Midgard Sector
The Midgard Sector lies in the Beta Quadrant, stretching across the borders of Federation and Romulan Republic space and extending into the collapsed Romulan Neutral Zone and the former territories of the Star Empire of Rator. Historically, it was a tense but quiet border between the UFP and the Old Romulan Star Empire until the Romulan Supernova and a site of militarised defence and surveillance networks on both sides. Now, with the old borders collapsed and new factions arising, it is a volatile region of independent systems with an uncertain future. Fledgling cooperation between Starfleet and the Republic seeks to maintain local stability, and both governments seek to support those left behind after Rator's withdrawal from the area.
Starfleet operations in the region are based out of Starbase 23. This includes not only their humanitarian and diplomatic operations, but their fledgling plans to launch exploration missions into former Romulan territory, a complex long-term undertaking named 'Project Horizon.' Most of these regional operations are overseen by Sirius Squadron, which headquarters at SB-23.
History
The sector was first mapped by Earth Starfleet during the Romulan War, and upon the conflict's end, many systems were assigned to the Neutral Zone. As such, the Federation side of the border is extremely well-surveyed by Starfleet due to both the impossibility of expansion beyond the Neutral Zone and the need for border defence. Most regional infrastructure for two centuries consisted of surveillance and guard outposts, though by the late 22nd century, the Midgard system had been settled as a human colony. With the taut peace between the Federation and Romulans never outright breaking, the sector changed very little for those two hundred years.
Its infrastructure meant that the area was wholly unprepared for the Romulan supernova. When the Federation offered the Empire aid, their facilities in Midgard were unsuited to supporting humanitarian or evacuation efforts. Locals at the Midgard colony vociferously resisted receiving any refugees, so a system in the collapsing Neutral Zone, Teros, was chosen for the nearest Relocation Hub. The withdrawal of Federation aid after the Attack on Mars was popular with those citizens, and the closing-off of borders returned the region for over a decade to the same suspicious, territorial mentality that had defined it for two centuries.
By the time Starfleet began to look beyond its borders again in 2399, the only major change was the construction of a new Starbase 23, which had originally existed as a guard outpost. Its successor, eventually designated Gateway Station, was intended continue in and expand border defence systems. This changed with the collapse of the Star Empire of Rator in 2400, which plunged the Romulan side of the border from relative, paranoid stability into chaos. Now the Federation and Republic bordered not only the volatile remains of the Neutral Zone but a series of worlds and facilities no longer under Rator's rule, rendered suddenly and brutally independent.
The Federation judged that they had a moral obligation to help now where they had failed the Romulan people before and saw this as an opportunity to build closer bonds in their fledgling alliance with the Republic. SB-23 was redesignated 'Gateway Station,' now rendered the threshold guardian to this unstable region. The former territories of Rator have no single ruler, and many of their worlds were reliant on the Empire's infrastructure for their needs. Starfleet now deems it essential the region not fall into chaotic in-fighting, desperate impoverishment, or under the sway of opportunistic criminal enterprises or a would-be Romulan warlord. On this matter, they and the Republic are of one mind.
2401
In mid-2401, Gateway Station received fresh support from Starfleet with new officers and additional starships in the form of Sirius Squadron. At once, Starfleet operations engaged with local needs, providing additional humanitarian support to the refugee world of Teros and conducting diplomatic and exploratory missions deeper into the sector.
The surge in Borg activity post-Frontier Day impacted the region indelibly. A Borg Cube suffered a critical systems failure while traversing the sector at transwarp, and the slow collapse of the conduit spread wreckage of the ship across tens of light-years before the bulk of the Cube reached its final resting place at the Lockney System. Starfleet scrambled to recover as much wreckage as possible, but could not be sure to account for all of it. The collapsing transwarp conduit has also done untold damage to subspace.
In the following months, growing aggression from the Klingon Empire upon Chancellor Toral's ascension began to reach the sector. Only minor raids from the Empire threatened the most fringe worlds of the region, but increasing pressure was placed on Starfleet's local relationship with the Romulan Republic. Both were concerned the Klingon Empire would take a dorsal route to bypass the bulk of reinforced Republic territory to strike at the less-strategically secured, independent-world-facing Republic border. Although no significant threats emerged, Starfleet operations helped shore up Republic defences in the region.
In late 2401, an Underspace aperture opened in proximity to the Rencaris and Rho Detara systems. Starfleet immediately secured it to launch both rescue and exploration missions, and began negotiations with the governments of the neighbouring systems for a more long-term solution. Command had hoped to use Underspace to bring the two systems into the Republic, where the Federation could then secure access to the aperture through existing alliances, but the network collapsed before any such agreement could be reached.
These challenges, and the increasing support for Teros and the ensuing relocation of some of its refugee population to a shelter in the Midgard system itself, led to rising tensions from the Federation citizens of the sector. The escalation of Starfleet operations in the region, rather than shore up their needs and interests, was felt to have neglected them in favour of the needs of Romulan refugees and the Republic. The need to better balance these political interests was answered by the assignment of Vice Admiral Owen Morgan as overall sector commander.
Notable Locations
Federation
- Gateway Station (SB-23) - The centre of Federation operations in the region. From this facility in the Midgard system, Starfleet bases and launches all of its humanitarian, border defence, diplomatic, and exploratory missions.
- Midgard System - Stood on the border, the system has been the site of Starfleet border defence infrastructure for two and a half centuries. Its primary colony on Midgard III, also known as Alfheim, is one of the oldest in the Federation and home to a hardy people who have spent generations watching the border with suspicion. There is no sign of this mentality yet changing with the times.
- Miridian - A Federation colony system. Miridian is a notable industrial heartland of this Federation frontier, and its citizens have increasing interests in the resources of the sector.
Romulan Republic
- Unroth - This system has passed between Klingon and Romulan hands over the centuries. It now lies within the Republic and is its most populous trade port near the Federation border.
- Nemus Station - Once a long-range surveillance post for the Star Empire, Nemus Station has been reconfigured by the Republic as a border outpost. It is the closest its navy has to a headquarters in this sector.
Independent Territories
- Synnef Nebula - A Class 11 Nebula on the border between the Federation, Republic, and the former territories of Rator, the sensor-obfuscating qualities of the Synnef Nebula make it a serious security concern for local governments, and a prime opportunity for any smugglers, criminals, or simply loners wishing to avoid their eyes.
- Sot Thryfar - A star system at the nebula's periphery, the Republic reports it as a haven for these opportunists.
- Scarix - The star officially designated HD 168746-Gamma lies in the former Neutral Zone. It is highly rich in mineral deposits and, for the last five years, has been the home of the Scarix Facility, a vast mining and processing network spanning the system under the ownership of the Federation-registered company Dyke Logistics.
- Teros - Once an uninhabited system of the Neutral Zone, Teros is now the home of a Romulan Relocation Hub built by the Federation for evacuees before the supernova. Starfleet withdrew support after the Attack on Mars, and the residents of Teros have eked out a difficult existence ever since. Many of its residents have been relocated to a shelter on Alfheim.
- Koperion - A formally uninhabited star system,. Its diverse worlds have shown indications of some advanced, ancient, intelligent design's deliberate bio-sculpture. Further scientific investigation is needed.
- Lockney - Home to one pre-warp civilisation on its fifth planet. The system is still strewn with wreckage of a destroyed Borg Cube.
- Vadfall - An old border world of the RSE with massive cities and huge populations. Little has been heard of its residents since Rator's withdrawal.
- Rho Detara - Once an RSE system, the indigenous Elkari species have secured control of the inhabited worlds. No longer vassals, they have accepted only limited aid from Starfleet in harnessing the abandoned imperial infrastructure that could let them master their new independence.
- Rencaris - A former RSE system that has been relatively self-sufficient since Rator's withdrawal. The Republic reports the Romulan inhabitants have reached out with offers of trade but so far have guarded their independence jealously.
- Mesea Storm - A turbulent plasma storm that has created a natural border stymying Republic expansion.
- Citius - A former Star Empire garrison world of currently unknown status.