The Daystrom Institute has announced the successful launch of the "Jellyfish," an experimental spacecraft equipped with trans-metaphasic shielding designed to withstand conditions that would destroy most other ships.

Designed by famed engineer Geordi La Forge, the ship is slated for extensive testing before it can be used for scientific and exploration missions. Starfleet is working with La Forge and the institute to determine which of the ship's systems can be adapted for Federation use.

Starfleet Intelligence recommends that the Federation keep a close eye on activities of the Orion Syndicate. A multi-year crackdown on criminal activity in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants has been successful in curbing the threat of the Syndicate for Federation citizens, but on Stardate 64163.8 Hassan the Undying assassinates top Syndicate boss Raimus on Farius Prime.

I meet David Steiner in Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House, Holosuite Arcade, Gift Shop and Ferengi Embassy. It's the hub of social life on Deep Space Nine, and there's an infectious air of fun, revelry and commerce punctuated by shouts of joy and cries of dismay from the dabo tables.

Steiner keeps his eyes down and his voice low, ignoring the frivolity surrounding him. He nurses a Saurian brandy during our interview, but from the empty glasses on the table when I arrived, I could tell it wasn't his first drink of the evening.

The new openness on Romulus has made it much easier for the Federation to get news about what is happening on that world, but not all of it is favorable for the long-term stability of the region.

Ambassador Spock reports that the Romulan Mining Guild has finished a multi-year study of Remus and has presented its findings to the Romulan Senate. The guild reports that the planet has been seriously overmined, and recommends that to avoid a Praxis situation that the Reman operations should be shut down and mining operations should be moved to more distant areas of space. The guild spreads their operations across the Empire, settling hundreds of miners and their families on space stations and colonies light years away from Romulus.

Talk about it!

You wish to ask me about why I left Starfleet.

Read more about Annika Hansen, and then talk about her in the forums!

Starfleet Command announces it has completed its re-evaluation of all of its post-Dominion War assets and resources and that it will be refocusing some ships that have been assigned to defense and diplomacy to exploration and scientific discovery.

Talk about it!