Thing is that we need more info on how the Republic was laid low, since this could point at an Obsidian order inflitration within our Gabriel Expanse forces. Jumping half cocked here could mean leaving a number of our gabriel interest open for raiding while our forces concentrate elswhere. The Cardies could sell it to their people as a mutual hit, how will we sell that at home?
On the flipside however, there are a number of other ways mines could have had found their way onto Republic. They could have been positioned in a way to perfectly catch it unaware; they could have lured it into an ambush with false distress signal banking on Starfleet captain being willing to aid even an enemy race, followed by them boarding and crippling the ship with mines. They could have even deliberately crippled a ship and then mined it, waiting for Starfleet to find it etc. The possibilities are endless, and while I don't discount the possibility of there being a mole, any such investigation will have to take months at the least, during which Cardassians will have all the time to strengthen their forces, prepare for new attacks and add in the new data they have on Starfleet from their interrogations. We will be fighting a much more uphill battle then, and we are likely never going to see anyone from Republic breathing by this point.
We could easily sell this as response to an attack on Republic, a rescue mission to recover crew of a sabotaged starship, or a preventive measure to stop these attacks from spreading.
This is cynic in me speaking, but frankly the circumstances of the Republic's destruction spin themselves so hard that it would be really hard for someone to deliberately come up with this sort of propaganda.
Because the idea that anyone can keep that sort of thing quiet for that long is simply unbelievable. She'd have to be incredibly out of touch to not find out that all those ships have left their sectors. It would be all over the news. It would the equvilant of the US having one of their supercarriers suddenly redeploy at full steam, everyone would notice.
I'm sitting here, fingers steepled, staring into the distance and remembering that time Trump didn't know which way one of his battle groups was going. :|
More seriously, the realities of deep space are a little different. There's no sat surveillance, and the total ships in Briefvoice's original plan was like, six? If they're not in port they just silently slip away into a different direction.
but if that was true I can literally not imagine a situation in which that would not result in the immediate dismissal of Sulu followed up by him, and everyone else involved, being court-martialed for treason. That there is a decent chance of him not only retaining his job but getting off scot-free tells me this can not be the the situation.
See I didn't want to say "60% of some blowback to us seems a little low" but...
Sulu's probably mostly exploiting the fact it's election season and N'Gir - any president - is liable to be pretty distracted. Maybe he just doesn't give her an update on fleet movements for a week, or just like, emails it to her Chief of Staff's Part-Time Personal Assistant's Chief of Staff and hopes she's not pouring over it with a fine-toothed comb. Put the ships under comms blackout -- justifiable with possible Obsidian Order moles -- etc etc. There's ways of doing it without being overtly shitty, but still shitty. It might be representative of N'Gir wanting to avoid political fallout as well.
[X][NASH] Instruct Nash to hold tight and prepare for an offensive starting at the end of Q2 (Reinforcements from anywhere many be provided, allows both sides an extra turn to prepare)
-[X] Reinforce as follows: Lightning (Centaur-A) from Sol Sector, Husacar (Constitution-B) from Andor Sector, Endurance (Excelsior-A) and Bull (Blooded Centaur-A) from Ferasa Sector, Avandar (Excelsior) from Rigel Sector, Yukikaze (Blooded Centaur-A) from Apinae Sector, Inspire (Oberth) and Calypso (Miranda-A) from RBZ, Thirishar (Blooded Excelsior) and Dynamo (Miranda-A) from KBZ, Spirit (Excelsior-A) and Reason (Renaissance) from CBZ, Zephyr (Blooded Centaur-A) and Gale (Blooded Centaur-A) from SBZ, and Svai (Miranda-A) from LBZ = Total Reinforcements of 2 Excelsior-A, 2 Excelsior (1 Blooded), 1 Constitution-B, 1 Renaissance, 5 Centaur-A (4 Blooded), 3 Miranda-A, and 1 Oberth
If your Commander of Starfleet tells you a ship was ambushed by enemy forces and he's redeploying ships in response for a retaliatory strike, and you miss that as president, you've no business being president.
Especially if you told said Commander of Starfleet not to bother you because you are busy with the reelection, which seems to me the only way Sulu would consider not calling the president out of bed or leaving a video call if said president really doesn't want to be disturbed, and instead leaving an e-mail.
A strike like this would take a week just to set up, especially if there's out of GBZ reinforcements coming in.
But that's the thing, he doesn't tell her he's deploying ships or conducting a retaliatory strike or does so in a way that's obfuscated or arrives too late to matter. It's not because she's too busy to notice, it's because the civil servant who is responsible for telling her things is hiding stuff and exploiting the fact she's sufficiently distracted to just take him at face value.
And he's doing it immediately. Like, under the immediate strike vote option, he not going to consult with the President and the offensive is days before the election. He literally apparently cannot ask her and wait for her to say "as soon as the polls close you can go."
But that's the thing, he doesn't tell her he's deploying ships or conducting a retaliatory strike or does so in a way that's obfuscated or arrives too late to matter. It's not because she's too busy to notice, it's because the civil servant who is responsible for telling her things is hiding stuff and exploiting the fact she's sufficiently distracted to just take him at face value.
And he's doing it immediately. Like, under the immediate strike vote option, he not going to consult with the President and the offensive is days before the election. He literally apparently cannot ask her and wait for her to say "as soon as the polls close you can go."
I'm sitting here, fingers steepled, staring into the distance and remembering that time Trump didn't know which way one of his battle groups was going. :|
...I had forgotten about that. But then I did say incompetence was an option.
More seriously, the realities of deep space are a little different. There's no sat surveillance, and the total ships in Briefvoice's original plan was like, six? If they're not in port they just silently slip away into a different direction.
Long range sensors are a thing and we've detected warp fields from light years away. Plus we'd almost certainly have to inform the member worlds about the redeployment, or I suppose we could lie to them too and rack up more charges, since they need to know what ships can be called on to defend/support them. Actually we couldn't lie to them because their ships and their long range sensors would pick up our ships leaving the sectors.
Furthermore it's shown multiple times in Star Trek that people on deployment abroad starships keep in contact with friends/loved ones back home. The ships' locations could likely be calculated based off their transmissions and if the ships go dark that too would stand out and generate news.
See I didn't want to say "60% of some blowback to us seems a little low" but...
Sulu's probably mostly exploiting the fact it's election season and N'Gir - any president - is liable to be pretty distracted. Maybe he just doesn't give her an update on fleet movements for a week, or just like, emails it to her Chief of Staff's Part-Time Personal Assistant's Chief of Staff and hopes she's not pouring over it with a fine-toothed comb. Put the ships under comms blackout -- justifiable with possible Obsidian Order moles -- etc etc. There's ways of doing it without being overtly shitty, but still shitty. It might be representative of N'Gir wanting to avoid political fallout as well.
I suppose a combination of shiny things could keep N'Gir distracted, she is Caitian after all, but I still have trouble buying the idea Starfleet could cover up so many ships going missing simultaneously for the weeks this would require.
Again. Explicitly the Prez is not going to become aware of the operation until it's underway, which would be close to the election. What happens after that is mechanically broken down. That is all fact.
We can come up with a dozen reasons why the Prez doesn't notice, but the most plausible is deliberate obsfucation. I don't know how much covering up would be required because if I did I'd probably be working for the CIA or be a top tier civil servant.
Ashidi 230/100 + 14 = 244/500
During the last quarter opposition from safety-conscious community groups blocked the nascent Federation Broadcast channel in Ashidi space, and began to push back on operations from the Diplomatic Service. Thankfully, Ambassador Stolk was able to allay their concerns, and the block on the channel was lifted again by the Public Concordat Media Safety Directorate.
[X][PRIORITY] Human Interest in the GBZ
[x][BEE] Push (8pp)
[X][ORION] Arrange for promising Orion officers to spend a year attending Starfleet Academy
[x][INDORREP] Support the Indorians (15pp)
[x][INDORFIT] Refit the Frigates
[x][MEDICAL] This is not the time (will be added to future Snakepits)
[X][KP] Split the four ships up - (8pp) Indoria (8pp) Tauni (8pp) Tauni (8pp) Laio
UP Berth A (3mt) – Berth free 2318.Q2. Commence construction of an Excelsior-A using 'parallel construction' industrial park bonus and 1qt off build time from Admiral Sirvk bonus. (ETC 2321.Q1)
UP Berth B (3mt) – Occupied with Ambassador prototype as dual build using Chen's bonus. (ETC 2321.Q4)
UP Berth C (3mt) – Berth free 2318.Q2. Commence construction of an Excelsior-A using 'parallel construction' industrial park bonus and 1qt off build time from Admiral Sirvk bonus. (ETC 2321.Q1)
UP Berth D (3mt) – Occupied with Ambassador prototype as dual build using Chen's bonus. (ETC 2321.Q4)
UP Berth E (3mt) – Berth available 2318.Q2. Commence Hospital Ship, in 2318.Q2 (ETC 2321.Q2)
UP Berth a (2mt) – Berth available 2318.Q4. Leave open.
UP Berth 1 (1mt) – Building Renaissance using 'parallel construction' industrial park bonus. (ETC 2319.Q2)
UP Berth 2 (1mt) - Building Renaissance using 'parallel construction' industrial park bonus. (ETC 2319.Q2)
UP Berth 3 (1mt) - Building Renaissance using 'parallel construction' industrial park bonus. (ETC 2319.Q2)
UP Berth 4 (1mt) – Building Renaissance using 'parallel construction' industrial park bonus. (ETC 2319.Q2)
UP Berth 5 (1mt) – Berth available 2318.Q2. Begin refit of Selaya (ETC 2319.Q2)
One Comfort-class (Starfleet Build Order NCC-3502) to commence at Lasieth Craft Yards Berth 1 in 2318.Q1
One Renaissance-class (Starfleet Build Order NCC-2624) to commence at 40 Eridani A Fleet Yards Berth A in 2318.Q1
One Keplar-class Prototype (Starfleet Build Order NX-4101) to commence at 40 Eridani A Fleet Yards Berth B in 2318.Q4
One Renaissance-class (Starfleet Build Order NCC-2625) to commence at Oreassa Starfleet Yards Berth 1 in 2318.Q1
Refit to Constellation-A of USS Docana (Starfleet Build Order NCC-1810) to commence at Oreassa Starfleet Yards Berth 2 in 2318.Q3
Refit to Excelsior-A of USS Odyssey (Starfleet Build Order NCC-2013) to commence at Ana Font Shipyards Berth A in 2318.Q1
Two Excelsior-A (Starfleet Build Orders NCC-2029, NCC-2030) to commence at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards Berth A, C in 2318.Q2
One Comfort-class (Starfleet Build Order NCC-3503) to commence at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards Berth E in 2318.Q2
Refit to Constellation-A of USS Selaya (Starfleet Build Order NCC-1803) to commence at Utopia Planitia Berth 5 in 2318.Q2
Member World Coordination Office - Member and Affiliate Shipbuilding Update
The Apiata have promised to push Foragers forward to secure colony locations. One promising fleet hub that has already been discovered is the Priasta system that contains a high concentration of exotic isotopes of Celerium, which will enable more accurate sensor readings of surrounding space. An outpost and listening stations are being planned here and should be operational by 2319.Q1.
The Indorians are working to establish stations and listening posts on systems near Lapycorias and Indoria. This is currently in the planning phase, and they hope to present proposals to their congress next year.
On the flipside however, there are a number of other ways mines could have had found their way onto Republic. They could have been positioned in a way to perfectly catch it unaware; they could have lured it into an ambush with false distress signal banking on Starfleet captain being willing to aid even an enemy race, followed by them boarding and crippling the ship with mines. They could have even deliberately crippled a ship and then mined it, waiting for Starfleet to find it etc. The possibilities are endless, and while I don't discount the possibility of there being a mole, any such investigation will have to take months at the least, during which Cardassians will have all the time to strengthen their forces, prepare for new attacks and add in the new data they have on Starfleet from their interrogations. We will be fighting a much more uphill battle then, and we are likely never going to see anyone from Republic breathing by this point.
We could easily sell this as response to an attack on Republic, a rescue mission to recover crew of a sabotaged starship, or a preventive measure to stop these attacks from spreading.
This is cynic in me speaking, but frankly the circumstances of the Republic's destruction spin themselves so hard that it would be really hard for someone to deliberately come up with this sort of propaganda.
That is the point, we don't know where the demo charges were when they wet off or what happened in the Republic's final hours. before we know more, we are playing a game of Russian Roulette, I feel.
Basically my post has been, this could have happened. So, let's wait for Linderly's report before going for any high risk option.
Since that is not an option given to us by Oneiros, then I decided to go with the next best thing: the dig in option. it is not ideal, but anything else at this point is reckless. specially since the Cardassian Clients involved are the ones we know less about.
I'm going to laugh if this turns out to be all part of Konen-Thrawn's plan to have us cripple the Cardassian fleet so that the Konen can be independent again.
I'm going to laugh if this turns out to be all part of Konen-Thrawn's plan to have us cripple the Cardassian fleet so that the Konen can be independent again.
I'm going to laugh if this turns out to be all part of Konen-Thrawn's plan to have us cripple the Cardassian fleet so that the Konen can be independent again.
I'm not sure if Konen independence is plausible geopolitically, given their proximity to Cardassia and their distance from any other major powers. If there were someone on Cardassia's far side who could support them, maybe, or if they could launch some kind of lightning offensive to take major Cardassian centers of industry...
Hatred of TrumpCat intensifies. Seriously, she hasn't done a single thing that hasn't pissed off half the thread when she shows up. I cannot wait till someone else get's a plurality and she gets replaced.
Okay, after some people have asked me questions, it would also be valid to vote for:
[ ][NASH] Instruct Nash to hold tight and prepare for an offensive starting at the end of Q2 (Reinforcements from anywhere many be provided, allows both sides an extra turn to prepare)
[X][NASH] Instruct Nash to hold tight and prepare for an offensive starting at the end of Q2 (Reinforcements from anywhere many be provided, allows both sides an extra turn to prepare)
I'm going to laugh if this turns out to be all part of Konen-Thrawn's plan to have us cripple the Cardassian fleet so that the Konen can be independent again.
I'm not sure if Konen independence is plausible geopolitically, given their proximity to Cardassia and their distance from any other major powers. If there were someone on Cardassia's far side who could support them, maybe, or if they could launch some kind of lightning offensive to take major Cardassian centers of industry...
Hopefully better than the Cardassians would, as a form of messing with both sides. It's likely the prisoners have been moved out of the GBZ by now in any case.
I dunno how much profit there is in fighting a major war against a militaristic superpower for the sake of a bunch of people you can't even scam because they read your mind.
I dunno how much profit there is in fighting a major war against a militaristic superpower for the sake of a bunch of people you can't even scam because they read your mind.
[X][NASH] Instruct Nash to hold tight and prepare for an offensive starting at the end of Q2 (Reinforcements from anywhere many be provided, allows both sides an extra turn to prepare)
-[X] Reinforce as follows: Lightning (Centaur-A) from Sol Sector, Husacar (Constitution-B) from Andor Sector, Endurance (Excelsior-A) and Bull (Blooded Centaur-A) from Ferasa Sector, Avandar (Excelsior) from Rigel Sector, Yukikaze (Blooded Centaur-A) from Apinae Sector, Inspire (Oberth) and Calypso (Miranda-A) from RBZ, Thirishar (Blooded Excelsior) and Dynamo (Miranda-A) from KBZ, Spirit (Excelsior-A) and Reason (Renaissance) from CBZ, Zephyr (Blooded Centaur-A) and Gale (Blooded Centaur-A) from SBZ, and Svai (Miranda-A) from LBZ = Total Reinforcements of 2 Excelsior-A, 2 Excelsior (1 Blooded), 1 Constitution-B, 1 Renaissance, 5 Centaur-A (4 Blooded), 3 Miranda-A, and 1 Oberth
