Nightfall

Nightfall is the seventh Bravo Fleet Fleet Action which runs from 5 April, 2025 to 19 May 2025. The campaign centres around an unprecedented interference in subspace, triggered by the Vaadwaur Supremacy as a prelude to multiple attacks across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

Story

Background

Preceded by the Blackout phenomena across much of the major powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, the Vaadwaur assault came via Underspace, circumventing the barriers to warp travel that the Vaadwaur themselves had erected. With sectors and systems isolated from their neighbours, with ships unable to rally together to form cohesive and superior units, the Vaadwaur had hoped to strike piecemeal, defeating the great powers in detail and providing the Vaadwaur people with a resource and workforce rich territory from which a new Vaadwaur Supremacy could be reconstituted, far away from the powers of the Delta Quadrant that had laid them low nearly a millennia prior.

Utilising Underspace and the Blackout platforms to disrupt warp travel, the Vaadwaur also take the time to scout out their targets, monitoring their targets from Underspace itself. With targets identified, be it for strategic gain, resource acquisition or cultural centres to inflict morale loss, the Vaadwaur move onto the next stage of their plan.

But while Starfleet is hindered by the interruptions to warp travel, centuries of exploration have left the Federation with a variety of means of alternative faster-than-light technologies, all of them underutilized for a variety of reasons. Faced with no alternatives, such drawbacks pale in comparison to what could happen and restrictions are lifted as Starfleet beings to slowly mobilize in the face of the Blackout.

Vaadwaur Assault

With the great powers fractured and time to allow the Blackout to become commonplace, especially at key targets, the Vaadwaur assault beings, striking at multiple targets across the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire and the Free State. Large defence forces were isolated away, deemed targets for another time, as the Supremacy needed to strike and seize resources in order to support continued operations.

At both Risa and Betazed, Vaadwaur assaults were repelled by unexpected Starfleet presences, small defence forces proving vital in protecting both worlds, though not without losses. The Battle of Andoria sees the Imperial Guard forced to defend their homeworld for the first time in centuries, though a valiant defence still sees the loss of the USS Columbia to the cold depths of Andoria’s frozen seas in the final hours of the assault.

Striking at Vulcan, the Vaadwaur showed daring in attacking not just one but two Federation founders. A valiant defence is made by the crew of the USS Century and Pulsar, as well as a number of semi-functional ships under construction at the 40 Eridani A Shipyards. A counter attack in pursuit of the attackers sees the destruction of the nearby Blackout outpost, reconnecting Vulcan to the Federation at large and allowing relief forces, untouched, to secure the system.

MORE TO COME

Delta Quadrant

While Vaadwaur forces were striking at targets across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants en masse, they were also undertaking limited operations within the Delta Quadrant, primarily to keep their unknowing neighbours suspicious of each other and to allow them to seize local resources with minimal interference.

Both Constellation and Odyssey Squadrons are given orders to seek out local support within the Delta Quadrant to help confront the Vaadwaur on their home turf once they can be located. By piecing together intelligence from the Haakonians, Talaxians, Vidiians, Pralor, Trabe and even the Kazon-Relora, it starts to become obvious to the Starfleet crews that someone is attempting to drive interested parties away from a dilithium-rich asteroid belt in the region of the Nekrit Expanse.

After stumbling into a Vaadwaur trap designed to counter the Starfleet investigations, the location for the Vaadwaur base of operations is discovered and becomes the primary target for the ad hoc coalition, many of them having both ancient historical grievances and now more recent ones informing their decisions.

Finding themselves pressed hard by resilient forces within the Alpha Quadrant and the collapse of their assault plans, the Vaadwaur then come under attack within the Delta Quadrant, their hidden world now discovered and woefully inadequate home forces humbled by advancing Delta Quadrant and Starfleet forces.

This finally forces the Vaadwaur to face reality and sue for a ceasefire, withdrawing their forces from the Alpha and Beta Quadrant in order to mount any form of defence back home, while entering into peace talks with their neighbours.

Outcome

"The board’s been entirely reset. But the game? The game remains the same."

—Admiral Alexander Beckett

With the collapse of the Blackout outposts, the isolation experienced across the major powers of the Alpha and Beta quadrants was lifted, revealing the extent of the Vaadwaur assault. A patchwork assault that struck at what was deemed strategically important targets, the Vaadwaur had left large swathes of territory alone. With rebuilding and recovery the primary concern of most powers, these ignored, seemingly unimportant systems, now find themselves elevated as they strive to rebuild their neighbours.

While most of the major powers settle into the rebuilding and navigating of the post-Blackout political climate^[1], the Klingon Empire faces the largest domestic difficulties of all the great powers. The Blackout forced houses, great and small, to stand on their own, or with local alliances of old. While many did suffer considerably at the hands of the Vaadwaur, a great many as well learned to stand on their own, or with neighbours. With the near total destruction of the imperial shipyards at K't'inga, this newfound independent political streak from the Great Houses has severely weakened the power of the Chancellor.

Internal conflicts, challenges to the rule of Qo'noS, and blatant defiance have curtailed Chancellor Toral's grand plans. Internal stabilization and restoration of the supremacy of Qo'noS now dictate Klingon policy, granting a reprieve to the Romulan Republic and surrounding independent Romulan worlds.

Individual Winners

The top 3 individual winners of Nightfall were:

Major Announcements

Supporting Articles

These articles are relevant to the Nightfall Fleet Action, providing background to the anomalies at play, the Vaadwaur Supremacy and guidance provided by the Intelligence Office for captains to use.

↑ The Clean Board https://bravofleet.com/story/155338

[1] The Clean Board https://bravofleet.com/story/155338

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