Season 7 Interlude

Mission Info

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Mission Summary

The Elysium Refit

While much of the crew disperses, Starfleet Corps of Engineers teams begin work on the ship.

This isn't intended to turn Elysium into a different vessel. It is about repairing the scars of Circinus and bringing her fully back into Federation service.

Work includes:

comprehensive structural inspection and repair;
replacement of components that have survived far beyond their intended service life;
warp drive and EPS overhaul;
computer-core diagnostics and software updates;
sensor and communications upgrades;
refurbishment of crew quarters and civilian areas;
restoration of recreational spaces;
replacement and modernization of medical and scientific equipment;
shuttle and auxiliary craft servicing;
weapons, shields and defensive-system overhaul;
inspection of the many field repairs and Circinus-era modifications made during their isolation.

There is also a more complicated question.

During Circinus, Elysium adapted.

Some modifications were improvised simply to keep her flying. Others proved better than the systems they replaced.

Starfleet engineers therefore have to determine what should be removed...

…and what should become a permanent part of the ship.

That gives your Engineering players plenty to do even during shore leave.

For the Crew

Starfleet strongly encourages personnel to leave the ship.

Some return to families.

Some travel.

Some remain on Andoria.

Some attend counselling or medical follow-ups.

Some reconnect with people they haven't seen since before Circinus.

Some discover those relationships aren't what they remember.

And some simply don't know where else to go.

The Elysium has been their entire world for so long that walking away from her—even temporarily—may feel deeply uncomfortable.

This interlude is deliberately open.

Players can use the five-month period for:

family reunions;
weddings and relationships;
holidays;
visiting Earth or homeworlds;
catching up with old friends;
medical treatment;
counselling;
career decisions;
Academy or Starfleet training;
reconnecting with children and partners;
dealing with losses from Circinus;
personal side stories;
visiting the Elysium during her refurbishment;
helping civilians establish new lives;
deciding that they don't actually want to leave the ship.

There doesn't need to be one central plot.

The characters are the plot.

Civilians and Families

For Elysium's civilians, these five months may be even more significant.

They aren't merely taking shore leave.

Some have to decide whether they are coming back.

After years aboard the ship, Federation authorities can now offer families alternatives:

housing, education, employment, relocation and opportunities to settle elsewhere.

For some, that's exactly what they've dreamed about.

For others:

Elysium is home.

That gives us a very useful early seed for The Ship That Came Back much later in Season 7.

The attachment civilians have developed to Elysium doesn't suddenly appear in Episode 8.

It starts here.

Department Opportunities

Engineering can remain heavily involved in the refit, arguing over what Circinus modifications stay and what Starfleet wants stripped out.

Medical & Counselling face the transition from survival medicine to long-term care. Some physical and psychological consequences may only emerge once people finally feel safe.

Science gets access to Federation laboratories again and the opportunity to properly analyse samples and discoveries brought back from Circinus.

Security & Marines suddenly have no perimeter to defend. For some characters, learning to switch off may be harder than expected.

Diplomatic personnel can begin dealing with the political consequences of Elysium's return and reconnecting with governments and institutions.

Operations has the enormous job of reconciling years of improvised inventory, equipment and records with Starfleet systems.

Flight Control can oversee servicing, replacement and certification of the ship's small craft.

Command gets something particularly unusual:

Time.

Phoenix and her senior officers have five months to consider what sort of ship Elysium should be when she returns to duty.

Optional Refit Story Thread — “These Are Our Scars”

I think this could make a lovely recurring background story.

A Starfleet engineer recommends removing something visibly damaged aboard Elysium.

Maybe a section of bulkhead.

A scorched corridor panel.

An old Circinus repair.

Something technically obsolete.

One of the crew objects.

Not because they need it.

Because:

“That happened getting us home.”

It raises a surprisingly difficult question throughout the refurbishment:

How much of Elysium's damage should be erased?

Eventually, Phoenix could decide that Elysium doesn't need to pretend Circinus never happened.

Most damage is repaired.

But perhaps one scar remains deliberately preserved somewhere aboard ship, with a small plaque commemorating everyone who got her home.

That could become a permanent location on your NOVA site.