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Project: Siegfried[]
Project: Siegfried was an illegal, Black-budget project initiated by Admiral James Leyton of the United Federation Starfleet in 2370 (During the Federation's low point in the Dominion War, prior to the Coup attempt). The primary archived records were held back from compilation at Memory Alpha, with most extant records removed through various means, or theorized never to have been recorded at all. Project: Siegfried's only official presence in Starfleet databases was a line-item budget number representing resources sufficient to construct a Spacedock type Starbase with a garrison of defense frigates and a cruiser group. (None of which could be confirmed as even existing.) The only other known record of Project: Siegfried was copied from a Secured Federation database by the criminal Dataslicer "Dahak" (aka Peregrine Wahlberger) sometime in 2405.
Inquiry into the nature of Project: Siegfried was reinitiated by Captain Kanril Eleya after an incident on Bajor, which is how the approval by Admiral James Leyton was confirmed, as well as the astronomical budget.
[This organism is property of the United Federation of Planets Starfleet Project Siegfried Inception date 2 November 2371 phenotype Soldier, Eurasian Male series 4 batch 22711102AA approval Leyton, James stock number AA71274A3312-241]- DNA watermark associated with Project: Siegfried subjects. This subject was a male, Soldier phenotype, from the fourth batch of embryos produced in 2371, and was gestated to adulthood using an accelerated artificial womb to the physical age of 14 before being imprinted with memories and 'enlisted' into the Moab Confederacy Defense Forces sometime in 2409-2410. (Source: Brotherhood of Kern Hospital, Bajor)
Project Siegfried
The problem Project Siegfried was intended to address, was the Dominion's ability to produce trained combat personnel as fast as they could produce functional combat equipment. The Dominion doesn't need to have training grounds, or training bases, they don't have to recruit additional personnel, they don't have to account to the families of dead Jem'Hadar and Vorta to grieving families.
Starfleet has to do all of those. Admiral Leyton's coup attempt was in part to legitimize one of the blackest programs engaged in by Starfleet Intelligence via the unofficial auspices of Section 31.
To truly understand the situation, it is vital realize that the Federation was losing the war, there was doubt even among covert circles that the biogenic weaponized prion virus would actually stem the tide of that loss, or even have a significant impact. Paranoia was the word of the day and Admiral Leyton was the king, nay, the Emperor of paranoia.
He was going to break a LOT of laws, and in late 2371, he approved a 'no look' black project called Siegfried.
The conditions required shows that Admiral Leyton wasn't a complete imbecile. The Augmentations had to be limited, to prevent Eugenics-wars era problems that would make Khan envious, and Leyton had no intent toward creating drug-addicted super-soldiers who could not fit into peacetime if they won.
The genes were 'tweaked' by a renegade geneticist before being compiled. These custom organisms would have to be able to 'blend' with the standard Starfleet recruit.
In the process, a few questions would be answered-the hypothesis that Khan and his followers may have been encouraged into their madness by being raised as 'special' was taken into account.
IN order to facilitate faster uptake in training and produce the necessary 'mass production', a memory implantation device was procured. Additionally, maturation enhancement technology was used to 'force grow' embryonic troops at an accelerated rate. Unfortunately, some medical side-effects had to be accounted for, and as a result, the fast-grown troops had to be decanted and allowed to build up necessary RNA and 'natural memories' at between the physical ages of 12 and 15 earth years old.
This was to make the carefully constructed and compiled 'background memories' take a set into their brains, as well as to facilitate faster learning and the development of adult muscles at an acceptable rate.
Fast-grown samples still took 2 years from the start of artificial gestation to the point where they could be 'put into training'.
This is significantly FASTER than Starfleet Academy can process a potential crewman or officer candidate.
The plan's 'scientific mission' wasn't to produce the troops-that research had been done, and re-done, both legally and illegally (mostly illegally) throughout the federation's history. What Leyton was looking for, was a Federation answer to the Jem'Hadar.
Certain other considerations and concerns by the Mad Admiral meant he didn't QUITE get what he wanted, and after the Coup was toppled and he was arrested, the program was shut down...mostly.
There are four categories of test subjects in project Siegfried.
AA: Artificial Gestation, Augmented Genetics, Artificial Conditioning. 'Shake and bakes', fast-grown examples from the 12,000 base genetic pairings, fast-grown and programmed with artificial memories and real-world skills. AA types come in two basic flavors: "Officer" models, and "Soldier" models. The tweaks to base genes related to aggression and adaptability are slightly different, with Soldier models gaining higher factors linked to Empathy and submissive aspects, while Officer models tend to have higher aggression factors.
AB: Augmented Genetics, Natural or "Baseline" conditioning. These embryos were slipped into the general civilian population through Fertility Clinics, or other means, to be born and raised as if they were 'baseline' humans. AB's were to be observed by a Federation department already equipped for statistical analysis and pervasive, without being Starfleet. These children would 'grow up' normally, and the first AB candidates were decanted shortly after the Coup attempt by members of the project staff.
BA: Basic background, 'naturalborn' humans without genetic alterations or augmentations, but subjected to the "accelerated and augmented' mental conditioning methods and training applied to AA's (with minor modifications. IMagine learning a 4 year course in a few moments, complete with memories of enduring hardships and even relationships. BA's went through this.)
and finally, the control group BB: Basic/Baseline a cadre of children (illegally) monitored from birth onward to provide a statistical baseline for predictions and alterations to the project.
There were four sites involved with Project Siegfried;
Salmas Mental Health Institute-a Starfleet treatment facility devoted to research into mental health issues in a highly-secured in-patient setting on Titan. This institute was closed less than 3 weeks after the Leyton Coup attempt.
Bellerieve Utopia Planitia: another military rehabilitation site located on Mars. This site experienced a mysterious accident that was attributed to the Breen.
Bauxville, Terra Nova: a Military medical research site in the Terra Nova system, this site was decommissioned shortly after Leyton's coup attempt.
Devil's Canyon, Moab III: No record of decomissioning and no record of what the site was for exists in Federation databases.
Most of the personnel involved in the Project's research and development were drawn from outside of Starfleet, but security was handled by Starfleet Intelligence's Commando or 'special operations' department, along with certain personnel drawn from Starfleet's MACO branch, in particular personnel drawn from the Hereford or Langebaan campuses on Earth in the case of MACO personnel.
Of the personnel one might find, if one were to find a directory of senior people involved, there are, out of nearly 700 researchers and administrators, only 4 that are currently (2412/02/15) still alive, though none of them have been indicted.
two of them would be familiar to those observing the formation of the Confederacy, as one of them (Site Security director Saul "Mouse" Moskowitc) is currently Moab/New Saigon's 'Secretary of defense'.
The other identifiable one would be deputy first minister Katherine Mulvaney, Ph.D in Developmental Psychology and Doctor of Psychiatric Clinical Medicine.
of the other two, one is a wanted war criminal sheltering in the Klingon Empire (Dr. Mary Moriarty, guilty of inhumane medical experimentation (See: Project Lizardtail) and accused of genocide against an uncontacted alien species, resulting in their extinction.)
The fourth man can be found in Kansas. Drooling and brain-blown on a drug with the street name of "Forget-Me", on good days, he has about as much mental capacity as a two year old with ADHD, and will never practice Genetic Medicine again. Dr. Gerhardt Mobuto was once a leading light in experimental genetic sciences, but at some point in the 2380s he apparently overdosed on 'Forget-me" and one of the best minds in the Federation was erased and damaged to the point it could not be recovered.
Everyone else involved with the project suffered a variety of lethal 'accidents', incidents, or medical complications.
A search through Starfleet's records for "Project Siegfried" will not reveal any pertinent information, beyond a leftover indirect reference to the project in the 2369 Starfleet Budget. The programme cost as much, as a fully-equipped Starbase PLUS Frigate escorts.
but no details beyond the name, and the Energy Credit cost remain in accessible databases.
Identified Siegfried Personnel[]
Wahlberger, Peregrine (AB subject)Moab Confederacy Defense Force
O'Neill-Qua, Janice (AB subject) Former Starfleet, Presently Moab Confederacy Defense Force
Tan, Nola (AA, Officer Model) Former Moab Confederacy Defense Force, presently employed by Evans Industries
Nung, Amanda J (AA, Officer Model) MCDS Yoann Teena survivor, former MCDF
Cu'ong, Anh (AA, Officer Model) Convicted Murderer, presently contained at Facility 4028 (Former Moab Foreign ministry)
Lees, Judah (AB, Officer Model 2nd series) Former MCDF, currently enrolled at Starfleet Academy
Dinkins, Herbert H (AB, Officer Model 1st Series) Former MCDF, Currently in Starfleet service
Hu, Kelly P (AB Officer model, 3rd Series) Former MCDF, presently employed with Starfleet Technical Intelligence Group
Cheron, Petra (AB Series 3, Soldier) Starfleet Academy (formerly Moab Confederacy Defense Forces)
Pak, Geena (AA Series 3, Soldier) Deceased, University of Alpha Centauri, suicide
Chung, Marissa E (AA series 3 Soldier) Comatose/long term care, Betazed (suicide attempt)
Lafferty, Heretic (AA Series 4, Soldier ) MCDF On Loan to USS Bajor (see Kanril Eleya, Reshek Gaara, Task Force Myrmidon)
Chao, Vendetta (AA Series 5 Officer) Former MCDF, Mercenary (presently under contract to Evans Industries in the Delta Quadrant)
Lewis, Perfidy (AA Series 5, Officer) MCDF Mitchellville (RTO3), TF Myrmidon
This list is not comprehensive.
Unexpected Side Effects, Discharge kids, and suicides[]
While viability of force-grown individuals can be stabilized if they are decanted early (between ages 12 and 15 in development) and the Engram imprinting process (derived from a similar system developed as a replacement for prisons and encountered by Miles O'Brien) was designed by some of the best psychologists and social development experts in the Federation...the fact is, imprinted memory engrams have a great deal of difficulty holding up in living, growing brains. Once removed from the intense discipline of a military environment, the researchers working on Project Siegfried failed to recognize a simple truth.
The lack of genuine, real-world stimulus and real world memory formation can, and will break down, and the programming, designed to create ideal candidates for Starfleet service quickly, degrades as traumatized brains form new memories.
In this, Admiral Leyton's mad scientists failed. Discharged personnel from the Moab Confederacy Defense forces after 'Discharge Day' experienced rates of criminality, addiction, and suicide up to fifteen times the norm for humans with allegedly similar background. Some of this, was due to the after-traumas of the events they experienced in service, but notably, the worst in terms of negative impacts were 'Discharge Kids' that were also AA Siegfrieds.
The very REAL traumatic memories, combined with the conditioning engrams, in brains that are still in 'growth phase' meant that, even above being child soldiers (though they appear to be adults) cognitive dissonances stack for AA subjects once out of the Service. Particularly those released out on their own with little to no active emotional and psychological supports. This most often results in extreme behaviors, most frequently behaviors resulting in suicide as they never developed the natural mechanisms to cope with civilian life.
Stories[]
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1239446/fanfiction-spiked/p1
A Note from the creator[]
When we were creating the Fanfiction shared universe "The War of the Masters" one of the problems that was left to me to solve, was how the Moab Confederacy managed to put together such an effective, powerful force in so short a time. It had to be somewhat consistent with 'Star Trek' themes, and one of the themes dating back to TOS was Augments, which have shown up in very nearly every series except maybe some part of Voyager I never watched.
At the same time, I wanted to explore some darker themes we got to see elements of from Deep Space Nine, including what happens to Veterans who come home, and just don't...can't...make it work without help. We ended up digging into additional themes and elements in the process, including underage vets, transitioning to the rest of your life, and just how screwed up someone with career we experience as players in STO would really end up being, with so much combat and killing in such a short period of time.
This extended out, we stretched the timeline, and some of the foundry missions I used as inspiration, along with that typical fanfic writer's urge to make...special cases wriggled into it. (We countered this pretty well, when I insisted that the Moab Confederacy should be built shoddy and unable to last.)
Project:Siegfried came out of Greg Hodgson's asking me a simple question while we were working on "Faces in the Flames". "Where did they get these guys?" At that point, the rewrite for the first four short stories hadn't even crossed my mind...but the idea stuck with me, and I started REALLY thinking about it. Not only the 'what' (I'd just watched Orphan Black for the umpteenth time) but the 'Who' and the 'Why'.
Well, obviously it's super-high-tech, the Confederates were rebels who seceded from the Federation. That was the good starting point. From there, it seemed sensible to find a suitably important BADMIRAL (*Star Trek's habit of giving us evil Admirals did not start with James Leyton in DS9), who could make a project like this happen. From there, it was stealing ideas from several classic science-fiction settings and stories, and tying it to an appropriate time period, in such a way that the project could be abandoned...mostly, by shadowy Section 31 as those who knew about it died or retired.
And it fit. It fit with what we'd already created with very little trimming, and it presented a direction to go afterward, especially thanks to Brian Kinnison (Knightraider_6), and his Denali subsetting that ended up blended in.
Some of the stories we used to develop this, no longer exist on the Forum, or in google documents. Others, have lost whole chapters during forum migrations and we didn't keep records of what we'd been doing, so I tried to keep the reference list of links to stories that are, for the most part, still intact.