Harmony Crisis

The Harmony Crisis is an ongoing and significant confrontation between the United Federation of Planets and the Harmony of Horizon. The Crisis, has, in some form, been going since nearly the first contact between the two powers, though it has escalated at several points. The current escalation was precipitated by the end of the Cassiopeia Crisis, and the revelation that the Harmony of Horizon was truly ruled by a group of uploaded intelligences known as the Singers, and had conducted a decently thorough infiltration of Federation computer and force systems. Since that point, the United Federation of Planets has created the new Task Force Glacier, responsible for all operations against the Harmony.

Leadup to the Crisis
Shortly after first contact with the Harmony of Horizon and the League of Kelownan States, it became clear to the UFP that the Horizon had a dark past. The extent of this past, or the reasons for its existence, were extremely well hidden by the Harmony, and, for a number of years, despite ongoing diplomatic confrontation over the affiliation of various minor powers, people and goods moved between the two great powers.

Task Force Beyond
In order to confront the Harmony in the area coreward of Federation space, Starfleet created Task Force Beyond in 2321.Q1, which would not be disbanded until 2325. Beyond became a severe drain on Starfleet resources, as every addition to the force was matched by one from the Harmony, and it seemed to many within Starfleet Command that the resource flow to Beyond could not be sustained without a major change. By the end of the period, many with access to classified material feared that the diplomatic conflict might be unwinnable. Beyond was supported heavily by member world ships, many of which gained extensive experience operating alongside other member fleets and Starfleet.

The Coreward Border War
In 2323.Q1, the Coreward Border War broke out between the Outer Space Alliance and the Arcadian Empire and Laian Unity over raids against the Laio by OSA megacorporations. The war lasted until Starfleet revealed the actions of the megacorporations, under the influence of thought-pattern altering devices of various kinds. Ultimately, it was revealed to Capt. Zara ka'Athnon that the Harmony was the source of the mind-altering headphones during the Cassiopeia Crisis, though the data proving it could not be saved. The war also set the stage for the collapse of the Arcadian political structure a few months later, in the Seasons of Strife.

Seasons of Strife
Following the end of hostilities during the Coreward War, the Arcadian Empire underwent a series of massive shocks, which developed into an ongoing civil conflict known as the Seasons of Strife. The imperial capital city on Morshadd was bombed, killing the emperor and much of the senior imperial leadership, simultaneous with a massive strike against House Tartresis forces in the Calamar system. Within a few months, the empire was left split between two claims to the imperial throne, by Princess Hallare Tartresis and the figurehead Princess Ellianna Tartresis, while the capital system was seized by the Morshadd Commune, and several other independent noble houses began to operate essentially completely outside imperial control. Attempted Federation peacekeeping efforts in the form of Task Force Argus were denied.

The Cassiopeia Crisis
The Cassiopeia Crisis, beginning as an investigation during the Seasons of Strife, saw Captain Zara ka'Athnon of the USS Courageous discover and reveal the true nature of the Harmony of Horizon to Starfleet. The compromised nature of high-ranking Federation officials and officers was revealed, as well as the compromised nature of many of the Federation's neighbor states. This led the Federation to begin a crash anti-Harmony program, under the codename Task Force Glacier.

2325.Q1
Task Force Glacier moved immediately to contest Harmony operations, beginning by launching a massive series of anti-Harmony intelligence-gathering operations in 2325.Q1. Increased patrols netted new targets, while Task Group Wave identified a Harmony listening post around Alpha-Apris III-2. Task Groups Guardrail and Sunglass began to establish new intelligence cells on Morshadd and Bolarus, respectively. Task Group Season in Felis space located a Harmony lobbying office, and a potential scandal involving a Health Clinic to use against the Harmony. Meanwhile, research teams began to combat Harmony infiltration of Starfleet computer networks and the Isolinear Computing project. Audits conducted by Office 15 and the FDS Integrity Office began to remove compromised officials from their positions, placing them in medical stasis. Harmony efforts were mostly, but not entirely, defeated, with the cargo ship SS Minoia robbed by 'unknown' assailants.

At the same time, Task Force Alarm under Diego Zaardmani was dispatched to Sei-Farie space, in an effort to warn them of Harmony infiltration. The Task Force stopped briefly in Padani space, where it was informed that the Interstellar Commonwealth did not believe that it could hold out against the Harmony for more than a year.

2335.Q2
Patrols continued in 2325.Q2, with additional Harmony targets identified. The quarter also saw the first kinetic Starfleet operations, destroying the Alpha-Apris III-2 Listening Post and several other Harmony facilities. Further progress was also made in de-compromising Federation computer systems, including the identification of a number of compromised Centaur-Bs. Harmony access attempts were mostly prevented.

Meanwhile, Task Force Alarm made contact with the USS Enterprise, along with the mercenary ship Adrestia of the PMC Fortune's Hammer. The Task Force then made contact with the Therans, a highly militarized and militaristic Sei-Faire polity. The Therans encouraged the Task Force to make contact with the Nessic as quickly as possible, so as to ensure a united front against the Harmony.

2325.Q3
Task Force Alarm arrived in Nessic space the next quarter, where they began a desperate effort to win over the Nessic, and to convince them of the grave threat posed by the Harmony of Horizon.

The President's Speech
In the last quarter of the year, Starfleet forces took into custody the Laian councillor, who had been compromised by the Singers, on direct order of the President. This was followed immediately by the revelation of the true nature of the Harmony of Horizon to the wider Federation population, in the form of a direct address by President Jime Okaar. Federation and allied forces moved rapidly against a number of Singer assets, including a prospector attempting to hack a major Federation data trunk. The speech rapidly became the only item being broadcast on essentially all Federation channels, both public and private, as word spread of the highly disturbing revelations. Simultaneously, former Admiral Shey ch'Tharvasse struck at and destroyed a Singer Scientist-class cruiser. Starfleet was ordered to a Federation-wide High Alert status, with all leave cancelled, and given a war warning by the Federation Council. Starfleet Command ordered the creation of a special Anti-Harmony Operations Zone under the jurisdiction of the Corewards Theater, which was heavily reinforced at the beginning of 2326.

2326.Q1
Aggressive operations against Singer forces began nearly immediately, alongside defensive patrol sweeps. Captain Gregor Mannigan of the USS Frontier located and disabled a cloud of microsats in Tauni space, gaining insights into Harmony computer architecture in the process. USS Pheonix helped the Bank of Bolias remove an embezzlement program, while USS Aurora and USS Neptune engaged a Scientist-class cruiser.

At the same time, initial mobilizations began across the Federation. The Gaeni institutes were tasked with spearheading research into Singer wetware. The Gaeni also took the lead in diplomatic outreach to both the Arcadian Empire and the Morshadd Commune, and began a serious mobilization of defensive construction assets. Space Gate Command was given the Renaissance-A design, and the Rigellian auxiliary yard at Abadan was delayed to assist the Tauni in fortification. The Laio were also fortified, with resources being transferred to them for starbase construction, and 2 Constitution-B class cruisers transferred as well, with a promise of 3 Miranda-B-class ships once available.

Amarki forces were deployed to Interstellar Commonwealth space, to protect both the Gabriel Border Zone against Cardassian forces, while also contributing to the Harmony Crisis.

SS Hummingbird, a Starfleet Intelligence civilian vessel, successfully hacked into a major Harmony computer node, revealing several further targets. A second operation failed, however, compromising Federation infiltration protocols. At the same time, a number of harmony agents were rolled up by SFI teams.

Increased penetration into Harmony computer networks also allowed SFI to reveal that the Harmony began preparing a military offensive, in the event that they are unable to secure minor power cooperation by other means. SFI began work on a project to more deeply infiltrate Singer computer networks.

2326.Q2
By 2326.Q2, work was progressing quickly on a test for Singer chipping, though it was as of yet inconclusive, and "best used to follow up on other evidence", according to the report submitted to Adm. Chen. Unfortunately, the Rixx Scrutineers assigned to Task Force Yoke suffered extreme casualties in a successful Singer infiltration operation. Other than that, substantial progress was made across the board, with Starfleet teams carrying out successful operations across the border zone, particularly in Bolian space. One of these operations was rather more kinetic than initially desired, but fortunately other operations counteracted the negative publicity.

In Harmony space, the Explorer Corps carried out a massive unified operation, infiltrating the USS Courageous deep into Horizon territory. There, the Courageous accessed a deep space station, part of the True Harmony computer network, enabling the Federation to begin hacking into the computer system used by the Singers. With Harmony data being read, Starfleet was ordered to prepare for a shift to kinetic operations against the Harmony.