Gratuitous Federation & Empire

My new command, the Double Cruiser Ace , is transferred to the Romulan Front to fight as a Federation auxiliary in tandem with another cartel's Heavy Cruiser.  The DCR is a strange and ungainly vessel, an early attempt to produce a reasonably heavy vessel by welding two CR Light Cruisers together. Our option mounts are configured for plasma torpedoes; this will give me an opportunity to see an entirely different technology in action from warfare in the Kzinti or Hydran regions. In the event, our two ships are crippled when we come up against a major Roman command contingent; our sacrifice, however, permits the Federation ships to close against the other Romulans and win the engagement. Definitely a peculiar ship!

 I have to report the loss of my Orion Heavy Cruiser Deathblow  in action over the Hydran planet of Phthah III. The Hydrans are on the offensive now, driving towards their homeworld, and on the way Phtah III is liberated from the Lyrans. The Deathblow  is tasked with protecting a Hydran Tug carrying Scout pods, and the Hydrans use our vessel to absorb the ESG power of three Kyran War Cruisers. One can of course see an ESG ram being lined up, so we are able to abandon ship in plenty of time, but our ship's sacrifice saves the Tug. Our s is in fact the only loss on the Hydran side in the battle, because their cruisers are easily able to mop up the Lyrans in return. This is in fact a typical use of resources by the canny Hydrans; all they lose in the battle are fighters and our Orion auxiliary, while they force the Lyrans onto the back foot and secure Phthah as a forward base.

 The Coalition must have rebuilt their strength and repaired their warships after taking the Hydran homeworlds, because they mount an enormous offensive on the Hydran Starbase that stands between them and the Old Colonies. The little guys fight with an admirable combination of ferocity and tactical cunning as they fight off wave after wave of enemy attacks, shattering the Lyrans completely and mangling the Klingons as well. My cruiser the Deathblow  takes part in two engagements, strangely enough on both occasions facing off against other mercenaries. The first one is a newly-built Battlecruiser, the first time I have seen one of those. Our ship of course comes off the worse, but the exchange is followed up by a hail of hellbores from a Hydran cruiser squadron with full fighter support; the enemy drifts off, crippled. We are not so fortunate in our second fight, where again we are met with another Orion vessel, this time a CR Cruiser, and the shoe is on the other foot. We win ...

 ... well, something like that. When I started to run some ship captain biographies as part of keeping my interest going, I half expected a couple of them to end up on opposing sides. At one point I had the bright idea of including a survivor from a neutral planet, Kooth the Bird Man, who ends up working as an Orion mercenary. The vagaries of space fighting have meant that he and my Hydran Hero Astyanax have ended up fighting in the same desperate battles at the last remaining Hydran Starbase before Hydrax against the Klingons. My imagination is telling me that after Kooth's rather grand entrance uncloaking an Orion CA and saving some Hydran ships, he and Astyanax would get together in the Starbase bar for some comradeship before heading out to war again. Kooth actually has a good experience in this campaign. The Hydrans are really up against it, and when his CA was repaired after its bruising encounter with a Lyran police flotilla, I rolled randomly to see where he would be deploy...

 My first engagement as an officer on the Orion Heavy Cruiser Deathblow  is an education in itself. We are patrolling behind the Lyran front lines, picking off some easy targets from their logistical support network, when we are attacked by two Lyran Police Corvettes. The result is nasty; they simply close and ram us with their ESG fields. It does not look as though they expect to survive the fight, and are determined to do as much damage to us as they possibly can - perhaps they knew there was an Orion in the vicinity, just not which one. ESG fields are not affected by our ECM signature. The Deathblow  is crippled in the exchange, and we take large numbers of casualties among the crew; my mate Zriewk and the renegade Lyran Captain of our ship are both killed. This makes me the newly promoted Captain. In addition, according to the customs of my people, I now carry the burden and joy of Zriewk's responsibilities, so making me effective a member of our Ruling Council, if an...

 The day after our forces and government have been dismissed by Klingon Commodore Uklik, I receive a surprise visit. I am somewhat at a loss because of the sudden capture of our beloved home world, even though it is only to be expected in the midst of a Great War between the Kzinti and their Coalition enemies. Former Council Member Zriewk, sister of the deceased pilot Sqiath, calls on me. She is the youngest person ever to be elected to our Democratic Council, and her sheer ability led to her being tipped by many as a future Leader. All that, of course, is now a dream at best. She has an interesting proposal for me - two, in fact. "I'll get down to business," she says, in the straightforward manner of our people. "I mourn Sqiath, but I am also realistic. I have been approached by a representative of the Daven Cartel. They are offering places to any of our personnel who might like to become mercenaries against the Coalition and, perhaps, the Kzinti."  "I mus...

 A few days after the Kzinti leave, the Klingons arrive. To be honest, I am surprised that they did not immediately take over our beloved home world, but when they do turn up it quickly becomes apparent that someone has been putting a lot of thought into their occupation. Our military, such as it is, have decided unanimously to present ourselves in full dress uniform, massed in parade in front of the dais on which is gathered our Democratic Council. The first Klingon to set foot on the soil of Zursk is the Klingon Commodore himself, Uklik. He is followed by a seemingly unending procession of shuttles carrying an entire marine force. There must be more than two thousand of them, disembarking from several troopships in space over our heads. They are accompanied by 200 elite Klingon personnel, and I know enough to realise that this signifies the presence of one of their famous commando cruisers. We wait in silence. Once the Klingons forces have arranged themselves into a parade ground...

 I am Kooth, Birdman of the planet Zursk. I have the distinction of being the only one of our aviators to have kept to his fighter throughout the three space battles in the skies above our planet. The long-expected war of the Lyrans and Klingons in alliance against the Kzinti Tiger-Men finally began with a pair of probes by the Lyrans towards two Kzinti Battle Stations, followed by all-out assaults by both of the Coalition powers. As expected, the Klingons moved a substantial force under old Admiral Or'ok towards us. We know that they have long coveted our planet because its strategic location in the Neutral Zone between Kzinti and Klingon space will provide either power with a useful staging point for further attacks. Our ruling democratic council chose wisely in buying Kzinti defensive fighters, because this means that our munitions and supplies are compatible with the substantial detachment the Tiger-Men send to help us from their Marquis' Fleet further to anti-spinward near...