Starfleet Design Bureau

[StriderInCosmos]

Reflections, in All Their Forms

Agaron Prime, Antares Sector, Late 2158

Flag Captain Fuku Sukuda of the UES Thunderchild was a well-read man.

Any crewmember or officer of the ship that spent any great amount of time onboard both knew that quite well and thought that it had little bearing on their assignments. Especially now. Here, as 2158, in Earth time at least, threatened to tip over into 2159, they found themselves at a research station and civilian outpost keeping watch as what the Andorian ambassador was quick to classify as 'important weapons data', alongside nearly 8,000 scientists and civilians, was evacuated from the single habitable planet in the system.

All in all, the small task fleet under their command was enjoying the brief respite in combat operations. Warspite, their only sister vessel at the moment, was raising quite the furor elsewhere with her own task fleet, keeping the Romulan fleets busy while they worked. Even still, Captain Sukuda sat in the command chair on the bridge, watching out the viewscreen as the civilian ships slowly began to float away from Agaron 4. He didn't need to look back to know that Rear Admiral Afolayan, the woman in charge of the fleet, was at his shoulder.

Finally, the silence broke. "Captain!" Lieutenant Nelson said as he looked back from his tactical station. "Reading a wolfpack of signatures, 9 in all, coming in from the shadow of Agaron 2."

The wolfpacks had been growing larger since the battle of Denobula. But that didn't matter. They had them outnumbered by 5 ships. "Red alert, all power to combat systems," Sukuda said firmly. "All ahead full."

Afolayan nodded. "Contact the Bentfin and the Spinetail, and tell them to run security for the refugee fleet."

The fleet sprang into action, a well-maintained instrument oiled and tuned to the tempo of battle as they swept out toward their enemies. But even such grand action was mostly undertaken in silence, their intercept course making contact with the enemy fleet halfway between Agaron 4 and Agaron 1. The wolfpack's signatures glided ever closer. Strange, that they'd decloaked this far out.

"They're in torpedo range, sir," Nelson said.

"Full barrage on the lead warbird, then pairs on any vulnerable enemies that come up on the fleet tac-net on my mark," Sukuda replied, watching the sensor panel on his chair intently as the seconds ticked by, then green dots resolved on the barren backdrop of Agaron 1. "Fire!"

The buzzing, blaring hum of the photonic torpedoes preceded their brilliant, scintillating orange forms lancing out, accompanied seconds later by their dimmer atomic cousins that glowed a pale white. The warbirds, now almost discernable, began to swoop away in pairs and trios. The atomic torpedoes launched by the other ships began to struggle in their tracking patterns, but the photonics were a more dogged sort, slamming into the starboard stern of their target warbird, two hits on its hull sending a winged nacelle shearing away as it tumbled helplessly towards them.

Then they came into gun range, the stars crossed with ribbons of orange and green as NXs, Stingrays, and warbirds began to engage in the deadly dance of the duel, turning about as polarized hulls clashed with shielded targets. And at the center of it all was Thunderchild, a fortress of energized metal and hyperfocused fire, boring through the shields of the warbirds and offering her cohort opportunities to strike and triumph, one warbird after another soon enough going up in flames as their reactors quenched and exploded.

She still took her licks, of course, warbirds pelting her with fire as best they could. Four topside pulsed phase cannons had been knocked out by the time they halved the fleet, along with three bottom-mounted cannons and an aft torpedo tube.

"Captain!" Sukuda's communications officer called, breaking him from the focus of his task. "The Bentfin is reading four more warbirds decloaking in front of the refugee fleet!"

Sukuda's eyes flashed down to his pannel, and his heart went cold as he saw the truth of it. Four ships, arrayed in a line in front of the fleet and the two Stingrays, waiting patiently for the helpless fleet to reach them. But they just... waited where they were. No engagement, no first strike, everything flying in the face of Romulan combat doctrine as Starfleet knew it.

'They want them afraid before they die.' Sukuda realized as his jaw clenched. 'They want to show how powerful they are to them.'

He looked up at the battle that raged around him. "What's the status of the fleet here?" he asked Nelson.

Nelson spared a glance down at his console. "The Munk's Pygmy and the Sicklefin have taken heavy damage and are peeling off. The Atlantis and the Buran are down a few phase cannons and a torpedo launcher. Otherwise, these last five ships shouldn't be much of a problem."

Sukuda nodded as he looked up at Afolayan. "Ma'am, I'm about to turn this ship around. Shall I inform Captain Koenig?"

"Don't worry about it," Afolayan replied, striding over to the comms station. "Dream Chaser, this is Fleet Command. Thunderchild is breaking off to assist the refugee fleet. Can we leave this in your hands?"

"We'll mop things up here, Admiral." Captain Koenig replied. "Give them hell."

Afolayan nodded, and Sukuda wasted no time. "Bring us about, Ensign, full speed ahead! Inform the Bentfin and the Spinetail we're on our way and tell them to prepare to attack the furthest left warbird on our signal. On my mark, launch a full spread of torpedoes at that target. We'll engage the remaining three."

They worked as he spoke, the ship making the best headway it could toward the fleet in distress, the Romulan screen slowly creeping closer. Finally, as time seemed to stretch its seconds into hours, they were within range. "Torpedo barrage, fire! Helm, adjust heading to face the center of our three ships and begin long-range fires."

The torpedoes flashed away again, slicing through the void and over the heads of the refugee vessels and the Stingrays to slam into the warbird, its shields flashing as they failed, the final torpedo slamming into the hull as it began to maneuver away. The Bentfin and Spinetail leaped into action, peeling away from the head of the fleet to chase their newly vulnerable prey.

The remaining warbirds, however, wasted no time focusing on the Thunderchild, disruptor beams lancing across the vessel's thick-skinned hull as it fired torpedoes and phase cannons at the terrorizing vessels. The battleship wasn't suited fully for this sort of direct, driving attack, and the ship rocked from the impacts as sections of hull polarization faltered and failed. Finally, however, a warbird went up in a brilliant explosion, a twin of the one the two Stingrays had doggedly worn down.

Their focus turned to another warbird, their phase cannons piercing through its shields and scoring one nacelle, then another, the warbird drifting slowly to a stop in front of them, its top side facing them even as it continued to fire.

Then, several disruptor beams scored the front of the hull, the impact of them nearly sending Sukuda and the rest of the bridge out of their chairs. "Damage report!" he shouted.

"Power to the weapons is fluctuating, sir!" Nelson said, panic edging into his voice. "We're down to one forward torpedo tube functioning, and repair teams are being dispatched to torpedo tube 3."

The guns of the ship were silent, the hull pounded on again and again by the warbirds. They needed to do... something.

Then, Sukuda looked at the drifting warbird before them, and an idea clicked into place in his mind.

"Ensign," he told the helmsman, "all ahead full through that drifting warbird."

The ensign, a fresh-faced young man named Quinn, looked at him like he'd gone mad. And likely, he might have. "You want to ram them, sir?"

"We don't have many other options. Do it!" Sukuda stabbed the ship-wide comms button. "All hands, evacuate from the port side and brace for impact!"

He hoped, as he felt them getting up to speed, that his warning had come soon enough, the warbird growing larger and larger in the viewscreen as it fired more and more. Then... impact.

They got lucky enough to clip the bow of the ship, the back of it flipping down on them like a coin landing on pavement before it bounced up off them, debris from both ships mixing as it trailed the now thoroughly ruined warbird. The blow sent most of the bridge, and most likely most of the warship, sprawling on the deck. For long moments, it was still. Surprisingly silent, as if their last warbird was simply aghast at the desperate maneuver.

Then, Sukuda lifted himself off the floor. "Power to the starboard weapons as quickly as possible, then get a firing solution on that last warbird. Quickly!"

The rest of the bridge crew struggled back into their seats, Nelson's fingers flying over the console as he tried desperately to make his captain's orders come to pass. The warbird began finally to fire on them again, yet more of the hull scored by disruptor fire. Then, finally, the starboard weapons that remained roared to life, phase beams lancing out to the warbird as a pair of torpedoes streaked from the remaining tubes toward it. After long, almost agonizing moments, the final warbird detonated.

Captain Sukuda slouched slightly in his chair as he sighed heavily. "Ensign Colms, what's the status of the fleet?" he asked his comms officer.

She was silent for a moment. "The rest of the warbirds have been destroyed, sir. The fleet's returning to us." she paused again. "The Andorian fleet sends their thanks for ensuring their escape."

"Good," Afolayan said, looking down at Sukuda with a critical eye. "Fuku, speaking frankly, I ought to strip you of command for putting your ship at risk like that."

"You'd have every right to, Mosi," Sukuda replied. "That ram was risky. Too risky. But if I hadn't done something..."

He paused, then chuckled softly. "Well, Thunderchild wouldn't have lived up to her name. Or maybe she would have. Who's to say?"

Afolayan sighed quietly. "Well, if nothing else, the civilians are safe." she paused. "I wonder what Wells would think of that."

"I think he'd be impressed his ironclad made it out this time," Sukuda said with a slight grin as they limped back to the task fleet.

A/N: My Thunderchild omake, as promised.

 

[Sayle]

The after-action reports from the Battle of Denobula make one thing painfully clear - the Stingray is out of its depth. This is understandable, certainly: the poor thing was designed to be an in-system patrol boat, or at most an anti-piracy patroller. Nobody at the bureau considered the possibility that it would be serving in a wartime capacity even remotely seriously. War with who? Before the Stingray was phased out? Not likely.

But it's happening, and the reality is that for cost it is still more effective than the NX-class, simply because you need raw numbers to spread hostile fire. But when it takes two Stingrays to be comfortable with taking on a Romulan warbird and you're coming up against force concentrations that equal or exceed your own, something has to give. The order comes down from on high with a simple directive: give Starfleet a replacement for the Stingray, preferably as cheap but definitely more effective.

Easier said than done. The new deflectors are three decks high and even with Vulcan help the first United Earth manufactured shield emitters are several years away. There is no reality where you create a starship that can go toe-to-toe with a Romulan warbird for anything like the cost recommendations you're being given. So you're going to have to make some hard decisions right out the gate.

Main hull first. Arrowhead configuration would give you plenty of space for engines, opening the possibility for a hyper-manoeuvrable vessel with a concentrated armament that is nonetheless capable of staying on target. Problem: with the new deflectors you won't have any forward torpedo tubes unless you can undersling the deflector dish, and even then a single tube will be all you'll get. There might be some way to get a vertical nacelle configuration that alleviates some of the problems, but that would be experimental work.

Possibility two: half saucer. You might be able to get away with the deflector in-line with the hull, but having to mount the nacelles port and starboard instead of from a midline truss would mean occupying substantial internal space with the warp engine and transfer conduits. Optionally a secondary hull would solve the deflector and nacelle problems, but increase mass. Might be worth it for greater tactical output and staying power, but it certainly won't be as cheap or agile with the nacelles and secondary hull restricting engine placements.

[ ] Arrowhead. Aim for a cheap light cruiser. (Industry: 2)
[ ] Half-saucer. Aim for a capable medium cruiser. (Industry: 4)

Two Hour Moratorium, Please.

 

[Sayle]

[X] Arrowhead. Aim for a cheap light cruiser. (Industry: 2)

There was spirited debate among the team, split between the advantages of the light and cheap arrowhead shape and the bulkier but more capable half-saucer. In the end while the half-saucer may have been able to fit a full forward torpedo barrage in the vein of the Bulwark (albeit by seriously skimping on other weapon systems), the expense of that capability attached to a smaller and potentially quite fragile hull raised some eyebrows. But there is a consolation - by compromising and integrating a ventral bulge, it seems like it will be possible after all to fit a couple of tubes in the arrowhead as well, though the forward cannon systems are going to be rather weak as a result.

With the main shape of the hull decided, now you arrive at the main issue of the design: there's nowhere to put the deflector. Any solution is going to involve building out the hull in some way to accommodate it, and were United Earth not under so much pressure to build any competent ships capable of engaging Romulan forces on better terms you think that building a ship of this size would be a thing of the past. But you are fully committed now: cheap and effective, but mostly cheap.

So, the deflector. Option one: a blister beneath the bow. You have just enough space to still provide clearance for the main navigational array, and you might even be able to squeeze in a pair of torpedo tubes in the ventral bulge. The problem is that at best you would only be able to fit one phase cannon in the nose, seriously limiting the more versatile particle beam armament. Putting the deflector in the nose would also deny you a mounting point for the nacelles, forcing you into a port and starboard mount that will further limit internal space in the aft sections.

Option two is a blister behind the navigational array. This would increase the mass of the ship but also provide a mounting point for the nacelles and a ventral phase cannon that would be able to fire forward as well as aft. Or maybe instead of a ventral cannon you could expand the deflector blister towards the rear and fit in an extra forward torpedo launcher? You could have more weapons, but the extra material would require more engine investment to keep the ship manoeuvrable, and all the downsides of added plating and hull material would drive up costs on their own, even disregarding the increased investment required in other areas.

You end up drawing up cost estimates based on the idea that the ship needs to be as agile as possible and accounting for the unavoidable costs: essentially the entire build minus any optional weapon expansions. The aft deflector would essentially provide greater offensive capability at a greater cost, the exact shape of those capabilities still to be determined.

[ ] Forward Deflector (Industry 2 -> 24) [2 Torpedo Tubes] [1 Cannon + 3 Optional]
[ ] Aft Deflector (Industry 2 -> 32) [2 Torpedo Tubes +1 Optional] [2 Cannons + 4 Optional]



Two Hour Moratorium, Please.

 

[Ori]

we need to talk.

I have issued multiple infractions for posts made recently primarily under the aegis of Rule 3 and Rule 4.

Rule 3 is straightforward, we ask posters to not insult or demean each other and to engage with their arguements.

If you feel that a post violates the rules the correct response is to report it and move on, moderation will handle it.

Finally because it has come up multiple times at this point, 'X Delenda Est' 'jokes' are viewed very dimly by staff and it would be wise to consider them more carefully in the future.

 

[Sayle]

[X] Forward Deflector (Industry 2 -> 24) [2 Torpedo Tubes] [1 Cannon + 3 Optional]

Having decided on a forward deflector, you draw out the primary hull to make space. Fortunately you can downsize the dish a little bit because of the smaller cross section it has to protect against interstellar debris, but it's still a massive piece of machinery. Perversely the space you create between the deflector itself and the ventral hull provides you with some internal space of its own, which you put to work as much as possible. The ship is so cramped, in fact, that you make the decision to cut the turbolift system entirely and rely on internal ladders and a couple of staircases instead. At a full sprint no part of the ship is more than forty seconds away from any other part, after all. You aren't sure a turbolift would actually save any time.

The last major structural element to decide on is the nacelles, because there have been some interesting suggestions. While the initial plan was to mount the nacelles to the wingtips of the delta-body, a proposal has been made that they could instead be installed internally. The outer edges of the ship and its unique geometry means that you can have the bussard collectors on the leading edge and the trailing end of the nacelles sticking out the back.

The idea is that it will offer the nacelles some protection. The disadvantage is that it will also degrade the effectiveness of the warp field and impinge on a pair of internal storage areas that were intended for the outer edges of the ship. You'll have to shift them to the central body above main engineering, which will exclude the possibility of an aft phase cannon. Is the tradeoff worth it?

[ ] Internal Nacelles (-Optional Aft Cannon, Defense Rating 10 -> 12) [Warp 3.6 Cruise]
[ ] External Nacelles [Warp 3.8 Cruise]



Two Hour Moratorium, Please.

 

[Sayle]

[X] Internal Nacelles (-Optional Aft Cannon, +Defense Rating) [Warp 3.6 Cruise]

The internal nacelles break the classical rule that they should each have line of sight to the other set of warp coils, but as a subspace phenomenon it is not strictly required. What the intervening mass does do, however, is degrade the resulting field strength. As a result even with the improved injectors the Selachii is only able to reach a cruise of Warp 3.6 and a maximum of Warp 4.9. The displacement of other auxiliary systems to house the nacelles, however, has had consequences. There is no space for an aft phase cannon, and the internal storage areas have been relocated and sharply curtailed. Bluntly put, the Selachii is unlikely to go very far without resupply from stations or other starships with the available capacity. The price you pay for such a small package.

The impulse engines are fortunately compact enough that you manage to squeeze them in at the edge of the wings, though any crew intending to service them will have to use an access tunnel running under the nacelle housing to reach it. The resulting manoeuvrability promises to be…substantial. It has the same engines as the Stingray, but with half the mass the Selachii can turn very quickly indeed. The larger warbirds will find it essentially impossible to shake the small ship, given the Stingrays can just about stalemate them in an agility fight.

With the overall layout of the ship now complete, you turn your attention to the tactical systems. After running some simulations you come to the conclusion that the addition of another two phase cannons on the dorsal surface is simply too good to pass up. They promise to add additional forward and aft firepower as well as covering their respective sides of the ship, almost doubling the Selachii's damage-on-target for a minimal cost. The aft cannon may have been more controversial, but that is no longer an option thanks to the nacelle configuration.

She's a small thing, no doubt about it. All she needs now is a name.

[ ] UES Selachii
[ ] UES Shark
[ ] UES Skate
[ ] UES Arrow
[ ] Other



Project Selachii [2159]
Tactical Rating: 10
Multi-Target Rating: 2
-Average Damage: 4.1
-Max Sustained Damage: 10
-Alpha Strike Damage: 22.5
-Coverage: 50%
-Maneuverability: Very High
Defense Rating: 12
Engineering: N/A
Science: 1
Warp (Cruise): 3.6 (46c)
Warp (Max): 4.9 (117c)
Industrial Cost: 12 (Civilian) + 16 (Starfleet)

 

[DecaffeinatedOwl]

[X] UES Hummingbird
[X] UES Huitzil
[X] UES Skate

One of the main processes needed to defend the ship is funnelling any oncoming Space Buzzards into the warp engines, otherwise they land on the hull and start harvesting it to build their nests with.

Click to shrink...

NARRATOR:
By the standards of stars, Mulpecula-2318 is fairly unassuming. A KV5 orange dwarf star, it plays host to three planets, a Hot Jupiter and a pair of dwarf rocky planets. Situated in the vast chasm between these planets, however, is enduring proof of the inexhaustible strangeness of the galaxy.

Cut to a zoomed view of Mulpecula-2318 itself. Strewn in a vast belt, many thousands of objects transit the star.

NARRATOR:
The Mulpecula Graveyard.

Cut much closer, inside the belt, facing outwards so the lit sides are visible. Pan across a scene of grand carnage. Hulk after hulk, of alien and manifold design, mangled and pitted, tumbling slowly.

NARRATOR:
Many hundreds of thousands of ancient starships litter this antediluvian battlefield, sole testament to a forgotten war.

Yet even here, life has found a way.

Rapid cuts: a HULL-FLOWER opens its silvered petals, focusing the thin sunlight onto a central collector nodule. A field of these flowers grows in timelapse on a shard of hull-plate. A swarm of CONTRABEEs flowing from their hives, each insect glowing the bright red of impulse drives.

NARRATOR:
The biotechnology of these vast wrecks has evolved unrestrained for millions of years, into the strangest and most resilient life in the galaxy. There is nothing of the like anywhere in the Alpha Quadrant.

Camera cuts to an 'overhead' shot of one of the hulks. Vaguely avian shapes pick at its guts. This particular ship plays host to space's most tenacious scavenger.

Cut to a close up, slightly below, looking up. The SPACE BUZZARD jerks its head up from its meal. It looks remarkably like a Bird-Of-Prey rendered in subspace feathers and leathery flesh, nacelle-wings tucked into its body. Oil drips from its stout, strongly-built beak in little spherical droplets as it scans the horizon.

NARRATOR:
The fearsome Space Buzzard.

---

AN: I've already spent too long on this.

 

[veteranMortal]

genocide apologia is unacceptable on sv.

I'm mixed the Nahuatl origin is cool but at the same time... an alien civilization wondering what the name means and looking into the culture it comes from... is not the first impression I want humanity to have.

To me the Aztecs were pretty much the one time in my mind in history where a European nation helps destroy a civilization and I end up thinking it was a okay outcome.

I get than modern Nahua speakers don't do anything like that, but the imagery is from that era tied to warriors and things so...

Click to shrink...

It is not acceptable to apologise for a genocide. This post has been infracted.

@NavySeel has been temporarily removed from the thread. Do not respond to their posts.

 

[Sayle]

The Selachii finishes final prototyping in the summer of 2159 after a crash-build that broke several records and with no end to the Earth-Romulan war in sight. The newly named UES Skate is a beauty of a ship on the outside, for all that she's a cramped nightmare inside. But she does what she is designed to do, and she does it very well. Her twin impulse engines move her small mass with frankly frightening accelerations, the sheer agility the ship demonstrates in tests proving it has no difficulty in outmanoeuvring the Stingray it is matched against and cracking open her aft plating with a pair of simulated photonics.

She soon had occasion to use the real thing. The Battle of Denobula had pushed the Romulans back, and forward operating bases set up by Andorian and Vulcan detachments threatened to penetrate Romulan territory itself. The war seemed to be entering a quiet phase as the Coalition conducted scouting missions and attempted to isolate Romulan industrial centers for strikes intended to eliminate their ability to build new ships.

That careful but methodical forward momentum ceased when the IGS Kumari came under attack from a new Romulan vessel in February of 2160. While only slightly larger than the existing warbirds with their squat bodies and winged nacelles, this "bird of prey" was clearly designed as a generational leap in capability from the T'liss warbirds that it replaced. Rather than stocking a pair of atomic launchers, it had a single plasma torpedo tube that used diverted warp plasma to fire balls of superheated gas at its target. Their new delivery system not only disrupted shields on impact but also dealt serious thermal damage to the underlying hull.

As if that weren't enough, a pair of forward mounted disruptors doubled the forward energy weapons and sported substantially higher particle densities. But the real problem was that they were capable of cruising at near Warp 5, a performance expected from Vulcan or Andorian ships rather than the existing Romulan fleet. This was thanks to reverse-engineering of wreckage and stolen Vulcan schematics for the main engine, while the nacelles were based off those from Earth starships. It was an unexpected reversal in the strategic picture that left Coalition leaders reeling.

Important strategic targets had just gone from over a year away at warp to a few months. There was serious concern that the willingness of the Romulans to engage scouting starships meant that a reserve of these new ships had already been assembled behind enemy lines and was ready for deployment. This fear was confirmed at the Second Battle of Sol in April of 2160, when the Thunderchild-class Warspite and a half-dozen Skate-class frigates were forced to launch without their torpedo payloads from the San Francisco fleetyards to assist a pair of Tellarite cruisers with engaging a trio of the new Romulan Birds of Prey, during which the under-construction NX Burya was torpedoed in dock and many of the orbital manufacturing facilities likewise destroyed. While one of the Romulan attackers was disabled and subsequently self-destructed, the other two disengaged at Warp 6 and fled the system. Nowhere was safe.

With the strategic momentum now transitioning to the Romulans and the potential for new ships with high warp factors that carried strategic weapons producing an atmosphere of fear in high command, a major thrust into Romulan space was accelerated from the planning and preparation stages. The Battle of the Galorndon Core saw Romulan dilithium mining operations destroyed, to which the Romulans responded by detonating antimatter bombs that sent the previously habitable planet deep into a volcanic winter and subsequent ice age. This simultaneously destroyed much of the dilithium deposits that made it so valuable and made turning its wealth against the Empire impossible.

The Battle of Cheron in November 2160 was a strike at the heart of the Empire's forward staging grounds for its Warp 3 fleet. More advanced elements of the Romulan fleet were drawn away by a dozen Vulcan and Andorian ships detaching from the fleet at the edge of the system on a direct course for Romulus, all of them at high warp. This left United Earth against three dozen Romulan warbirds.

In the United Earth battle line were three Thunderchild-class dreadnoughts: the Thunderchild, Polyphemus, and Warspite; the NX-class cruisers Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Endeavour, Atlantis, and Buran; twelve Stingray-class light cruisers, and nine Skate-class frigates. While lesser in numbers, the substantial firepower of the Thunderchild and NX-class starships went a long way to offsetting the lackluster performance of the Stingray, while the Skate-class on paper was on parity with the standard warbird in armament despite the disadvantage of its own fragility.

The battle began with the Romulans moving to engage the United Earth forces, correctly surmising that the intention of the Vulcan and Andorian detachment was to draw the defenders away and then use their superior Warp 7 engines to double back and join the attack. This potential window in which the powerful cruisers would be able to tip the scales in favor of Starfleet would have likely proven devastating and allowed a defeat in detail of the Romulan forces.

Instead the Battle of Cheron was a bloodbath. The first exchange of fire was to the advantage of United Earth, which had anchored its formation around the three equally-spaced Thunderchild dreadnoughts. These received the body blow of the first enemy contact, the Romulans launching a massive salvo of atomic torpedoes. This was blunted somewhat by the defensive fire of the NX-class starships, which used their phase cannons to eliminate nearly twenty of the incoming warheads. The Stingrays had likewise been instructed to set their first torpedoes to manual detonation, and when the fleet returned fire with their own salvo their warheads underwent fusion along the forward wave of the Romulan barrage and simultaneously destroyed the leading torpedoes by both thermal ablation and by disrupting guidance systems.

By contrast the photonic torpedoes fired by the dreadnoughts and the Skate-class frigates survived the nuclear conflagration unscathed, protected by their unstable graviton fields. While the Romulan opening attack disabled the Polyphemus and left the dreadnought dead in space, the rest of the fleet remained combat capable after the first exchange. By contrast the Romulans lost five warbirds to the photonics, while a number of other ships were left with shields fluctuating on the edge of coherence. These were rapidly penetrated by phase cannon fire, leaving three more warbirds dead in space.

Subsequent to the first moments of the engagement, however, the battle degenerated into dozens of duels between the Romulan warbirds and the more agile United Earth ships. The Battle of Cheron represented the highest losses of the war for Earth's 'heavyweight' starships thanks to United Earth's application of the linchpin doctrine, which dictated that the NX-class cruisers and the Thunderchild-class dreadnoughts should remain at low thrust to preserve their relative positioning to the rest of the fleet, refusing to allow the Romulans to harry them away from fire support. This hypothetically would allow them to use their capable all-axis weapons to assist nearby ships that were being singled out by Romulan wolfpack tactics, responding to keep the more vulnerable members of the fleet intact over a longer time.

This was certainly the case, as during the battle the Enterprise forced no less than four disengagements by Romulan forces from the aft quarter of Earth's smaller starships, and the other NX-class ships likewise disrupted the warbird commanders from engaging in their usual chase-and-fire tactics. There were losses to this tactic despite the best efforts of the larger vessels, though the Skate-class in particular proved itself able to juke and evade Romulans attempting to insert themselves behind its flightpath. In one case the Thornback not only evaded the effort of a Romulan warbird to do so but when the enemy disengaged to pick another target managed to come about and destroy the ship with a pair of photonic torpedoes fired directly into its dorsal hull.

The linchpin strategy did however expose the larger ships to more concentrated fire. The Buran was destroyed in the opening minutes of the battle, followed by Challenger and then Endeavour. The Thunderchild found herself missing a nacelle after a nuclear contact detonation against her starboard strut, and spent the remainder of the engagement at all stop and firing her cannons. The drifting Polyphemus was further damaged in the crossfire and then destroyed in the final stages of the battle as the melee turned against the Romulans and the warbirds began taking opportunistic shots against disabled ships.

Six minutes after the battle began, it ended with the Romulans executing a complete withdrawal from the system. In total, the Empire lost twenty two warbirds with just over a dozen successfully disengaging. Of these survivors, a further four were destroyed by the Vulcan and Andorian detachment on their way out of the system before the new Birds of Prey likewise managed to return and join up with the beleaguered retreat. The Romulan repair yards and supply depots over Cheron were subsequently destroyed in a number of smaller engagements with static defenses resulting in no losses for the Coalition.

But the victory had come at a cost. Thunderchild was scuttled after the battle, the enormous starship unable to form a stable warp field with only one of her nacelles left. Half of the participating NX-class cruisers had been destroyed, and the remainder were all nursing wounds of one type or another. Two thirds of the fleet's Stingray-class light cruisers were destroyed, while half of the new Skate-class frigates were likewise unsalvageable. Recovering from those losses would take years for United Earth, and the prospect of further attacks by Romulan birds of prey made the future of the war a murky proposition.

United Earth had mixed feelings about negotiations to end the war, but recognised the reality that Earth alone did not have the capability to prosecute a decisive end to the conflict without assistance. The Vulcans feared that nothing short of an occupation of Romulus' orbit would end the threat permanently, and were rightly sceptical of the feasibility of such a plan. The Andorians were of the opinion that it could be done, but that success might leave the Coalition so weakened by the effort that it would be rendered vulnerable to intervention by outside powers like the Klingon, Kzin, or Tholian Empires. The Tellarites were just as leery at the idea of pushing on, considering that the Coalition would make an eternal enemy by attempting an attack on Romulus itself where the bloody nose of Cheron might convince the Empire to back off entirely.

Negotiations with the Romulans by subspace concluded the month after Cheron and ended the war in a crushing defeat for the Empire. The Romulans not only agreed to formally cede influence over a number of systems they previously controlled, including Galorndon Core, but also provided information on their cloaking technology which made them detectable over long distances by tachyon-based sensor arrays. They also agreed to the creation of a ten light-year neutral zone that no signatories to the Treaty of Cheron would be permitted to enter, which implicitly ended Romulan control over several inhabited planets.

This generational humiliation resulted in the Empire withdrawing into itself and a chaotic political period that stymied any immediate attempts at recovery. Their surprise attack had united the Coalition rather than fractured it, the new cloaking technology was so temperamental that it was irrelevant to the larger strategic concerns of the Empire, and it had suffered real and substantial infrastructural and economic losses. The formation of the United Federation of Planets from the Coalition the year after in 2161 simultaneously justified their initial efforts to stop the interspecies alliance and highlighted their contribution to accelerating just that. The accession of Denobula as the first non-founding member of the Federation in 2164 was salt in the wound.

Earth would not hear from the Romulan Star Empire for the next hundred years.

 

[Sayle]

While there is talk about how the future will involve a united Starfleet with crew from all member species, for the moment the cooperation is limited to the free exchange of ideas and information while member species recover from the expenditures of the Earth-Romulan War. Not to mention plenty of political discussion over what the united Starfleet would look like - goodness knows there are plenty of ship types and design philosophies from the member races. But everybody is talking to each other now, and this has resulted in a massive leap forward in Earth's technological capabilities when it comes to starship design. But experience in applying new insights and technology will have to come the old fashioned way, as it ever does. You certainly have some experience to gain, too, given all the new advancements that are becoming available. There's quite a list of options for integration with new designs, starting with propulsion.

The Warp 7 Engine is the result of building off the same philosophy as the Warp 5 Engine with an antimatter-fed reaction chamber. The project was massively accelerated by assistance from the Vulcans, who provided insights on the design of a superior injector system and a number of additional control systems to finetune the operating tolerances.

Type 2 Warp Coils are the result of using the same materials as the Andorian Imperial Guard, although the different design philosophy of United Earth starships has necessitated experimentation with the arrangement and shape of the overall assembly. They will also allow a certain amount of cladding to be added to the nacelles themselves, protecting the coils from external damage.

Type-1 deflector shields are based on Tellarite graviton emitters. While not capable of as much particle density as Vulcan designs they have the most commonality with existing human sensibilities in regards to ease of maintenance and durability. The hope is that with multiple species providing advice and basic cooperation that an elegant solution will present itself for the next generation of defences that maintain those vital qualities while equalling the capability of the more fiddly designs.

Last but certainly not least is the Type-1 phaser. While Andorian designs use a liquid helium loop for a cold-cycle particle emitter, human designers agree that there are still advancements to be made to the basic principles of the weapon. The cooling loop also introduces mechanical complexity and bulk which require eternal mounting points which are not compatible with current practice, so while the Type-1 isn't quite as powerful as the Andorian variant it is less picky about where you put it.

It is something of a comfort that in some areas good old human ingenuity has not been overtly surpassed. The current deflector dish designs are admittedly an element not present on the vessels of other Federation species, but there are also no obvious improvements to be made with the application of superior scientific experience.

All these components (minus the phasers) are now gearing up for mass production by companies which have passed United Earth's strict security and safety audits, though it's fair to say that final regulatory approval is still pending until the prototypes undergo full testing on a shakedown. But that's where you come in. With the war over and the wartime economy dialling back to more sedate industrial levels, your blank cheques have sadly started having numbers added to them again. But you do have a certain degree of latitude in what projects to take on.

The first request is for a utility cruiser - a ship capable of responding to the needs of Earth and her colonies (and those of other Federation members, now!) in times of distress. That will most likely consist of hauling emergency materials, but includes tactical interventions. When not diverted from usual duties it should be able to conduct basic patrols and cargo transfers.

The second request is for a survey ship. With the addition of Denobula the borders of the Federation have expanded beyond those mapped by the Vulcan explorator ships of old, and plenty of examination and investigation remains to be done in areas of space that are now firmly within the Federation sphere of influence. It should be a (relatively) safe assignment, primarily focused on scientific discovery.

The third request is for a new explorer ship. The NX-class was a project decades in the making for all that the actual ship design was a matter of only a few years, the remainder taken up in component development. Now you have a more solid foundation to work from you can create an explorer capable of the three main tasks: self-defense, scientific research, and emergency response. More expensive than multiple ships for the same tasks? Probably. Nonetheless an important instrument in United Earth and the Federation's interest in furthering their knowledge of the universe and other species? Most definitely.

[ ] Begin work on a utility cruiser for workhorse duties.
[ ] Begin work on a survey ship for scientific survey and investigation.
[ ] Begin work on an explorer to expand the final frontier.

Two Hour Moratorium, Please.