I wasn't very impressed with the results of our last inquiries about the Orion Syndicate. I'm not convinced future effort inquiries will do better.
The issue is that our Intelligence department is already doing the best they can and they told us as much last time. We can assume that our current anti-Syndicate efforts are based on the best possible information they can provide. Spending "intelligence actions" won't improve the results because we already kicked off a major anti-Orion effort and Starfleet Intelligence is already working hard on it.
Captain's Log, USS Miracht, Stardate 23650.4 - Captain Michel Thuir
With the current turbulence on our coreward borders, the Federation Diplomatic Service has called upon the Miracht to convey a team of negotiators to Rigel for an upcoming summit. However, we need to stop by a human minor colony, just rimward of Joburg, called Tobias' Rest. It is a small, most self-sustaining farming community, which United Earth has been conducting diplomacy with to help integrate them more closely in to the rest of Sol Sector. The person heading up that effort, one Jennifer Caravel, is to be the leader of our mission to Rigel.
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Captain's Log, USS Miracht, Stardate 23656.9
We have arrived at Tobias' Rest, where we had expected to simply swing by and beam Ms Caravel from the small station orbiting the planet. However, she is apparently still on the surface, and has requested our presence in dealing with some nascent trouble.
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Captain's Log, USS Miracht, Stardate 23657.2
Once you can get over the intimidating and fear factor of being face to face with all two meters of angry Yrillian, dealing with Yrillian pirates is easier than regular pirates. Bigger targets, you see.
It looks like these pirates have been attempting to put the squeeze on the local settlers. This would be a lot easier if we could pick up their ship on sensors, but at a guess they're running in low emissions and we're having trouble picking them out. On the other hand, there's a number of local quislings working for the pirates. I can see why Jennifer wanted boots on the ground, this needs some sorting out.
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Captain's Log, USS Miracht, Stardate 23658.2
There are few things in life as dangerous as a trap that the target already knows about. I let the Yrillians spring an ambush on me, never letting on that me, my away team, and the two dozen security officers with phaser rifles standing by on transporter pads in orbit, already knew about the ambush. That will put them on the back foot.
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Captain's Log, USS Miracht, Stardate 23659.3
It wasn't easy, but I managed to convince the daughter of one of the local ranch hands who was in cahoots with the Yrillians to find the location of the hidden Yrillian pirate ship. I was so impressed by the young lady's spirit and endeavour that I have approved her request to come aboard as a cadet, and will provide her with a nomination to Starfleet Academy. Jennifer Caravel is on board as well and preparing her team for the summit on Rigel. We should arrive just on time.
[Gain +25 relations with Rigellians, +10pp, +1 Impact]
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Federation Anti-Slavery Sub-Committee Report
The USS Yukikaze has led one of two operations to bust smuggling and fencing operations, one in Orion space and the other in Andor. The best news came out of Amarkia, however, where the CAS Friec crossed paths with a rare Syndicate Light Cruiser, a slave-taking ship. The ship's cargo holds were thankfully empty as the torpedoes of the Friec tore it apart. Some small damage was sustained, but the operation was a clear success.
On less welcome news, the headquarters of Caitian border enforcement was bombed last month. It is believed to be the work of Syndicate operatives as part of a counter-attack against your security assets.
Total Impact for the Year is 5 with 2 Cost, Cumulative Impact is 32 with 2 Cost.
Once you can get over the intimidating and fear factor of being face to face with all two meters of angry Yrillian, dealing with Yrillian pirates is easier than regular pirates. Bigger targets, you see.
The Syndicate is going to start fighting back. As the campaign goes on, their counter-attacks will start to impose Cost. Cost starts draining your Political Will and raising the pp price of Syndicate related actions.
My reasoning behind the 2 War Objective requests was less about finding out great secrets and more about finding out what each empire want to get out of the war.
The Klingons probably want the war to blood their younger troops and test out their new ships in combat. It's also a chance for honour and glory.
The Romulans probably want territory, to test out their new ships and more information on Klingon colonies and shipyards. Places where they can infiltrate or sabotage the Klingons in a total war.
I doubt either one will launch all out attacks at each others homeworlds knowing what they want will give us an advantage in mediating. I'm thinking long term if we can keep things stable between the 3 powers (maybe an Alpha Quadrant Alliance?) we can build up to be the kind of superpower it took to defeat the Dominion/Cardassian/Breen in DS9 without the massive losses Starfleet suffered in that war. That said, we may butterfly the Cardassians into a much smaller (or much bigger) problem such that they never ally with the Dominion.
Also, update. I would guess that cost is a measure of how much pushback we've gotten from the Syndicate. If they raise the cost of fighting them too high the council may fold and have us stop rooting them out. I'd expect a big hit to Orion relations if we try and fail to deal with the Syndicate.
My reasoning behind the 2 War Objective requests was less about finding out great secrets and more about finding out what each empire want to get out of the war.
The Klingons probably want the war to blood their younger troops and test out their new ships in combat. It's also a chance for honour and glory.
The Romulans probably want territory, to test out their new ships and more information on Klingon colonies and shipyards. Places where they can infiltrate or sabotage the Klingons in a total war.
I doubt either one will launch all out attacks at each others homeworlds knowing what they want will give us an advantage in mediating. I'm thinking long term if we can keep things stable between the 3 powers (maybe an Alpha Quadrant Alliance?) we can build up to be the kind of superpower it took to defeat the Dominion/Cardassian/Breen in DS9 without the massive losses Starfleet suffered in that war. That said, we may butterfly the Cardassians into a much smaller (or much bigger) problem such that they never ally with the Dominion.
Also, update. I would guess that cost is a measure of how much pushback we've gotten from the Syndicate. If they raise the cost of fighting them too high the council may fold and have us stop rooting them out. I'd expect a big hit to Orion relations if we try and fail to deal with the Syndicate.
I'm thinking we need to deal a quick and harsh blow to the Syndicate, so it doesn't get to the point where they can still hold a meaningful resistance.
The Syndicate is going to start fighting back. As the campaign goes on, their counter-attacks will start to impose Cost. Cost starts draining your Political Will and raising the pp price of Syndicate related actions.
Does that mean that the better the ratio of impact vs loss is the determining factor in the pp price? What is the initial base for the price quotes we got at the start, and what numbers is the ratio for said base price? I would think it would be nice to have it so that if we are successful in the operations against the Syndicate results in lower pp costs for syndicate related actions.
The Syndicate is going to start fighting back. As the campaign goes on, their counter-attacks will start to impose Cost. Cost starts draining your Political Will and raising the pp price of Syndicate related actions.
(nods) Yeah, I suppose it only makes sense this is going to be a pretty brutal struggle. Rinias was right when he said that it's more of a war than many wars.
Oh, and the RIgellians are now 463/500. They most likely won't get there on this year's roll (though it's possible if they rolled max, I think) but are awfully close.
Does that mean that the better the ratio of impact vs loss is the determining factor in the pp price? What is the initial base for the price quotes we got at the start, and what numbers is the ratio for said base price? I would think it would be nice to have it so that if we are successful in the operations against the Syndicate results in lower pp costs for syndicate related actions.
I'm thinking we need to deal a quick and harsh blow to the Syndicate, so it doesn't get to the point where they can still hold a meaningful resistance.
Easy to say, but it's not going to be fast no matter what we do. However I'm ultimately not too worried about the player base losing our will on this. We aren't going to back down from the Orion Syndicate even if the cost creeps up to 50 pp a year.
I'm thinking we need to deal a quick and harsh blow to the Syndicate, so it doesn't get to the point where they can still hold a meaningful resistance.
No, that isn't going to work, at all. All that would do is rapidly accumulate cost. The best plan of action is making sure that we have the maximum amount of impact per unit of cost possible. This is important due to the fact that in percentages, the higher the amount on one side, the harder it is to move the percentages further into lopsidedness, and the easier it is to move it towards parity. You can see this in upvote/downvote ratings systems.
Okay, but you're going to have to tell us how many political will points we lost, right? Does the cost mean we have to abandon one of the components of our anti-Syndicate plans?
Oh, would be nice if we were able to tell that if the mines (current and potential) for Special resources were different from the mines (current and potential) for bulk resources with a glance.
...What are you talking about? We're always notified what kind of materials we'll get from a new mining colony.
As for dealing with our surplus of bulk resources, our review of Karak'Tor should provide us with some design elements that will eagerly consume said surplus.
The Cardassians build big ships (compared to most of our legacy designs), heavy on bulk resources but apparently light on special resources due to their economizing on those. Why is that somehow a reason we'll suddenly want to spend huge amounts of bulk resources?
People really like having Explorer Corps missions going, so it might initially be more popular, but if we push it... I don't know.
What we'll get will be Starfleet Intelligence's best guesses and analysis, and having them spend time doing that analysis is worth something... but it will still be only a guess.
I wouldn't bet on getting anything good out of this. If we had the people-reader guy in charge maybe. And this isn't me criticizing Linderley; even assuming he never makes mistakes and is genuinely good at his job, analyzing enemy intentions is really hard. I don't think the US ever had a clear understanding of Soviet strategy and intentions during the Cold War due to problems with projecting stereotypes about THE RED TERROR or whatever. That's just one example.
Not sure it's really worth an action for this. Is there a great deal of value in being able to estimate if it's three years or five?
Not really, but it'd be nice to know if it's more like three years or more like ten. It is far from inconceivable that really beating the Syndicate the way we're operating could take a decade or more in my opinion.
The Syndicate is going to start fighting back. As the campaign goes on, their counter-attacks will start to impose Cost. Cost starts draining your Political Will and raising the pp price of Syndicate related actions.
My reasoning behind the 2 War Objective requests was less about finding out great secrets and more about finding out what each empire want to get out of the war.
The Klingons probably want the war to blood their younger troops and test out their new ships in combat. It's also a chance for honour and glory.
The Romulans probably want territory, to test out their new ships and more information on Klingon colonies and shipyards. Places where they can infiltrate or sabotage the Klingons in a total war.
See, that is all we needed to know right there. Plus, we have existing diplomatic relations with both empires. If we want to know their war aims if and when they go to war, we can just ask them!
We need to really concentrate our intelligence on certain critical things here. We have almost no recent information on the Klingons, so that's important. I suppose Romulan war aims are important since we're probably going to have to spend at least one intel action on the Romulans
I doubt either one will launch all out attacks at each others homeworlds knowing what they want will give us an advantage in mediating. I'm thinking long term if we can keep things stable between the 3 powers (maybe an Alpha Quadrant Alliance?) we can build up to be the kind of superpower it took to defeat the Dominion/Cardassian/Breen in DS9 without the massive losses Starfleet suffered in that war. That said, we may butterfly the Cardassians into a much smaller (or much bigger) problem such that they never ally with the Dominion.
Perhaps. I think that trying to successfully mediate the Klingon-Romulan conflict is a desirable medium-term goal, definitely... But I think that "what about the Dominion" is a planning horizon too far out for us to properly plan for. Also, there was 'historically' a LOT of bad blood between the Klingons and the Romulans, and it seems to have already started in this timeline- I'm not entirely sure.
We may or may not be able to convince them to accept mutual peace without a lot of trouble. Although it wouldn't hurt to equip ourselves to try.
No, that isn't going to work, at all. All that would do is rapidly accumulate cost. The best plan of action is making sure that we have the maximum amount of impact per unit of cost possible. This is important due to the fact that in percentages, the higher the amount on one side, the harder it is to move the percentages further into lopsidedness, and the easier it is to move it towards parity. You can see this in upvote/downvote ratings systems.
This is... kind of gibberish. We have no way to ensure that we have high impact/cost ratios, only high impact. We don't control the cost of the Syndicate's actions against us.
This isn't some kind of minmaxing system where we can say "we get to have X impact on the Syndicate in exchange for Y cost." Cost depends on what the Syndicate does to us, which we do not control. It's not like we can somehow arrange to arrest more slavers per successful terrorist bombing they commit against us. We can only do our best to catch more slavers, and to prevent the individual bombings.
So we have no control over the 'cost' of our own campaign... except insofar as we can secure ourselves from their attacks. Which maybe is where Linderley actually gets a chance to shine, and if he does I'd like to hear about it because successful counterintelligence operations often don't get credit, and if Linderley ISN'T the fool I've been taking him for, he deserves my admiration.
Ghosts of the Future, Whispers of the Grave - Epilogue
The Starfleet Medical Command hospital ship USS Hope comes alongside the Enterprise in a slow and stately arc, moving like the old matron of a ship that she is. She has already collected the Cardassian survivors from the life pods of the Kadak-Tor, now it is time to collect one more patient. Maryam Ajam has been through a lot in the last year. From having the Courageous blasted out from underneath her, to being plucked, badly wounded, from her escape pod by the Orions, to being traded to the Cardassians. But Maryam Ajam never gave up, never forgot she was a Starfleet officer. She fought through every adversary, weaseled her way into the confidence of Gul Miran, and served as the worm that cored the apple from within. All that has happened with the Kadak-Tor has happened with Captain Ajam's fingerprints on it.
The Kadak-Tor had held the cruel ambitions of a military-industrial complex that would have plunged the Alpha Quadrant into bitter, bloody war. A chance to put the Federation on the backfoot from the opening exchange, to make the soft and decadent yield before the people of discipline. In the end, they were either saved or betrayed, depending on one's point of view, by those whom they trusted most. The struggles and competition between the Federation and Cardassians is far from over, of course. But for the time being a wave of introspection and purges wracks Cardassia. Their outward ambitions are halted by a sea of kin-spilt blood and ever more of the sacrifice their idolise.
The Cardassian Union and the Obsidian Order do their best to spin the events of the first two months of 2310 favourably, but even among their own people there are few believers, even as everyone gives lipservice. Among the affiliates of the spinward frontier of the Federation, it becomes clear to all that the Federation has gotten one over the Cardassians. At best, a brand new one and a half million ton ship has been destroyed without gain. At worst, even the hint of defection sends a shiver up the spine of the establishment on Cardassia. Many powers slip closer to the Federation's orbit.
Bridge, USS Miracht, Beyond Rigel
"I see you took my advice."
Michel Thuir sits bolt upright and turns around. He knows that voice. Sure enough, he has company. "Security to the bridge!"
"Oh pish," the female Q who has abruptly decided to invite herself onto Captain Thuir's bridge. She's dressed this time in a 2260s era Starfleet uniform, with a Captain's braids sewn onto the sleeves of the old command gold dress. "Surely this isn't the way to greet an old friend."
"Well, I can't say you're wrong there," quips Thuir as he stands to face the omnipotent being. "What's your fancy today, Q? Cart us off across the galaxy? Maybe another historical reenactment? Or-"
"My dear, dear Captain, you really shouldn't give me ideas," laughs Q. "But come now, come now, I'm only hear to offer my congratulations."
There is a moment of silence in the bridge as Thuir glances at his senior staff, who to the last shrug in confusion. "Oh?" is all he says at the end.
The Q puts a hand to her chest, a full-bodied feigned surprise. "Why, yes! When the Cardassians knocked you decided not to react like slavering beasts, thirsting for blood!"
"I don't know why that is worthy of either surprise or praise," drawls Thuir.
"You may think so, but as early as two hundred years ago your kind would have been slitting throats with gleeful wild abandon right now." Q nods to herself and grins. "I collected on quite a lot of wagers when your tiff with the Cardassians did not result in a war." Thuir says nothing, simply standing and glaring, to which Q laughs. "Oh, dear, dear Captain. You're in quite a mood, I see, so I'll take my leave. But rest assured, I'll see you again. Congratulations again."
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Political Reward
-1 Point of Militarisation
+10 Political Will
Gain +25 Relations with
Apiata
Indoria
Orion
Qloath
Seyek
Gretaria
Risa
Bajor
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Cardassian Infrastructure
Total Shipbuilding Budget = 340/250
Cardassia (-2j)
Starbase I, 2x Shipyards,Capital
Generates 75 Bulk, 50 Special
Karadoc
Starbase I, Shipyard, Sector Capital
Generates 25 Bulk, 25 Special
Galundun
Starbase I, Shipyard, Sector Capital
Generates 25 Bulk
Balogot
Outpost I
Generates 25 Bulk, 25 Special
Vedarot
Outpost I
Generates 25 Special
Todamak
Starbase I, Shipyard
Generates 25 Bulk
Trangot
Agricultural Source
Generates up to 200 bulk cargo (1 = 50,000 people fed) of Food Surplus
