Gratuitous Federation & Empire

 As expected, the Klingons come again. We engage them at the approaches to the curiously-named Bezwell Index, and although we inflict heavy damage, we are forced back to the planet itself. The crew of the Darius  acquit themselves in the way we have come to expect and admire. We are stationed at the far port end of our fleet deployment, just next to a Fast Dreadnought. Our main enemy in this zone is a squadron of D5 War Cruisers, and using Klingon speed and manoeuvrability they cripple our Dreadnought. In return, though, our firepower destroys a D5 and cripples their squadron leader. Elsewhere, the fight does not go well for us as we lose a Heavy Cruiser destroyed and another crippled, in return for crippling an F5C Frigate Leader. Our most telling loss overall is the death of Admiral Shyth as his Dreadnought is crippled. He is replaced by the Terran Rear Admiral Hirva, an accomplished staff officer who is not really an experienced tactical commander. We can only hope that he ...

 The Coalition has arrived again on our central regions with a massive combined force. Partly thanks to financial aid from the Federation, plus our own earlier building efforts, our defences are in reasonable shape. We do not expect the enemy to be able to take the capital itself, but they will degrade our main planetary installations even further - economic warfare, in effect. The CVL Tempest , whose fighter force I command, is assigned to system defence at Kuballus, which is uncomfortably close to Kzinti itself. On this occasion our main enemy will be the Lyrans. We have a good concentration of force here, including the recently commissioned CVA Dreadnought-class carrier Olympus . The fighting is fierce in the first engagements, and then the Tempest  is called into the main line. Our immediate force is very powerful: an Early Dreadnought; a Battlecruiser; and a Scout Tug as well as ourselves. We are off to port from Kuballus, skirting orbit; the main enemy facing us is simil...

 Our forces combine with our Lyran allies to make another mighty effort on the Kzinti home systems. We do not expect to conquer them completely, but rather to disrupt them again after our previous attacks were relatively unsuccessful. This time we have the task of reducing the outer worlds while the Lyrans attack towards Kzintai itself. The campaign is a long one, with many engagements. I sit out most of the initial ones in my new command, the D5 War Cruiser Rapier , but attrition inevitably means that we take our place in the line. My first battle in this campaign is a relatively straightforward pass. The Rapier is stationed at the far starboard of our line as our fleet concentrates in a sweep to one side of the enemy Starbase off to our port. The Rapier  is part of a standard D5 squadron, supplemented to our immediate port by an F5 Frigate Squadron; our heavier vessels are centered more towards the base. They are the ones who mostly pay the price, as we lose a D7C and a D7 b...

 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 offensi...

 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 combina...

 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, ne...

 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 .