Narendra Station after "Way Of The Warrior"

If this is a topic that has come up before, apologies.

I’ve been running a game of STA for some time now, and been having a lot of fun making up my own little corner of the Shackleton Expanse.

I’ve been maintaining a timeline, usually taking the current date, and convert that date with an online stardate calculator for 2371, now 2372.

This is useful for me to point out events in other Trek media, namely DS9. One of the players made a Bajoran character who was on station security prior. I then compare this to a corresponding episode, maybe mention it it at the beginning of the game. Things like the appointment of the new Kai, the peace with Bajor and Cardassia, or just the Dominion situation in general.

As the thread topic suggests, by my time system we are now after the episode “The Way Of The Warrior”. This is of course where the Klingon Empire withdraws from the Khitomer Accords for a time, and relations with the Federation strain, eventually to the point of war.

Which brings us to Narendra Station/Starbase 364. A joint Klingon / Federation station, skewing slightly majority Klingon in the books. I can’t see this setup holding in this situation, though it would restore once relations normalize.

Perhaps I am depending too much on the canon. But I do have my next game planned where previous Klingon allies and friends are now adversaries. And it’s worked pretty well for us so far.

Has anyone addressed this in their game, and if so, how? I’m leaning towards Federation withdraw, as Gowron doesn’t want to lose another station after failing to take DS9. And there are other nearby stations that would serve the same purpose, especialy if the crew is mostly out in the expanse anyway.

I’m curious what others have done.

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I don’t think so. The Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide, for example, acknowledges the Klingon Empire dissolving the Khitomer Accords and the subsequent war. This is reflected in the four Mission Briefs “The Chimes at Midnight”, “Safe Passage”, “Strategic Location” and “War Torn”.

The Campaign Guide, however, remains silent on what happens on Narendra Station during the war.

I thought about this question myself, and have not come to a conclusion, yet. But I think that Adm. Herbert would not give up Narendra easily. Maybe there is continued fighting over Narendra, maybe she and Kargan come to a (brittle) peace, maybe Kargan and his staff even oppose Gowron in his war efforts against the Federation. And maybe, Herbert and her 20th Fleet are driven off the Station and chased further into the Expanse where they need to hide, cut off of supplies and reinforcements.

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One of the many questions that each group gets to answer and make the campaign their own.

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This is a very good point, I’m kinda glad that there isn’t a set-in-stone event for it, as you can do any number of things with it, depending on your crew, ship, and style of play.

I’m also happy to find out that the Shackleton book has a couple mission briefs around the subject, as I just got the book, and still working my way through it.

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In one of my Universes the Federation had to make a fighting retreat from Narendra Station and Admiral Hebert is prepping her Forces for actions to retake the Station, if diplomacy fails.

Complikation: A lot of federation civillians on board, including the daughters of the 1st Officer and the Ships CMO.

I hope my players go with me and a little military campaign.

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Yeah, to all GMs and groups, I’d just suggest reviewing the content of the book, esp the sections on the station and the key NPCs, all of which provides a baseline and a ton of hooks, and then go from there. As written, Hebert and Kargan have a tentative but good working relationship, and the expectation is that the players and their characters could play a role in influencing that relationship.

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While I just glanced at the four Mission Briefs “The Chimes at Midnight”, “Safe Passage”, “Strategic Location” and “War Torn”, I’m still (somewhat) unfamiliar with the relationship between Hebert and Kargan, though I know that before the events of “The Way of the Warrior” they do have a good working relationship. As Mister X said above, Hebert would not give up Narendra Station easily if she was forced to evacuate. By the same token, Kargan is by all accounts an honorable man and doesn’t seem the type to go to war with an ally like Hebert after all the work both of them have done to foster a good working relationship with each other…

…But Kargan is also a Gowron loyalist. If Gowron ordered Kargan to take Narendra Station from Hebert, it’s hard to say which way Kargan would jump. On the one hand, Kargan would likely feel that attacking a hard-won ally like Hebert would be dishonorable. On the other hand, Kargan’s loyalty to Gowron would demand that he carry out the Supreme Chancellor’s order to take Narendra Station for the Klingon Empire. Jim is right, the PCs could (and likely would) be instrumental in determining which way Kargan would decide this moral dilemma. Either way would have a great deal of story potential.

If Kargan refuses to fight Hebert, would Gowron send a fleet to take Narendra Station? And if that fleet took Narendra Station, what would happen to Kargan then? Would he be discommendated or even executed for failing to obey his Chancellor?

And if Kargan does follow the order to take Narendra Station, what happens when the Khitomer Accords are reinstated? How would Hebert react to having to work with Kargan again after what would likely be significant Starfleet and/or Federation casualties to hold the station if Kargan tries to take Narendra by force? Would she be willing to work with Kargan again after that?

And would Kargan try to take Narendra by force at the outset? Or would he present Hebert an ultimatum to leave Narendra peacefully before he attacks? How would Hebert respond to that ultimatum? Remember, Hebert’s family is onboard Narendra, so even if Kargan is too honorable to take them hostage to “influence” her decision, perhaps one or more of Kargan’s subordinates might not be so hesitant to do so.

Yeah, there are a lot of ways to turn Narendra Station at the time of “The Way of the Warrior” into a powder keg.

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Having read some of the insights, and reading some of the new Shackleton book for the characters and mission briefs, I’ve given some new thought to this, or at least make it more dependent on what the players do.

Kargan, while a loyalist, wants orders from Gowron himself before he does any sort of military action or takeover. Gowron’s attention is more towards Cardassia and elsewhere, and it may take time before he gives full attention to the Expanse. The Federation, meanwhile, is trying not to rock the boat any more than it already is.

So Hebert and Kargan still maintain the status quo on the station, with Narendra acting as neutral territory for both parties. The two are no longer sharing fleet data though, and the Expanse itself is remote and deadly, which leads into my next session:

Hebert messages the crew, currently out in the Expanse, and tells them a Klingon ship is going into the expanse, they calculated it is heading toward a pre-warp world they discovered in a previous adventure. They’re the closest ship to intercept the Klingons to find out what they’re up to: Are they going to invade? In reality they’re more interested in the habitable moons for mining purposes. It’ll be revealed that there’s a source of dilithium on the moon, unbeknownst to the civilization below.

The commander of the Klingon vessel is Karuk from the Beta Quadrant book. He is more antagonistic to the Federation, and would be happy to get in a fight or make them look bad. The first officer of the ship is also a good friend of my crew’s Bajoran security officer, so they might have a reluctant ally there. I may also tie in some of the Chimes Of Midnight brief, I like the idea of the ritual and challenges, biding time until other ships arrive as backup.

We’ll see how their actions in this game affect the relationship from there. The strained relationship lasts most of a year in the timeline, so I don’t need to completely upset things right away.