Planetside - Star Trek

“Captain’s Log, stardate… err… what is the stardate? I don’t know, and my astrologer didn’t give me my horoscope today, so I have no clue. Anyway, this is Admiral Beatrix Janeway of the Federation Federation Dreadnought U.S.S. Star Empire reporting. The Star Empire is heading with the First and Thirteenth fleets on a striking mission into imperial Klingon space. We expect to meet some opposition following the loss of the Tchaikovsky in the system last month.”

Onboard the bridge of the Star Empire, Admiral Janeway sat and stared at her crew. She didn’t know them, nor did she like them. She would have much preferred to have a desk job back in San Francisco, but no… she lost a poker game and was sent off to lead the Federation flagship to war. At least the other admirals said that she had lost the poker game, as she was not actually there. But why would they lie?

Perhaps the most annoying thing about her stationing on the Star Empire was the fact that she had to deal with a new executive officer. Some commanders liked to give their XO’s pet names, terms of endearment and friendship. And Janeway was no exception. It had taken her little time to peg her new XO: Waste of Oxygen.

Janeway looked across at the fool and winced. Why had she been stuck serving alongside Kevin Sorbo?

“Admiral, we are ready to drop out of warp in the Hathban system,” reported the helmsman.

“Good, prepare for the attack,” she replied.

The Federation fleet, comprised of a Federation Dreadnought, Enterprise Heavy Cruiser, two Miranda Light Cruisers, Northhampton Cruiser, Larson Destroyer, Baker Destroyer, and Wilkerson Escort Destroyer dropped out of warp, their warp trails bleeding off like a bad acid trip.

“Report!” shouted Janeway, as if she cared.

The portly Tellarite science officer stuck his snout to the science viewer and squealed, “Many Klingon ships. Many, many Klingon ships. Oooh… some of them just cloaked!”

Janeway sighed. I’m surrounded by imbeciles, she thought, not understanding the irony of that statement. “I was hoping for something a little more descriptive, Lieutenant.”

“Oh, right,” the Tellarite snorted. “There appear to be two K’T’inga Battlecruisers, a single Riskadh Battlecruiser, two B’rel Birds of Prey, and three Ta’Na’Den Logistics Cruisers. Scanners indicate that the cargo holds of the Ta’Na’Dens are laden with dilithium and other rare ores as well as general supplies. It seems to be meant for the colonists on Hathban.”

“Good,” Janeway replied, a half-smile creeping across her face. “I wanted to slaughter those dirty Klingons, and now we get to deprive them of their food as well!”

Commander Sorbo interjected, “Admiral, if all of the colonists are dead, wouldn’t they not need any food?”

“Details, details, you waste…err… are wasting no time with the details. Yes, they won’t need the food. But what of the nutrient-deficient rocks? Won’t they need sustenance as well?”

Perplexed, Sorbo sat in thought, his face growing blanker than usual.

“See, you didn’t think it all through,” Janeway quickly replied. In an attempt to change the subject, she bellowed, “Communications, is the task force ready to proceed with the attack?”

“Yes, Admiral,” replied the comm officer.

“Then let’s proceed.”

The Federation fleet moved forward towards the Klingon position and the planet looming beyond. One K’T’inga and both B’rels had cloaked upon detecting the Federation presence. Their position was unknown. The two Miranda Light Cruisers, Redemption and Trieste, moved ahead of the fleet at high speed to use their sensors to try and detect the cloaked ships.

No vessels were detected before the ships entered torpedo range. Both fleets exchanged torpedo fire, weakening each fleet’s defenses. For the most part the Klingon torpedoes missed their mark, doing little damage in the instances that they managed to hit.

As the two fleets continued to close the damage from successive torpedo strikes became more brutal. The Klingon Riskadh was hit by several photon torpedoes and medium phasers from the fleet, including a brutal strike by the Enterprise-class U.S.S. Tripoli. Return fire from the Klingons heavily damaged the leading Mirandas, damaging the forward section of one and the aft section of another.

Onboard the U.S.S. Redemption, Captain Jonathan Archer watched events unfold on the viewscreen. Why had the Mysterious Man from the Future brought him here to fight the Klingons? He was having a perfectly enjoyable time fighting Klingons in his own time period. Why, even Porthos was able to kill an entire battalion of fierce Klingon warriors! Archer himself had killed scores of Klingons, that is if you count running away scared as a kill. He
did.

Things were looking rough. The Klingon K’T’inga had managed to devastate the forward section of the Redemption. The forward saucer was tattered and deflector shields down. The K’T’inga’s heavy photon torpedo had collapsed their shields, and successive disruptor fire from the enemy’s port batteries had cut through their hull.

If there was one thing that Archer knew it was when to fight. And Archer had every intention of fighting this day and proving to the Klingons that he was a force to be reckoned with.

“Helmsman, set a course away from the battle and run away fast!”

“Sir, shouldn’t be stay and fight?” the helmsman asked quizzically.

“Absolutely not!” Archer rebutted, “If we were to stay and fight the Klingons might lose and I won’t let that happen. I will never let it happen again! Never again!”

The chief medical officer, Dr. Beardy Guy, who had just happened to stop by the bridge approached Archer and took his arm. “Are you crazy, man? Do you need relieved of your command?”

Archer ripped his hand away and replied tersely, “Doctor, I appreciate your concern, but I have already relieved myself. I did that when I saw the Klingon ships, so no, I am not crazy. I am Archer!” Captain Archer struck a pose and then looked furtively about, hoping to see a hologram.

Meanwhile the battle continued to rage. As the Klingon forces continued to close they began focusing all of their fire on the Star Empire. To the Federation forces it became obvious that their center of glory was going to be taken down by the Klingons no matter what, one last act of spite to make up for their own deaths.

Janeway fidgeted as she watched the Klingon ships bear down on their position. Two B’rels decloaked from aft and starboard of the Star Empire and began their attack run. In front of them the K’T’ingas prepared to fire.

What followed was nothing less than sheer chaos. The Tellarite had just reported that the enemy was preparing to fire when the ship bucked in all directions, seemingly as if the entire event was being filmed with a wobbly camera. Crewmen shouted and were thrown in the air, lurching in a multitude of conflicting directions.

“Shields are down on two quadrants, “ the helmsman reported as his panel exploded.

“Give them everything we’ve got!” Janeway shouted.

It was then that an explosion filled the bridge of the Star Empire with fire and light. The whoosh of atmosphere escaping from within the cabin could be heard for a split second before forcefields activated, protecting the crew from being sucked into the void.

In the dust and heavy smoke Commander Sorbo pulled himself out of the wreckage. His shirt was oddly ripped and he thought that his hair looked a bit longer than it had before. As he looked about the bridge he saw the Admiral… or at least what was left of her. He ran to her, to comfort what was left of her in the time she had left.

Janeway looked up into Sorbo’s eyes and said, ”I hate you.” Her voice growing ever weaker, Janeway forced out her dying words, “I would rather be lost in the Delta Quadrant than look at you.” With that she was gone.

Sorbo jumped up and clapped his hands! Yea, a promotion! he thought as he pulled a force lance out of his pant’s pocket and ran to the nearest turbolift.

The hit to the Star Empire’s bridge left the ship completely out of control, drifting aimlessly towards the planet of Hathban. The rest of the fleet continued to move forward, engaging the Klingon vessels. The enemy Riskadh was disabled, its impulse engines destroyed and its shield generator disabled. One of the two enemy B’rels had also been destroyed, further weakening the Klingon forces.

The U.S.S. Tripoli took up the reigns of command and began ordering the remaining Federation ships into attack position. Both the Star Empire and Redemption had fallen out of formation, leaving the rest of the fleet to deal with the surviving Klingons.

It was the Northhampton U.S.S. Thames that scored a devastating photon strike on the lead K’T’inga, catching it just as it was coming out of cloak. Nearly the entire forward section of the cruiser was destroyed by the attack, forcing the vessel to retreat. The other K’T’inga found itself similarly crippled by a rear strike by the Miranda Trieste. The Miranda was successful in knocking out the second K’T’inga’s impulse thrusters and warp engines, stranding the already damaged cruiser in the Hathban system.

Meanwhile, as the cruisers engaged in battle, the Federation escorts leapt forward, concentrating their fire on the Klingon military freighters. The Federation fleet had hoped to capture the freighters and their valuable cargoes, but it was now obvious that, with the disaster onboard the Star Empire, capture was no longer an option. The Klingon freighters had proved to be a menace in their own right, adding their firepower to that of their fellows to eat even deeper into the Federation Dreadnought’s hull.

n
“This is Captain Tyler of the U.S.S. Tripoli to the Star Empire. Please respond Star Emprire.”

“This is the Star Empire,” now-Captain Sorbo replied as he ducked behind a bulkhead. Phaser fire shot past him, impacting on the far wall. “We are currently defending against intruders. I don’t know when we will be able to regain command of the ship.”

A long pause followed. Sorbo took the opportunity to dive for another bulkhead, firing willy-nilly with this force lance, miraculously striking two people with the stray shots.

When Captain Tyler replied, he was furious, “What are you talking about?! No one has beamed over to your ship to attack you, so who in the hell are you shooting at?!”

“Redshirts, Captain.” The sound of someone slapping their face could be heard over the comm channel.

“You idiot, Sorbo,” Captain Tyler came back, “Those are your redshirts!”

“Oh,” Sorbo replied. “I just saw the redshirts and thought they must be hostile. I guess I should stop shooting them, eh?”

“That would be a good thing, Sorbo. Mark my words, if you survive this mission I will see to it that you spend the rest of your years in the brig! By the way, where is the Admiral?”

“She’s dead, sir.”

“Oh. Well, then I take back what I said about the brig, Commander. Good job, and keep up the good work. Kill a redshirt for me.”

“Will do. Sorbo out.”

As Sorbo killed redshirts on the Star Empire, Captain Archer continued to stare vapidly at the viewscreen. The Klingon ships were still there, and against his better judgment he had allowed his ship to move in to defend the aft section of the dreadnought.

“Sir, the surviving bird of prey has moved into our torpedo arcs,” reported the tactical officer. “Permission to fire, sir?”

“Permission denied!” Archer spat back. “How can we be sure that those Klingons are hostile. For all we know they are filled with orphans and baby targs! We can’t fire on them, no way, no how. We must use diplomacy, now more than ever. We can reason with them, I’m sure of it! Why else would Future Guy have brought me here if not to show you the true way of dealing with the Klingon menace?”

“It’s too late to fire on them now anyway,” the tactical officer replied sullenly. “The bird of prey has moved out of our arcs and has destroyed the aft section of the Star Empire and scored serious primary damage.”

“See, there was no reason to get involved.”

“Permission to shoot you, Captain?”

“Permission denied. Do I need to give you the diplomacy talk again?”

The First Battle of Hathban was nearly over. Federation forces were successful in destroying the B’rel before it could destroy the Star Empire. Captain Sorbo was luckily unsuccessful in eliminating the entire crew of the Star Empire.

With their forces defeated, the Klingon ships capable of cloaking did so and beat a retreat out of the system. That left the Klingon’s three freighters to try to make good their own escape from the system. One of the ships managed to warp out of the system successfully, but the other two were destroyed when their warp engines were destroyed while going to warp. The resultant destruction of one of these freighters caused further damage to the Federation Dreadnought Star Empire, which was also attempting to warp out on that turn. The destructive wave of the warp core detonation cut deep into the ship, destroying the already damage sensors and shield generator.

The battle had been won, but at great loss. It would take months for the Federation Dreadnought to make it back to shipyards for repairs. The Klingon colony on Hathban was now destroyed, bombarded from orbit by the Federation fleet. The Klingons would return—in force—to even the score. This was something that everyone present could agree on… or at least that almost everyone present could agree on. Sorbo still claimed that the redshirts were Klingons, while Archer was sure that the whole incident was one big misunderstanding. Janeway was just glad to be dead.

Federation Forces:
1x Federation Dreadnought-Refit
1x Enterprise (Constitution-Refit) Heavy Cruiser
2x Miranda Light Cruisers
1x Northhampton Cruiser
1x Larson Destroyer
1x Baker Destroyer
1x Wilkerson Escort Destroyer

Klingon Forces:
2x K’T’inga Battlecruisers
1x Riskadh Heavy Battlecruiser
2x B’rel Birds of Prey
3x Ta’Naden Logistics Cruisers

Terrain
One hex row on the Klingon edge of the map should be designated as the surface of the planet Hathban. The next hex row out is filled with Strength 2 atmosphere.

Set Up
The Klingon player places his/her forces within 10 hexes of the surface of Hathban. The ships are prepared for the attack, so do not suffer from any below-readiness penalties. The Klingon Ta’Nadens must fulfill their warp delay before they can go
to warp.

Once the Klingon player has placed his/her forces, the Federation player places his/her own forces within three hexes of the opposite edge of the map.

Options
For a fairer fight, give the Klingons a Komo Val Battleship to match the Federation’s own dreadnought. Alternatively, trade the Ta’Naden supply ships for B’rel Birds of Prey.

Victory Conditions
The Klingons will win a minor victory if they manage to disengage two or more Ta’Naden Logistics Cruisers. They will win a major victory if they manage to destroy or force the retreat of the Federation fleet without losing all of their freighters. Any other result is considered a defeat for the Klingons.

The Federation will win a minor victory if they destroy two or more of the Klingon Ta’Nadens, so long as the Federation Dreadnought and at least two of its escorts survive the battle. They will win a major victory if they destroy or force the retreat of the Klingon fleet while also destroying two or more of the freighters.