Foundry:Mirrorball (ST-HGCDCUSWM)

"Mirrorball" (ST-HGCDCUSWM) is the third and final mission in the Amargosa series. Unlike previous mission series by this author, Amargosa is presented as three separate standalone missions, as they do not form a single overarching storyline; they merely share a common MacGuffin and a few other, minor plot elements. The Amargosa title itself is used only informally by the author; none of its three missions include it in their own titles.

Unlike the first two missions in the series, "Mirrorball" is not connected to Tales from the Frontlines: An Iconian War Anthology.

"Mirrorball" was written as an homage to the James Bond 007 book and film franchise. Its premise is loosely based on that of early 007 novel and film Thunderball (hence its title), though its story plays out quite differently.

Historical context
This mission takes place in the year 2410, in the aftermath of the Iconian War. It coincides with, but is not connected to, the Cryptic-authored Future Proof story arc, taking place between missions "Stormbound" and "Time and Tide".

Plot summary
A civilian freighter is on an intercept course with the player's ship. She identifies as the S.S. Fleming, but her communications prefix code indicates the vessel is attached to Starfleet Intelligence. The Fleming turns out to be a mobile field headquarters for Intel, under the command of Admiral Madelaine Youngs.

The player transports aboard the Fleming to meet with Youngs, who is in charge of Intel's field operations. Youngs deputizes the player for an undercover mission in the Mirror Universe, codenamed "Operation Mirrorball". After swearing the player to secrecy, Youngs explains the situation: The Federation government has received a ransom demand, apparently from the Terran Empire, claiming that the Terrans have stolen a trilithium warhead from the Federation, capable of destroying an entire stellar system by collapsing its parent star. If the ransom is not paid within seven standard days, the warhead will be used against an unspecified populated system in the Prime Universe.

This revelation caught the top brass of the Federation and Starfleet Command off-guard - unaware, as they were, that they even had such a weapon in the first place. (In light of his/her recent dealings with Section 31, the player fills Youngs in on the trilithium warhead, which Section 31 had developed to wipe out the Iconian Heralds during the recently ended war.) Furthermore, an extortion attempt such as this seems an odd play by the Terrans, whose usual M.O. is straightforward military aggression. In any case, the player's mission is to locate, and then either retrieve or destroy the warhead before the Terrans carry out their threat.

After a visit to the Fleming's quartermaster to pick up a set of disguises and specialized equipment, the player is sent to Nivay IV, the site of frequent Terran incursions from the Mirror Universe. Reconfiguring his/her ship to pass as Terran on sensors, the player uses a Terran transdimensional rift to cross over, then pays a visit to a casino in the capital city of the planet's Mirror counterpart after receiving a text message from inside.

The sender turns out to be the mysterious Sanchez, a Section 31 agent normally embedded in the Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations. Tasked by Drake with hiding the trilithium warhead in a previous century - in keeping with Drake's cover story that the device was actually the legendary - Sanchez says he was forced to improvise after the real Uthat turned up in the Lukari system, leaving him and the warhead vulnerable long enough for a Terran spy to capture them both. Sanchez then escaped, and has been tracking his erstwhile captors ever since. Interestingly, they don't appear to be with the Terran Starfleet, but with another, as-yet-unencountered arm of the Terran Empire.

Sanchez is in the casino to discreetly follow a woman named L'Shana, whose exceptional psionic abilities Sanchez believes enabled her to abduct him and steal the warhead. (Sanchez also believes L'Shana is the Mirror counterpart of Intel agent "Black Snow".) The player strikes up a conversation with L'Shana, who sees through the player's Terran Starfleet cover and cryptically warns him/her that, for all its military might, the Terran Starfleet isn't where the Empire's real power lies.

Having surreptitiously planted tracking nanites on L'Shana during their conversation, the player is able to monitor her movements upon returning to the ship. L'Shana eventually transports aboard a seemingly humble civilian freighter - the Mirror counterpart of the S.S. Fleming. Under the pretense of a search for contraband, the player boards the vessel but allows her to leave the system as planned, to be shadowed by the player's ship.

The player searches the Fleming for L'Shana, eventually finding her in a meeting with several other people. Discreetly eavesdropping on the proceedings, the player soon realizes he/she has stumbled upon a secret society of the Terran Empire's power elite (many of whom are recognizable as the Mirror counterparts of various characters previously encountered by the player), who maintain their anonymity by referring to one another only by Greek-letter designations. Among these is a more youthful-looking version of Admiral Youngs (a.k.a. "Omega"), apparently this cabal's mole within the Terran Starfleet. At one point L'Shana (a.k.a. "Psi") refers to the group by its full name: The Eminent Chamber of Leadership for Imperial Preservation, Sustenance and Expansion, or ECLIPSE.

Psi then outs the player, forcing him/her to flee back to the Fleming's transporter room (having to fight ECLIPSE security goons and get through forcefields along the way) to rejoin his/her away team and return to the ship - which, it turns out, has been led into a trap. While the Fleming crosses over to the Prime Universe through a rift, the player must fight off several Terran Starfleet squadrons (presumably sent by Omega). Afterward, the player realizes they are in the Mirror Risa system, which likely means the warhead is being hidden on Risa in the Prime Universe.

Crossing over through the same rift, the player's ship detects the telltale signs of a sensor dampening field in place around the former site of Section 31's clandestine underwater lab near Risa's "Classic Island", where they had designed and built the warhead. The lab itself has been destroyed, forcing the player's away team to don EV suits and search for the warhead on the Risian ocean floor - but not before sending a coded message to Admiral Youngs requesting backup.

The player's team explores the area around the lab site, encountering several squads of ECLIPSE goons as they zero in on the source of a faint but strengthening trilithium reading. But as they get closer, they are confronted by several goon squads under the command of a shockingly familiar figure. Fortunately the requested backup - in the form of a MACO company - arrives in the nick of time, helping the player defeat the ECLIPSE goons, shut down the dampening field and secure the warhead.

The player's troubles aren't over just yet: Upon returning to the ship with the warhead, the player is confronted by two S.S. Flemings - one of which is jamming the player's sensors, making it impossible to tell which Fleming belongs to Starfleet Intelligence and which belongs to ECLIPSE. However, the two vessels' slightly different responses to the player's recovery of the warhead enable the player to suss out the truth, prompting the ECLIPSE vessel to quickly generate a rift to escape back to the Mirror Universe - and this time, to close the rift behind them so the player cannot follow. During debriefing, Admiral Youngs says she doubts Starfleet has seen the last of ECLIPSE, and that the player can expect another call from her the next time they make trouble for the Federation.

Objectives

 * For Your Eyes Only
 * Talk to Miss Pomeny
 * Talk to Admiral Youngs
 * Find Lt. Cmdr. Quon
 * Talk to Lt. Cmdr. Quon
 * Get equipment for mission
 * Return to Admiral Youngs
 * On the Federation's Secret Service
 * Defeat Terran squadrons and reinforcements
 * Speak with squadron commander
 * Reconfigure ship systems to pass as Terran
 * Enter transdimensional rift
 * Perform sensor sweep of system
 * Close to transporter range
 * Casino Imperiale
 * Enter the casino
 * Find Sanchez
 * Create a diversion
 * Approach L'Shana
 * Hack the dabo girl holograms
 * Talk to L'Shana
 * Return to Sanchez
 * Return to lobby for beamout
 * Defeat L'Shana's goons
 * Contact your ship
 * Never Say Nivay Again
 * Scan for tactical analysis
 * Spectre of the Sword
 * Leave transporter room
 * Explore this deck
 * Continue exploring
 * Continue exploring
 * Find where voices are coming from
 * Observe the meeting
 * Start recording
 * Concurrent objectives:
 * Listen to reports
 * Listen to reports
 * Listen to reports
 * Listen to reports
 * Escape to transporter room
 * Talk to L'Shana/"Psi"
 * Locate forcefield emitter
 * Cut wall section in corner
 * Disable forcefield emitter
 * Rejoin away team
 * Defeat ECLIPSE goons
 * To Risa With Love
 * Defeat light Terran ships
 * Defeat Terran frigates
 * Defeat Terran cruiser
 * Defeat Terran battleship
 * Enter transdimensional rift
 * Approach Risa
 * A Good Day to Live And Let Die
 * Lower forcefield
 * Proceed toward lab entrance
 * Place mini-charges on debris
 * Retreat to safe distance
 * Clear debris
 * Search lab ruins
 * Defeat ECLIPSE goons
 * Locate warhead
 * Locate warhead
 * Locate warhead
 * Locate warhead
 * Locate warhead
 * Approach object
 * Scan object
 * Charge!
 * Defeat Sigma and his goons
 * Disable dampening field
 * Transport warhead to ship
 * You Only Live Twice
 * Send text message to Adm. Youngs
 * Scan both vessels
 * Lock tractor beam on Mirror Fleming
 * Attempt to re-establish lock