StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I intend to write several more stories about the alternate Star Trek universe with Klingons based on those created by the late, great John M. Ford. To further flesh out the universe, I will be providing more background material about the universe in general. So to start things off, the starships of the Federation during the late 24th Century.

Federation Starships and Starship Classes

As with all of this series, Starfleet classifications will be used for each section. Differences will be commented on within each subsection. In the Naked Stars (NS) universe Starfleet vessels normally do not carry civilian dependents on board and devote less space to crew quarters and recreational facilities.

Command Ships

As a vocal minority of Federation member worlds and cultures are uncomfortable with Starfleet's military role, Starfleet avoids the term "battleship" like the plague. Starfleet currently describes the three ships of the powerful Republic class as a command ship instead of as battleship or dreadnought. The Republic class vessels are similar in appearance and capabilities to the TNG Sovereign class.

Heavy Cruisers

Starfleet uses the term heavy cruiser instead of fast battleship due to the jack of all trade nature of their heavy cruiser's performance and duties. The incorporation of science labs allows heavy cruisers to serve effectively as defenders of the Federaton's boarders and as explorers. Heavy cruisers are capable of engaging and defeating almost any enemy they might encounter, possessing strong shields and heavy firepower.

The current exemplar of the class is the Valiant class, which resembles the TNG Excelsior class, although the Valiant is substantially larger. Phaser strips provide the primary armament, with several phaser banks giving redundant coverage and additional firepower. Most of the Valiants have been upgraded with quantum torpedoes for their launcher systems. The Valiants have been in service for nearly fifteen years and performed well.

Cruisers

Starfleet cruisers are swift and capable medium multirole explorer/warships. The most modern and numerous type of this class is the Magellan. Magellans consist of a saucer with two warp nacelles below the saucer and a dorsal weapon pod containing photon torpedo launchers. The rear of the saucer section is thicker and wider, containing the engineering section.

Frigates

Medium sized dedicated warships about the size of a cruiser but without the science facilities. Frigates are about as well armed and shielded, due to the space being taken up by a contingent of the Starfleet Marines (SFMC). The current leading model is the Jutland class consisting of a large saucer section which spreads out into a wing like engineering section. Two warp engines on short nacelles are projected above the ships.

Destroyers

These are small, swift dedicated warships. The most modern model is the the Thelkas class, named after a famous Andorian admiral, and virtually identical to the TNG Defiant.

There are a variety of other vessels in use by Starfleet scout ships, science vessels, tenders, assault transports, and so on and so forth, but they won't be dealt with in detail here.

Major Starships of the Klingon Empire

Federation terminology will be used here, although the popular habit of referring to any Klingon warship of medium size or larger as a "battlecruiser" will not be followed.

Klingon military technology is marginally behind that of the Federation, most notably in the development of the quantum torpedo which the Klingons are still working. High powered disruptors and the use of a heavier antimatter charge in photon torpedoes has considerably narrowed the firepower gap. The Klingons do have cloaking devices, but Federation sensors are good enough that they can often be detected at combat range.

There are two major building patterns for Klingon vessels, that of the Drelb design (where D series derives its name) of the earliest warships and the subsequent off shots of various sizes and the bird of prey design based on a Romulan ship design acquired during their trade agreements.

Dreadnoughts

These ships are used as command vessels for fleet actions, planetary siege actions, and any other operation where brute force and massive toughness are the necessary qualities. These large vessels aren't very maneuverable, although they may be fairly fast. They are typically captained by older, reliable officers who have seen the last of their glory days and seek to further themselves through patronage and political actions.

The Klingon Empire builds very few of these resource intensive ships simply because it doesn't consider them necessary. Battlecruisers can do most of a dreadnought's duties if called upon. The current serving model is the L-6, which bears a strong resemblance to the TNG Nehg'Var. It is nearing the end of its service life, but an upgrade and refit program started four years ago has allowed it to remain one of the toughest and most heavily armed ships in the region.

Battlecruisers

Fast, maneuverable, heavily armed, and well protected the battlecruiser is the jack of all trades of the Klingon fleet. The preferred command of glory hungry Klingons and singly or in squadrons capable of dealing with most problems the Empire might expect them to handle, they are the workhorse and crowning glory of the Imperial Klingon Navy.

The new D-12 design was commissioned to replace the lackluster D-11 and includes every advanced feature the designers could include. It was also the first battlecruiser designed where a large minority of the engineers were non-Klingon citizens of the Empire. The D-12 has performed well in its brief service, perhaps most notably the completely classified exploits of the Lancer, and is being produced as rapidly as the Empire's shipyards can produce them.

Light Cruisers and Frigates

Medium sized fast warships that the Federation classifies as cruisers if they are the large size and frigates if smaller, these vessels serve the Komerex in substantial numbers. Notable vessels of this type includes the infamous and refitted D-7, the large and modern bird of prey type C-20, and the converted and somewhat sluggish (by Klingon standards), stumpy, and heavily shielded D-10 torpedo cruiser.

Destroyers

Small, swift and comparatively heavily armed warships, Klingon destroyers can dish it out better than they can take it. Deployed to patrol the Empire and its boarders as well as fight its battles, destroyers are frequently sent in as hunter-killers, raiders, reinforcements, and escorts. Two models are in wide use at the moment, the somewhat dated B-20, a traditional Klingon design with a short, thick boom with a torpedo centered arsenal and the more modern bird of prey pattern B-23.

Scouts

Klingon scout ships are usually formidably armed and useful as raiders as well as explorers. The exemplary performance of the bird of prey type vessels has meant that variations of that design are almost exclusively used for vessels of this type. The most modern iteration is the K-30.

useful as raiders as well as raiders?

Master of Cards wrote:useful as raiders as well as raiders?

Oops. Corrected.

Major Warships of the Romulan Star Empire

The third great power in this part of the galaxy, the Romulan Star Empire suffers from controlling less territory than either the United Federation of Planets and the Komerex Klingon. Furthermore, it has discovered far fewer inhabited star systems and fewer dilithium bearing worlds which has hindered economic growth in comparison with the larger stellar nations and left the Romulans looking to be increasingly short of a vital component of modern warp drives.

Trade agreements with the Klingon Empire would not be enough to overcome this deficiency and in any event being dependent upon the Klingons for dilithium would be unacceptable. The Romulans embarked upon and ultimately succeeded in a project to create and harness artificial singularities for use in powering their warp drives.

The Romulans continue to use their traditional bird patterns for their warships, and although they possess quite capable shields, emphasize firepower for maximum effectiveness in a cloak based first strike attack. Romulans make use of disruptors and torpedoes as their primary ship weaponry, notably making use of a warhead that detonates to form a very destructive plasma based implosion field.

Even with massive sensor arrays located near the neutral zone, it is difficult for the Federation to acquire accurate data on the Romulan Navy. Intelligence gathering from sources in the Klingon Empire is a valuable source of secondhand information. Starfleet usually loose translations of the Romulan ship's actual names to identify them.

Warbirds

Simply put, warbirds is a catch all term for large Romulan warships.

Battlecruiser

The largest warbird in current use is the highly capable Stormbird, a ship that closely resembles the TNG Valdore class in appearance. It is capable of extremely high warp speeds and is more powerful than almost all Federation and Klingon warships in service. It is open question whether the new D-12 can match it in open open combat.

Cruisers

The Raptor is a some what dated design that still remains in service. It is of the "bird shape" pattern with warp nacelles tipping wide horizontal wings and bird shaped head at the end of a projecting "neck". It is still a capable ship with a multiple torpedo tubes as its main weapons and mid sized array of moderately powerful disruptors as secondary weapons.

Light Cruisers

The Griffin is slim vessel built on the bird shape pattern. Short, forward swept wings are tipped with warp nacelles and a beak like command pod is at the end of a projecting neck-boom. The Griffin possess powerful shields and disruptors for a vessel of its size as well as a respectable arsenal of torpedoes. When coupled with its speed and maneuverability, the combination can be quite deadly.

Birds of Prey

Light Romulan warships are traditionally grouped together as birds of prey.

Destroyer

The venerable and upgraded Shrike design serves as the light strike vessel and patrol craft. Primary weapons are its torpedo tube which are backed up by light disruptors. The Shrike's maximum speed is merely warp eight, making it slow by the standards of modern ships although it is quite quick and maneuverable at sublight speeds. Most of the vessel's mass is concentrated in its widespread, nacelle tipped wings although it does possess a raptor head command pod at the end of a short neck.

Scout

The Condor is a halfway point between the old bird of prey design now used by the Klingons and the modern more bird-like designs. It has a raptor head command pod, warp nacelles beneath the wing roots, and disruptor cannons on the wing tips. This ship is known to Starfleet only through intelligence reports obtained from the Klingons as it is not used near the Neutral Zone.

Major Warships of the Cardassian Union


The Cardassian Union suffers from being inferior in territory, resources, and technological development than its two nearest neighbors among the major powers, the Komerex Klingon and the United Federation of Planets. The Cardassian Union was pulled out of near total social collapse two generations ago by a military takeover and an aggressive campaign of expansion and conquest, a state of affairs that has left the military High Command in charge of the Union and in almost total control of all the Union's resources. The militarization of Cardassian society is even greater than that of the Romulan and Klingon Empires. As a result the Cardassians field both ground and space forces disproportionately larger than their population base.

Cardassian ships are sturdily constructed, with thick hulls, heavy structural reinforcement, and few exposed componenents. Cardassian design aesthetics tends to favor a streamlined hammerhead shape, placing durability above high warp performance. Shield systems are marginally inferior to those used by the Klingons, with phaser systems being the usual primary weapons of their ships. The Cardassians do make use of a plasma torpedo that is similar to but not quite as effective as the ones used by the Romlulans.

Heavy Cruisers

The Keldon class is a slightly larger and more advanced version of the Galor class cruiser which is the workhouse of the Cardassian fleet. The Keldon carries a large dorsal torpedo pod near the aft of the vessel. Like the Galor, the spinal mounted phaser array is the ship's primary weapon.

Cruisers

The Galor class is the workhorse of the Cardassian fleet. Inferior to its Federation counterparts, the Galor is a durable ship that is neither swift nor maneuverable. The Galor class's primary weapon is its spinal mounted main phaser array which packs a formidable punch. The Type 3 is the most common variant and is relies on its phaser banks for its offensive power. The rarer and more modern Type 4's arsenal is augmented with torpedo tubes.

The Galor and Keldon classes are vulnerable to flanking attacks due to their limited maneuverability and most of their firepower being concentrated in the forward arc.

Destroyers

Older and smaller Type 1 Galor class vessels, a design that was the front line vessel of the Cardassian Union more than fifty years ago, have been refitted to serve as destroyers. They are larger than most destroyers and tougher, but by the standards of modern Federation and Klingon designs slow, unmaneuverable, lightly armed, and not particularly accurate.

Patrol Ships

There are several variants of the one hundred meter long, horseshoe crab shaped Hideki class serves the Cardassian Union as scouts, patrol ships, and attack craft. They are capable craft, but perform poorly when compared to Klingon and Starfleet vessels of the same size.

Are the Griffin/Raptor class supposed to be identical to their Star Trek Armada forms? Or different?

Considering how aggressive the Klingons AND the Romulans are, I'm surprised the Cardassian Union hasn't A) been conquered by the Klingons, B) been conquered by the Romulans, or C) become a Federation protectorate in order to avoid being conquered by the Klingons or the Romulans, with all the bad consequences that occur from such conquest. By the way, are there any treaties and alliances we should be aware of, e.g., a Klingon-Romulan non-aggression pact?

1) The Griffin and Raptor are loosely related to the Star Trek Armada counterparts.

2) Cardassia's longest and oldest boarder is with the Federation and its military is a paper tiger, meaning despite the fact that the TNG Klingons could absolutely shatter them in a blitzkrieg, their military appears stronger than it is. The Bajoran situation also complicates things. I'm not going to say more at present, because this will be dealt with in the fic.

3) Treaties and relationships are going to be dealt with in one of the latter posts.

So are you going with TNG's scaled up Klingon Bird-of-Prey's or using or creating more realistic large ships? I have a hard time imagining the Lancer as a K'vort.

Johonebesus wrote:So are you going with TNG's scaled up Klingon Bird-of-Prey's or using or creating more realistic large ships? I have a hard time imagining the Lancer as a K'vort.

Lancer closely resembles a smaller version of a Negh'var, minus the ventral warp nacelles and the long gun barrels. The largest bird of prey pattern ship is a light cruiser.

Imperial Overlord wrote:

Johonebesus wrote:So are you going with TNG's scaled up Klingon Bird-of-Prey's or using or creating more realistic large ships? I have a hard time imagining the Lancer as a K'vort.

Lancer closely resembles a smaller version of a Negh'var, minus the ventral warp nacelles and the long gun barrels. The largest bird of prey pattern ship is a light cruiser.

Thank goddness. I hate the scaled up B'rel.

Kinshaya Starships


Kinshaya means "demon possessed" in Klingonaase, a name granted to them due to their resemblance to creatures from Klingon mythology. They have an empire on the opposite side of the Komerex Klingon than the Federation and are separated from the Klingon Empire by a stellar rift (an area of no stars). The Klingons encountered them in the late 22nd Century and the limitations of logistics and ship speed did not prevent a war although they did hinder it.

There has never been an exchange of communications or ambassadors between the two empires. A network of border listening posts and star fortresses guard the Klingon side of the rift and the occasional reconnaissance mission is launched into Kinshaya space. Otherwise, there is no contact other than battle.

Physically the Kinshaya are bipeds that average more than two metres tall and mass two hundred kilograms or more. They have no discernible head, and their sensory organs are set in the upper torso, between the massive armoured shoulders. Thick folds of skin resembling wings or a heavy cloak hang from their arms. Their legs and shoulders are covered with bony plates, with spikes or horns projecting from their shoulder plates. They are covered in short green/black fur. The “face” has two large round twin-lensed eyes, a flap-covered breathing orifice and a round mouth ringed with three rows of sharp teeth. A third sight organ is in back, and is capable of not much more than detecting motion and light or dark. Their hearing organs are covered by skin. Kinshaya are massively tough, having withstood multiple blasts of early model disruptors and short term vacuum exposure.

Kinshaya apparently have little grasp of strategy or tactics beyond direct attacks and maintaining logistics. The Kinshaya appear to have several slave races and will eat members of these races under some conditions.

The Kinshaya make used of particle beams and slug throwers as personal weapons, along with multibladed weapons. Their ships utilize phaser and photon torpedo technology. Kinshaya technology was superior to Klingon technology during the Demon War, but current estimates suggest the Klingon Empire is more closely evenly matched or slightly superior to the Kinshaya.

Greater Warsphere

A large black sphere with internal warp engines, the work horse of the Kinshaya fleet is armoured, possess dual layered shields, and numerous phaser banks and photon torpedo tubes. The ship has fairly good speed and maneuverability. These ships are larger than any ships currently used by any of the great powers in the region.

Lesser Warsphere

A smaller and more maneuverable version of the Greater Warsphere. It only has a single layer shielding, although its armour is almost as thick. This class of warsphere appears to do duties consistent with those of lighter cruisers and destroyers.

Civilian

Large, blocky vessels that also have their warp drive systems contained within their main hull. For civilian vessels they tend to be well armed and shielded.

Major Treaties and Diplomatic Agreements

The Earth-Romulan War Armistace

This ancient document, worked out through subspace radio between Earth and her colonies and allies and the Romulan Star Empire, is still in effect today. The major points of interest is the creation of the Neutral Zone between the belligerents and the ending of hostilities. The various breaches of this treaty by both sides are too numerous to list, yet the treaty remains technically in force.

The Organian Peace Treaty

Imposed by the Organian energy beings on both the Federation and the Klingon Empire, the Organian Peace Treaty creates a narrow neutral zone between the two powers and awards planets and star systems in contested zones (i.e. the every expanding new territories surveyed by explorers) based on the decisions of the inhabitants or the ability to best utilize the areas resources.

The Organians have long since withdrawn from enforcing the treaty, but it remains in force. Although the Klingons aggressively and skillfully press forth on the diplomatic and development fronts with their customary drive for success, their willingness to employ dirty tricks and out right violence to win when they believe they can get away with it is often of more concern to Starfleet personnel.

The Khitomer Accords

This treaty bans von Neumann swarms, sun killing weapons, subspace weaponry, large scale molecular restructuring weapons (such as the infamous Genesis Device) and similar weapons of mass destruction. Both the Klingons and the Federation are signatories. The Romulans are believed to have performed covert research on one or more of these weapons, but the use of such weapons in a surprise attack would trigger a devastating war in response. Despite their limitations, asteroid bombardment, nuclear devices, and antimatter bombs are quite capable of laying waste to planets in retaliation.

The treaty holds mostly because no one actually wants to fight a war using those kinds of tactics. Even for the Klingons, such a war would result in great losses and the destruction of any prizes and so remains undesirable.

The Klingon-Romulan Exchange Treaties

Although there are none active at the moment, despite the bad blood between the two empires they have traded ship designs, technology, hulls, resources, and territory between them. The most compelling force behind them has been the presence of the Federation. Neither state wishes to lag behind and become a third rate power. The calmer post Organian Treaty relationship between the Klingon Empire and the Federation as well as the success both Romulans and Klingons had in strengthening their own nations.

Cardassia

The Federation and Cardassia have both extended diplomatic recognition of each other and the sovereignty of their respective nations. There were some border disputes early in the relationship and first contact almost lead to a shooting war when two Galor class cruisers demanded the submission of a Federation explorer. Relations are calmer now, with the Cardassians applying smooth diplomacy against a state they consider to be soft and naive, if admittedly technologically well developed and prosperous. The Federation for its part looks down at the morally crippled, militaristic totalitarians and their is growing concern over the Bajoran situation. Bajor is close to Federation space and several groups of Bajor refugees have managed to reach Federation space and are lobbying for help in liberating their planet.

The Klingon Empire has exchanged a set of diplomatic messages with the Cardassian Union in which they both recognize each other (a state of affairs that is almost meaningless to the Klingons, something the Cardassian High Command has yet to grasp). The Klingon starbase in the Arcanis system is close enough to cause the Cardassians some concern. An intelligence gathering mission sent there vanished, having been ambushed by Klingon birds of prey. The Obsidian Order has obtained a great deal of second hand information on the Klingons, but Cardassians badly misunderstand how major Klingon lines function. What the Cardassians believe are aristocratic families are actually large bodies of united political and economic interests, most of whom are not related to each other at all. The disorganized feudal barbarians that the Cardassians believe them to be do not exist, but combined with the Cardassians own racism and sense of destiny this misconception could ignite a devastating war.

The Romulan Star Empire is too far from the Cardassian Union and too insular to be a factor at the moment. Several major worlds are within striking distance, given the speed of modern warp drives, if the Romulans do decide to act.

Okay, last one of these before I start the story.

Long Term Effects of the Organian Peace Treaty

With outright conquest forbidden in the treaty zone, the Klingon Empire was forced to use other means to gain the worlds and resources they desired. Although their development methods were better than the Federation believed, convincing other species to join the Klingon Empire required an adjustment of Klingon policy as no one would be eager to join a civilization where they were part of a permanent underclass. Assurances of rights and status were made, native control over domestic posts, rights and privileges, and access to Imperial institutions in order to be competitive with Federation efforts.

Indigenous power blocks formed alliances with major Klingon lines, securing patronage and political support for those who joined the military or government service. Although they were initially channelled away from any sensitive positions, the increasing integration of their societies with the komerex served to lessen prejudice.

One of the side effects of this process was a lessening of resistance to increased status for reliable kuve races, which in turn acting as an incentive to others. The apparent liberalization of the Klingon Empire also served to ease relations with the Federation as it no longer seemed so alien to the Klingons and the Klingons no longer seemed as barbaric to the Federation. Ambassador exchanges and limited trade agreements followed in the wake of the changes.

As it currently stands, the Klingon Empire is dominated by members of the Imperial Race with the Fusion Races retaining significant influence, particularly on their borders. Other full member races are not without influence and some of them occupy senior positions in major lines. Servitors continue to exist and be widespread throughout the empire.

Lastly, diplomacy as an avenue of obtaining the Empire's goals has become a lot more respectable. Victory is victory after all, and diplomacy can be cheaper than a war and subsequent occupation.

I don't see anything about the Ferengi, what happened to them in the Naked Stars timeline?

She stood up and unconciously smoothed her jacket when she saw the Starfleet officer walk in. She still felt ackward in Earth formal wear, suit jacket over shirt and pants, but if you wanted Earth to take you seriously you played by earth rules. The Starfleet officer coming towards her was a big man, dark skinned with a goattee and a shaved head. He wore the standard uniform deep red uniform tunic and dark pants which ironically was closer to what she was comfortable with. He wore a captain's insignia.

She extended her hand. He took it. "Ro Laren, I presume?" he said in a deep, rich voice.

"Yes," she said. "You have me at a disadvantage."

He smiled, showing a mouthful of white teeth. It could have been intimidating if his manner was a little less warm. "Well, we can't have that can we? I'm Captain Benjamen Sisko. Admiral Ross was called away for an urgent meeting."

She suppressed a surge of bitterness. Bajor came last to just about everyone but the Cardassians and their priorities were foodstuff and resource extraction combined as well as maintaing control. Currently maintaing control meant death squads, retalitory mass executions, and forced labor camps. "I waited a long time to get this meeting captain. I suppose I can stand to wait a little longer."

"I sympathize," said Ben Sisko. "Your job can't be easy. I can assure you that Starfleet and the Federation are taking the Bajoran matter very seriously."

"Those are nice words," said Ro Laren, "but we need more than words." Federation outrage over lurid horror stories was widespread, as was the sympathy for Bajoran refugees. The Federation had granted them asylum and provided aid, but the refugees made up less than half a percent of the total Bajoran population. "More Bajorans die every day. Our guerrillas are fighting with whatever gear we can get smuggled in by the Ferengi against Cardassian regulars who have orbital fire support. We need real aid."

"You'll get it."

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

Fleet Admiral Alynna Nechayev entered the briefing room, followed by a tall man hooded in white robes. She walked up to the podium at the head of the U shaped table. None of the officers here held a rank below vice admiral. "This meeting is classified top secret," Admiral Nechayev said. "Without further ado, I give you Ambassador Spock of Vulcan." She retreated from the podium.

Spock threw back his hood and approached the podium. "Thank you admiral. The Klingon Empire is preparing for war." Looks of frank disbelief greated his statement.

"Impossible," muttered Admiral Wallace.

"All the indicators that the Klingon Empire is entering a less aggressive phase of existence are misleading. The withdrawl of many of their mobile units from the Arcanis Sector and their less aggressive stance on the boarders is simply a redirection of forces and a desire not be engaged in multiple conflicts at once.

"More telling is the availability and pricing of antimatter for civilian vessels given the estimated Klingon production capacity and the deployment of the new D-12 battlecruiser in token numbers on all boarders despite being in widescale production for three years. There can be no doubt the Klingons are expecting to be engaged in a war in the near future."

"Do we have any evidence of whom they are going to attack?" Vice Admiral Ross asked.

"Circumstancial only at this time Admiral," said Ambassador Spock. "Their withdrawl of fleet units from Arcanis suggests it won't be the Cardassians, that in fact they are avoiding provocative incidents with the Cardassians. The logical move in opening a war against the Cardassian Union in the current enviroment would be to bait the Cardassians into giving the Klingons a casus belli and reduce the likelyhood of the Federation entering the war on the side of the Cardassians. Their actions on the boarder reduce their profile and reach in the region and would make Cardassian-Federation tensions as the dominant military concern in the region."

"If not Cardassia, the who?" asked Admiral Wallace. "Intelligence says the D-12 is a good ship, but they can't think that a bunch of top of the line battlecruisers is going to give them a decisive edge against Romulus or the Federation?"

"The chance of the the Thought Admirals making such an error are too low to be worth calculating," Spock relplied. "Which leads to the logical conclusion that the Klingon Empire's most likely target is one which does not boarder on the Federation. When the status of the antimatter reserves is taken into consideration, the most likely target is the Kinshaya or 'Demon Empire'. Their location across a stellar rift would add considerable strain to the Klingon logistics chain, with fuel being the most severely impacted."

"So," said Vice Admiral Ross, "the Klingons are likely to be going to war with an enemy we know very little about, but who are even nastier than they are?"

"Correct," said Spock.

"So that means," said Ross, "that Starfleet has the opportunity to confront Cardassia without having to worry about Klingon interference?"

"Correct," said Admiral Nechayev. Spock yielded to the podium to her. "If Ambassador Spock is correct, we have a window of opportunity where the Klingon Empire will be avoiding conflict on its other boarders. I don't want to waste this opportunity. I want a plan to present to the Federation Council that will help resolve the Bajoran situation, because they will want one."

speaker-to-trolls wrote:I don't see anything about the Ferengi, what happened to them in the Naked Stars timeline?

They're still around, but they aren't big players even in the TNG timeline. They are, as has been repeatedly pointed out, terrible capitalists. Since the economies of the Federation and the Klingon Empire are saner in the NS timeline and then there are the Orions, the Ferengi don't really have a niche to fill and are even less relevant than they are in TNG.

Captain Kardon sutai-Rezhad materialized in a shaft of crimson light. A Human Fusion female was at the controls of the station transporter room. "Stand by for additional beaming," she said crisply.

Kardon didn't move. Someone really important must be at the meeting if he was being rerouted by another transporter trip. Then he was materializing in another room. A dozen Klingons were there, nine members of the Imperial Race, two Human Fusions, and one Romulan Fusion. Half of them wore navy uniforms with admiral's insignias on their throats, another wore a marine uniform with a general's insignia. The remaining Klingons wore civilian clothes, dress tunics and sashes of expensive material but reminiscent of military style.

An Imperial wearing a black tunic with a gold over tunic approached him. "Squadron Leader Kardon zantai-Rezhad. We are pleased you could join us." That explained a lot . . . . if the others in the room followed suit in using the new honorific and his old position. Their status had been in question since they returned. Lancer's command crew had spent half a year being debriefed and another half year on patrol duties near Klinzhai.

Another Klingon approached and this one Kardon recognized. "This one is honored to meet the epetai-Kringma," he said to the fleet grand master strategist.

Thought Admiral Kerima epetai-Kringma smiled, showing teeth. It was not an expression that was intended to reassure the recipient. "The one may be assured the feeling is mutual."

"This one is pleased to hear it," Kardon replied.

"You showed excellent judgement in managing to return to the Empire, Squadron Leader," Kerima said. "Skills like that should not be wasted. Are you ready to serve?"

"I serve the Empire," Kardon replied, "although I am not its servitor."

"Well said," said the Imperial who Kardon was sure was Imperial Intelligence.

"Your squadron is being reassembled," said the Romulan Fusion wearing admiral's insignia. Kardon recognized the tall and powerfully built man as well, Thought Admiral Kesed zantai-Sezehk was newly appointed to the rank and well known as a fearsome ship captain. "We need good officers for the offensive."

"So it has been decided," said Kardon.

"This one is brighter than he looks," said Kerima. "Yes, it has been decided. There are a number of possible solutions to the wormhole problem. The Empire can wait for a more opportune moment. The long term threats posed by Borg and Dominion expansion need to be acted upon. The Cardassians and the Breen can be dealt with. The Kinshaya cannot be reasoned with and cannot be counted to join a defensive alliance so the High Council has decided they should be destroyed and their resources seized while we have the opportunity to do so."

"All out war across the Demon Rift?" Kardon asked carefully. "That is bold."

"We have been working on plans some time. The Emperor has given his word that we are to commence," said the Intelligence agent. "We have been at peace too long. Your squadron will be in the spearhead."

"With respect," said Kardon, "why is this one here? Surely this is a matter for admirals."

"This war will make admirals," said Kesed, "and kill them too. The klin lives in your Kardon and your record is honorable, but you can think ahead and plan for the best interests of the Empire as well. It is not established if you will handle command as part of a larger fleet. One with those qualities could rise very high. Could."

"The one understands," said Kardon.

"I thought that would be the case," Kesed said. "I dislike staffing the vanguard of my fleet with fools."

In short, he's being sent out to prove he has what it takes to rise to Admiralty. Niiiice.

So, how *do* you fight a war across the Demon Rift?

LadyTevar wrote:In short, he's being sent out to prove he has what it takes to rise to Admiralty. Niiiice.

So, how *do* you fight a war across the Demon Rift?

Tankers would be required for sure, as for food, hmmn how about ships stuffed full with raw matter for replicator functions.

I expectt I'm wrong but through my mistakes I will be educated.

Crossing the rift isn't that hard, but it means a long logistics chain into hostile territory through which every torpedo casing, warrior, and gram of antimatter has to travel.

Awesome stuff, keep at it. I want to see more of this universe's more competent Federation in action.

This promises to be even better than the last, simply because everyone should be competant. And it has Benjamin Sisko. I like Benjamin Sisko.

Imperial Overlord wrote:As it currently stands, the Klingon Empire is dominated by members of the Imperial Race with the Fusion Races retaining significant influence, particularly on their boarders.

Don't you mean, borders?