Line #106 Recap/StarTrekOnlineFoundryBaitAndSwitch


1	!As this is a Recap page, expect spoilers.
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bajor_fighting_orions_at_ultima_thule_1200.jpg]]
3	[[http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=12627671 "Bait and Switch"]] is a ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' Foundry mission series by Tropers/{{StarSword}}C. The first chapter went live on September 29, 2013 and is playable by Federation characters of any level. Tropers/StarSword is also writing a [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9733520/1/Bait-and-Switch novelization]], ''Fanfic/{{Bait and Switch\|STO}}'', starring his Fed toon Kanril Eleya, published in chapter form on the ''STO'' forums and Website/FanFictionDotNet. A trailer for part one, made by aleniskendra from the STO forums, can be viewed [[http://youtu.be/JPOTpV0xrrw here]].
4
5	"Bait and Switch" uses an atypical style that fuses the typical ''STO'' mission with prose character dialogs, something like a VisualNovel.
6
7	!!Synopsis:
8	Things are getting worse in Beta Ursae Sector Block so Admiral Marconi sends a request to Starfleet Command for additional patrol ships. Command sends the PlayerCharacter. On their first patrol, they blow up some Jem'Hadar and rescue a freighter, but then Marconi pulls them off their route to investigate a garbled message from the Bajoran colony world Dreon VII. They find that the Orion Syndicate has attacked the colony and multiple other lightly-defended planets across the sector, killing or kidnapping almost a hundred of the inhabitants in this case.
9
10	Starfleet Command dispatches the ''Marduk'' Carrier Battle Group under Admiral Amnell Kree to respond and try and track down the kidnapped civilians from all across the sector, and reassigns the PlayerCharacter to Kree's command. With the help of a Section 31 operative with an inside source, the battle group quickly locates an Orion base in the Badlands and launches an assault. They destroy a large fleet of Orion warships and board the station, but unfortunately most of the 10,000+ kidnappees had already been transshipped. The mission ends with Kree telling the PlayerCharacter they'll call them back when they learn something useful.
11	----
12	!!Tropes:
13	* AcePilot: Admiral Amnell Kree, though it's an InformedAbility since she commands a battle group now. She flew a ''Peregrine''-class attack fighter in the Dominion War and scored nineteen confirmed kills, including a Cardassian capital ship at Third Deep Space 9 ([=DS9=]: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E06SacrificeOfAngels "Sacrifice of Angels"]]).
14	* BrickJoke: The first time you board the USS ''Marduk'' in an acting ensign has done something involving green clouds and a plasma plume in Main Engineering, the chief engineer is standing there yelling at him, and a Klingon ensign on the balcony above is pointing-and-laughing. All three characters return in the epilogue, with the chief engineer complaining to Captain Bronok Zell about the ensign, the acting ensign standing there looking sad, and the Klingon pointing-and-laughing again.
15	* BuffySpeak:
16	--> '''PlayerCharacter:''' Do you know where the rho-vertion emitter is?\
17	'''[=PO1.=] Theel:''' You mean that weird purple glowing thing that's keeping you from beaming everyone out?
18	* CastOfSnowflakes: The "Random" button is very good at making very individualized extras. There are some repeats due to a shortage of costume slots, but not many. Judicious use of stock {{NPC}}s also helps.
19	* CoolStarship: The USS ''Marduk'', an experimental pocket carrier variant on the ''Prometheus''-class that lacks the Multi-Vector Assault Mode. Admiral Kree's dossier describes it as the "''Marduk''-class Fast Attack Carrier".
20	* ContinuityNod:
21	** The mission start dialog mentions that your orders come from Admiral Nadifa La Forge. This is [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Geordi La Forge's]] niece, who turned up in the ''[=TNG=]'' novel ''Losing the Peace'' set in 2381.
22	** A Fleet Admiral Riker is mentioned in passing by Admiral Marconi. This is indeed Will Riker, formerly first officer of the ''Enterprise''-D and -E and then captain of the USS ''Titan''.
23	** Some of the names of ships that may spawn in the ''Marduk'' Carrier Battle Group. See also ShoutOut, below, and note that most of these will only show up if more than one PlayerCharacter is playing the mission.
24	*** USS ''Shran'', as in Thy'lek Shran, an Andorian military officer from ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''.
25	*** USS ''Entente'' refers to a ship that was mentioned in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. The ''Star Fleet Technical Manual'' explains it to have been a ''Federation''-class dreadnought.
26	*** USS ''Natasha Yar'' refers the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Enterprise]]''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration -D's]] first tactical officer.
27	*** USS ''Yamato'' was a ''Galaxy''-class that turned up or was mentioned in a few episodes of seasons 1 and 2 of ''[=TNG=]'', and was destroyed in [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E11Contagion "Contagion"]].
28	*** USS ''Wolf 359'' should be self-explanatory. USS ''Hanson'' = J.P. Hanson, a Starfleet admiral who was killed at Wolf 359.
29	*** USS ''Tora Ziyal'' refers to Gul Dukat's half-Bajoran daughter, who was shot in [=DS9=]: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E06SacrificeOfAngels "Sacrifice of Angels"]] for betraying the Cardassians and allowing the Federation and Klingons to retake Deep Space 9.
30	*** USS ''Laporin'' refers to Captain Laporin, a Benzenite who was one of Benjamin Sisko's Academy classmates, and was killed by the Klingons during the Klingon-Federation War in 2372-73 ([=DS9=]: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E01ApocalypseRising "Apocalypse Rising"]]).
31	** Captain Bronok Zell, Admiral Kree's flag captain, refers to Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration: [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E19JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]] from the perspective of Cardassian colonists who had the opposite problem from the Maquis. He's Cardassian, from a planet that ended up in the Federation when the borders were redrawn.
32	---> '''Zell:''' Goes without saying, we got the better deal there.
33	** During the epilogue Admiral Kree obliquely refers to a raid on the Utopia Planitia shipyards "earlier this year." This happens in an early mission of the KDF campaign, "Second Star to the Right, Straight on 'til Morning".
34	* CreatorCameo: Sort of. The Dungeon Master, a character who appears in the end-of-mission "Thanks for playing!" message, is a facsimile of Tropers/StarSword's Fed toon Vice Admiral Kanril Eleya, the protagonist of the novelization.
35	* CreatorInJoke: Admiral Marconi mentions that along with your ship, Starfleet Command also sent him the USS ''Kagoshima'' and USS ''John Paul Jones''. [=StarSword=] used those names on two of his previous ships in ''STO''.
36	* CrypticBackgroundReference:
37	** During the mission briefing Kree makes reference to a starship called the USS ''Mjolnir'' that worked with the Maquis. If queried, she speaks of a ''Saber''-class under a Captain T'Chon that defected to the Maquis before the Dominion War. T'Chon apparently considered the terms of the Federation-Cardassian Treaty illogical and decided ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight. The crew remain listed as missing and presumed dead.
38	** While delivering the TakeThat mentioned below Kree takes the name of something or someone called "Chentara" in vain.
39	* DeadpanSnarker:
40	** The PlayerCharacter, assuming certain dialog options are chosen.
41	---> '''Captain Jerek:''' What happened to the Orions?\
42	'''PlayerCharacter:''' I did.
43	** Petty Officer, First Class Mera Theel, a female Orion noncom from Starfleet Intelligence. The first time you meet her she's undercover as an Orion matron and wearing an Orion-typical {{Stripperiffic}} outfit, but reveals herself when you burst in guns blazing.
44	---> '''PlayerCharacter:''' Prove it! Show some ID!\
45	'''Theel:''' [[SarcasmMode I left it in my other pants.]] Seriously, where can I possibly hide a credential in [[{{Stripperiffic}} this ridiculous outfit]]?
46	* DisposablePilot: The shuttle you use to board the Orion space station in the Badlands gets {{redshirt}}ed by their fighters right after dropping you off, before it can even disconnect from the station.
47	* EasterEgg: Captain Zell mentions offhand that he has to go deal with something in Engineering, and that this "idiot acting ensign"[[note]][[ShoutOut Sound]] [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration familiar?]][[/note]] keeps wrecking things with his science projects. Guess what you find if you take a walk around the ship instead of going straight to the briefing.
48	* EncyclopediaExposita: A few characters' backstories[[labelnote:*]]Specifically, those of Adm. Kree, Capt. Zell, Agent Grell, [=LCdr.=] Bogarod (the ''Marduk's'' Chief Engineer) and Ens. Mark Alston.[[/labelnote]] are expounded upon in dossiers available on two different consoles the first time you visit the ''Marduk''.
49	* FrontlineGeneral: Admiral Amnell Kree, the commanding officer of the ''Marduk'' Carrier Battle Group.
50	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The in-game version of the USS ''Marduk'' doesn't actually have a fighter bay or ''Prometheus''-class powers due to really being a reskinned battleship mob. {{Enforced\|Trope}} due to Foundry limitations.
51	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Three alien characters are given to intermixing words and phrases from their native tongues with English dialogue.
52	* HackingMinigame: To unlock the Orions' transwarp conduit, and lampshaded to hell and gone by your chief engineer, who can't believe they're using trivia questions instead of something like an encryption key dongle.
53	* HumansAreWhite: Not even the aliens are consistently white. You've got several Bajorans in varying shades of brown, with Varus Jolin at the black guy end. There's also a number of different ''Marduk'' crewmen of various shades, including the black Acting Ensign Mark Alston. Finally your ship's conn officer is Korean.
54	* IDidWhatIHadToDo[=/=]{{Realpolitik}}: Section 31 has involved itself in working to stymie Gaila Hyrax's power grab because maintaining the status quo is more beneficial to the Federation: Hyrax is a fanatic, whereas the Orion Syndicate's current head, Melani D'ian, is, in Agent Grell's words, "relatively malleable if you keep your wits about you and your pheromone masker turned way up."
55	* ImperiledInPregnancy: Varus Saeihr was six months pregnant when the Orions kidnapped her from Burinac Colony. The PC rescues her and the medical team gives her a clean bill of health.
56	* ImprobableAimingSkills: An unnamed Orion {{mook}} who managed to hit a guy's phaser pistol with his disruptor and fried it completely.
57	--> '''Colonist:''' [[LampshadeHanging You know how hard it is to make that shot?]]
58	* InterspeciesRomance: The Varuses, Jolin and Saeihr. The former is a Bajoran male, the latter a Romulan female who is [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid six months pregnant]].
59	* MilitaryBrat: According to her dossier Admiral Kree's father is a retired Starfleet science officer.
60	* MostWritersAreWriters: According to Admiral Kree's dossier her symbiont's previous host, Edrin Kree, was a historical fiction writer and military historian.
61	* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: The author has gone on record on the ''STO'' forums that he likes the way ''Franchise/MassEffect'' handled the PlanetOfHats trope: a stereotype rather than actual truth.
62	** Grell is a spy instead of a businessman, though he does quote one of the Rules of Acquisition once.
63	** Mera Theel ''hates'' the {{Stripperiffic}} clothes she has to wear while undercover because they're uncomfortable and impractical (there's nowhere to put a concealed weapon, for starters). Her Starfleet uniform, while probably still qualifying for CustomUniformOfSexy, is much more practical.
64	** Varus Saeihr, a Romulan who is a naturalized Federation citizen, and an accountant instead of a sneaky bastard.
65	** Bronok Zell, a Cardassian who, far from being a Space Nazi, is a Starfleet captain.
66	* NarrativeProfanityFilter: At one point Varus Jolin is described as saying "something that your universal translator refuses to elaborate on." On the same map, an Orion tells you to do something that is anatomically impossible, and "even if it wasn't it would be against regulations."
67	* {{Nepotism}}: Strongly {{implied\|Trope}}. Captain Zell thinks he got saddled with Acting Ensign Mark Alston because "he's some ambassador's kid or something." Alston's personnel file confirms that he's the son of the ambassador to the Klaestrons, but is mum on how he got the appointment.
68	* NicknamingTheEnemy: Several characters call the Orions "greenskins" or "greenies".
69	* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: Played straight for the most part, but averted on the USS ''Marduk'' map. You ''can'' go straight from the transporter room to the mission briefing and back, but you'll miss entire rooms' worth of fully scripted {{NPC}}s including some sort of unexplained incident in Main Engineering on the complete opposite side of the map.
70	* NoodleIncident: Apparently while you were boarding the space station in the Badlands, the crew back on your ship did a "little maneuver" that saved the USS ''Ivanova''.
71	* OffTheShelfFX: The Bajoran Militia characters used to wear kitbashed Starfleet uniforms[[labelnote:*]]Antares 3 jackets, ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]'' pants, and leather or soft boots[[/labelnote]] simulating Bajoran Militia uniforms because [[EnforcedTrope the actual Bajoran Militia uniform wasn't available in the Foundry]]. They were added to the uniform selectors in the 08/14/14 ''STO'' patch, and Tropers/StarSword promptly replaced the kitbashes.
72	* OhMyGods:
73	** Captain Jerek refers to the Orions attacking Dreon VII as "sons of Pah-wraiths".
74	** Amnell Kree wonders what in the name of Chentara [[TakeThat that psychotic imbecile Janeway]] is teaching cadets at the Academy these days.
75	* TheOnlyOne: DoubleSubverted. The PlayerCharacter is ''not'' the only captain available to respond to the distress signal from Dreon VII. Instead, you're just closer than the ''Jadzia Dax'' and ''Amaterasu'' and arrive fifteen minutes before them.
76	* OnlyTheKnowledgableMayPass: The HackingMinigame questions are taken from ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' lore from ''[[EncyclopediaExposita The Path to 2409]]''. Used with heavy LampshadeHanging from your chief engineer:
77	--> "They're using a series of history questions you could solve with a common search engine instead of any actual encryption method that would actually stand up to scrutiny, like a transmitted randomly generated encryption key."
78	* OperationBlank: The offensive against the Orion Syndicate is codenamed Operation Blue Friday. {{Lampshaded}} in a dialog option:
79	--> '''Admiral Kree:''' Any questions before I move on?\
80	'''PlayerCharacter:''' Permission to speak frankly, ma'am?\
81	'''Kree:''' Go ahead.\
82	'''PlayerCharacter:''' Who in the world names these things? I mean, seriously, "Blue Friday"?\
83	'''Kree:''' Random number generator. Any other questions?
84	* OrwellianRetcon: Various patches tweaking and changing details to fix bugs, and at one point Tropers/StarSword removed an entire map that really had only one thing to do on it.
85	* PardonMyKlingon: A Bajoran medical officer aboard the ''Marduk'' calls a guy who tried to catch a baseball with his face a "stupid ''krish''," while Agent Grell calls Gaila Hyrax "a ''skritz-jeb'' fanatic." Later, Varus Jolin says something in his native tongue that the universal translator refuses to interpret.
86	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Like with all joined Trill, Kree zigzags this. The host is 69 and looks relatively old, but the symbiont had at least one host before her.
87	* RuggedScar:
88	** Admiral Kree has very heavy scarring across her left eye, implied by her in-game dossier to be the result of injuries sustained at the Battle of Cardassia at the end of the Dominion War. They serve more to mark her as a FrontlineGeneral, however.
89	** The scar on Grell's left forehead is left unexplained.
90	* ShoutOut:
91	** The 38-minute travel time to Dreon VII from the Malon System is a reference to how long a Franchise/{{stargate\|Verse}} can stay open.
92	** The names of some of the ships that can spawn in the ''Marduk'' Carrier Battle Group. See also CallBack, above, and note that most of these will only show up if more than one PlayerCharacter is playing the mission.
93	*** USS ''Ivanova'' = Commander Susan Ivanova from ''Series/BabylonFive''.
94	*** USS ''Anderson'' and USS ''Shepard'' = Admiral David Anderson and Commander Shepard from ''Franchise/MassEffect''. The fact that there's also a USS ''Shepard'' (named for Alan Shepard of ''Apollo 14'') in 23rd century ''Trek'' is a nice bonus.
95	*** USS ''Fearless'' = HMS ''Fearless'', Commander Literature/HonorHarrington's light cruiser in ''On Basilisk Station''. USS ''Madrigal'' = HMS ''Madrigal'', an RMN destroyer that had a HeroicSacrifice in ''The Honor of the Queen''.
96	*** USS ''Alexander Koenig'' refers to Admiral Alexander Koenig from the ''Literature/StarCarrier'' series.
97	*** USS ''Maiar'' refers to the ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'' equivalent of angels, what everyone else calls wizards.
98	*** USS ''Emancipator'' refers to the ISD ''Emancipator'', a New Republic-affiliated ''Imperial''-class star destroyer from the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse''.
99	*** USS ''O'Neill'' = Jack O'Neill from the ''Franchise/StargateVerse''.
100	*** USS ''Berganitan'' refers to a Confederation Navy starship from the ''Literature/ConfederationOfValor'' series.
101	** Captain Zell mentions that his previous command was the USS ''Kyle Brennan''. Brennan's the PlayerCharacter of ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier''.
102	** You find a wrecked Federation ship from the Dominion War in the Oort Cloud of the Ultima Thule System. Your sensor officer says there's no survivors, "just ... dust and echoes." This refers to one of Cortana's final lines in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''.
103	** A science officer aboard the ''Marduk'' says some technobabble involving
104	** One of you're crewmembers is named Chief Wiggin, one letter away from being Wiggum. A clear reference to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
105	[[Franchise/BackToTheFuture flux capacitors]].
106	** Petty Officer Theel's code phrase, "Those Klingons are dancing in the parlor again," is a reference to a ManchurianAgent trigger phrase from ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing: Solo Command]]''.
107	** The NarrativeProfanityFilter entry with the Orion telling you to do something that is anatomically impossible and against regulations is a reference to very vaguely described Slaaneshi tapestry in ''Literature/CiaphasCain: The Traitor's Hand''.
108	* ShownTheirWork: Travel time for a warp 6 microjump of 9.4 astronomical units during the patrol in the Malon System is mentioned to be 20 seconds. Minus a few seconds on the starting end for maneuvering this is carefully consistent with the [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Warp_factor#Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation warp speed equation]] given in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Technical Manual''.
109	* SilverFox: Admiral Kree is designed to be older (graying hair) and battle-scarred, but still attractive.
110	* SoundEffectBleep:
111	--> '''Tactical Officer:''' ''(over the radio)'' Skipper, don't worry about us; deal with your own--HA! GOT YOU, YOU UGLY SON OF A--\
112	'''Narration:''' A burst of static washes out whatever your officer was going to say.
113	* SpaceIsAnOcean: This is ''Star Trek'', after all. There's a reference in the narration to "eight bells", an old, ''old'' method of marking time aboard ships at sea that means the end of a four-hour period. Certain [=NPCs=] on your ship are also given to calling you "Skipper," a familiar form of address to a ship's captain. In a modernized version, the USS ''Marduk's'' bridge is referred to as a "combat information center".
114	* StarshipLuxurious: Zigzagged with the USS ''Marduk'' interior maps. Deck 6, the location of the conference room, is on the Engineering deck and uses the interior map from a ''Defiant''-class. The corridors and rooms are cozy at best and quite cramped at worst. The CIC, however, uses an ''Odyssey''-class bridge map and is enormous.
115	* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Your science officer wants to use a {{technobabbl\|e}}y solution to the tech that the Orions are using to block you from beaming onto their space station. Admiral Kree tells you to use your shuttles instead.
116	--> '''Science Officer:''' But I had such a good plan!\
117	'''PlayerCharacter:''' Maybe next time, Science.
118	* {{Stripperiffic}}: Orion women, as usual. {{Lampshaded}} by Petty Officer Theel after you ask her to show ID (see DeadpanSnarker above).
119	* TakeThat: During the attack on the Orion base Admiral Kree delivers a pointed one at the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' writers' habit of forgetting that Starfleet capital ships have shuttles and acting like "no transporters" = "trapped". She also calls [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Janeway]] a psychotic imbecile.
120	* {{Technobabble}}:
121	** Captain Zell recounts the following anecdote. [=StarSword=] got help from another Foundry writer for this one.
122	---> "Oh, you wouldn't believe the crazy things I've seen captains do with a ''Luna''-class. I once saw one take out a squadron of Romulan warbirds by creating a subspace inversion field and then detonating a charged particle burst. Least, that was what my science officer said she did. All I saw was, one second there's three warbirds on an intercept course, then there's this seizure-inducing flash and there's three loose drive singularities where they used to be."
123	** Then there's this one during the Ultima Thule stage:
124	---> '''Science Officer:''' I have an idea. We should be able to scramble their sensors and communications pretty thoroughly with an anti-dekyon resonance pulse from the main deflector dish. It'll do a pretty good number on ours, too, mind, but it'll wear off in a couple minutes.\
125	'''Dialog option:''' [[LampshadeHanging If that makes sense to you, Science,]] that's good enough for me.
126	** Also a mention of ReversePolarity later on, though that one is defied by way of CuttingTheKnot, above.
127	* TeleporterAccident: {{Discussed\|Trope}}. Thanks to the Orions using technobabble to jam your transporter targeting sensors, MCOS. Wiggin says that this would be a likely outcome if you were to try to beam over anyway.
128	--> '''Wiggin:''' If you were to override and try to beam over, I have no idea where you'd end up. Even odds you'd materialize inside a wall or miss the station entirely.
129	* TokenHeroicOrc: Petty Officer Theel, an Orion woman who works for Starfleet Intelligence instead of the Syndicate.
130	* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes:
131	--> '''Agent Grell:''' We've been tracking the matron running this part of the Orion Syndicate, Gaila Hyrax, for almost two years now. Erm, that's two Ferengi years; that'd be around three-and-a-half standard.
132	* TheWorfEffect: To drive home how much trouble there is in Beta Ursae right now, the USS ''Defiant'' is described early on as having been thoroughly thrashed, though repairable, by a rogue Cardassian legate playing warlord.
133	** Ironically, the USS ''Defiant'' was once captained by the trope namer.

Context Recap / StarTrekOnlineFoundryBaitAndSwitch