Around how long does it take to write each of these fanfic chapters? What about the entire ones?
Depending on my how my time works out, I usually can hammer out a chapter in four or five hours after spending a good portion of the week gaming out how it will best play out in my head. Not sure what you mean by the entire ones, could you clarify a bit please?
Glad you guys are liking it. Only a few chapters left in Unity, then it's on the the next story in the series.
“But your majesty, such a proposal…” One of Jack’s inner circle of bureau heads began only to be cut off.
“You will cease your whining willingly and immediately, Mr. Valtaine, or I will compel your silence through more forceful means.” Emperor Chambers ground out, his voice cold as ice. “I have made my decision, and it is the course of action the Empire will take. Am I completely clear?”
Custer Valtaine, in charge of industry, closed his mouth with a snap, turning pale as fear forced blood from his face. He nodded nervously, his eyes darting up and down the table. None of the other bureau chiefs said a word and kept their gazes elsewhere, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible lest they draw the Emperors ire down on their own shoulders. All save Cherice Paxton, bureau chief of Internal Security and Public Information. Her oval face, framed in straight, orange/red locks was turned directly towards his. Her cold blue eyes were looking intently at his own, with a devilish smile picking up the corners of her mouth. Her expression caused him to blanch even more, for he knew full well that with a mere word from the Emperor she would execute him here and now.
“What was that Mr. Valtaine? I couldn’t hear you.”
“Yes sir, crystal clear.”
“Good. Dispatch the proposition to the GA governments. Many of them have already been attacked by the GU. They should be as eager for a temporary suspension of active hostilities as we are.” Jack said, his voice loosing some of its dangerous edge, but not all. It was never truly normal since he learned that his daughter was lost and in enemy hands somewhere, possibly even dead. “The GU is the primary threat, to all of us. They are intelligent enough to see this as clearly as we can. At the very least, even a partial cease fire will allow us to shift some of our fleets currently guarding against the GA to face the new threat Unity poses. And once the GU are dealt with, we will be free to resume unimpeded offensive operations against the GA powers. But only afterward.” The Emperor stressed the last word. Hell, he thought, if Ben Sisko can make the Cardies stop fighting us, even for just a few days, a general ceasefire with all the GA powers isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. And even if they do not accept, there is no harm in making the offer so long as it’s done covertly with no public foreknowledge. Hell, the public doesn’t even have to know at all, especially after we have been so effective whipping them into a frenzy against the GA powers. And once the GU is out of the way, I can deal with the GA and those traitorous bastards in the Orion Cartel. Pain clouded his eyes, but the flames of hatred near totally obscured it, overpowering it, using it as more fuel to fan the raging furnace in his soul higher, threatening to consume him. Only the faint glimmer of hope that his daughter might yet be found alive kept it at bay. They’ll pay! For the pain they have caused me and mine, they’ll damn well pay!!
ISCV Unity, Gamma/Alpha Quadrant boarder coreward
Peter O’tole forced his face into his carefully practiced mask of non-expression as he strode down the massive starship’s proportionally massive corridors. He was surrounded by Pronhoulite and Korlivilar marines clad in spotless sky blue and white with gold trim power armor. But it was no less functional for all its immaculateness. They were his escort for the duration of his stay on the Galactic Unity’s Flagship, there to ensure that he didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to. Not that he was stupid enough to attempt such a thing here deep in GU held space aboard their conquest fleet’s… check that… their “Pacification Fleet’s”, Peter gave an mental roll-eyes as he shifted his thoughts to the ISC’s designation, Flagship.
He still didn’t know why his ISC benefactors had insisted that he come here, well into GU held space. All his previous dealings save his initial contact with the ISC had been via long ranged scrambled and encrypted com. The change, and the fact that it was the GU’s Flagship he’d been ordered, was more than slightly unsettling.
The hallways were made of dark gray alloys and an obsidian black substance that felt like polished stone. Purple hued lighting shone down from the roof mounted fixtures, banishing any shadows that would otherwise inhabit the Unity’s cavernous corridors. Their unnaturally large size also contributed to Peter’s unease, making him feel like a Lilliputian from the Terran myth. But these corridors large size was perfectly functional, for as Peter and his entourage strode through a junction, a very tall Meskeen could be seen down it. He was conversing with a Terran…“Human” he corrected himself with a mental sigh, and a Rovillian. With big brutes like that elder Meskeen roaming the GU’s Flagship, he could easily see why they had settled on such unnaturally large corridors and rooms. It didn’t make him feel much better, but at least his mind had an obvious reason for the need for massive corridors, even if it still couldn’t accept them into his view of what was proper for a warship. Of course, on any ship designed to standard humanoid specifications, the elder Meskeen would be incapable of maneuvering through them without the aid of site to site transporters. He nearly snorted out loud in laughter as his mind produced the mental picture of one of the green skinned amphibians stuffed into a standard sized hallway like it was a Gentonian sausage casing.
One of his Terran lynx-like Korlivilar guards, perhaps slightly superior in esper ranking to the rest, or slightly less willing to swallow her feelings, half hissed. Her tufted ears folded down tight to head as it turned toward him, grass green felinoid eyes boring into him. Peter gave himself a mental kick even as he reinforced his anti-esper barriers, managing somehow not to break stride. This was no time to let his mental shields slip. Nearly every being on the ship, aside from the Dominion contingent that is, were espers of some level or other. He had a gut feeling that this was a critical juncture. It wouldn’t do to mess it up because he slipped up on such a small thing as making a careless mental joke about one of the ISC’s oldest and most powerful races. Fortunately for him, the Korlivilar took no further action, but Peter could almost sense the non-verbal interplay that his guards engaged in. The Korlivilar was using telepathy to inform the rest of his guards of whatever she had been able to pick up, he was certain of it. But none of the others took any overt action either, and Peter let out a mental sigh of relief behind his barriers.
The corridor continued on till it terminated in a set of massive doors, each intricately worked with a bass relief in bronze. The relief appeared to show a battle of some sort, with ranks of ISC member races in opposition to another group of aliens. But the other group was nebulous, their features absent. And the things the relief showed them doing to the ISC they had captured were… disturbing. But Peter only had a scant few seconds to study the artwork before the doors’ swung open archaically to admit him and his escorts.
--- --- ---
Supreme Overlord Brakiel moved his massive bulk back and forth, pacing another useful habit he had acquired from the Humans, as he mulled over the distasteful choice he had been ordered to make. The Council of Five wisely only rarely interfered in actual Peace Forces operations after ordering them to action. But they had chosen to interfere now. And their order, however unpalatable he found it personally, was one he had no choice but to implement. The Council of Five’s word was law, and if they told him to do something he found repulsive, he would execute their orders without question or comment. He let loose a slightly honking sigh.
“Come now Supreme Overlord,” The female Founder’s wry, slightly gravely voice said from her position near where he paced in the center of the room, “Although it is sometimes bothersome to use tools as low and base as this one, they can prove to be of some use from time to time.”
Brakiel sighed again, but had to nod his assent. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I have to like using them.”
The massive doors swung open and he turned to watch the approaching procession with trepidation, for it was his lot to serve the Council of Five’s wishes.
--- --- ---
Peter passed through the archaic swinging doors and into the presence of the largest Meskeen his limited experience had ever shown him. He stopped himself from doing a double take and forced his feet to continue their measured stride. The Meskeen was a titan, likely near six meters high, towering over him by a decidedly imposing amount. His faintly glistening green amphibian skin was backlit by the glowing green, purple, gold and silver displays that made up the walls of the otherwise Spartan chamber. The only other being present in the room was a female Changeling, but she was staying back, present but not an active participant of what was to come.
“Peter O’tole of the Orion Cartel,” The ancient Meskeen began in his deep, resonating if slightly nasal voice, “I am Pacification Fleet Prime Supreme Overlord Brakiel. You are no doubt wondering as to why you have been called here for a face to face meeting with me rather than your customary handlers.” He stared intently at Peter, his space black eyes boring into him from their frog like bumps on either side of his head. “The Council of Five, the political leaders of the ISC, have fresh orders for you.”
Here it was, the moment of truth. “What might they be Supreme Overlord?”
“Your vessels are to report to the following rally points,” Brakiel said, holding a PADD out to Peter, “where they will join up with Galactic Unity Fleet elements for offensive action against the Terran Empire and Grand Alliance forces.”
The Orion’s eyes went round as saucers. He had worked a lifetime to hide his true feelings from others, but even his extensive experience was insufficient to steel his expression to neutrality. Stark shock, far beyond simple surprise, was easily seen on his face. “You want my Pirates to join you in true offensive operations against heavy naval warships? Have you lost your mind? They’re no warships, their raiders at best, relying on superior numbers and surprise to take down weak convoy escorts. You can’t seriously expect them to take on an actual enemy fleet formation can you?!?”
“I’m sure that an appropriate use that best plays to their advantages can be found for them. In the mean time, I expect them to arrive within the month at the assigned rally points. All of them, for we know exactly how many you have.” The slightly nasal voice resonated within Peter’s very bones, with a definite snap of command born from long experience. “And should you decline to cooperate, there are certain parties that would take much delight in the information we have on you and your operations...” The massive amphibian’s voice trailed off, allowing Peter to draw his own conclusions as to who those parties might be.
Peter’s mouth closed with a click and his lips curled back into a snarl. “You bastard! If I give you all of my fleet, I’ll be ruined. Section 31 is nipping at my heels as it is, searching for the Emperor’s daughter that I handed off to YOU people. Starfleet has managed to scrape together stronger forces for patrols and given the Emperor’s directive against my line of work, bribing them is becoming increasingly more difficult, to say nothing of the other means of getting my way. Hell, even the other cartels are threatening to re-stake their claims to space that’s MINE! And you want me to pull all of my active duty ships to aid you?”
“Think for a moment just who gave you all those ships, all the power you currently possess and covet.” Brakiel’s voice was deadly calm. “We made you what you are in order to serve our wishes. You seem to have forgotten that. You have two choices. You can bring your fleet to the rally points before the end of the month, or you can ignore our orders. The choice is yours to make, but you really do not want the Galactic Unity as your enemy… not knowing what we know of your operations. That is all Peter O’tole, return to your den of criminals and decide.”
Peter snarled, coiling to strike out, his brain awash in hate and terror. All that he had worked so hard to gain, everything, was slipping away from him like so much sand spilling out from between his fingers. The thought terrified him, that he would wind up back in the gutter where he had started from. It also angered him, throwing him into a blind rage against those that would dare use him so. His hate burned away caution, burned away rational thought, feeding off of his fear to make itself that much stronger. But even before he could move, the security detail was on him.
The saurian Pronhoulites were already in motion before he even did more than twitch. Their ‘combat intuition’, a sense that was on the borderline of precognition, told them almost exactly what Peter would do. Powerful mechanical arms wrapped around Peter, holding him tight, letting him do no more than squirm impotently.
“Take the animal back to his ship.” Brakiel said over the incoherent ravings of Peter. “And remember my promise, Mr. O’tole. You know the consequences of choosing not to aid us after we have done so much for you.”
Not all Meskeen are. Just the old ones as they continue to grow in size steadily throughout their lifetimes and don't die of old age. Hence those that are in the 2000+ years old are rather large. Most Meskeen are younger than that though, and are near standard Human sizes.
How big is the Orion fleet? I can't imagine they could provide that much additional assistance to the ISC fleet.
Only ~10,000 ships, mostly cruisers and battlecruisers. It isn't much, especially considering Orion Pirate ship designs (heavy weapons and high speed, but weak armor and shields), but the GU is now facing a much longer campaign against the TE and GA, so they want all their assets mobilized for offensive action, even the minor ones like the Orion Pirate fleets.
White sparks cascaded down like a waterfall of light from a ruptured conduit on the bridge’s roof. The Bortas shook again as a fresh volley of plasma torpedoes struck his drained shields. The main bridge was a cacophony of noise and a flurry of activity as Luza’s finely tuned command crew fought their ship.
“Message from the Flag, Captain.” Luza’s com officer belted out over the blaring klaxons and battle damage noises. “The ISC Battleship Five is weakening and he is ordering us to finish it off.”
All this over a worthless system in the back of beyond. Luza thought, for the skirmish against Galactic Unity forces was about as far away from Qo’noS as one could get in the reborn Klingon Empire. On the Bridge’s wrap around displays a force of about a dozen Vor’cha’s and their escorts were in a furious firefight against a mixed force of ISC and Dominion vessels. The Klingon forces were little better than a very light Taskforce, with nothing heavier than the Vor’cha Battlecruisers. Fortunately, the ISC considered this system just as much of a backwater as the Klingons did. They had only sent a lone squadron of Battleships and their escorts. Under normal circumstances, this would have been more than sufficient to either burn the Vor’cha’s and their escorts from space should they choose to stand, or force them to withdraw if they wouldn’t.
But fortunately for citizens of the Klach D’Kel Brakt system, the Klingon High Command had dispatched Luza’s squadron of Vampire’s here, escorting a titanic mobile smelter that was supposed to break down the system’s mineral rich asteroid belt into vitally needed supplies for the shipyards near Qo’noS. Replicators could reconstitute nearly anything into virtually anything one needed. But for certain elements and compounds, it was more efficient energy and time wise to harvest them the old fashioned way by taking them directly from their natural sources. Luza’s squadron’s presence tilted the odds ever so slightly in the system defender’s favor.
But even that would have been insufficient to stop the Galactic Union forces given the extended range of their PPD and their STL speed advantage. But the mobile smelter’s Captain had volunteered to act as bait to lure the GU forces in close enough that they could be targeted by the Klingon’s shorter ranged weapons. It was a truly selfless act, one worthy of song, for if the battle failed to pan out in the Klingon’s favor, the smelter’s captain would go down with his ship rather than surrender it to the GU. With the mammoth smelter presenting a near impossibly fat target, the GU forces had set off after it and the EW drones operating in concert with it. With them pretending to be the smelter’s escorting warships, the GU had closed steadily, unaware that the real warships were lying doggo under their passive stealth systems nearly directly in their path.
The initial strikes had hammered the GU Battleships hard, the Klingon vessels erupting into action from their hidden positions with guns blazing. They had even managed to get in under the GU’s PPD minimum range, and although the potent phasers and plasma torpedo batteries the ISC ships housed spat back answering volleys of their own, two were quickly cut down to size by the Vampire’s Maulers. After that, the two opposing formations actually interpenetrated one another and combat devolved into a swirling melee of frantically maneuvering capital ships as precise fleet formation became a detriment rather than an asset.
“Gunnery, target Battleship Five.” Luza ordered. “Order the Kirom and the Sompek to attack as well on their next passes.” As she finished, her command shuddered again as a fresh volley of phased polaron beams slammed into his shields as the Jem’Hadar attack craft struggled to down her weakening shields. With a final torrent of emerald bolts, the Bortas broke off pursuit of the now expanding cloud of wreckage that had once been a Jem’Hadar attack craft to begin a run against the Battleship. Or rather the quartet of Battleships, as the ISC warship had deployed three EW drones and all were swarming in helix patterns around their base course.
Streams of brilliant green splinters of energy spat from their emplacements, connecting with the false signatures as well as the actual Battleship. The EW drones faked battle damage quite well, but the range was far to short for the deception to fool Luza’s sensors. Bortas’ CIC near instantly sent targeting updates to the rest of the Klingon ships, letting them know which ship was the true target.
Phaser and polaron beams cris-crossed with disruptors on the forward viewer, creating a cacophony of visual stimuli, but Luza tuned it all out. Her attention was focused on the soon to be dead Battleship. He was maneuvering with ever erg of impulse speed he could get. As maneuverable as Klingon designs were, the ISC Battleship was noticeably fleeter on the helm than something his size had any right to be.
“Mauler charged!” Her weapons officer shouted across the orange hued bridge
“Fire!” Luza replied at once, her upraised, leather gloved fist closing tightly.
A lance of silver appeared between her command and her target. It blew threw the Battleship’s weakened aft shields and bulled forcefully through the hull to explode out the other side. Even as he began to spiral away from the point of attack, a fresh assault clobbered him from his ventral side as the Kirom and the Sompek opened up with shimmering silver swords of their own, wreaking vengeance down on the GU for daring to attack a Klingon world. What had once been a proud ISC Battleship shattered as secondary explosions consumed what little remained of her hull in brilliant white hot fireballs.
“Captain!” a shocked cry came from across Bortas’ bridge, causing Luza’s head to snap towards her gunnery officer. “Sensors show another Galactic Unity force dropping out of warp! They will be in PPD range of our position in eighty seconds!”
“Bearing and strength!” Luza snapped.
“186 mark 124. A minimum of one wing of Superdreadnoughts and approximately two dozen lesser vessels as escort.”
The bridge went deathly quiet as the new enemy formation size was announced.
“Open a channel to the Flag.” Luza ground out.
“Channel open.” Her com officer replied quietly.
“Sir, we must withdraw.”
The voice on the other end of the com let loose a stream of colorful curses. “Agreed.” Luza finally heard his growling voice snarl back. For a heart wrenching moment, she had worried that his warrior heart might have overcome his common sense and reason. “General order to all ships, fall back to the rally point in the Balduk system.” At least all the Klingon ships were light enough to outrun the mass of alloy rushing up behind them. Even the mobile smelter was far enough away that it would shortly exit its nearest warp field inhibitors area of effect. Although the loss of Klach D’Kel Brakt would hurt, it was after all a relatively worthless system in a strategic sense, and the only recently resettled Klingon population had survived for virtually their entire lives under Terran boot heels. They could survive being occupied by forces of the Galactic Unity until sufficient forces could be scraped together to force whatever picketing force the GU left behind out again.
The cost of the system’s now failed defense had also been light, especially if one took into account the tonnage they took away from the enemy even though they took the system. The outright destruction of three ISC Battleships easily outweighed the three destroyed Vor’chas, five vaporized Chava’kals and the plethora of minor and serious wounds the ships on both sides had received. Forming up into their squadron level formations, the Klingon ships accelerated away from the remaining two Battleships, both crippled and in need of extensive repair work before they would be ready to fight again. Fortunately, none of the lighter escorts still alive mounted PPD’s, and those on the surviving ISC Battleships had been to heavily damaged to be useable. It was that which allowed the Klingons to withdraw so easily.
Some Jem’Hadar and ISC Destroyers left their posts guarding the Battleships to pursue the Klingons in a vain attempt to slow them down. They were easily discouraged by the Vor’chas aft weapons batteries and by selective assault by the operational members of Luza’s squadron. Her Vampires cut their impulse engines, coasting onward on momentum alone and using their bow and stern thrusters to bull themselves end for end. Now flying at slightly over full impulse tail first, their heavy forward weapons arc was again exposed to the enemy. Disruptors birthed streams of bolts down where the Klingon ships had just been. Maulers sent out lances of eye tearingly bright silver, and every time they fired, another GU ship died. Kirom even got lucky and scored a hit on one of the now EW shrouded Battleships, finishing it off in a savage blossom of white light and molten, half vaporized debris. Seeming to take the hint, the GU Destroyers threw themselves into even more wild evasion routines that curved them back towards the remaining, wounded Battleship and the onrushing Superdreadnought Battlegroup.
The Vampires and their consorts sent a token barrage after their retreating foes, then pivoted back and snapped their impulse engines back on. They had nearly rejoined formation with the mobile smelter by now, throttling back to full impulse as they fell in around it. Luza settled into her leather command chair, finally allowing herself to relax. They may have lost the system, but at least the had made the pahtk pay in blood for it.
Suddenly, a guttural alarm sounded, causing Luza’s head to snap up as she pivoted her chair to face her gunnery officer.
“Contacts coming out of warp!” He shouted. “Multiple contacts!”
Almost against her will, Luza forced her eyes down to her tactical repeater. Superdreadnoughts. Dozens of them, coming out of warp all across their path, their careful organization exposing them as a carefully planned ambush. Some of them had light combat damage, hinting that they had been called in from successful combat in surrounding systems.
“Long range fire control sensors detected. I’m picking up energy spikes centered in their PPD’s, their weapons are hot and ready to fire.” Her gunnery officer said tersely.
“Incoming signal from the lead GU ship Captain. It’s an all ships signal.” Her com officer piped up
“Put it up.” The screen came to life, showing the lightly smiling visage of a Dominion Vorta.
“Klingon brothers and sisters, I call on you to stand down and prepare to be boarded. There has been enough loss of life today. Do not throw your lives away in a futile effort to halt our advance. You will see that the peace, unity and acceptance of all peoples that we will bring. There is no need to oppose us. I call on you to see reason and prevent your own destruction.”
Luza spat onto the deck, her leather clad hands straining their gloves as they balled into fists. “Perhaps today is a good day to die after all. Open a channel to the Flag.” Her com officer entered commands into his console, then nodded to her. “What are your orders Sir?”
Second Fleet, ISS Athena, enroute to the frontlines near the Alpha/Beta Quadrant boarder
“Admiral,” T’var’s com officer said, “the Tempest reports that they have detected significant EW interference coming from the Davion system. Far more than could be accounted for by any natural means.”
Second Fleet, the premier offensive battle fleet of the Terran Empire, had been enroute to the frontline of the Galactic Unity’s advance. Once there, the ships were bound to have a significant impact on GU battle plans. 2000 Wraith upgrades and 4000 Excaliburs, along with Athena herself, composed the core of the heaviest Imperial formation ever put into space. Even with tightened spacing, the fleet was a large and ungainly when tucked into one cohesive force. It moved like a snake through slipstream, rank after rank of upgraded Wraiths, Sovereigns and Galaxies ringing the mobile shipyards, hospital ships and fast Marine transports of Second Fleet’s fleet train. While they still were a little rough around the edges (only to be expected with a virtually scratch built fleet), T’var and her fellow taskforce and battlegroup CO’s had instituted an in-depth, fleet wide program of battle drills and sims to hone the massive mace of Second Fleet into a razor edged sword. One of the most promising commands to emerge so far was the ISS Tempest, and as such, she had drawn duty as Second Fleet’s starboardmost guard and sensor platform, scouting along Second Fleet’s right flank. Her position, far out from the rest of the fleet, allowed her to see farther than any other ship.
“Does the Tempest’s Captain have an idea as to what type of unnatural source was causing the interference?” T’var replied with a cocked eyebrow above one of her deep blue eyes.
So far, the GU had been dispersing their strength whenever they could. While this allowed them to attack more targets in the same amount of time, it also spread them thinner than would otherwise be the case. T’var had been tasked with exploiting the enemy’s current disposition, and in the initial stages at least, Second Fleet could do exactly that with ease. If this interference proved to be what T’var suspected it was, it would give her a chance to bloody her still largely green units relatively painlessly.
“He says his tactical department is convinced that the interference is of GU ECM in origin.”
“Hmm…Order the fleet to drop to impulse and reorient to formation Epsilon Four. Detach BatCru Ron 2.32 and Dest Ron 2.61 to fall back to Davion system,” T’var, as her com officer before her, used the ‘correct’ Imperial designation for what the Klingons had once called and now called again the Klach D’Kel Brakt system, “to execute a covert long ranged sensor sweep. Commissar Augustus, if the Tempest’s tactical department’s hunch pans out, we may get a live fire exercise against GU targets.”
T’var’s personal keeper strode onto the raised platform that held her command chair. He was a short but wiry man, with the mass of tight black curls above his swarthy complexion streaked with the silver of age. Green eyes that couldn’t quite mask the coldly calculating intelligence behind them from T’var’s experienced gaze stared back at her. He tried his best to hide the true level of his competency from her, and a lesser judge of character may well have believed him, but not T’var. She was acutely aware of just how competent a watchdog the Empire and Section had saddled her with, and knew full well why. Her covert probes of secure databases, probes she was sure had never been uncovered (for she was still breathing and free), had long ago alerted her to Section’s piqued interest in her.
Fortunately she had been too good at her job, or they were never sure enough, or a combination of the two, for Section to act on their interest. But Julius Augustus’ presence on her Flag Bridge showed her that that same inaction hadn’t indicated that they trusted her. Quite the opposite in fact, they had gotten crafty and saddled her with a seeming incompetent in the hopes that she would get complacent and slip up.
“And you’re sure that the enemy is too weak to pose a credible threat?” His deep yet melodic voice resonated in the expansive Flag Bridge facilities.
“We will not know for certain until the recon elements report back, but I doubt that the ISC and Dominion would commit serious numbers to conquer such an unimportant Klingon world. Even when it was under Imperial control, the system’s lone M-class world never boasted much population wise, and there was never much reason to colonize it more heavily because it was so far from core systems and trade lanes.” T’var shook her head. “Not that even a serious enemy fleet would be sufficient to stand up to Second Fleet without significant fixed fortifications to back them up. The Davion system never possessed any, so I am confident we can overcome any opposition the GU is capable of mounting. But it is always good to be thorough, which is why I detached the scout formation to probe the system first.”
“I see. Very well then Admiral. If the GU forces are as weak as you suspect, we shall engage them at your discretion.”
How so? The TE has a hell of a lot of them afterall, as Steve has said. And given the only way to slow the GU down is to throw ships at them, it's far better to have overwealming local superiority when one encounters the enemy. And since Second Fleet has slipstream, they don't really have to worry about first flight flight GU ships holding the range open. Unfortunately, the vast majority of TE vessels are still only warp drive equipped, so unless the GU attacks a core/important system, they'll still have the edge.
How so? The TE has a hell of a lot of them afterall, as Steve has said. And given the only way to slow the GU down is to throw ships at them, it's far better to have overwealming local superiority when one encounters the enemy. And since Second Fleet has slipstream, they don't really have to worry about first flight flight GU ships holding the range open. Unfortunately, the vast majority of TE vessels are still only warp drive equipped, so unless the GU attacks a core/important system, they'll still have the edge.
just didn't think they had that many wraiths.
Thought they were since the'rey massive huge Super-Dreadnoughts they would be as many of them.
especially since starfleet's so small and weak after the borg.
oh well my mistake.
Crazedwraith wrote:
especially since starfleet's so small and weak after the borg.
The problem isnt the hulls, it having the people to man them.
Heck, Canon Startrek had this problem.
Trained personal is the limiting factor, not the raw number of starship hulls.
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just didn't think they had that many wraiths.
Thought they were since the'rey massive huge Super-Dreadnoughts they would be as many of them.
especially since starfleet's so small and weak after the borg.
oh well my mistake.
Wraiths are the 1.5 km long SD's, which is about double the size of a Sovie, hence not really all that big.
And the TE was weakened byt the Borg yes, but not excessively so and they have largely built their nodal sector defence fleets back up to strength by now. That's why Second Fleet has taken so long to be put together. Defence first, then wory about the offensive side of things. Total population of Starfleet on warships only works out to be ~1.8 billion IIRC. Considering that's not even the population of a single planet in and of itself, having that many ships is easily justified IMHO.
The problem isnt the hulls, it having the people to man them.
Heck, Canon Startrek had this problem.
Trained personal is the limiting factor, not the raw number of starship hulls.
Yup. With replicators, transporters and tractor beams, actually assembeling ships isn't that long of a process in the TE. (their most up to date shipbuilding methods are near the creepy reapair yard from Enterprise level)
It's faster to build a Wraith from scratch (one year) than to fully train its crew from scratch (bare minimum of three years at Starfleet Academy after they meet the enterence requirements).
how much longer until the other 5 bastions are done?
About six years to build them in total (even with the nice Borg enhancements to shipbuilding speed), so they should be ready to go by 2388-89. All have been uprated to Athena spec refit during their construction.
It's faster to build a Wraith from scratch (one year) than to fully train its crew from scratch (bare minimum of three years at Starfleet Academy after they meet the enterence requirements).
How long for the enlisted officers?
Don't fall in to the canon "every one went to the academy"
How long for the enlisted officers?
Don't fall in to the canon "every one went to the academy"
I don't. Only officers (Midshipmen and up) and mustangs (enlisted upgrading their training to join officer ranks) go to the Academy campuses for traning.
Enlisted I'm not certain of (as I have no clue how long they take to become enlisted in RL for comparison). Many could be poached off of the Merchant services save for weapons and other Starfleet only systems. Anyone with info on how long your average and specialist Navy enlisted takes to train, if you could pass that on to me I would be very greatful.
As it stands now, most enlisted are Imp Drones though.
2 months to beat being a civilian out of you and instill basic military discipline.
after that, for any job other than redshirt, probably 4+ months worth of intensive schooling in your job. Could easily become a year or more for the complicated stuff. For redshirt, I mean security personnel another 2-3 months would probably do it.
Quick question HT, The terran empire has subspace weapons right? Is Uly squemish about using them? It seems to me that in the 2nd battle of prescott star if his energy bouy's fuson beams were replaced with isolytic subspace warheads the resulting subspace rifts would cause much greater damage than fusion beams (even if they were suicide overloaded) and would have the added advantage of fucking up any supspace based FTL the supsecunt waves might try to use.
I believe subspace weapons are generally avoided because they can cause many different unpleasant side effects which cannot be controlled or predicted. It would be most unfortunate if the Valley Forge opened a subspace tear which then promptly engulfed the ship in the middle of a fight.
That's why they're outlawed, is because they are dangerous to the target AND the shooter.
Oh, and I'm back
Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
Quick question HT, The terran empire has subspace weapons right? Is Uly squemish about using them? It seems to me that in the 2nd battle of prescott star if his energy bouy's fuson beams were replaced with isolytic subspace warheads the resulting subspace rifts would cause much greater damage than fusion beams (even if they were suicide overloaded) and would have the added advantage of fucking up any supspace based FTL the supsecunt waves might try to use.
1: Yes the TE has subspace based weaponry. Phaser lances and PPDs have a subspace component to them, allowing for increase in beam propogation rates above lightspeed limitations.
2: No Uly isn't squeamish about using them. Its just that nearly all weapons based applications of subspace are HIGHLY unpredictable. While it's, like, 70% likely that the weapons area of effect will be in the desired area, it's 30% likely that that it could pop up else where, possibly even amnognst your own vessels.
3: Subspace weapons are only slightly more potent than their non-subspace bretherin. With no significant edge in yeilds and the uncertanty of their use, they usually don't see much use in fleet vs. fleet combat. They can and are used in destructive planetary bombardments, where they can coast in under ballistic once planetary shields have been pierced.
4: Closing the subsiquent subspace ruptures is a rather tall task, and if many are used in close conjunction near the same time, they tend to combine into one very large subspace rupture that's very hard to close. Having a very large subspace rupture to worry about closing as well as dealing with any fresh assaults with depleted forces isn't a good thing.
Basically, he could have used em, but would have been left with a bigger problem than he had in actuality by going the conventional weapons route. Any (sane) TE officer is very hesitant on whipping out the subspace weapons as a result of the above.
I believe subspace weapons are generally avoided because they can cause many different unpleasant side effects which cannot be controlled or predicted. It would be most unfortunate if the Valley Forge opened a subspace tear which then promptly engulfed the ship in the middle of a fight.
That's why they're outlawed, is because they are dangerous to the target AND the shooter.
Pretty much. On the scale that God made starsystems and the ranges regularly fought at in the TEverse, the chance of having a subspace weapon backfire in your face is fairly small. But most CO's don't want to give the Demon Murphy any more of an edge for things to go wrong than they have to. As such, subspace weapons are largely never used.
About six years to build them in total (even with the nice Borg enhancements to shipbuilding speed), so they should be ready to go by 2388-89. All have been uprated to Athena spec refit during their construction.
