[X][CAL] Ignore
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out (USS Odyssey)
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] USS Courageous, USS Odyssey, USS Tarrak
[ ][PRIORITY] Change Betazoid Long Term Priority to "Second One-Megaton Berth."
[ ][CAL] Lobby the Council (Andorians can serve as emergency responders to failed event responses in Caldonian space (-15pp)
[ ][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out
[ ][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[ ][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[ ][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[ ][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[ ][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[ ][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[ ] Pick three ships to give +1 Crew Rating: Courageous, Odyssey, Tarrak
[X][PRIORITY] Change nothing [Weighted 1.5x]
[X][CAL] Ignore
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out (USS Odyssey)
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Excelsior, 3 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][itBEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] Courageous, Odyssey, Tarrak
I'm talking about their 400kt berths. The Patroller fits in a berth that tiny. Almost nothing else in civilized space would. This is not to say the Betazoids can't or shouldn't build Constellation-As, just that they'll still want to keep operating their Patroller fleet, at least until they have enough megaton berths to support the ship sizes Starfleet normally uses. Right now they have ONE such berth, you see.
I didn't get the memo. I saw "Betazoid" "Short Term" "Centaur-As" and started thinking.
The MWCO doesn't say if the Centaur-As are new builds or refits.
If they're new builds, they can be postponed until after the Renaissance & Constellation are finished.
If they're refits, the Constellation can wait. If they're new builds, the Betazoids don't need them because the Constellation-As are objectively better.
@OneirosTheWriter , are the Betazoid Centaur-As new builds or refits?
[X][CAL] Ignore
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors en masse to the new Explorer Corps Excelsior
I didn't get the memo. I saw "Betazoid" "Short Term" "Centaur-As" and started thinking.
The MWCO doesn't say if the Centaur-As are new builds or refits.
If they're new builds, they can be postponed until after the Renaissance & Constellation are finished.
If they're refits, the Constellation can wait. If they're new builds, the Betazoids don't need them because the Constellation-As are objectively better.
@OneirosTheWriter , are the Betazoid Centaur-As new builds or refits?
I don't think the Betazoids even joined the Federation until around the time the Centaur-A refit became available, so I strongly suspect they're new-build.
That said, the Betazoid resource stockpile is actually imbalanced in favor of special resources at the moment. Building an SR-heavy ship or two that uses 1 less unit of officers and two less units of enlisted, while performing almost as well as a Constellation-A in all categories, may actually be the smart move for them.
They'd love the Kepler, I suspect... but would struggle to recruit enough techs to crew them.
EDIT: If I were running the BDF, I'd put "second one-megaton berth" into the priorities list. That's a pretty stark limitation on anything they do; if one of their existing 'heavy' ships (by our standards light one-megaton ships) gets damaged, they're stuck. Their resource income is pretty low, sure, but with only one berth capable of building modern ships it's hard to use up even 45/45 resource income on a regular basis. They could spam Patrollers, but why would they bother?
Actually, y'know, I'm going to edit my vote accordingly.
I'm talking about their 400kt berths. The Patroller fits in a berth that tiny. Almost nothing else in civilized space would. This is not to say the Betazoids can't or shouldn't build Constellation-As, just that they'll still want to keep operating their Patroller fleet, at least until they have enough megaton berths to support the ship sizes Starfleet normally uses. Right now they have ONE such berth, you see.
Yes, but that doesn't mean the Apiata should refrain from building more of their existing "Stinger Mk II" design in the berths that can accommodate them.
...Hm. Okay, looking at the numbers, the Apiata are actually running down their resource stockpiles. They have an ample supply of crew, and bulk resources, but the SR reserve they have only covers about two Stingers and then is gone, while their yearly income only covers about two more. Under the circumstances, maybe I can see my way clear to letting T'Faer borrow two Apiata berths, since if the Apiata actually did start four new Stingers this year they wouldn't have enough resources left over to start more than two next year anyway, unless I'm misreading the numbers Oneiros gave us.
I can see why they want to try and design more BR-heavy ships and engage in resource trading; they are even more starkly limited by special resources than we are, I think.
Apiata currently have 2 stingers under construction which will finish next year opening up 2 more berths. So they have 8 berths that can build stingers and cannot run all of them at once. There is not going to be a reduction in stingers built by us building 2 cargo ships their.
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out: Voshov
[X][LOG] Decline
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] Pick three ships to give +1 Crew Rating: Courageous, Odyssey, Tarrak
[X][PRIORITY] Change Betazoid Long Term Priority to "Second One-Megaton Berth."
[This is not to say increasing the budget isn't important in the long run for Betazed. It's just that they need a second one-megaton berth more, especially since they cannot be assured of getting to use space in the Starfleet yard that just got constructed in their space]
Apiata currently have 2 stingers under construction which will finish next year opening up 2 more berths. So they have 8 berths that can build stingers and cannot run all of them at once. There is not going to be a reduction in stingers built by us building 2 cargo ships their.
That is effectively what my third paragraph was saying, just in a different tone of voice. For me the core realization was that Stingers are more expensive than I'd thought, such that there was no possible way for the Apiata to maintain a steady production run of four per year. At the moment it's more like two, and even that uses up all their resources with no leftover to build new Queenships.
If I were running the BDF, I'd put "second one-megaton berth" into the priorities list. That's a pretty stark limitation on anything they do; if one of their existing 'heavy' ships (by our standards light one-megaton ships) gets damaged, they're stuck. Their resource income is pretty low, sure, but with only one berth capable of building modern ships it's hard to use up even 45/45 resource income on a regular basis. They could spam Patrollers, but why would they bother?
Actually, y'know, I'm going to edit my vote accordingly.
[ ][PRIORITY] Change Betazoid Long Term Priority to "Second One-Megaton Berth."
[This is not to say increasing the budget isn't important in the long run for Betazed. It's just that they need a second one-megaton berth more, especially since they cannot be assured of getting to use space in the Starfleet yard that just got constructed in their space]
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out: Voshov
[X][LOG] Decline
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] Pick three ships to give +1 Crew Rating: Courageous, Odyssey, Tarrak
[X][PRIORITY] Change Betazoid Long Term Priority to "Second One-Megaton Berth."
[This is not to say increasing the budget isn't important in the long run for Betazed. It's just that they need a second one-megaton berth more, especially since they cannot be assured of getting to use space in the Starfleet yard that just got constructed in their space]
That is effectively what my third paragraph was saying, just in a different tone of voice. For me the core realization was that Stingers are more expensive than I'd thought, such that there was no possible way for the Apiata to maintain a steady production run of four per year. At the moment it's more like two, and even that uses up all their resources with no leftover to build new Queenships.
I would disagree on the berths. Improving their budget gives them more resources the earlier they do it. In addition this quarter they should be starting the refit of their last two patrollers at which point one of their priorities completes and they can then work on either expanding their 600kt berths or adding a new 1mt berth.
Oh, right, that's who the Caldonians are. Yeah, why the hell would we refuse an Explorer Corps assignment to unfuck that situation?
And as for the Andorians... I don't think they'll fuck this up for us.
[X][CAL] Lobby the Council (Andorians can serve as emergency responders to failed event responses in Caldonian space (-15pp)
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out (USS Odyssey)
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] USS Courageous, USS Odyssey, USS Tarrak
[X][CAL] Ignore
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out (USS Odyssey)
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors toexisting ships
-[X] USS Courageous, USS Odyssey, USS Tarrak
The Andorians are too expensive. With a dedicated EC ship we should be able to take care of this. The Guard would only be worthwhile if they saved us 15-20pp in losses.
I could be convinced another ship over the Tarrak, but the Courageous and Odyssey are definite.
The Andorians are too expensive. With a dedicated EC ship we should be able to take care of this. The Guard would only be worthwhile if they saved us 15-20pp in losses.
I could be convinced another ship over the Tarrak, but the Courageous and Odyssey are definite.
Oh, right, that's who the Caldonians are. Yeah, why the hell would we refuse an Explorer Corps assignment to unfuck that situation?
And as for the Andorians... I don't think they'll fuck this up for us.
[X][CAL] Lobby the Council (Andorians can serve as emergency responders to failed event responses in Caldonian space (-15pp)
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out (USS Odyssey)
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] USS Courageous, USS Odyssey, USS Tarrak
I feel like deploying the Odyssey (which looks to be getting a boost to Veteran) is enough to deal with Caldonian space in addition to the ships we have in the KBZ. If we did not want to do that I could then see sending in the Andorians but since we are sending in the Odyssey they are not as likely to help.
[X][PRIORITY] Change nothing [Weighted 1.5x]
[X][CAL] Lobby the Council (Andorians can serve as emergency responders to failed event responses in Caldonian space (-15pp)
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out (USS Odyssey)
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] Pick three ships to give +1 Crew Rating: Courageous, Odyssey, Tarrak
Adhoc vote count started by Thors_Alumni on Jun 11, 2017 at 11:21 AM, finished with 62 posts and 24 votes.
I would disagree on the berths. Improving their budget gives them more resources the earlier they do it. In addition this quarter they should be starting the refit of their last two patrollers at which point one of their priorities completes and they can then work on either expanding their 600kt berths or adding a new 1mt berth.
The Betazoids don't have 600-kiloton berths, they have 400-kiloton berths. Too small to do anything but work on Patrollers. It's not realistic for them to expand them far enough to be able to work on even a Constellation or a Centaur; you'd basically have to double the berth's size.
The reason I'm advocating "second 1-mt berth" as their long term priority, note key words LONG TERM, is because that is, well... the long-term issue that's most severely bottlenecking their fleet. They could just about afford to build a pair of Constellation-As in parallel... if they had a second berth. Once they have more budget... they'll need a second berth. Almost everything they can possibly do besides work on their Patroller-class corvettes involves wanting a second berth, if only so they have the option of refitting or repairing an existing ship.
Once one of their priorities completes, they can make "bigger budget" a short term priority, which frankly makes a lot more sense if they're in a hurry than having it as a long-term priority they'll get around to eventually.
Admiral Kerkat studied the young man in front of him. Too young to be captaining a ship, really, much less a battlegroup. Of course powerful patrons would get you everywhere in the Klingon Empire's navy, but surely there had to be limits.
As if guessing what the admiral's thoughts, a corner of the young Klingon's handsome face turned up. But whatever he was thinking, he properly thumped his clenched fist across his chest. "Hail Admiral Kerkat, son of Freid."
Kerkat returned the salute. "Hail Commodore Renhadd, son of Gramm."
After a pause just barely long enough to be respectable, Renhadd turned and gestured for Kerkat to follow. "Come Admiral, I can give you a better status report from the bridge. That is why you're here, correct? To see for yourself the results of my capture of Alixros?"
Kerkat grunted in the affirmative as they made their way to the bridge. As they stepped out onto the dimly lit command center he finally spoke. "I admit, you did well. Not just to seize a major mining colony, but to do so without losing a ship of your own? I had my doubts about you, Renhadd, but you've laid them to rest. A glorious result."
To Kerkat's surprise, Renhadd actually scowled and thumped a console in frustration. "Not as good as it should have been. I ought to have been able to destroy both D7s in addition to the Bird of Prey, and they never should have been able to evacuate the miners. One of those Romulan petaQ was too clever by half. I only hope I have another chance at him."
The admiral looked around the bridge to see how Renhadd's crew was taking this self-effacement, but they looked positively worshipful, evidently seeing it as their commander's high standards rather than any shameful humility. Truth be told, Kerkat took it that way himself. Tales of Renhadd's charisma weren't an exaggeration.
There was a chime and the signals officer announced a communication from the surface. Renhadd gestured for it to routed to the main viewscreen. A Klingon warrior appeared on screen, a bloody bat'leth held casually in one hand and a small streak of blood running across her cheek. Both sets of blood were green and presumably Romulan in origin.
"Report, Commander Segfed," ordered Renhadd.
The woman thumped her chest in salute. "I have personally eliminated the last of the Romulan remnants, Commodore. I believe they intended to hide in the tunnels and act as some sort of guerrilla resistance to our occupation. My apologies, but I was unable to take any of them alive as you requested."
"No matter. I only wanted to satisfy my curiosity about that enemy commander. Turn things over to the garrison, and beam back up immediately. We have more battles before us," replied Renhadd. He cut the connection, then glanced back to admiral as if inviting him to contradict.
Kerkat threw his head back and laughed. "Ho, pretty sure of yourself, young targ? But yes, now that you've proven yourself the squadron is yours. You'll have a free hand to go raiding, hitting the Romulans as you see fit. But before you do, I insist you tell me the of this battle in something more than a dry report."
Renhadd let them off the bridge and to the officer's commissary where he poured them both some bloodwine. After a toast, he began. "Once you understand how the Romulan thinks, they're easy to fool...."
===
Commander Wenlai slouched against the wall, jacket bunched up and untidy. His eyes were closed as if trying to prepare himself for an ordeal.
Subcommander Lann rolled his eyes in exasperation and rushed over to his friend. "Commander! Pull yourself together, man. We've got a senator here for the award ceremony."
Wenlai opened his eyes and ran some fingers through his messy dark hair. "You mean a senator here for a cheap vid opportunity. This whole thing's a joke; we lost Alixros, and they're handing out medals?"
"They're handing you a medal, because you saved thousands of miners from being taken prisoner, plus three starships." Lann glanced around to make sure no one was in easy earshot and added in a lower voice. "And yes, some of it's the 'cheap vid opportunity'. They can't cover it up, so might as well celebrate the one bright spot in the mess. Come on, Wenlai, how did you ever make Commander if I have to explain things like this to you?"
"I kept failing to fail," muttered the other man. But Wenlai straightened his uniform jacket and set his expression in the best approximation of the standard Star Empire navy sneer. By the time he set foot in the audience hall he was a passable imitation of a proper Romulan officer.
Lann watched the ceremony from the back of the room. The award itself went smoothly enough. Admiral Beckek, her dress admiral uniform festooned with gold trim, announced that Commander Wenlai would be receiving the Double Star for exceptional service during the evacuation of Alixros. Wenlai snapped a salute to her and then to watching crowd of navy service members with none of his usual sloppiness. Then Beckeck handed him the award, and it was done.
Except for Senator Ebellol, who seized the moment to take the stage and the metaphorical spotlight. "Congratulations, Commander. We need more service like yours to grind down those Klingon animals. More like yours and less like Commodore Frok, fleeing and abandoning the colony. He will answer for it, I promise you."
Lann could practically see Wenlai's teeth grind, and whispered a hope his commander would have enough sense to just agree with whatever the good senator said. Of course he didn't. He wouldn't be the Wenlai all his subordinates loved if he let a smear on a fellow officer pass, even one who would never have thought about returning the favor.
"Commodore Frok had been lured into an untenable tactical situation. He retreated to to preserve his flagship," said Wenlai.
Senator Ebellol's eyes narrowed. No, he didn't like being contradicted. He was also smart enough to see the opening in what Wenlai had just said. "Exactly. He allowed himself to be lured... a failure on his part that cost the Empire dearly. A failure I believe you warned him about. What is it your fellow officers call you? 'The Magician', wasn't it? I look forward to seeing more of your 'magic' on behalf of the Empire in the future."
There wasn't much Wenlai could reply other than, "Yes Senator."
But it had seemed like magic that day, hadn't it? That unknown Klingon commander had laid the perfect trap, and Lann couldn't believe Wenlai had gotten them out of it alive.
===
Battle for Alixros
Renhadd's hand hovered over the tactical display, manipulating it. "No, we won't be trying to force our way through the minefield. Exactly the opposite."
Using the tactical display he laid out his plan. Captain Mond and his Bird of Prey the Y'Tem were to emerge from cloak simulate an explosion on the edge of the Alixros minefield. "The Romulans will think you were scouting while cloaked and came too close to the edge of their minefield. They'll send out their ships to pin you down before you can 'repair your warp drive'. The rest of our fleet will be cloaked, monitoring when they transmit their passcode to the minefield."
He continued. "They'll encounter our little surprise-" Renhadd queued up an additional item on the tactical display. "Then we will decloak and destroy them."
Captain Mond scowled, unhappy to be taking direction from such a young, unseasoned warrior and looking for something in the plan to criticize. "I could put out a distress call; convince them we can't even fight back," he offered.
Renhadd's face went cold. "No ship under my command will ever fake a distress call. Deception is part of war, but a false plea for help is utterly without honor."
Mond bristled and put his hand on the knife at his belt. Before he could decide whether he would draw it, an iron grip encircled his wrist. He looked to the side and found it was the Commodore's constant shadow, Commander Segfed, who had grabbed him. She didn't say anything, but in her eyes was a promise of death. Mond was a veteran of a half dozen boarding actions, but still- he opened his hand and allowed it to be moved away from the knife hilt.
Seemingly ignoring the byplay, another of the officers present questioned Renhadd. "Sir, you spoke about monitoring the transmission of their minefield passcode, but surely that will be encrypted. We won't get the codes so easily."
Renhadd chuckled, projecting absolute confidence. "You are correct, but we don't need the encrypted portion of the codes. We only need the signal that opens the channel. You see-"
==
Commander Wenlai leaned over the junior officer's tactical display, taking in the reports. He snapped his head up when the signals officers declared a transmission from Commodore Frok. "Sir, the Commodore has signaled that we and the Inclutus should follow him out to disable the Klingon ship before it can get away."
"Should I set a course?" asked Subcommander Lann, hands already moving over the board in anticipation.
"No! This ship is not to move. Get me Commodore Frok," ordered Wenlai, quickly hopping back into his command chair.
The Commodore's face appeared on the main view screen within seconds. "Why isn't the Hyperon moving?" he demanded.
"Sir, that Klingon ship is too far out. I don't see how it could have impacted any of our mines. Suggest we scan the area before-"
The commodore cut him off with a gesture. "We don't know how long it'll take them to repair their warp drive, and I'm not losing my chance to take a Klingon ship. You want to stay here and scan, do it! Two of our Birds of Prey are more than enough for one of their old model ships. I don't need a D7."
The transmission ended. Wenlai looked ruefully around the bridge. "He said we could stay here and scan; let's stay here and scan. I want to know everything about that Klingon vessel."
The sensors officer manipulated the controls at her station. "Sir, there's definitely a cloud of debris expanding from the point of the explosion. Looks genuine." But she cocked her head, something bothering her but unsure what it was.
Subcommander Lann protested. "Commander, even if the Klingons have a cloaked fleet out there, so what? It's not like they're catching us with our shields down. Commodore Frok will just turn around and fly back to the station, and they'll have to go through the minefield if they want to follow."
"They know that. There has to be something else." For a tense few moments, Wenlai considered. Then his head snapped up. "Wait, those debris. Add up their mass and then the mass of the ship."
The sensor operator's hands moved. "It's too much! The ship still masses about as much as it should, so where did all the debris come from?"
"They're not- Open a channel to Commodore Frok now!" said Wenlai.
"Sir, the Inclutus just exploded. The commodore took a hit on the Thraisat as well. Their shields are down," interrupted the sensor operator. "Klingon ships decloaking... twelve of them. They're firing."
"Mines. They dropped their own minefield," said Wenlai in a defeated tone. "A tiny one, but they figured out the most direct angle of approach to chase their 'damaged' ship and led us right into it. Whomever this Klingon commander is, they have us walking the trail they laid down."
"The Inclutus is disabled. The Thraisat is heavily damaged, but it's still operational. It's... Commander the Thraisat is headed away at maximum warp," the sensor operator continued to report.
"Leaving us behind," said Lann. "Wenlai, should we do the same? It's just us and the Inydar. Two D7 cruisers against that many Klingons."
Wenlai shook his head as he studied the display. "This colony has over 5,000 citizens of the Empire. I won't run out on them. The odds aren't good, but they only have two K'Tingas and most of their Klingon birds of prey look to be old model. We have the station's weapons on our side, and they have to get through our minefield. If they lose enough ships doing that, we might have a chance. Inform the Inydar that I'm taking command, and we should prepare to fight. I recall that I have two days seniority in rank."
"Wait, I thought Commander Belak-" began Lann.
"I said I recall. You know how sloppy my memory is. And Belak doesn't have enough initiative to look up a service record, much lead this battle."
===
Renhadd leaned back in his command chair. "So the D7s got left behind, and now they're going to make a fight of it," he said conversationally to Segfed.
"Disappointed?" asked Segfed.
"Within my plans. All four ships would have increased the possibility that some avoided the mines, and with them backing up that Romulan bird of prey we might have lost some ships before we destroyed them. As it is, the D7s think they're sitting safe behind a wall of mines. A mistake on their part."
Deciding he had given his fleet enough time to warm up, Renhadd ordered the attack run. His ship the Runhald skimmed through the outer edge of the minefield, releasing a barrage of disruptor fire and missiles at the mining colony's station from very maximum range. Then it quickly peeled off, reversing course and traveling away from the mines. The other ships in Renhadd's squadron followed suit. None of the mines exploded.
"It worked," said Segfed calmly. As if it were a mere observation, and she had never had any doubt.
"Of course. As I said earlier, they don't want the mines blowing up their own ships, so the cowards built a safety factor into the system. As long as you know the right communication channel to start transmitting a code you can send any string of nonsense. The minefield will take it, realize it's incorrect, and account for the possibility that something garbled the communication. It sends a message back that the ship has gotten the code wrong and allows an opportunity to send the code again. If you get it wrong it'll even allow a third chance, and only when that code is incorrect will it conclude the ship is an enemy and begin exploding."
===
"It wouldn't be nearly enough time to get fully through the minefield, but by taking advantage of every allowance the minefield makes for latency they have enough time to skim a little way inside and then fly out again," explained Wenlai. "And the Alixros minefield goes for density over depth. A little way inside is just far enough to put us within their maximum weapons range. They fly in, fire, and fly out. It's not very accurate at this range, but they can grind the station and our cruisers down over time."
"If we're in range of them, they must be in range of us. Can't we just fire back?" asked Lann.
"We can, but they have more firepower. Worse, if we start to seriously wear down the shields on one of their ships they can just take it out of rotation until its shields regenerate and keep attacking us with the others. Of course we could chase them outside the minefield..."
"And then it's back to two D7 cruisers versus twelve Klingon ships," said Lann. "What about evacuation?"
"Well, we've got the Sakti. As an ore freighter it has enough cargo space to take the entire population if we stack them like ingots and inject them with hybersleep drugs so they use minimal life support. Take on a few oxygen generators and supplies from the colony, and it could make it somewhere they can be offloaded alive."
"An ore freighter! The warp nacelles on that thing won't move it a fifth the speed a Klingon cruiser can make, and it has no cloak. They'll hunt it down and blow it up before it clears the orbital plane. This is hopeless."
Wenlai gave his subordinate a look of mild surprise. "Hopeless? I never said that. This Klingon commander played a pretty good trick on us, but I'm not too bad with tricks myself. I've already got one in mind. We're going to get the Inydar, the Hyperon, the Sakti, and all five thousand workers out of here safely."
Lann stared in disbelief. "How exactly are you going to manage that, Commander 'the Magician'?"
"First thing we do is blow up our minefield."
CONTINUED IN PART 2
===
Yes, these characters are expies of characters from Legend of Galactic Heroes. For those unfamiliar with the source material, LoGH is an anime well over 100 episodes long that focuses on two characters on opposite sides of a gigantic interstellar war. Yang Wenli (adapted here to 'Wenlai') is an admiral on the side of the Free Planets alliance, a highly flawed democracy. Reinhard von Lohengramm (adapted here to Renhadd son of Gramm) is an admiral on the side of the Galactic Empire, an autocracy. Yet it's not really a story of good versus evil. Reinhard is almost the ideal 'enlightened despot', a charismatic reformist determined to conquer both the Free Planets Alliance and his own Galactic Empire and reform their many problems. Whereas Yang knows very well the Free Planet Alliance is producing corrupt and incompetent politicians who lead the Alliance from disaster to disaster, but continually refuses to do anything to fix it because believes the military should not interfere in government.
As befits such a long series the story has plenty of time for space battles, politics, intrigue, and meditations on the value of democracy. Reinhard is omni-talented in military and civil affairs and has a talent for attracting the finest people to follow him. Yang's talents are more limited in scope, but where Reinhard is a great admiral, Yang is "the Magician", basically unbeatable in any even battle. However Yang is forced to fight almost every battle from a position of disadvantage, hamstrung by his own superiors and government.
LoGH battles typically take place with thousands of ships, so I had to adapt it to be a little more "Star Trek". But I hope I've captured the spirit of plan and counter-plan. See the conclusion in Part 2.
Thanks to @AKuz for reviewing this omake in advance, especially some of the politics to come in Part 2 (which I'll have to tweak.)
[X][PRIORITY] Change nothing [Weighted 1.5x]
[X][CAL] Ignore
[X][EC] Pick an Explorer Corps ship to carry this out (USS Odyssey)
[X][LOG] Start 2 Starfleet Cargo Ships at Irrizizza for 8pp
[X][GAENI] 100sr for 150br
[X][CATS] 1 Fathership, 4 Swarmers
[X][REN] Endorse the tech transfer
[X][BEE] Exchange resources with the Orion
[X][ENTER] Send the survivors to existing ships
-[X] USS Courageous, USS Odyssey, USS Tarrak
I feel like deploying the Odyssey (which looks to be getting a boost to Veteran) is enough to deal with Caldonian space in addition to the ships we have in the KBZ. If we did not want to do that I could then see sending in the Andorians but since we are sending in the Odyssey they are not as likely to help.
While this is technically true, the Andorians and Odyssey would be doing different things. The Guard would be backstopping event response. The Odyssey would be generating Caldonian-themed EC events in the area. The Odyssey is likely to fix the problem over the next year or so, but in the meantime, the Andorians could help us not fail event response in the area.
While this is technically true, the Andorians and Odyssey would be doing different things. The Guard would be backstopping event response. The Odyssey would be generating Caldonian-themed EC events in the area. The Odyssey is likely to fix the problem over the next year or so, but in the meantime, the Andorians could help us not fail event response in the area.
