Star Trek Online: Literary Challenge (Season 5)

The Star Trek Online: Literary Challenge was a forum-based game where story topics for gamers would be posted every two weeks and users would respond with entries based on those topics, using their Star Trek Online characters. The challenge started in 2011 and these challenges occurred within Star Trek Online's Season 5.

Literary Challenge #8 : Unknown Anomalies
''You and your crew have been ordered to rendezvous with peace delegates from the opposite faction aboard a Federation starbase orbiting Corinth IV. On route to the meeting, your Chief Operations Officer informs you that an unknown anomaly has appeared off the starboard bow, 33 parsecs away. The diplomat in you reminds you that you cannot be late for the meeting, while the explorer in you reminds you that you cannot pass up an opportunity to explore. What do you do? If you do choose to waver off course to explore, what do you find? Write a Captain's Log entry letting us know.''

Literary Challenge #9 : Shore Leave
''For the past six weeks, you and your crew have been working tirelessly as you completed orders to investigate a 10-planet system in the Pelia Sector Block. While none of them were inhabited with any intelligent life, over 300 new species of vegetation was found; each had to be thoroughly documented and entered into the database. Now that your mission is complete, you and your crew have been granted a one-week shore leave. Where do you go and what do you do? Do you go with a group or go solo? Did run into anything unexpected? Write a Personal Log entry letting us know.''

Literary Challenge #10 : Replicator Rations
''After an incursion with the Breen in the Orellius Sector Block, your ship has been left severely damaged and most of your systems are offline -- this includes the Warp drive, which is irreparable due to the destruction of your port nacelle, and Communication Array, which was also destroyed. Since you were only to be conducting routine patrols in the sector, and your ship was only to be away from Starbase for 5 days, energy supplies are running low and you must enact rationing of the replicators. Reports suggest that it will take you several weeks to limp home. How did you explain this to the crew? Did you put a chef in place à la Neelix? Did you save your rations for something in particular? Write a Captain's Log entry letting us know.''

Literary Challenge #11 : Hidden Agendas
''Orders have been received to survey Camus II -- this planet was once home to a highly advanced species with the power to exchange life-entities. In 2269, a team of scientists vanished while conducting a similar mission. After the incident, regulations were created that barred any ship to pass within 3 light years of the planet. Now, 140 years later, it is up to you and your crew to return to the planet and attempt to discover what actually happened to the team of scientists, and any information about the race that lived (or still lives) there. What do you discover? What happened to the team of scientists? Is the civilization still thriving in secrecy? Write a Captain's Log entry letting us know.''

Literary Challenge #12 : Intruder Alert
''While docked at Deep Space 7, a Federation space station near the Romulan Neutral Zone, sirens begin going off that an intruder has been detected in the exact section you are currently in. As you turn to look around, your vision goes blank and you pass out. When you awake several minutes later, you notice that you are surrounded by the station’s security team. As you attempt to get up, you look down at your clothing and body and realize you are not the same person you just were. What happened to you? Where does the security team take you? How do you prove you are who you are? How do you ultimately get back to the ‘old you’? Write a Captain's Log entry letting us know.''

Literary Challenge #13 : The Void
''While en route back to Deep Space 9 after a week-long survey mission of a star that recently went supernova, your Operations Bridge officer informs you that a micro-wormhole has appeared several parsecs ahead of you. After letting DS9 know, you alter course to investigate. As you arrive and begin surveying the anomaly, something triggers and it instantly grows exponentially, pulling your ship in in the process. As the violent turbulence subsides, you turn on your viewscreen and notice that the region of space has no sign of any stars -- this is no wormhole. As you begin planning what do do next with your Senior Officers, you reflect back on your Academy days and remember learning about a time when the Voyager crew experienced a similar phenomenon. Who did you meet there? Were you able to get them to work with you? How did you escape the void? Write a Captain's Log entry letting us know.''

Literary Challenge #14 : Facility 4028
''After visiting Facility 4028, you are tasked with writing a security report to Starfleet Command/ Klingon Intelligence. Explain the incidents of the past weekend, why you think the fail-proof systems failed, and propose a solution.''

Literary Challenge #15 : Temporal Soundings
''For the past couple of weeks, you and your crew have been assigned to patrol the Neutral Zone. While you have been working longer duty shifts due to your first officer being on shore leave, you have enjoyed the extra time getting to know some of the crew of the Delta Shift, including a science officer from your hometown. Just as you decide to retire for the evening, this officer stops you from leaving the bridge by exclaiming that Tachyon emissions have been detected in Shuttlebay 3 and an unauthorized shuttle launch is in progress. What is going on, what happens, and why?''

Literary Challenge #16 : First Contact
''While on a standard patrol assignment, a ship drops out of warp only a few parsecs. The configuration does not match anything in the computer's database, so you decide to alter course to investigate. As you arrive, you hail the ship and make first contact with a species that has just completed their first successful warp flight trip. As much as they are surprised to learn that they are not alone in the galaxy, you are just as surprised when you realize they look just like you. Further scans reveal that they are actually Human (or Klingon, or Caitian, or whatever race you are). Who are they? What happens? What do you learn?''

Literary Challenge #17 : Mirror-rorriM
''After intense negotiations, you have finally struck a deal with a Ferengi trader for a large requisition of Lobi Crystals. Just as the Ferengi ship warps away from the rendezvous point, you discover that the Crystals are counterfeit. This is not going to end well, especially since you and your crew are members of the Terran Empire. Let us know how you and your crew handle the situation from the Mirror Universe side of things.''

Literary Challenge #18 : The Academy Days
''Tell us a story from your days at the Academy. Maybe it was your favorite moment, the most embarrassing moment, or it could even be both! What happened? Did it help influence who and where you are today? Do you wish you did something differently? Let us know through a personal log entry.''

=External links=
 * Literary Challenge: Index on the Star Trek Online forums