12.22 Starfleet Conspiracy Unmasked

KLINGONS DOOMED TO EXTIN CTION UNE 2291 FEDERATION NEWSFLASH – 18 J

Welcome to Federation Newsflash, I’m Sanjiin Ghobhattai. Our story at the top of this hour concerns the powerful shockwave that ripped across Federation space days ago from the Treaty Zone. Collected reports from a number of independent ship captains seem to indicate a powerful, planet-sized explosion ithin the heart of the Klingon home systems. For the effects of w such t, an explosion we go to our Newsflash military exper retir ore ed Starfleet commodore Nash Grantham. Commod Gran tham was a guest earlier today on Starfleet Matters and had t his to say on the explosion:

All of these independent reports say the same thing: they had one hell of an explosion in the heart of the Klingon Empire. Something on the order of a large moon or small planet. The results of something that e systems big on the infrastructure of the Klingon hom would be catastrophic. You could wipe out the entire population of several worlds, knock starships and space stations out of the sky, disrupt the orbital paths of moons and asteroids with something that big – and that’s just for starters.

Commodore Grantham had this to say about its cause:

The only thing I could think of that could cause this is scale would be a planet or kind of devastation on th large moon blowing up. My guess is that it was probably either Praxis or Nchut. Both are large moons that have extensive subsurface mines, where they tap molten magma straight out from beneath the mantle. If something went wrong at enough of those mines, it could have caused a chain reaction that would have torn them apart in no time. Those poor bastards probably didn’t even have time to evacuate before the thing went off. STARFLEET CONSPIRACY UNMASKED UFP INFONET – 18 AUGUST 2291

aptain James T. Kirk has cleared his name in the murd C er of the late Klingon Chancellor Gorkon. In the process, he has also uncovered a Starfleet conspiracy to provoke an all-out war with the Klingon Empire. The conspiracy reached into the highest levels of the Starfleet Admiralty, with Chief of Staff Admiral Lemuel Cartwright and Colonel of the Starfleet Marine Corps Anthony West both implicated. Also included in the conspiracy were General Chang, his counterpart in the Klingon Empire; and Romulan Ambassador Nanclus.

Kirk, who had been framed for Gorkon’s murder, broke out of the Klingon maximum security penal colony at Ruta Penthe with the help of his crew aboard the starship Enterprise. First Officer Spock had uncovered enough of the conspiracy in Kirk’s absence to justify violating Klingon space to rescue him. They rushed n an attempt to prevent the assassination of ack to Khitomer i b Federation President Ra-ghoratreii. This event, which was under the personal supervision of Colonel West, would have incited the “General War” that the conspirators so desperately sought to provoke. General Chang and his allies wanted no part of a political settlement that would have brought about peace, whereas Ambassador Nanclus and the Romulans were quite content to stand aside, let the Federation and Klingons annhiliate each other, then move in with their own fleet and pick up the pieces. Kirk’s attempt to save the President’s life was countered by Chang, who intercepted the Enterprise with a oaked Bird-of-Prey. Chang was ultimately unsuccessful thanks cl to the timely arrival of Captain Hikaru Sulu and the starship Excelsior. Sulu, Kirk’s former helmsman, managed to distract Chang long enough for First Officer Spock to devise a means to detect Chang’s ship. Both Kirk and Sulu then opened fire on Chang, destroying him and his ship. They arrived at the Camp Khitomer conference just in time to prevent Colonel West from assassinating both the President and the new Klingon Chancellor, Gorkon’s daughter Azetbur. West was killed while trying to escape while Captain Sulu arrested Admiral Cartwright reason. on charges of high t

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