Federation Commander

[rjl518]

MISSION: The Going of the Meteor (Y2560---The Four-Powers War) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Lieutenant-Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Chief of Staff, Federation old heavy cruiser Florida.

LOCATION:Planet Pollux IX

MISSION SETUP:
In Y2560, tensions between the Klingon Empire and the Federation were still pretty high.
The Klingons were fighting the Four-Powers War with their allies, the Lyrans, against the Kzinti and Hydrans.
But they still made time to harass Federation shipping and colony worlds very frequently.
In the middle of the year, a Klingon plan was hatched to destroy or at least seriously damage planet Pollux IX, a Federation colony in Sector 2011, located on the KLI-FED border.
A giant meteor was being towed towards the planet by the Klingon F5 frigate Khedive, in the hope of smashing it into the planet and destroying the population and the industrial center that was based there.
Luckily for us, they failed.
The Federation heavy cruiser USS Kongo, under the command of Captain Phil Kosnett, was able to drive off the frigate, latch onto the meteor with the Kongo's tractor beams, and tow the large rock away from the planet.
It was a great heroic effort by Kosnett and the crew of the Kongo.
All of Starfleet was informed of the action and Kosnett was hailed as a hero.
I completely agreed.
A couple of days later, the old heavy cruiser Florida received a message from the Kongo.
Since our ship just happened to be in the area, we were the logical choice to receive an assignment.
Captain Kosnett was ordered to follow the trail of the Khedive and locate the base that it came from.
Starfleet had guessed that since a Klingon ship was discovered in Federation territory, there might be a forward base supplying other Klingon ships.
Kosnett was ordered to locate the base, assess the situation and decide the next plan of action.
The Florida, being an old heavy cruiser that was just recently refitted from its light cruiser status, could take some good punishment and now it could deal some out as well, was ordered to accompany him.
Captain Tony Hopkins of the Florida acknowledged the order and we made our way to Pollux IX.
I went up to Hopkins and told him that the ship's crew was ready for anything and CMDR Urban, our XO, stated that all systems were operational.
An hour later we arrived at Pollux IX and met up with the Kongo.
The Florida then took up position behind the heavy cruiser and off the two ships went, following the trail of ion particles left behind when the Khedive disengaged.
It didnt take long for us to find our intruders.
Forty-five minutes later, the Kongo discovered two small Klingon freighters, making their way to some destination in Sector 2112, which was even deeper in Fed territory.
We stayed behind them using low power, hoping we wouldn't be detected so easily.
I guess detection equipment of standard small freighters is not that good, because they didnt see or hear us at all.
Another thirty minutes passed and we had found our target.
A Klingon mobile base, right in our backyard.
How?
We would have to find the answer to that question a little later, because the base's sensors did detect us as soon as we showed up.
A Klingon mobile base does carry some decent phaser firepower as well as disruptors and perhaps a drone rack or two.
We also found the Klingon frigate Khedive, docked to the base and being repaired.
Sensors indicated that it was still badly damaged from the earlier fight with the Kongo, so we were pretty much sure that the Khedive would not be much of a threat.
What WOULD be a threat however, was the Klingon D7 battlecruiser Defiler, which was guarding the base.
I knew this ship, it was Kharg's new duty station as head of tactical.
Kosnett analyzed the situation.
A Federation heavy cruiser and an old heavy cruiser versus a Klingon mobile base, two small freighters, a D7 battlecruiser and a crippled F5 frigate.
Kosnett got on the horn to Starfleet Command and relayed all the information.
Starbase 2211 acknowledged the transmission and was sending reinforcements.
But they wouldn't get there for a couple of hours.
Kosnett then called Hopkins on the Florida and asked his opinion.
Both Kosnett and Hopkins were of the same rank, but Hopkins deferred to Kosnett.
Phil Kosnett was the captain of the larger ship and henceforth, was in overall command of the mission.
Kosnett said to Hopkins, "Let's do this!"
Hopkins looked at Urban and myself.
Both Urban and I smiled and nodded in agreement.
The Federation was about to do some damage.

MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
Kosnett tried to put the F5 out of action for good.
Since the Khedive was staying near the mobile base's location, the Kongo fired at long range.
It didnt do anything to the Khedive and the Kongo missed with ALL photons.
The Khedive had shield damage and weapons damage from the 1st battle with the Kongo, but Kosnett missed badly with his weapons.
The Florida had a better result as Hopkins attacked the Defiler.
We hit it with phasers at close range since the D7 battlecruiser was confronting the Fed ships.
We knocked down the #6 shield and did light interior damage.
But we missed with our photons also.
The Klingons attacked the Kongo and left the Florida alone.
The Kongo took shield damage only, but the #3 shield took a drone hit.
We reloaded our photons and prepared to give these Klingons some more phaser attacks.
The firepower that the Florida had now was pretty awesome, but we were having major problems moving at a good speed.
I knew that this would probably be an issue with the new refit to the ship.

2nd Pass:
The Kongo tried to concentrate fire on the D7, but the Defiler's captain was ready this time.
The Kongo shot the D7 from long range but only did minor shield damage.
The D7 then closed and hit the Kongo with a strong phaser strike, knocking down the #1 shield and knocking out phasers and two torp launchers.
The Florida went after the Khedive from long range but didnt do anything to it.
The Klingon mobile base even did some damage to the heavy cruiser from far away.
The Klingons were putting up a strong defense, and we couldnt make any headway.
Kosnett knew he had to do something soon and he couldnt count on the reinforcements getting here in time to help.

3rd Pass:
The Kongo and the Florida did hit the Defiler with phasers and a couple of photons.
We did knock down a shield, but failed to do any real damage on this pass.
The Kongo had to shoot down three drones and so used up some of its offensive power.
The small Klingon freighters, mobile base and the crippled F5 frigate were also sniping at us from long range and actually becoming a nuisance.
The Florida took minor damage from the D7 as it went after us this time.
We tried to stay out of its alpha strike range, but the ship wasn't fast enough.
The new photon launchers were draining a lot of power.

4th Pass:
Kosnett decided for the Kongo and the Florida to go straight at the Defiler.
We closed to point blank range and hit the Defiler with all phasers that we had since our photons were recharging.
Two things happened in an instant.
The one thing i that did remember is that we hit the D7.
Then, there was flash of light and i didnt remember anything after that.

MISSION EPILOGUE:
I woke up in a hospital bed on the USS Kongo.
Captain Phil Kosnett was standing over me with a pale look on his face.
He asked if i was alright and i said, "Yes, sir. What happened?"
He gave me a full report on the outcome of the battle.
The combined phaser power of the Kongo and the Florida crippled the Klingon D7 Defiler, but it was able to disengage and retire into Klingon space.
Which meant that my nemesis Kharg had escaped again.
Federation reinforcements had arrived immediately in the form of the Federation heavy cruiser Potemkin and the destroyer Pompey.
When the extra Federation ships had arrived, the Klingon F5 frigate Khedive was able to power up what engines it had and it retired into Klingon territory.
But the small Klingon freighters and the mobile base was destroyed by the Starfleet ships.
The Kongo was able to repair its damage and was now heading back to Pollux IX for extensive repairs.
The Kongo did not take any damage to its frame, so it would be out maybe a few weeks.
I asked about the Florida.
The Florida took a full alpha strike from the Defiler.
It broke my ship in two!
The forward part of the ship was able to sustain life for enough time for rescue teams to get on board and save what lives they could.
I was lucky to be one of them.
Captain Hopkins, however, didnt make it.
He was killed by falling debris from the roof of the bridge.
Commander Urban, my XO, was alive but he was still unconscious in the Kongo's sickbay.
I had received bruises but no breaks, so i would be 100 percent again in a week.
Kosnett, being a good man looked at me and asked what i was feeling.
I knew that Kosnett was asking if i was going to blame him for Captain Hopkins' death.
I told him, "Captain, it would be a great honor to serve under your command one day."
Phil Kosnett then smiled and patted me on the shoulder and said, "Lt. Commander, i look forward to that opportunity."
A week later, i was up and about and ready for my next assignment.
My next ship was the Federation light cruiser Oklahoma, NCC-0945.
It was another Texas-class ship that was supposed to undergo a refit like the Florida did.
But after seeing how the Florida performed in the last battle, the refit was cancelled.
I was actually happy about that.
Even though it would have been nice to throw four photons at an enemy ship at one time, i would rather be on a ship designed to do that, like a Constitution-class heavy cruiser or a Federation-class dreadnought.
Those ships are designed to carry that kind of firepower around.
I hoped that one day, i would be assigned to a ship like that.
I knew it would come soon.
I would just have to be patient.
Anyway i was made chief of staff on the Oklahoma by my new commanding officer, Captain Rich Rodgers.
I also heard that Commander Urban, my old XO from the Florida had recovered from his wounds.
But he lost a leg to his injuries and he was retired from Starfleet with a promotion to Captain.
My career was still young, and i just lost my first ship in battle.
I would always remember Captain Hopkins.
He was a good man and i would do what it took to make his spirit proud of me.
I had hoped that i wouldn't lose any more battles and see more of my friends perish.
Unfortunately, as time went on, it was false hope.
Anyway, i settled in my position on board the Oklahoma and we started patrolling for the rest of the year.
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

MISSION: Collateral Damage (Y2561---The Four-Powers War) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Lieutenant-Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Chief of Staff, Federation light cruiser Oklahoma

LOCATION: Sector 2210, Federation Space

MISSION PROLOGUE:
It seems that Captain Phil Kosnett of the Federation heavy cruiser Kongo, just cannot stay out of trouble.
A year later after the fight against the Klingon mobile base, the Kongo was escorting some Federation dignitaries to a colony world in Sector 2210.
All was going well when according to the report, a Klingon D6 heavy cruiser, the Gnasher, started approaching the Kongo.
It looked like the Klingons were attempting to thwart Kosnett's mission of getting the Fed representatives to the colony safely.
Captain Kosnett ordered to bring the Kongo to full battle readiness when all of a sudden, the ship lost all power.
Apparently, a Klingon spy had infiltrated the Kongo and sabotaged the main engines and reactors, which nearly put Kosnett's ship out of commission.
And with a Klingon D6 in the area, the Kongo might not survive the encounter.
But thanks to the heroism of his engineering crew and some great combat strategy by Kosnett, the Kongo was able to re-power it's engines and fight off the Gnasher.
The Gnasher was forced to retreat and return to Klingon space.
But according to other reports, the spy was never caught.
That was until the Federation light cruiser Oklahoma got a lead from a source located inside Orion territory.
The spy's name was Torg and he had just left Orion space and was making his way back to Klingon territory.
The ship that he was traveling in was a Klingon F5 frigate, the Khedive.
When i heard the name of the ship, i immediately went to Captain Rodgers and told him what that name meant to me.
I told him that the Khedive was the ship that the Kongo and the light cruiser Florida tracked back to that Klingon mobile base.
And i said to him, "Sir, the Khedive led us into a Klingon trap and Captain Hopkins and the Florida paid for it with their lives."
Then i said, "As far as i am concerned, Captain, that damn Klingon ship owes us one!"
Captain Rich Rodgers looked at me and frowned a little saying, "You do know that the word "revenge" is not in the Starfleet rule-book, Mr. Roberts."
I looked down at the floor and weakly said, "Yes sir, you're right."
But then my captain said, "However, the word "justice" IS in the rule-book. So as far as i am concerned, this ship has committed a crime by helping out a Klingon spy and is wanted for other transgressions against the Federation."
I smiled at him and he smiled at me.
Then he said, "Let's go get our saboteur and if the ship he is on happens to get a piece or two knocked off of it, I'll just it collateral damage."
The Oklahoma radioed Starfleet HQ that we were on the trail of Kosnett's spy that had sabotaged the Kongo.
They wished us the best of luck to bring that alien criminal to justice.
In Sector 2111, we found the Khedive, but it was not alone.
There was a Klingon Prime Trader that was with it.
It appeared that both ships were doing transfers between the two.
Maybe telling each other information or stealing Federation secrets.
The Klingons were trying to get all the help possible to get an edge on the Kzinti and the Hydrans during the Four-Powers War, which was still raging on at time.
If they could get clandestine info on their enemies due to spying on the Kzinti-Federation border, the Klingons would take it.
The two Klingon ships had detected us and they powered up their weapons.
A light cruiser against a frigate and a prime trader.
We WERE outnumbered and prime traders do have some phaser capacity.
But Captain Rodgers wasn't nervous with having to fight two ships at once.
He shouted at the view-screen, "Khedive! We are coming for you!"


MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Oklahoma went straight for the F5, completely ignoring the Prime Trader.
We only fired one photon and we saved the other, we missed though.
Our phasers did weaken the #2 shield and we shorted out the transporters of the Khedive, but we didnt do much anything else.
The prime trader scored some minor hits on our shields.
We stayed back far enough so that the disruptors on the frigate wouldn't hurt us so early yet.
But Rodgers knew we would have to close the gap soon, lest we risk both ships warping out and taking Torg with them.

2nd Pass:
We stayed far enough away from the Khedive and pounded it with phasers.
We knocked down the #2 shield and did weapon damage to the frigate.
It lost its drone rack, two phasers and a disruptor.
We missed with a photon again.
The prime trader did light phaser damage to us and we took armor hits, but no major internals.
I informed Captain Rodgers of the damage to the Khedive and i told him now might be a good time to throw a shuttle at them.
He agreed and we launched a suicide shuttle.

3rd Pass:
The Khedive was able to blow our shuttle up, but doing so exposed itself.
We swung around the Khedive and managed to throw phasers at it's down #2 shield.
No matter what the Klingon commander of that ship did, Rodgers always seemed to strike thru the down shield.
The phasers at close range mangled the Khedive.
We then locked onto the F5 with our tractor beams.
Then Captain Rodgers ordered a marine squad to transport over and find the spy on the ship.
They located him in the engine room.
A brief firefight and somehow, Torg was transported onto the Oklahoma.
Torg was arrested and put in the brig.
However, only one member of the squad returned and he died in sickbay an hour later.
We were getting tired of the prime trader taking pot shots at us.
We fired a photon at it but missed.
So far, none of our photons had hit any target in this battle.
I think i had to assign some training to my weapons officer.
We did take some damage from the Khedive, but mostly labs and hull hits.
But the battle was over.
The Klingon spy was captured, the Khedive had only one disruptor left, so it was no longer a threat and the prime trader had surrendered.

MISSION EPILOGUE:
Captain Rodgers knew that we were not at war with the Klingons.
So he did the human thing.
He contacted the commander of the Khedive and ordered him to abandon ship.
Commander Trax of the Khedive said he and his crew would rather die than be cowards.
Rodgers said, "It is not cowardly to live and fight another day, Trax. Who knows? In the future, you and i might be in a reverse situation."
Trax thought for a moment and seemed to agree.
Sensors indicated that the Khedive repaired its transporters and beamed all remaining crew to the prime trader.
The Khedive was an empty ship.
Captain Rodgers then looked at me and said, "Mr. Roberts, you give the command to fire."
"Yes sir...with pleasure!"
The Oklahoma released the tractors and we moved to a safe position away from the frigate.
I then commanded, "Weapons officer, lock on target."
"Weapons locked, sir!"
"For Captain Tony Hopkins, Commander Urban and the ones who didnt make it from the Florida...FIRE FULL ALPHA STRIKE!"
And that was the end of the Klingon F5 frigate Khedive!
An hour later, three Federation police cutters had come to relieve us of the Klingon prime trader that we had taken custody of.
The prime trader would be taken to the nearest battle station where Starfleet would deal with the Klingons on board.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma repaired its damage from the short fight and we headed on to planet Beta II for a little rest.
Justice was served.
And if i do say so myself...at that early time in my career...it was very delicious!
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

MISSION: Balance of Power (Y2562---The Four-Powers War) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Lieutenant-Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Chief of Staff, Federation light cruiser Oklahoma

LOCATION: Oklahoma briefing room.

MISSION PROLOGUE:
The Four-Powers War came to an end this year as the Klingons, Kzinti, Lyrans and Hydrans basically had enough for now.
While the Federation light cruiser Oklahoma was docked at Battle Station 2609, Captain Rodgers had called a meeting of his senior staff officers in the main briefing room.
Starfleet had procured some information and battle recordings from that war and they wanted their starship captains to study the fights along with their crew.
The Kzintis, who were actually having some favorable negotiations with the Federation at this time, had transmitted some video records of the war to Starfleet HQ.
Then, Starfleet transmitted these records to the starships in the field.
The captains of the ship were to choose a battle and then study it along with their staff.
Captain Rich Rogers chose an interesting one on one duel between the Lyran Star Empire and the Hydran Kingdom.
The Lyran Empire, also made up of a feline type race like the Kzintis was very strong and very tactical.
The Lyran ships were armed with expanding sphere generators, specifically designed to protect the ship like an extra shield, or run over enemy ships like a battering ram.
The Lyrans were kind of identical to the Terran lynx, while the Kzintis resembled Terran tigers.
But if you thought that those two cat-like races got along with each other, you couldnt have been further from the truth.
I wont go into the hatred that the Lyrans and Kzintis have for each other in this report.
I assume the reader already knows about it.
The Lyrans also had a distaste for the Hydrans to the south of their territory.
We kind of call them trash cans, but they are as alien as us earthlings have ever seen.
Three arms, two mouths, three sexes...well...i call that pretty much alien to me.
The Federation has always been in good standing with the Hydrans, a very honorable race that has had wars with the Lyrans and the Klingons many times.
Since the enemy of my enemy is my friend, i guess that makes the Hydrans and the Federation good buddies for now.
Oh yeah...back to the briefing.
So Captain Rodgers told us what we were about to see.
Three days before the Lyran-Hydran side of the Four-Powers War ended, in Sector 0214, Hydran space, a Lyran Tiger-class heavy cruiser, the Sorcerer, was about to do battle with a Hydran Dragoon-class heavy cruiser, the Majestic.
Two ships that were pretty even against each other.
But the Hydrans have a slight advantage, the Stinger Fighters.
These durable, quick little attack shuttles were equipped with Gatling phasers (rapid firing phaser-3s) and fusion beams.
At close range, a squad of those things could turn even heavy ships into crunched up sheet metal.
The Lyrans were aware of these fighters, and they were very aware of the very powerful hellbore cannons that the large Hydran ships carried.
But those cats were not afraid, and their catamaran type starships were more than capable of dealing with the Hydrans.
I was about to watch a one on one duel between two heavy cruisers featuring the Lyrans and Hydrans.
As i sat down, Captain Rodgers ordered the chef to bring some popcorn and soda to the briefing room.
Even though this was a serious discussion, my CO always liked to ease the tension at certain times.
It would be an idea that i would use later when i was the commanding officer of my starships in the future.
I grabbed my bucket of popcorn, sunk it with butter and then i put my cold drink on the table in front of me.
I sat up in my chair, ready to learn about Lyran and Hydran tactics that was about to be presented before me.
I would gather the info, then i would present it to my subordinates later.
This was going to be an exciting action movie.
The only problem was...this wasn't fiction.
This was fact!
And in this motion-picture, i am pretty sure that a lot of alien beings lost their lives making the film that day.

MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Majestic launched its stinger fighters and they rapidly approached the Lyran heavy cruiser.
Two fighters could not get into range so they saved their power, but one did.
The fusion beams and the Gatling phaser made quick work of the #5 shield of the Sorcerer.
The Lyran then activated its ESG to try and ram the fighter, but only succeeded in damaging it.
The phaser-3s on the Lyran ship then blew the fighter into dust.
Both heavy cruisers then traded fire.
The hellbores on the Hydran ship dealt good shield damage on the Sorcerer, while the disruptors on the Sorcerer did shield hits to the Majestic.
A few burn throughs on both ships, but no real damage.
The remaining two stingers then swung around and tried another attack run.

2nd Pass:
The stinger fighters drove at the Lyran ship.
One was rammed by the ESG, the other was able to fire and do more shield damage.
The Sorcerer then let the fighter have a couple of phaser-3s in its face, crippling it.
It would return to the Majestic.
The Sorcerer then attacked the Hydran ship with disruptors and phasers.
It knocked down the #1 shield, but didnt do much internally.
The hellbores on the Hydran ship however, knocked down two shields on the Lyran ship and did light internal damage.
I was watching this battle and i was trying to get a feel of how far the Lyran captain would go to take out the Hydran heavy cruiser.
If i was learning anything so far, i learned that i was happy that the Hydrans were on OUR side.

3rd Pass:
The Lyran ship and the Hydran ship decided to do knife fighting at point blank range.
The Lyran got the worst of it.
The hellbores penetrated two down shields and wrecked the interior of the Sorcerer.
The Lyran did get some play on the Hydran, but not enough to scare off the trash cans.
After the exchange of fire, three disruptors, five phasers and both ESGs were knocked out on the Sorcerer.
Even though the Hydran had three down shields, the Lyran did not have the firepower to turn the tide of battle.
It might be able to do some damage, but at the cost of its own destruction.
The Lyran captain decided to disengage.
The Sorcerer went to warp and left the field of battle.
The Hydrans were victorious.

MISSION EPILOGUE:
Three days later, the War came to an end...for now.
As i said, i was glad that the Hydrans were on our side.
As for the Lyrans, the Federation really hasn't had much contact with them in the past.
I think that there were a couple of skirmishes against them, but i would have to check to see the results.
It didnt matter though, because since they were allies of our adversaries, the Klingons, we would have several battles against Lyran ships during the General War.
And i would be involved in a couple of them.
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

MISSION: Here Comes the Cavalry! (Y2563---The Middle Years) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Lieutenant-Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Chief of Staff, Federation light cruiser Oklahoma

LOCATION: Sector 3216, Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone

MISSION PROLOGUE:
The Federation Galactic Survey cruiser Marco Polo was attacked by Romulan starships in Sector 3216, one of the southernmost areas of the Federation-Romulan neutral zone.
In a desperate rescue attempt, the heavy cruiser Hood had located the Marco Polo and was able to chase off the Romulans that was attacking her.
Captain Belle Johnson, the CO of the Hood, used some very effective maneuvering to protect the Marco Polo.
A Galactic Survey cruiser does have some defensive capability, but not enough to deal with enemy warships, which are designed for combat.
The Federation light cruiser Oklahoma was patrolling in this sector when we received a radio message from the Hood asking for assistance.
The Hood and the Marco Polo were able to reach a planet in that sector.
Planet Alpha Sigma III.
It was an airless rock, but it afforded some protection for the Federation ships.
That was until a small Romulan task force had found them.
According to Captain Johnson, the Marco Polo was able to warp out of the system back to Federation territory.
The Hood, however, was still repairing some light damage to the engines from the last fight.
It allowed the Romulans to choke off an escape route and surround the heavy cruiser.
Thats when the Hood sent out its radio message asking for some help.
It was about to get it!
The Oklahoma had received the message as well as the light cruiser Lorraine and the frigate Mallory, which were also patrolling nearby.
The three Federation ships changed course and we hastily made our way to Alpha Sigma III.
The planet was pretty close by and it didnt take us long to get there.
When we did, the three ships formed up a line and approached the area.
We found the Hood surrounded by three Romulan ships.
The KR heavy cruiser Patrician, and the war eagle cruisers Avian Fury and New Glory.
This would be a very interesting fight.
Captain Rodgers radioed Captain Johnson and declared, "Here comes the cavalry, Ma'am!"
Captain Johnson replied, "Took you long enough, Rich, now get me out of here and give these Romulans what for!"

MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Federation ships stayed at medium range as we closed in for battle.
You have to be careful with plasma torpedoes as they can make short work of an opposing ship.
Shield damage was all that was really done to the Romulans, although each Romulan ship did take some burn damage.
Those war eagle cruisers have good shielding.
The frigate Mallory did get a little close to the Avian Fury and it got pretty badly hit by its phasers.
They knocked down the #6 shield and then the New Glory hit the Mallory thru the down shield for more damage.
The frigate only had two phasers left and its photons were gone after checking the damage report.
It did launch the photons at the Avian Fury and almost succeeded in blowing up its forward shield.
The Hood fired phasers and the largest target, the KR.
The KR heavy cruiser Patrician, who was commanded by a Romulan officer named Cassius, did take burn damage, but only to lab functions.
But its #5 shield was gone.
I think thats when the Romulans realized that even though these Klingon turned Romulan ships were pretty good combat units, their shield power was for the birds!
I had learned that Cassius was the commander of that battlebird destroyer that i faced off against when i was on the destroyer Eisenhower years ago.
I was very happy to hear that i was facing off against another rival.
The Hood fired all its photons at long range versus the Patrician, but didnt hit with any.
That was bad because three plasmas, two Gs and an R were heading for it.
The Romulans cloaked and started to recharge.
The Federation ships braced for the worst.

2nd Pass:
The heavy cruiser Hood was in serious trouble.
Three plasmas heading for it including an R-type.
Captain Belle Johnson did what she knew she had to do.
She fired all phasers at the plasma-R.
She weakened it very well but it was to no avail.
The Hood allowed the two plasma-Gs to knock down the #4 and #5 shield and even though the plasma-R was weaker, it went through the #5 shield and did damage to the Hood.
The Hood took mostly system damage but it did lose a photon.
The remaining ships fried at the cloaked Romulans and did shield damage only.
The frigate Mallory did a nice job of avoiding the plasma-R sent after it.
It took shield damage, but lost a burned phaser.
With only one phaser left and both photons out, the frigate Mallory disengaged.
Rodgers and Johnson knew that they had to get these Romulans now and while they were cloaked.
Otherwise, more deadly balls of flame would be coming our way.
The Oklahoma and the Lorraine moved in towards the cloaked ships, while the Hood licked its wounds and prepared it photons.

3rd Pass:
It was bad few minutes for the Federation.
The Romulans stayed cloaked and all the Federation ships could do was light shield damage on the Avian Fury and the Patrician.
The Avian Fury did have some very weak shields now, but its plasma was ready to fire.
The Lorraine did strike with a photon, but the Avian Fury's batteries absorbed the strike.
The Oklahoma had no luck as well as we did practically nothing.
It might have not been the best tactic by us, for the Romulans were now de-cloaking and preparing to fire at us again.

4th Pass:
The Hood, Oklahoma and the Lorraine all concentrated fire on the war eagle Avian Fury.
We finally broke through.
Our photons were recycling but our phasers knocked down the #1 shield and did minor damage to the Romulan ship.
The Avian Fury lost two phasers and had system damage, but its plasma launcher was just fine.
The Hood took damage from the Patrician and was now looking a little bit more worse for wear.
The other war eagles also fired on the Hood.
Credit Captain Johnson for some good maneuvering as all the phaser strikes went on shields that were still up.
The Hood did take a bridge hit, but Captain Johnson was okay.
Captain Rodgers said to me, "Mr. Roberts, we need some luck on this next pass."
"Yes, sir," i said.
We WERE getting luck.
It was just all BAD!
Then, there were four balls of plasma that were deposited into space.
Two Gs and two Rs.
They were heading for the Hood!

5th Pass:
Captain Johnson was one hell of a commanding officer.
She was able to turn the Hood three times to deal with the plasmas.
One G missed completely, the other G struck a full shield and only did burn damage.
One weak R hit another shield that was still up.
It wasn't anymore after that hit, though.
The last R went thru the #4 shield after the Hood's phasers severely drained it.
The Hood took moderate damage, but it was still a threat.
The Hood did take frame hits and would normally retire, but the Romulans kept the Hood from getting to a safe distance.
These Romulans were not going to let this Federation ship get away.
The Oklahoma and the Lorraine approached the area where the Avian Fury was cloaked.
The Oklahoma did nothing to it, but the Lorraine did everything.
It fired its phasers right thru the down #1 shield of the war eagle.
It knocked out the last of the Avian Fury's phasers AND the R-launcher.
The Romulan ship had no more weapons to fire, so it was forced to de-cloak and disengage.
It was now 3 on 2!
I was not happy with my weapons officer.
"Mr. Helmsley, you had better hit something this time. I don't care if you are firing at cloaked ships. The Lorraine is making you look very bad!"
"Mr.Roberts, its okay," said Captain Rodgers to me, "He's doing everything he can and i have confidence in him. And i have confidence in you as well to train and help him in every way."
"Yes, Sir."
None of our ships fired photons on this pass, only phasers.
We wanted to save our photons for when the Romulan's de-cloaked.

6th Pass:
Both Federation light cruisers decided to fire on the Romulan KR Patrician.
Our phasers didnt do much to the cloaked ship, but we did weaken a shield to cause burn.
The Hood fired its remaining three phasers, and then took a risk firing its photons.
She hit with one photon, doing shield damage.
The Oklahoma and Lorraine prepared our photons, because the Romulans were de-cloaking and preparing to fire.

7th Pass:
The Romulan ships de-cloaked and fired their phasers at us.
The Hood was the main target, but once again, Captain Johnson's crew should be commended.
They took the phaser fire on the forward shield which was still up.
The Patrician did get some internal damage on the Hood when it attacked it from the rear.
But it suffered mostly system damage.
It was still going.
The Oklahoma decided to converge on the KR Patrician.
I hoped my little rant on my weapons officer would inspire him to make a good shot.
It worked like a charm.
Two full overloads and phasers struck the Patrician, right thru the down #5 shield!
Roberts: "Excellent work, Mr. Helmsley! Thats what im talking about!"
The Hood followed with phaser damage of its own and so did the Lorraine.
When all was said and done, the Romulan KR heavy cruiser Patrician was forced to disengage.
Cassius: "Curse you Starfleet dogs. There will be another day!"
It was completely crippled and it really couldnt take any more damage.
The war eagle New Glory, relatively unhurt throughout the entire battle, knowing that it was now three on one, decided to high tail it out of there.
We have saved the Hood, albeit just barely.

MISSION EPILOGUE:
The Hood needed a Federation tug to get back to Federation space.
The Copernicus was happy to oblige.
The heavy cruiser would be out for some time.
The frigate Mallory was ordered to battle station 3215 for repairs.
The Oklahoma and the Lorraine, which were unhurt, was also ordered to the station for debriefing.
Captain Johnson of the Hood held a funeral for her crew members who died in this fight.
You have to remember, the Federation and the Romulans were NOT at war with each other.
But it felt like we were sometimes.
Captain Rodgers, received a commendation for his quick and timely rescue of the Hood.
He wasn't promoted at this time, but he WAS assigned a new ship.
He was made captain of the Federation heavy cruiser Wasp, Constitution-class.
I stayed on board the Oklahoma and welcomed our new CO, Captain Ham Stein, who was freshly transferred from the light cruiser Texas.
A couple of days of debriefing passed, then the Oklahoma once again went out into the wild black yonder.
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

MISSION: Signs and Portents (Y2564---The Middle Years) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Lieutenant-Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Chief of Staff, Federation light cruiser Oklahoma

LOCATION: Sector 1909, Federation-Klingon Neutral Zone

MISSION PROLOGUE:
"Never fight a battle that you do not have to win"
Those were the words of probably the greatest Admiral of the Klingon Deep Space Fleet, Ardak Kumerian.
Since you have been reading my memoirs, i have already told you about a Klingon named Kharg.
Kharg would become my greatest rival and enemy in the years to come.
He would also become maybe one of the greatest heroes of the Andromedan War.
But that tale will be told later.
Kharg was serving aboard a Klingon F5 frigate, the Vigilance.
He was recently transferred to that ship from the D7 battlecruiser Defiler, the other Klingon ship that got away during the battle that destroyed the light cruiser Florida.
According to Starfleet, the Defiler was caught raiding some Kzinti colonies during the Four-Powers War.
It was destroyed, which pleased the hell out of me, but a lot of the crew was able to evacuate the ship before the Kzintis droned it to death.
Kharg was captured, but when the war ended, the Kzintis released their prisoners back to Klinshai, the Klingon home planet.
After some time being held in disgrace by the Klingons, he was allowed to redeem himself and placed on board the Vigilance, which happened to be at that time, commanded by one Ardak Kumerian.
Since then, he has been exemplary in his duties and was once again, being held in high regard for the future.
But at this time in history, it was Kumerian who was taking center stage for the Klingon Empire, and Kharg was learning all that he could from this master tactician.
While taking on supplies from battle station 2008, reports were coming in from the Federation.
Federation freighters were being raided from a Klingon ship in Sector 1909 Neutral Zone.
Reports said that the Klingon ship was moving so quickly during these attacks, that the freighters had no chance to escape.
This ship was hitting hard and running fast.
It wasn't staying to steal the cargo.
It just damaged the freighters as much as possible and then retreated back to Klingon space before any help could arrive.
Starfleet was finding this extremely annoying and wanted something done about it.
The Federation light cruiser Oklahoma pulled the short straw and off we went to the troubled sector.
Trouble was, we didnt know what TYPE of ship was doing the raiding.
If this was frigate or smaller, the Oklahoma could handle it.
But if it was a cruiser or larger, we might not be returning home to tell the tale.
Utilizing a coded signal, the Oklahoma sent out a signature to mimic a large freighter.
We hoped it would bring that Klingon ship to us where we could study and deal with it if necessary.
We waited four days...
But it did show up!
The F5 frigate Vigilance suddenly appeared on our sensors and made its way toward us.
Only when it got into visual range did the ship notice the deception.
We categorized the ship and prepared to tell Starfleet that it was an F5 that was causing the trouble out here.
Captain Ham Stein and myself, expected the Vigilance to turn around and leave, for even though Klingon F5 frigates are some of the toughest ships in the galaxy, it was a hard match for a Federation light cruiser.
But the Vigilance did not turn and run.
Instead, it charged its weapons and it headed straight for the Oklahoma.
A message came through on our speakers.
"This is Ardak Kumerian, commander of the Klingon vessel Vigilance. It appears that you have used deception in order to lure us here for battle. Very well...we have arrived...and battle you shall have."

MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Vigilance came right around the Oklahoma, slipped, and then hit us with phasers and disruptors right up our A$$!
We took hull and lab damage, but we also lost one torp launcher.
That hurt!
We were able to fire the torpedo out of that launcher though, but missed.
Captain Stein decided to alternate torpedo firings.
Our phasers did cut through the F5's #5 shield and wrecked two phasers and a disruptor.
We both launched drones at each other.
Stein was listed as a pretty good captain according to Starfleet records by my knowledge, but as me and my executive officer, Commander Andrews was watching him on the bridge, he seemed a bit nervous.

2nd Pass:
The Oklahoma and the Vigilance continued dancing around the stars.
We both shot down each others drones.
The Oklahoma fired phasers but at long range which only weakened the #6 shield of the F5.
The Vigilance fired its weapons but just scratched some of our shielding from that range.
I looked at my captain and Stein started pacing very quickly around the bridge.
Now i was getting a bit nervous also.
Suddenly, there was a security alert as a Klingon raid occurred on the Oklahoma.
The report came in quickly.
Our 2nd photon launcher was disabled and the Klingons got away.
We had no more photons!
We would have to beat the frigate with phasers only.
We fired up a shuttle and sent it after the Vigilance.
Not a bad idea concerning that three of the F5's phasers were out as well as it's ADD.
It would have to use it's remaining phasers to knock the suicide shuttle down and take some of the firepower away from attacking the Oklahoma.

3rd Pass:
The Vigilance did fire its phaser-2, which vaporized the shuttle.
It fired its forward phasers at us but from long range as Captain Stein kept the Oklahoma away from the frigate.
They did nothing as our batteries reinforced the shield and it missed with its disruptor.
The Oklahoma fired from long range again.
We knocked down the forward shield of the Vigilance and did light internal damage.
There was another raid on the Oklahoma that knocked out one of our phaser banks, but this time, the Klingon commandos did not get away.
I looked at CAPT. Stein again and i saw that he was sweating profusely.
What was wrong?

4th Pass:
The Vigilance did evasive, stopped and then fired at us.
It struck us thru the down rear shield, but did light damage.
The Oklahoma closed to a decent range and fired its phaser right up the Klingon's A$$.
It knocked down the rear shield and did some good damage to the frigate.
The Vigilance was not looking too well now, as it lost its last disruptor.
Captain Stein thought that now, the F5 would turn around and leave with the damage it had taken.
But it wanted to continue to fight.
I watched Stein put his head in between his hands and sit down in his captain's chair.
I asked, "Captain, are you alright, Sir?"
Before he could answer, sensors had indicated that another ship just warped into the sector.
It was Klingon and it was big!

MISSION EPILOGUE:
I looked at the bridge's view-screen and we all saw the sight of a Klingon C6 dreadnought, the Terror.
It moved between us and the Vigilance and it looked like it was going to blow us away.
But we received a hail from the Terror instead.
It was Vice-Admiral Klanxton of the Klingon 2nd Fleet.
"This skirmish is over! The time is coming, Earthlings, when you will have to decide your battles."
Then, we heard a voice from the Vigilance.
It was Kumerian's.
"A fine fight, Captain of the Oklahoma. Although you outgunned me in this battle two to one, i'm surprised at how timid you were."
"You should have finished me off."
Then i heard a voice that would become very familiar to me...Kharg's!
"Cowards!"
That was the first word i ever heard that Klingon say.
I would never forget it!
Then the Terror and the Vigilance warped out of the system.
At least for now, the Klingon raids against freighters in this sector were over for the time being.
I turned around and looked at Captain Stein.
He was paralyzed in his chair and he didnt move...or say a word.
Commander Andrews then spoke out, "Make course for battle station 2008 and inform Starfleet of the situation."
"Yes, Sir," i replied.
When we got to the battle station, Starfleet made some decisions.
Captain Stein was relieved of command of the Oklahoma and placed on indefinite sick leave.
Checking records, it appeared that Ham Stein, although a capable starship officer, had NEVER been in a battle before.
The ships that he served on were mostly freighters, police cutters and a destroyer or two.
But those ships never patrolled outside of the Federation core worlds.
Thats when i had realized what was wrong with him during the battle with the Klingon.
He was TERRIFIED!
We DID win the battle, but only because we mostly stayed out of range and that we were a LIGHT CRUISER fighting a FRIGATE.
Commander Andrews and i discussed this between ourselves and we only hoped that Captain Stein would get the help he needed in order to continue his career in Starfleet.
But we knew he would NEVER command a starship again!
A few days passed and a couple of promotions were handed down.
Commander Andrews was promoted to captain of the Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma then went on its way for more adventures.
But i didnt go with them.
A special letter of promotion was given to me by a special sponsor, Captain Philip Kosnett of the Kongo, recently converted from heavy cruiser to command cruiser two years ago.
The letter wished me the best of luck and in a way, it was Kosnett paying back a debt of gratitude for helping to eliminate the Klingon F5 frigate Khedive a while back.
I would have to thank that man!
I was promoted to Commander and sent back to Earth for my next duty station.
There i met my new CO, Captain James King.
I also saw my next assignment.
The brand new Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior, recently released from space-dock, with the new phaser-1 refit on the rear of the ship.
I would be executive officer and i would be trained from one of the best captains in Starfleet.
I had finally gotten a Constitution-class heavy cruiser as my assignment.
It was something that i had always wanted from my first days in the Academy.
I was on cloud nine!
But there was one thing i always knew...
You have to be careful what you wish for...you might just get it!
And not in the way you expect.
It was at this time in my career that i believed that an era of history had changed.
"The Middle Years" had ended.
Because dark clouds were approaching and everyone in the Federation started preparing for the gathering storm!
"The War Years" had begun!
But those are other stories...
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

MISSION: Trial By Fire (Y2565---The War Years) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Executive Officer, Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior

LOCATION: Sector 3316, Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone


MISSION PROLOGUE:
The Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior.
Truly a marvel of Starfleet engineering.
Only a few months old, refitted with the extra phaser-1s on the rear hull to give this ship more offensive firepower, i couldnt have been happier to be on board it.
Captain King and i had gotten to know each other during my first few months on the ship.
He was one of Starfleet's golden boys, trained by the likes of Captain Kosnett and Commodore Stocker.
He was fast and furious and he showed me the ropes of being a good executive officer.
I would learn lot from this man before i would get a command of my own.
The Excelsior was a ship designed for combat, exploration and rescue, but not necessarily in that order.
It was now the middle of year 2565, and lots of things were happening.
The Klingons were still giving us a lot of trouble.
I heard that a D6 heavy cruiser named the Devastation was intercepted by the Federation destroyer Kublai while the D6 was harassing shipping.
According to Starfleet, it will be some time before we see that D6 again.
We also heard rumors a new alien race, outside of Romulan and Gorn territory, creating havoc in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud.
It was said that they built a new base there, and it was causing a lot of issues.
These were all rumors mind you, but then we did get a special report from Starfleet Intel that had proven to be correct.
The Romulans were back at it again.
The Romulan Star Empire, destined to control and enslave the Alpha Octant.
Where the Klingons were only interested in military conquest, the Romulans wanted to not only conquer, but enslave the oppressed populations.
The Romulans were like the ancient Romans of Earth.
Their empire was vast, powerful and unyielding.
They wanted to rule the galaxy and they would let nothing stand in their way.
I never thought of the Klingon Empire as being an evil race, but the Romulans were another story altogether.
They were evil, and even though a lot of politicians in Starfleet thought that the Federation could bring some good to the Romulans and maybe make them see better ways, i felt that deep in my heart, it was virtually impossible.
That being said, i truly felt that if there was race that needed to be exterminated, it was the Romulan Star Empire.
In 2559, the Klingons had signed the Treaty of Smarba with the Romulans.
This treaty truly gave the Romulans a major helping hand in the Alpha Octant.
They converted their "old" series spacecraft into warp-powered warships.
Warbirds, battlebirds and snipes became war eagles, battlehawks and snipe-As.
They had also purchased Klingon D6s, F5s, E4s and a few D7s i was told.
There was a rumor that they had even purchased a dreadnought, a C6.
But was that just a rumor?
But now that the Romulans had the technology given to them by the Klingons, they now started building a "new" series of ships, the dreaded "Hawk" class.
These spacecraft would be the top of the line warship for the Romulans.
They would be faster, more durable and more powerful than anything they have ever used in their history.
And with that damn cloaking device the Romulans had, they would be sneakier and more cunning than ever before.
It was on this day that the new Excelsior would get its first real trial by fire.
While were we patrolling Sector 3316 near the Neutral Zone, sensors had indicated a motion blip not too far from us.
Captain King and i ordered the Excelsior to yellow alert and we very cautiously set course for the area where the sensor reading was recorded.
As we approached the designated location, our helmsman yelled out.
Helmsman: "Ship de-cloaking captain, right off our port bow. But i dont recognize it. Is it Romulan?"
King: "Well, Mr. Lawrence, it should be. They are the only ones who have the cloaking ability as a race. What do you think, J.R.?"
"J.R." was what Captain King called me.
He was the first person to use my first and last name as a nickname.
It would stick with me for the rest of my career.
Roberts: "I'm not sure, Sir, but it looks like one of their new classes. Ill run it through tactical and see what it comes up with."
Starfleet Intel had already identified the ship, but just recently.
A Romulan Sparrowhawk-class light cruiser, the Avenger.
It was considered a light cruiser, but there was nothing light about it.
One plasma-S, two plasma F-s, five phaser-1s, and four phaser-3s, this ship was very capable of holding its own against other ships of its size.
And it was coming for us.
King: "So, we have another ship on a shakedown cruise in this area. Any transmissions from it communications?"
Comm officer: "No, sir. They are not hailing us."
Science officer: "Their weapons are charged and ready, Captain. They have increased speed."
Roberts: "Looks like they want to fight, Sir."
King: "Well, we have yet to test the Excelsior in battle. This seems like a good day as any. Red alert!"

MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
I was wondering if that Romulan captain in command of that ship knew how to fight Federation ships.
He had been probably fighting Gorns too often.
The Avenger had de-cloaked, came right around us and fired its phasers from a moderate range.
It did minor shield damage to our #2 screen.
Then it lined us up and fired three plasmas at us.
Two Fs and an S.
Then it was out turn.
We wanted to show the Romulans what happens when you mess with Starfleet.
We fired our phasers and weakened the #6 shield of the Romulan light cruiser.
Roberts: "Weapons officer, give him a taste of photons."
The Excelsior scored three fully overloaded hits on the #6 shield, knocking it down, causing moderate internal damage, and it kicked out most of the phasers.
But it did even better than that.
It wrecked all of the plasma launchers.
The sparrowhawk was pretty much put out of action.
The Romulan cloaked, but it didnt leave.
It waited to see what it's plasma torpedoes would do.
We had three of them coming right for us.

2nd Pass:
One of the torpedoes missed.
King allowed one to hit us on the #6 shield and with battery reinforcement, it only scratched it.
The plasma-S was next.
We fired four phasers at it and weakened it to point that all it did was minor shield damage, without burn.
The Excelsior had held its own!
We then fired the four remaining phasers at the cloaked Romulan ship and did a little damage to their shields.
Then, the Avenger de-cloaked off of our port stern and opened hailing frequencies.
NOW they wanted to talk?

MISSION EPILOGUE:
King: "This is James King of the starship Excelsior. To whom am i addressing?"
A face appeared on our view-screen.
I couldnt believe it...it was Cassius, my Romulan rival.
Cassius: "I am Commander Cassius of the Romulan ship Avenger. I do apologize for attacking your ship. Our battle computers were malfunctioning and so were our communications systems. Our computers though that you were an Orion pirate trying to sneak into Romulan territory. We knew that you were a Federation ship, but we could not hail you due to our communications failure."
King turned and smiled at me.
King: "J.R., do you know this guy?"
Roberts: "Yes, sir. Last year, he was in command of the Romulan KR heavy cruiser Patrician."
King: "Wasn't that one of the ships that was attacking the Hood when you were on the Oklahoma?"
I nodded.
Cassius looked at me thru the viewer.
Cassius: "Your first officer looks very familiar to me, Captain King. I never forget faces. In the meantime, we will take our leave of the sector."
King: "That's okay, commander. No harm done to US. Dont know about YOUR ship though."
Cassius looked us over thru the view-screen, nodded and the screen went blank.
The Avenger powered down its weapons and shields and then warped out.
Judging from the damage that we had done to it, it would be out for a while.
The Excelsior had performed excellently, almost to perfection.
When Starfleet had gotten our report about the battle, they responded very quickly.
They said that we had just passed our first test against the new Romulan "Hawk" class of warships.
I smiled at that report.
King then looked at me and pursed his lips.
King: "So...Starfleet said that we passed a test, huh? Hmmmmm. Im not relieved at all. That was just a pop quiz. The REAL tests are coming up soon, and i truly hope we study hard for not just the upcoming tests, but the final exam as well."
I looked at my captain and nodded.
He was one hundred percent right.
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[Sebastian380]

Thanks for the stories. I enjoy reading them.

[rjl518]

[pvt64]

I love these. Please keep them coming!
_________________
Tom

[rjl518]

[rjl518]

MISSION: Aggressive Negotiations (Y2566---The War Years) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Executive Officer, Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior

LOCATION: Sector 2001, Kzinti Space


MISSION PROLOGUE:
The Federation and the Kzinti have fought a couple of border wars in the past.
There wasn't much result at the end of those conflicts.
Just minor border restructuring and some planets given and taken.
But since Y2542, the two races have been at peace with each other.
As the years passed, the Federation and the Kzinti became a lot more trusting towards one another.
Mostly because they fought the same enemies.
The Federation has always been at odds with the Klingons and the Kzinti have their racial hatred with the Lyrans.
Since the Kzinti have also had numerous wars with the Klingons, it was only natural that the Federation would join with the "Tigermen" against the common foe.
In year 2566, the Federation and the Kzinti Hegemony, decided to have a peace accord settled inside Kzinti space.
That was the mission we were assigned to.
The Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior and the Kzinti battlecruiser Pulsar, rendezvoused at a secret, fabricated Kzinti mobile base on the outskirts of Kzinti territory.
The mission was simple.
Guard the base which was being used for Starfleet and Kzinti ambassadors to sign articles of agreement between the two races.
Why they didnt do this at a battle station, a starbase or a home planet, i didnt understand.
I guess that they wanted this to be a complete secret from the rest of the galaxy, that two races that were used to fighting each other in the past, would now fight on the same side.
Even though i didnt get it, i was only too happy to now have the Kzinti Hegemony backing us up.
They are fierce fighters.
Their warships are designed to take a pounding and give a pounding.
You better make sure that your defenses are ready, because if you spot a Kzinti starship heading your way, there will probably be a lot of drones in front of it.
You have two choices to make.
Either take drone hits, hoping that they dont turn your ship into scrap metal or shoot down the drones, wasting your phasers, and then having a large Kzinti warship in your face, firing at you with phasers and disruptors.
Its a lose-lose situation.
But for now, the Federation was the winner.
We no longer had to worry about the Kzinti and us fighting each other any more.
They would help us and we would help them with the Klingons and we also help them deal with the Lyrans from time to time.
It was a very beneficial treaty that was signed.
And as the years followed, it became even more beneficial than we thought.
But as usual, there would be some people who didnt like alliances between rival races.
The Klingons and the Lyrans.
As the Articles of Agreement were being signed on board the mobile base, my tactical officer reported three starships warping into the sector.
Two Klingon D7 battlecruisers, the Attacker and the Warhammer and one Lyran Panther-class light cruiser, the Ravager, had decided to come crash the party.
King: "Sigh...I should have known that these guys would show up! Im only surprised that the Klingons and Lyrans didnt get here sooner."
Roberts: "This was supposed to be a secret meeting, Sir. I can only guess that an Orion pirate cartel sold the information to our opponents. We will have to find out which one later."
Helmsman: "Captain, the Kzinti ship Pulsar has powered up its weapons and is heading right for the Lyran ship first."
Roberts: "You could have guessed that the Kzinti would first go after the Lyrans, Captain. They hate each other with a passion unlike anything else in the galaxy."
King: "Yeah, well...that doesn't do us any favors. They're going to deal with ONE Lyran ship and we have to deal with TWO Klingon D7s."
Roberts: "The Kzinti mobile base has ALSO prepared its weapon systems. It'll give us a little help. It'll be like having a Kzinti destroyer that doesn't move."
King: "J.R...i hope you're right about that, because one Klingon is coming for us and the other is headed right for the base."

MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Klingon ships seperated from each other.
The Warhammer was heading for us and the Attacker was going for the mobile base.
For some reason, the Attacker did not get that close to the base and fired its weapons from a very cautious distance.
Very light shield damage was all that was done.
The base fired back at the D7 and did light shield damage as well.
This Kzinti mobile base was equipped with disruptors and no drones.
The Warhammer came at the Excelsior and unloaded a strong phaser attack.
Credit my helmsman for keeping our shields strong as the opposing phasers did no damage.
The Warhammer fired disruptors and severely weakened the #3 shield, but no internal damage.
The Lyran ship was very bold indeed.
It was a light cruiser going after a battlecruiser.
The Lyrans got light shield damage on the Pulsar and then ran it over with its ESGs.
They didnt have much energy because they didnt do anything.
The Excelsior fired phasers and two photons, deciding to alternate them in this battle and killed two of the Warhammer's shields.
It suffered system burn but that was it.
The Kzinti fired at the Lyran and took out two of its shields also with system burns done inside.
The Klingons and Kzintis then fired their drones.
Two at the base, two at us and four headed for the Lyran light cruiser.

2nd Pass:
The drones were easy targets for both sides.
The Lyrans used an ESG to knock out the four heading to it, the Excelsior shot down the ones heading for us and the mobile base took care of theirs.
The Attacker and the base still fired at each other from long range doing relatively nothing.
The Warhammer got close to the Excelsior and we let them have a nice spread of phasers and photons, which went right through the forward shield.
The D7 battlecruiser mostly took system hits, but it did lose a phaser.
The Excelsior suffered a couple of burns to engines from a disruptor attack.
But our #2 shield was gone and our #3 shield was buckling.
The Kzinti ship, not being afraid of a Lyran light cruiser went right after it, blasting it with disruptors through the #6 shield.
The Ravager was in flames, but still a threat.
It did take a bridge hit, but it's captain survived.
I didnt know it at the time, but i would get to know that Lyran crazy cat and not in a good way.
His name was Rahksasha, one of the better Lyran officers of the empire.
The Lyran light cruiser was able to get close enough to ram the Kziniti with a full powered ESG.
It hurt the #4 shield of the Pulsar.
The Klingons then switched ships on us.
The Attacker headed for us and the Warhammer went for the base.
Great!
Just what we needed.

3rd Pass:
The Excelsior had to use four phasers to kill the drones that were coming.
The D7 battlecruiser Attacker caught us by surprise as it made a quick turn and let us have it with phasers and disruptors at close range.
We took moderate damage and lost a couple of phasers and a torpedo launcher.
Our entire right side was down.
We fired back at the Attacker, but didnt do anything except scratch shielding.
The Kzinti and the Lyran faced off.
Both scored shield hits, but the Pulsar got some light phaser damage into the Ravager.
The D7 Warhammer, now attacking the mobile base, did shield damage and actually scored some burn hits.
But whichever Kzinti was firing the base's guns, did a great job, striking the Klingon right thru the down forward shield.
The Warhammer took moderate damage, lost some phasers, but it decided to stay.
The Klingons and Lyrans did not want the Kzinti and Federation to become allies.

4th Pass:
The Warhammer fired at the base and did minor internal damage, while the base struck back and knocked out another phaser on the Klingon ship.
The Warhammer was losing offensive power quickly.
I didnt know how much longer that Klingon ship was going to stay.
Then the Kzinti ship did something that me or Captain King didnt expect.
It turned from the Lyran ship and came along side us and attacked the Klingon D7 Attacker.
The Excelsior and the Pulsar was able to break through the Attacker's shields and score some damage.
But the Attacker, knowing that the Excelsior was the more wounded, fired at us and again it hit through the down shields.
My helmsman did what he could, i will give him credit.
We took frame damage this time and lost another phaser.
The Lyran light cruiser Ravager went after the Kzinti ship.
It nailed it with phasers and the two ESGs, which scored moderate damage to the Pulsar.
Roberts: "How much more do you think we can take, Sir?"
King: "As much as we can, J.R."

5th Pass:
The Warhammer continued its assault on the mobile base, hitting it with phasers and disruptors.
The base took minor damage again and lost some phasers this time.
I began to feel that the base might be in trouble at this point.
The Pulsar stayed with the Excelsior and we fired all that we had at the Klingon ship Attacker.
We struck gold, giving moderate damage to the D7, but knocking out all its phasers.
Disruptors was all it had left.
The Lyran ship fired at the Kzinti, but it struck shields that the Pulsar still had up and did nothing internally.
Then, my tactical officer spoke up.
Tactical: "Captain King, sensors indicate another ship warping into our sector."
King: "If it's Klingon or Lyran, we are done!"
Roberts: "Not even close, Sir, it's HYDRAN!"

MISSION EPILOGUE:
The Hydran Ranger-class heavy cruiser Loyalty warped in and came up alongside the Excelsior and the Pulsar.
With a new, undamaged ship coming into play and with both Klingon ships and the Lyran ship pretty badly beaten up, they had no choice but to turn away and warp out of the sector.
The Hydran captain's name was Monty, a funny looking alien that still reminded me of a trash can with three arms and two mouths and four eyes.
Weird!
But of course, i didnt say that out loud.
Monty: "This is Captain Monty of the Hydran ship Loyalty. I am very disappointed in the both of you! You were having a little party over here and you didn't invite me!"
King and i smiled at the little quip.
King: "I am Captain King of the Excelsior."
Cat Who Sharpens Claws: "I am Cat Who Sharpens Claws of the Pulsar. We didnt need your help, Monty!"
Monty: "Really? Are you sure of that?"
King: "Don't mind the Cat, Monty. Glad to have you here. Sorry you missed all the fun."
Monty: "Oh dont worry, Mr. King, i have a sad feeling that you, our Kzinti friends and the Hydran Kingdom will be having too much fun in the future, now that the Tigers and the Federation are allies. The Klingons and Lyrans, as you see, do not like this alliance."
Roberts: "Im First Officer Roberts of the Excelsior, Captain Monty. You are so right. But im glad you are on our side. Your ships are very resilient."
Monty: "Have you seen them in battle, Mr. Roberts?"
Roberts: "Yes, your Excellency."
I knew Hydran customs and the one custom to show Hydrans was total respect and admiration.
Roberts: "I saw one of your Ranger cruisers defeat a Lyran Tiger-class a while ago on trivideo. Superb, I must say."
Monty: "Of course it was. I would have expected no less from our Navy."
The Hydrans were also arrogant.
Another one of the their many strengths.
The final Articles of Agreement were signed on the mobile base.
When all was said and done, the Kzintis dismantled the base so they could bring it back to a battle station for repairs.
The Kzinti ship Pulsar returned to its patrol duties and the Excelsior had to report to Starbase 2204 for repairs.
We would be out four to six weeks.
As we were heading to the starbase, i kept on thinking of what Captain Monty had said.
He said that the Federation, the Kzinti and the Hydrans would be having too much fun in the future.
He didnt know how right he was!
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

MISSION: To Catch a Pirate (Y2567---The War Years) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Executive Officer, Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior

LOCATION: Sector 0904, Kzinti Space, near the WYN Cluster.

MISSION PROLOGUE:
Roberts: "He's still moving faster than any ship i have ever seen, Captain. He must be doubling his warp engines."
King: "We have to catch him before he gets to Sector 0804. "If he gets into the WYN Radiation Zone, we might as well just turn around and go home."
The Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior was in pursuit of Orion Pirate battle raider Passion Flower.
The Passion Flower was operating independently of the main Cartels and was holding vital information concerning the Klingons and the Lyrans.
We didnt know what it was, but our orders were to capture the pirate ship and bring it to a Starfleet battle station for interrogation.
The Orion Pirates are not evil, but they are not exactly good either.
Money! Money! Money!
Thats what its all about to the Orions.
There are a number of Orion Cartels that operate throughout the Alpha Octant.
They all have allies and they all have enemies.
The Federation deals with some of the Cartels on an occasional basis.
There are also Cartels that Starfleet had declared complete criminal elements.
Those are the ones that the Federation would like to see put away for good.
The battle raider that we were chasing was considered to be freelancing and that meant that we could deal with it however we wanted to.
No other Cartel would mind or come to its rescue.
However, Orion ships are very fast and very slick.
With stealth coating on their hulls and the ability to double their engine output, they were very difficult to catch or fight for that matter.
According to sensors, this battle raider was equipped with disruptors for heavy weapons, so we would be facing an opponent that could let us have it with every pass.
Another problem that we were facing was that the Passion Flower was heading for the WYN cluster.
Surrounded by the WYN Radiation Zone, any ship that enters the cluster succumbs to severe equipment malfunctions.
Shields, weapons and sensors become practically useless for a few minutes, which allows the WYN Navy, mostly made up of auxiliaries and captured ships, to attack intruders a la carte.
Even dreadnoughts do not enter the Zone, because while the big ship is recovering from the effects of the radiation, the small ships of the WYN Cluster are pretty much dancing around you and hitting you with everything they got.
Your ship will recover and be back to full operational status, although what CONDITION your ship will be in, is a totally different question.
The Excelsior continued its high speed chase, but the Orion was rapidly moving further ahead.
Fifteen minutes later, we were now in Sector 0804.
The WYN Zone was getting close to us.
Tactical: "Captain King, the Orion seems to be slowing down. We are gaining on him very fast. We'll make contact with him in three minutes."
Roberts: "How close are we to the WYN Zone, Mr. Styles?"
Styles: "About thirty minutes away, Mr. Roberts. I dont know why he slowed down, there was no way that we were going to catch him, Sir."
Roberts: "Scan for any other ships in the area."
Styles: "Wait one, Sir." (pause) "There is another ship approaching. It came from out of the Cluster."
King: "Let me guess...it has WYN markings."
Styles: "Yes, Skipper, it does. Ummmm...its small though, a WYN auxiliary cruiser."
A WYN auxiliary cruiser was once a small freighter.
But upgraded with weapons and more engine power, this ship would now have the firepower of a corvette or a light frigate.
Either way, it was a danger to the Excelsior and it looked like it was going to team up with the Orion battle raider.
We learned that the name of this auxiliary cruiser was called the Jessica.
I had an ex-girlfriend named Jessica.
If this ship fights with the attitude that my ex has, i might as well have told Captain King to start writing my eulogy now!

MISSION OUTCOME:

1st Pass:
The Orion battle raider came very close to us.
The WYN ship stayed far as i guess it was just looking to backup the Passion Flower.
Captain King decided to split our phaser and photon fire in two.
Half on the WYN and the other half on the Orion.
We knocked down a couple of shields on the small WYN auxiliary cruiser Jessica and caused engine damage.
The battle raider just took shield damage and a burned phaser.
We found out that the Jessica had extra phaser-1s for option mounts.
The Orion had three disruptors and two extra phaser-1s for its options.
Both the WYN and the Orion fired at us and we took shield hits only.
An engine unit was burned out but we still had the upper hand.
We had no photons on this next pass, so we had to make our phaser hits count.

2nd Pass:
On the next pass, the Jessica came right at us and we aimed for a good strike on the small ship.
We fired four phasers at it and it went right thru shield #3.
The WYN ship buckled and it broke up into three large pieces.
We saw escape pods igniting and lots of the crew escaping into space.
The Jessica was toasted!
However, before we cooked it, it fired its phasers at us.
The attack went thru our down #5 shield.
Good news: We didnt take any frame or structural damage.
Bad news: Every one of our phasers was knocked out including two of our photon launchers.
We destroyed the WYN ship, but at the cost of the Excelsior being completely de-clawed!
The battle raider took more shield damage from us and that was it.
We only had two photon launchers left and even if we repaired our phasers, the Passion Flower would still escape into the WYN cluster.
And right now, the battle raider was a real threat because we no longer outgunned them.
They outgunned us!

MISSION EPILOGUE:
King: "Status report, J.R."
Roberts: "All phasers out and two photons out. We no longer have the power to stop the battle raider. The WYN ship is gone, but it cost us our chance to catch the damn pirates, Sir."
King: "I made an error on this mission. I should have concentrated all weaponry on the battle raider and should have left the WYN alone. This is my fault, Mr. Roberts."
Roberts: "You had no idea that the WYN auxillary cruiser was going to come right for us, Captain. You had to make a choice...it WAS two against one, you know."
King: "Yeah, i made a choice J.R....and it was the wrong one....I wont make the same mistake twice...and make sure that you learn a lesson from this as well."
Roberts: "Yes, Sir. It has been noted."
King: "Very well. Helm, come to course 090 and head back into Federation space. Make heading for battle station 2004 and make sure you stay in Kzinti space and stay on our side of the Klingon Neutral Zone."
Helmsman: "Understood , Captain."
The Excelsior made a complete turn and headed back towards the Federation.
The battle raider Passion Flower went on its heading into the WYN Cluster and the surrounding Radiation Zone.
I wondered if that was the last time that we would see that Orion ship again.
Our mission had failed.
However, there was a footnote to this mission.
One of the escape pods that managed to get away from the Jessica, was manned by a Kzinti officer.
Instead of heading back to the WYN Cluster, he was able to get into contact with a patrolling Kzinti light cruiser, the Witchcraft!
He was picked up by the ship and was brought back to the Hegemony.
He was a Kzinti spy that had been planted by their intelligence agency, WHISKERS, to report on information concerning the WYN Cluster.
Before we had destroyed the Jessica, the Passion Flower had transmitted its data to it, just in case that the Orion didnt make through the Cluster, since we were pursuing it.
This spy was able to see what the data was about.
It concerned the Klingons, Lyrans, Kzinti and Hydrans.
The Kzinti Government then gave a full report on the information to the Federation.
It was a plan for an invasion of Kzinti space by the Lyrans, with the Klingons following soon after.
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

MISSION: S.O.S. (Y2568---The War Years) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Executive Officer, Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior

LOCATION: Sector 0704, Planet Episilon III, Lyran-Kzinti Neutral Zone.

MISSION PROLOGUE:
We were receiving a distress call from a planet close to Kzinti territory named Episilon III.
It was located right in the neutral zone between the Kzinti Hegemony and the Lyran Empire.
The message indicated that a large Lyran warship was heading for the planet.
With what intentions, we were not sure of.
The one thing we did know was that there were Federation civilians on the planet.
They were right now in protective custody in a couple of Kzinti ground bases on the planet's far side.
Ground bases are tough, but not very well defended and they are no match for a warship from orbit.
There were two Kzinti defense satellites orbiting the planet as well.
DefSats, as i like to call them, have some decent weaponry for protection, but again, they are also no match for a warship.
They might score a few hits or two on a unsuspecting opponent, but they would blown out of space pretty quickly.
Starfleet had given us instructions to pick up the Federation civilians and bring them back home.
Since we didnt know what kind of Lyran ship was approaching the planet, Captain King, myself and the Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior, was being over-ally cautious.
I was getting a little nervous myself.
Lyran ships and those damn ESGs, will run you over just like a truck!
King: "Dont be so jumpy, Commander. Its just another day at the office for a Starfleet officer."
Roberts: "Yeah, but i dont remember being attacked by alien warships, sitting at my desk in my cubicle at the Academy, Sir."
King: "Where else would you rather be, J.R.?"
Roberts: "Well Captain, if you really want to know the truth, in the arms of that Orion girl i met at Starbase 2204. I think green and white go very well together, dont you think Sir?"
King: (sigh) "You and your Orion girls. Maybe you should marry one."
Roberts: "The thought had occured to me. Only one problem, though."
King: "What's that?"
Roberts: "If i make her mad, i would rather confront a fleet of twenty Klingon dreadnoughts, than have to face her wrath. The Klingons might have mercy on my soul, because she wouldnt!"
King laughed and patted me on the back.
We had been through a lot together, but we knew very soon, we could be separated.
King was being discussed for promotion to Fleet Captain, and that meant being transferred to a command cruiser.
But that could wait for now, as the Excelsior approached Episilon III.
Scanners indicated that there were two ground bases and two defense satellites in orbit.
They also indicated that a pretty large warship was approaching the planet from the other side.
It was a Lyran Wildcat-class battlecruiser, the Regent.
One on one, we were no match for that ship.
But with the weapons from the ground bases and satellites, we would be getting some help against it.
King and I wondered why a lone Lyran ship would attack a planet on its own without any escorts.
But then i realized that this Lyran warship was acting as a powerful recon unit.
Which meant other Lyrans could not be far away.
The Excelsior slowed down and stayed at a far distance from the Lyran battlecruiser.
King: "What do you think, Mr. Roberts?"
Roberts: "I still think that i would rather be in the arms of that Orion girl, Captain."


MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Lyran ship showed now fear as it plowed into the defense satellites and destroyed both of them with it's ESGs.
The ground bases took light damage from the Lyran ship, but were still there.
The Regent took no damage at all as the defending phaser and disruptor fire from the satellites and the bases lightly scratched the battlecruiser's shields.
I looked at my captain and was ready to execute his orders.
King: "We have to get to those civilians on the planet. Mr. Roberts, should we make one pass at the Lyrans even though we are not at war with them?"
Roberts: "Its those type of questions, Sir, that make me have faith in you as my commanding officer. What are your orders, Skipper?"
King: "Open a channel to the Lyran ship."
Comm Officer: "Yes, Sir."
King: "This is Captain James King of the Federation starship Excelsior. We request a communication with you."
The view-screen shimmered and then a face that closely resembled a Terran Lynx appeared on it.
Thraka: " I am Commodore Thraka of the Lyran battlecruiser Regent from the Homeworld County. I only allow this transmission, Captain, to warn you to stay away from us. We have no quarrel with you...at this time, but this wretched Kzin planet will be ours for the taking!"
King:" Commodore, there are Federation civilians on that world that have asked us to reclaim them and bring them back to Federation territory. We respectfully request that you allow us to complete our mission."
Thraka: "Spineless Earthling! No wonder the Klingons believe that you are weak and cowardly. You ASK us to let you save your people, instead of just attacking my ship and defending your people like true warriors would. The Federation is a bunch of cowards as i thought! No wonder you signed the treaty with the despicable Kzinti. You will use them to fight your battles on this side of the galaxy."
King: "We believe in the sanctity of life, Commodore. We dont just throw it away. My ship is a heavy cruiser and it is no match for your battlecruiser, one on one. I hear even your friends, the Klingons, have a saying: "Fighting a battle that you know you cannot win will bring you no honor. It just brings you to your grave!"
Thraka seemed to contemplate the saying as his fangs showed through.
Thraka: "Very well, Captain. Then let's make this an even fight. A Lyran Tiger-class heavy cruiser would be an even match for your ship, correct? I will give my word as a Lyran officer that i will use my battlecruiser in that type of configuration as far as weapons go. I will use six phaser-1s, four phaser-3s and TWO ESGs on my ship. My systems and shields however will remain the same. If you can defeat me in this small skirmish, i will let you save your people. I will only attack you, not the ground bases on the planet, even though THEY will still be attacking ME with their weapons from the surface. Do we have an understanding?"
What Thraka had proposed was intentionally weakening his ship so that he could fight us on an even keel.
The Regent was pretty much sacrificing half of its firepower in order to fight us.
It still had a lot more systems and shielding than a Tiger-class did, but it would make the battle a lot more fair.
King looked at me for input.
I just nodded my head.
King: "Sometimes J.R., i wish i commanded a dreadnought for days like this.'
Roberts: "You will command one soon, Sir....What are your orders?"
King turned to the screen and looked at Thraka.
King: "You have a deal, Commodore. Prepare your ship for battle."
Thraka: "Excellent! Maybe the Klingons were wrong about you being cowards. But you will still be crushed as the weaklings that you are!"
The view-screen went off.
We looked out into space and saw the Lyran battlecruiser Regent turn away from the planet and now come toward us.
We increased speed and headed for the Lyran ship.
Our sensor officer did indicate that the Regent had powered down most of its weapons to now emulate a Lyran Tiger-class heavy cruiser.
King: "I hope i know what im doing, J.R."
I didnt say a word back to him.
In my mind, i KNEW that he KNEW what he was doing!

2nd Pass:
The Excelsior went right for the Regent's rear shield.
The one thing i think that Thraka didnt count on was the Excelsior's speed.
We didnt have the firepower that the Lyran ship had, but we were a little faster.
We slipped under him and hit him with our phasers point blank.
We fired two of our photons as Captain King felt alternating them would be a better strategy in this situation.
We knocked down the rear shield and did some weapon damage, including knocking out two phasers, a disruptor and an ESG.
I saw King smile.
All the Regent did to us was shield damage and two of our transporters got burned.
We did run into his sphere generators though.
The whole ship lurched as it felt like we ran into a wall.
Two of our shields took moderate damage.
Then we received a coded message from Thraka.
"To Captain King: Two of my phasers are down, one disruptor down and one ESG. I am powering up two more phasers to replace my losses and one more ESG. The disruptor will not be repaired. i think that is still fair as you will not be attacked by anything more what a Tiger-class would have."
King to himself: "Very clever, Thraka...very clever. We are still dealing with his ship in a modified format, but he never said that he couldnt replace his weapons with the unused ones when he does suffer weapon damage."
The Excelsior prepared for its next attack.

3rd Pass:
The Regent fired its weapons at us and did more shield damage.
The Excelsior this time stayed far from the Regent, but we were able to use two photons to weaken another shield and kill another phaser on the Lyran ship.
It powered up another one.
Again the Excelsior was rocked by the Lyran's ESGs.
Shield damage only, but two systems burned.
I wasn't sure how much more the Excelsior could take from those things.
The ground bases on the planet were able to score some shield damage on the Regent also as it got close to Epsilon III this time.
The Excelsior turned around and headed for the Lyran.

4th Pass:
The Regent's ESGs were up and the Excelsior decided to go thru them anyway.
Firing overloaded photons, we knocked down another of the battlecruiser's shields and did very light damage.
But the ESGs did their work on us!
We lost two shields and our port side was now a mess.
We lost three phasers, but no photons.
We still had teeth.
King: "I think one more pass oughta do it, Mr. Roberts."
Roberts: "Ready on your orders, Sir."

5th Pass:
The Excelsior made a quick pass at the battlecruiser and we fired everything we had.
We struck the Regent, but we hit shields that were still up, which did nothing to the Lyran ship.
The Lyran fired its phasers and disruptors right down our throat.
Our forward shield was already down and we took major damage internally.
We were done.
Roberts: "Our weapons are gone, Captain. Systems are out all over the ship. We gave it our best shot, Sir."
King: "You bet we did, J.R. But now, we cant save those civilians. Prepare to leave the area and inform Starfleet of our status."

MISSION EPILOGUE:
I was about to open up communications with Starfleet HQ, when our view-screen flickered and once again, Commodore Thraka's feline face showed.
Thraka: "Well done, Excelsior. I see that you are at our mercy and no longer a threat to my ship. Very interesting."
King: "We will not surrender, Commodore, so do what you will!"
Thraka: "Very well, Captain. I order you to make repairs to your ship, approach the planet, transport your people aboard and then leave the area immediately. This planet now belongs to the Lyran Star Empire."
King looked at me and i looked back at him.
King: "Very insulting, Commodore Thraka. I really hope that we meet again one day."
Thraka: "Captain King, war is coming to the galaxy. Unlike anything that the whole Octant has ever seen. Trust me, my human adversary, we WILL meet again and when we do...your end will be much different next time."
The screen went dark.
Like King, I understood what he meant by being insulted.
Even though you could have killed all of us, you let us repair our wrecked ship, go to the planet and still pickup our people.
Then you let us leave with our tail between our legs.
As you, the reader of this journal couldnt imagine how furious i was at this Lyran officer.
It took a few hours to get the Excelsior into a decent enough shape to travel back to the planet and get our civilians off of it.
Then, after spouting a few words that were said by Captain King, which i cannot repeat here, the Excelsior turned around and headed back to Federation space.
We would go back to Starbase 2204 for some major repair work and a refit, as the Excelsior was due to get some defensive phasers added and some extra power reactors installed.
We were out of action for about a month.
During that time, a flash message was sent by Starfleet Command everywhere.
Reports were that a massive Lyran battle-fleet struck across the Kzinti border and attacked everything in their way.
Battle stations, Kzinti warships and whole planets were being annihilated by the Lyrans.
The Kzinti forces were caught completely by surprise and had no chance to defend themselves.
They started to fall back to the next line of bases.
There were also reports of the Klingons making major fleet transfers all across the Kzinti and Hydran borders.
It looked like the Klingons were now positioning themselves for a major strike on the Kzinti Hegemony as well as keeping lots of warships on the Hydran Border to keep the Hydrans at bay.
Commodore Thraka had been correct.
Another war had come and the Federation thought it was just the beginning of another Lyran-Kzinti conflict.
High command had no idea what was coming in the future.
But I did!
I was in a room on Starbase 2204 when i had gotten word of the message.
I had a very lovely Orion woman sleeping in my bed next to me.
Her name was Kara and i was falling in love with her.
When i read the message from Starfleet, i knew i had to contact Captain King to find out what our next assignment would be.
I tried to reach him on the communicator, but he wouldn't answer.
I would have been surprised if he did.
I looked over at Kara and patted her on the shoulder, careful not to wake her up.
Then i got out of the bed very slowly and went into the living room.
I read the message again, trying to let everything sink in to my mind.
The General War, the greatest conflict the galaxy would ever know.
A conflict that would claim the lives of a trillion people on both sides.
Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Kzinti, Gorn, Tholian, Orion, Lyran, Hydran, WYN, Seltorian, Vudar, ISC, and Andromedan.
The General War had begun.
I read the message a third time, then i put the paper down on the living room table, then i put my head into my hands and i started to cry!
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

Now that THE GENERAL WAR has begun, i will continue my narrative with battle reports from some of the major campaigns that took place during those years.
I will open with a record from my journal, then i will choose one campaign that took place during that current year.

CAMPAIGN: Opening Moves (Fleet Scale)
BATTLE: 1 of 2
YEAR: 2568
COMBATANTS: Lyran vs. Kzinti

LOCATION: Sector 0702, Kzinti Border, Open Space

ORDER OF BATTLE:
(LYRAN)
BC Regent, CL Death's Reach, CL Fear Render, DD Sagacious, FF Dragon Fang, FF Razorclaw

(KZINTI)
BC Starfire, CL Witchcraft, FF 057, FF 045

BATTLE PROLOGUE:
The Lyran assault on the Kzinti Hegemony in 2568 was not only the start of the Fifth Lyran-Kzinti War, but also signaled the beginning of the General War.
The Lyrans sent an entire fleet of warships across the Neutral Zone and started decimating Kzinti fleets, bases and colony worlds all across the border of the Hegemony.
It was a bold move by the Lyrans to catch the Kzinti by surprise and wreak as much havoc as possible before the Kzinti could re-group and retaliate.
The Lyrans knew that if they could capture Kzintai, or at the very least, devastate the planet, it would be some time before the "Tigermen" could get back into the war.
They had to move fast and fast they did.
They wanted to show their allies, the Klingons, that an attack across Kzinti space, at a very high rate of speed, could demoralize their feline counter-parts into hopelessness.
Of course, that wouldn't be the case.
The Klingons would attack the Kzinti next year, so the Lyrans wanted to make the Klingon assault as easy as possible.
It was very bleak for the Kzinti forces at the onset of the Lyran attack.
They were outnumbered and outgunned.
But they did their best to make the Lyrans pay for every parsec of space they tried to take.
In Sector 0702, between two important battlestations, a squad of four Kzinti ships, led by the battlecruiser Starfire, prepared to do battle with a larger Lyran force.
The Lyran battlecruiser Regent, fresh off a victory a month ago, where they devastated Episilon III, a planet in the neutral zone, had five supporting ships behind it.
The commander of the Kzinti force was Captain 1st Rank Cat-Who-Climbs-Walls.
A staunch defender and a cunning attacker.
He knew this day was lost, but since there was nowhere to run, he decided to fight.
The Lyran commander, Commodore Thraka of the Regent, was only too happy to oblige and rid the galaxy of more Kzinti scum!

BATTLE LOG:
1st Pass:

The Kzinti ships formed into a defensive diamond formation to try to hold off the Lyrans.
To not much avail.

(Lyran)
The Regent attacked the Starfire, knocking down the #3 shield and doing light damage.
The two Lyran light cruisers both went after the Witchcraft, hitting it with disruptors, phasers and the ESGs.
The Witchcraft took massive damage, but was able to hold together.
It would have to disengage this turn.
The Sagacious went after Kzinti frigate 057 and smacked it from close range with a full alpha strike.
The 057 was no more after that.
The Lyran frigates attacked 045, but attacked from long range.
They knocked down the #3 shield of the Kzinti frigate and took out most of its weapons.

(Kzinti)
The Starfire and the Witchcraft attacked the Regent, hoping to defeat the lead ship.
The Regent lost its forward shield and took internal damage, but not enough to drive it off.
The two Kzin frigates went after the light cruiser Fear Render, knocking down two shields and a phaser-3.
Four drones were launched at the Regent and four at the Death's Reach.

SHIPS LOST:
Lyran: none
Kzinti: FF 057 [destroyed], CL Witchcraft [disengaged]

2nd Pass:

(Kzinti)
The Starfire converged at the Regent and hit it with a strong attack.
Phasers did strong internal damage to it and Lyran Commodore Thraka knew that he would have to leave.
Frigate 045 went after the Fear Render, hoping to score some damage, but it fired from long range and did nothing.

(Lyran)
The Regent used it's ESGs and one phaser to kill the oncoming drones.
Then it attacked the Starfire, damaging it severely.
The Death's Reach killed the drones with a full power ESG and then the remaining Lyran ships attacked the lone Kzin frigate.
Somehow, 045 was able to escape with shield and light internal damage, but was still able to fight.
But with the frigate being outnumbered five to one, it did the smart thing and retired from the battle area.

SHIPS LOST:
Lyran: BC Regent [retired]
Kzinti: BC Starfire [disengaged]


BATTLE OUTCOME:
The Kzinti were completely outnumbered in this battle and the Lyrans pushed through to the next stage of the campaign.
The Lyran battlecruiser Regent would be forced to head back to Lyran space for repairs, so the remaining Lyran ships were on their own.
Kzin frigate 045, would regroup with another squad of ships that would try again to hold off the advancing Lyrans.
Kzinti ships Starfire and Witchcraft were out for the campaign.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[rjl518]

CAMPAIGN: Opening Moves (Fleet Scale)
BATTLE: 2 of 2
YEAR: 2568
COMBATANTS: Lyran vs. Kzinti

LOCATION: Sector 0702, Kzinti Border, Open Space

ORDER OF BATTLE:
(LYRAN)
CL Death's Reach, CL Fear Render, DD Sagacious, FF Dragon Fang, FF Razorclaw

(KZINTI)
CL Shaman, CL Illusion, FF 045

BATTLE PROLOGUE:
The Lyran assault on the Kzinti Hegemony in 2568 was not only the start of the Fifth Lyran-Kzinti War, but also signaled the beginning of the General War.
The Lyrans sent an entire fleet of warships across the Neutral Zone and started decimating Kzinti fleets, bases and colony worlds all across the border of the Hegemony.
It was a bold move by the Lyrans to catch the Kzinti by surprise and wreak as much havoc as possible before the Kzinti could re-group and retaliate.
The Lyrans knew that if they could capture Kzintai, or at the very least, devastate the planet, it would be some time before the "Tigermen" could get back into the war.
They had to move fast and fast they did.
They wanted to show their allies, the Klingons, that an attack across Kzinti space, at a very high rate of speed, could demoralize their feline counter-parts into hopelessness.
Of course, that wouldn't be the case.
The Klingons would attack the Kzinti next year, so the Lyrans wanted to make the Klingon assault as easy as possible.
It was very bleak for the Kzinti forces at the onset of the Lyran attack.
They were outnumbered and outgunned.
But they did their best to make the Lyrans pay for every parsec of space they tried to take.
In the second battle of Sector 0702, the Lyrans moved forward into the sector trashing anything Kzinti in their wake.
The Kzinti summoned up two more light cruisers, the Shaman and the Illusion to join with frigate 045, that had escaped the first battle, to defend the sector.
Even though the BC Regent retreated back to Lyran space for repairs, there were still five strong ships pushing forward.
Captain Unkhra of the light cruiser Death's Reach, took command of the remaining Lyran ships and his orders were explicit.
Continue to destroy any Kzinti resistance and reach the battle station in Sector 0703.
There, another Lyran squadron would join up with you to destroy the station.
The three Kzin ships knew that they were the last stand for the base in that sector.
They knew they could not win, but if they could damage or destroy at least a couple of Lyran ships, the defense of the battle station might be a little easier against the Lyrans.

BATTLE OUTCOME:

1st Pass:
(KZINTI)
Even though this small Kzinti force was totally outnumbered, it did what it could on the first pass.
The two Kzin light cruisers both attacked the Lyran ship Death's Reach, hoping to score some quick hits.
They did penetrate the shields and score light damage.
But not enough to do really anything.
The frigate 045 attacked the Death's Reach as well, but was useless since the attack was from very long range.
Drones were put into space immediately with four heading for the Death's Reach and two heading for the Fear Render.

(LYRAN)
The Death's Reach went after the Shaman, doing some damage with the ESG and phasers.
The Fear Render attacked the Illusion and did moderate damage, but the Kzinti ship decided to stay and fight.
The Lyran destroyer and two other frigates closed in on the small Kzinti frigate 045.
Not much left to say and there was not much left of the Kzinti ship either.
It escaped the first battle, but it didnt escape this one.

SHIPS LOST:
Kzinti: FF 045 (destroyed)
Lyran: none

2nd Pass:
(LYRAN)
The two light cruisers were able to use ESGs and knock out the drones.
Then all five Lyran ships went after the two damaged Kzinti cruisers.
After phaser and disruptor fire was allocated, the Kzinti ship Illusion just couldnt take any more and broke into many pieces.
The Shaman still took some hits, but managed to hold on.

(KZINTI)
The other felines were able to get a little payback.
The Shaman and the Illusion fired all they had left on the Death's Reach, crippling it and forcing to retire.
When the Lyran ship attempted to disengage, it took a drone hit up it's tailpipes.
That Lyran light cruiser would be out for a long time if not scrapped.
But now, it was one ship versus four.

SHIPS LOST:
Kzinti: CL Illusion (destroyed)
Lyran: CL Death's Reach (retired)


BATTLE EPILOGUE:
Knowing that there would be more battles ahead, the captain of the Kzinti ship Shaman decided to warp out of the system.
The four Lyran ships that survived pressed on to the battle station and joined up with another Lyran squadron to attack it.
The station and it's defenders were vaporized, but it was made a little more difficult because of the holding action by the Kzinti.
Nevertheless, the Lyrans moved on to their next campaign.
It was a short campaign and it was one where the Kzin faced impossible odds.
But there would be a rallying cry in the future and the Kzinti government used the brave exploits of this series of battles to motivate the rest of the Kzin race.
The campaign was a decisive Lyran Victory, but the General War had not even warmed up yet.
All the Lyrans did...was to turn the key to start the ignition!
_________________
"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718