AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's only one option.
To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)
- Thread starter OneirosTheWriter
- Start date
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- star trek exploration fully automated luxury gay space communism top level canon (canon) #hashtagcontent all-encompassing space amoeba cardassian boy bands cardassian magical girls darkest bureaucracy debate makes the qm cackle like palpatine hoh is an empire quest it has to be foreign infiltrators more ships ship happens singers delenda est starfleet this is not an empire quest ur waifu is collective?
It's only one option.
So, a mixed Starfleet/Member grouping in Enio that looks like it is preparing to charge while Engineer teams throw basic defences up. Keep the attention of Pact forces.
A pure Starfleet grouping that uses anomalies to sneak into Pact territory from Dorsata. Nash would of course want to be in charge of this group.
Possible issues - listening posts on the Pact side of these badlands, Konen psychics getting close enough to Enio forces to learn of the Dorsata vector. Do these badlands exist in Oneiros's reality would also be a potential stumbling block.
A pure Starfleet grouping that uses anomalies to sneak into Pact territory from Dorsata. Nash would of course want to be in charge of this group.
Possible issues - listening posts on the Pact side of these badlands, Konen psychics getting close enough to Enio forces to learn of the Dorsata vector. Do these badlands exist in Oneiros's reality would also be a potential stumbling block.
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If those posts can't see past the badlands is the only important thing. It doesn't matter if the Cardies detect the fleet the moment it emerges, they'll be out of place and scrambling. And possibly out of place to stop us eating a Nor alive then retreating back through and they can only follow at immense risk to themselves. If they are their we can just fall back without too great a risk.
Only the people in command of the scouting and putting the decoys together need to know before the last moment before seperation. Even if the Konen somehow find out at the last moment we can abort and follow through as normal, or chances are they'd find out only shortly before we'd emerge anyway.
And, yeah, the only big meta issue is the badlands maybe not being their. But the badlands are a Canon and fairly large stellar phenomenon in this area.
Omake - Shadows of Lightning - Shadows
Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Shadows of Lightning
Captain Victoria Villeneuve stood on the empty bridge of USS Lightning, her gazed fixed on the Captain's Chair. Her whole career–from the Academy, to being an Ensign and then a Lieutenant aboard the Enterprise, Tactical officer on USS Torbriel, then being a part of Starfleet Tactical's Games & Theory division - had led up to this point – command of a Starfleet vessel. The captain's clip on her shoulder, the rings on her cuffs – all so new they still felt unreal. She took a hesitant step, then another – another more purposeful one – and sat down in the chair that was now hers. Three hundred and fifty crew, eight hundred kilotons of sensors, shields, engines, and weaponry, all of it now her responsibility to command and care for, to shepherd through peace and war.
The crew wasn't scheduled to return from shore leave for another two hours. She'd have to make her introductions then, and formally receive command from Captain Arguk.
Now if only the impatient jitters would go away.
--
The Lightning floated between the stars, riding a bubble of twisted spacetime on its patrol of the Sol sector. As assignments went, it was an easy one – things rarely happened in the home sectors, compared to the border zones. Victoria reclined in the captain's chair, watching the main screen lit with the blue-shifted vistas of warp travel. The last week had been an exercise in putting out a dozen fires with a single firepod, but her crew was a good one. The newness of command still struck her at odd moments, and sometimes she wished…
"Captain, I've got a priority message for you from Admiral Chen." her comm officer stated from behind her, shaking her from her thoughts. Victoria looked over her shoulder at Lieutenant Brann. Her comm officer was a stocky man of middling height, dark-skinned with dark hair and dark, intelligent eyes.
"Alright, Lieutenant. Please route it to my cabin terminal." she said, standing.
"Aye, Captain. Patched it through."
The door to her cabin hissed open and shut as she went through. She sat in front of her terminal and brought it to life with a tap on the main screen. The blinking icon of a priority message winked at her, and, opening it, she laced her fingers in front of her.
Admiral Patricia Chen appeared on her screen, the admiral's clip on her shoulder shining like the sun under the lighting of her office. Dark-haired and almond-eyed, she could have been anywhere between thirty and forty by sight alone, though she was, in fact, sixty-one years old.
"Captain Villeneuve, as of your receipt of this message, you and the Lightning have been detached from Sol Sector garrison duties and are ordered to make best possible speed for Outpost Collie in the Gabriel Border Zone, where you will await further orders from Rear Admiral ka'Sharren. The USS Republic was destroyed by Cardassian forces, and your ship is to be a part of our response. On arrival, the Lightning will be assigned to Task Force 6, taking the Republic's former slot in the task force."
Victoria blinked in shock and disbelief, sitting back in her seat. It had been several years since the last time Starfleet had lost a ship–and that had been in a declared war. Try as she might, she couldn't see any way in which this didn't end in more bloodshed.
"This will be challenging, Captain, moreso for someone so new to command, but I have confidence in your abilities, and I know you will do Starfleet proud. Admiral Chen, out." The Admiral's image winked off the screen, and Victoria brought her hands up, cupping her face, peering out from between her fingers.
Hell of a way to start your command tour, Vicky. At least I'll be under Captain– Admiral –ka'Sharren again. If anyone can bring us victory, the Old Lady can.
Victoria left her quarters, stepping out onto the bridge. "Conn!"
"Yes, Captain?" the young Andorian ensign manning the conn this watch asked, looking up from her console.
"Lay in a course to rendezvous with Admiral ka'Sharren in the Gabriel Border Zone at maximum warp. We're going to fight the Cardassians." Victoria said without preamble. The atmosphere on the bridge felt like it chilled by ten degrees as her bridge crew processed that, and she suppressed her own nerves, slipping behind a calm, collected mask that betrayed nothing.
"A-aye, Captain. Laying in the new course." Ensign zh'Taaliq said, turning back to her console and inputting commands. Victoria could almost hear the tonal shift in the warp core's output, as the Lightning surged to even higher superluminal speeds.
She nodded curtly, and walked to the turbolift. "If anyone needs me, I'm hunting down cocoa and a mug."
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They have the stealthy sensor probes we encountered at the site of the Republic's sabotage. That's what I'd be worried about if I were thinking of a sneak attack through weird space. A good commander would seed those in places you wouldn't expect a listening post to cover, or have patrol craft carry them and launch them regularly, especially into anomalies.
Trashing the starbase at 67 Gabriel would be pretty crazy but it's one of those "it's not crazy if it works" ideas. My personal issue with it is while we've been mapping the borders pretty well, it's probably a two-thirds-sector dead sprint from the border to 67 Gabriel. We haven't scouted the Gabriel sector nearly as thoroughly as the border itself. Or, well, at all.
That said, our own base vulnerability is so much farther behind our lines that I'm not too worried about Collie or Delzarr.
Interestingly, on the map, the Dylaarians have almost as much separation to the Cardassians as the Sydraxians did, although there's no hostile power in between like we were for the Sydraxians. Our more unified approach to prospecting has given us a much more solid mutually supportive core.
Trashing the starbase at 67 Gabriel would be pretty crazy but it's one of those "it's not crazy if it works" ideas. My personal issue with it is while we've been mapping the borders pretty well, it's probably a two-thirds-sector dead sprint from the border to 67 Gabriel. We haven't scouted the Gabriel sector nearly as thoroughly as the border itself. Or, well, at all.
That said, our own base vulnerability is so much farther behind our lines that I'm not too worried about Collie or Delzarr.
Interestingly, on the map, the Dylaarians have almost as much separation to the Cardassians as the Sydraxians did, although there's no hostile power in between like we were for the Sydraxians. Our more unified approach to prospecting has given us a much more solid mutually supportive core.
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Those probes aren't going to be able to survive the Badlands.
That place fucks up late 24th century ships with shields up if they screw up.
- Location
- Tulsa Oklahoma
You know, I'm curious about what Nash's reaction was when she heard the amount of vessels heading her way in reinforcements? She did request them, but I would not be surprised if the amount we are providing is beyond her wildest expectations.
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
"Welp it's Go Time someone fetch me the folder labeled 'fall of the cardassian union'"
Honestly, I want to hear the Pact GBZ Commander's reaction. After all, if they are running at maximum warp, the reinforcements are not being stealthy.
Jenny
anonymous user
- Location
- maryland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
One hopes it's not "Just as planned."
lbmaian
a thirsty squirrel
- Location
- USA
Reading that quote chain... I don't think Oneiros is saying that destruction of the logistics hub equals auto-loss of the GBZ fleet? I just got the impression that they'd be in a substantial disadvantage.
The actual supply of ships is abstracted out as auxiliary costs, but I do wonder how it would play out in such a situation where Delzarr was lost in an alpha strike. The explorers and cruisers should be fine for a while. They may require a lot more supply, but their fuel and other reserves should last a lot longer. However, we have large quantity of frigates like Mirandas and Briecas there that are, to put it lightly, not optimized for long missions. Maybe they can rely on the capital ships and cruisers as temporary supply points, like the Stingers and Swarmers do with Queenships and Fatherships, respectively.
We seem to be yet again talking past each other.
You mentioned this possible mode of attack: "they somehow transported* a team to the surface of the ship to plant explosives by hand".
I then mentioned the similar attack during the Amarkia ratification, where rather than transporting a team, they just skipped that step to transport the fusion charge in the path of the shuttle.
Nash called that a "mine". Yet it was not a mine in the conventional definition of the term, except under loose interpretations. Then again, Nash is apparently just imprecise in her technical wording with the whole "gamma rays and other isotopes" thing. Or maybe "mine" just means something different in Star Trek technobabble. Or it could be argued that they're still "mines" because the cargo ship was prepared in advance (but if so, wouldn't drones or ships with such explosives prepared in advance at an ambush point also count?)
And to be really pedantic, there are a lot more than those "two attack modes" when we're talking about these explosives, that may or may not be called mines in TBG parlance, that somehow precisely attacked the Republic.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
He wasn't, but it kind of seemed like some of the earlier implications will. I didn't mean my reply that entire quote chain to be interpreted only as a direct response to Oneiros.
What I'm getting at is that there are two broad categories of possible ways the attack could have been launched. One would involve planting weapons to hit the ship after a prolonged period of time, when the ship stumbles across them. The other would involve sneaking up on the ship and somehow planting the weapons on the ship directly, or firing them from a concealed position.
For strategic purposes, as opposed to tactical, it doesn't make much difference exactly how the Cardassians did it. It does make a lot of difference which of the two attack profiles they used. Sort of like how knowing whether a surprise attack on one of your ships came by air or by sea may tell you a lot about how it happened and how to prepare yourself. Whereas knowing the exact angle their planes came from or the exact number of enemy ships involved may be useful as a tactical detail but not for strategic purposes.
...
A sneaky shuttle that beams limpet mines onto your outer hull is not strategically all that different from a sneaky shuttle that beams commandos with jetpacks near your hull to plant the bombs by hand. The exact details of how your captains will counter the threat may vary, but the broad strategy doesn't change much, because either way the threat your fleet as a whole needs to prepare against is "little sneaky ships coming in close to launch a direct attack against our warships."
Similarly, a smart-torpedo ready to attack any ship in a huge radius isn't that different from a permanently emplaced bomb-pumped laser, which isn't that different from any of a variety of other "minefield" threads. HOW a deadly device left behind to ambush a passing starship threatens the ship is largely irrelevant at the strategic level; what matters is that the device was abandoned in place for a long period of time.
Literally all I care about is convincing people that there's a significant difference between the two types of threat, and that we're almost certainly dealing with the former and not the latter.
Omake - After Her: Captain Stol - AKuz
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
A/N said:
After Her: Captain Stol
USS Agile, GBZ, Stardate 26235.1
A Vulcan sits contemplatively, or at least the Vulcan version of contemplatively, in the center chair of a Miranda-A's bridge.
"Orbital insertion complete, Captain."
"Thank you Ensign." Says Captain Stol, "Break orbit again Mr. Bridger."
"Aye Captain. Breaking orbit."
"Again sir?" Says Agile's XO, a short but sleek-pelted Caitian Lieutenant Commander, "Ensign Bridger's approach was well within Starfleet's recommended norms."
"I am aware Mr. R'hassha," says the Vulcan, leaning forward on his chair slightly, hands folded tightly in his lap, "I also believe that Ensign Bridger and the rest of this bridge crew are capable of a much more efficient orbital transition." Indeed the Vulcan Captain sees in the young Indorian officer the same rough but innate feel for the helm that he once possessed.
"Understood sir," says the Caitian, straightening back up with a shrug and stretch. No fur off the scruff of his neck if the new CO is serious about his drills -It just means that the XO has to step up his own game up to keep the Crew from getting stressed. And if there is one thing that Lieutenant R'hassha learned while stationed on USS Sappho it's how to keep a crew cool and relaxed.
Captain Stol stands up, out of his chair, and steps behind the Indorian Ensign with his hands clasped behind his back, "Ensign. You may attempt your orbital insertion now."
The Vulcan's eyes follow the Indorian's hands as the Flight Controller moves to bring Agile back into orbit of the dead planet below.
"Mr. Bridger. You are applying unnecessary power to the lateral thrusters."
"Sir? The regulations state that-"
Stol firmly keeps his hands fixed in place behind him. He must allow the Helmsman to find his own touch for the conn. "Mr. Bridger. I am aware of regulations. I am also aware that you are approaching orbital insertion at a non regulation angle." One hand slips forward to follow a power curve on the Flight Controller's terminal, "It is a good approach, very efficient, and it allows you to cut thruster usage by 3.25%. Here:" The Vulcan taps a section of the curve, "With minor compensation here:" another tap, "More elegant and greatly reduces stress on the spaceframe"
"Yes Sir." There is a brief pause from the young man, "How will I know how much thrust to apply without the regulations to guide me?"
"You have an instinctive feel for the way your ship handles. Yes?"
"Well, I, uh, my grandfather told me that I'm more sensitive to machine spirits than anyone else that he's ever met." The Ensign says with no small amount of embarrassment.
"There is indeed likely some amount of truth to that statement," Stol says diplomatically to the Ensign's amazement, "You have excellent instincts and the Academy has honed them well. However. Instinct is only the beginning of Ability." The Vulcan taps the console again with a few quick, efficient, movements to bring up a replay of the Ensign's course, "You knew to adjust your course to account for Agile's mass passing across the third moon. You conducted the maneuver before the computer suggested it"
"It felt right sir."
"Clearly. Your instinct now needs to be tempered with logic. You need to identify how you 'feel' that an action is correct. Then, with training and discipline you will them be able to anticipate your feelings. To understand their origin and how they come into being. To create and helm a hundred courses on a hundred bearings with a hundred variations in your head that you may use at all times."
The Vulcan has given this speech a hundred times to his fellow officers on Enterprise and earlier but few were capable of being able follow the advice. Few had the natural inclination or the desire to put the immense effort in.
"I. Uhm." the Ensign pauses, "That seems like a tall order sir." The young man is daunted, but part of him is excited that such a storied and veteran officer sees something in him. Sees something in an officer that had always seen himself as fairly average, all told, and who had long felt that he'd only been able to enter Starfleet due to politics rather than skill.
"That is why we drill Mr. Bridger." Says the Vulcan Captain as he returns to his seat and flicks the switch on his chair's comm unit, "Stol to Commander Friesen."
"Yessir. Friesen here. Running that diagnostic of the deck five EPS relays that you wanted."
"Thank you Ms. Friesen. You may leave that task with your subordinates for now."
"Sir?" Says the Human woman with only the lightest touch of peevishness.
"I would like you to meet me in main engineering with Agile's schematics."
"Yessir. Will do."
"Mr. R'hassha you have the Bridge." Says Stol as he stands back up, "Please continue to conduct sensor drills on my absence."
"Aye sir. Conducting sensor drills"
The Vulcan nod in satisfaction as he heads towards the small turbolift. He'd noticed a small but constant fluctuation in Agile's thruster power during the drills. Well within Starfleet recommended tolerances. But… a ship he was on not operating at peak efficiency? That would not do at all.
And of there was an opportunity here to perhaps increase Agile's efficiency with judicious modifications?
Well. That would be something to look forward to.
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It's a pretty good one.
Of course, one should be careful of
Nah, 'just as planned' is what they'll say is happening.
I don't think even the Cardassians expected ka'Sharren to sit on her ass for a quarter to wait for reinforcements, nor for the weight of metal in reinforcements about to come their way. They planned for the possibility, sure, if they are competent, but this heavy a response is odd to them.
They might take it as a show of dominance, rather than the loyalty the Federation holds towards its people. They will not be expecting it if the Federation says 'hand over our people and we'll leave.'
Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm personally in favor of hitting them hard enough that we can roll a significant portion of their fleet up over the course of a few battles. If they still wanna fight at that point, we can surely oblige them.
- Location
- Patriarchova
"Ah, thank you kindly for the intel update, Commander Thulsa. It seems we'll be activating sub-plans 2-A and 2-C after all. Please tell the Cardassian legate to prepare the countermeasure we discussed, he'll know what you mean. Lieutenant, please have your staff warm up the tactical command psi-amp network, give the battle bridge of the Death Rattle a once over, and sharpen my meat cleaver."
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Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Captain Villeneuve, thinking: "You know, last time I faced the Cardassians I was the tactical officer on a science vessel, and managed to kill one of their ships. I wonder how it will go when I've got an actual warship under my command?"
- Location
- Patriarchova
Hmmm.
You know, I wonder if the Cardassians are planning to use our reprisal as an opportunity to kill some Starfleet ships as an internal propaganda measure? So far, the Cardassians have not managed to destroy a warship of ours, while the Dawiar and Konen have. If they want to keep up their strongman leader reputation, they need to start outperforming their clients in battle.
As I believe I said before, I also would not be even slightly surprised if they're planning to use the Goshawnar as surprise reinforcements. Goshawnar space is much closer than Konen space to the GBZ, and I find it mightily suspicious that we haven't seen them there yet.
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Thors_Alumni
Proud member of Thors Class VII from Liberl
- Location
- Liberl Zemuria.
Your not the only one that is worried about the Goshawnar. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the Cardassians are using this as an opportunity to have an enemy (The Federation) take out some of their affiliate's warships for them so that they can further cement their control over their affiliate's for them. So I expect us to be fighting more Konen, Goshawner, and any other Cardassian Affiliate fleet ships in the GBZ than Cardassian. Oh the Cardassians will play the poor put upon bosses role to their affiliates about the affiliates taking the brunt of the Federations attack while the Cardassians somehow miraculously managed to keep their fleet strength mostly intact. But inwardly they will be gleefully watching their Slaves excuse me Affiliates getting their asses kicked by the Federation. And losing most if not all of their fleet strength that is in the GBZ.
- Location
- Patriarchova
no
goshawnar not looz ships in gbz
goshawnar win fite and kil fedarashun
Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You are a terrible, suspicious person with nasty thoughts.
You're also probably right.
If the Cardassian Affiliates don't manage to trade ship for ship or better Cardassia is likely to find the end result... unpleasant.
Because sooner or later the Federation will have to take on Cardassia, and Starfleet will still have its members' and Affiliates' navies to lean upon to make good on losses. But the Cardassian navy?
They'll have spent their 'allies' fleets on nothing.
