Star Trek Online/Codex/The Path to 2409/2401

Starfleet Intelligence observers reported a possible uprising in Romulan space that could further destabilize the already troubled empire. "Velal has had enough," said one anonymous observer. "But to get rid of the devil, he might be making a deal with Fek'lhr."

The commander of the Romulan Second Fleet reported met with Sela and some of her exiled followers in the Zeta Volantis system. Following that rendezvous, General Velal gathered a trusted group of ship commanders.

"Taris must be removed for the good of the Empire," said a source close to General Velal. "Velal's alliance with Sela will give him the ships and weapons he needs to make that happen. We don't want a civil war, but we know that there will be some parts of the fleet that will remain loyal to the praetor."

On Stardate 78092.83, Natima Lang was elected as the castellan of the Cardassian Union. The position put her on the front lines of foreing affairs, and she stepped into negotiations with the Ferengi Alliance and information sharing pacts with the Federation.

"I have focused much of my energy these past years inward. Reconstructing Cardassia Prime was my only goal," Lang said after her election. "But we've looked inward long enough. Cardassia Prime needs to build itself a place in the Quadrant just as much as it needs new houses and schools."

One sign of a return to normalcy for the Cardassians was the resumption of scientific research. On Stardate 78441.78, the Cardassian Science Ministry announced that it had developed a cure for Pottrik Syndrome. The terminal respiratory ailment afflicted hundreds of Cardassians each year.

The ministry reports that the treatment was in final testing, and would be available to patients by the end of the year.

On Qo'noS, the Klingon High Council was rocked by the revelation that Councilor Konjah was an Undine.

What Starfleet Intelligence learned about the situation is this. After a night of revelry in the First City, Konjah was walking with two other Klingons back to his lodgings when he was attacked by Lethean mercenaries. The telepathic assault forced Konjah to lose his humanoid form, and he shifted into his true appearance.

The Undine masquerading as Konjah was killed, and his body taken to the High Council chambers. Chancellor J'mpok then stripped the House of Konjah of its titles and status, and its members were either killed or forced into hiding.

"It was a witch hunt," says Lor Toret, a Bajoran who owned a restaurant on Qo'noS before the Khitomer Accords were dissolved in 2399. "I still have a lot of friends in the capital, and they're telling me that Konjah's family was hunted down like they were all Undine.

The sad thing is that no one knows how long the Undine had been in Konjah's place or what happened to the original. Did they kill him, or is he stuck in some Undine prison?" The combined Gorn and Nausicaan forces were holding steady, but analysts believed that the Klingons would eventually be able to break through their lines and attack the core worlds of the Gorn Hegemony.

"It's a stalemate right now, but Gila IV showed us that the Gorn simply don't have enough soldiers and ships to repel the Klingons forever," said Apela Luss of the Federation News Network.

While the official Federation position was non-interference, not everyone in Starfleet agreed. On Stardate 78733.25, Captain Zachary MacAllister ignored a direct order from Starfleet Command and attempted to take the U.S.S. Lindberg into Gorn space.

"He wanted to help the Gorn," reported Ensign E'swa D'rex. "Captain MacAllister kept saying that when the Klingons were through withthe Gorn, they'd attack the Federation next. And that we had to stop them before that could happen."

After a tense three days traveling through a war zone, the Lindberg was confronted by a Klingon patrol. MacAllister ordered his crew to open fire, but instead the first officer and chief medical officer attempted to remove MacAllister from duty and surrender the ship. There was a running firefight through the ship, as MacAllister and a few supporters attempted to escape capture.

MacAllister made it to a shuttle bay and escaped. He is still a fugitive.

A contingent of retired and current Starfleet officers, including Ambassador Worf, Admirals Beverly Crusher, Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay and retired Captains Ezri Dax and Tuvok appealed to the Federation Council to reconsider its position on the Klingon-Gorn war.

"The Undine threat is real," Admiral Chakotay told the Council. "The Klingons know it. We should acknowledge it. Perhaps if we were helping them fight the uNdine, more innocent people could be saved."

"There's a war coming, and it will be a long one."

Ambassador Sokketh of Vulcan led the opposition. "While we acknowledge and are grateful for the service of these find Starfleet officers, the threat of the Undine is overstated," Sokketh says. "I'm sure, given time, that we will be able to come to a peaceful resolution with these ... observers from fluidic space."

After the council closed its session, Ambassador Worf resigned his position with the Federation and returned to Qo'noS for good.

"I can no longer support a regime that willfully ignores danger and puts itself and its citizens in harm's way," Worf wrote in a letter to Federation President Aennik Okeg. "I am Klingon, and I must follow the path of honor."

Two Starfleet advancements of note: Lieutenant Commander Naomi Wildman was appointed as second officer of the U.S.S. Hathaway, and Miles O'Brien was named head of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, the first time a non-commissioned officer had held that position.

"This isn't about rank, it's about talent," said outgoing SCE chief Captain Sonya Gomez. "Miles is the quintessential engineer, and his talent for making the impossible possible makes him the ideal person for this job."