Star Trek - Non Federation timeline

whatisinaname · Feb 15, 2007

Part 51 – Redemption and Decisions

Redemption

With the Iconian’s discovery of one of their scout ships in an underground facility in an area of the United States of America called Groom Lake also known as Area 51 this is were the US military for the past four hundred years had spent researching the remains of the crashed Iconian ship with not much success as their was not much left of the Iconian space ship. Though at the time they did not know the ship was Iconian just that it was alien.

When the RSC discovered the Iconian gateway technology in the Milky Way galaxy and used this to bring the three Alpha quadrant ships home. The limited information that the RSC released to the Alliance confirmed that this was Iconian technology and the US though the UESPA insisted on this technology being shared with other Alliance members so that the US (on behalf of the UESPA) could develop its own version of the Iconian gateway technology that could be used to travel from system to system.

The Iconian ship in Earths orbit begins to move towards the US to beam up the dead Iconian’s and retrieve the remains of its scout ship. The US has in orbit its own defence systems that are independent of UESPA/Starfleet control and its own ground based surface to space defences against attack, these systems were installed after the Borg attack in 2384. The US military command warned the Iconian warship heading towards US controlled space to withdraw or the US forces will open fire.

The Iconian diplomat onboard the Iconian warship stated that they would retrieve there peoples remains and then withdraw and warned that if they were fired upon they would respond against any hostile act. The UESPA/Starfleet command responded by saying that they would not interfere in the retrieval on the Iconian bodies or the remains of the Iconian scout ship.

The US military ordered the orbital defence stations to open fire on the Iconian warship this fire would have destroyed and “normal” warship very quickly, but the Iconian warship was not “normal” and the incoming fire did not slow up the Iconian warship at all just impacted harmlessly against the ships shields. The space between the US orbital defence platforms and the Iconian warship was lit up with a deadly hail of phaser and photon torpedo fire. The US commanders stared in wonder as this one Iconian warship withstood the firepower of the defence platforms, even a Borg cube would not have been able to withstand this much firepower, but the Iconian’s were not the Borg this was the US military commanders mistake.

The Iconian warship responded with an energy beam that appeared to wash over the US orbital defence platforms and after this energy beam passed over each defence platform the defence platforms stopped firing. The defence platforms reported that their weapons had been removed even with the defence platforms shields raised the Iconian warship had simply removed the US ability to open fire thus rendering the US defence platforms harmless, after this incident the US military command order no action to be taken against the Iconian warship.

Iconian warship continued on into the upper edge of Earths atmosphere hovering above Groom Lake and again the energy beam washed over Groom Lake and all the materials associated with the Iconian scout ship vanished. After the Iconian scout ship and crew and all other materials were recovered by the Iconian warship the Iconian warship moved back to where it had started from and as the Iconian warship passed the US defence platforms the Iconian warship fired it beam again and restored the US defence platforms weapons but this time the US orbital defence platforms did not fire on the Iconian warship.

The Iconian’s had proved no only to the UESPA by all Alliance members and their allies that one Iconian warship was more than capable of dealing with any threat with very little effort and in terms of technology the Iconian’s were several million years ahead of the Alliance. So the Alliance was relieved when the Iconian’s took no further action against the US or the Alliance after the US orbital defence platforms opened fire of the Iconian warship.

Both before, during and after this event the RSC command had offered to return the Iconian technology to the Iconian’s and also distancing themselves from the UESPA also the Alliance members had also offered to help return any Iconian technology.

Within the UESPA member countries their was outrage that the US had kept this technology to them selves for over four hundred years without revealing it to the other UESPA members also Starfleet command also was distancing itself from the US actions and supporting the other UESPA members.

Decisions

After several days of debate on one of the Iconian city ships the Iconian council will not take any further action against the US as the US did not cause the Iconian scout ships to crash. The Iconian’s were well beyond petty revenge or exacting some form of retubution on the US or and UESPA or even the Alliance.

The Iconian council will also allow the RSC to continue to use the Iconian technology that they had found and would not interfere unless the RSC were going to use this technology against the Iconian’s.

The Alliance asked if the Iconian’s would be willing to leave an ambassador here to liaise with the Alliance so that if they did find any more Iconian technology there would be no more misunderstandings. The Iconian council agreed to this suggestion and also say that this is a very wise comment by the Alliance. The Iconian would sit in with the Alliance Security Council to observe the Alliance.

Back on Earth the UESPA Security Council was in a closed session to debate what action to take against the US for concealing this vital information from the rest of the UESPA council that might have proved useful in fighting the enemies of not only the UESPA but also the enemies of the Alliance.

After several weeks of debate it was decided to remove the US power of veto but still allow the US to remain on the UESPA Security Council the US government had no real choice but to agree to this punishment. It will be up to the three remaining UESPA members of UESPA Security Council to decide when or even if the US gets its veto back. Only the Iconian’s willingness to not take any further action against the US kept the US from being expelled from the UESPA.

Departure

After several more weeks of diplomatic meeting the bulk of the Iconian departs leaving only one Iconian warship in orbit around the planet of New Gibraltar were the Iconian diplomats would be based. The Iconian’s will also be given an empty building on the planets surface to be used as an embassy.

The one thing that the Iconian’s refused to discuss was what happened to their ancient enemy and if this enemy still around today. This caused the Alliance some concern as they were exploring an unknown galaxy and they did not know if they might trigger some ancient technology by accident that might bring the Iconian’s ancient enemy back.

The Iconian’s would do most of their diplomatic overtures though the Alliance they would also attend some of the Alliance council meeting but not all of them.

The aftermath of the Iconian incident leaves the UESPA in a diplomatic limbo for a long while afterwards; only with the removal of the US from the UESPA member countries that have the veto right does the rest of the UESPA start to regain the lost diplomatic ground that it had lost. But because of the perceived dishonesty of one member of the UESPA this would reflect badly on all the other members of the UESPA.

The reverse was true for the RSC because of the perceived honesty of the RSC this strengthen the RSC hand within the Alliance rather than weakening it as the UESPA wanted.

The Alliance was for suspending the UESPA but surprisingly the RSC vetoed the motion for the UESPA suspension. This came as a shock for the rest of the Alliance Security Council members but also for the UESPA as they thought that they would get suspended from the Alliance. The reasons why the RSC vetoed are a mystery but it did show the RSC in a very positive light within the Alliance.

The RSC in terms of technology, military and diplomatic power were well ahead of all the other members of the Alliance as well as all the other major powers in the Alpha quadrant. With the gateway technology being perfected it would be possible to travel between systems within a few seconds and with the ability to travel to another galaxy the possibility to expand the RSC territory was vast but only if the RSC could stop the fighting in the Bright galaxy. The ability to replicate the galaxy-to-galaxy transportation technology was at least several hundred years away possibly much longer, though it was perceived as possible to replicate the galaxy-to-galaxy transportation technology within this timeframe of hundreds of years rather than thousands of years.

The RSC would continue to explore the Bright Galaxy but with a lot more caution than before just in case they bumped into anything unexpected.

How would the US recover to its forma glory and diplomatic power within the UESPA and how would the RSC use its new position with the Alliance and how would the rest of the Alpha quadrant powers respond to the revelation of the Iconian’s return and the role the RSC played in their return?

To be continued……

Next – Part 52 – Interlude

whatisinaname · Feb 15, 2007

Part 52 – Interlude

Were the major powers are at as of 2425.

Royal Space Command

Between 2406 and 2425 the RSC solidified it position with the Alpha quadrant as a major power. The RSC had made solid growth within the Alpha quadrant but its growth had peaked as the RSC had no new markets within the Alpha quadrant and all the companies within the RSC could do is maintain their current market share.

The RSC also had stopped acquiring new colony systems as the RSC had several systems within it current boarders that were suitable for colonisation and as none of the RSC member countries are in need of new colonies during this time period there was no reason to colonise these systems beyond the current number of 60 with another 10 systems that could be colonised. Also the RSC companies operate various mining facilities that need protection from the RSN.

The RSN military power in terms of warships remained at just over 20,000 warship of all types. The RSM had there of ships to transfer marines from system to system with their own escort warship manned by RSM personnel rather than RSN personnel the total number of ships operated by the RSM was around 5,000 mostly escorts vessels and troop and cargo transports,

The Alliance between the RSC and both the Klingon Empire and the Maquis is very strong though trade between the three powers was growing but at a much very low rate.

Trade between the RSC and the Alliance as a whole was also growing also at a slow rate and there was very little room for growth except when a new member was added. Even then the befit was small as any new member joining the Alliance could choose to trade with any Alliance member.

The RSC command in the Bright Galaxy (6th Fleet) was steadily growing with the help of its allies the Klingon Empire and the Maquis along with the Hosham. Also with the aid of the Iconian sensor system the RSC was able to track all ship movements with the Bright Galaxy, but the sensors were not able to pick up communications just track ship movements thus limiting its capabilities for the RSC. The sensor technology that the Iconian’s had left behind was now over 200 thousand years behind the current Iconian technological level, but even so the Iconian’s would not help the RSC in improving the sensors capabilities.

RSC Intelligence was using its Shadow class spy ships to provide intelligence for the 6th fleet also the RSC Intelligence offshoot agency Section 31 had three of its own Shadow class spy ships operating within the Bright Galaxy.

The one major technological breakthrough in 2424 was the construction of a stable gateway that would allow near instantaneous travel between two systems within the Milky Way Galaxy. There was however one drawback to producing these gateways was the cost. The cost of manufacturing just one gateway was equivalent to producing six Vanguard class battleships so for the time being mass production of these gateways was out of the question.

Only three prototype gateways had been produced by 2424 and these were only being used for testing purposes and not for general use, even the knowledge of their existence was restricted on a need to know basis.

United Earth Space Probe Agency

The UESPA by 2410 had managed to reassert itself as a major power within the Alpha quadrant and in military terms Starfleet was now ahead of the RSC in terms of warships and number of systems that the UESPA was now at 102.

Starfleet had continued to expand the number of warships that it could deploy so by 2410 Starfleet had just over 32,000 warships. But just over half of these warships are deployed to guard the 102 UESPA colony systems, mining facilities and various outposts. Starfleet in terms of numbers of warships was well ahead of all the other races in the Alliance the RSN still had the edge in terms of firepower as their ships were larger than Starfleets.

Within the UESPA the US had managed to get its veto restored on the UESPA Security Council and was making some headway in achieving this goal of restoring it forma levels of influence within the UESPA.

The UESPA had fully recovered as far as its membership with the Alliance and its trade was booming within the Alliance and out side the Alliance, unlike the RSC the UESPA was showing growth as the UESPA had a larger number of colonies than the UESPA for which the majority were still growing.

Klingon Empire

The Klingon Empire was also growing but at a slow rate, the main cause for concern for the Klingon Empire was keeping an eye on the boarder with the Romulans. The Klingon fleet still continues to grow at a steady rate the current size of the Klingon fleet is just over 12,000 warships of all classes. The Klingon Empire maintains the alliance with both the RSC and the Maquis and operates joint patrols with both governments.

A task force of Klingon warships are detached to the Bright Galaxy under the command of Fleet Admiral Data as part of the 6th fleet.

Romulan Empire

The Romulan Empire during this time had very little contact with the members of the Alliance or the Klingon Empire, as the appeared to be expanding their territory on the other side of the empire. The Romulan Empire has shown very little interest in either the Alliance or the Klingon Empire.

The size of the Romulan fleet continues to expand, but the exact size of the Romulan fleet is unknown. During the Borg attack on Earth in 2384 the Romulan Empire stayed natural as the Romulan Empire was engaged in expansion of the Romulan Empire on the other side of the Empire and did not want to engage the Borg.

Maquis

The Maquis were still growing at a strong rate within the badlands due to their alliance with the RSC and the Klingon Empire. With the support of both the RSC and the Klingon Empire the Maquis fleet now numbered 220 warships all of the latest version of the Warlord class, with 50 of these warships operating as part of the RSC 6th fleet.

The resources that are not available to Maquis from their mining operations on their colonies in the badlands those resources that the Maquis do not are sold to the Maquis by the RSC and the Klingon Empire at a heavy discount, this has the effect that the RSC and the Klingon Empire are subsidising the Maquis.

Though the badlands are hard to navigate the Maquis population have adapted the badlands area of space to their own needs and have found several habitable planets to colonise.

The Alliance

Alliance membership continues to grow at a steady rate, but many within the Alliance have suggested that the growth in new members should be halted as the amount of space the Alliance is obligated to protect is now vast and covers most of the Alpha quadrant. The number of members within the Alliance has grown to 156 since the end of the Dominion war.

New Gibraltar still remains the base for the Alliance and all Alliance members have an embassy on New Gibraltar also several neutral governments also have embassies here and both the Klingon Empire and the Maquis also have embassies on New Gibraltar.

There are still a large number of civilisations that do not wish to join the Alliance like the Gorn and the Tholians. Most of these neutral races do trade with members of the Alliance to various degrees depending on what these neutral races need and what they have to offer in return.

Cardassian Union

Under Dukat rule the Cardassian Union had serge in growth during the years after the Dominion war this lead to economic growth throughout Dukat’s tenure as the Cardassian Union’s leader. Most of this growth was linked to the rebuilding of the infrastructure Cardassian Union and when the Borg attacked in 2384 the Cardassian Union stayed natural as the Cardassian Union was still in the process of rebuilding and also was not willing to help an enemy.

The size of the Cardassian Union has returned to what is was before the Cardassian Union joined the Dominion, with the exception of the area known as the badlands which was given to the Maquis for their help in during the Dominion war. But the Cardassian Union cannot destroy the Maquis, as this would provoke the RSC and the Klingon Empire.

After the Dominion war the Cardassian fleet and military began the process of recovery and rebuilding the Cardassian fleet and military forces to what they once were, to enable the Cardassian Union to defend its boards effectively.

The Iconian’s

During the period between 2406 and 2426 the Iconian’s did not interact with any of the races within the Alliance or even any races outside the Alliance, all the Iconian’s did was observe and presumably report back to the Iconian council.

The Iconian warship orbiting the RSC colony of New Gibraltar was from time to time discretely scanned by various races, but these scans were unable to penetrate the Iconian warship’s hull. The Iconian’s also maintained a warship in the bright Galaxy in orbit above the planet containing the Iconian galaxy to galaxy technology the Iconian’s would neither hinder nor help the RSC in the exploration of the Bright Galaxy.

Summery

Between 2406 and 2426 the Alpha quadrant races have a prolonged period of peace with no major wars and only a few minor skirmishes along some of the boarder areas.

The only real conflict is in the Bright Galaxy but as there are no loses to the RSN, Klingon Empire or the Maquis as all the races that are part of the 6th fleet that have encountered have had inferior technology to the ships of the 6th fleet.

The event that would shatter this peace would be a small and unlikely event that would see a very ancient enemy return and the discovery of a new enemy by the RSC in the Bright Galaxy and only time would tell if these two events where linked or just pure coincidence?

To be continued…….

Next – Part 53 – Brief Encounter

whatisinaname · Feb 22, 2007

Part 53 – Brief Encounter

In 2426 the Observer class sensor ship HMSS Watchtower was being delivered to New Quebec from the shipyards at New Sydney. The Observer class sensor ship is a sub version of the Leander Class frigate the Observer class primary mission is that of the old AEW for RSN task forces and fleets to act as fleets’ “eyes” at very long range.

The Observer class’s sensors have twice the range of any other ship within the RSN this gives a task force or fleet commander an added edge over any potential enemy. This class of ship was introduced into limited production after the Borg attack on earth in 2384 to give RSN task force and fleet commanders an added set of “eyes” and an overview of any situation. The weapons on this class of ship are very weak as these vessels are not designed to go into direct combat, but do make up for the weak weapons by having strong shields.

The production of this new class has been slow since production began in 2384 and as there is only one dry-dock facility that has been made available for constructing this class of ship. Also the production run of this class will be small as there are only 26 task forces and six fleets that only need one or two of these ships each.

This class mainly relies on its sensors detecting an enemy and directing RSN warships to intercept and destroy and threats to either itself of the task forces or fleets that this class of ship is part of. This class of ship is one of the few RSN ship classes that are not equipped with a cloaking device as the space for a cloaking device was used for more sensors. The crew of an Observer class is 75 of which 35 are sensor operators there are also 12 RSM on board for security under the command of a NCO usually a Warrant Officer Class 1. This class of ship are captained by a RSN Captain due to the importance of the work that this class does rather than a Lieutenant Commander that is more usual for a ship of this size.

The crew of HMSS Watchtower where half way though their trip to New Quebec travelling at warp 4 when the ship suddenly lurched without warning and when the lurching stopped HMSS Watchtower was surrounded by blackness interspaced by large blobs of light with slightly large blob of light closes to HMSS Watchtower current position.

The sensor operators begins scanning for known astro navigational pointers to see if they could find out where they were after several days of work the sensor chief reported that they appear to have been thrown out of our universe altogether and appear to be in a “void” for the lack of better terminology between universes.

With the further revelation that there appear to be several hundred other universes out their in the “void” and this accident had brought an unusual benefit of there is the possibility of life outside our own universe. With this momentums discovery HMSS Watchtower ordered the helmsman to set a course for home a maximum warp, but the ships warp drive is unable to form a stable warp field. The Captain then orders the helmsman to use the impulse engines to set a course for home until engineering can come up with a way to create a stable warp field but the helmsman reports that the ship appears to be anchored to this spot in space by an external force.

On hearing this, the Captain orders the shields to be raised and a full sensor sweep of the surrounding space to see if they can locate what force is holding the ship after several minutes of searching the sensor chief reports that they have found nothing. The captain order that all the phasers are to be fired a zero elevation on a low power setting to see if the phaser impact on whatever is holding this ship. The phaser fire hits what appears’ to be several ships surrounding HMSS Watchtower.

The alien ships had been observing HMSS Watchtower but once discovered the aliens take immediate action. When the low powered phaser fire hits that unknown ships they shields of HMSS Watchtower suddenly collapse and the crew are vaporised by some sort of black energy beam. The unknown ship then drains’ all the information for HMSS Watchtower’s main computer and then destroys HMSS Watchtower.

The aliens on the unknown ships after analysing the information from HMSS Watchtower’s main computer realise that their enemy the Iconian’s appear to be alive and have a flourishing society. With this knowledge the surrounding space suddenly becomes alive with several million ships of various sizes that begin to make preparations to return to the universe and then to the Bright Galaxy to capture the single Iconian warship in orbit over the base the RSC are using in the Bright Galaxy.

The darkness that had been driven out of the universe two hundred thousand years ago by the Iconian’s and their allies during their final battle, during the battle their was a large explosion that hurled the Darkness into the “void” and is now set to return and has begun signalling its servant races to prepare for their return.

To be continued……

Next – Part 54 – Darkness (Bad and Dangerous to Know)

whatisinaname · Feb 22, 2007

Part 54 – Darkness (Bad and Dangerous to Know)

Two hundred thousand years ago

Over Two hundred thousand years ago the Darkness fought against the Iconian’s and their allies in one final battle that had been going on for over two million years, during that time entire civilisations had been wiped out, some deliberately and some by accident by being simply caught in the crossfire by both sides.

The reason for the conflict had long been forgotten by both sides, the Darkness now simply wanted to exterminate the Iconian’s and the Iconian’s simply wanted to survive.

In the final battle both fleets fought each other over a vast area of space in what is now called the “Bright Galaxy” the Iconian’s used their “gateway” technology to deceive the Darkness into thinking that their was some sort of vast explosion that flung the Darkness outside of the universe while apparently destroying the Iconian’s in the process. This deception worked and the Darkness was flung outside of the universe into the void between the universes and there they remained for two hundred thousand years content in the knowledge that the Iconian’s had been destroyed.

The Darkness over the next two hundred thousand years settled down in the void as their new adopted home. Why the Darkness never checked to make sure that the Iconian’s and their allies were destroyed remains a mystery to the Iconian’s and their allies.

Technologically the Darkness virtually stopped most advances as this was deemed unnecessary and only those technological advances that helped the Darkness adapted to the void were researched. Whereas the Iconian’s continued to advance technologically across all areas of scientific research and were able incorporate “gateway” drives into their ships thus dispensing with the need to create “gateway” portals on every planet. This also allowed the Iconian’s to install “gateway” drives into their cities so their cities could move from galaxy to galaxy with ease without tying up a large number of Iconian ships transporting the Iconian population from city to city or using a large number of portals.

The Darkness still uses a form of transwarp drive to move around as they were never able to capture and examine the Iconian gateway technology to make their own version.

Present day – Scouting party

On the 1st June 2426 the last of the Darkness surviving servant races the Donn is contacted by their masters and told that the Iconian’s are still alive. The Donn have served the Darkness for well over one million years and were driven from their home world in the Milky Way Galaxy to the Bright Galaxy over two hundred and twenty thousand years ago by the Iconian’s and their allies.

The Donn’s technological levels have been deliberately held back by the Darkness as the Darkness does not want its servant race getting onto an equal technological level as the Darkness. So over the past two hundred thousand years the Donn’s technological level has not advanced beyond the technology they had two hundred thousand years ago. But even so their technology is ahead of the RSC but not much.

The Darkness informs the Donn’s leaders that it will take several months to return and the Donn are to capture the Iconian warship in orbit around one of the Iconian’s old bases in the Bright Galaxy the Darkness warns the Donn that a race called Human (RSC) is also using this world as a base and has access to very basic gateway technology that Humans (RSC) and that these humans should be easy to destroy.

The Donn’s leaders say that they will obey their master’s orders and capture the system within the Bright Galaxy and also capture the Iconian warship in orbit. But what neither the Darkness nor the Donn know is that the Iconian sensors on that forma Iconian world are working. This information was not in HMSS Watchtower’s computers also they Darkness does’ not know the strength of the 6th fleet as HMSS Watchtower had not yet received any fleet information, this information would have been uploaded when HMSS Watchtower formally became part of the 5th fleet all HMSS Watchtower was very basic information.

The Donn dispatch a fleet of 700 warships to capture the Iconian warship and to destroy the ships of the 6th fleet. The Donn are based on the other side of the Bright Galaxy so when they move in force out of their area of space this is detected by the sensors on the planet controlled by the RSC/RSN.

This is reported to the acting commander of the 6th fleet Vice Admiral David Drake as Fleet Admiral Data is currently on Earth giving a briefing to the RSC council about current status of the 6th fleet and his deputy Admiral Mark Collins is in the Milky Way Galaxy arranging the next batch of warships to be sent to the Bright Galaxy as reinforcements to the 6th fleet and is trying to get a larger number of warships to be assigned to the 6th fleet.

First engagement

The report of a large fleet of ships moving from one side of the Bright Galaxy was not viewed as threat by Vice Admiral Drake as no destination could be determined initially. The Iconian warship in orbit was seeing the same data as the RSC but with more advanced sensors could tell what race was moving the Donn but also was unable to determine were the Donn were going.

After monitoring the Donn fleet for several days it was determined by the commander of the Iconian warship in orbit that their destination was this system. The commander of the Iconian warship contacted the Iconian military command and requested reinforcements against the large fleet of Donn warships. The Iconian military command were surprised at the Donn’s actions because they would never attack without the permission of their masters so this raised the possibility that the Darkness was going to return.

The commander of the Iconian warship raise the warships shields to full, this was detected by RSN warships in orbit on heading this Vice Admiral Drake on board his flagship HMSS Indefatigable or the ships of the 6th fleet within the system to go to action stations and waited to see what happened next, as all attempts to communicate with the Iconian warship were not being answered. Vice Admiral Drake assumed it was something to do with the 700 ships coming towards this system.

The first attack waves of 100 Donn warships came out of transwarp conduit and concentrated their fire on the Iconian warship to try and either disable or destroy the Iconian warship. The Iconian warship withstood the firepower of the 100 Donn warships but the shield where weakening as the Iconian warship returned fire steadily reducing down the number of Donn warships.

At the same time the ships of the 6th fleet engaged the Donn warship but with much less luck that the Iconian warship it took the combined firepower of 20 ships from the 6th fleet to destroy one Donn warship also the Donn warships were now opening fire on the ships of the 6th fleet. It was taking just one or two shots to destroy the frigates, the Donn warships were concentrating on the smaller ships of the 6th fleet as they were easier to destroy.

After one hour of combat the last of the 100 Donn warships were destroyed. The Iconian warship had suffered very little damage, but the 137 warship guarding the system on 53 were left the 6th fleet had suffered a staggering loss.

Within a few minutes the remaining 600 Donn warships emerged from transwarp and began an attack run against the remaining ships of the 6th fleet and the Iconian warship. Just as the battle looked hopeless 300 Iconian warships jumped in and began destroying the 600 Donn warships. The remainder of the battle was one sided as the Iconian warships were far superior to the Donn warships but the Donn would not surrender and they fought to the bitter end.

In the aftermath of the battle the Iconian’s informed Vice Admiral Drake that their ancient enemy looks like they are returning and the Donn are the last of the Darkness’s servant races.

In the aftermath of the battle the Donn leadership informed their masters that they had lost the battle because the Iconian’s received reinforcements. The RSC 6th fleet was barley mentioned as the RSC were considered a minor problem. The Darkness said that they would deal with the Iconian’s when they arrived in force.

How would the Darkness respond to the Iconian’s victory?
How will the RSC respond to these two new and deadly enemies?

To be continued…..

Next – Part 55 – Attack and Genocide

whatisinaname · Mar 1, 2007

Part 55 – Attack and Genocide

By the end of 2426 the RSN 6th fleet had been reinforced by taking forces from the 3rd, 4th and 5th fleets to reinforce the 6th fleet, making the 6th fleet the most powerful the RSC/RSN had ever assembled in one place. The reinforced 6th fleet stood at 11,552 warships this fleet included HMSS Eclipse and the majority of the remaining warships were mainly of the Vanguard, Invincible etc classes as the smaller frigate classes did not stand up well even against the Donn warships and it was decided to withdraw frigate or smaller classes of warship from the Bright Galaxy.

The Klingon Empire sent most if its large warships to support the 6th fleet, the Maquis would be used in the reconnaissance role as their Warlock class ships could not stand-up to the firepower of the Darkness has but the warlock class were fast and very manoeuvrable these ships will be used for scouting.

The first main attack by the Darkness was against the Hosham home world and outlying colony systems, within a few hours the Hosham civilisation had cased to exist. The Darkness then began to engage the Iconian’s in the first of many skirmish battles, while the Darkness would setup is main bases of operation on the forma Hosham home world and outlying colony systems.

Over the next few weeks several civilisations ceased to exist including the Destroyers and many others that were caught in the crossfire between the Iconian’s and the Darkness. This will become known as the Time of Genocide.

There are no major attacks against the “gateway” system where the reinforced 6th fleet is guarding the system as all the combat is currently taking place around what was Hosham space. It appeared as thought the Darkness wanted to capture the system in tacked and were deliberately avoiding the system.

As the battle wore on with neither side gaining an edge over the other days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and by mid 2427 the war had entered a stalemate with neither side able to bring enough force to bear to overwhelm the others forces.

During these months of initial combat the 6th fleet remained on the very edge of the battle lines and did not engage in direct combat. The time that they did engage in combat against the Darkness they lost with very heavy casualties so Fleet Admiral Data would concentrate the 6th fleet on defending the “gateway” system.

The only victory against the Darkness was achieved by HMSS Eclipse against one of the Darkness’s scout ships and they “victory” was short lived as the Darkness’s scout was being followed by several capital ships and these ships destroyed HMSS Eclipse and her escorting warships. Even though HMSS Eclipse’s shields stood up to several hits from the one of the Darkness’s warships weapons HMSS Eclipse’s shields were eventually overwhelmed and HMSS Eclipse was destroyed.

The main battle had stalemated between the Darkness and the Iconian’s, this is when the Darkness made its move against the “gateway” system by sending a group of 100 warships to capture the system along with 2,000 Donn warships to support that attack. At the same time the Darkness launched a series of attacks against the Iconian strong points to pint the Iconian fleet until the Darkness and the Donn had captured the “gateway” system.

During the fighting the rest of the Alliance was aware what was going on but they decided to stay clear of the conflict they main opponent of joining the war was the UESPA and used its veto on the Alliance Security Council to stop any motion for going to war. After their “experience” with the Iconian’s the UESPA did not what a similar “experience” with the Darkness.

The first main engagement between the 6th Fleet and the attacking forces of the Darkness and the Donn where made by the Donn as the Darkness seemed to be holding back and acting in a supporting role to the Donn. The large number of warships of the 6th fleet defending the “gateway” system would put up a very strong defence against the Donn.

The initial fire fight between the Donn and the 6th fleet were massive exchanges of fire between the two fleets, the gateway system was lit up with a blaze of fire between the two fleets. For every one Donn warship that was destroyed two ships from the 6th fleet were destroyed. This level of destruction went on for the next three hours with the Donn losing 958 warships and the 6th fleet losing 1,916 warships, the 6th fleet was gaining space by having a larger number of warships than the Donn.

With the Donn’s fleet slowly being destroyed the small for of warships the Darkness had sent along to support the Donn has initially stayed out of the battle, but now with the Donn loosing the fight the Darkness’s warships moved to engage the 6th fleet and to support their servant race the Donn on battle.

The intervention on the Darkness small number of warships started to turn the tide of battle towards the Darkness and the Donn’s favour. The ratio went from two 6th fleet ships to one Donn/Darkness warships destroyed to ten 6th fleet ships to one Donn/Darkness warships were destroyed. Over the next six hours the 6th fleet was pushed back towards the gateway planet itself.

By the time the remains of the 6th fleet were in orbit the fleet size had gone from 11,552 warships to just 2,991 with all of the remaining ships having some form of battle damage. The 6th fleet is from being completely destroyed when the Iconian fleet intervenes to stop the Darkness/Donn from taking control of the system. With the battle now concentrating between the Darkness and the Iconian fleets. The battle between the Donn and the 6th fleet is now more evenly matched.

With the intervention of the Iconian fleet that battle for the gateway system has swung in favour of the 6th fleet and the Donn are wiped out along with the 100 warships the Darkness sent to help capture the gateway system.

The main battle between the Iconian fleet and the Darkness’s fleet is also coming to an end with the Iconian fleet has managed to gain the upper hand and is beginning to push the Darkness’s fleet back towards the forma home world of the Hosham that the Darkness has been using as the main base and new home world.

With the main fighting now concentrating on pushing the Darkness’s fleet back the pressure is now of the remains of the 6th fleet that now numbered only 1,128 warships left.

Will the Iconian fleet manage to destroy the Darkness’s fleet or will the Darkness’s fleet manage to escape and rebuild its forces.

To be continued……

Next – Part 56 – Endgame and The Future

whatisinaname · Mar 9, 2007

Part 56 – Endgame, The Future, Foothold

Endgame

After several months of hard fighting the battle between the Darkness and the Iconian’s was also coming to and end with the Iconian fleet and its own allies now having the numbers over the Darkness were now steadily driving the Darkness back to the forma Hosham home world. Were most of the remaining warships of the Darkness would make a final stand.

The final battle between the Darkness and the Iconian’s and their allies (not including the RSC) was in the forma Hosham home system would last for over a year before the last of the Darkness was destroyed by the Hosham world itself rather than trying to land and capture the planet. The few dozen remaining Darkness warships fled in the vain hope that one day they could rebuild their forces and continue the fight.

But unlike the last battle two hundred thousand years ago the Iconian’s and their allies would not lest the Darkness go and they are much stronger than the Darkness and would peruse the Darkness until every member of the Darkness race was killed. The hunt for the remaining Darkness would take the next two hundred years but would eventually lead to the Darkness as a race being wiped out by the Iconian’s and their allies (not including the RSC).

The RSC would take no part in the final battles or the pursuit of the Darkness as the RSN was so depleted in strength there was reason to continue and the main effort for the RSC would be focused on rebuilding the RSN to its forma strength. The same would apply to both the Klingon Empire and Maquis, as their main effort would also be directed to rebuilding their own fleets

The Future

With the war effectively over the RSC would now concentrate on rebuilding the RSN. The limited effectiveness of the current classes like the Vanguards and Invincible against superior foes showed that the RSN needed a much more powerful warship for the future. The limited success of HMSS Eclipse showed that if the RSN had more ships of this class the losses might have been less.

The Iconian’s do not provide any technological help to RSC, Klingon Empire or the Maquis but they do provide guard ships to help protect the three powers that helped them. These Iconian warships will remain until the RSC, Klingon Empire and the Maquis have rebuilt their fleets. The Iconian’s do provide help in transporting the wounded back to the Milky Way Galaxy but not much else.

Public support within the RSC actually goes up even though the casualties are very high the fact that the RSC/RSN and their allies the Klingon Empire and the Maquis helped stop the Darkness from capturing the Iconian gateway device that would have enabled the Darkness to attack the Milky Way Galaxy and not only wipe out the RSC but probably all life in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The RSC institutes a new shipbuilding program and at the core of this program would be one class of warship to replace all the Battle cruisers, Battleships and Super Battleships with one class of Battleship based on HMSS Eclipse.

This new class of Battleship would be called the Imperial class, the Imperial class would have a length of 3,010 meters and a height of 775 meters and a width of 895 meters; this is an increase of 50% in size and mass over the old Vanguard class design.

With a saucer section and a new secondary “engineering” hull, this new secondary hull not only went from the centre of the lowed part of the saucer section but also the upper part of the saucer section, creating a saucer section wedged between the secondary hulls. The lower part of the secondary hull held the navigational deflector and the shuttle bays as well as main engineering, the upper part of the secondary hull contained the fore and aft spearfish heavyweight photon torpedo launchers. The secondary hull also holds the four warp nacelles, two on the lower and two on the upper part of the secondary hull, the four warp nacelles were necessary to move such a large warship at high warp.

The Imperial class has an armament of four forward firing and two aft firing Mark 6 heavy phaser cannons, 46 dual phaser banks, 20 spearfish heavyweight photon torpedo launchers (10 forward and 10 aft) with 1,500 torpedoes “ready to use” and another 3,000 “stored”. The spearfish heavyweight photon torpedo launchers can each hold 12 torpedoes at a time thus if all 20 launchers are loaded this gives a total of 240 torpedoes in one salvo. The shields are the latest version of regenerative shielding technology the Imperial class was also fitted with back-up shield generators and the latest in polarised hull armour and the Mark 6 point defence system (PDS).

The Imperial class also uses the latest in bio neural circuitry the bio neural circuitry improves reaction time on the ships systems. The main computer is based on improved positronic technology from the Noonien Soong science institute on Earth; this technology was designed to improve computer-processing time. The Imperial class’s main computer does not have the ability of Dr. Noonien Soongs androids it is extreme advanced and at the very edge of RSC technological computer growth.

The Imperial class can maintain a maximum continuous speed of warp 9.99 until fuel exhaustion without putting any strain on the ships systems. The crew numbers on the Imperial class are slightly small HMSS Eclipse, having a crew of 1,903 and can carry up to 1,800 RSM the equivalent of a light marine regiment, normally only up to 900 RSM are carried on board for ship security and away missions.

The one peace of technology that is not included on the new Imperial class Battleships will be the phasing cloak technology as this is still deemed to important to revile and has proven very useful in keeping an eye on the other races in the Alpha quadrant though a normal cloaking device is installed on the Imperial class as standard.

An order for 7,500 of these Imperial class Battleships is placed with the RSC shipbuilding companies, this is the largest order of warships by any member of the Alliance and its is estimated that it will take over 50 years to complete the order for these warships, with improvements in technology being added during the long production run over the next 50 years.

The rest of the fleet (13,000 vessels) will be a mix of latest designs in frigates, Scott class explorer cruisers and Britannia class diplomatic cruisers making a total 20,500 warships of all types by 2477. The new Imperial class Battleships will provide the backbone of the RSN well onto the 26th century.

The one other bit of technology to enter limited production is the gateway technology that will allow RSC ships to travel from one system to another virtually instantaneously within RSC controlled space. The production for these gateway devices will be limited to two per year due to the high cost and complexity of production and these gateway devices will only be based in RSC systems.

Both the Klingon Empire and the Maquis would also begin their fleet build programs. The Klingon Empire would introduce a larger version of is main Battleship the Negh'Var class and would also introduce a cruiser sized vessel to replace the Vor'cha-class. The Maquis would continue to build the Warlock class warships as they did not have the resources to build larger types of warships and even if they did they would be too large to operate inside the badlands.

This large shipbuilding program would create and economic boom within the RSC, Klingon Empire and the Maquis as all three powers sought to rebuild their fleets. Though the cost in terms of money was very high the RSC, Klingon Empire and the Maquis were able to bear the burden, as this would be spread over 50 years.

The Alliance takes no part in interfering in the rebuild program of the RSC, Klingon Empire and the Maquis after their failure to agree support of the RSC, Klingon Empire and the Maquis they simply let them get on with it.

The use of the UESPA veto in the Alliance Security Council did not gone down well with the RSC, Klingon Empire or the Maquis and up to that point relations that were improving and after the use of their veto relations with the UESPA start to decline rapidly with RSC, Klingon Empire, Maquis.

By 2476 the RSC, Klingon Empire and the Maquis have finished rebuilding their fleets and the RSC have a fully working network of gateways within RSC space, this allows for very rapid transport of goods and people from one side of RSC space to the other. There are also single gateways in orbit around the Klingon home world and the Maquis home world. This technology is not shared with the rest of the Alliance also all RSC, Klingon and Maquis flagged merchant ships are given discount rates for using the gateways all other merchant ships have to pay full price.

It is estimated that each gate will take about 5 to 7 years to pay for its self using the current pricing structure and after that the income will provide a useful source of additional income for the RSC.

The forces of the 6th fleet in the Bright Galaxy are scaled back to their pre war levels and no further exploration is allowed until the fleet has been rebuilt until after 2480.

Fleet Admiral Data becomes commander in chief of the RSN in 2428 and remains commander in chief of the RSN until 2450 when he “retires” from the RSN and goes to work at the Noonien Soong research institute on Earth near Edinburgh. The android population of the RSC has now reached 45 million and there are androids in all works of life.

The time between 2426 and 2476 is referred to as a golden age for the RSC, Klingon Empire and the Maquis. With a rebuilt fleet the RSN is now back as the leading power within the Alliance and its warships are considered the best within the Alpha Quadrant (with the exception of the Iconian warships).

In 2477 the Iconian’s withdraw their warships from RSC, Klingon and Maquis space as it is deemed by the Iconian’s that their debit is paid. The Iconian’s do leave an ambassador at the Alliance headquarters of New Gibraltar but the Iconian ambassador tends to spend most of his time onboard the Iconian warship in orbit and very rarely attends Alliance Council meetings or events.

Foothold

In 2480 the RSC Council with ambassadors from the Klingon Empire and the Maquis met to discuss a RSC proposal to link up via the gateway device between the Alpha quadrant and the Delta quadrant with a base being established in Hirogen space. This would prove better than trying to expand into the Bright Galaxy as this has proved too costly to maintain a large military force in the Bright Galaxy and at the moment only a small force remains in orbit to guard the planet were when galaxy-to-galaxy gateway device is located.

Using the Hirogen subspace relay network the RSC has been able to keep in regular contact with the Hirogen and has suggested this idea to the Hirogen. The Hirogen have considered this and accepted this proposal, as this would ensure a more permanent link between the two quadrants. It would also allow both sides to exchange ambassadors and the movement of ships between the two quadrants and increase trade between the two powers.

Control of the gateway devices would remain under RSC control and the Hirogen would be treated to the same level of discount for using the gateway as the Klingon Empire and the Maquis. In exchange the Hirogen would give an empty system over to the joint control of the RSC, Klingon Empire and Maquis for use as a base of operations within the Delta quadrant.

This would give the RSC, Klingon Empire and Maquis a foothold in the Delta quadrant and a significant advantage over the rest of the Alliance and the other powers within the Alpha Quadrant. Even though once the base is fully operational the RSC will inform the Alliance and permit Alliance vessels to travel between the Alpha quadrant and the Delta quadrant.

After only two hours of debate it is decided to proceed and send a force to the Delta quadrant and establish a permanent presence in Hirogen space.

The initial force will consist of a mixture of RSC, Klingon and Maquis warships and support vessels and the freighters carrying the gateway device to be set-up in the Delta quadrant. At the core of this force will be 75 RSN Imperial class battleships along with 95 Kingon warships and 30 Maquis warships with various support vessels.

This initial force will be used to secure the system the Hirogen have given as a base of operations for the setting up of the gateway and a base on one of the planets in the system that will be used as a point of departure and point of entry for those ships going to the Alpha quadrant and those ships coming to the Delta quadrant.

The point of departure in the Alpha quadrant will be an empty system named Terminal this will be where all ships arriving from and departing to the Delta quadrant will have to go though.

By September the initial force is ready to depart for the Delta quadrant for the Terminal system and this force arrives without incident in the Delta quadrant and in Hirogen space within the system the Hirogen have given to the RSC and their allies.

The setting up of the gateway device to allow travel back to the Alpha quadrant, this takes six months to setup the gateway device and to make sure that the device is fully operational. One the initial tests are complete the Hirogen dispatch a ship to the Alpha quadrant as ambassador.

The Alliance council is informed of the setting up of a link between the Alpha quadrant and the Delta quadrant. All of the Alliance members are aware of the gateway devices that have been appearing throughout RSC, Klingon and Maquis space allowing instant tavel from system to system. The Alliance council was also aware of the setting up of the link between the Alpha quadrant and the Delta quadrant though.

This new link to the Delta quadrant can be used by the RSC and their allies to re-establish links with the races that the three Alpha quadrant vessels encountered while stranded in the Delta quadrant for seven years.

The RSC informs the Alliance council that any Alliance member may use the gateway link between the two quadrants and as with the gateways in RSC, Klingon and Maquis space they must pay a fee the Alliance council agrees to this as they can all see the advantages that this will bring.

How will the RSC, Klingon and Maquis take advantage of this new area of space and also how will the members of the Alliance be able to use this?

To be continued…..

Next – Part 57 – Expansion

whatisinaname · Mar 15, 2007

Part 57 – Expansion

Exploration of the Delta quadrant

The exploration of the Delta quadrant began in earnest in 2482 with not only the RSC and its allies exploring the Delta quadrant but also several members of the Alliance including all the permanent members of the Alliance Security Council.

The UESPA Starfleet command has one of the largest exploration fleets of any member of the Alliance and will over the next few months send several hundred starships though the RSC gateway to the Delta quadrant to try and make first contact with as many races as possible and see if they wish to join the Alliance or at the very least establish trading relation with the Alliance.

Various member races of the Alliance will also be trying to do the same as UESPA/Starfleet to see if they too can expand Alliance membership by travelling to the Delta quadrant via the RSC gateways.

The RSC/RSN on the other hand has a very small exploration division as most of the RSC resources have been concentrated on building up the new Imperial class battleships rather than expanding the number of diplomatic and explorer class ships. The total number of diplomatic and explorer class ships is equivalent to the number that the UESPA/Starfleet will be sending to the Delta quadrant the RSC/RSN in numbers of explorer class ships does not even come close to UESPA/Starfleet numbers.

One of the first races that the UESPA/Starfleet contacted is the Voth a species of reptilian humanoids. The Voth having encountered the two Alpha quadrant ships HMSS Echo and USSS Voyager over one hundred years ago that lead to the proving of the “Distant Origin” theory that their race had come from a planet far away in another part of the galaxy a planet called Earth.

The revelation of this caused a brief civil war but in the aftermath the Voth society did recognise that the Ministry of Elders had sought to keep this information from the Voth people. This discovery leads to the recognition of the “Distant Origin” theory as the truth about the Voth’s origin.

The UESPA offered the Voth membership in to the Alliance adding to the 200 plus strong list of races and the Voth would receive all the benefits of Alliance membership. The Voth were also offered by representatives of the RSC offered the Voth to join their own mini Alliance saying that the Voth would also have the same benefits as the Alliance would offer.

The Voth rejected the RSC offer and decided to join the Alliance and by 2485 the Voth had become a member of the Alliance. The Voth also did not need to use the RSC gateway as they possessed transwarp capabilities on all their starships and they could travel from one side of the galaxy to the other in a very short period of time. The first thing that the Voth did after becoming members of the Alliance was to visit Earth to see their original home world.

The Voth entry into the Alliance opened the doors to several other races that they Voth had either knowledge of or some sort of treaty with and with the Voth’s extensive knowledge of the Delta quadrant would also help expand the size of the Alliance.

The RSC/RSN at this time was also trying to expand its own allies but with not much success as the RSC/RSN was having to use their Imperial class battleships rather than their explorer or diplomatic ships as their was never enough of these ships available. When an Imperial class battleship turns up to make first contact it does not go very well as the Imperial class battleships are not really designed for this type of work and the shear size of the RSN warships can be very overwhelming in a first contact situation.

Between 2482 and 2500 the RSC/RSN and their allies were unable to expand their own numbers were as the Alliance was able to expand the number of member races who wished to join. The RSC/RSN did manage to secure several trade deals and other such agreements, the races they did encounter were more interested in joining the Alliance rather than the mini alliance the RSC had to offer.

By early 2499 the RSC and its allies had accepted the that they were not making any progress and the RSC join with the rest of the Alliance in exploring and finding new members for the Alliance rather that trying to expand the RSC own mini alliance.

From 2500 on wards all the permanent members of the Alliance Security Council were united in expanding the size of the Alliance, these are the UESPA, RSC, Vulcans, Tellarites, and Andorians.

This lead to a very rapid expansion of the Alliance from 200 members races in 2482 to 257 member races by 2501.

The other major powers in the Alpha quadrant like the Cardassians, Gorn, Tholians would remain staunchly neutral during this expansion period.

The Dominion would also keep itself to itself and keep to its side of the of the wormhole and insist that the Alliance also keep out of Dominion space and not interfere in internal Dominion matters the Alliance keeps to its treaty agreement with the Dominion but does still occasionally try to open more permanent diplomatic relations but with no success.

The Iconian’s during this time of expansion also keep their distance and just observe the Alliance and their activities and do not interfere.

The RSC keeps control over access to the Bright Galaxy but does limit its forces to protecting the Iconian galaxy to galaxy gateway technology and also keeps a very tight control over their system to system gateway technology that is being use to travel from the Alpha quadrant to the Delta quadrant and has paved the was for this expansion of the Alliance.

The only real benefit that the RSC gets from setting up a permanent link between the Alpha quadrant and the Delta quadrant is a large increase in income from travel between the two quadrants. These tolls for using the system to system gateway technology proves very useful source of income for the RSC and helps to pay for the two gateways that are being used to travel from Alpha quadrant and the Delta quadrant and back again.

Ocampa Home World

The RSC decides that it needs a jump on the rest of the Alliance in exploring the Delta quadrant and decides to build a gateway in orbit around the Ocampa home world. The RSN assembles a force of 15 Imperial class battleships along with 100 supporting vessels and warships also several bulk freighters that will be carrying a disassembled gateway device.

The first ship through the gateway is the Imperial class battleship HMSS Indefatigable one though the gateway HMSS Indefatigable found the Ocampa home world under attack by the Kazon. The Kazon appeared to be bombarding a section of the Ocampa home world that from initial scan showed that this area appeared to be covered by a large shield protecting the area where the Ocampa had their underground city.

From the initial scans by HMSS Indefatigable showed that the bombardment had been going on for well over 100 years and the rock covering the Ocampa city was no longer underground as the rock covering the city had been blasted away by the Kazon all that now remained was the shield protecting the Ocampa.

From the briefing that the captain of HMSS Indefatigable had before departing showed that the Caretaker had left the Ocampa with enough energy to keep the shield going for no more than four years. The captain of HMSS Indefatigable was wondering how the Ocampa managed to keep the shield going for much longer.

But before the captain of HMSS Indefatigable could look into this, the nearest Kazon vessel hailed HMSS Indefatigable demanding that the unknown ship withdraw. The captain of HMSS Indefatigable responded by identifying himself as his warship as belonging to the RSN and warning the Kazon that they should withdraw immediately.

The Kazon on finding out that their old enemy was back ordered an attack on the RSN vessel as with the first time the Kazon had attack a RSN vessel over 100 hundred years ago the Kazon technology was still far behind the RSC/RSN.

The Kazon felt that they had the numbers this time to capture this one warship and it would be worth the risk, what the Kazon did not know is that HMSS Indefatigable was this advanced vessel for 14 more of her class were due to be sent within 30 minutes of HMSS Indefatigable arrival.

All that the captain of HMSS Indefatigable had to do was hold that Kazon at bay for less than 30 minutes before more reinforcements would start arriving. The captain of HMSS Indefatigable would initially use the ships photon torpedoes to pick of the Kazon attack ships at long range and as the Kazon attack ships got within phaser range would then start using a combination of phaser at short to medium range and photon torpedoes at long range.

The battle for the Ocampa system would be a very bloody battle for the Kazon and when after 30 minutes additional reinforcements arrived in the shape of 14 more Imperial class battleships and their support vessels that battle firmly swung in towards RSN victory the remaining Kazon ships withdrew from the Ocampa system.

In the aftermath of the battle for the Ocampa system communications have been established with the Ocampa and a delegation of three Ocampa councillors are beamed on board the diplomatic cruiser to discuss with the RSC diplomats on forming more permanent relations with the RSC and its allies.

The Ocampa councillors explain that before the Caretaker died he transferred knowledge on how to build a series of Tetryon reactors to power the shield that protects the Ocampa city and also other technologies that would allow the Ocampa to survive without the Caretakers protection. The Caretaker has given the Ocampa a technological boost giving them an advantage over the Kazon thus preventing the Kazon from exterminating the Ocampa civilisation.

The Ocampa councillors after much discussion agree to join the RSC mini alliance rather than the full alliance because of the help the RSC provided in driving the Kazon from the Ocampa system and with the Ocampa also allowing the RSC to base its gateway in the Ocampa system this will provide the Ocampa with a valuable source of trade not only with the new Alliance members within the Delta quadrant but also within the Alpha quadrant.

The Ocampa is the only other race from the Delta quadrant apart from the Hirogen that the RSC has managed to convince to join there own mini alliance rather that joining the main Alliance as all the other races that they have contacted have joined the Alliance.

To be continued……

Next – Part 58 – The Alliance

whatisinaname · Mar 20, 2007

Part 58 – The Alliance

The Alliance cannot interfere in the internal affairs of another Alliance member or a race that has not achieved warp technology level. Any race that joins the Alliance does not have to share is technology with the other members of the Alliance, this precedent was set by the RSC when the RSC discovered Iconian gateway technology. The Alliance will stop any member race from interfering in a pre warp civilisation.

The Alliance Security Council members (permanent)

RSC

The RSC are one of the founding members of the Alliance and does take a full and active role within the Alliance, but the RSC also has its own mini Alliance with the Klingon Empire, Marqu and the Hirogen and the newest members of the mini alliance the Ocampa.

The RSC is ahead in certain areas of technology and in all other areas of technology are equal to the other member’s permanent of the Alliance Security Council. The RSC spend a large proportion of their budget in the defences for each RSC colony such as improving the orbital battle stations and system patrol vessels.

The RSC have a unified Police and Justice System not only on Earth but all RSC colonies worlds and outposts, this has reduced crime to a very low level as a police officer perusing a criminal going to another RSC colony can simply ask that colonies police to pick the criminal up and return him or her to the RSC colony were the crime was committed. This has brought an unprecedented level of cooperation between the ten RSC member countries.

The economy is still based on the British pound weather it is the British, Canadian, New Zealand, Malta, Nepal, Pakistan, Indian, Bangladesh, Australian or Tibetan pound all have their version of the pound. This makes trade between RSC members and the companies much easier as there is very little difference between each member countries exchange rates.

In terms of military strength the RSN and RSM are by far the most power military force of any member of the Alliance, while other Alliance members have a larger numbers of warships on a one to one basis they are no match an RSN Imperial class battleships.

The number of colony system the RSC has is only 70 in RSC controlled space along with numerous outposts in RSC and Alliance controlled space such as the Romulan boarder. The RSC colony systems are grouped together rather than being scattered across a large are of space.

With the system to systems gateway technology travel between RSC colony systems is instantaneous and most RSC companies use impulse dive freighters for delivering their good between RSC systems as there is no need to fit these ships with warp drive, only those freights that travel beyond RSC space use warp drive.

The main intelligence gathering is done by RSC Intelligence with is sub organisation Section 31 carrying out the clandestine operations, both RSC Intelligence and Section 31 have increased in size over time to deal with and increase in the size of the Alliance.

The RSC operates a free health care system throughout all ten RSC member countries and all their colonies. All RSC member countries operate a parliamentary democracy system, the British monarch being head of state in Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Malta and the rest have a president as head of state, the British monarch is head of the RSC in a pure figurehead role.

The use of the gateway technology to link the 70 RSC colony worlds together has brought a trade boom because good that would normally take weeks or even months to travel between on RSC colony to another now just take seconds, and the ships transporting these good do not need warp drive only impulse engines as these freighters will arrive within the RSC colony system.

With the recent addition of a gateway linking the Alpha quadrant to the Delta quadrant the RSC has seen a dramatic surge in revenue from various Alliance member races using the gateway linking the two quadrants together.

UESPA

The UESPA are one of the founding members of the Alliance and does take a full and active role within the Alliance, but unlike the RSC has not formed its own mini alliance rather it has concentrated on building up the size of the Alliance with other members of the Alliance. The UESPA Starfleet command has the largest exploration fleet within the Alliance.

The UESPA has a set-up a UN stile council with a Security Council that is US lead with the power of veto along with France, Japan, Germany, China and Russia.

Each of the UESPA member countries runs its affairs according to its own laws this can lead to quit a bit of problems when it comes to law enforcement and jurisdiction and which country has jurisdiction. Also each UESPA member country has its own different way of electing its own government. The UESPA president is mostly a ceremonial role and the president is usually chosen from one of the four permanent members of the UESPA council either the US, Russia, China or France.

UESPA/Starfleet has the largest fleet of starships of any member within the Alliance, but most of these ships are used for system defence or exploration. Due to the size of the UESPA it can take months to travel from one end of UESPA territory to the other. The only real organised force within the UESPA is Starfleet command this is mainly due to the fact that it is run on military lines and has its own chain of command and its own independent budget which answers to the UESPA Security Council or its actions.

Starfleet command has been very successful in expanding not only the number of colony worlds that it has but also in expanding the size of the Alliance, thanks to Starfleet commands large diplomatic and exploration arm. Starfleet commands budget keeps being increased as this is the one thing that all UESPA members can agree on.

The UESPA has 197 colony systems scattered throughout UESPA and Alliance controlled space along with numerous outpost and bases. The UESPA still has to travel from one UESPA colony to another by warp drive this can take weeks or months of travel at warp speed to get to the most distant UESPA colonies.

The recent expansion into the Delta quadrant has been a boom time for UESPA Starfleet exploration division in acquiring new members for the Alliance.

Vulcan

The Vulcan’s are one of the founding members of the Alliance and does take a full and active role within the Alliance. The Vulcan’s are one of the older space faring races within the Alliance and one of the more technologically advance races with in the Alliance.

The Vulcan’s have only 75 colony systems plus a few outposts; due to the small number of colonies that the Vulcan’s have it is very easy to travel for one system to another system within Vulcan space. Most of these colonies were set-up before Vulcan was a member of the Alliance or discovered Earth.

The Vulcan High Command is responsible for the defence of all of the colonies and outposts for this the Vulcan’s have a fleet of advanced warships that in terms of technology are equal to the RSN (with the exception of the gateway and clocking technology).

The Vulcan combat cruiser has not changed very much on term of external appearance in 700 years, though the size of these vessels have increase from 600 meters in length to 1,500 meters. The current Vulcan combat cruisers shared a similar design lineage with the Surak class, but instead of a single "hoop" warp nacelle, it contained three "hoops" arranged in a clover-shaped arrangement these ships form the backbone of the Vulcan High Command fleet.

Tellarites

The Tellarites are one of the founding members of the Alliance and does take a full and active role within the Alliance. Tellarites are a sturdy humanoid species with distinguished snouts they wear beards and their hands were sometimes hoof like in appearance. Tellarites were known to be an impatient people they are also known for their "stubborn pride".

The Tellarites have a propensity toward strong emotion. However, they enjoyed a good argument, which was even considered a sport on Tellar. Tellarites often began an interaction with a series of complaints; this was how they started arguments with someone they had recently met. If they had nothing to complain about they would simply insult the person. Because of their ability to argue, Tellarites make excellent politicians.

Tellarites are on a technological level with the other members of the Alliance Security Council their starships protect their 52 colony systems. The Tellarites also have the largest number of freighters with the Alliance (or even out side the Alliance) due to their skills as negotiators this makes the Tellarites one of the best trading races known (even above the Ferengi) as their deals are more honest than that of the Ferengi tend to be.

Andorians

The Andorians are one of the founding members of the Alliance and does take a full and active role within the Alliance. Andorians have the same number of colony systems as the Vulcan’s do 75, with their fleet protecting these systems. The Andorian technology level is on the same par as the Vulcan’s and the fleet in terms of numbers of warships matches that of the Vulcan fleet.

The Andorians are a militaristic warrior race this is underscored by the fact their weapons had no stun setting, but later on this was changed on encountering other species. Service in the Andorian Imperial Guard is considered honourable, and military ranks have a great influence on social reputations.

Andorians never fight without reason and deplored dishonesty, but they were capable of duplicity. Andorians considered their race to be deeply emotional and passionate, even violent; they weren't known for their charity and had few sympathies, but they placed a high value on family.

Other members of the Alliance

The Alliance headquarters are still based on the RSC colony of New Gibraltar there are also a number of consulates based throughout Alliance space for those races that cannot travel the vast distances to attend every Alliance council meeting, so most Alliance decisions are done via sub space communication.

The other races of the Alliance serve two years rotating terms on the Alliance Security Council for the seven other seats in the Security Council; these seven seats do not have the veto power of the founding members of the Alliance. The addition of another member with the veto power can only be passed if all the current five members with the power of veto agree (and so far this has not happened).

The current size of the Alliance stands at 237 member races with 21 of these races come from the delta quadrant so far.

None Alliance members – Semi Allied

Klingon Empire

The Klingon Empire has an Alliance with the RSC, Maquis and the Ocampa for mutual defence and trading, the Klingon Empire also has a non aggression pact with the Alliance. The only “real” threat to the Klingon Empire is the Romulan Empire but for the past 200 years the Romulans have taken very little interest in either the Alliance of the Klingon Empire.

The Klingon Empire has a horary seat in the Alliance Security Council in recognition of the Klingon Empires help in defending the Alliance against several invasions. The Klingon Empire is still expanding in the two directions that the Alliance does not have direct access to.

The size of the Klingon fleet is around 30,000 warships of various types with most of these being based in Klingon territory, but there are detachments of Klingon warships in the Bright Galaxy, RSC space and in the Delta quadrant.

The Klingon Empire has around 100 colony systems within its boarders and has another 35 systems, which are “protectorates” of the Klingon Empire, in reality these are races the Klingon Empire has conquered and currently occupy this races system. The Klingon Empire has no colonies outside the Empires boarders.

Maquis

The Maquis has not expanded its boarders beyond the badlands area of space and mainly concentrates of keeping a eye on the Cardassian’s to make sure that the Cardassian’s do not try anything against Maquis space. The Maquis main form of defence of the Maquis is their treaty with the RSC, Klingon Empire and more recently the Ocampa to keep the Cardassians at bay.

The Maquis do not have a horary seat in the Alliance as this was vetoed by the UESPA, both the RSC and the Klingon Empire represent the Maquis, both these powers subsidise the Maquis with resources that the Maquis are unable to find in their own territory.

The Maquis has a fleet of only 200 warships of the latest version of the tried and tested Warlock class. These warships are some of most agile and pack quite a punch for a ship of this small size even the Starfleet Defiant class is not as powerful as the Warlock class (which the Warlock class is based on).

Maquis has only twelve worlds within the badlands that they have colonised, each world has its own orbital defences against any possible attack, but the best defence that the Maquis colony worlds have id the intense plasma storms in the badlands. These storms prevent a large group of warships entering the badlands as these ships would be ripped apart by the plasma storms.

Ocampa

The Ocampa is the most recent addition to the RSC mini alliance and only has its home system. The Ocampa have the technology to build starships but because of the Kazon siege of their city the Ocampa were unable to build any ships. With the siege lifted the Ocampa have begun building an orbital facility in geo stationary orbit above the vast city.

The Ocampa have been technologically advanced by the Caretaker before his death the Caretaker transferred a large amount of technological information giving the Ocampa to survive on there own.

It will take the Ocampa several decades to build a trading society and several thousand years to rebuild their planets eco system that was destroyed by the Caretakers race by accident also the Ocampa continue to examine the information the Caretaker sent to them before his death.

Neutrals and enemies of the Alliance

There are large numbers of neutral governments these include races like the Gorn, Tholians, Tzenkethi and the Breen to name but a few. These neutral governments keep themselves to themselves and do not wish to join the Alliance but they do trade with various Alliance members to various degrees on an individual basis.

There are three major races that are hostile to the Alliance to various degrees these are the Dominion, Cardassian Union and the Romulan Empire, of the three the Cardassian Union is the most hostile. The Dominion and the Romulan Empire the least hostile as these to races are busy expanding their boarders and controlling their own empires.

The Cardassian Union has never forgiven the Alliance for ceding the badlands to the Maquis and continues to try and get the Alliance along with the RSC and the Klingon Empire to withdraw their support of the Maquis but have met with no success. The Cardassian Union will not attack the Maquis as the Cardassian Union knows that not only would the RSC and the Klingon Empire rally to the Maquis support but also the Alliance may support the Maquis as well.

The Cardassian Union try’s various tricks over the years to try and split the RSC, Klingon Empire from the Maquis but nothing the Cardassian Union but these tricks are found out and have the opposite effect.

The Dominion have kept to their treaty agreements with the Alpha quadrant races and have not come though the wormhole, the Dominion has sent scouts to the area of space were the wormhole is located in the Gamma Quadrant, but beyond that their has been no activity at all. All attempts at opening diplomatic relations with the Dominion have failed and it appears that the Dominion just wants to be left alone even attempts to contact Odo failed, the Dominion just does not to want be disturbed at all.

During the Alliances first years of exploration of the Delta quadrant several Borg cubes were encountered but the Borg cubes did not take any notice of the Alliance vessel exploring the Delta quadrant apart from a brief scan.

The Alliance did not enter Borg space as defined by HMSS Echo and USSS Voyager so there was not reason for a direct encounter between the Alliance and the Borg. Also the Borg were very wary of attacking any Alliance member vessel and provoking V’ger who’s technological level is far above that of the Borg, the Borg were also aware of the Iconians return and that the Iconians were in some way allied or at least linked to the Alliance.

To be continued…..

Next – Part 59 – The Long Road/The Beginning and the End

whatisinaname · Mar 28, 2007

Part 59 – The Long Road/The Beginning and the End

In 2501 the RSN explorer cruiser HMSS Roebuck while exploring an uncharted system in the Delta quadrant near the Ocampa home world discovers that one of the three moons orbiting the forth planet finds a dome protecting a surface area of one the moons roughly 2 kilometres across.

After several days of trying to scan though the dome with no success HMSS Roebuck sends one of its shuttlecraft to the moons surface and an away team in spacesuits try’s to find an entrance to the dome but is unable to fine any entrance, while trying to find an entrance the away team discovers that the dome is actually an energy barrier that is not opaque so the dome appears solid.

The away team on returning to HMSS Roebuck the RSN ship is hailed from the dome when the image appears on the bridge view screen it is a human. The man on the view screen identifies himself as Mr. Flint.

Mr. Flint asks the captain of HMSS Roebuck what he is doing in this system so far away from Earth. The captain of HMSS Roebuck says that he is part of the Alliance and is exploring this region of space, Mr. Flint replies that the ship does not have the capability to travel such vase distances with the warp drive that HMSS Roebuck has. The captain says that they use a form of Iconian gateway technology.

On hearing this Mr. Flint invites the captain of HMSS Roebuck to come a visit him inside his retreat the captain accepts and is informed that he will not be allowed to beam in but much come by shuttlecraft that captain of HMSS Roebuck accepts.

On arriving inside Mr. Flints retreat the captain of HMSS Roebuck finds a mix of styles dating back several thousand years of Earth history, Mr. Flint explains to the captain of HMSS Roebuck that he is immortal and then goes on to explain how he got here.

Mr. Flint is an immortal human, born as Akharin, during Earth's 4th Millennium BCE in Mesopotamia, Earth. After realizing his fate of immortality, he continued his life through many aliases, sometimes playing a role in human history.

He also met people like Socrates and Galileo, and witnessed the bubonic plague spreading over Europe in the 1340s, killing nearly half the European population at the time. He was married hundreds of times, and had to watch his beloved ones grow old and die over and over again.

Flint gathered a large collection of original artworks from his many lives among them are a Shakespeare first folio, a Gutenberg Bible, the creation lithographs by Taranullus of Centauri VII, several original da Vinci works, some paintings of Reginald Pollack and some of the painter Sten from Marcus II.

In 2239, under the assumed name of Mr. Brack, he bought a starship (second hand from the UESPA) and had the starship refurbished to his needs then set out for the Delta quadrant where he built this base as a retreat away from the rest of the universe so that he could continue with his own projects as his own immortal’s pace. Mr. Flint has taken the long road to get away from the universe and has failed as the RSC/RSN ship HMSS Roebuck has found his retreat.

Mr. Flint made it known that he just wanted to be left alone and did not what to part of the Alliance in any form. Just as the captain of HMSS Roebuck was about to try and talk Mr. Flint out of his decision HMSS Roebuck detected a large number of Kazon attack vessel closing on this position.

The captain of HMSS Roebuck to Mr. Flint that he might be safer is Mr. Flint was beamed on board HMSS Roebuck, Mr. Flint replied no and that the facility that he had built was more that capable of defending itself against attack.

With that Mr. Flint remove from his jacket pocket a remote control/communications device and warned the Kazon that if they pressed their attack they would be destroyed. The Kazon did not reply but continued on their attack course.

Mr. Flint simply sighed and pressed a button on the remote control/communications device and a holo display appeared in the room showing the Kazon ships with another touch of the control/communications device that colour of the attacking Kazon ships changed from yellow to red and with one more touch part of the area under the dome opened reviling some sort of vertical launcher.

The launcher began launching some sort of guided missiles/torpedoes at the Kazon attack ships, within a few minutes all the Kazon vessels are destroyed.

After the destruction of the Kazon attack ships Mr. Flint again says that he just want to be left alone and it more that capable of defending himself against any form of attack including cloaked ships, making the point that he can detect cloaked ships.

With that the captain and the away team and the shuttle are beamed back on board HMSS Roebuck. The captain decides to return to the Ocampa home world and report his finding to higher command.

RSC/RSN command decide to leave Mr. Flint alone and only send a ships once a year to check up on Mr. Flint but not to interfere or bother Mr. Flint under any circumstances.

The Beginning and the End

In 2505 UESPA/Starfleet command launches a new long ranged shuttlecraft design with a copy of the mobile holo emitter that the Doctor brought back from the Delta quadrant in 2378.

The prototype shuttle is launched with a new and excremental warp drive system on its maiden flight the shuttle disappeared without a trace after extensive search of the area of space were the shuttle disappeared.

Only after some checking that is was discovered that the shuttle has travelled though time into the past and to the Delta quadrant were the remains of the shuttle would be found by USSS Voyager and HMSS Echo in March 2373.

The UESPA/Starfleet command reported its findings to the Alliance Security Council who after several months of debate introduced the temporal prime directive that outlawed time travel of any kind and also made it compulsory for any Alliance member to report and accidental time travel to the Alliance Security Council.

This new temporal prime directive was passed without any opposition from any Alliance member, an unheard of event in Alliance history. The Alliance has achieved a new level of unity even if is short lived.

What now for the RSC and the rest of the Alliance?

To be continued…..

Next – Part 60 – Evolution

whatisinaname · Mar 30, 2007

Part 60 – Evolution

In 2525 the RSC Research and Development division makes a breakthrough in gateway technology, in now knowing how the gateway drive can in theory be mounted inside a space ship but the current gateway device is currently as large as an Imperial class battleship and this is without even a power source or crew to operate the gateway technology.

This does mean however that the gateway technology can be built into a space station and using the new breakthrough in gateway technology the station can be moved to the destination system without the need to use freighters to transport the parts and then to assemble a new gateway in each new system the RSC is either colonising or to set-up a gateway outpost in the Delta quadrant. These new gateway space stations can now be pre built in RSC space at an RSC shipyard and then transport itself to the system were it is needed.

This technological breakthrough has brought a new level of mobility to the RSC and RSN and opened up new options for the RSC and the RSN in terms of exploration and defence, now “all” the RSC Research and Development division has to do is miniaturise the technology so that it will fit into RSN warship, but this is more difficult that it sounds.

It takes thirty months to build the first gateway space station but once it is built the gateway space station unlike other space stations is very mobile though once at its destination the gateway space station can only use its manoeuvring thrusters for small adjustments to its position. This has the added advantage that a gateway space station if no longer needed at one location can simply move itself to a new location with relative ease, it also means that if a gateway station is under attack in the Delta quadrant too the gateway station is jump back to the Alpha quadrant and back into RSC space.

By 2550 the RSC has replaced all of its old static gateway station with the new “mobile” gateway space stations at all of is colonies with the Alpha quadrant. Several Alliance members are viewing this technology with envy but as the vast majority of the Alliance still supports the RSC there is nothing the minority can do about this.

After 2550 these new gateway space stations help not only the RSC but also the Alliance to expand within the Delta quadrant by setting up several RSC gateway space stations throughout the Delta quadrant at key strategic locations.

The RSC industrial capability is enormous as all of its manufacturing capability is based within RSC space in the Alpha quadrant and the gateway network can simply transfer any manufactured items to any were there is a gateway station.

The biggest problem the RSC and the Alliance is facing is the Borg and the Borg’s lack of activity beyond its own boarders, though the Borg patrol its own boarders in strength no Borg vessel has been see outside its own space for nearly 50 years.

Improvements in weapons technology lead the RSC/RSN upgrading all their Imperial class battleships with the following series of improvements. The removal of the 6 heavy phaser cannons and replacing the 46 dual phaser banks with 46 single phaser banks, each one of these single phaser banks has the firepower of a heavy phaser cannon, therefore it was felt that the heavy phaser cannons are now redundant.

This also leads to improvements in the spearfish heavyweight photon torpedoes in terms of destructive power and guidance systems and range. The shields are the latest version of active regenerative shielding technology the Imperial class is also fitted with back-up shield generators and the latest in polarised hull armour and the latest version of the point defence system (PDS).

The Imperial class also uses the latest in bio neural circuitry the bio neural circuitry improves reaction time on the ships systems and this latest version of the Imperial class is starting to have a very organic feel to it.

The main computer is based on improved positronic technology from the Noonien Soong science institute on Earth; this technology is designed to improve computer-processing time though the main computer is not sentient.

The number of these improved Imperial class battleships has by 2550 increased to 10,121 and more are being built to guard the increasing number of gateway space stations in the Alpha and Delta quadrants.

Bright Galaxy

In early 2050 the RSC engineers had finally figured out how the Iconian base was powered, it was initially thought that the Iconian base was powered by a series of underground reactors but when no reactors were found the RSC engineers began looking for the power source.

What the RSC engineers was what they thought were a series of tables in several room throughout the underground facility, but what they are power stations, each “table” contains five power modules which are like large self rechargeable power packs. Each of these power modules is capable of putting out enough energy to power just over 100 Imperial class battleships. The RSC engineer’s can only guess the power output of an Iconian warship or even one of the Iconian city ships.

One of these power modules is removed and taken on board one of the RSN warships HMSS Warrior to see if it is possible to use these power modules instead of a matter anti matter power source.

Over the next 10 years HMSS Warrior’s matter anti matter power source is removed a replaced with an Iconian power module. The process of trying to build a converter to safely use the tremendous amount of power stored inside one of these power modules takes up most of the time.

During this time the RSC sends regular messages to the Iconian warship in orbit but receive no reply and continue to proceed with the adoption of the Imperial class battleship HMSS Warrior so that this ship can use the power module as its main power source.

It is also estimated that these power modules in the underground facilities have been operation without maintenance for 200,000 years even after the underground facilities were abandoned by the Iconians this means that the power module are self recharging in some way.

In 2560 the Iconian ambassador onboard the Iconian warship orbiting the galaxy-to-galaxy device based inside the planet makes a surprise visit to the RSN ship HMSS Warrior that has been fitted with one of the Iconian power modules.

The Iconian ambassador states that they have been monitoring the RSC progress in installing one of their old power modules to be used as HMSS Warrior’s matter anti matter power source replacement. The Iconian ambassador says that the RSC will be allowed to use the Iconian power module on HMSS Warrior but their must be several Iconian’s onboard HMSS Warrior to monitor how the RSC is going use this power module and that the Iconian’s high council will only allow one RSC/RSN ship to be fitted with one power module.

After a brief discussion with RSC command and with no real choice but to agree an area of HMSS Warrior is put aside as the Iconian quarters and will be out of bounds for RSC personnel including RSC Intelligence (and Section 31).

After several months of preparation in bring the Iconian observers on board, HMSS Warrior is ready to begin powering up her systems. Over a period of several hours HMSS Warrior are powered up successfully with engineering reporting that the Iconian power module is registering less the 0.1% usage.

Over the next few months the systems of HMSS Warrior are put though their paces and the Iconian power module proves that HMSS Warrior is tapping into only a very small fraction of the power available even when HMSS Warrior powers up all systems to full strength. This leads to the 46 single phaser banks and the shield generators to be upgraded so that they are the most powerful that can be fitted, even with these upgrades the Iconian power module is still registering minimal output.

HMSS Warrior is transferred to the Milky Way galaxy and then to the Delta quadrant and is part of the RSN task force operating from the Ocampa home world. The RSN warship is now the most powerful ship of almost any Alliance member with the exception of the Voth who have now a very small lead over the RSC.

The rest of the Alliance view the enactments to HMSS Warrior with the Iconian power modules as not a real threat as the Iconian’s will only allow the RSC to use one of their old power modules from 200,000 years ago. Various Alliance members try and persuade the Iconian’s to allow them to fit old Iconian power modules to their ships but this is refused no reason is give by the Iconian’s.

HMSS Warrior would become the flagship of the RSN and would be used to explore the Delta quadrant.

To be continued……

Next – Part 61 – HMSS Warrior

whatisinaname · Apr 12, 2007

Part 61 – HMSS Warrior

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Imperial class battleship HMSS Warrior. On its ten-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

HMSS Warrior – 3rd February 2561 – in orbit Ocampa home world

The crew of HMSS Warrior are the best of the RSN and RSM and in 2561 they would begin their ten-year exploration mission in the Delta quadrant, something the RSC/RSN had not done for a long time. The captain of HMSS Warrior is Captain James Hunt a career officer with 30 years experience of commanding various RSN warships and has now been given command of the RSN flagships HMSS Warrior. The first officer is Commander William James has risen up though the ranks and has 25 years experience.

The commander of the 900 RSM detachment on board HMSS Warrior is Lieutenant Colonel Mark Hammond though he has severed with the RSM fort 22 years this is his first front line command and has served in various staff positions and has got this position due to his contacts and RSM headquarters, his deputy is Major David Wilkinson unlike Lieutenant Colonel Hammond he has seen a lot of action over his 18 career with the RSM.

There are also 17 Iconian’s on board HMSS Warrior as “observers” but in reality they are onboard to keep an eye on the Iconian power module that is installed on HMSS Warrior instead of the traditional matter anti matter power source. The installation of this Iconian power module has allowed the RSC/RSN to install more powerful systems than would not normally be fitted to an Imperial class battleship because of the power limitations of the matter anti matter power source.

HMSS Warrior has several other advantages over the other Imperial class battleships it can fire its weapons while cloaked something that the other Imperial class battleships cannot do and HMSS Warrior can run at warp 9.99 indefinitely while cloaked giving HMSS Warrior a distinct advantage in combat. Only RSC Intelligence offshoot organisation Section 31 shadow class scout ships have the ability fire while cloaked, but even these ships cannot run at warp 9.99 with the phased cloak operating as these ships do not have the power reserve of HMSS Warrior’s Iconian power module.

The RSC technology onboard HMSS Warrior is at the cutting edge of what the RSC can produce, even with the most powerful systems fitted to HMSS Warrior the Iconian power module output is barely being used. This shows how far begin the RSC is compared to the Iconian’s.

First Encounters

Apart from encountering the occasional Kazon patrol the first few weeks of HMSS Warrior’s exploration are uneventful, as RSN ships had already surveyed most of the space surrounding the Ocampa home world.

The Kazon do try the occasional attack against HMSS Warrior but these attacks prove to be futile as the Kazon cannot punch through HMSS Warrior’s shields, the HMSS Warrior’s phasers can easily pick of the Kazon ships.

The first race HMSS Warrior encountered is the Sikarians are the inhabitants of the planet Sikaris in the Delta Quadrant. They are a humanoid race dedicated to helping others and their hospitality is legendary. They are especially interested in stories, regarding them as an essential part of their culture. In fact they are mostly interested in the new and different, quickly growing bored with any particular person or activity.

The Sikarians are a technologically advanced race but the most unusual piece of technology on Sikaris is the spatial trajector, which can instantaneously transport a person up to maximum of 40,000 light-years.

The first contact between the Sikarians and HMSS Warrior, the Sikarians spatial trajectory technology is incompatible with the RSC technology. The Sikarians are against forming any alliance with any other race, but both sides see that advantage in becoming trading partners.

The Sikarians are most impressed with HMSS Warrior’s technological level and even more impressed that there are Iconian’s on board as the stories that the Sikarians have heard from other races is that the Iconian’s were an extinct race.

Over the next few months HMSS Warrior encounters several familiar races from the Delta quadrant including the Talaxians and the Haakonian Order along with many other races.

Vaadwaur

The most dangerous race HMSS Warrior encounters is the Vaadwaur. The history of the Vaadwaur is a long but fragmented past, with a mixture of war and exploration. Around the year of 1484, the Vaadwaur had a population of 6 billion people. The Vaadwaur encountered the Borg many times, but they always avoided them.

The Vaadwaur controlled a series of "Underspace corridors", which they explored for centuries. Using these corridors, they could go to distant systems, including the planet Talax, where they met the Talax-ilzay, another name for the Talaxians in their ancient language.

Although they often used the subspace corridors for trade with the other species, they also used it to wage war and spread their own territory. Other species described their attacks as an army who appears from nowhere and destroys the colony.

Just over 1,000 years before HMSS Warrior arrival, several planets created an alliance, under the command of the Turei, and decided to destroy the Vaadwaur forever. They started the attack by bombarding the Vaadwaur home worlds planet surface with plasma bombs.

These attacks did destroy the Vaadwaur home world but several Vaadwaur colonies survived and they decided to move to the edge of their subspace corridors and to concentrate on building a new Vaadwaur home world. Over the next 1,000 years the Vaadwaur consolidated their remaining colonies on the new Vaadwaur home world and began to expand their technological knowledge.

During this time period the Vaadwaur remained quite and withdrawn from the rest of the galaxy while the rebuilt their civilisation and even xenophobic. Their technological advance slowed over the next 1,000 years as they were trying to do to much at the same time

On the 28th November 2561 HMSS Warrior encountered several Vaadwaur warships on patrol around their new home world. The commander of the lead Vaadwaur warship contacts Captain Hunt and demands that Captain Hunt lowers HMSS Warrior’s shields and prepare to be boarded as HMSS Warrior has trespassed into Vaadwaur and will be confiscated.

Captain Hunt replies that he will not allow HMSS Warrior to be boarded and if attack he will use force to destroy any attacking vessels, also Captain Hunt points out to the commander of the lead Vaadwaur warship that the Vaadwaur warships are no match for HMSS Warrior.

With that the Vaadwaur warships maintain position and blocking the path of HMSS Warrior and not allowing the RSN ship to move towards the new Vaadwaur home world. With this Captain Hunt decides to withdraw even though HMSS Warrior could blast its way though the Vaadwaur warships.

The commander of the leading the group of Vaadwaur warships has no choice but to let HMSS Warrior go as HMSS Warrior out guns the group of Vaadwaur warships even though the location of the new Vaadwaur home world maybe reviled.

The Vaadwaur leadership are extremely paranoid about reviling the location of their new home world to any other race and order the commander and his group of warship to shadow HMSS Warrior and see what they do next and whom they may talk to.

RSC Space – Alpha quadrant.

In 2555 in becomes possible to travel from one RSC colony to another RSC colony in the Alpha quadrant without using warp drive. This lead to the personal shuttlecraft replacing the family car as the primary means of transportation not only with a planet but also from one RSC colony to another via the next work of gateways.

This leads several large RSC companies to begin to manufacture a wide range of civilian shuttlecraft to the growing demand for personnel shuttlecraft. These personnel shuttlecraft differ from normal shuttlecraft in not being fitted with warp drive, this makes these new types of shuttlecraft much easier to learn to fly and this brings down not only the cost of leaning how to pilot these personnel shuttlecraft but also the cost of manufacturing.

By 2560 there are several million personnel shuttlecraft being used by RSC citizens to travel between the various RSC colonies worlds within RSC space in the Alpha quadrant. The cost of travel between the RSC colony worlds is made easier by the RSC member governments reducing the cost of the tolls that are charged for travelling though a gateway for RSC citizens (though none RSC citizens have to pay full price) and their Klingon, Maquis and Ocampa allies.

These government measures help create an economic boom for the various RSC companies in the civilian shuttlecraft market. This also expands in to various types for shuttlecraft from the two-person shuttlecraft to family shuttlecraft and even to larger shuttlecraft with onboard sleeping accommodation that are used like old-fashioned campervans for holidays.

This leads to an increased usage of the gateways between the various RSC colony worlds in the Alpha quadrant and also leads to increased revenue for the RSC from the vast increase traffic though the various gateways from both RSC citizens and none RSC citizens.

Delta quadrant

The sensor operator informs Captain Hunt that the Vaadwaur warships are following HMSS Warrior at what appears to be the Vaadwaur warships maximum sensor range. Captain Hunt says that as long as the Vaadwaur warships do not make any hostile moves they are simply to be monitored until further notice.

The Vaadwaur commander is making regular reports back to the Vaadwaur home world on what HMS Warrior is doing and who they are talking to, he thinks that he is not detected by HMS Warrior but the Vaadwaur commander is wrong and HMS Warrior knows what the position of the Vaadwaur warships is at all times.

Captain Hunt then orders a course change to take HMSS Warrior in the opposite direction away from the direction of the Alpha quadrant and going deeper into the Delta quadrant (with the Vaadwaur warships still following).

During all this the Iconian’s onboard do not interact very much with the crew of HMS Warrior, the only place were there is always an Iconian is the bridge. Even when asked a question the Iconian’s give very little in reply usually a yes or no answer.

To be continued….

Next – Part 62 – A Very Long Journey

whatisinaname · Apr 20, 2007

Part 62 – A Very Long Journey

After eight months of surveying HMSS Warrior crew had gotten into a routine of either surveying a new system or initiating first contact with a new civilisation. Most of these first contacts went well though only a few civilisations were interested in joining the Alliance most of the rest were happy with trade deals (with the RSC getting the lion’s share of the trade deals) and a very small minority just wanted to be left alone.

On the morning of the 1st of December 2561 HMSS Warrior sensor operator reported that 250 Borg cubes are entering sensor range. Captain Hunt and the other senior officers come to the bridge and Captain Hunt orders HMSS Warrior to go to action stations and the shields to be raised. The Borg cubes are not heading towards HMSS Warrior but their course intersects HMSS Warrior’s current course.

Why the Borg is so far out of their own space after they have been restricting themselves to their own space for so long is a mystery. After watching the Borg cubes move along their intersecting course at a very slow warp five (very slow for the Borg), one of the Borg cubes veers of course and heads towards HMSS Warrior.

Captain Hunt orders that HMSS Warrior should maintain position with shields up and make no aggressive action towards the Borg cube. So stationary HMSS Warrior waits for the Borg cube, when the Borg cube is finally within visual range the Borg cube slows and starts a sensor scan of HMSS Warrior.

Watching this is the Vaadwaur commander wondering why HMSS Warrior is not either engaging the Borg or running away from the Borg. This makes the Vaadwaur commander very nervous as he thinks that the RSC and the Borg have some sort of alliance.

Back on board HMSS Warrior the Borg sensor scan of HMSS Warrior is more thorough than a normal Borg sensor scan and Captain Hunt orders that at the first sign of hostiles Borg activity the Borg cube is to be engaged. The Borg cube stops scanning but does not move off or even attempt communication with HMSS Warrior, also the remaining 249 Borg cubes have also come to a complete stop.

This silence goes on for another two hours then the Borg hail HMSS Warrior "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile." With that the first Borg cube try’s to lock on with its tractor beam.

HMSS Warrior returns fire and destroys the Borg cube with relative ease, but with the remaining 249 Borg cubes on their way the battle between the Borg and a single RSN warship does not look good for HMSS Warrior. Even though the odds are against them Captain Hunt decides to engage the Borg fleet in the hope of destroying enough Borg vessels to force the remaining Borg cubes to retreat.

The battle starts with six Borg cubes engaging HMSS Warrior in a furious fire fight, but as one Borg cube is destroyed it is replaced by another cube, the Borg appear to be using siege tactics against HMSS Warrior in trying to wear down HMSS Warrior’s shield and then board HMSS Warrior.

These tactics go on for several hours, though the shields are holding the continuous bombardment is steadily weakening the shields and Captain Hunt comes to the conclusion that the Borg are after the Iconian power module, Captain Hunt ask if one of the Iconian’s onboard HMSS Warrior would come to the bridge. After several minutes the Iconian known as Hermiod and is informed of the problem with the Borg and is asked if he can help otherwise Captain Hunt cannot grantee that the Iconian power module will not fall into Borg hands.

With that Hermiod talks into some sort of crystal in his own language which the universal translator cannot translate. After a few minutes Hermiod says that the Iconian’s have dispatched a vessel to help HMSS Warrior. Just as Hermiod has finished speaking HMSS Warrior shields begin to fail and the Borg tactics appear to be working, Captain Hunt orders that the shield must be kept up at all cost.

After several tense minutes an Iconian city ship appears in close proximity to HMSS Warrior and begins to tractor HMSS Warrior into the city, the remaining Borg vessels move to try and launch and all out attack on HMSS Warrior and the Iconian city ship, but by the time the Borg cubes are in position HMSS Warrior is safely inside the Iconian city ships shields, then the Iconian city ship disappears.

It appears that the Iconian’s may have had an Iconian city ship on standby just in case something like this happened as the time between Hermiod communicating and the time the Iconian city ships arrival is only a few minutes.

Leaving not only the Borg behind but the Vaadwaur as well, the Vaadwaur run for home at maximum warp while the Borg cubes are left behind to analyse what just happened and perhaps they may have bitten of more than the Borg can deal with.

The remaining Borg cubes after a short while head back to Borg space their original mission abandoned, with no one the wiser why the Borg were so far out from their own space and in such numbers.

Othalla, in the galaxy of Ida

HMSS Warrior is in one of the many dry-docks that are located throughout the Iconian city ship. This city ship is over 50 kilomerters in diameter and houses an Iconian population of several million. Hermiod informs Captain Hunt that they are no longer in the Milky Way Galaxy but in the galaxy referred to by the Iconian’s as Ida on the other side of the universe on a planet referred to by the Iconian’s as Othalla.

Captain Hunt asks Hermiod why the Iconian’s did not destroy the Borg, Hermiod says that these Iconian city ships are capable but the destruction of the Borg cubes was unnecessary as all that was needed was to rescue HMSS Warrior and this has been achieved and that the Borg weapons would not work against Iconian shields.

On HMSS Warrior bridge view screen the bridge crew can see a planet covered with thousands of Iconian city ships and they appear to be going to land on the planet. In orbit around the planet Othalla there are several thousand Iconian starships of various types including the Iconian battleships. Hermiod says that HMSS Warrior will be safe here until repairs are carried out and the Iconian high council says that any raw materials that HMSS Warrior needs to effect repairs will be provided.

The crew may leave the ship and have a look around the Iconian city ship as they will not be able to learn anything of the Iconian technology as access will be restricted. Captain Hunt thanks not only Hermiod but asks that the thanks of not only the crew of HMSS Warrior but the RSC as well for saving their lives.

It is estimated by HMSS Warrior’s chief engineer that it will take several months to repair the damage to HMSS Warrior. The Iconian’s will help with some of the work mostly out of curiosity in being able to look around HMSS Warrior, which they view as an antique warship.

Over the next few weeks the repairs to HMSS Warrior proceed and even get some small upgrades to various systems from the Iconian’s helping with the repairs. These upgrades are very minor but they will give HMSS Warrior some added advantage, the upgrades include a faster shield and weapons recharge rate improved computer processing capabilities and better utilisation of the Iconian power module.

One of Captain Hunt’s main reasons for staying with the Iconian’s to repair HMSS Warrior was the possibility that the Iconian’s might provide some however limited upgrades for HMSS Warrior which could be used by other RSC/RSN vessels.

While half way though the repairs Captain Hunt is asked by Hermiod if he would like to observe a meeting between the Iconian’s and their allies, Captain Hunt says yes. The Iconian city ships where the repairs to HMSS Warrior are taking place, takes off and once clear of the planet jumps to a new location simply known as the meeting place.

This is a turn of events that Captain Hunt did not expect to happen.

To be continued….

Next – Part 63 – Four and One Last Go

whatisinaname · Apr 22, 2007

Part 63 – Four and One Last Go

On arriving at the meeting place the Iconian city ship moved into its position to land on a dead planet alongside several different types of other ships. Captain Hunt and an unarmed away team are beamed into an observation gallery above the main chamber were the Iconian’s and their allies come to meet and discuss their relations.

There are a total of four members in this alliance including the Iconian’s, these other three races are the most advanced in the universe and all these races have been spaces fairing races for several million years.

Hermiod explains to Captain Hunt apart from the Iconian’s the other three races are as follows -

Kaleds

The Kaleds were involved in a war on their home planet of Skaro that lasted a thousand years, fought with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons causing widespread mutations among the Kaled race. Kaled species were placed in tank-like "travel machines" that were able to maintain their mutated form in a more appropriate environment. The Kaled are known a brilliant inventors and engineers and they can adapt to almost any situation very quickly.

Their spaceships are saucer shaped and sizes vary from city size to one kilometre in diameter and can have a crew of a few hundred or millions.

Ell

The Ell is a race of artificial life forms that have been evolving over several million years after their creators died out. The Ell are brilliant at building the best computers their ships are very manoeuvrable as the Ell do not require life support and this power can be used for other systems on an Ell ship. (This is the race that upgraded V’Ger (Voyager 6) probe though the crew of HMSS Warrior or the RSC does not know this yet).

Penn Union

The Penn Union are an aquatic species that are at home either in water or on land, they are a multi-talented race that is very good at bioengineering. Their space ships are partially “grown” before being assembled in shipyards. The Penn Union also has the best medical technology of any of the four ancient races and come prolong life almost indefinitely baring any fatal accident or injury.

Of these four races the Iconian’s are the oldest of the four races.

These four races have had an alliance with each other for at least one million years and have been untied in fighting their common enemies such as the Darkness. These four races have been sharing their technology and trading between each other for one million years and this has made their alliance with each other one of the longest surviving and strongest in the known universe.

These four races have been to every planet in this universe and they all have vast number of colonies of thousands of worlds in hundreds of galaxies stretching across the universe with a combined population in the trillions. They make other races like the Borg look primitive by comparison.

Over the next few hours Captain Hunt listens in on the discussion between these four ancient races and they discuss various subjects, on what appears to be a general discussion of relations between the four powers. Also it appears to be s “staged” event for Captain Hunt and the RSN personnel, as no major discussions seem to be discussed.

One Last Go

As the meeting is drawing to a conclusion a group of twelve beings appear in the meeting in some sort of space armour. Hermiod identifies them as the race known as the Darkness these beings open fire on the delegates from the four races in what appears to be an assignation attempt by the Darkness.

The RSM that is Captain Hunt’s bodyguard only has his combat dagger as on Captain Hunt’s orders he left his phaser pistol and rifle on HMSS Warrior. During the first few seconds the delegates that are able dive for cover, the Kaleds are better off than the other members as the "travel machines" contain their own force fields and weapons systems.

The Darkness also appears to be jamming the communication frequencies of the four member races but not the communication frequencies of the RSN personnel, as the Darkness did not expect such a primitive race to attend such a meeting. Hermiod is able to communicate with the other Iconian’s on board HMSS Warrior who intern able to raise the alarm this only takes a few seconds to do.

The head of the Iconian high council who is about to be shot by one of the Darkness when Captain Hunt pushes the head Iconian high councillor out of the way but not before taking a what appears to be a glancing blow from one of the Darkness energy weapons.

A few seconds after Captain Hunt is injured the members of the four races and the RSC members are beamed out of the meeting chamber to HMSS Warrior by the transporters on the Iconian city ship. Captain Hunt is transported to HMSS Warrior’s sick bay where Warrior’s chief medical officer says that Captain Hunt is dieing, even with the help offered by the Penn Captain Hunt’s wounds are to serious even for their advanced medical technology.

Speaking to Hermiod in Warrior’s sick bay Captain Hunt ask Hermiod to make sure that his crew get home safely, Hermiod promises that the crew of HMSS Warrior will get home safely, with that Captain Hunt eyes close never to open again.

In the space around the meeting place the warships of the four races that now have arrived are hunting down the ships of the Darkness that had managed to get passed the meeting places defences and beam the Darkness assignation squad in.

After the assignation attempt on the members of the four races they agree to accelerate their hunt for the remaining members of the Darkness race so that this attack will never happen again. The Darkness is to become an extinct race very shortly.

With the death of Captain Hunt HMSS Warrior’s first officer is Commander William James takes over as acting captain. Throughout HMSS Warrior the crew continue to effect repairs to HMSS Warrior but in a more sombre mood than before, even the Iconian’s that are helping appear to be in a sombre mood.

The Iconian city ship returns to the Iconian world of Othalla, in the galaxy of Ida where this Iconian city ship is based. After several more months of work the repairs are complete and HMSS Warrior begins a series of trails to test the repaired systems (and some upgraded systems) after several weeks of testing and the removal of several minor bugs HMSS Warrior is declared fully operational.

HMSS Warrior re-docks with the Iconian city ship and Hermiod asks Commander James where he would like to go, Commander James says that he would like to return to the Ocampa home world so that he can report on what has happened. Hermiod agrees and switching to his own language speaks into the “crystal” communicator.

The Iconian city ship lifts off from the Iconian world of Othalla and once clear of the planets surface makes the jump to the Ocampa home world. The Iconian city ship appears in the Ocampa system and HMSS Warrior undocks from the Iconian city ship and moves into orbit towards the RSC/RSN orbital base.

A very sad crew return to the Ocampa home world where they launch from, even though they do receive heroes welcome home. These celebrations are cancelled after RSC/RSN command find out about the death of Captain Hunt.

Commander James during several days of debriefing explains what has happened while they were away; also Hermiod expresses his thanks for Captain Hunt’s efforts to save the life of the leader of the Iconian council. The crew of HMSS Warrior have quite literally gone were no human has gone before. Hermiod also states that the Iconian’s are in debit to the RSC and would like to reward the RSC for their help.

What Hermiod suggests as a reward to the RSC diplomats is stunning.

To be continued….

Next – Part 64 – Reward

whatisinaname · May 3, 2007

Part 64 – Reward

Three months later, Earth, London the Headquarters of the Royal Space Command, closed session. Assembled are the heads of Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet and Malta governments are present to hear the Iconian offer from Hermiod, this offer will changed the RSC into a galactic superpower, rather than an Alliance superpower.

Hermiod says that the Iconian offer is to refit any number of RSM Imperial class battleships or other RSN capital warships with combination of RSC and Iconian technology that can be operated by RSN personnel. The catch being that the Iconian’s will not give the RSC the knowledge to build this Iconian technology just the ability to operate this technology, also their will be Iconian’s onboard each ship to monitor and repair the Iconian technology and to make sure that this technology does not fall into the wrong hands.

All these upgrades will be done onboard one of the Iconian city ships and not in the Milky Way Galaxy, the RSC will not receive the technology but will be allowed to use the technology similar to the Galaxy-to-Galaxy gate technology that the RSC discovered in the Bright Galaxy.

It would also take a while to train RSC personnel on how to use the Iconian equipment, this is be made easier by using RSC/RSN control consoles and each ship that is fitted with these upgrades will have fifty Iconian’s onboard to monitor the Iconian equipment and maintain their equipment and to make sure that this technology does not fall into the wrong hands.

In essence the RSC are being loaned this Iconian technology and are not going to be told how to manufacture the Iconian technology just now to use this technology. Onboard these ships there will be a mix of RSC technology and Iconian technology making a sort of hybrid ship.

Several reasons are given for allowing the RSC to have access to this level of technology, one of the main reasons is that the RSN warships HMSS Warrior that has been fitted with an old Iconian power module, during the time that HMSS Warrior was being fitted with the Iconian power module the RSC kept the Iconian’s fully informed of what they were doing and were willing to remove the Iconian power module if the Iconian’s asked.

This showed a level of responsibility by the RSC that the Iconian’s admired, and when Captain Hunt’s efforts to save the life of the leader of the Iconian council (and their allies) was also a key deciding factor.

The RSC government heads after a very brief discussion agree to the Iconian’s conditions and thanks’ the Iconian government for their gift to the RSC.

Fitting Out and Trials

Twelve months later, Othalla, in the galaxy of Ida, the partially finish RSN Imperial class battleship HMSS Black Prince is being installed with Iconian technology, including Iconian shield, weapons and drive systems. The rest of the technology on board Black Prince is of RSC design and construction, including the cloaking device, tractor beam, transporters etc.

HMSS Black Prince has not been fitted with warp drive as the Iconian drive system has made the warp drive redundant on HMSS Black Prince. The main engineering section has been fitted with five Iconian power modules to power the Iconian and the RSC systems these Iconian power modules are the most advanced power modules, unlike the one fitted to HMSS Warrior that is 200,000 years old.

Over the next few months the Iconian’s would finish fitting out HMSS Black Prince bring HMSS Black Prince up to full operational capability. While this was going on the crew of HMSS Black Prince are being taught how to use the Iconian technology, most of the controls are similar to RSN warship controls so there is not much of a learning curve for the RSN personnel, the Iconian’s designed them that way.

On the 15th March 2566 HMSS Black Prince is launch from the Iconian city ship and begins a series of trials to test the Iconian equipment and the RSC equipment and the RSN crew so that they could get used to this new technology. One of the first tests is the shields the test involved getting as close as possible to a sun to see how well the shields perform.

Once in an appropriate system in the galaxy of Ida HMSS Black Prince approaches the systems sun with shields up, on the bridge of HMSS Black Prince the lead Iconian Kvasir instructs the Captain of HMSS Black Prince to keep going closer when HMSS Black Prince is within the Photosphere of this sun with an outside temperature of at least 6,000 Kelvin the Iconian shields are easily able to protect HMSS Black Prince from the heat and the radiation will little or no strain on the shields.

The testing of the dive systems does not take very long as the Iconian’s had equipped HMSS Black Prince with their latest “gateway” drive system, this enabled HMSS Black Prince to jump anywhere in the known universe within a matter of seconds. HMSS Black Prince jumped to the Milky Way galaxy to the Ocampa system and then back to the Othalla system, in the galaxy of Ida the whole trip lasted just over one minute.

The next test is the Iconian installed weapons these consisted of 46 single Iconian beam weapons and 8 Iconian “drone” launchers (4 forward and 4 aft) with a 1,000 “drones” ready to use and another 1,000 “drones” stored.

The targets for the weapons test are a series of asteroids the Iconian beam weapons are able to slice though almost any thickness of asteroid at five times the range to current phaser technology. The Iconian drones are very different to the torpedoes the RSN uses, the Iconian drones can be programmed to hit targets light years away also during the “flight” phase they can be reprogrammed to attack a different target or to return to the ship that launched the drone for reuse.

The Iconian drones are much more powerful than the torpedoes that are currently being used by the RSN warships (or any other Alliance member) they can easily destroy a whole continent or just destroy a single building without the surrounding building being damaged. The Iconian’s onboard HMSS Black Prince can manufacture new drones as needed as long as they have power to do so, so in theory HMSS Black Prince has an unlimited supply of Iconian drones.

Reaction

When the Alliance council is told by the RSC of what the Iconian’s have given to the RSC and that one RSN warship is already equipped with Iconian technology, including Iconian shield and weapons. Some Alliance member’s think that this is a matter between the RSC and the Iconian’s while others want (some even demand like the UESPA) the Iconian’s to equip their ships with Iconian technology.

The Iconian’s refuse this request (and ignore the demands of the UESPA) and state that their future dealings would be better served if the rest of the Alliance did not make any attempt to interfere with the RSC/RSN warships receiving Iconian technology and the Iconian’s hinted that although future relations with the Alliance were not contingent on the status Quo of RSC/RSN receiving Iconian technology for RSC/RSN operations...it was "preferred" (the Alliance got the message and the implied threat).

The Alliance is forced to support with no recourse, as this is seen as the best option. It is seen by the Alliance as keeping the Iconian’s as friends rather than loosing the Iconian’s and the potential for the Iconian’s helping the Alliance in the future. Several Alliance members including the UESPA does not agree with this but as the majority of the Alliance agree and the UESPA does not have the power to force the Iconian’s to equip their ships with Iconian technology they are forced to grudgingly agree.

The UESPA feels that it should be able to equip its own ships with Iconian and the various UESPA member countries begin covert operations to “acquire” Iconian technology. This would lead to a collision course with the RSC in the future and the UESPA would not gain the Iconian technology. This action by the UESPA would also cause problems within the UESPA member countries.

While all this is going on HMSS Warrior resumes her ten-year mission in the Delta quadrant, while keeping well clear of Borg space.

To be continued…..

Next – Part 65 – Operations and New Boundaries

whatisinaname · May 8, 2007

Next – Part 65 – Operations and New Boundaries

Operations

The initial operations by HMSS Black Prince are to the home worlds of the three allied races of the Iconian’s as part of a very limited cultural exchange.

Penn Union

The first race that the crew of HMSS Black Prince visit is the Penn Union and carry of a limited cultural exchange. The Penn Union’s is almost entirely covered in water and they’re only a few artificial islands for visitors to use. The Penn Union does share some of it medical knowledge with the RSC and also points the RSC in the right direction concerning their medical research.

Kaleds

The second race that the crew of HMSS Black Prince visit is the Kaleds home planet of Skaro this world is lifeless there is no plant or animal life left on the planet surface and is covered with the Kaleds cities, turning the planet into one large city. The war was fought with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons causing widespread mutations among the Kaled race. Kaled species were placed in tank-like "travel machines" that were able to maintain their mutated form in a more appropriate environment. Here too a limited cultural exchange takes place.

The Kaleds are a very caring race and they will try to help other races that need help, like preventing a disaster that will change that race into mutants like the Kaleds.

The Kaleds also have one trait that makes them the most powerful of the four allied powers, once you gain their friendship they will back you all the way. The Kaleds state that they are grateful that the RSC captain sacrificed his life to save not only the head of the Iconian council but the other races as well from the Darkness’s attack though the Kaled mutants inside their protective "travel machines" where the least vulnerable to attack.

Ell

The third and final race that the crew of HMSS Black Prince visit is the home world of the Ell, this world is a combination of giant computer and manufacturing facility rolled into the entire planet, as are all of their colonies. The cultural exchange is different on this world as the Ell informs the crew of HMSS Black Prince that they were the race that upgraded the V’Ger (Voyager 6) probe and sent the probe on it long journey back to Earth.

Of the three races that are allied to the Iconian’s the most interesting is the Ell as they revel themselves to be the race that upgraded V’Ger (Voyager 6). This does come of a bit of a shock to the crew of HMSS Black Prince, and the inform the Ell of V’Ger (Voyager 6) help in battling the Borg and the probe the V’Ger (Voyager 6) left behind.

Iconian’s

The Iconian’s do not have a home world as such as all their city’s can move from system to system and as their has already been a limited cultural exchange between the Iconian’s and the RSC.

Borg Space

On the 30 August 2566 HMSS Black Prince will be sent to Borg space by RSC/RSN command to try and come to some sort of agreement with the Borg or at best warn the Borg of from trying to assimilate and RSC personnel military or civilian and also Alliance members as well.

HMSS Black Prince Captain James MacDonald is under orders not to risk his or his crew and to withdraw immediately if the Borg tries seems to be breaking though HMSS Black Prince’s shield and either trying to capture HMSS Black Prince. The lead Iconian onboard HMSS Black Prince does not object to this strategy in fact he endorses the idea or the RSC trying to come to some terms with the Borg.

A system was chosen within Borg space but near the edge of Borg space, also the Iconian’s have agreed to have one of their city ships available to rescue HMSS Black Prince just in case there is any sort of problem, though in terms of power output and shields/weapons HMSS Black Prince is deemed to be well protected against any kind of Borg attack.

The Borg system is designated AMXE-7745290 as the RSC do not know the systems name of Borg allocation. The system has only one planet that has been assimilated by the Borg and that is the fourth planet in the system. The initial scans by HMSS Black Prince indicate that there are eleven Borg cubes and thirty other Borg vessels in system AMXE-7745290.

Zero hour, system entry with HMSS Black Prince at action stations, message broadcast as follows:– “Borg, this HMSS Black Prince representing the Royal Space Command on behalf of the Alliance, we wish to discus terms for a peace treaty between your collective and the Alliance. This ship has been upgraded with superior technology and we will defend ourselves if attacked. Please respond”

Zero hour, plus five minutes, nine Borg cubes and twenty-two other Borg vessels approach HMSS Black Prince’s position in system AMXE-7745290. Borg transmission - "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. There will be no negation.”

The Borg opens fire on HMSS Black Prince, but with no affect on HMSS Black Prince’s Iconian shields. Captain MacDonald orders the weapons officer to return fire on any Borg vessel that fires on HMSS Black Prince and not to use the Iconian beam weapons at full power only enough to destroy the Borg vessels and only engage Borg vessel that would come within range of RSC phasers rather than the Iconian beam weapons, so as not to give the Borg to much intelligence on the upgrades of HMSS Black Prince, also HMSS Black Prince’s helmsman commences evasive action.

A series of bright blue beams shoot out from HMSS Black Prince’s Iconian beam weapons ports and start to make short work of the Borg vessels. With the Borg returning fire the space around the Borg world is a colourful and deadly mix of blue and green between the two forces.

Zero hour, plus one hour fifteen minutes, the initial Borg vessels guarding the system AMXE-7745290 have been destroyed within the first ten minutes, but the Borg keeps sending more cubes and tactical cubes in a vain effort to try and capture HMSS Black Prince. So this bloody slaughter has continued for over and hour without the Borg trying to communicate with HMSS Black Prince.

Zero hour, plus one hour twenty-five minutes, Captain MacDonald decides to destroy the Borg cubes and tactical cubes well beyond the Borg’s own weapons range as the next level to try and persuade the Borg to negotiate. This is still well within the Iconian beam weapons maximum range.

Zero hour, plus two hours nine minutes, the Borg are still not willing to communicate with HMSS Black Prince, though the number of Borg cubes attacking HMSS Black Prince has dropped of but not stopped, as if the Borg are trying to adapt to the Iconian beam weapons (this attempt to adapt by the Borg has not proven successful).

Zero hour, plus three hours forty minutes, Captain MacDonald switches to the Iconian drones against the Borg planet. Initially only one Iconian drone will be launched at the Borg world with a yield equivalent to one hundred megatons. Captain MacDonald before firing the Iconian drone sends a warning to the Borg to stop the attacks or he will order the Borg planet to be fired upon. The Borg ignores the warning and continues to press their attack. Captain MacDonald orders the weapons officer to fire the Iconian drone; the Iconian drone detonates, with estimated Borg casualties of over three million killed.

Zero hour, plus three hours fifty five minutes, the Borg continue to press their attack so Captain MacDonald orders that additional Iconian drone’s be fired at the Borg planet at timed intervals to see if that will stop the Borg attacking. The yield of the Iconian drone is deliberately set low to minimise the destruction and to demonstrate to the Borg that HMSS Black Prince can quit easily destroy the planet.

Zero hour, plus four hours thirty minutes, the Borg world has had ninety percent of its surface destroyed, but just before the final Iconian drone is to be launched Captain MacDonald has a thought, he turns to the Iconian on the bridge and asks if Heimdall will speak to the Borg and see if that will work. Heimdall agrees and says “This is Heimdall of the Iconian’s you will cease your attack against this vessel or the world below will be completely destroyed, we await your response” After a few seconds the Borg stop their attack but do not respond.

If the Borg had not stopped attacking then HMSS Black Prince would have destroyed this Borg planet, then moved onto the next Borg system and started on that planet until the Borg where willing to negotiate.

Zero hour, plus four hours forty-nine minutes, the Borg sends a message “We are willing to negotiate, state your terms”. It seems as the Iconian presence onboard has convinced the Borg to open negotiations.

HMSS Black Prince transmits the terms for the peace deal, which in brief is as follows. The Alliance recognises the current space occupied by the Borg as their territory; the Borg will recognise all Alliance members and their space and will not attempt to assimilate them. All other races that are not members of the Alliance are not covered by this treaty protection. Also covered in the treaty are any races that become part of the RSC own mini alliance and currently cover the Klingon's, Ocampa, and Maquis.

An uninhabited planet will be used for any further negotiations, to be determined at a later date.

Zero hour, plus nine days twenty one hours fifteen minutes, after waiting for just over nine days the Borg transmit the following short message “We agree to your terms” with that the Borg vessels move into planetary orbit to begin reconstructing the Borg world, the Borg do not stand on ceremony, but for now a peace treaty (of sorts) exists between the Borg and the Alliance (but nothing else).

Alliance Space

On their return to RSC space, the RSC pass on the good news to the Alliance, about the peace treaty with the Borg (even though there is no documentation of a treaty just the communication logs), the Alliance council praise the RSC for getting a peace treaty with the Borg. Some members of the Alliance are green with envoy with the diplomatic coupe that the RSC has managed to pull off.

This peace treaty with the Borg has only been possible with the Iconian’s help, the level of cooperation between the RSC and the Iconian’s after the peace treaty with the Borg will continue to expand but at a very slow rate.

Warship Numbers

Along with HMSS Black Prince several other Imperial Class Battleships that are currently under construction will be upgraded, these will be HMSS Black Knight, Black Swan, Black Sword, Black Storm and Black Fury.

Their would only be a total six of these Imperial Class Battleships initially as it was deemed unnecessary to upgrade all RSN Imperial Class Battleships with Iconian technology, even though it was though that the Iconian’s would do this. It was though that it would be better if the bulk of the RSN fleet was still operating with “known” technology and also so that the RSC would not become too reliant on Iconian technology. In the longer term there would be more Imperial Class Battleships converted but at a slow rate.

Over the next few decades several more Imperial Class Battleships are upgraded with Iconian technology so by 2574 there are a total of twenty-five Imperial Class Battleships that have been upgraded with Iconian technology while the rest of the RSN remains with their current level of technology. The only exception is HMSS Warrior that is operating with the Iconian power module and RSC/RSN weapons and drive systems etc.

The Imperial Class Battleships would be divvied into three categories.

1. Imperial (N) Class Battleships, The (N) stands for “Normal”, these are not fitted with any Iconian technology. This category of the Imperial Class Battleships makes up the bulk of the Royal Space Navies capital warships.

2. Imperial (H) Class Battleships, The (H) stands for “Hybrid”, these are the twenty-five that have been upgraded with a combination of Iconian technology and RSC technology.

3. Imperial (P) Class Battleship, the (P) stands for “Power Module” this is for HMSS Warrior that is the only Royal Space Navy ship to be fitted with a single Iconian power module.

All of these warships appear almost identical to one another except for the warp nacelles for the “Normal” and “Power Module” the “Hybrid” does not have any warp nacelles.

This list does not include any other classes of RSN warships. The total size of the RSN as of 2574 is 21,377 warships of all classes this includes Frigates, Explorer class cruisers and scout vessels. The size of the RSN has not grown, but has mainly concentrated on replacing older warships with improved and updated versions.

The Alliance

The Alliance now covers not only the most Alpha quadrant but also some parts of the Beta quadrant and small parts of the Delta quadrant as well making the Alliance the largest power in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The only way the Alliance to keep in contact is by using the RSC/RSN gateway space stations at key points throughout the Alliance; this is making the RSC very wealthy in toll fees, all these gateway space stations come under RSC control and not the Alliance.

New Boundaries

Only one galaxy is out of bounds to the modified RSN Imperial Class Battleships this is the galaxy referred to by the Iconian’s as Bidar Galaxy. The reason that this galaxy is out of bounds it is contains a Federation that is a galaxy based ruthless, fascist, totalitarian state that is very hostile to outsiders and has a policy of “shoot first and don’t ask questions”.

The Federation has hundreds of thousands of warships that are very powerful to maintain its grip on power with overwhelming force and does not like outside interference. Also this Federation has a very large army to control most or all the inhabited planet with the Bidar Galaxy.

The Federation in the Bidar Galaxy does not posses an intergalactic drive system similar to the Iconian’s and the Iconian’s three allied races. It has concentrated its efforts on controlling its own Galaxy and building up its own military forces rather than trying to expand to new galaxies by developing an intergalactic drive system.

To be continued……

Next – Part 66 – The Orion Syndicate

whatisinaname · May 10, 2007

Part 66 – The Orion Syndicate

Invasion 2575

In 2574 the RSC command was looking into dealing with the Orion syndicate by attack the world that they used as their main base of operations. The planetary system that is controlled by the Orion syndicate is called the Mallket system and the planets indigenous population on Mallket is either used as labour or sold as slaves.

RSC command decides to teach the Orion syndicate a lesson by capturing the Mallket system and freeing the indigenous population from the Orion syndicates grasp also as the RSC ground troops have not had any real practice in capturing a planet since the Dominion war this will be seen as a good excise for the RSC military.

The attack will use as its cover a RSC military exercise for such a large military force gathering that is due to start at the beginning of 2575. This “exercise” will only include RSC military personnel and not include and military forces from the Klingon’s, Ocampa or the Maquis for reasons of security, these members will be told when stage one is underway.

Also there will be no military personnel from the Alliance as the Orion syndicate has infiltrated several of the two hundred odd Alliance members this is the main reason that no Alliance member will be told of this operation as well.

Forces - RSN

The RSN has gathered a task force of 218 warships of various classes including 83 Imperial (N) Class Battleships along with 135 frigates and other classes of warships. This will also contain a RSC gateway space station that will be sent once the space above the planet is secure to allow warships to travel back to RSC space and also allow any casualties to get prompt medical attention.

The RSN will be part of the first wave of RSN warships, this will then be followed by the second wave that will include an RSC gateway space station, the third war will consist of RSM and RSC army units to capture and hold the planet.

Once the Planet is secure this fleet will remain as part of a system defence force.

None of the new Imperial (H) Class Battleships will take part in this action.

Forces – RSM and RSC members Army

The ground forces assigned to this military action are as follows, three RSM Corp’s with three RSM divisions in each Corp for a total of nine RSM divisions. These RSM divisions will be carried inside thirty-two Ark Royal class troop carriers, along with ninety-eight escort vessels.

The RSC members will also deploy one Corp from their own military forces in support of the three RSM Corp’s. Britain’s Corp will have four divisions; Canada’s Corp will have three divisions, Australia’s Corp will have four divisions, New Zealand’s Corp will have three divisions, Malta’s Corp will have two divisions, Nepal’s Corp will have two divisions, Tibet’s Corp will have two divisions, India’s Corp will have four divisions, Pakistan’s Corp will have four divisions and Bangladesh’s Corp will have three divisions.

Making a total number of RSC member divisions being deployed to this military operation at thirty-one divisions, making this the most powerful military group the RSC has put together since the Borg attack on Earth in 2384. Since the Borg attack all the RSC member countries have been increasing the size of their own military forces, in part to defend their own colony worlds and also to lend their forces to defend any RSC colony world or system that might be invaded.

This gives the RSC leadership considerable flexibility if the RSC were ever to come under attack by an invading force, as the RSC can use the gateway space station in every RSC colony system to ship additional troops from system to system without the delay of warp drive.

Attack and Invasion

Zero hour – all 218 RSN warships are transported into the Mallket system from several RSC colony systems so that all 218 RSN warships can arrive simultaneously. The Orion syndicate warships “guarding” the Mallket system are more that a little taken aback by the sudden arrival of such a large RSN military force and one of the Orion syndicate warships hails and asks what the RSN warships intentions are.

Zero hour – plus five minutes, the flagship of the RSC/RSN fleet the Imperial (N) Class Battleship HMSS Glorious sends the following message “All Orion syndicate warships will stand down a prepare to be boarded, failure to comply will result in your destruction. You have ten standard minutes to surrender” All RSN warships are at Action Stations and are ready for battle.

Zero hour, plus fifteen minutes, the Orion syndicate warships commenced attack the RSN warships as soon as the deadline has passed. A deadly one sided battle had begun, on one side is the Orion syndicate warships fighting to preserve their corrupt and unscrupulous use of the Mallket system as a base of operations and on the other side is the RSN trying to free the Mallket system from the Orion syndicate.

The Orion syndicate warships are a strange mix of obsolete warship designs and converted civilian freighters into “military” vessels with varying degrees of armament and combat capability. Why the Orion syndicate has decided to try and defeat the RSN task force, perhaps the Orion syndicate they can cause a battle of attrition against the RSC/RSN thus forcing the RSC/RSN to withdraw, but the Orion syndicate are very wrong.

Zero hour, plus three hours twenty minutes, the remaining Orion syndicate warships have either fled the Mallket system or be captured or destroyed, leaving the Mallket system under RSN control.

This allows the RSN to bring in the second wave consisting of a RSC gateway space station to allow the rapid transit of RSC support vessels from the Mallket system to the RSC system of New Auckland. This will also be the signal for the RSC ground troops to begin their preparation to come though their gateways for their various starting systems.

Zero hour, plus four hours eight minutes, the RSN has now secured the orbital space above Mallket four. The RSM Ark Royal troop transports begin to arrive in the Mallket system and enter into orbit over their designated landing zones. The RSN has deployed six of their Observer class sensor ships to monitor the Mallket system to report on any unauthorised ships trying entering or leaving the Mallket system.

Zero hour, plus four hours thirty-two minutes, the RSM troop transports begin the initial phases of landing under the protection of Kestrel fighters. There are three main designated landing zones for the three RSM Corps to land at, these landing zone have been bombarded by the Kestrel fighters to clear out and Orion syndicate personnel that might try to oppose the landings.

Zero hour, plus twelve hours fifty-one minutes, the RSM Corp’s have all been landed successfully with very little interference from the Orion syndicate.

Zero hour, plus twenty two hours thirty one minutes, the RSC division begin to start landing at the three landing zones secured be the RSM, the RSM divisions begin to move out to start securing the first of Mallket four’s towns/city’s. This is were most of the resistance is expected from the Orion syndicate personnel (troops!), to try and tie down as many RSM and RSC division is street fighting as possible.

Zero hour, plus three days, all of the RSC member countries divisions have been landed and the RSC now controls about thirty percent of the planets surface. There is considerable fighting is some of the larger city’s but most of the smaller towns have fallen without a shot being fired.

The RSC member divisions along with the RSM division are using their repulsesor-armoured vehicles, troop transports and tanks with turret mounted phaser cannons they also have their own force field generators to protect them from incoming fire and they can provide additional cover for the troops in the street fighting.

The RSC are also evacuating the indigenous population of Mallket four to safe zone outside the towns and city’s where they can be better protected and this also has the added advantage of keeping the Mallket well out of the street fighting.

Zero hour, plus five days, most of the indigenous population of Mallket four have now been move into safe zone and are being cared by RSC medical personnel. These Mallket’s are being guarded by heavily armed RSC police drawn from the seventy RSC colony worlds and not RSC military, as the job of sorting out the criminals from the innocent victims is a job for the police, the RSM and RSC army units are here to crush the Orion syndicate on this planet.

About forty-five percent of the planet is now controlled by the RSC the reason for the slow progress is that the RSC military are thoroughly checking to make sure that they do not leave any armed Orion syndicate members in a secure area.

Zero hour, plus ten days, most of the major fighting has now ended and there are only a few pocket of resistance left as most of the armed Orion syndicate members have surrendered or been killed in the fighting.

Zero hour, plus thirty days, all of the fighting has now ceased, the RSC military units have been deployed for planetary defence rather than planetary assault. The RSC police are deployed in all the towns and city on Mallket four. The Mallket people and being housed in those towns and city’s once they have been made safe to move into better conditions than they are in at the moment.

There are also regular shipments of food and supplies to Mallket four the help the indigenous population survive until they can start coping on their own. The Orion syndicate members who were running Mallket four have been shipped of to various RSC colonies for trial. The Orion syndicate members that managed to flee the Mallket system and that have been identified have had arrest warrants issued by the RSC courts for their apprehension.

The Orion syndicate has been taught a lesson by the RSC not to try and run any planet or the Orion syndicate will experience a similar lesson from the RSC military and police arms. On other systems that the Orion syndicate control this control given up by the Orion syndicate, otherwise the Orion syndicate feels that the RSC may do the same thing again and Orion syndicate criminal operations in RSC territory almost cease completely.

The Alliance council though shocked by the RSC independent action supports this action, as the Alliance council cannot really do anything else. Several Alliance members offer reconstruction aid and support to the Mallket population, which is accepted by the RSC on behalf of the Mallket people.

The RSC allies support the RSC’s action, the Klingon empire is only upset by the fact they where not allowed to join in the fight against the Orion syndicate, but other wise they support the RSC’s actions and also offer warships and troops to help protect the Mallket system, which the RSC accepts.

Within ten years all RSC military and police have withdrawn as the Mallket people have they’re own military and police forces in place (mainly trained by the RSC), the RSC gateway space station remains in the Mallket system with a small RSN support force. The Mallket people vote to join the Alliance and not the RSC’s own mini alliance in 2590.

To be continued….

Next – Part 67 – The Vaadwaur / Sword of Damocles

whatisinaname · May 31, 2007

Part 67 – The Vaadwaur / Sword of Damocles

The Vaadwaur

In 2576 UESPA/Starfleet command continues to expand into the Delta quadrant on its ongoing exploration mission on behalf of the Alliance in the hope that they will encounter more races that will join the Alliance, after the RSC’s success with the Borg in the Delta quadrant and more recently the capturing one of the worlds controlled by the criminal organisation known as the Orion syndicate in the Alpha quadrant.

The UESPA is using Starfleet command to expand its own sphere of influence within the Alliance by getting more none allied races to join the Alliance. This exploration will take Starfleet command into the space controlled by the xenophobic Vaadwaur even though a report by the RSN warship HMSS Warrior recommends that no Alliance vessels explore this area of space, the political leadership of the UESPA Security council thinks that the RSC/RSN are trying to hide something from the UESPA.

So in 2576 the UESPA political leadership (mainly the US, France, Russia and China) orders Starfleet command to send one of their explorations cruisers to scout out the “Vaadwaur space” to find out if there are any civilisations and to see if the RSC is hiding any sort of technology from the UESPA and the Alliance as a whole. The UESPA does not tell the rest of the Alliance what they are up to only that they are going to explore the space around the “Vaadwaur space”.

Starfleet command sends one of its most advanced explorer cruisers to conduct the exploration of the “Vaadwaur space” but also sends along a support task force of forty-five star ships as a support force just in case there is a problem (Starfleet command does not tell the UESPA about the support task force). Also Starfleet command does not like the way the certain countries political leadership of the UESPA is handling this and thinks that this is a bad idea.

The USSS Hornet one of the latest advanced versions of the old Sovereign class, this starship is 1,500 meters long and contains the latest weapons, shields, sensors and other scientific equipment for the combination of explorer and heavy cruiser.

The USSS Hornet enters Vaadwaur space with her sensors on maximum to detect any Vaadwaur warships at long range, but the captain of USSS Hornet does not know about the Vaadwaur’s under-space corridors are the name for a group of subspace corridors (UESPA had not told Starfleet command about this), apparently occurring naturally in some regions of the Delta Quadrant, and possibly beyond. These under-space corridors allow the Vaadwaur warships to pop in and out of normal space very quickly and launch surprise attacks without warning.

The sensor operator on USSS Hornet detects a subspace anomaly forming near USSS Hornet and the current bridge watch officer orders shields to be raised just in case, this proves to be very fortuitous as within a few seconds after the shields have been raised the Vaadwaur warships come out from the subspace corridors and launch an attack against the Hornet.

With the Hornet’s shields raised the initial attack by the Vaadwaur warships is not successful in destroying the Hornet, the next series of attacks by the Vaadwaur warships also prove futile as the Hornet is now at battle stations. The Hornet manages to destroy three of the attacking Vaadwaur warships with a combination of phaser’s and quantum torpedo fire and driving the remaining Vaadwaur warships back into their subspace corridors.

The captain of the Hornet then reports on what he had found to the Starfleet admiral commanding the forty-five star ships on her flagship the USSS Richelieu and relays this information to the Starfleet space station in the Ocampa system for relay back to Starfleet command headquarters in the Alpha quadrant.

The Hornet continues on its mission towards the Vaadwaur system unaware that the Vaadwaur warships have already returned to the Vaadwaur system to report that an alien warship is heading towards their home system.

The Vaadwaur leadership orders the Vaadwaur system defences to be put on full alert and a large fleet to be assembled to try and stop this unknown alien warship for getting any closer to the Vaadwaur system. A force of sixty-two Vaadwaur warships is quickly assembled to intercept and try and stop the alien vessels from getting any closer and is sent though the subspace corridors.

After running at impulse for the past six days the captain of the Hornet is just about to order the ship to warp when the sensor operator reports that she is getting same readings just before the Vaadwaur warships attacked the first time. The captain of the Hornet order that the ship go to battle stations and within a few seconds the Vaadwaur warships appear out of their subspace corridors and commence their second attack on the Hornet.

The captain of the Hornet orders the communications officer to send a priority message to the Starfleet task force requesting assistance. Then the Hornet engages the Vaadwaur warships while sending messages of friendship to the Vaadwaur asking them to stand down from the hostile action against the Hornet these messages are ignored by the Vaadwaur.

Within thirty-five minutes of the Hornet sending out the priority message to the Starfleet task force requesting assistance the Starfleet task force of forty-five starships arrive to lend assistance to the Hornet, the admiral on the flagship USSS Richelieu also sends a message out to the Vaadwaur warships to stop their action and that the UESPA vessels are here for peaceful contact.

After the space battle had gone on for more than three hours the Vaadwaur warships are not able to destroy any of the Starfleet vessels as they are to powerful and several of the Vaadwaur warships have been disabled (but not destroyed), so the commander of the Vaadwaur warships calls for a cease fire between the two fleets, the admiral in charge of the Starfleet task force agrees, and after several hours of negation the Starfleet negotiators find out the they have not been given all the information from the UESPA leadership.

In the end both sides agree to keep clear of each other’s space, this allows both fleets to disengage and return to the respective bases. The Starfleet Admiral in charge of the task force will be making a report to Starfleet command on her return to the Alpha quadrant on what she has learned from the Vaadwaur about a previous contact with a RSN starship.

Three months later – Earth

Alpha quadrant, Earth, UESPA headquarters three months later, the UESPA political leadership has been trying to convince senior Starfleet commanders that they were not trying to set-up Starfleet command but that it was a genuine mistake on the part of the UESPA leadership. Finally after three months of hard diplomatic work by the UESPA leadership they have managed to convince Starfleet command that is was just a misunderstanding.

Also the UESPA gave Starfleet command a large increase in income to help with Starfleet commands funding, this increase is in way of an apology (or bribe, depending on how you look at it!) to Starfleet command. Even though Starfleet command, did not really believe the UESPA leadership assurances they did not have any real proof of any deliberate cover-up.

If the UESPA leadership makes another error like this one Starfleet command may take drastic measures against the UESPA leadership. The UESPA was of cause not telling the Starfleet command everything and that would cause more problems and come to a very violent head within a few years.

Sword of Damocles

While the incident with the UESPA and the Vaadwaur, the RSC and the RSN were also having political problems over a mobile space station come battle station under the project name the Sword of Damocles.

The Sword of Damocles was an idea to build a number of large mobile space station/battle stations with the Iconian gateway technology that is installed into the current gateway space stations that are used all over the RSC controlled space.

This version would have been a more military version than the current gateway space stations, being more heavily armed and shielded. The was originally designed to take on the Borg threat and to be able to move a large space station/battle station to a system that is being attacked by the Borg to reinforce that systems defences.

Unfortunately the Sword of Damocles first battle station the Broadsword was now over running in cost terms by several hundred percent and was also running late by at least a decade, this lead to calls by the RSC for the RSN to cancel the project, but the RSN had always managed to get addition funding for the Sword of Damocles project.

By 2576 the Broadsword space station/battle station was finished and was declared fully operational, but the price not only in terms of money but also political was high as the RSC leadership forbad any additional battle stations to be built as the cost was just to high and the new Imperial (H) Class Battleships with their combination of Iconian technology and RSC technology were considered a better way to spend the RSC taxpayers money, even though the Sword of Damocles project had eventually delivered a very powerful mobile space station/battle station combination.

This was one of the few time that the RSN had not got their own way and the RSC leadership was now taking a closer look at RSN funding, but not with the view to cutting funding (that would be political suicide as the RSN is still very popular amongst the RSC population) but to looking into were that funding is being spent.

To be continued…..

Next – Part 68 – Pandora’s Box

whatisinaname · May 31, 2007

Part 68 – Pandora’s Box

An Error in Judgment

In 2582 several of the UESPA member countries intelligence agencies had managed to plant several spies onboard several of the Imperial (H) Class Battleships to try and find out about the Iconian technology. The UESPA member countries had done this without telling Starfleet command or even Starfleet intelligence about these operations.

A single incident in 2585 would set of a course of events that would cause a major change within the UESPA.

Onboard one of the Imperial (H) Class Battleships during a cultural exchange between the Kaleds and the RSC several Kaleds are onboard along with the usual complement of Iconian’s on one of the RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleships HMSS Melbourne. The UESPA member countries of the US, France, Russia and China had pooled their intelligence resources to be able to put one spy from each country onboard HMSS Melbourne.

The spy from France was trying to take covert scans of some of the Iconian shield technology and was so engrossed in his work that he did not notice a Kaled quietly glide into the shield generator room. When the Kaled asked what are he was doing the startled agent reacted by drawing and firing a concealed phase and firing the weapon at the Kaled.

The Kaled’s shields harmlessly disperse the phaser and the Kaled returned fire stunning the “RSN crew member” (French agent). While this was happening, on the bridge of HMSS Melbourne the security officer’s sensors reported the exchange of fire and a RSM security team was sent to the area where the fire was reported to find out what had happened.

On arrival the RSM found one of the RSN crewmember stunned and a Kaled watching the RSN crewmember. The Kaled was able to show what had happened and the RSN crew member is taken into custody, with the captain of HMSS Melbourne offering apologies to the Kaled that was attacked and the Iconian’s, also the captain of HMSS Melbourne was completely confused why the crew member had fired on the Kaled (the captain of HMSS Melbourne does not know that the crew member is a spy).

RSC intelligence officers on HMSS Melbourne begin to question the “RSN crew member” and at the same time start to run a very thorough background check. After several weeks of questioning and investigation, the background check reviles that the “crew member” is a member of French intelligence who is trying to steal Iconian’s technology for their own use.

The captain of HMSS Melbourne orders that a full background check on all the ships crew members be performed ASAP and after several more weeks three more spy’s are found, one from US, Russia and China that have managed to gain access to one of the supposedly most secure ships in the RSN.

This sets of a full security review across the entire RSC.

During the questioning the Iconian’s and the Kaled’s have been kept fully informed of what is going on. Once the identities of the spies are confirmed the Iconian’s and the Kaled’s are very angry at the four UESPA member countries at trying to steal information about Iconian’s technology. The Iconian’s and the Kaled’s will travel to Earth to confront the UESPA about this with a large fleet of warships.

Confrontation

Several months after the discovery of the four agents onboard HMSS Melbourne several others where discovered onboard several other RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleships, this has caused great embarrassment within RSC Intelligence (and its sister organisation Section 31), but RSC Intelligence where now making up for the error by doing a full screening of all personnel involved in the RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleship project and the Iconian gateway space station construction project.

The Iconian’s and the Kaled’s had arrived in Earth orbit will a large combined fleet of warships to confront the UESPA leadership and the leaders of US, France, Russia and China on what their response is to the evidence of spying and attempted murder of a Kaled.

The UESPA leadership initially denies all the accusations of spying but when the Iconian’s and the Kaled’s presented them with the evidence, the US, France, Russia and China admitted to spying on the Iconian’s to gain technological knowledge but denied the attempted murder of a Kaled and said that was an accident. These revelations caused very heated debate amongst the other UESPA member nations that were not informed of US, France, Russia and China spying on board the RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleships, with the general augment against US, France, Russia and China of not informing the other UESPA member nations of what was going on.

The Iconian’s and the Kaled’s decided not to take any action against the UESPA as the four countries (US, France, Russia and China) appeared to have been acting alone, and with that both the Iconian’s and the Kaled’s warships withdraw from the solar system.

The arrival of the Iconian’s and the Kaled’s warships in Earth’s solar system causes great panic amongst the UESPA member citizens and leads to civil disorder. When the Iconian’s and the Kaled’s warships departed without taking action the problems rather than getting better would only get worse for the UESPA leadership.

All RSC military installations and bases go on full alert just in case the UESPA situation gets out of control.

Starfleet command

The head of Starfleet command Fleet Admiral Leyton was also not amused that the four of the five key members of the UESPA had kept information from Starfleet command and Starfleet intelligence about operations to acquire information about Iconian technology. This sort of action combined with the Vaadwaur “incident” seems to confirm Starfleet commands theory about the political leadership of the UESPA and whether Starfleet command could trust them or not!

Fleet Admiral Leyton arranged for a meeting with the leadership of Starfleet command at their headquarters in Switzerland to discuss the situation and what sort of response should Starfleet command consider. Though before Starfleet command could come to a decision events would overtake Starfleet command.

Admiral Leyton comments that the US, France, Russia and China have opened a “Pandora’s Box” of problems for Starfleet command (and the UESPA) and with several other countries now showing signs of problems as well, it looks like the problems will only get worse.

Internal problems

Within the US, France, Russia and China there is a strong public outcry at the highhanded attitude of their leaders, but also within these countries there is strong support for what their leaders had done. The populations of US, France, Russia and China are divided roughly fifty-fifty on whether there leaders actions where correct or not.

This leads to large scale rioting in several major cities in the US, France, Russia and China and the rioting is spreading, so the army is called into assist the police to quell the rioting, but this only makes things worse as the troops are fired upon by some of the rioters causing the troops to return fire.

This starts a series of very small and bloody firefights between the army/police on one side and the rioters on the other side also both sides of the rioters are also firing on each other. Several countries that have boarders with US, France, Russia and China also began to see civil disobedience as well.

The RSC leadership in response to this escalation closed its boarders along the Canadian/US, British/French and China/India Pakistan Tibet boarders to stop the rioting from spreading into their countries (even though their was no sign of that happening), also all RSC colonies police were put on high alert. The RSC also places troops along the boarders to make sure that no one from a UESPA member country tries to cross the boarder illegally.

Within several weeks the rioting had stared to spread to several UESPA colonies and looked like the start of a civil war. With the number of civilians killed at just over 15,000 and the number injured at 100,000 world wide, government leaders where trying to use force to stop the fighting this tactic was not working as the to opposing sides would not listen to reason.

The only member of the UESPA Security Council not to have any riots is Japan, as Japan had been kept out of the spying process. This had helped keep the Japanese people from rioting against the government and maintained a normal level throughout Japan and its colony worlds.

What now for UESPA and what will Starfleet command be able to do?

To be continued…..

Next – Part 69 – Drastic Measures

whatisinaname · Jun 17, 2007

Part 69 – Drastic Measures

After several months of rioting in various countries across Earth, the Swiss government petitions Starfleet command for addition security personnel to help guard their boarder. Under the UESPA charter every country has the right to petition Starfleet command for extra security during times of emergency (and this was considered an emergency!).

Starfleet command agrees and sends security personnel to help the Swiss government guard their boarder with France where the main problems are emanating from. Within two days of the Starfleet security personnel arriving, the boarder problems have cease for the Swiss government, this provides a catalyst for other governments in Europe to also ask for assistance, and this call for assistance does not stop at Earth its also involves those countries that have colonies on other planets, also asking for Starfleet security personnel on those colony worlds as well which Starfleet command also provides security personnel.

After several months Starfleet command is running the security of most of the UESPA member countries, with the exception of the US, France, Russia and China who are still refusing to allow Starfleet security personnel to assist in their own security operations.

The only member of the UESPA Security Council that is not having any civil problems is Japan or on any of its three colony worlds. Japan had not needed to ask for any assistant from Starfleet command as their was no emergency, but Japan did ask for a token presence, the Japanese government thought that this was a good idea as it was showing unity with the other UESPA member countries.

Forceful intervention

With most of the UESPA member countries security being run by Starfleet command with only the US, France, Russia and China still insisting that they can handle the problems. Within the US, France, Russia and China these countries have become a patchwork of divided areas, the government forces control about 70% of their countries territory and the remaining 30% is controlled by the rebels.

These rebel enclaves are very strongly fortified against attack and the government forces have surround the rebel enclaves and cut them off from the outside world. The government forces have launched a series of attacks against these rebel enclaves but without much success as the governments do not want a massacre on their hands, the attacks by the governments military have been limited and thus far have not been successful.

Fleet Admiral Leyton in consultation with the other senior Starfleet commanders and along with a core of UESPA member countries aggress that sending in Starfleet security to stop the fighting is the best option even though US, France, Russia and China don’t want any help.

Starfleet security is more than just a security organisation it is a powerful military force with its own armour, artillery and support services etc, Starfleet security is simply not allowed to use military terms such as divisions, Corps, Army etc for political reasons, this is dates back to the foundation of the UESPA.

On the 1st May 2586 at 09.00 hours (Geneva Time) Fleet Admiral Leyton makes an announcement of Starfleet’s intentions to move troops into the US, France, Russia and China from adjoining UESPA member countries and any resistance will be met with deadly force. The initial response from the US, France, Russia and China is to condemn these actions, but with the rest of the UESPA member countries backing this action the initial condemnation of Starfleet commands actions quickly disappears as soon as the leaders see the numbers of Starfleet security “troops” coming over their boarders and landing on their colonies.

By 15.30 hours (Geneva Time) the governments of the US, France, Russia and China have officially requested Starfleet’s assistance as a face saving measure. By the 2nd May 2586 Starfleet command is now running the UESPA and all of its colonies, without the need to get permission from UESPA member countries. All member countries military forces are disarmed, as are the rebels after a series of short and vicious firefights with Starfleet security “troops” the rebel strongholds surrender.

In the aftermath of the conflict the number of civilians killed at just over 75,000 and the number injured at 500,000, along with 8,500 troops killed and 35,000 injured worldwide. Starfleet causalities are 3,500 killed and 22,000 injured.

For the next four years Fleet Admiral Leyton along with the senior leadership of Starfleet command ends up running the UESPA as a “democratic military dictatorship” as Starfleet command has overwhelming support of the people and most of the UESPA member countries approval and does not create a police state or is harsh or repressive in any way.

During Fleet Admiral Leyton’s “rule” Starfleet security is split into two, the first part is still called Starfleet security and continues to do Starfleet’s security missions, the second is a new organisation called Starfleet Military Command (SMC) this is formed from the old Starfleet security units that were being used like military units but where unable to call themselves military, but now they can.

Changes to UESPA

The old UESPA is disbanded and replaced by a new United Federation of Countries (UFC) with each country having one vote and no country having the power of veto, thus all decisions have to have a majority decision and cannot be vetoed by one of the old five permanent countries US, France, Russia, Japan and China. The idea for this new organisation does not come from Starfleet command but from Japan as an idea in political reform.

The US, France, Russia and China don’t like the idea of losing their power of veto, but these four countries are in the minatory and with Japan and Starfleet command behind the changes and with all the other member countries also backing these reforms the US, France, Russia and China have no real choice but to support this reform.

Japan has the most to gain over the other four old permanent members (US, France, Russia and China) of the UESPA as it is Japan who is supplying the majority of Starfleet commands military equipment during Starfleet commands five year rule of the UESPA and stands to gain a lot of new military contracts from the newly formed Starfleet Military Command (SMC) and the United Federation of Countries (UFC) and will become a major player in the new Federation.

Japan also becomes the first to get the Presidency of the new UFC after a vote by all member countries Japan receives 72% of the votes. Each Presidential term for the UFC last six years and the UFC can either vote for a new President or continue with the current country in the office of President. The office of President is held by the country and not by an individual and that country appoints someone to the post of President who will occupy the Presidency. The President is a purely ceremonial role but does give the country occupying the Presidency considerable power in terms of what policies get put before the UFC council to be voted on.

Each UFC member country runs its own internal affairs according to its own laws this also goes for that countries colonies.

The other members of the Alliance did try to help the UESPA during the time of internal conflict by offering mediation between the two sides, but these talks do not go very well and do not achieve very much. After Starfleet command takes over the running of the UESPA and the violence has stopped the Alliance felt there was not much need for their assistance.

On the 1st January 2591 Fleet Admiral Leyton formerlly hands back control to the newly formed UFC, thus ending Starfleet commands running of civilian affairs over the old UESPA member countries. The first act of the UFC is to draw a line under the events of the past few years and given a general amnesty to all those involved, thus legitimising Fleet Admiral Leyton takeover over the old UESPA.

Organisation of the United Federation of Countries and Starfleet Command

The United Federation of Countries (UFC) is the political and policy-making arm of what was the old UESPA. Starfleet command answers to the UFC Security Council made up from twelve of the UFC member countries on rotating two years terms. The UFC Security Council does most of the voting but any constitutional or major changes need to be approved by the full UFC council.

The finance committee is the most powerful as it controls the funding for all elements of UFC funding, the only thing that the finance committee cannot do is raise extra income from UFC member countries, all UFC member countries must agrees to this, it is the only thing that all UFC member countries must agree on for this to pass this cannot pass on a majority vote only 100%.

Each element of Starfleet Command is answerable to an oversight committee with the powers to adjust, stop or speed up etc any operation be done by Starfleet Command or any of its sub organisations. These oversight committees also control Starfleet Commands funding and can decide whether a project will get the funding or not.

Starfleet Command (SC) is divided into several different organisations.

Starfleet Exploration Command (SEC)– SEC forms the space element of Starfleet Command (SC), comprising of all classes of starship from the smallest shuttlecraft to the heavy cruisers and of cause the explorer/heavy cruisers that are used for long ranged exploration missions.

SEC main tasks are to defend UFC territory against any incursions and also assist the Alliance in guarding the Alliances boarders along with other Alliance member warships.

Ranks within Starfleet Exploration Command (SEC)

Fleet Admiral
Admiral
Vice Admiral
Rear Admiral
Commodore
Fleet Captain
Captain
Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant
Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Ensign
Master Chief Petty Officer
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Chief Petty Officer
Petty Officer 1st Class
Petty Officer 2nd Class
Petty Officer 3rd Class
Crewman 1st Class
Crewman 2nd Class
Crewman 3rd Class
Cadet

Starfleet Military Command (SMC) – SMC is the new ground force of Starfleet Command (SC) these forces are used to defend each UFC member colony from any enemy invasion of the UFC member planet. The SMC also controls all orbital battle-stations and all atmospheric interceptors and surface to space defences of all UFC member colony systems and worlds, these planetary defences where under the control of each member country but now is the responsibility of SMC.

Ranks within Starfleet Military Command (SMC)

General of the Army
General
Lieutenant General
Major General
Brigadier General
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
First Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Sergeant Major
Master Sergeant
Sergeant First Class
Staff Sergeant
Sergeant
Corporal
Private

Starfleet Security Command (SSC) – SSC is the least changed of all the organisations of Starfleet Command (SC) this force is charged with protecting Starfleet’s ships as its onboard security force and also protecting away teams on alien worlds. The SSC is a quasi-marine force but concentrates on protection rather than assault. The one other job SSC does is that of policing all UFC member countries as form of international police force, SSC has the right to cross boarders in pursuit of wanted criminals and bring them to the court in the UFC member counties court.

The only change is that SSC has “lost” a large number of personnel to the newly formed SMC.

SSC ranks are the same as SEC ranks.

Starfleet Research Command (SRC) – SRC handles all forms of research and development within Starfleet from the smallest hand phaser to the development of starships, propulsion systems in coordination with the various UFC commercial companies. When a product is ready for manufacture the UFC companies bid for the licence rights to manufacture the product, but only those products that the patient is owned wholly by SRC.

SRC also handles building research prototypes of starships, tanks and other Starfleet equipment for testing and evaluation, also the testing of upgraded to existing Starfleet equipment.

One of their main fields of research is into transwarp drive to try and close the gap between the RSC and the UFC.

Starfleet Intelligence (SI) – SI will now be responsible for all intelligence gathered rather than the individual member countries having their own intelligence services as well as Starfleet intelligence. SI now combines all the intelligence services under its command and each member country will no longer run their own intelligence operations.

Many political commentators state during this time of change from The UESPA to UFC that the UFC is beginning to resemble the RSC in many ways.

RSC

The RSC during this time has kept well out of this UESPA (UFC) problem apart from offering medical assistance and humanitarian aid. The RSC has maintained its closed boarders until Fleet Admiral Leyton handed power to the newly formed UFC on the 1st January 2591 and then the RSC reopened its boarders.

RSC/RSN

By 2595 all twenty-five RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleships are fully operational and they are HMSS Black Prince, Black Knight, Black Swan, Black Sword, Black Storm, Black Fury, Defence, Bangladesh, Audacious, Invincible, Iron Duke, Swiftsure, Triumph, Scorpion, Wyvern, Devastation, Vikramaditya, Colossus, Edinburgh, London, Perth, Bellerophon, Hobart, Quebec and Malta.

In 2595 while exploring the galaxy of Imm (Iconian designation) the RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleship HMSS Swiftsure encounters…….

To be continued….

Next – Part 70 – Unknown/Storage Facility/Sphere

whatisinaname · Jun 18, 2007

Part 70 – Unknown/Storage Facility/Sphere

Hard Contact

In the galaxy of Imm the RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleship HMSS Swiftsure while exploring as star system within the galaxy of Imm encountered an unknown alien ship, the ship is also unknown to the Iconian’s as it does not match anything in their own records.

The unknown alien ship is approximately 4,000 meters long with three pylons extending from the central section in a triangular formation each with a large section attached to each pylon is a “pod” that is almost as long as the central section of the ship.

From the initial scans by HMSS Swiftsure the unknown ship is considered almost equal to and as powerful as HMSS Swiftsure in terms of weapons and shields, but the drive systems seem to be less well advanced and appear to be a form of transwarp drive but on a much more powerful and faster level than anything ever before encountered.

HMSS Swiftsure raised shields, as is standard procedure on encountering an unknown ship and started to broadcast universal greetings to the unknown ship. But before the hail had finished the unknown ship opened fire on HMSS Swiftsure with very powerful weapons that where almost equal to the Iconian beam weapons fitted to HMSS Swiftsure.

HMSS Swiftsure Iconian shields stood the unknown ships attack and the captain of HMSS Swiftsure ordered the weapons officer to return fire, against any other opponent the Iconian beam weapons would have torn though an opponents shields in a fraction of a second, but this unknown ship shields resisted the Iconian beam weapons fire.

Both ships then began a series of attack runs against each other with the same result of neither side being able to penetrate the others shields, this would continue for another hour, before the captain of HMSS Swiftsure orders the use of the Iconian drones.

From HMSS Swiftsure’s for launchers a salvo of twelve Iconian drones is launched against the unknown ship, against any other warship their would not be anything left, but against this unknown ship all that happened was that the unknown ships shields where depleted buy what HMSS Swiftsure’s sensor operator estimated was about thirty percent.

After the first attack the captain of HMSS Swiftsure orders that the Iconian drones be fired continuously at the unknown ship until the shields have been brought down and the unknown ship has been disabled and then they may be ready to talk.

But as the next salvo approach the unknown ship the unknown ship leapt into transwarp drive and exited the galaxy of Imm and in doing so was able to out run the Iconian drones, which where retrieved once the unknown ship was out of range leaving behind a very puzzled crew and some very puzzled Iconian’s.

In the aftermath of the battle both sides where left wondering what on earth these aliens were up to and who they where. The Iconian’s would use their resources along with their three allied races to investigate this matter further.

The captain of HMSS Swiftsure points out that this maybe a scout ship for an invasion fleet into the galaxy of Imm and maybe beyond, the Iconian on the bridge assures the captain of HMSS Swiftsure that the Iconian’s and their allies can quite easily deal with warships like that and the RSC has only seen a fraction of the firepower that the Iconian’s and their allies posses. The captain of HMSS Swiftsure is not really convinced by what the Iconian is saying, so the Iconian suggests that he will show the captain of HMSS Swiftsure one of the Iconian’s warship storage facilities.

Storage Facility

After the captain of HMSS Swiftsure allows the Iconian’s onboard HMSS Swiftsure to take control of HMSS Swiftsure and to take HMSS Swiftsure to one of the many Iconian warship storage facilities in the galaxy of Fell.

On arriving in the galaxy of Fell, and at the edge of Iconian warship storage facility 1129, the main view screen of HMSS Swiftsure the bridge crew sees thousands of Iconian within the system. Each ship is on minimum power and the system only has a few thousand Iconian’s in this system to maintain all these ships, at minimum power these ships do not need much maintenance and automated defences that surround the entire system protecting the storage facility.

The Iconian observer on HMSS Swiftsure’s points out to the captain that this one storage facility represents a small fraction of the military power that the Iconian’s can call upon and this does not include the resources of their three allies. Which when combined together can stand up to any known or even an unknown fleet as the Iconian’s can simply call on their reserve forces within a few hours.

The captain of HMSS Swiftsure is amazed as the number of warships in this one Iconian storage facility outnumbers the combined strength of the whole of the Alliance fleet combined. This is the Iconian’s reserve fleet, the last time the Iconian’s activated their reserve fleet was against their old enemy the Darkness.

This is the reason why the Iconian’s did not mind the RSC warships being upgraded with Iconian technology, even if all 20,000 odd warships of the RSN where upgraded they would be no match against the combined Iconian fleet and that of their three allied races.

After reporting this incident to RSC/RSN command HMSS Swiftsure continues her exploration mission of the Imm galaxy.

RSC reports this incident to the Alliance Security Council but as this is so far away in another galaxy the Alliance does not deem this unknown race a threat.

Sphere

While HMSS Swiftsure encounter was going on in the galaxy of Fell, another one of the RSN Imperial (H) Class Battleships HMSS Vikramaditya in the Milky Way Galaxy was investigating a series of gravitational anomalies at the edge of RSC controlled space.

HMSS Vikramaditya proceeding on impulse power towards the centre of the gravitational waves HMSS Vikramaditya is rocked violently by a massive gravitational field shift. Although initial scans do not find the source of the field, they trace the field to its centre and discover a massive spherical structure, 200 million kilometres in diameter HMSS Vikramaditya seems to have discovered a Dyson Sphere.

Much to the amazement of not only the crew of HMSS Vikramaditya but also the Iconian’s onboard HMSS Vikramaditya who are just as interested in the Dyson Sphere as the crew of HMSS Vikramaditya are. The Captain of HMSS Vikramaditya suggest that the Iconian’s bring several of their own research ships here as the Iconian’s research ships will be better equipped than the RSN ships.

The senior Iconian onboard agrees to this proposal and after a brief discussion with his fellow Iconian’s says that is will be a few hours before several well equipped Iconian research vessels will arrive until then HMSS Vikramaditya should begin surveying the Dyson Sphere.

The Dyson Sphere is a colossal spherical structure constructed around a star, completely surrounding it. The interior of the sphere would absorb the entire energy output of that star, allowing for life forms to live on the interior surface almost indefinitely such a structure was theorized by 20th century physicist Freeman Dyson in the late 1950s.

For the interior of a Dyson Sphere to be habitable to most humanoid life forms, the radius of the sphere must be such that habitable temperatures (5 – 30 °C) are maintained. The radius would therefore depend on the size and the energy output of the star around which the sphere would be constructed; if a Dyson Sphere were to be constructed around Earths sun, the radius would have to be approximately one astronomical unit. At such a radius, the interior surface area would be about 7 x 1016 square kilometres, or 550 million times the entire surface area of the planet Earth. Such a surface area could easily support the lives of many quadrillions of beings.

Unsurprisingly, due to the almost immeasurable amounts of effort, resources and time required to construct such an immense structure, this is the only Dyson Sphere has ever been discovered so far even by the Iconian’s and their allies, now that the Iconian’s know what to look for other Dyson Sphere’s may be found and even the race that built the Dyson Sphere maybe found.

This particular sphere is encased around a G-type star and had a diameter of 200 million kilometres, giving it an internal surface area of approximately 250 million M-class planets. As no radiant sunlight or solar wind escaped from the sphere, HMSS Vikramaditya was not able to detect it until they were almost on top of it

As the HMSS Vikramaditya arrives at the array, the crew discover a large hatch in the Dyson Sphere, which they presume is a front door. As they open hailing frequencies, the hatch opens and a series of powerful tractor beams pull the HMSS Vikramaditya inside the sphere, easily overpowering it even with the Iconian enhancements.

Once inside the crew of HMSS Vikramaditya discover the reason for the Dyson Sphere being abandoned, the star is highly unstable, expelling matter and severe bursts of radiation. This explains why the inhabitants of the sphere abandoned it. The science officer postulates that the HMSS Vikramaditya may have unintentionally triggered an automated series of tractor beams that would guide a starship inside the sphere this explains why the HMSS Vikramaditya was pulled inside without anyone occupying the sphere and if there is an automatic way of getting in their must be an automatic way of getting out.

The Iconian shields are easily protecting HMSS Vikramaditya for the suns bursts of radiation and the ships crew are in no danger from suns the radiation, also the Iconian’s owns communication devices are working even thought HMSS Vikramaditya communications cannot penetrate the Dyson Sphere. So safe behind the Iconian shields the crew of HMSS Vikramaditya begin a series of scans of the interior of the Dyson Sphere.

After several hours of scanning the interior of the Dyson Sphere, the Iconian’s inform the captain of HMSS Vikramaditya that twelve Iconian research vessels have arrived in the vicinity of the Dyson Sphere, with more on their way and are beginning a series of scans of the outside of the Dyson Sphere to find a way to open the entrance without triggering the tractor beams.

Twelve days later the Iconian’s outside the Dyson Sphere figure out how to open and close the doors without triggering the tractor beams. This will allow ships to enter and leave without any encountering the problems that HMSS Vikramaditya encountered when this ship first found the entrance/exit.

The RSC inform the Alliance and states that the Dyson Sphere was found in RSC territory and it is RSC property but that any Alliance member can send a science vessel to examine the Dyson Sphere and the RSC also point out that the Iconian’s are doing a very through scan of the Dyson Sphere themselves as they have never encountered one before.

The Alliance supports the RSC claim to the Dyson Sphere even the UFC supports the RSC’s claim to the sphere as there is no way to inhabit the sphere while the sun continues to emit solar radiation. But what no-one in the Alliance knows is that the Kaled’s have the technology to stop the sun from emitting solar radiation, but the Kaled’s have to decide whether or not to inform the RSC that they can fix the sun inside the Dyson Sphere.

What is the mysterious alien ship that attacked HMSS Swiftsure and how will the RSC utilise the Dyson Sphere in the short term and what race built the Dyson Sphere?

Deep within a moon within RSC space a new class of starship is nearing completion, all around this new ship there are Section 31 engineers and technicians doing final checks.

To be continued……

Next – Part 71 – New Design/Maiden Flight/Sphere Timescale/Foothold