USS VOYAGER MISSING
Starship Lost in Badlands
Federation News Service
Deep Space Nine has confirmed the loss of a Starfleet Vessel, the USS Voyager, in the Badlands this morning.
Voyager was an Intrepid-class vessel launched earlier this week to celebrate the New Year. Its first assignment was to investigate Maquis activity, the Federation Council Reports, though the exact details of this mission are at this time classified. The commanding officer was Captain Kathryn Janeway, and the Executive Officer was Commander Scott Cavit.
After departing Deeep Space Nine, reports the council, Voyager headed into the Badlands on its first mission. At 10;25, Bajoran Standard Time, Starfleet lost contact with Voyager and its crew.
"As of 1:30," Council Represenative Ganden Fosch said in a press briefing in San Francisco, "The Federation has mounted a rescue mission in the Badlands. The nearest starships were called on to duty there from Deep Spacer Nine and Starbases 221 and 310 to search the area, and I am told a task force has sealed off the Badlands from any Cardassian or Maquis threats."
No specific number of ships was stated for security reasons, but the Federation New Service ahs been told that the starships Defiant, Hispaniola, Merrimack, and Tecusmeh are part of this rescue mission.
"The Cardassians have refused to comment," Fosch states, "but intelligence sources reveal that one Cardassian warship may have also disappeared in the Badlands. Rumors that a high-ranking Cardassian official on board are unconfirmed, and it is not known why the warship was in the Badlands if in fact it was present there at all."
More on this news story as it unfolds.
Well? There are more to come.
A DS9 comic story depicted that the Cairo was one of the ships dispatched to search (identified by it registry number)
Updating our breaking new story reported earlier today, Federation Council Represenative Vincent Grant has made a statement:
"I have received the first report from the search team operating in the Badlands at this moment. It reports that at least three warp signatures have been discovered, and scans from the USS Cairo indicate that wreckage of a Cardassian Galor-class warship may have been detected in the Badlands. Those reports are sketchy and not, at the moment, known to be accurate."
There are also unconfirmed reports of a Cardassian fleet build up near the border of the Badlands.
It is not yet known where the where the other two signatures came from, or even if one is Cardassian, but it is speculated one is Voyager and one is a Maquis raider.
[ September 18, 2001: Message edited by: Veers ]
[ September 18, 2001: Message edited by: CaptainMike ]
The search continues for the missing U.S.S. Voyager in the Badlands.
As a team of Starfleet vessels search the Badlands for the missing Voyager and two others, Starfleet Intelligence has been looking into all possibilities.
"We speculate the Cardassians or Maquis were involoved," says Admiral Owen Paris. "The Badlands are a major political hot-spot. Since Voyager was new, it is likely that someone captured or destroyed this vessel under cover of the plasma storms."
This raises other questions to the disappearance of a science vessel, the U.S.S Equinox, earlier in the year. The vessel disappeared in February and has not been seen or heard from since.
"We will do everything in our power to find what caused this or those responsible for Voyager's disappearance," said Ganden Fosch.
Reports that wreckage of a Galor-class Cardassian warship was found are not being confirmed or denied at this point.
[ September 18, 2001: Message edited by: CaptainMike ]
New Developments: It is confirmed that Cardassian wreckage, that of a port "wing" of a Galor-class warship has been discovered. It is being brought back on the Defiant to Deep Space Nine.
A Cardassian fleet of 12 ships has assembled near the Badlands, asking help in order to find teir warship. It is not known whether Starfleet will grant their request.
Experts believe that one of the wasp signatures is from a Starfleet Intrepid-class starships. It is alos belived that the third warp signature discovered so far came from a Peregrine-class raider, a Federation ship widely used by the Maquis.
The connection these three ships have to each other are not known.
And doesn't this go in the Creativity Forum? *move*