Editing Eclipse Case File (section)

==Initial Briefing==

'''Summary''': A Ferengi merchant was caught smuggling in explosive components on Khitomer. He was arrested but the next morning he was dead, residue analysis showing he was disintegrated inside his cell. Sensors never picked up the discharge. Investigate.

<table width="100%">
<tr>
	<td><div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed toccolours"> '''Initial Briefing In Full'''
	<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

"The USS Venture, Galaxy class explorer, has made some preliminary successes in the Shackleton Expanse. For those who don't know, that's a region deep in the Beta quadrant infamous for subspace disturbances. Exploration was very risky with older tech but anything with a variable warp fields can enter it safely. That's any next-gen ship as well as retrofitted vessels, such as the Venture."

She sighs and makes an irritated snap with her hand in the empty air, prompting the presentation to continue. A planet, this time.

"Eager to follow up on this success, the Venture is currently undergoing some additional tweaks and adjustments to return to the Expanse. Starfleet Command in their infinite wisdom has decided to invite any and all major players to join the exploration. In the spirit of jolly cooperation, I suppose. Talks are underway on Khitomer to hammer out the details. There's no shortage of volunteers. The Klingons, Romulans, several Ferengi consortiums, lots more. Details will be provided en-route but the situation is extremely fluid. Potential candidates keep coming forward. Or stepping back, if they don't like the terms of the deal. I think only the Tholians were utterly disinterested. I believe they told our diplomats to stay within our own space and stop expanding."

Another wave of her hand. Various starships slide by fairly quickly, but Starfleet and otherwise.

"Which brings us to the real problem: following the Dominion War, ship design in the Alpha and Beta quadrants advanced quickly. Our very own Eclipse is a fine example of that. Many designs are untested. The Shackleton Expanse is going to be a giant testing ground. A place to compare warships under the pretense of discovery. A damned modern space race."

Faron raises a hand.

"For those not familiar with ancient Earth history," Riggs continues, "The space race was an era when hostile nation-states used early space exploration science as a way to develop and display weapon technology. Rockets, guidance systems, that kind of thing."

The hand goes down.

"And that's not to mention all the potential resources and real estate up for grabs in the Expanse. So we're looking at something that will influence the power balance of the quadrants for the next decades to come. And others realize it too."

The holograms change to show various data. Recordings, statistics, reports.

"Security forces on Khitomer have noticed a sharp uptick in suspicious incidents. Most troubling, a Ferengi merchant was caught smuggling in explosive components. He was arrested but the next morning he was dead, residue analysis showing he was disintegrated inside his cell. Sensors never picked up the discharge though. Something is going on there and Camp Khitomer is a big enough place with a lot of traffic. It's all hands on deck for this one."

"We'll fly close by and then you each take a shuttle the last few lightyears. More detailed instructions will be made available during the flight. That said, any questions for now?"

	</div></td>
</tr>
</table>