General Overview

Deep Space 12, formerly known as Starbase 12, is the largest spaceborne outpost in operation within the Maelstrom Sector affiliated with the United Federation of Planets. A Spacedock series starbase, Deep Space 12 is the primary homeport for Starfleet operations within the Maelstrom Sector. While it was once among the most important ports within the Federation, Deep Space 12 saw its importance dwindle following the Federation Day Massacre.

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History

Background

While the early days of the 23rd Century were considered by many the golden age of exploration. While there were few major galactic powers within the Alpha Quadrant, the Federation found several of its neighbors within the Beta Quadrant to be on par economically, militarily, and technologically with the Federation itself. This led to a long standing cold war between The United Federation of Planets and these neighbors - the Klingon and Romulan Star Empires - during the closing decades of this era. Due to the threat posed, much of Starfleet's focus was on maintaining vigil over the borders of this region to ensure the safety and security of the Federation itself.

In the early days of the 24th Century the risks to the Federation began to change. The Klingon Empire, due to an environmental disaster in their capital system, sought assistance from the Federation and pursued peace. The Romulans themselves became isolated following the devastating Tomed Incident, retreating deep inside their own borders. As Starfleet returned to a more exploration based mandate, dangers began to lurk within the Alpha Quadrant.

Initially, most interstellar governments within the Alpha Quadrant were small and regionally focused. This changed for the worlds of the Cardassian Union when their natural resources began to dwindle. The Federation offered support initially in an effort to develop a stronger relationship; however, strain became evident in the methodologies of the Cardassians as their resource seeking strategies began to take on more aggressive policies that included invasion of many resource rich worlds.

Weary from the frequent challenges of the cold war between the Klingons and Romulans, many members of the Federation Council were leery of pursuing a stance that could lead to conflict between the Federation and the Cardassians. This would, however, change when the Cardassians occupied the peaceful world of Bajor. Their expansion along worlds close to the Federation Border put the Cardassians within close proximity to strike several resource rich worlds within the Federation itself, including several nascent colonies.

Due to her world's proximity to the growing territory being annexed by the Cardassians, Trill Ambassador Lesi Odan authored an appropriations bill to grant Starfleet authority to construct a multiple outposts to serve as forward operations bases for Starfleet forces near the Cardassian Border. Due to the Ambassador's newfound celebrity for helping to negotiate peace between the moons of Peliar Zel and securing their admission to the Federation, the bill was quickly passed and led to the construction of six bases near to the Cardassian Border. The largest of these bases would be a Spacedock series outpost near the newly established mining colony at New Holland.

The Starfleet Corps of Engineers began immediate construction on the newly ordered outposts; however, this drew the ire of the Cardassians as they were not pleased to learn of the Federation's renewed focus on the Alpha Quadrant. Following a series of official protests, the Cardassians began increased patrols along the border. Starfleet followed by reassigning the 7th Fleet to the Cardassian border and the nearby unaligned systems. The Cardassians backed down; however, diplomatic efforts were significantly strained.

While the original Spacedock took several decades to be constructed from start to finish, work on the newest member of the series was expected to take a fraction of the time due to advancements made in construction technology in the intervening years. While the initial construction was uneventful, a series of raids upon neutral shipping delivering materials to the construction site led to several unanticipated delays in the manufacturing process while they were being investigated. It was soon determined that the Cardassians had arranged for the raids, leading to further degradation in the relationship between the two powers. Security was enhanced for all shipments and additional teams deployed to overcome delays.

With the completion of its companion facilities near the Cardassian Border, several skirmishes between the Cardassian Union and the United Federation of Planets occurred at locations along the border. After repelling Cardassian forces, Starfleet Command reviewed the status of the construction of the outpost orbiting New Holland and determined that base construction could be completed in one year and the station formally commissioned. Starfleet assigned the 47th Strategic Force to defend the construction site while final manufacturing was conducted. With its external shell completed and 75% of internal fittings in place, Starfleet Command formally commissioned the Station as Deep Space Repair Station C-4 under the command of Commodore Traas jav Calemn. In response, the Cardassian Union formally declared war on the United Federation of Planets in 2355.

During its first year in commission, C-4 was a frequent target by the Cardassian Union and repelled over a dozen separate attacks by Cardassian forces through the assistance of the 47th Strategic Force. Over time the damage sustained to the station began to add up and required intervention by the Corps of Engineers on more than one occasion to prevent catastrophic failure. Despite these challenges, the role of the station continued to expand into new frontiers. By the following year, it was determined the scope of operations exceeded the base's basic function as a Repair Station and the base was re-designated as Starbase 12 in recognition of the recently decommissioned outpost in the Gamma 400 star system. Following its rechristening, the newly named base performed conversion, overhaul, maintenance, and battle damage repair to more than 10,000 ships before the conclusion of the Federation/Cardassian Conflict. Further, Starbase 12 became the Regional Command Center for the Cardassian Border, with the responsibility for all Starfleet vessels assigned to the defense of the Federation's territory along the border. These responsibilities would have a profound impact upon Starfleet Operations as the starbase was evacuated for two days in 2364, though no explanation was given by Starfleet Command. It would later be found that Starfleet Command and the Station itself had been infiltrated by a threat force parasite and cleansed. Shortly after Vice Admiral Calemn, who had served on the station since it was christened, was replaced by Commodore Lweyoha Vitax.

While still an important post, life on Starbase 12 became relatively mundane following the cessation of hostilities with the Federation/Cardassian Treaty of 2366. Base operations were again reorganized with a post-war mission to provide logistical support (including repair and dry-docking) to ships of the 7th fleet and would later also welcome vessels of the 12th Fleet to its ranks. In addition to remaining an important location for starship maintenance, Starbase 12 coordinated a great deal of Starfleet traffic dedicated to the defense of the Federation's core regions in addition to its role as a regional command base.

Starbase 12 would find itself embroiled in galactic politics again in 2370 when the station was used to host diplomatic meetings between the Federation and the Cardassians. While the Federation/Cardassian War had ended with the signing of the Federation/Cardassian Treaty of 2366, many had believed that the treaty was only a stall tactic employed by both sides to build up their forces. The new Federation/Cardassian Treaty of 2370 was intended to be the last in a series of peace treaties negotiated between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union with the intention of bringing an official end to the decades of hostilities and create a Demilitarized Zone between the two powers. Starbase 12 was selected by Admiral Alynna Nechayev to host the Federation's side of the negotiations. Initially ratified at Starbase 12, the Treaty transferred ownership of several Federation worlds to Cardassian rule. While undergoing relocation, many colonists refused to be removed from a world turned over to the Cardassians and Captain Jean-Luc Picard negotiated additional terms which would allow residents to remain on their home worlds under the rule of the rival power. This had the unintended consequence of leading to the creation of the Maquis.

Starbase 12 was limited in its involvement with the Maquis insurrection, but maintained surveillance of the border to ensure Cardassian acceptance of treaty terms. While not a direct player, several members of Starbase 12's crew expressed sympathies with the Dominion and even defected to the nascent power. This impacted Starfleet's monitoring of the Cardassian Union to some degree, leading to Starfleet Intelligence being relatively unprepared for the Detapa Council seizing power on Cardassia, usurping the Cardassian Central Command in the process. This led the Klingon Empire to believe Cardassia had been taken by the Dominion and the Klingons launched a preemptive strike against the Cardassians in response, unintentionally leading to the breakdown of the Khitomer Accords and the end of the Federation/Klingon Alliance.

With the Klingon Empire asserting ancient claims to the Archanis Sector, Starbase 12 was put on alert to prepare for potential Klingon invasion of Cardassian territories on the coreward side of the border. Unbeknownst to both the Federation and the Klingons, the Cardassian Union petitioned to join the Dominion to help strengthen their borders and defeat their enemies. While formal warfare was not immediately declared, several skirmishes occurred near the Cardassian border over the next several months and multiple vessels were lost. Starbase 12 was not immune to these losses and its support vessel, the Miranda Class Sun Tzu, was lost while on routine patrol of the border. When open war was declared with the capture of Deep Space Nine by the Dominion, Starbase 12 found itself on the frontline and responsible for engagements on the coreward side of Cardassian Space, in close coordination with Admiral William Ross at Starbase 375.

After a series of skirmishes with the Dominion, Starbase 12 was responsible for several major engagements with the Dominion which included the defense of the Kabrel System, a specific target due to the presence of resources aiding in the creation of Ketracel White. Rear Admiral Vitax would transfer to oversee the 10th Fleet following the fall of Betazed, which led to Rear Admiral Alice Liu being assigned as Sector Commander. During Alliance efforts to invade the Chin'toka System, Starbase 12 launched several raids as a diversion to keep Dominion forces occupied. While the war effort seemed to swing in the Federation's favor, the recruitment of the Breen Confederacy into the Dominion led to major conflicts due to Starbase 12's proximity to Breen space. The station itself was almost lost in an attack by the Dominion due to the presence of the new Breen weapons on the battlefield; however, through the intervention of the Klingons, Starbase 12 was salvaged.

As the Alliance prepared for a final assault upon Cardassia Prime, Starbase 12 found itself again engaged in diversionary work on behalf of the primary fleet. Launching a series of assaults upon both Breen and Dominion installations, Starbase 12's 12th fleet found itself severely outmatched by the enemy forces it was facing yet emerged victorious following the Cardassian's withdrawing from the Dominion and joining the Alpha Quadrant Alliance. With the Dominion ordering genocide of all Cardassians, Starbase 12 ordered its remaining ships to enter Cardassian space to support their new Cardassian allies.

Following the conclusion of the Dominion War, Starbase 12 joined its sister facilities Deep Space Nine and Starbase 375 in coordinating humanitarian aid for the remnants of the Cardassian Union. Unbeknownst to the Federation and Starfleet, renegade forces in the Cardassian Union known as the True Way had begun building their forces in the Maelstrom Sector in hopes of establishing a new Cardassian Empire there under the direction of Legate Matan. Partnered with a new government in the region known as the Kessok, the True Way built an armada of dangerous warships with enhanced capabilities that were capable of overwhelming Alliance forces within the Maelstrom. Through the efforts of Starbase 12 and its support vessels, Starfleet made contact with the Kessok and were able to negotiate a cease fire. Later, with their new Kessok allies, Alliance forces were able to overcome the True Way and bring peace back to the Maelstrom.

Due to the assistance of the Kessok, Federation forces were able to begin colonization of the Maelstrom Sector. This was especially beneficial to the Federation following the discovery that the Romulan star would destabilize within the decade and would require the immediate evacuation of the Romulan Empire. At the direction of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, multiple worlds were colonized to allow settlement by Romulan refugees. Starbase 12 served in a logistical role to assist with colonization efforts, in association with several smaller outposts that had been built in the zone.

The expansion of the Maelstrom would be short lived as the First Contact Day Massacre of 2385 had significant impacts upon the entire galaxy when the planet Mars was attacked by rogue synths, killing 92,143 people in the process and severely impacting Starfleet's shipbuilding and repair capabilities. At the direction of the Federation Council the Romulan Relocation Effort was disbanded and Starfleet retreated inward, cancelling many exploratory missions and focusing more on defensive operations. Not long after, Starbase 12 found itself at the center of the calamity as Starfleet scaled back operations along the Cardassian Front and within the Maelstrom. Starbase 12's mission profile was reconfigured as certain responsibilities were rescinded. The station was rechristened as Deep Space 12 as a result of its diminished role and the name Starbase 12 was reassigned to a new outpost built along the former Romulan Neutral Zone not far from the site of the original. Admiral Liu resigned in protest, command of Deep Space 12 briefly going to Captain Matthew Graff before being permanently assigned to Commodore Gregory MacCray.

With its decreased involvement in administration of the Maelstrom Sector, the newly rechristened Deep Space 12 mainly served to monitor activities within the Maelstrom and light starship support duties. This would change in 2399 when the Federation Council directed Starfleet Command to investigate new sources of dilithium and other rare minerals essential for starship construction. Starfleet Command assigned new forces to the Maelstrom Sector with Deep Space 12 serving as their command base. Vice Admiral MacCray, at the recommendation of Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy, stepped down as Sector Commander and was replaced by Commodore Dazad Targaryen of the Starship Saratoga.