The Horizon's Children Faction

Samji continued. "The Horizon's Children is indeed a fanatical religious cult. It is comprised of all kinds of races, which makes them the most difficult to identify. This means we need to maintain the highest level of security at all times," he warned.

"Their goal is yet again different from the other two: to let the Azimuth Horizon expand and overtake the entire Galaxy. While the Horizon's tendrils do follow populated warp trails, the overall mass of the anomaly spreads and encompasses every inch of space. It is calculated that if we don't stop it, the Azimuth Horizon will reach Starbase 10 in about three days. If current trends continue it will reach Sol in 145 days, reach the center of the galaxy in 238 days, and encounter the Andromeda Galaxy in about 13 months."

Samji let that information sink in and then continued. "The Horizon's Children want this to happen. They believe that the Preservers seeded all humanoid life in the Galaxy and that the Azimuth Horizon was created by them to wipe the slate clean. They believe the Galaxy has become too corrupt and this is a way of creating it anew. Only the worthy -- those who believe as they do -- will be able to pass through to the other side; and thanks to Lieutenant Junior Grade David Calhoun, we've recently obtained a fighter called 'Rebirth' with technology that they had built to allow them to do so. We will be researching this technology for use in our own ships. This will be the primary job of our Engineers until we launch."

Yet again, Fleet Captain Samji brought up a display showing the top two leaders along with a few other important players. He pointed to a Starfleet dossier containing an image of a man of Bajoran and African American descent. "First we have Joseph Daystrom Sisko, male, age 27, former Lieutenant Commander in Lotus Fleet and Chief Engineer of the Spectre. Formerly thought lost to malicious energy beings from the other side of the Azimuth Horizon, he has apparently lost his memory and has been recruited by Horizon's Children. They believe him to be some sort of Prophet sent by the Preservers to lead them into the new Galaxy. He has clearly been brainwashed and it would be ideal if we could capture him alive and bring him back to try to restore him and undo the damage done to his mind."

He moved on to the next image of a Rethian woman. "Ty'reynyk, female, age 34. She appears to be Sisko's second-in-command and led the failed assault on the Artemis. Formerly a Starfleet officer, she used her position to gain a foothold situation that was thwarted by the valiant efforts of the Artemis crew. She'll most likely be on whatever most powerful ship they were able to obtain; reports indicate most likely a Cardassian Keldon class. Whether Sisko will accompany her is yet to be seen."

"We don't have a whole lot of time and we need every ship focused on trying to contain the Anomaly. If we get threatened, we should, of course try to attempt diplomacy with individual ship Captains, but unfortunately we just can't spare a whole ship on formal, lengthy negotiations. Our best bet is to try to find out which ship Sisko is and send a strike team to remove him forcibly. At that point we may to be able to use his relationship with Captain Summers and Lieutenant Commander Sorripto to bring him back and try to get some valuable information about the cult."