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Knight On the Dark Side?
"Other Sides of the Matter" - Syndicated Column
Stardate: ?: The USS Knight, long a pawn of the Intelligence community within Starfleet, may not have been destroyed after all.
Persistent rumofs abound of several dozen former members of the crew of the USS Knight being transferred to pleasant 'internment centers' in and around the core sectors of the UFP. It is known that such centers have been emplaced in the past, both for Fleet and civilian actions. The notorius Darkside Internment Facility, a secret locale on Luna for the 'worst of offenders', was revealed by a courtroom case argued by John Chen Liu in the Federation High Court in 2050. And other such facilities have been found before, and since.
If some of the crew were removed from the Knight, to be placed in such facilities, then we have a simple question to ask: Why?
Was it because they were and are security risks? Or were they standing in moral opposition to the actions taken by the Knight? We do not know. We cannot know, until we determine if such people are really being held, and if they are, or have been, we find out what was going on.
I, like you, my dear readers, want only the Truth? There have been many concerns with the budgetary process for Intelligence activity. Accountants hired by independent sources cannot account for the budget for what must have been a rather expensive year long anti-piracy operation by Starfleet. Since no such moneys were spent, is this more of the kind of secret military and intelligence fleet buildup that has resulted in several boondoggles in the past?
I cannot answer these questions today, but I will find some of the answers, if the great heads of Admiralty don't shove any War Powers Act or other security regulations down my throat. Or place me, also, in an internment camp.
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Lyle Noram
"Other Sides of the Matter" - Syndicated Column
Independent Press of Centauri
(The following first appeared as part of a recruitment ad.)
USS Knight Returns to Sol!
FNS, April 2, 2376, Terra: The USS Knight, considered to be lost in the Battle of Dunnin's Star on Christmas Day of 2375, has returned to Terra, in one of the strangest and most exciting events in Federation history. Yesterday, the Knight, and some 35 other spacecraft of many types, apparently used a space-time vortex to return from another dimension to which the Knight and the partially destroyed Dunnin's Star Marine Base had fled the overwhelming forces arrayed against them.
With 34 ships sending distress signals, the USS Knight, and the legendary long missing 'ghost ship', the USS Paul A. M. Dirac, moved quickly into Terran orbit, claiming a need to emergency transport the surviving 1552 Marines from Dunnin's Star. However, while the Marines did transport to Terra, they did NOT come as refugees, or because the Knight needed aid.
Instead, they launched a number of raids against key Starfleet Bases and one civilian facility on Terra. As they did so, the JAG, the North American Bureau of Investigation, and the Starfleet Marshall's Service also launched major missions, all under JAG and Starfleet High Judiciary warrant to detain and arrest over 300 civilians and 222 Starfleet officers and personnel.
And what happened next made history as...
Associated Press Article
San Franscisco, Terra: Notorious and legendary Howell Bridger of Dublin, Ireland, Terra, the "Flying Dutchman of Space", has been promoted to Captain of Starfleet and to long term command of the USS Knight, a leading and quite modern capital ship patrolling the important Venn Sector. Captain Bridger's actions in Terra orbit last year are credited with the discovery of illegal activities on Starbase One, Earth McKinley Station, and in a number of corporate entities with presences on Terra. Bridger has been Executive Office of the USS Knight for almost one year, under the well regarded Captain Benjamin Braxton.
Braxton died during a large scale action against smugglers that involved fleet action from First Federation and Romulan ships in UFP space. Then-Commander Bridger was wounded and is still considered to be off duty while his injuries heal. Adm. M'Botha M'Benga, notorious himself as the secretive director of Starfleet Intelligence Psychological Warfare, has been in temporary command of the Knight while Bridger convalesces..
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Associated Press
What Has Happened to the Rest of the Knights?
Star Press Association, Grand Canyon, Terra: Today, Starfleet released to the public the death toll on the USS Knight in her recent battles in the Venn Sector. Eighty deaths and six MIAs were reported, with a number of critical injuries requiring removal from active duty.
Since Starfleet reported the success of those battles, but no earlier death count, the Starfleet Associates League has called into question the reports that the USS Knight has succeeded in fact in her mission in the Venn Sector. Spokes Harry Tribune from the Perth, Australia branch of that organization of families of Starfleet members, made a statement to the press, excerpted below.
"We question the actions of Starfleet in withholding the death count from the USS Knight for over two weeks. We further have no indication that ANY of the persons listed as injured and on release from current duty are being repatriated to any location that is known to their families and friends. One must wonder, then, since it is also apparent that message between the Knight and others are being routinely filtered and crew of that ship are not being allowed open channels of communication, if there is not some deeper and darker event that has precipitated the odd treatment of the Knight, her crew, and the families of that crew.
"We do know that Admiral M. B. M'Benga, a noted Intelligence leader, has been aboard the Knight for many months, and yet he is still listed as Chief of his own Psychologic Warfare branch. And M'Benga has many times been credited with missions that have placed Starfleet members in positions of untenable risk. Is this another of those times?"
Spokesperson for Starfleet from the Office of the Judge Advocate General, LCmdr. Cassiopeia Arriens, answering such allegations, assured the families of several USS Knight crewbeings that there is no specific reason to be concerned for the remaining crew members of the USS Knight. In a statement given to the press in London, UK, she...
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Star Press Association
Starfleet, or StarClumsy?: Your Call!
Editorial Commentary
January 14, 2376, Grand Canyon, Terra: Starfleet Operations released a notice of interrupted service for 20 minutes yesterday morning, to all of the 'southern' half of the Venn Sector. Centered around Dunnin's Star, the disruption was apparently due to a massive training error among the Starfleet crew of the CommLink Sector station. Due to the severity of the error, some communication traffic has been restricted for the next week, and other traffic has been delayed.
When will we, the free citizens of the UFP, really be able to realize the promises of free sentient species communication promised in the Federation charter, if we must continue to accept the shoddy practices that are apparent in this 'training incident'? Why, it was only last year that Terra herself managed to lose sensor watch capacity for eleven minutes, during a now-classified attack upon the capitial of the UFP, and other cities on the planet. It seems to the staff of this esteemed journal, that...
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Newsbrief, StarWatch Magazine
Newsbreak! Galactic News Network
"We bring you the best of the worst, and in realtime!"
Starbase One, Terra: Today, the second trial of former USS Knight Executive Officer Kel Temmin ended with his acquittal on charges of diversion of war materials and collaboration with the enemy.
This trial happened in the wake of his court martial, in which he was found guilty of conspiracy against the Starfleet. In that trial, it was determined that he had colluded for former Commodore of Starfleet Intelligence, Delphi Borran, to conduct illegal investigations and to obstruct a JAG investigation into Intelligence operations aboard the USS Knight. As a result of that trial, Mr. Temmin was stripped of rank and removed from the rolls of Starfleet, and under a special agreement, was not considered to be dishonorably discharged, a shock to participants in that trial.
The second trial, for which Mr. Temmin was kept in detention for eight months, clarified many of the particulars of the first trial. Of great importance, was the revelation that Commodore Borran had been conducting several illegal operations during his past five years in Intelligence Operations, under the rubic of counter-intelligence activities and the Delta Grey conspiracy codes. Commodore Borran is currently considered a fugitive from Starfleet and UFP justice, and is being sought under 22 counts of high crimes. He escaped from Terra a year ago, with a stolen fast courier warpshuttle.
Mr. Temmin was released from custody after the trial and immediately left Terra by private craft for Orion, where he is a member of a well known and influential merchant family. His leavetaking has left questions about the disappearance of his fellow USS Knight conspirator, the man known only by a pseudonym of Derby Coolidge. Coolidge was apparently a fabricated cover identity which was used by Starfleet Intelligence for yet more internal affairs investigations. But the man captured while in this cover identity was found to be missing from confinement three months ago, and is apparently still at large, despite early "evidence" indicating that he was assassinated in his cell.
Stay tuned for more news of stellar significance!
.....
Galactic News Network
Will Starfleet Send Knights to Rescue Eminiar VII?
Stardate Unknown: Anan X, head of government of Eminiar VII, the world which has been restricted due to plague since the middle of 2374, announced that he has asked for increased UFP involvement in the interdiction of his world, in the wake of other biological disasters that have swept Federation member worlds in the last 18 months. He stated, "Our planet is facing widespread catastrophe, and the actions of the Starfleet and other UFP representatives on Starbase 57 have been important to limiting the spread of the plague on our world, and in keeping this horrible malady from infecting other planets. In order to begin to eradicate the plague completely, we has asked Starfleet to assemble additional colonial administration and some key peacekeeping forces. We realize that our requests come at a time in which strife in other corners of UFP space are stretching UFP resources thinly, and intend to supplement this force with specialized mercantile and mercenary interdiction units at our own cost. Thank the One for the many friends our world has, especially our close allies on Vendikar and throughout the UFP."
Recent reports for Alwyn Myers, PhD, and head of the UFP Interdiction Science Team at the Venn Starsystem, have indicated the need for such an extensive expansion of the interdiction and action units. Alywyn, interviewed by commlink, noted with approval the action of Anon X. "Anon resisted this action for quite a while, hoping that we would all be able to solve the problems on Eminiar VII through less draconian measures. However, we have all agreed that this is no longer the case. I want to applaud Anon X and his council for taking these historic and brave actions."
Others in the Venn System are not treating this request, and the buildup of interdiction units favorably. Senator Bollin of Vendikar noted that interactons between Vendikar and Eminiar VII have been stressed during the last two years. He has often expressed public disapproval of the use of advanced forces and large amounts of non-system resources for increasing the interdiction, when Vendikar has often offered the neighboring world much more help, and been refused. "A lot of the Senate on Vendikar feel that some of this interdiction activity is a thinly veiled effort by Anon X and others in his government to take a stance of non-interaction, while building potential strike forces for military action. While I myself find the idea that Eminiar VII would take military action in this day and age, simply to 'hide out' from interstellar politics, rather absurd, I note that each step makes trade, communication, and interplanetary governance more difficult. We on Vendikar have only toklen interaction with Eminiaar VII and with Starfleet now, and it is affecting our own planetary economy adversely."
Others note that the chief Starfleet vessel in the Venn Sector, the USS Knight, has again disappeared from public scrutiny. Commander (ret'd) Vilma Schultz of Vendikar, and an important free merchant in the sector, has asked Starfleet to send the Knight to Venn System. "I want to know why that so-called 'hero' Howell Bridger has not yet visited Venn System and taken a hand in coordinating the interdiction, and in answering the challenges posed by my planetary goverment."
Starfleet, when asked to comment, only noted that the USS Knight is on special duty and that there is a communication blackout between that starship and the public. This comment has drawn extreme scrutiny by those who watch the Fleet Intelligence services, since the legendary Admiral M'Botha B. M'Benga is apparently still on the Knight, instead of on Earth where he directed the Bureau of Psychological Warfare...
.....
Eminiar VII: Interstellar Press Association