up she admited to not remembering large part of time spent aboard vessel that holded her, possibly side effect of one of the drugs she was injected with.

With curent information we cannot exclude possibility of a security breach, nor possibility that Shepard could cross sides under extreme duress. Currently all evidence and intel point to the operation of a Federation starship at same time and same area as kidnapping took place. It is highly unlikely that Federation as a whole was directly involved in the kidnapping. However, it is possible that some factions within the organization were directly involved, since they were delivering hardware and likely intel crucial to succed in capturing small vessel like Aerowing in open space. In addition, the flight recorder was missing from the craft. While that doesn’t prove that the Federation took part in the incident, it is still important information. There was clearly some intent to hide whatever was recorded by sensors by unknown parties.

Any information related to status of Lt. Cdr. Shepard is to be classified and not to be discussed unless proper authorization is obtained and security procedures followed.

Commander Megan Shepard Recovered!

Today Captain Laurena Bowells, embarked on mission to unknown distress signal aboard her vessel, the USS Apollo’s Light. Upon arrival to the scene sensors of the Galaxy Class vessel found an escape pod with no sign of where it came from. There was no mother ship nor any wreckage.

Captain Bowells made the quick decision to order the escape pod aboard. After a security team opened it up, they found Lieutenant Commander Megan Shepard inside. She was unconscious and injured but she was provided quick help from the experienced medical team. Her condition is reported as “not life threatening” by the medical staff aboard the Apollo’s Light.

The official stance from Solas Tempus is given to be;

Commander Shepard escaping from enemy imprisonment is a fortunate event. Despite extensive injures the Commander managed to get off enemy vessel and send a distress signal, allowing us to find her. On the orders of the CMO of the Apollo’s Light, she is resting while her wounds heal and is not permitted visitors for the time being. The only information we can currently provide is that she is stable and her wounds are healing.

For now we don’t have more information apart from fact Commander Shepard is resting in sickbay and not taking visitors apart from few trusted people. Reporters were unable to get an appointment to meet with the Commander at this time.

An Update From Enus

The entire fleet has completed their refits, we are now fully combat operational. Our Immobilizer, the INV Hound, has been refit to include the ability to interdict the warp cores of a majority of Solus Tempus warships. Imperial Security Bereau officer Tierney has interrogated our prisoner, Lieutenant Commander Megan Shepard. He has achieved fantastic results, I must give him credit. I have yet to see anyone break a prisoner as quickly as he broke Lieutenant Commander Shepard. We now have the command codes of their inter-dimensional gates, and the USS Pegasus. We also have a complete list of the ships in Schatten System, with the general armaments and captains, as well as the position of other orbital defenses. I have also recieved a report from my agent residing on Nimbus. Tensions are rising, and I have assigned agent Tarkiel to assist in creating more strife. I organized a trap for Solus Tempus forces, but they came prepared and I nearly lost the Serpent, and I did lose several vital support vessels and fighters. After a short stop in Federation space, I will be returning to Onyx spacedocks for repairs.

Task Force for Operation Gray Angel

A new task force has been assembled to search for and rescue the missing Commander Megan Shepard of the USS Pegasus. Her XO from the Pegasus, Denver Tierny has been given a field commission of full Commander and placed in command of the small task force composed of the New Hope, Epoch, and Pegasus. All vessels are being retrofit with the Phasing Cloak to further assist in the operation code-named Gray Angel.

Background Information

Commander Shepard was abducted from the Aerowing belonging to the Pegasus at some point in time when returning to the Schatten Star System after a personal trip to Earth. The Pegasus along with the Epoch were dispatched at once to investigate, they later detected Shepard’s combadge on an Imperial vessel. The two vessels were attacked in an ambush and managed to return to the Schatten System after the Epoch suffered significant damage. The fabber, Vulcan, is quickly assisting with the vessels refit.

In accordance with existing treaties, Starfleet Command has expressed the desire to take over the operation, which Solas Tempus has politely declined to allow. Federation vessels, however, are also available to assist.

Speak to Buck and KS about entering this plot, I’m not sure what they need, but pilots for fighters perhaps or people to play Imperials.

Surprise Battle on Soteria

A dangerous storm was reported on Soteria yesterday, Solas Tempus forces moved in to investigate and got engaged on the ground by a race of being which seem to be a mix of machines and strange genetic abominations. These creatures appeared to be able to teleport at will and had stunning abilities to adapt to tactics. They successfully pinned down the recently-formed Solas Tempus Marines who were on sight as well as TACCOM forces on the ground. More troubling was the tole they took on vessels who attempted to help. The Dwend ship, Irvyn, moved in to assist but was crippled when a virus took over the main computer of the USS Protector. The Protector’s computer was compromised by a virus when gateways opened up on the ship slicing through its shields entirely. The ship opened fire on the Irvyn doing significant damage to it.

Weakness in Starship Design Revealed

The Protector was lost when it suffered significant damage from the boarding parties, her Captain, Megan Shepard, ordered a self destruct when the ship seemed unrecoverable. She and the survivors are being treated on Nimbus Station. Not long after the Protector was destroyed, taking the invaders on board with it, the STV Galatine and STV Zealot Star responded to the attack and enters orbit over the storm, suffering minor damage from arcs of plasma and electricity emitted from the storm, they too were immediately boarded on both bridge and engineering levels. While Fleet Admiral Thomas and Admiral D’Amico responded entirely differently to the attack, both failed to repel the intruders.

On the Galatine, they were forced to abandoned the bridge and engineering, eventually ejecting their warp core to avoid a full breech as well as jettisoning the bridge module to destroy it. On the Zealot Star D’Amico ordered the engineering deck to irradiate the area once the crew was evacuated, in hopes it would disable to slow down the assaulting forces – it did not. They too eventually had to do the same as the Galatine. Both vessels were effectively disabled within a short amount of time.

Tides are Turned – But how?

Reports from the ground are sketchy, and most detailed reports from eye witnesses with more details are classified by the organization. From what is pieced together by non-classified reports, forces from Nimbus responded when the STMC and other forces were in trouble, but fighters lacked the ability to withstand the plasma and lightening within the storm and were unable to engage. Ground forces did reinforce the STMC, however. The mix of forces on the ground were turned away, though the method is unclear.

A wide variety of reports tell of a single marine responsible for turning back the enemy forces though other reports say that some kind of a ghost-warrior or other supernatural figure stopped the onslaught and rallied remaining forces at his back. The wide array of reports definitely points to something having occurred but what might have occurred is anyones guess. It is known that Fleet Admiral Thomas did join the battle at some point after the Galatine was disabled, suffering 3rd degree burns and nerve damage from the assault, the method of this is unclear as well since it does not match any of the other injuries sustained. One supposed eye-witness report of the incident spoke on condition of anonymity and told of how a knight with flaming red hair appeared and a large bladed weapon. This figure supposedly moved at super-human speed and was able to soak up significant damage from incoming fire before it attacked the controlling entity and destroyed it, ending the battle. No other reports can confirm this account of events and it seems entirely too far fetched to be true.

The Aftermath

After the battle, STS and TACCOM forces moved in with engineers and medical teams to secure the area and recover the dead and wounded. Casualty counts have not been released but it is believed they were significant. The Dwend vessel is grounded while repairs are conducted and the Avali have been called in to assist in studying a series of strange artifacts that were left behind, in particular a gate that may hold the key to discovering how the aliens were able to so easily move onto the planet and on the ships in orbit. Some reports do say the storm moved to the Nabu Summit and was followed by a lone man, but those reports are inconsistent and their authenticity is in question.

As it stands, Solas Tempus have released a statement that they are studying the telemetry of the battle as well as the artifacts left behind and they are confident that a defense will be found soon against the aliens should they choose to return. All reports of some kind of lone warrior or knight have been flatly (and at times comically) denied by Solas Tempus and the Concord. Captain Shepard has been issued orders to take command of a new vessel which has under refit at the Ronin Shipyards right now to meet Solas Tempus specifications while the Galatine and the Zealot Star are under repairs.

Meanwhile, Fleet Admiral Thomas remains unconscious following the attack and is being treated at Nimbus as well, though he is expected to make a full recovery once his body regains enough strength to wake up. At that time, Solas Tempus has assured us that he will give an accurate account of events.