The Dominion Lost Fleet has been defeated, its forces pushed to surrender and withdraw to the Gamma Quadrant. But the damage they inflicted on the Deneb Sector is immeasurable. For months, Starfleet overlooked the crisis, influenced by the Changeling infiltrators who sought to weaken the Federation from within ahead of their plans for Frontier Day. But as Starfleet recovers from these machinations, it is time to set right what went wrong – for the organisation, and the people they left behind.

A contingent from the Fourth Fleet has been dispatched to lend aid to the Deneb Sector. The region was ravaged by the Dominion and Breen, and a vast humanitarian operation is being launched out of Farpoint Station. Worlds left all but neglected by most of Starfleet need help, and while the Fourth Fleet has earned the sector’s respect, there are many who feel abandoned by the Federation. Hearts and minds must be won again.

The region is not guaranteed to be safe – the Breen have lost their allies but not necessarily their appetite to strike against the Federation. Both the Kzinti and nearby pirate groups may similarly find the weakened sector, or the resupply missions coming to help it, prime targets. While the Dominion forces left or were defeated, their technology is scattered on wreckage across the sector; those with nefarious intent may try to seize it for themselves, and must be stopped.

But it is also a time for hope. The Deneb Sector has for centuries been one final stop before the boundless unknown of the trailing Alpha Quadrant. Starfleet hopes to return to its duty of exploration and has chosen its Deneb stations from which to launch, with much pomp and circumstance, a new series of missions into the unknown. The Dominion raced in from that great beyond, dragged across space and time by a wormhole experiment gone wrong. What else is out there?

Priority Mission

Ashes of Deneb is the fleet-wide Priority Mission following Fleet Action 2023: The Lost Fleet and the Frontier Day Event. Following on from the events of the Lost Fleet, it allows writers to explore the aftermath in the Deneb Sector, a region ravaged by the Dominion and Breen invasion. 

Priority Missions are ongoing, fleet-wide stories that occur outside of major plotlines like campaigns or Fleet Actions. They may last for several months and are thus less time-sensitive; there is plenty of opportunity for people to participate briefly, intermittently, or throughout. Unlike FAs and campaigns, the stakes are much lower, dealing with more long-term issues or less-critical incidents. This is not a desperate call to arms, it is a possible mission-of-the-week – just one that the Fourth Fleet may come together to pursue.

Participation in any fleet-wide plot is optional, but participation in a PM is especially so. It offers inspiration for writers who like to be stuck in with the latest in fleet canon and a framework for members to write, especially cooperatively. Members who wish to explore other regions, tell other stories, or write independently in the time between major plot events are welcome, and indeed encouraged to pursue their own creative interests.

Ashes of Deneb is also an opportunity to follow through with the events of the Lost Fleet and its aftermath. Members can use the story hooks and setting material from the FA – including all relevant wiki articles – and continue the story. As per the briefing above, this Priority Mission is about safeguarding Deneb, helping recovery from the invasion, and new missions of exploration to this frontier.

If you want to write about a part of the sector with its own wiki article, please check with the Intelligence Office first. This ensures that two writers are not creating contradictory stories about canonical locations, and priority will be given to a member who used the location in the relevant Mission Briefing during the Lost Fleet.

Please note that if there are any lingering Dominion forces, they would be exceptionally small, and there needs to be a reason why they didn’t surrender.

Some broad ideas for stories you can tell during Ashes of Deneb are:

– A world conquered by the Dominion needs help rebuilding and recovering from the Occupation. But many locals know they were abandoned by much of Starfleet, and there is talk of seceding. Bring them back to the fold.
– Starfleet’s enemies, the Breen, Kzinti, and local pirates, see the Deneb Sector as ripe for new raids. Worlds are under-defended, and resupply convoys a prime target. Keep the area safe.
– The site of a particularly large battle between the Dominion and TG514 is a location ripe for Ferengi salvagers. Recover essential technology, and stop the vultures from stealing Starfleet and Dominion weapons.
– The Breen launched many raids during the invasion and often made off with Federation citizens as slaves. Some have not been recovered. Rescue them from Breen territory – and don’t escalate the conflict.
– A mission beyond Federation space is one of exploration and adventure – but the Dominion also left infrastructure out there. Who knows what they left behind? Who knows what is active? The first step of exploration may be the most dangerous.
– There are reports of enemy ships from the conflict still abroad in the Deneb Sector, perhaps hiding in one of the region’s sensor-obscuring phenomena. Find them – but wherever possible, resolve the situation diplomatically.
– Much of the mystery of strange behaviour from Federation and Starfleet officials around the Deneb Sector during the invasion can now be explained by the renegade Changeling plot that has been uncovered. Are any of them still in hiding and need flushing out?