First Strike Prologue --- Babylon Five Versus Star Trek

[Alexus]

Hi everyone. I've read the site and some forum posts and I thought I'd try my hand at a Fanfic. This is my first and any constructive criticism is welcome. First, a little bit of science -

If we assume the tech manual is correct, (and Mr Wong does on occasion so why not?)

Galaxy class: "Shield heat dissipation: 3311 GW peak"

B5 Guns 200 megawatt pulse cannons are standard with a rate of fire of two, maybe three shots a second. In about ten seconds the Galaxy's shields would be down. For the fic I'll make this more like 30 seconds.

Earth Alliance particle beams can do about 500 kt a second. So far so good.

The victory class' beam weapons would do about six megatons of damage a second. No armour mod because, well, how is fed armour going to stop
anything?

Figures from http://www.B5Tech.com

That should do it:


---------------FIRST STRIKE---------------
-----------Prologue-----------
IAS EXCALIBUR

The IAS Excalibur soared through space, a gleaming instrument of death, two kilometres long. It headed straight for an empty stretch of space; no stars were visible in a twenty kilometre wide area.

On the Excalibur's bridge captain Matthew Gideon stared intently at the viewscreen.

"Got that scanning data?" he asked Lieutenant Matheson.

"It's like a Drakh Null Field but it seems to be different somehow," came the reply, "The probes we sent through managed to get a few pictures back; I have them here."

Gideon studied the pictures. This was worrying. A dozen or so strangely designed starships were all clustered together facing the probe.

"Any more pictures?"

"No sir."

"Dammit," said Gideon, "We need some intel. Who are these people? We need to know if we should get reinforcements from Earth. They'll take three days to get here."

Matheson looked out of the viewport for a few seconds.

"We could send in a Thunderbolt 'fury." he said, eventually.

"Do it."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IFS TERROR, FORMERLY 'ENTERPRISE'

Admiral Janeway stood on the bridge of her mighty sovereign class ship. To her left and right the best conscripts worked to glean every bit of information from the null-field spread out in front of her.

"Admiral?" came a voice behind her. Janeway turned to face the speaker.

"What is it, Ensign?"

Ensign Riker swallowed. "There's a disturbance in the null-field, sir," he said, "Something is about to come through."

Just after he said that, something came through.

IAS EXCALIBUR

"We're getting data from the 'fury." said Matheson, staring down at a screen.

"Put it on the main screen." said Gideon.

TWELVE SHIPS IDENTIFIED
ALL BETWEEN 350 - 680 METRES IN LENGTH
SCANNING HULL MARKINGS..... RESULTS FOLLOW:
IFS TERROR
IFS HARBRINGER
IFS EMPIRE
IFS DEATHBR-

The feed cut out in an instant.

IFS TERROR - FORMERLY 'ENTERPRISE'

Janeway looked down out the sensor data.

"A millitary vessel. Send to commander starfleet. 'Military space vehicle sent through null-field. Threat to holdings of Federation Empire. Sending through task force. Ready fleet for full scale invasion.' "

She stalked over to the command chair. Sat in it.

"Take us in."

The task force sailed into the null field.

IAS EXCALIBUR

Matheson looked up from the sensor screen.

"Oh shit." he said, "We're in trouble now."

TO BE CONTINUED

[NecronLord]

Both sets of figures you used are 'generous,' but other than that, write more, more I say! *Shakes Cudgel*

[Junghalli]

Cool. Is this the evil mirror universe Trek, or has there been a coup of some sort?

Just one minor nitpick; "Federation Empire" makes no sense. How do you have an Empire of a Federation? It would be better to use Terran Empire or something like that.

[brianeyci]

If we assume the tech manual is correct, (and Mr Wong does on occasion so why not?)

Galaxy class: "Shield heat dissipation: 3311 GW peak"

B5 Guns 200 megawatt pulse cannons are standard with a rate of fire of two, maybe three shots a second. In about ten seconds the Galaxy's shields would be down. For the fic I'll make this more like 30 seconds.

Earth Alliance particle beams can do about 500 kt a second. So far so good.

The victory class' beam weapons would do about six megatons of damage a second. No armour mod because, well, how is fed armour going to stop
anything?

Ten seconds is a long time. A War Galaxy can fire off twelve phaser shots and two photon spreads in ten seconds, take a look at BOBW, if you want I can dig the exact quote from Alyeska. After the initial first strike, Fed ships shoot slower. Thirty is an eternity.

If photorps are 100 KT to 450 KT, phasers do only slightly less and are just as powerful in a Sovereign. Quantums on the high range of that, photorps on the low range.

Good start

Brian

[Crown]

If we assume the tech manual is correct, (and Mr Wong does on occasion so why not?)

Actually he doesn't, he used to, but since they've been stated to be non-canon many times over (by him too), clearly he doesn't assume they are correct - it's just that he hasn't updated the site in a while. IIRC.

[Kruk]

Nice story. Be better if you take midd-unumbers from both universes, but it's your story. I like it
One thing only: Lameway as admiral?? Ms "wait till 40% shield power then call them??" in millitary organisation?? Want some good admiral as task force leader take Nacheyew.

BTW - look at ++http://www.babtech-onthe.net/ here for some info about B5technology and numbers. I think B5tech is the same for B5 as st-vs-sw is for Trek About Trek - I dont know any good site with calcs.

[Alexus]

BTW - look at ++http://www.babtech-onthe.net/ here for some info about B5technology and numbers. I think B5tech is the same for B5 as st-vs-sw is for Trek About Trek - I dont know any good site with calcs.

B5techonthe.net does not have an Earth Alliance section I'm afraid.

All your suggestions will be taken on board people, so keep reading. Also, should I post the next chapter as a new thread?

Also also, this fic is going to be slaughter on both sides. Both have powerful weapons (Inrelation to each other) but crappy defence. Omega destroyers would be able to take down Galaxy shields (assuming 3000 GW) in about 10 secs using all their forward guns in the fic, but a photorp could seriously damage the Omega. The Excalibur would be able to take 250 kt photorps (that's what I'll have them as) and phasers would be useless.

Minbari crystalline armour would soak up phasers no problem, but photorps would punch right through it.

Phew.

[Alexus]

I'll browse SD.Net for some of Wong's Galaxy shield estimates.

[Kruk]

I've found this on sbacebattle.com. It is more or less accepted by both sides.
At least those more "reasonable" - there are always some jerks screaming "Tt power of Warlock" and "Tt power for Galaxy"

If my math is correct that would make the Transwarp tech ~ 4,800,000,000c.
That would be about 50,000 times the 9,000c max warp of the Enterprise from TNG.

Well.......impressive


Back to reality for a moment here. (lol...reality....must need sleep)

I am going to use Relics, Legacy, and Pegasus for these numbers on the Galaxy-class.
Shields (pre-war) ~ 65,000 TW
Photon Torpedo (multi-directional) ~ 12,500 TW
Main Phaser Array ~ 2,300 TW
Galaxy-class Alpha Strike (Phaser + 5 PT) ~ 33,000 TW

A Romulan Warbird, according to TNG Tin Man, can in one strike drop 70% of the shields.
Romulan Warbird Alpha Strike ~ 45,500 TW

In the TNG episode Genisis, the Enterprise was testing a new torpedo, 11% more powerful than your standard Photon.
Photon Torpedo (multi-directional) ~ 14,000 TW

Assuming that the Galaxy-class shields and phasers keep pace with the new torpedoes...
Shields ~ 80,000 TW
Phaser ~ 2,500 TW

Now, let us look at the Shadow Battle Crabs.
The size of a Narn Cruiser is directly related to this power estimate.
Estimates range from 500 meters to 1,400 meters.
A Narn Cruiser is between 750 meters and 1,000 meters in length for our purposes.
They are approximately 50 to 80 meters is heigth.
Assuming 90% vacancy...
Shadow Beam Weapons ~ 4,600 TW or ~ 7,800 TW

Shadow beam weapons also cut the forward section of a Minbari Cruiser in half during the fleet battle in Season 3.
Assuming the maximum 800 meter width and a maximum combined thickness of 10 meters...
Shadow Beam Weapons ~ 9,800 TW

Compared to the ease by which Shadows cut through Younger Race vessels I am inclined to estimate approximately ~ 9,000 TW for thier main firepower.

Now for thier defenses, we look to A Call to Arms and the Whitestar.
The Excalibur destroyed a small asteroid with "not much more power than a whitestar" with its forward beams in about 2 seconds.
Assuming around 50-75 meter diameter asteroid, only melting it, and some dividing by two...
Excalibur Secondary Weapons ~ 1,200 TW (300 TW per beam)

This is more powerful than a Whitestar, say by 25% or so for a low estimate.
Whitestar ~ 950 TW

Based upon the Whitestar's 30 seconds kill of a Crab
Shadow Defenses ~ 28,000 TW (With Jamming)

11 second Vorlon kill of a Shadow Vessel
Vorlon Transport/Destroyer ~ 2,500 TW

Now, the defenisve numbers for the Shadow vessel do have some error in them, as do the Vorlon Transport/Destroyer firepower. However, they are in the proper range.

However, for a general estimate I would pit the the powers like this.

Galaxy-class: War Refit
Offensive Power ~ 37,500 TW
Defensive Power ~ 80,000 TW

Romulan Warbird:
Offensive Power ~ 45,500 TW

Shadow Battlecrab: (~ Vorlon Dreadnought)
Offensive Power ~ 9,000 TW
Defensive Power ~ 28,000 TW

Vorlon Transport/Destroyer:
Offensive Power ~ 2,500 TW

Whitestar:
Offensive Power ~ 950 TW

If we are nice and say that two First One fighters can take down a Photon Torpedo before impact, then the First One's and the Federation's top of the line Galaxy-class are roughly equal.


The Dominion Allied Fleet of 30,000 ships is a nice number.
How many of those ships could threaten a Galaxy-class One on One?
If they can't, then as far as the Shadows and Vorlons are concerned the Younger Races can take them.


Including S8472 or large numbers of Borg Cubes would be, I think, too much for a fair fight between the powers.

If we are willing to allow powerful beings from a parrellel dimension (Fluidic Space) to join the Trek side, I would vote to include the Third Space Race on the side of the B5 forces.


Allowing the Trek side a few dozen Brog Cubes for every 1,000 or so ships would seem allright, even if it is completely uncharacteristic of the Collective when dealing with inferior powers.

Basically, what it comes down to, in my mind, is the Tactical and Stategic characteristics of the war.

(Based on Season 3 fleet disposition & (6) 10,000 stong fleets + change)...

If the Vorlons and Shadows can field around 5,000 Main Capital Ships, 7,000 Destroyers/Scouts, and around 50,000 fighters to aide the Younger Races, I would dare think it would be a fair fight...

I dont know if it will be of any use, but wont do much damage... I hope

There was also discussion about Sovereign vs Warlock - the outcome (also more or less accpepted) was for 10 battle 8 will be won by Sovereign with relative ease. 2 cases of Warlock victory were: first shot and hitting Sovie with GOD canons and railguns destroying sovie before it can use phasers to destroy weapon turrets of Warlock. I think the same can be said about Victory vs Sovereign.

[Alexus]

I would disagree. I think the two are more or less equal in some areas. The feds main anti Ecalibur/Omega weapons would be torps. Phasers vs 10 metre thick armour? No. The B5ers though have weapons capable of a very high rate of fire AND they can fire more than one weapon at a time. B5ers would lose maybe 1 or 2 destroyers for every galaxy/sovereign.

Good so far?

[Kruk]

It's your story. I'll always more cared about storytelling then tech.
Hell, I liked a story where Starfury was kicking Defiant arse