Federation Commander

MISSION: Black Sails (Y2569---The War Years) (Squadron Scale)
RANK: Commander
ASSIGNMENT: Executive Officer, Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior

LOCATION: Sector 2202, Federation Space

MISSION PROLOGUE:
The Lyrans were having their way with the Kzintis during the very early stages of the General War.
According to Federation reports, the Klingons were ready to join in the struggle as well as the Hydrans, who were ready to help out their Kzin friends.
Starfleet Intel had already indicated major Klingon and Hydran fleet movements all across the Klingon-Lyran-Hydran Neutral Zones.
We were all afraid what this Kzinti-Lyran conflict could develop into.
The whole United Federation of Planets was holding their collective breath.
But we were not at war yet and Starfleet was already sending vital supplies to the Kzintis as decreed by the Articles of Agreement signed a few years ago.
The Federation heavy cruiser Excelsior was escorting three freighters, one large and two small to battle station 2201.
On board each freighter was important repair and logistical equipment bound for the Kzinti Hegemony.
After being unloaded at the battle station, a Kzinti force of ships would pick them up from us and take them into Kzinti territory where the material would be cataloged and dispersed.
The Federation was doing all the lend-lease that it could at this time.
Some members of Starfleet didnt like the idea of just giving the Kzintis, one time enemies now convenient allies, special material.
You didnt know if one day, they would use that stuff against us.
But a deal is a deal.
The Federation also knew that the Klingons didnt like the treaty that we signed with the Kzintis either.
But so far, they weren't doing anything about it.
I didnt know if that was because they weren't capable of doing anything about it or the Organians were still preventing a Federation-Klingon War.
My outlook on this whole subject was getting darker by the day.
Meanwhile, while were escorting this small convoy to the battle station, sensors suddenly picked up approaching ships.
There were two of them and they were moving very fast.
Orion Pirates!
Captain King ordered a sensor scan to see what kind of raiders we were about to deal with.
One was the raider cruiser Free Spirit and the other was the battle raider Silent Shadow.
Both of these ships were not with any cartel, so they were freelancing.
They wanted the convoy and the supplies in the freighters.
The Excelsior went to red alert and we prepared to face off against the Orions.
We would have to wait to see what kind of surprises the Orion ships had, because we didnt know what weapons they would have in their option mounts until they were fired.
However, we would have a few surprises of our own waiting for them as well.

MISSION OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Orion battle raider Silent Shadow decided to attack the large freighter that we were guarding first.
As the Orion ship approached the freighter, the big bathtub opened up with phaser AND photon torpedoes on the Orion ship at point blank range.
Oh...did i forget to mention that the large freighter was really a large Q-ship in disguise?
The battle raider lost its forward shield and took minor internal damage, but i know that whomever was commanding that ship just had a heart attack.
The other raider went after one of the small freighters and did light damage to it, while the Excelsior also opened up on the smaller ship with phasers and two photons.
We didnt really get a clean shot on the Free Spirit because that stealth coating hurt our attack.
Captain King decided to alternate photon attacks during this skirmish.
We did burn damage to the Orion raider but that was all.
These Orion ships had extra phasers and disruptors as option mounts.

2nd Pass:
I guess the captain of the Silent Shadow was really angry at the Q-ship, for it continued its attack on it.
But for some reason, the battle raider couldnt get the right range on it and after firing its disruptors and phasers at the Q-ship, it only succeeded in knocking down the rear shield and that was all.
The Orion raider went after us and killed our #3 shield and burned an engine.
The Q-ship decided to stay after the battle raider and fired all its phasers at it.
The Orion made a major mistake and turned its down forward shield to the freighter and the phasers did moderate internal damage to the Silent Shadow.
The Excelsior turned it's attention to the Free Spirit and our phasers did moderate damage to it as well.
We missed with two overloads though.
Didn't matter as the Orion raider Free Spirit went to warp and disengaged out of the system.
The Silent Shadow, however, was still here.
King: "Prepare to come along side the battle raider! Marines to the transporter room. I want that ship! Tell the Q-ship to transport marines immediately!"
Roberts: "Yes, sir! Helm! Get tractors on the Silent Shadow!"
The Excelsior activated tractor beams and we caught the battle raider.
The Silent Shadow did receive engine damage and it couldnt break free of the tractors.
Roberts: "Captain, request permission to lead the boarding parties."
King: "J.R, you may indulge yourself...but if you happen to get killed, your Orion girlfriend is going to feed me to a planet killer somewhere...if I'm lucky that's ALL she does!"
King had met Kara a short while ago and he thought that she could be the best thing that could ever happen to me.
But he was right!
If i got killed doing this, she would have blamed him, not me.
I went to the transporter room, suited up and prepared for battle!

MISSION EPILOGUE:
When we boarded the Silent Shadow, the Orions had already surrendered and thrown down their weapons.
We didnt fire a single shot.
I went up to the bridge of the Orion ship and instantly arrested the captain.
He was a KID!
He couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 years old.
No wonder his tactics didnt make any sense.
Matter of fact, most of the Orions on the ship were pretty young.
Usually, Orions take out the escort ships first before attacking the convoy's freighters.
But then again, this kid didnt know that the large freighter was really a large Q-ship.
He was taken by complete surprise.
The kid's name was Mort and he was the son of a local pirate operating in the sector.
He wasn't affiliated with any of the major cartels.
I was beginning to think that this was just one big joyride!
Mort was gonna have some serious explaining to do, to Starfleet and to his father!
I think he was more afraid of his father than Starfleet.
I would be too.
A few hours later, the Excelsior, the convoy and the captured battle raider reached battle station 2201.
We discarded our cargo and we turned the Orion ship over to Starfleet.
The Kzinti were already on their way to pick up the cargo and bring it back to the Hegemony.
It was a good thing too, because the Lyran-Kzinti War had just escalated.
Starfleet had just flashed breaking news!
The good news was that the Hydrans were attempting a breakthrough to Federation space to help relieve the pressure on the Kzinti.
They also started attacking Lyran forces!
The bad news was that the Klingons had just invaded Kzinti territory on the side of the Lyrans.
The Second Four-Powers War had now commenced!

CAMPAIGN: Breakthrough (Fleet Scale)
BATTLE: 1 of 1
YEAR: 2569
COMBATANTS: Hydran vs. Lyran/Klingon

LOCATION: Sector 0805

ORDER OF BATTLE:
HYDRAN: RN Loyalty, LN Thought, LN Idea

LYRAN: CL Ransacker, FF Dark Storm Fire, FF Zealous
KLINGON: D5 Rabid


BATTLE PROLOGUE:
The Fifth Lyran-Kzinti War just became the Second Four-Powers War as the Hydrans and the Klingons joined their mutual allies, the Kzinti and the Lyrans respectively.
The Hydrans came upon a very bold plan and they knew that it had to succeed, for the Kzin were being overwhelmed by the Lyran attacks.
With the Klingons joining the fight on the side of the Lyrans now, Hydran Kingdom High Command came to the conclusion that something had to be done to relieve some of the pressure on their Kzin allies.
Sector 0805 was in the neutral zone between the Klingons, Lyrans and Kzintis.
According to the Hydran leaders, it looked like to be a weak spot in the Lyran attack.
Scouts had indicated that only a few light Lyran ships were protecting that area and they would probably not hold up to a decent skirmish against Hydran forces.
The Hydrans also felt that it could be a good starting place to breakthrough to Federation territory.
Starfleet was staying neutral at this time, but the Hydrans were doing all that they could to get the Federation into this conflict, which was going like no other war previously had.
However, some people were saying that the Federation was being held back by the terms of the Organian Peace Treaty with the Klingon Empire, so they were not able to get into this war at this time.
Some other people were saying that the Federation wasnt concerned with the "western front" of the Alpha Octant.
They were saying that the "eastern front" was more dangerous with the Romulans getting top equipment from the Klingons and now they were building better ships.
There was also another matter that just came to light.
The Gorns had sent a report to the Federation of a Romulan squadron that was attacked by a new class of starship that fired very strange shield draining weapons.
The attacker was a star cruiser from the Interstellar Concordium or ISC for short.
There were rumors of Andromedan ships appearing everywhere in that section of the Octant, attacking ferociously and then running away.
It looked like the Federation had other things on their plate to eat right now.
But the Hydrans were determined to get to Federation territory.
Captain Monty of the Hydran Ranger-class heavy cruiser Loyalty, escorted by the Lancer destroyers Thought and Idea, saw a weak spot in Sector 0805 being guarded by the Lyrans.
The Lyrans had three ships, the Panther light cruiser Ransacker and the Cheetah frigates Dark Storm Fire and Zealous, protecting the left flank in the sector.
The Lyran ships were veterans of the early attack on the Kzinti and they were very prepared to fight.
But the Hydran ships carried stinger fighters and the Lyrans knew what those things could do to enemy ships.
Captain Monty knew that this skirmish should be easy, but before he could begin his attack, another ship warped in.
It was one of the new Klingon ships that they had now been building, a D5 war cruiser called the Rabid.
They were a little smaller than the D6 and D7 classes, but they had better shielding, a little better maneuverability, and they practically packed the same punch as a D7!
Captain Monty decided to test these opponents in combat and to see if they could stand up to a Stinger attack.
He ordered the Hydran fleet to begin the assault!

BATTLE OUTCOME:
1st Pass:
The Hydran ships moved in for an early killing blow.
The Loyalty decided to evade the Klingon ship and attack the Lyran light cruiser first.
Taking heavy phaser and fusion beam damage, the Lyran ship was forced to disengage.
The two Lancer destroyers went after the Lyran frigates.
The Dark Storm Fire stayed out of range for the most part and took light shield damage, but the Zealous wasn't so lucky.
A full blast from the Idea's fusion beams wrecked the Zealous and broke it in two.
The Lyrans could not get clean shots on the Hydrans and only did minor internal damage on the Loyalty.
The Rabid, which really didnt close very well, missed with pretty much all its weapons on the first pass.
Monty knew this battle was already over before it began, for he ordered all ships to launch stinger fighters.

SHIPS LOST:
Lyran: CL Ransacker (disengaged), FF Zealous (destroyed)
Hydran: NONE

2nd Pass:
The Lyrans did not want to just give up the fight, but in this battle pass, THEY were the ones that were now outnumbered.
The D5 Rabid attacked the Ranger cruiser and scored very light damage.
It destroyed two stingers though and the other two fighters just did light shield damage.
The destroyer Thought attacked the Dark Storm Fire and mangled it.
The Lyran frigate was forced to disengage.
Knowing that the Dark Storm Fire was going to leave the battle, the other Lancer destroyer Idea, attacked the Klingon war cruiser.
It did minor damage and the Rabid was not able to return fire due to its attack on the Loyalty.
Most of the Hydran stingers on this battle pass were not able to close in to get good shots.

SHIPS LOST:
Lyran: FF Dark Storm Fire (disengaged)
Hydran: NONE

BATTLE EPILOGUE:
The Klingon ship was the only one left and it had no choice but to warp out of the system.
The Hydrans contacted their Kzinti allies and informed them that Sector 0805 was now available to be reinforced by Kzinti ships.
Ultimately, the Hydrans failed to breakthrough to Federation space, but with them entering the War on the side of the Kzintis, the Klingons were forced to pull ships from other fronts.
The Lyrans now had to fight a two-front war, but they were still very confident that they could punish both the Kzin and Hydran fleets.
The Federation still remained neutral, but they did increase lend-lease to their treaty partners on the "Western Front" of the Octant.
The Second Four-Powers War was now in full swing, little did the galaxy know, that it was just the beginning of the greatest conflict in history!