Gratuitous Federation & Empire

 Here are some snapshots of the situation on the various fronts at the end of Y173. On the Kzinti Front, the big cats are holding onto the capital region. The Lyrans are concentrating their forces to join with the Klingons in another attack on Kzinti with the intention of destroying as much of the remaining Kzinti infrastructure as possible before any recovery can be made. The Klingon NE Fleet has been skirmishing with the Kzinti Marquis' Fleet and the Federation 4th Fleet, which has been reduced to a shadow of its former self.  The Coalition has taken the Hydran capital, but their forces are too exhausted to mount any further offensives. There is a lull here as the Coalition builds up its logistics infrastructure, while the Hydrans slowly repair their large number of crippled ships at the Starbase they built on the route between the capital and the Old Colonies. The Klingons and the Federation have been trading blows along what used to be the Neutral Zone. The Klingon offensive ma

 I am Falcata, dominella  of the Romulan House of Meketo. As a youngling, I showed promise in the area of military skills, especially tactical and strategic analysis, so I was trained in the arts of starship combat. Our people have been preparing for years for war with the Federation, to keep ourselves free from economic domination by those interstellar vulture capitalists. Romulan space is vast, but sparsely populated; we need to buy ourselves time to take our manifest destiny to the stars. Our fleets are composed of three generations of vessels. The oldest are our famous Eagle classes, old designs re-purposed for more modern combat. They have been showing their age in relation to the newer vessels produced by our neighbors; although many remain in service, they are no longer the mainstay they once were. Our relative isolation from galactic affairs has given us the opportunity to study the best offered by our rivals, especially the Federation. While we still rely on a combination of c

 The skirmishing with the Klingons continues at the Bezwell Index as they try to retake the planet. Our orders are to keep moving back and forth in this region in an attempt to keep the enemy off balance. Now that the Romulans have joined the war on their side, we cannot allow the Klingons the luxury of a stress-free buildup on our spinward border. Any new construction from the main Federation shipyards will be going to the Romulan Front, but even so it probably will not be enough to stop them destroying large amounts of our military infrastructure. Rumor even has it that a second CVA group has been rushed in that direction. Bezwell Index In any case, the next series of combats at the Bezwell Index sees us engage the Klingons twice - once on the approaches to the planet, and again in orbit. They have superior resources, so we are forced to retreat again. We do, though, inflict considerable grief, including two D6CV carriers crippled. As the fleet gathers at the rendezvous point, new or

 The 2nd Fleet is ordered to contest the planet known as the Bezwell Index again, with the intention of hurting the Klingon Southern Fleet. It will be even better if we can eject them. The Darius  is one of a flotilla of three destroyers, and I take part in two engagements, one at the approaches to the plant and one in the space near it. The Klingons seem strangely unwilling to contest too heavily, and all we lose is a Heavy Cruiser crippled on the way in, and one of our other Destroyers crippled by a D5 War Cruiser in orbit around the planet itself. The Klingons leave quickly. It would seem that they are happy simply to skirmish with us on this front while their Romulan allies make inroads on our anti-spinward border. I have now fought in four engagements as First Officer of the Darius .

 Our coreward spring offensive netted our forces Dimitris, the last planet remaining to the Kzinti outside their main home region. This leaves their Marquis with only a single Battle Station; if we can remove that, we will have driven a substantial wedge between the Kzinti and their Flathead allies. While our main fleet retires to keep an eye on the big cats' central command before we gear up for another series of attacks, a large contingent is left to defend Dimitris against an expected counterattack by the Marquis and the Federation 4th Fleet. My F5C Frigate command ship Axe Leader  is one of them. Sure enough, the enemy appears on the long range sensors, and forward elements of our forces are deployed at the approaches to Dimitris. The enemy obviously means business, roughly brushing aside our screening force and inflicting heavy casualties, including the complete destruction of a Carrier Tug. I then take part in a sequence of five engagements at Dimitris itself before the enemy