STAR TREK: A Long Road (Voyager Fix It Quest)

DragonCobolt · May 8, 2022

The Dragon: Once per episode, at the beginning of combat place an Advantage on the field representing a cunning tactic or strategy devised by Danara Pel.

NAME	USS Voyager	PROF.	MULTIROLE
CLASS	Sovereign Class Heavy Exploration Vessel	CONST	2371
SHIELDS	13/13	RESISTANCE	6	SCALE	6
POWER	13/13	CREW SUPPORT	6	SMALL CRAFT	5

		COMMS	ENGINES	STRUCTURE	COMPUTERS	SENSORS	WEAPONS
BREACHES		0/6	0/6	0/6	0/6	0/6	0/6
		9	11	10	11	9	10
COMMAND	3	12	14	13	14	12	13
CONNING	2	12	14	13	14	12	13
ENGINEERING	2	11	13	12	13	11	12
SECURITY	3	13	15	14	16	13	14
SCIENCE	2	11	13	12	13	11	12
MEDICINE	2	11	13	12	13	11	12

TALENTS	Command Ship: Can give advantages using Command within range to Away Missions or to supporting ships. EMH: Has an EMH! Improved Warp Drive: When going to warp, roll 1cd on an effect, regain the power point. Quantum Torpedoes: Can use Quantum Torpedoes! (60 total) Secondary Reactors: +5 to Power High Resolution Sensors: +1 momentum to out of combat sensor checks.
TRAITS	Federation Starship – A highly sophisticated and advanced vessel, with holodecks, replicators, and similar comforts, primarily designed to handle multiple operations. Highly sensitive and requiring constant maintenance, the vehicle is less rugged than other interstellar craft Maquis Crew - a good chunk of the crew are former Maquis troublemakers. Expect discipline problems and unorthodox plans.
WEAPONS	Phaser Arrays Power Cost: 1-3 \| Range: Medium \| Damage: 9cd [+1 per extra power spent] Can Use Spread: Hit +1 time at ½ damage per effect OR Area: hit +1 ship per effect within close range. Versatile 2: Gain 2 bonus momentum with a successful hit Photon Torpedoes Power Cost: 0 \| Range: Long \| Damage: 6cd High Yield: If it causes 1 breach, it causes +1 breach Quantum Torpedoes Power Cost: 0 \| Range: Long \| Damage: 7cd (Vicious 1 - +1 damage on effects) High Yield: If it causes 1 breach, it causes +1 breach Calibrations: Requires 1 minor action to calibrate Tractor Beam (Strength 5) Power Cost: 0 \| Range: Close \| Damage: None Effect: If successfully established, enemies face a diff 5 check to escape.

CREW COMPLIMENT (Base Stat: 9 | Base Skill: 2)
CO: Captain Katheryn Janeway (Skilled: Command, Science | Weakness: Combat)

SPECIAL ABILITY: "We Can Be Better" - if you succeed on any diplomatic check with Janeway, Get +1 momentum

XO: Commander D-91 (Skilled: Command | Weakness: Socialization)
HELM: Lt. Tom Paris (Skilled: Conn | Weakness: Not Being A Fucking Up)
TACTICAL: Ensign Harry Kimm (Skilled: Gunnery | Weakness: Harry Kim)
SECURITY: Lt. JG Amy Strong (Skilled: Personal Combat | Weakness: Lying)

MAQUIS HEADBREAKER: C'nola (Skilled: Combat, Sneaking and Scheming | Weakness: Emotional Wreck)

SCIENCE: Tuvok (Skilled: Science | Weakness: Emotionless)
COMMS: Lt. Bian T'are (Skilled: Communications | Weakness: Combat)
MEDICAL: The EMH (Skilled: Doctor | Weakness: Kind of a Dick)
ENGINEER: B'lanna Torres (Skilled: Engineering | Weakness: Also a dick)

SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Ensign Steve (Useless Security Goon)
Ensign Becky (plural fighter jock)
Petty Officer Third Class Jessie (Hard working engineer)
Crewman Billingsly (Dude, Billingsly!)
Crewman Chandra (Concerned Crewman)
Bifurcate (bidimensional robot girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Princess Lyan Positron (runaway daughter of magician most foul and girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Soria Flyte (Pegasus girl and girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Mirror Universe Trevor (he's fine!)

NAME	MRSS Val Jean	PROF.	TACOPS
CLASS	Keldon Class Heavy Cruiser	CONST	2370
SHIELDS	12/12	RESISTANCE	5	SCALE	4
POWER	7/7	CREW SUPPORT	4	SMALL CRAFT	3

		COMMS	ENGINES	STRUCTURE	COMPUTERS	SENSORS	WEAPONS
BREACHES		0/4	0/4	0/4	0/4	0/4	0/4
		9	9	9	8	7	10
COMMAND	3	12	12	12	11	10	13
CONNING	2	11	11	11	10	9	12
ENGINEERING	2	11	11	11	10	9	12
SECURITY	3	12	12	12	11	10	13
SCIENCE	1	10	10	10	9	8	11
MEDICINE	2	11	11	11	10	9	12

TALENTS	Electronic Warfare Suite: Whenever making a Jamming or Intercept communications check, can spend 2 momentum to select +1 target (repeatable.) Fast Targeting Systems: No +1 diff for called shots Improved Hull Integrity: +1 Resistance Cloaking Device: Spend 3 power, and make a Control+Engineering + Engines + Security check with a diff of 2. If successful, gain the Cloaked Trait (impossible to detect, cannot attack, shields are down.) It takes a minor action to decloak.
TRAITS	Cardassian Ship – Durable, uncomfortable, close, cramped and cheap. Thinks creature comforts are for other people and technical sophistication is for people who haven't spent decades starving to death. The fact that the starving could have been avoided if the government were less...you know, monstrous doesn't seem to have occurred to that many of them. Okampan Crew – the crew are bright, perky, cheerful, and incredibly psychically powerful. Individually, they're all better than Vulcans, and as a gestalt? Who knows!
WEAPONS	Phaser Arrays Power Cost: 1-3 \| Range: Medium \| Damage: 7-9cd (Spread: Hit +1 time at ½ damage per effect OR Area) Versatile 2: Gain X bonus momentum with a successful hit Disruptor Banks Range: Medium \| Damage: 8-10cd (Vicious 1: Each effect adds +1 damage) Tractor Beam (Strength 3)

CREW COMPLIMENT (Base Stat: 8 | Base Skill: 1)
CO: Lt. Commander Brian Wacoche (Skilled: Commando Tactics | Weakness: Independent)
TACTICAL: Seska (Skilled: Being Seska | Weakness: Everything Else)
CONN: R'lash skilled: Piloting | Weakness: Romulan Fuckup)
ESPIONAGE: Kes (Skilled: Commando Tactics | Weakness: Naive)

Crewman Stadi - Age 23, Betazoid, born Beta Colony-5 to Zani and Talwyn of the House of Riis, survived by her sisters Tari and Batri.
R'mor - age 182, Vulcan, burn on Romulus to R'tan and Leslali, survived by his twelve nieces and nephews across the Empire

Skippy · Jun 7, 2022

The Dragon continues to be a terrifying opponent.

DragonCobolt said:
"Stadi?"

Amy glanced at her console...and frowned, slowly.

Forty six seconds earlier, right before dropping into warp, Crewman Stadi, pilot of ALpha-5, had hit warp speeds...and the photon torpedo heading her way had matched velocities, pulled in, and slammed into her shuttlecraft.

She was gone.

DragonCobolt said:
---
CURRENT TRUTHS: "That Pulsar...is GONNA BLOW!" (there are way more truths but a lot have become irrelevant and are discarded now)
CURRENT MOMENTUM: 0

What do you do?
[ ] ...that ship! It used a laser communicator before leaving - almost as if it was the command ship! AFTER IT! (give me 1 threat to use the momentum spend of "asking questions" to learn that ship was the command ship, then rush after it!)
-[ ] if so, how much power do you use? (write in: Between 1 and 4, though at 0 power, you cannot fire phasers or use tractor beams. If you use less power, then they escape. If you use equal, then you catch up!)
[ ] Withdraw to the Pod and away from the Pulsar!
[ ] This fleet will be removed from play. Now. Open a channel, demand their surrender - and if they don't take it, open fire.
[ ] Write In

This feels quite a lot like a trap. On the other hand... we'd get the Dragon.

@DragonCobolt, what's the Val Jean been doing? Could it corral the fleet whilst Voyager runs down the Dragon?

Night_stalker · Jun 7, 2022

Skippy said:
@DragonCobolt, what's the Val Jean been doing?

Pursing the Javert, duh.

Skippy · Jun 7, 2022

Spart117MC said:
Nuts. Maybe if we'd pulled the destroyer into range of the pod first and forced it to split its attention with it before jumping the whole squadron could have made it. That's frustrating.

Launching photons shouldn't use power right? What about launching a number of low yield torpedoes at their nacelle? Or, the Kazon flashbang. We load up several volleys to blind sensors and launch them at the enemy ships to provide cover while we chase down the command ship and pepper it with actually hard hitting torpedoes.

Edit:
I'm going to edit in a post here that I was working on and intending to put up before the update. It is about shuttles.

I am back from a half day spent obsessively theorizing about the contents of Voyager's shuttle bays because I was, and still am, convinced that Sovereigns can fit way more than five Type 9 shuttles.

After a period of time looking at the master systems display of the Sovereign, comparing it to other official and semi-official depictions of Sovereign interiors, and absolutely losing my mind because Rick Sternbach's Galaxy-class schematics had me questioning if every Starfleet vessel was supposed to contain bonkers deck-spanning interior hangars since Lower Decks canonized Cetacean Ops which was far and away a nuttier concept than an internal hangar, I have come to the conclusion that Voyager most certainly carries more than five shuttles but the rest are not fit for combat and DragonCobalt has not counted them because of that.

Having made that decision, in no small part to try and preserve what was left of my sanity, I went on to the far more relaxing task of trying to figure out what those shuttles might be. Unsurprisingly these consisted of the shuttles preceeding the Type 9, them being the Type 6, Type 7, and Type 8. I did take a moment to consider the Type 10 because it was a neat design that didn't get that much love on screen but ended up discounting it as signs pointed to it being developed post Caretaker.

I ended up picking the Type 8 as Voyager's go to non-fighty shuttle. It was introduced by the original show, was used exclusively on it, and having the highest numerical designation out of the three shuttles was probably the most technologically advanced. The Type 8 could be fitted with phasers but not torpedoes limiting its viability as a fighter.

Admittedly the fact that Type 8s could be armed at all still had me struggling for a bit to justify why they wouldn't be deployed in a fight. That bit of frustration lasted until a passing thought had me consider the phasers on a Type 8 as the equivalent of door guns on a utility helicopter and all at once it made a whole lot of sense why Type 8s wouldn't be used in a full on engagement even if they could be armed.

With that it was settled. I had my roster. Voyager carried in her main and aft shuttle bays five Type-9s, and an undisclosed number of Type 8s and Argo type shuttles.

Why Argos you ask? Well, I had come to the conclusion that Voyager had Argos all the way back when "TIME AND AGAIN (1.5)" was posted and one of the default options provided to we the questers at the end of that update made mention of trucks. The only trucks Starfleet make use of are the kind the Argo carried in Insurrection, ergo there had to be Argos.

I was certain that Voyager had Argos in her shuttle fleet. There was only one issue with my prediction which I wouldn't discover until I re-read the Argo's Memory Alpha article which revealed what I knew to be Argos to be Type 17 shuttles. Earlier I had asked DragonCobalt if Voyager had any Type 11s and he had replied no because they hadn't been introduced yet. If Starfleet hadn't developed 11s by the start of Voyager's journey then there was no way they would have gotten around to making Type 17s.

So now I had a new question. If Voyager didn't have Argo, Type 17, shuttles what was supposed to offload the ship's trucks? Transporters obviously, but at this point I was so far deep into the shuttle rabbit hole that the thought hadn't occurred to me. Now, with a slightly clearer head I can try and disguise my tunnel vision as thorough thinking and point out that an intelligent starship captains would want to have a shuttle large enough to offload ground vehicles when local conditions prevent beaming.

Remembering that Lower Decks featured Picard's favorite dune buggy I first went to see if the Ceritos had any on board. A quick Google search later for the ship's MSD and I found one someone had pieced together on Twitter which showed a number of the vehicles parked above and below the ship's shuttle bay. A shuttle bay which only contained the show introduced Type 6A shuttles.

Despite its name the Type 6A has more in common with the Galileo 5 shuttle from The Final Frontier and the Type 8 than it does the Type 6. The Type 6A sports a longer, lengthier rear cabin like the Galileo, though the animated show does not always clearly convey this fact, and has its nacelles mounted on pylons shaped similarly to those found on the Type 8. While pure speculation on my part, the larger rear cabin of the Type 6A may be big enough to accommodate the Nemesis truck, in particular the more compact design featured in Lower Decks. If true then I would have my answer to my earlier question and Voyager would have Type 6As.

There is another large shuttle of the era that could potentially transport trucks but it has no name, was a redressing of the Galileo 5, is generally considered a minor variant of the Type 6, and only shows up once at the end of Generations. While it isn't stated outright that the Type 6A can carry trucks it is heavily implied that they can do so and the 6A is a shuttle that is seen in use aboard multiple different ships.

Realistically Voyager's shuttle fleet likely consists of Type 9s and Type 8s. It probably has no Type 17s and it most certainly has no Type 11s. It might however have Type 6As and if it does they might be for the purpose of carrying trucks to and from the ship.

Edit 2:
Friggen wikias and making images impossible to link.

This is quite a deep dive, good on you for looking into it!

Honestly, a Sovereign class should probably have pretty extensive shuttlecraft facilities. It's a frontline explorer, so you'd think "orbital lift" capabilities would be important for relief ops or the many tasks involving moving people or things where a transporter does not cut it. Sovereigns are also huge, not quite as big as a Galaxy-class in terms of internal volume, but still absolutely enormous internally, so they should have plenty of space.

But having unique features like "extended shuttle bays" is a good way to give different classes unique strengths and weaknesses, rather than just having the newest exploration cruiser be the Best Ship which is Best At Everything. So I can understand from a game design POV why this is the route the books and DC have taken.

KarmaA said:
I strongly second the idea that throwing a minigun that shoots beanbags onto a minivan will not give one the same utility as a Bradley. I also have had no good space combat ideas so I'm going to resume lurking.

That's probably true, but to be fair, we are exactly in the sort of "mend and make do" situation where building what are essentially Space Technicals out of older shuttle designs with extra weaponry strapped on. Starfleet designs also tend to be very over-engineered and somewhat under-armed for their size, relative to other powers, so there is probably more capacity to do this than you would have with say, a Cardassian or Klingon shuttle pod.

Pictured, the future of our support armada:

Bolo · Jun 7, 2022

From what we know and have seen of the enemy ships can we use the defector do disrupt the warp field using the tech tech and pulsar?
Launching our photon torpedos max power and max spread so they get caught in it no matter what?

KarmaA · Jun 7, 2022

Skippy said:
That's probably true, but to be fair, we are exactly in the sort of "mend and make do" situation where building what are essentially Space Technicals out of older shuttle designs with extra weaponry strapped on.

Agreed, I was mostly referring to our inability to count some shuttles as useful for this fight (or modifications that could safely be done quickly for this episode).

If we make some technicals I'd expect them to have boosted powerplants, stronger phasers and/or larger firing arcs for existing phasers, and improvements to mobility and survivability (armor, structure, and shields).

DragonCobolt · Jun 7, 2022

Skippy said:
@DragonCobolt, what's the Val Jean been doing? Could it corral the fleet whilst Voyager runs down the Dragon?

Currently, not much - their batteries are tapped out and their engine power is all focused on running their cloak...and they've already acted 4 times (you can act once per scale - hence why the shuttles all had to use 3 momentum to do combo actions, they were all scale 1.)

Spart117MC said:
Launching photons shouldn't use power right? What about launching a number of low yield torpedoes at their nacelle? Or, the Kazon flashbang. We load up several volleys to blind sensors and launch them at the enemy ships to provide cover while we chase down the command ship and pepper it with actually hard hitting torpedoes.

yup, photons costs 0 power!

Spart117MC said:
I am back from a half day spent obsessively theorizing about the contents of Voyager's shuttle bays because I was, and still am, convinced that Sovereigns can fit way more than five Type 9 shuttles.

Oh, the number isn't how many you have, total, it's how many you can deploy at any one time.

See, it's in the rules!

Skippy · Jun 7, 2022

DragonCobolt said:
Currently, not much - their batteries are tapped out and their engine power is all focused on running their cloak...and they've already acted 4 times (you can act once per scale - hence why the shuttles all had to use 3 momentum to do combo actions, they were all scale 1.)

So, just to break this down as my brain is smooth like a potato - this means they can't uncloak, raise shields, and corral the Vidiian fleet right now?

Assuming they can't, would this remain true if we generated a Threat to give us a Momentum so they could to act again, or not?

Night_stalker said:
Pursing the Javert, duh.

Unfortunately for us, Russel Crowe's singing is a psychological weapon banned by galactic treaty, after it was used to end the Second Romulan-Earth war in only three days.

DragonCobolt · Jun 7, 2022

Skippy said:
So, just to break this down as my brain is smooth like a potato - this means they can't uncloak, raise shields, and corral the Vidiian fleet right now?

Assuming they can't, would this remain true if we generated a Threat to give us a Momentum so they could to act again, or not?

Once everyone has acted the maximum number of times, the round resets. Now, they actually did spend some time regeneration power with their last actions, so they do have some. Dropping cloak takes 0 power, though!

Skippy · Jun 7, 2022

DragonCobolt said:
Once everyone has acted the maximum number of times, the round resets. Now, they actually did spend some time regeneration power with their last actions, so they do have some. Dropping cloak takes 0 power, though!

So... again, apologies, very smooth brain, but does this mean they can drop their cloak and menace the Vidiian fleet into surrendering whilst Voyager gives chase, or not?

DragonCobolt · Jun 7, 2022

Skippy said:
So... again, apologies, very smooth brain, but does this mean they can drop their cloak and menace the Vidiian fleet into surrendering whilst Voyager gives chase, or not?

Oh, sorry, no. The enemy ships are scale 3, and they've withdrawn to the pulsar, fired (well, will have fired) and then will withdraw before the Val Jean gets more actions.

hcvquizibo · Jun 7, 2022

[X] This fleet will be removed from play. Now. Open a channel, demand their surrender - and if they don't take it, open fire.

Eater · Jun 7, 2022

[ ] ...that ship! It used a laser communicator before leaving - almost as if it was the command ship! AFTER IT! (give me 1 threat to use the momentum spend of "asking questions" to learn that ship was the command ship, then rush after it!)

I feel like this is definitely our best bet.

@DragonCobolt, how much power do we have? Are both ships full? If it comes to spending more power, the escaping ship has a cap of eight, some of which was probably spent. Voyager ought to be able to catch up, but presumably out shields are still down and we need to spend power to raise them? Val Jean has 7 power so can probably keep pace with them at best.

Spart117MC said:
Launching photons shouldn't use power right? What about launching a number of low yield torpedoes at their nacelle? Or, the Kazon flashbang. We load up several volleys to blind sensors and launch them at the enemy ships to provide cover while we chase down the command ship and pepper it with actually hard hitting torpedoes.

True, but launching torpedoes does generate threat, which we probably want to avoid in this situation. Could be used to create a fallback position or more ships by dragon. They all did take damage soo mb we just leg it after the command ship? They can't hit us from behind and we are faster

DragonCobolt · Jun 7, 2022

Eater said:
@DragonCobolt, how much power do we have? Are both ships full? If it comes to spending more power, the escaping ship has a cap of eight, some of which was probably spent. Voyager ought to be able to catch up, but presumably out shields are still down and we need to spend power to raise them? Val Jean has 7 power so can probably keep pace with them at best.

The Val Jean, currently, has 3 power, Voyager has 6!

Eater · Jun 7, 2022

Do we need to spend power to raise voyagers shields?

DragonCobolt · Jun 7, 2022

Eater said:
Do we need to spend power to raise voyagers shields?

Nope - raising and lowering shields is a minor action. *Restoring* shields takes power - but that's only after they've been damaged. The Pulsar is not damaging your shields, it's just suppressing them.

Mechanically, the pulsar is a "Trait" - Trait (which are also called advantages and complications) do two things mechanically: They make things possible/impossible, and they increase/decrease difficulty by 1!

So, the pulsar trait you created made the "Vidiians have their shields up" by an impossibility, and the complication rolled created the contingent trait of "WORKED TOO WELL!" which makes YOUR shields no longer up! But once you leave where the trait is located (the pulsar), that possible/impossible switch is set to possible again and your shields pop right back up!

This is the core mechanic of how the 2d20 system works and I actually really quite like it. I like games with if/then statements!

...this joke is very funny if you've read Progenitor.

CyberFemme · Jun 7, 2022

DragonCobolt said:
This is the core mechanic of how the 2d20 system works and I actually really quite like it. I like games with if/then statements!

...this joke is very funny if you've read Progenitor.

Did someone say if/then statements?!

(Those were fun to abuse)

Eater · Jun 7, 2022

Thanks!

Okay, here's what I'm thinking:

[x] Plan Pursuit
-[x] ...that ship! It used a laser communicator before leaving - almost as if it was the command ship! AFTER IT! (give me 1 threat to use the momentum spend of "asking questions" to learn that ship was the command ship, then rush after it!)
—[x] spend 4 power
-[x] val jean will stay behind and menace/pursue the remaining three ships preventing them from attacking the pod or pursuing voyager (a safe distance from the pulsar
-[x] pulsars are scary!! Broadcast a general warning that the pulsar has been destabilized and that anyone nearby should take shelter from the increased radiation/technobabble particles

Edit: i guess the pulsar is light years from the pod huh?

Edit edit: changed warning to be general, rather than specifically to allies.

SweetJackal · Jun 7, 2022

I don't know if pursuing the command ship is the best bet. We do have the higher warp factor but now we are chasing in a line, not intercepting an incoming fleet. Which means we are playing by the front and rear rules for Warp combat. We will be leaving our own support, the remaining Vidiian fleet will be open to pursue or attack our support, and we don't know what support the Dragon will be running to and what we open ourselves to being intercepted by.

I also think that combat near the pulsar in this state is foolhardy and would put Voyager at a disadvantage for little gain. Vidiian ships are best suited against shieldless foes and Voyager has a tech advantage that is suppressed by the pulsar. Though Janeway doesn't know which ship is the command ship yet, unless the Dragon is taken out there is very little effect of wiping the remaining fleet clean. In fact, pinning the fleet down now could hurt us in the long run by harming the power of the image of mercy Starfleet general abides by.

I think all of our pregen options are bad because they ignore both the tactical victory of this situation and the longterm or big picture for the strategic victory in favor of closing out the scenario quickly.

I think we should be directing this away from combat for the moment. Inform the remaining Vidiian fleet that the Pulsar is unstable and remaining in the area will dry their ships and kill their crew, offer emergency aid to any ship that surrenders and that those crews will be treated humanly and their phage infections cured. We should then move to support the capture of the Destroyer with the Val Jean, repair our minor damage, and see about developing countermeasures to their railguns.

Eater · Jun 7, 2022

SweetJackal said:
I don't know if pursuing the command ship is the best bet. We do have the higher warp factor but now we are chasing in a line, not intercepting an incoming fleet. Which means we are playing by the front and rear rules for Warp combat. We will be leaving our own support, the remaining Vidiian fleet will be open to pursue or attack our support, and we don't know what support the Dragon will be running to and what we open ourselves to being intercepted by.

I also think that combat near the pulsar in this state is foolhardy and would put Voyager at a disadvantage for little gain. Vidiian ships are best suited against shieldless foes and Voyager has a tech advantage that is suppressed by the pulsar. Though Janeway doesn't know which ship is the command ship yet, unless the Dragon is taken out there is very little effect of wiping the remaining fleet clean. In fact, pinning the fleet down now could hurt us in the long run by harming the power of the image of mercy Starfleet general abides by.

I think all of our pregen options are bad because they ignore both the tactical victory of this situation and the longterm or big picture for the strategic victory in favor of closing out the scenario quickly.

I think we should be directing this away from combat for the moment. Inform the remaining Vidiian fleet that the Pulsar is unstable and remaining in the area will dry their ships and kill their crew, offer emergency aid to any ship that surrenders and that those crews will be treated humanly and their phage infections cured. We should then move to support the capture of the Destroyer with the Val Jean, repair our minor damage, and see about developing countermeasures to their railguns.

Okay, few things in response to this.

Ooc, the dragon is the vidiians ace in the hole and taking her off the board, somehow, is vital for resolving this conflict swiftly. If we can beat the thing that let them beat the borg it will be devastating to their morale. If the dragon escapes then they can cone back with another fleet at any point and we essentially start over from square one, only this time with prisoners to worry about and one fewer crewman. There are hundreds of vidiian pods through the sector, so in a battle of attrition we will loose. A swift resolution is vital for us.

Lets look at what happens if we go after the fleeing command ship. We get away from the pulsar, giving us shields again. They aren't as fast as we are, so we catch them eventually. If the remaining three ships at the pulsar pursue voyager they upen themselves to attack by val jean. If they go for the pod they face val jean and the fighters and the pod.

I believe that the railguns are only effective against unshielded targets, so we're fine if we're nit rear the pulsar. It's a finisher at best so not something thats any more concerning than any other weapon.

DragonCobolt · Jun 7, 2022

Eater said:
Edit: i guess the pulsar is light years from the pod huh?

yup, warp engines make for very, very big fields of engagement

Eater · Jun 7, 2022

SweetJackal said:
I think we should be directing this away from combat for the moment. Inform the remaining Vidiian fleet that the Pulsar is unstable and remaining in the area will dry their ships and kill their crew, offer emergency aid to any ship that surrenders and that those crews will be treated humanly and their phage infections cured. We should then move to support the capture of the Destroyer with the Val Jean, repair our minor damage, and see about developing countermeasures to their railguns.

I didn't really respond to this. I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time these are military vessels. The destroyer at pod liberte already surrendered, so it's something that they are willing to do. They may not know that the pulsar is more dangerous, however. That's a good point, I'll modify my plan to include a general warning about the pulsar.

Spart117MC · Jun 7, 2022

Skippy said:
This feels quite a lot like a trap. On the other hand... we'd get the Dragon.

On the other hand the Dragon may recognize as we have that it is the linchpin of any possible Emergent victory. Voyager has demonstrated a scientific and tactical acumen and technological edge that allows it to shred Emergent ships and her plans.

Consider too that we've managed to counter everything the Dragon has done and repeatedly shattered her plans. Her cool demeanor masks it but the truth is we've been forcing to constantly readjust her plans and be reactive this whole fight.

Voyager bypassed the picket that was meant to engage it and even smacked it with the minefield meant to defend it, Val Jean jumped the main fleet while it was in transit and got a kill on one of the bigger vessels without much damage to itself, the destroyer sent to hit the pod while it was undefended just surrendered, and now the ambush the Dragon was setting up failed because the star she parked her fleet over was destabilized.

I hate to say it but the one death we have suffered does not change the fact we have achieved overwhelming victory over each of the Dragon's plans.

KarmaA said:
Agreed, I was mostly referring to our inability to count some shuttles as useful for this fight (or modifications that could safely be done quickly for this episode).

If we make some technicals I'd expect them to have boosted powerplants, stronger phasers and/or larger firing arcs for existing phasers, and improvements to mobility and survivability (armor, structure, and shields).

Stadi's death is an indication that even the Type 9s are in need of an upgrade. If we're going to keep deploying fighters, and their effectiveness against the Emergent Destroyer has indicated we should consider doing so, then we're going to want to push to enact the Delta Flyer project early.

DragonCobolt said:
Oh, the number isn't how many you have, total, it's how many you can deploy at any one time.

See, it's in the rules!

So that would mean then that part of that limit is organizational. There could be not enough personnel to handle more than five shuttles operating simultaneously. At the same time however the way the shuttle bays are designed doesn't mean you can necessarily throw more bodies at the problem either.

There may only be so much deck space available to conduct maintenance on and rearm active shuttles and the hangars for long term storage where replacement vessels sound like they are solely for long term storage, without additional work spaces or spots for spare parts and tools.

The shuttle bay of a Starfleet vessel probably is not built like a sea going carrier's hangar deck. It is not designed to maximize the number of craft that can be deployed by the ship at any one time.

Would it be possible to increase the number of deployable shuttles by redesigning the interiors of Voyager's two shuttle bays? Alternatively how much work would it be to extend Voyager's squadron sizes by designing and installing a hangar mission pod to Voyager?

If adding a mission pod is at all possible I'd like to commemorate it with a plaque dedicated to crewman Stadi.

Skippy said:
Unfortunately for us, Russel Crowe's singing is a psychological weapon banned by galactic treaty, after it was used to end the Second Romulan-Earth war in only three days.

Earth however still retains copies of the film adaptation of Cats.

Eater said:
True, but launching torpedoes does generate threat, which we probably want to avoid in this situation. Could be used to create a fallback position or more ships by dragon. They all did take damage soo mb we just leg it after the command ship? They can't hit us from behind and we are faster

I was under the impression we only had enough power to chase down the Dragon's ship. Seeing as that isn't the case I withdraw my suggestion of peppering the Dragon's ship in low yield torpedoes.

On the other hand I still think there's merit to copying the Kazon to flashbang the enemy with torpedoes. Besides making it harder for the enemy to hit Voyager it is also an example of continuity and a sign that Voyager is learning from its encounters. @DragonCobolt does using photons the way the Kazon did against Voyager increase threat the same way as if we were to use them as weapons?

Eater said:
I didn't really respond to this. I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time these are military vessels. The destroyer at pod liberte already surrendered, so it's something that they are willing to do. They may not know that the pulsar is more dangerous, however. That's a good point, I'll modify my plan to include a general warning about the pulsar.

"We are the Federation. Put down your weapons and surrender your ships. We will add your cultural and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your society will adapt to join us. Resistance is futile."

Edit:
Wording changes.

DragonCobolt · Jun 7, 2022

No, that would be just making an advantage! So normal diff 2 skill check!

Spart117MC · Jun 7, 2022

[X] Plan The Nistrim Maneuver
-[X] ...that ship! It used a laser communicator before leaving - almost as if it was the command ship! AFTER IT! (give me 1 threat to use the momentum spend of "asking questions" to learn that ship was the command ship, then rush after it!)
--[X] Spend 4 power
-[X] Replicate what the Sect Nistrim ships did to escape Voyager and launch a volley of torpedoes set to blind the Emergent fleet.
-[X] Have the crew of the captured destroyer broadcast that they have surrendered, that they are being held with concern being given to their well being, and are being provided free cures for the Phage.

I don't know if we should warn the Emergent ships about the Pulsar though I do understand the intention of the act. At this point those ships are still enemy combatants that we are trying to destroy or at the very least force out of combat. Us warning them about the Pulsar would be like if we were to warn them about a torpedo we launched at them. I feel it would be counterproductive.

Plus they're working for the Dragon, someone who treats her crew like expendable tools and threatens anyone that so much as asks a question with death. The possibility of death by Pulsar may not be much of a convincing argument. On the other hand a message informing them that one of their fleet's most powerful ships has surrendered might well be.

Additionally it would be more convincing for the crew of the Destroyer to be the ones to claim that prisoners are being treated well and cured of the Phage than if Voyager were to do so. Voyager was the one shooting at the Emergent fleet up until that moment whereas the Destroyer crew was on their side and the message is proof, however suspect, that Voyager will take prisoners.

I haven't listed anything for Val Jean because according to DC they actually can't do anything right now and won't be able to until after the Emergent retreats.

Edit:
Made the vote active.

SweetJackal · Jun 7, 2022

[x] Plan Pursuit

I am sold on the pursuit of the Dragon, and looking through our ship stats I have noticed something. We seem to have a really strong tractor beam?

STAR TREK: A Long Road (Voyager Fix It Quest)

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