Introducing M'rrr'shann

 It is now time to have a Lyran hero in the campaign. Meet M'rrr'shann, the rather evenly-tempered (for a Lyran!) Weapons Claw of the War Destroyer Dark Fury (Far Stars clan):

I am M'rrr'shann, scion of a minor aristocratic family from the Far Stars colonies of the Lyran Star Empire.  Recently commissioned, I have been assigned as Weapons Claw (i.e. First Officer) of one of the first of the new generation of vessels to be assigned to our Duchy. The War Destroyer Dark Fury caused some comment when it first arrived along with a companion War Cruiser, mostly because the tri-hulls are under-powered when compared with our older, well-trusted vessels. However, the addition of a battery pack has helped solve this problem, and our leadership is curious to see how the new designs fare in combat.

We warp towards the southern part of Lyran space, to work in concert with the Enemy's Blood fleet. Now that the joint Lyran-Klingon Coalition has started to make inroads against the Kzinti, we are all expecting the Hydrans to make a demonstration in force against our border Battle Stations. Many of my kin are rather disparaging of the "Squats" as they call them, but I am concerned. The Hydrans might be small in stature, but their ships are superb. 

I have studied their multiple designs closely, and this has made me well aware of their capabilities. First of all, their fighters are the most lethal in known space. Like most attack shuttlecraft, they have a single small phaser and one chaff pack for avoiding drones - this will be plenty of defensive capability against the few Klingon-supplied fighters we own, most of which are deployed defensively at the stations. However, even though the Stingers are no larger than other, similar craft, the Hydrans have packed their dreaded fusion cannon onto them. Each fighter has two fusions, and each carries two charges. They can fence with them at reasonable range almost like disruptors if they combine the charges, or they can hold them and charge into point-blank range. A few of these will cripple a cruiser!

And that's just the fighters. Their ships are armed with either hellbore cannon or fusions of their own; the latter carry most of the fighters. The hellbore are, quite frankly, vicious. These powerful enveloping weapons can also be used in direct-fire mode, and the damage they dish out is tremendous; the only good thing about them is that they require large amounts of time to build up the energy requirements for them to let loose, unlike our disruptors. The fusion beams are a close-range weapon, and can also inflict huge amounts of damage - but only if they get close enough. The thing is, every ship class has a variant vessel for each type, and it is rumoured that their command ships can carry both, so we never know for sure what we are going to be up against in a fleet battle - and the combination of hellbore cannon at medium range with fusion ships and their fighters probably makes the small Hydran navy the best in space.

As expected, our preparations are cut short and we move quickly to defend a Battle Station against a Hydran incursion, determined to give as good as we get - or at least drive the little sods off as quickly as we can. Our ship's captain, M'Mash, scowls fiercely in his customary smile. Duke M'Muran is leading our force from his Dreadnought, which is, typically, of the earlier model. He has deployed the fleet in relatively tight formation to the port rear of the station, almost as a single unit. M'Mash reckons this is to make the station and its fighters more of a priority for the Hydrans, and also incidentally to give us as many ESGs as possible in a tight space to try to vaporise their fighters if they get too close. I actually don't think the Hydrans will press too hard; they are really only here to make a point.

In the event, I am proven correct, although I find out first-hand that when a Hydran makes a point, someone somewhere gets really badly hurt - or killed. This will be my first real combat engagement, and I am confident in our ship's disruptor capabilities. Our little vessel is designed purely for warfare, unlike the older heavy and light cruisers, the twin-hulled ships that make up the majority of the Far Stars command. Those cruisers were designed for a more civilised time, when we could explore the stars to our hearts' content, and have crew capacity and comforts suitable for long voyages. Even though our ship is the same size as a traditional Light Cruiser, it carries an extra disruptor.

The Dark Fury is assigned to accompany two Light Cruisers, and the commander of our little squadron puts us at point. The War Destroyer costs less to build than a Light Cruiser, so this makes perfect economic sense, although it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. To our port is a powerful squadron of three Heavy Cruisers, and to Starboard is a flotilla of three more Light Cruisers. 

As the Hydrans arrive, it turns out that we are in fact rather fortunate - facing our nine ships are only three destroyers. Knights, by their signatures: hellbore vessels. The majority of the Hydran fleet is way off to our starboard.

The fight seems to last seconds, but in fact it is a whole ten minutes. Our ships tear into the three opposing Hydrans, who take the whole lot at medium range and then leave, heavily damaged. Nine ships and all we did was hurt them a bit! "Watch out for those hellbore ships," says M'Mash; "Even if they don't let rip, they will just use their extra power to reinforce their shields. They make great damage sponges."

Just as he speaks, our screen shows a great flash of energy to starboard. The three Light Cruisers stationed there have just been attacked by two of the largest Hydran vessels: a Tug carrying a Battle Pod, together with some kind of sleek Heavy Cruiser. The Hydrans quickly close the range and then all hell breaks loose. They simply eviscerate a Light Cruiser each and then warp out. Even a hellbore ship has gatling phasers - quad-mounted point defence phaser-3s that, up close, can inflict huge amounts of grief. 

I grin in relief; our shields held quite nicely. I can't say the same for our dead comrades, though.