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When you're a GM the first thing you need is a story, it's hard to run a sim if you have no plot. There is no hard, fast rule on where to get story ideas, inspiration is as unique as each GM, and can be found everywhere. Television, books, movies, magazines, even the news can provide story ideas, look around, your next story could be hidden in the autumn leaves.
As GMs we can find a lot of inspiration from the STF characters, themselves. For instance, if the CO of the ship is a Bajoran, what better antagonist can you find besides a Cardassian? Or maybe another character has lost one spouse to divorce, and another to death. What would happen if that character were forced to marry to save a Federation alliance?
The plot is only limited by your imagination. However, there are a few guidelines to follow to make sure the crew loves the story as much as you do.
Make sure the plot is big enough to keep everyone busy. If it's not, you may have to add a secondary storyline to involve those left out.
Avoid scenarios used to death in STF, as well as plots your ship has seen before. Check with the CO of the ship to which you're assigned, ask him if he has preferences, make sure that the battle sim you have planned isn't going to be the third one in a row the ship's been dealt.
Familiarize yourself with your ship's class. A wonderful sim exploring the exobiology of a newly-discovered planet won't work well on a Trafalgar or Kansas. Just as sending a McCoy into battle is suicide. Determine a ship's capabilities ahead of time, too, so you don't have a ship doing a saucer separation that would normally only be possible if it were blown in two.
Make sure your plot is plausible. Sure, it'd be really cool if the ship crash-landed, but unless the ship is capable of sub-orbital flight, don't expect it to fly again. Likewise you can't do anything that contradicts canon.
Finally, avoid rehashing Trek episodes and overusing Trek characters and ships. STF has its own ships. Rely on them. Keep appearances by Trek characters to cameos.
Now, here are a couple of questions to keep in mind. They should give you a springboard for developing your concept a bit more. What's the style/tone of the story you're trying to establish? That leads into... What's the central conflict?
That's really the crux of the whole thing. What you have to do to have a successful mission is:
Set up a problem for the crew to overcome. Maybe they have to solve a mystery. Maybe they have to blow things up. Maybe they have to rescue someone. The point is, drama occurs only when there's a problem to overcome.
The crew has to be invested in solving it. You can't just, put a Rubik’s Cube into space, and expect the crew to solve it. Something important has to be at stake, something that the characters on the ship will care about and something the PLAYERS will care about.
There has to be some sort of "reward" for when the players finish the sim. I don't mean you should pass out candy at the end of the sim; I'm an English major, so the term I like to use is catharsis. Essentially, it means a satisfactory end to the story -- maybe not a happy one, but one that lets the characters (and players) know they've accomplished something.
Okay, you were out for a bike ride the other day and a great story idea came to you. You've read the guidelines, have studied the ship's specs, and made sure no one has done a story about wheeled aliens. What's next?
Homework - 102: Take a few minutes to come up with a story idea suitable for a sim. Identify how you will involve the various departments. You may need to just point out that a certain department is going to need a side sim.