For the past few weeks, Starbase Bravo has served as a bastion of Starfleet stability, resources, and coordination.  Planets and star systems across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants have gone quiet.  No planets have gone missing; they’re simply isolated.  In a few instances, entire sectors have been affected.  Swaths of Federation space and beyond have become afflicted with the Blackout.

Starships and planets within the Blackout have become unreachable by long-range subspace communications and sensors.  Worse, warp travel has become impossible in these areas too, with warp fields collapsing as soon as they’re formed.  Starfleet has determined no pattern to predict the areas of space affected by the Blackout.

Starbase Bravo has been untouched by the Blackout.  Until now.

In the opening days of April 2402, the Blackout washed over Starbase Bravo.  All long-range subspace communication, sensor readings and warp travel become impossible.  Moments later, something came out of the black.

To Starfleet’s knowledge, all of the Underspace apertures in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant had been collapsed by the Cardassians and the Turei the previous year.  As soon as the Blackout set in, an Underspace aperture opened in the Mellstoxx system with no warning.  From the aperture came an unrecognisable battlecruiser with six escorts and a dozen fighters.  This phantom army attacked Starbase Bravo without provocation.  Every Federation starship in the vicinity was damaged or destroyed in the attack, and Starbase Bravo was rocked by failed shields, damaged weapon systems, and hull breaches.

In total, the attack lasted for over an hour.

As they vanished into Underspace, the attackers identified themselves as the Vaadwaur Supremacy and promised they were only one wave of an invading force washing over the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

With subspace oscillations disrupting warp travel and long-range communications, Starbase Bravo has been ravaged by the attack, and left unable to call for help in the days and weeks to come.

Starbase Bravo In Play

Nightfall Phase One:

– Tell your character’s tale of surviving the Vaadwaur attack on Starbase Bravo.  That hour of relentless barrage has more than enough stories to fill all of phase one.  What kind of day was it before the Blackout?  Show your character’s call to red alert and how they contribute to protecting Starbase Bravo from the mysterious attack.

– Remember that Starfleet’s intelligence about the Vaadwaur is extremely limited, based on the starship Voyager’s single interaction in the Delta Quadrant decades ago.  Your character is unlikely to have ever heard of the Vaadwaur.

– For the sake of consistency: Starbase Bravo will suffer moderate damage during the Vaadwaur attack, including destruction of its shields, weapons and communications, along with experiencing hull breaches. Despite this, the starbase remains relatively operational, with mostly stable life support, power systems, LCARS, turbolifts, and internal communications.  Specific, individual areas may experience more damage than that.

– If you’d like an away team adventure, your character can also tend to the transports and freighters passing through Starbase Bravo.  They’ve been attacked by the Vaadwaur too, and their crews will need medical aid and rescue.

Phase Two:

– Following the Vaadwaur attack, your character can commence repairs on Starbase Bravo, treat the injured crew, and return to some semblance of normal duties under the shadow of the Vaadwaur Invasion in the rest of Federation space.  You’ve heard chatter that the Fourth Fleet is taking steps to push back the Vaadwaur and end the Blackout, and you’ve been ordered to keep Starbase Bravo operational to support those efforts.

– This can be a story about isolation.  As the days and the weeks drag on after the attack on Starbase Bravo, the starbase remains under the effects of the Blackout.  Harmonic oscillations resonating from subspace continue to disrupt any use of warp drive, transporters, and long-range sensors or communications. Who does your character wish they could speak to over long-range comms?  Where was your character supposed to be –shore leave, conference, archaeological dig, new assignment– if not for the Blackout?

– This can be a story about the fear of the unknown.  Normally, Starfleet officers are charging into the unknown, eager to chart its edges.  Without warp travel or subspace communications, Starbase Bravo is largely in the dark about the happenings across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.  There has been limited intel about Vaadwaur invasions, but your character has no way of knowing what planets have fallen and what civilisations have fought back.  What discomfort does this fear and dissonance create for your character when they don’t have the mighty resources of Starfleet to make exploration fun?

– This can be a story about paranoia.  It’s like Starbase Bravo is a survivor in a slasher film: hiding in the closet, waiting for rescue after the Vaadwaur attack.  The Vaadwaur don’t return to Starbase Bravo for another attack, but your character has no way of knowing that.  What does your character fear could happen next?  How does your character prepare for another Vaadwaur attack?