Introducing Rubik

 I am sub-commander Rubik, recent graduate of the Academy on Klinshai with highest honours. I have been assigned as Tactical Officer and second-in-command of the F5 Frigate Axe. This level of posting is traditionally the one made available to the best graduates, and I arrive just in time to join in the initial offensive that opens the war against the Kzinti in conjunction with our Lyran allies. We attack all along the border.

My own part in this phase of the war is rather brief. Our ship is part of a standard Frigate Squadron on the anti-spinward side of the border, quite close to the junction between our territory, that of the Kzinti Marquis, and also that of the Federation. We are under strictest orders not to provoke the Flatheads, instead being ordered to form up as part of the famous Battle Group Blood in a probing action towards Kzinti Battle Station Seven.

Let me explain. Battle Group Blood is the name assigned to an ad hoc formation that is usually tasked with the most difficult part of an overall strategic attack. Our job is to pin substantial Kzinti forces in place so that they cannot afford to leave the vicinity of their station and aid their comrades further to spinward, especially the neutral planet Zursk. The role is crucial because it will stop further Kzinti reinforcements reaching Zursk, allowing our fleet and marines to seize the place as an important staging point for future attacks into the territory of the Tiger-Men. The inhabitants of Zursk are a race of bird-men called Aarakocra in Klingon, and are a space-faring species in their own right. 

Our own force is to mount a probe towards the Kzinti Battle Station, making a single pass as a demonstration, but not to press the attack. This is the kind of harassment operation pioneered by our elite Tholian Border squadron in a series of actions against the Rocks.

In this we are successful. I get my first taste of real combat in style. It is quickly becoming apparent to ourselves, as well as the Lyrans and Kzinti, that smaller vessels of Frigate size tend to be outclassed in fleet actions, so our admiral keeps our squadron of three close to his Battle Tug, in effect acting as escorts to the capital vessel. We deploy out on the rightmost wing of our fleet, with all of the other ships concentrated with the enemy station and fleet to their front - Admiral Drackal is clearly intending to reduce the risk to his main asset. 

As we turn in towards the main area of action, it is clear from my readouts and screens that neither side is achieving much in the initial stages - lots of drones are launched, and disruptor fire exchanged for relatively little real effect. Our squadron of D6 Battlecruisers acquits itself well, vaporising several enemy fighters. A small group of Kzinti vessels detaches itself to give us some trouble - two Light Cruisers supported by a Scout Frigate. Kzinti Light Cruisers are relatively underpowered for Tiger-Men ships, but that is precisely what makes them so dangerous. Each has four disruptors and four drone racks. We take care of their drones, but the Axe shakes with the impact of their disruptors and phasers at medium range. Our No.2 (front right shield) is severely damaged, and things become much worse for use when the station itself opens up on us with its combined Phaser-4s and disruptors. We take enough internal damage that our warp engines become unbalanced, with most damage being inflicted on our right nacelle. Commander Okorgh orders us to go into silent running with the full expectation that some repairs at an appropriate time will allow us to limp back to the pre-set rendezvous point.

My superior turns to me and grins. "We did well, eh? Not every frigate can boast of absorbing the power of a Battle Station. We live to tell the tale." 

Okorgh is correct, and when we link up with the other ships, we find out that they left the scene not long after we did. Admiral Drackal sized up the situation perfectly: as well as ourselves, one of the E4s was crippled and another destroyed - these ships are even smaller than our own, and were ordered to escort the fleet's D6M Mauler Cruiser in much the same way we did the Battle Tug. They paid for it in blood, but they did save the Mauler from being crippled outright. It has taken substantial damage, but then that thing is basically a giant battery-powered cannon with warp engines, and can absorb vast amounts of punishment.

Drackal orders the Axe and the other crippled ship to withdraw all the way back to the Eastern Fleet's Starbase facing the Federation. He expresses dissatisfaction with the performance of our smallest vessels in their escort roles. We are to be repaired and converted to an escort variant of the F5 Frigate; the intention is to replace the diminutive E4 Escorts as they are destroyed one at a time. I welcome the order because it will permit me some time to study our other main adversary. We all think it only a matter of time before the Federation gets involved, one way or the other.