Star Trek Star Trek: 477th Squadron Interest Thread

[AndrewJTalon]

Clearly I've been playing too much Ace Combat because here... Is this idea:

In the early TNG era of Starfleet, the Starfighter Corps became a deeply unpopular part of the service due to the pacifistic leanings of Starfleet at the time.

And was often seen as a dumping ground for officers and crew who didn't fit in, were too aggressive, too odd, etc.

So we follow one of those squadrons, TFW-477, the Jolly Rogers, who are based along the Cardassian border. On the planet Valo II, the base called Outpost 444, but better known as “Sandblast Base” for the desert world it sits on, these outcasts and weirdos will learn how to fly and how to fight.

As the region became more conflicted, through the fires of conflict, they will rise from a bunch of misfits... To legends.

Yes, I know: Fighters in Star Trek blah blah blah. We're not having that argument in this story: I've solved it, read the bolded bit before replying like an idiot:

-Most importantly: Every beam weapon in Star Trek relies on some kind of subspace-based technology. Transtators and the like. Which means, just before it fires, it will emit a subspace signal/subspace surge/wavefront. An FTL signal. Which sensors can pick up. This... Will give a ship a warning in the form of where the shot is coming from and where it's going. If it has the right sensors. Granted, the warning will be shorter the closer you are to the enemy ship. But most ships would be too big to take advantage of this unless already on a vector that could take them out of the way. At the same time, the smaller a ship you have, the more easily you can maneuver out of the line of fire. Thus, a fighter could take advantage of this.
So at least for the purposes of this concept, this sensor system is employed by fighters to allow them to survive getting within beam weapon range.

-As Starfleet does have carriers, the doctrine does seem that the capital ships support the fighters and the fighters support the capital ships. The Akira-class packs 15 photon torpedo launchers, after all. The fighters, since they can carry quantum torpedoes (which are very, very powerful), can support capital ships in groups by hitting enemy ships with torpedo runs and harassing them with phaser shots. Conversely, they would also keep smallcraft from getting close to their capital ships. Situations where fighters would act on their own: Scouting and reconnaissance, long range strike missions, close air support of ground troops, and other such duties. The strike missions would be to get close enough to a target to launch torpedoes from a distance, and then bug out. Though naturally, situations where things do not go to plan will come up, requiring ingenuity.

Spoilers: You're going to need a lot of ingenuity.

-Starfleet fighters are overpowered-Capable of wielding the same firepower as a Klingon Bird of Prey at least. Smaller ships can also make more precise warp jumps to close distances and to evade weapons fire. They can even make reverse warp jumps. More easily because the warp field doesn't have as much mass to encompass. In addition, like all Star Trek smallcraft, you can find ways to push through weakpoints in the shields of much larger ships. This will be a crucial ability for dealing with large battleships.

-Transporters are a big part of Starfleet fighter doctrine. You fly close enough to a support ship to beam you more weapons, and you go back into the fight. Or, if your ship is shot up, they'll beam you out and into a new ship. And send you back out. You can churn out more fighters than you can churn out capital ships.

-Stealth missions involving rescuing POWs, gathering intel on superweapons, and dropping off/picking up intelligence operatives will be big parts of this too.

This RPG would have a format similar to the Ace Combat games (and some inspiration from Star Fox) but you don't need to have played these games to understand. The main idea is that the Starfighter Corps is seen as a joke or an obsolete service, and these misfits who don't quite fit the Starfleet ideal come into their own when the Federation needs defending again: Against the Klingons, the Dominion, and other foes. Giant superweapon bosses will be engaged. Princesses of planets will be rescued. Gigantic space battleships will be brought down. And our heroes will show that the spirit of the first aviators and astronauts is still alive and well in them.

First few characters:

Squadron commander:

Commander Ther'in “Icebreak” Shran, an Andorian officer. He is a direct descendant of that Shran, and has a number of his traits.
He ended up here after an altercation wherein he actually punched a Vulcan admiral who talked some smack about his ancestor. When they were in the middle of a tense situation with a Cardassian starship violating the border. For the umpteenth time. He was a veteran of the Cardassian Border Wars and a survivor of Wolf 359.

Lieutenant-Commander Serkano “Queen” Rrirr

Caitian female, from Cait. A huge fan of fighter combat and history, she volunteered to be in the Jolly Rogers and is Shran’s second in command. An incredible pilot and the team mother, she is catty and playful but has deeper issues she seldom shares with anyone. She always tries to buoy up everyone else with gentle optimism, as she is content to fly. It is her joy in life. She grew up with a loving family on Cait and talks with them often over subspace. Her specialty is in engineering as well as piloting.

Lieutenant Andros “Bran” Gottschalk. Earth human, pilot and navigator for starships.
Had an admiral for a father, a lot of expectations to live up to. Fairly easy going, likes cards, music from the twentieth century, kind of brash and stubborn. Had a tendency to disobey orders and "creatively" reinterpret them. His ship was over a world in the midst of a civil war. They were ordered to not get involved due to Prime Directive considerations. Gottschalk stole a shuttle to try and rescue civilians at the Federation embassy. He couldn't beam them out so he tried to fly in close enough for them to get aboard. One of the troops below fired an anti-air weapon at his shuttle... But it missed and hit the roof where all the civilians were. They all died, before his eyes. This event haunts him to this day.


Lieutenant (jg) Sufer “Joker”, Vulcan officer from Archer IV, he had a promising career as a tactical officer. He was assigned to the USS T’Kumbra, an all-Vulcan starship. The captain, Solok’s, arrogance and racism towards other races grated on Sufer, and he made several comments about lapses in judgement the captain made. This Solok did not tolerate, and Sufer was reassigned to Jolly Rogers squadron to “train him in proper Vulcan humility”. He is quite stoic (being a Vulcan) but also has a very dry wit and enjoys poker. He has great respect for Commander Shran.

The places:

Valo II
A barely inhabitable arid world near the Bajoran system, this is the base for Starfleet Planetary Outpost 444, or "Sandblast Base". Situated in a desert above the planet's equator, it is a hot, often forgotten place: Even after the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole. It is the basing for TFW-477 "The Jolly Rogers", whose duties are to patrol the Demilitarized Zone for pirate, Maquis, and other hostile activity. They also perform search and rescue, deliver supplies to scientific expeditions, and scout to assist in survey and exploration missions.

USS Itano NCC-731982
An Akira-class heavy cruiser/escort carrier the 477th is often attached to before and during the Dominion War for strike operations, escort missions, and other duties as required. The captain, one Charles Glenn, is an old friend of Shran's.

And the fighters/smallcraft for use (Some canon, some not):

Peregrine-class Attack Fighter

DeviantArt

Valkyrie-class Aerospace Superiority Fighter

DeviantArt

Gryphon-class Heavy Strike Fighter

Gryphon-Class Heavy Fighter ortho [new]

Danube-class Runabout

DeviantArt

Phoenix-class Light Strike Fighter

DeviantArt

Caitian Stalker-class Stealth Fighter

DeviantArt

Aeroshuttle-class Runabout

Aeroshuttle class ortho

Klingon NIyma-class Warp Raider

Klingon Warp Raider Overview | Star Trek: Theurgy

Klingon To’duj Fighter

Fighter - To'duj

NuQ’Duj-class Scout

NuQ'Duj class

Type-10 Shuttlepod

DeviantArt

Argo-type Assault Shuttle

DeviantArt

MACO Rapier-class Assault Shuttle

MACO Rapier Class Assault Shuttle ortho [1] [new]

So. Who's interested?

 

[Harlock]

I'll do it

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

Sounds awesome, already got a character idea.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Sweet! Of course, another big part of this is restoring the honor of the Starfleet Ground Forces-Called Marines or MACOs. If anything's been more neglected during the Pacifist Starfleet Period than the Starfighter Corps, it would be the ground forces.

Sourcing from STvsSW.net, here is an assessment of a starship to act as a troop carrying vehicle:

Of course, they wouldn't really need to have dedicated troop transports at Cardassia, except perhaps to prevent large ships like the Galaxy Class from having to do everything. After all, the total Galaxy volume is about 5,800,000m³. Per each of the 42 decks, we'd have an average of about 138,000m³. Of course, we're still working in three dimensions, so we need to excise the height value. If we divide by 3.5m (just as a rough average deckheight), we end up with an average floor area per deck of 39,400m². Multiply by 42 decks, and we end up with 1,654,800m². Some, of course, would be taken up by walls, machinery, tankage, and other similar elements. If 40% is so employed, then the remaining space would equal 992,880m², or just under a square kilometer of room. Not accounting for life support requirements, you should be able to squeeze in several thousand people easily . . . the World Trade Center had about a square kilometer of rentable space and was generally occupied by about 50,000 people.

Mass certainly wouldn't be an issue . . . Intrepid Class ships like Voyager weighed in at 700,000 metric tons, and the Galaxy Class would be at least about 10 times that massive. Thus, if you assume that a Starfleet soldier and his equipment weighed 400 pounds (181kg), then even with 50,000 troops you're only talking about adding 9,100 metric tons . . . a drop in the proverbial bucket. We do know with certainty that the Enterprise-D could carry some 15,000 extra people at least, as per the discussions regarding the evacuation of that many colonists in "The Ensigns of Command"[TNG3]. Given the possibility of 50,000 or more, mixed with the space needed by soldiers for readiness, supplies, and storage of other materiel, up to 15,000 troops and support personnel seems like a decent figure. (The alternate-universe Enterprise-D from "Yesterday's Enterprise"[TNG3], incidentally, was said to be capable of carrying 6,000 troops, though as a battleship her internal configuration was presumably a bit less cozy.)

This is the overall number we'll be relying on. Galaxy-class starships can function as adequate troop transports, and 15,000 troops with all their gear and some ground vehicles is very doable. Alas, they'll probably have to remove cetacean operations-A shame, that.

For more troops of course, there are dedicated transport ships that can probably shuttle along a few thousand as well to bolster the numbers-Stuff like the Jenolen, or transports seen in various video games.

Of course, once you get to the planet comes the next problem: How to get the troops down.

Just for comparison's sake, the Galaxy Class features at least twenty personnel-capable transporter rooms according to the evacuation instructions in "11001001"[TNG2], giving the ship one transporter room per every fifty personnel: "Decks 2-4 to Cargo transporters. Decks 5-10, proceed to transporters 1, 2, 3, and 4. Decks 6-16, proceed to transporters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Decks 17-28, proceed to transporters 11, 12, 13, and 14. Decks 29-42, proceed to transporters 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20. This is not a drill." Assuming six people could be transported every 20 seconds in each transporter room, then a Galaxy Class ship can offload some 360 personnel per minute, allowing total evac in less than three minutes. On the other hand, if we gave Voyager one transporter room per every fifty crew, the ship would only have three transporter rooms. And yet, Voyager beamed the entire Klingon crew of 200 off of their exploding vessel in "Prophesy"[VOY7] in under ten seconds, and did so by way of site-to-site transport to the shuttlebay. Thus, it's possible that the 360 estimate is low-end, or that there is a "burst mode" emergency transport option.

This is however something that could only be done once any transporter jamming technology was deactivated, either by force or by other means. Which means shuttles. Obviously the little shuttles are not going to cut it for this purpose, but we do have a few more robust options.

First is the Argo shuttle:

Spoiler

And when not hauling around dune buggies, its dimensions and overall internal volume probably gives it a carrying capacity of 40-48 troops (A nice round number for sufficient fire teams). It can also carry ground vehicles, though bigger stuff would need to be clamped to the underside. Runabouts are another option:

Spoiler

As they are tough workhorses and can (according to the Technical Manual) accommodate 40 passengers with the right module. And finally, of course, they will have Hoppers:

Spoiler

Journal of Applied Treknology - The Hopper Project

Which for the purposes of this game come in a wide variety of models to provide fire support, evac, and transporter relay duties (among others). They can also accomodate up to 80 people according to DS9's "Nor the Battle to the Strong", but that number is probably an emergency evac situation and more usually would probably transport around 40 people as well.

The Galaxy-class can normally accommodate an air wing of 10 normal sized shuttles, twelve shuttle pods and perhaps three runabouts according to the tech manual. This may simply be for peacetime. During wartime, it may be able to accommodate a lot more smallcraft. So we're going to presume around 10-15 heavy transport craft and a few smaller transports are what a Galaxy-class in a wartime planetary assault mode would carry.

Standard doctrine is: Take down the transporter inhibitors/planetary shields and other large scale defenses first. Using close air support to protect the transports and to soften up a beachhead (or several beachheads). Once established (and through the use of transporter booters and relays), begin bringing down additional reinforcements.

This is of course for a scenario involving a large scale planetary assault. But it's nice to establish basic doctrine for how it's supposed to be executed.

What are some other methods of inserting troops onto planets and orbital installations? Not even in large groups.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Oh, and of course, what every fighter sim needs: Fighters. Let's see what we have to work with, pulled from canon and non-canon sources:

Spoiler

YOYODYNE PROPULSION GROUP PEREGRINE-CLASS ATTACK FIGHTER

The initial fighter for the Starfighter Corps will be the Peregrine-class, a two seater vessel. Originally a courier/scout vessel, it was pressed into service as a makeshift fighter for the Cardassian Border Wars in the 2350s. These vessels flew off the decks of Curry-class carriers, running scouting, escort and strike missions. Up against maneuverable Cardassian and Tzenkethi strikecraft, the Peregrine could be effective at fleet defense of larger vessels, and did provide crucial support to ground forces on border raids, such as at Setlik III. After these conflicts they were literally the only option for the Starfighter Corps. While it comes standard with Type IV phasers and microphoton torpedoes, the Maquis proved they could be rigged with Type VIII phasers and full sized photon torpedoes. These variants with custom upgrades courtesy of Chief Warrant Officer Matsunaga Keiko's genius have become standard for the 477th.

The Peregrine's speed and firepower are not exceptional, but it does have the benefit of being easy to fly and fairly tough. The moment the 477th got their hands on the Valkyrie-class fighters, most of their Peregrines were immediately passed to the Bajoran Militia as trainers and light patrolcraft. For the rest of Starfleet, massive numbers of Peregrines were pressed back into service with the "Maquis Special" for the fleet battles of the Dominion War, as insufficient Valkyries were available at the time. These upgraded "Super Peregrines" had more powerful engines, warp cores and shields. They had some success in combat in major battles, but were not very popular. After the war, they were largely withdrawn from service save as trainers, their duties taken over by a large number of new fighter classes.

TERMINAL VELOCITY VALKYRIE-CLASS STRIKE FIGHTER

The Valkyrie series is the first new, purpose built starfighter in Starfleet service in almost a century, rather than re-purposed scout and shuttlecraft. First begun in 2368, Project Valkyrie made use of technology developed for the Defiant project to make a small, overpowered, and heavily armed strikecraft. It was thought that swarms of such fighters might be effective against the Borg, especially carrying the newly developed quantum torpedoes. However, issues with development made progress slow. It was not until the Maquis demonstrated their success with smallcraft, and the Dominion's deadly fighters, that more resources were diverted to make the Defiant's "Little Sisters" operational. In 2370, the first prototypes were passed to the 477th and other fighter squadrons for testing. By 2372, the ships were verified for mass production, and hundreds began rolling off the assembly lines.

Standard armament consists of six Type VIII phasers, two torpedo launchers, and an ancient technology, "hardpoints", for external weapons and sensor pods. Among the weapons it can carry are: Pulse Phaser Cannons, Tetryon Pulse Cannons, Photon Grenade Launchers, and Tricobalt warheads. It is capable of speeds up to Warp 9, but cruises at a more sedate Warp 5. Unfortunately, much like the Defiant the Valkyrie is not built for high warp speeds. It is however built for high sublight speeds, as well as incredible maneuverability and agility. The Valkyrie Mark I was first delivered to the 477th Squadron for testing and evaluation. Many of their tests led to upgrades across the fleet, while others were left by the wayside. Many of them went into the Valkyrie Mk II, aka the Gryphon Heavy Fighter. The Valkyrie is a two-seater, but an in-line design rather than a tandem design like the Peregrine-series.

More details as I think of them, but feel free to suggest or write your own details for these fighters.

SHREVLEV SYNERGY PHOENIX-CLASS LIGHT FIGHTER

By late 2373, losses of fighters and other ships were mounting for the Federation Alliance. While Valkyrie production had been pushed into overdrive, the limited number of production facilities made getting the fighters to the front lines a slow process. And while the Peregrine-class Attack Fighter, upgraded to Super, was still available in large numbers, their combat record was not encouraging. Starfleet Command issued a requirement for designs for new, easily mass produced fightercraft to function as a stopgap until more Valkyries and their variants could be produced. Numerous designs were submitted, but one of the most successful was the submission by the Andorian-based engineering firm, Shrevlev Synergy. Building on success from their work on the Intrepid-class starship and its counterpart shuttle, the Type IX, their engineers quickly produced a design based heavily on the hull of the Type IX but using lessons learned from the Peregrine-class line. Given the green light, emergency prototyping and construction began and the fighter (called the "Phoenix", after Zephram Cochrane's famous warp ship) was soon being produced in large numbers.

While built with existing components, the Phoenix was not a simple kitbash. The engines and wings were entirely new builds, as were the hulls. The warpcore was an upgraded model of the Type IX's, with Defiant-derived booster technology. Capable of speeds of Warp 9, the fighter is light, fast and maneuverable. Like the Type IX, it is also very adaptable and easily upgraded with a wide variety of sensors and munitions. However, due to the hull it is based on it is functionally a light fighter: Unable to carry the full payload that the Valkyrie or even the Peregrine can mount. It does not lack for phaser power (Three Type VIII arrays and two pulse phaser cannons) and can mount both micro and full sized photon and quantum torpedoes, as well as many other weapons in pods. But for sheer firepower, endurance and power generation, the Valkyrie is the superior craft. That said, the Phoenix can hold its own against much larger and more powerful opponents in groups, can act as an effective scout and reconnaissance craft, can provide close air support to ground troops, and can fly rings around Dominion attack ships. Rather than a competitor to the Valkyrie series, the Phoenix is a complementary vessel that started as a stopgap, but has come into its own as an effective craft that will serve Starfleet for years to come.
We need some details on the ships of our adversaries too, of course. So here are two Cardassian strikecraft the players would have to face:

HIDEKI-CLASS PATROL CRAFT

Building on a long line of smallcraft in use since the 2330s, the Hideki-class is a general-purpose strikecraft that can function in much the same role as the Federation runabout class. Built based on lessons learned from engaging the Federation during the Border Wars, the latest version of the Hideki is fast, maneuverable, and well armed for it's size. It also seems to include some features found in the Defiant-class, speculating that the latest models of the Hideki were created using information stolen by the Obsidian Order.

It can handle a total complement of 30, though more normally operates with a crew of three: Pilot, co-pilot, and weapons officer. It wields four forward-mounted spiral wave disruptor wave cannons and one aft disruptor wave cannon, and can carry ten full sized photon torpedoes. That said: Compared to Federation fighters, the Hideki is lacking in sublight acceleration and agility, and modern fighters like the Valkyrie have more firepower and power generation. The Hideki is able to soak up a fair amount of damage due to its armor, so slugging matches are not advised. They do have weaker shields than Federation fighters though: Precision phaser blasts can disable their shields and allow for a kill shot by a wingman.

MORGUND-CLASS STRIKE FIGHTER

The project that would be named the Morgund-class fighter was begun by Cardassian Central Command in 2370 to develop a counter to Maquis raiders and other such enemies who relied heavily on smallcraft. With input from the then-retired Lurek Tanto, recipient of the Legate's Crest of Valor for his ace piloting in the Cardassian-Federation Border Wars, a new strikefighter program was initiated to complement and perhaps eventually replace the Hideki class. The Morgund was designed with a M/AMR but with a primary reliance on impulse engines for propulsion-Modular Warp nacelles could be installed if the vessel needed them for tactical use or ferrying. It was a two-seat fighter but with advances in AI from the ATR project, could be easily operated by a single pilot. It was meant to be fast and maneuverable, and with six spiral wave disruptor cannons and provision for twenty full-sized torpedoes or fifty micro-photons, would be heavily armed. It was also well shielded, unlike most Cardassian vessels, using technology obtained from the Tal-Shiar during the Obsidian Order's alliance with them. It could also accommodate numerous electronic countermeasures as modular pods: Holographic and sensor decoy projectors, sensor jammers, and other new technologies to allow the fighter multiple roles. A transport module could also be added, allowing it to carry up to 20 individuals in something almost resembling comfort.

The decision to make warp drive optional was a sore point with many in the Central Command, but Lurek Tanto was adamant: Warp drive played a small role in most strikecraft engagements, even against larger starships. It also would allow more of the fighters to be carried by the large carrier vessel the Central Command was building: The Hutet-class assault ship. With this, the Hutet and the project became irrevocably linked together. The fighter at this time also gained its official name, beyond the designation Project 457ATS/H23: The Morgund-class multirole fighter, after a demon from Cardassian mythology. Even after the Central Command was overthrown, the new Detapa Council continued the program in light of the Dominion threat.

The Klingon Invasion of 2372 brought the Morgund Project to a screeching halt, as all military resources were devoted to fighting the invaders. The Hutet and Morgund production facilities were spared destruction, owing to their secret locations in deep orbit around Cardassia III, but little progress could be made. When the Klingons went to war with the Federation, the first Hutet-prototype with a squadron of Morgunds left the orbital yards for trials, and was touted as a sign of progress by the Detapa Council. The Hutet though had many flaws: Its sheer size meant its SIF system was strained to the maximum to keep the large ship together, rendering it underpowered and fragile. The Morgund, while a good fighter, had many systems flaws owing to the integration of so many new technologies. More extensive rework was required, but progress was being made.

This progress was dashed by the Dominion takeover of Cardassia Prime. Gul Dukat took personal control of the Hutet/Morgund project and recalled Lurek Tanto to active duty. With Dominion technological assistance, the Hutet-class's flaws were easily resolved, and the Morgund's integration issues were fixed. The Morgund gained new abilities during this time: Uprated sensors to detect cloaked ships and polaron-based weapons pods. Lurek Tanto demonstrated the fighter's effectiveness in a live fire exercise devised by Gul Dukat-Putting Tanto up against a full squadron of Jem'hadar attack ships.

Lurek defeated them all, duly impressing the Dominion overseer Weyoun. Gul Dukat ordered the Hutet and Morgunds into full production, several of them now part of the Dominion fleet for the war against the Alpha Quadrant: The Morgund proving itself a potent fighter already by dominating Peregrine squadrons with its superior speed, agility and firepower. Launched from their Hutet-class motherships from accelerator tubes, the Morgunds can swiftly enter any combat situation in swarms.

(Yes, the Morgunds are launched from the Hutets like Vipers from Battlestar Galactica. You're welcome. This is also the Hutet below

Of course, more tech specs are on the way. But feel free to contribute your own histories to truly fill out the roster. Next up, we'll be covering ground vehicles.

 

[Harlock]

Josa Toran, Male Trill
Pilot, was at one time a candidate for the Symbiote joining process but due to reasons unexplained was dropped from the programme most rapidly. Found a job flying shuttles for ice mining operations which paid badly and was extremely dangerous given the unpredictable nature of ice fields.
Those skills made him a natural choice for pilot duty after Starfleet requested officers.

Varanin, Female Vulcan
Expelled from the Vulcan science academy for blowing up several expensive labs and removing the roof of her dorm, Varanin is an expert in the art of demolitions. She serves as Weapons Officer attached to Toran and is a master at putting explosives where they need to be. Rumoured to be part Romulan she remains entirely logical, she just happens to appreciate blowing things up.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

And our chief engineer:

Chief Warrant Officer Matsunaga Keiko

A Japanese engineering genius from the 21st century, Matsunaga Keiko was thawed out of a cryopod excited to see her vision of the Future realized! ... And the Federation did not line up with it. She wants Giant Robots and rescuing space princesses with huge wave motion guns from salvaged battleships converted into starships. This Prime Directive granola shit does not move her.

Undeterred, she became an expert in 24th century technology through personal education and enlistment as a Starfleet Warrant Officer: Specializing in engineering! Being a free spirit with a lot of technical skill, she became a bit of a nightmare for more conventional and conservative officers with her experiments. She's hot-blooded and cracked, but she's courageous and believes in doing the right thing! And with the emergence of the Borg, the Dominion and other threats, she may yet see her dreams realized!

Commander Shran personally requested her, reasoning that someone from the era of humanity's last major conflicts with itself would be useful. He underestimated how useful. And he actually appreciates her hot blooded nature and her courage! Her sunny disposition helps with any fear someone might have of her more... Eccentric experiments with Federation technology.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Of course, for the ground forces (The MACOs, or Military Assault Command Operations), they need some help too. And fortunately the canon has the proper vehicle:

The hopper is a type of vehicle that has been mentioned on at least two occasions in Star Trek (once in TNG by Geordi and once in DS9: "Nor the Battle to the Strong"). The overall overall look is based on the unseen Sphinx word pod designed by Andrew Probert for TNG. We envision the hopper as being the sublight workhorse for the Federation and Starfleet, serving many diverse roles including cargo ship, ambulance, agricultural vehicle, planetary surveyor, troop transport, mobile weapons platform, and even a family vehicle. There will be various trailers and auxiliary modules so as to accommodate the above roles.

Journal of Applied Treknology - The Hopper Project

www.treknology.org

Cab Length: 15.5m Beam: 10.5m Height: 5.65m Deck count: 2 Crew count: 2 - 6 Passenger capacity: 4

Full transport (basic configuration) Length: 22.5m Beam: 10.5m Height: 5.65m Deck count: 2 Crew count: 2 - 6 Passenger capacity: 44 troops

History
The Hopper-Class Development Project was initiated in late 2347 as a direct response to the Setlik III massacre and the following outbreak of hostilities with the Cardassian Union. After the first few planet bound engagements of the war, it became clear to Starfleet that the Cardassian forces had developed a stable form of transporter inhibitor, a technology that had until then only known to be used by the Tholian Assembly.

This was the first recorded Federation conflict that involved the use of transporter inhibitors and subspace scattering fields to impede ship to shore and site-to-site transporting of personnel and equipment. It was decided that the existing Type 4, the newly commissioned Type-5 personnel shuttle and the Scotia-class runabouts currently in service, were not up to handling the kinds of heavy loads and long duty hours that would be required for a sector wide conflict that would primarily take place on planetary surfaces instead of in small scale fleet action, the method of battle to which the Federation and Starfleet had become accustomed.

The very first prototype, designated hopper pathfinder (PX-01/SLO) rolled off the fabrication decks of Utopia Planitia in late 2348. Essentially it was a modified N-4 Yoyodyne remote ore lifter with a jury rigged cockpit, enhanced outboard impulse pods and an old Daystrom Duotronic VI processor supplemented by four of the newer M-11 isolinear control microprocessors. The enhanced impulse drive system also included an innovation previously developed for Ambassador-class starships, a compact space-time driver coil to increase drive acceleration and fusion power efficiency, a first for a sub-light only vessel. This gave the craft unprecedented flexibility in speed, acceleration and sheer lifting power under a variety of different mission scenarios, ranging from zero-g troop deployment to mobile ground ops and heavy ordinance deployment.

The models of Hopper include:

The standard transport for tactical operations, the SLT-45 "Grasshopper": Has provision for phasers, micro-photon torpedoes or grenade launchers, shields, and sensor countermeasures to jam enemy targeting systems. It's also got some armor in key places, and hatches on either side to allow for direct fire support from a phaser cannon gunner. In operation it's essentially like a transport helicopter gunship that also has some functions as an armored infantry fighting vehicle thanks to anti-gravs, though a very large one.

Next up is the artillery/indirect fire Hopper, the ASLT-45 "Bombadier". Named for the beetle that sprays super hot liquids at enemies, this model has a full sized torpedo launcher that it can deploy while on the ground. It can accommodate over thirty full sized Photon or Quantum torpedoes, or ninety micro-torpedoes. It can lob the full sized and micro torpedoes with deadly accuracy into orbital space, making them effective anti-starship weapons, or can launch and then drop them almost anywhere on a planet if they have orbital guidance.

And this is the ISLT-45B "Queen Bee", a communications and command and control vehicle. It is usually used by commands to maintain coordination between space, air and ground forces. It is lightly armed with most of its fuselage devoted to communications and sensor systems but has stronger shields to allow it to do its job properly. The same basic model can also be used as an electronic warfare or reconnaissance vehicle with its incredible sensors and jammers.

And of course, there's the medical variant. LST-45M. This has biobeds, medical supplies and sensor suites, and later models have holographic systems for the EMH program. They also have antigrav litters for wounded.

What else is needed for ground warfare? Share your thoughts!

 

[GoldRanger]

I'll give this a shot. I'll come up with a character post in a few hours.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

So, who has some ground combat characters?

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Outpost 444, Valo II, Bajoran Sector

2370

The planet was 'habitable' in the way a hot coffin might be considered a home. Underneath the burning yellow sun and its smaller, red companion, the desert winds of Valo II were kicked up to spread massive sandstorms. Even here in the northern reaches, where the world's small oceans with their bounty of algae kept the air breathable, it felt like a furnace.

Ther'in Shran, commander in Starfleet, bore the heat better than an Andorian should-His world was defined by the cold and the ice, kept warm partly by its sun and more by the gas giant it orbited tugging on the core. The heat of a sun was almost novel to them. Yet the tundra too was a desert, just of a different sort. And Andorians could deal with the harshest environments. It is why they became dominant on their world.

Yet rather than aspects of evolution and biology, Shran was considering the shapes in the oncoming storm-How the wind and air pressure pitched the dust and dirt into strange patterns across its front. He found his eyes tracing them, a faint smile on his lips as he almost leaned against the open hangar door to admire nature's fury. His helmet was snug and secure in his right arm, cradled like a newborn child, as he watched the outdoors.

"Commander?"

He didn't turn from his view. "Yes Ensign Yuy?"

He heard the young man shuffle his feet, nervous. "The Flight Plan has been processed, we're good to go."

Shran nodded. He turned his eyes away from the storm-He would see it again, soon enough. "Good. Let's see how you did on the visual inspection."

He strode across the hanger bay, long legs making Yuy struggle to keep up. He was a young human, out of the Martian colonies, ruddy faced with jet black hair and narrow, almond shaped eyes. A new recruit, still nervous around anyone outranking him or indeed, almost anyone else.

The hanger bay contained a number of fighters-Several lined up on the opposing wall were being tended by maintenance crews and checked out by their pilots. The great chamber echoed faintly from their activity, beeps and soft conversation and a bang from a tool forming a modest background. Their fighter was out, resting on power carts and struts. Shran walked around the vessel, experienced eyes sweeping the craft.

"Tell me the technical specifications," he ordered his ensign. Yuy looked about as enthused as anyone else would be at this, but got on with it quickly.

"AC-104 Peregrine-class courier-er, attack fighter," he recited. "14 meters long, mass 27 metric tons, armed with 3 type IV phaser banks, two microphoton torpedo tubes with 10 rounds each, cruise speed warp factor 4, maximum speed warp factor 6-"

"Enough," Shran ordered, and the ensign stopped in a verbal stumble. He nodded. "The basics, yes. Always decent to have if you're a ten year old boy muttering trivia. What do you know about flying her?"

"Uh... I did simulator training and the Academy training craft, sir," Yuy replied. Shran nodded, smiling. Yuy didn't return the smile. Good. It meant he had some inclination of what was to come.

"Then let's call that lesson one."

- - -

The Peregrine usually had its crew compartments arranged laterally-The pilot and co-pilot sat next to one another. The option to arrange them linearly, with the pilots in a line towards the nose, was an option but rarely used by Starfleet pilots used to shuttlecraft and larger vessels. Shran preferred the linear mode-It prevented bumping your elbow against your co-pilot and gave you a better view. So he sat in the backseat, running through the pre-flight checks while Yuy acknowledged each one on the checklist. The little fighter began to warm up and rumble as the warpcore was brought online, and the antigravs hummed underneath them.

"And plasma injectors are green," Yuy finished, his voice muffled by his helmet over the comms, tapping the last few buttons to confirm. His hands rested on the console, and Shran could tell the ensign was glancing at the manual controls with more than a little trepidation.

"Something wrong, Ensign?" Shran asked.

"W-Well, sir... Uh... I've never used... The ships I had before didn't have... Joysticks," Yuy explained. "I know it was an option, but everyone else-"

"Everyone else in Starfleet handles ships that practically fly themselves," Shran stated simply. "This one is little different, but," and here he activated the thrusters, gently lifting the Peregrine off the gurneys and onto its antigravs, "our job requires us to feel the ship more organically."

The Peregrine taxied out of the hanger, onto the thermacrete runway. Large markings in paints were drawn all over it, indicating parking and landing areas. The holographic heads up display turned green, and offered arrows to point in the proper direction of travel. Shran maneuvered the fighter towards the proper runway, obeying the directions. Yuy shook his head again.

"It seems so... Er..."

"Old fashioned?" Shran asked. Yuy nodded.

"Sir," he replied. Shran chuckled.

"It's still Starfleet, Ensign," he emphasized. "We just do things a bit differently."

The HUD turned all green, and the comms channel beeped. Yuy checked it, and nodded.

"We are clear for take off... Uh, sir? One other thing?"

"Yes?" Shran asked, spooling up the thrusters to full power.

"Is there a reason the inertial dampeners are set to..." He nearly choked. "M-Minimum levels?!"

"Yes. Two very good ones, actually," Shran stated. "First, inertial dampeners lower the maneuverability of small starships. Keeping them on the minimum allows us to operate the ships to get every bit of performance we can out of them."

The ensign audibly gulped. "And... The second?"

Shran pushed the throttle to full. The thrusters roared behind them and the Peregrine lifted off-Very nearly straight up like the ancient rockets did. They ascended, screaming through the sandstorm and into the bright blue skies overhead, which soon parted for the vast darkness of space. And through it all, Shran had the ensign's screams filling his helmet.

"If you're hollering that loudly over the thrusters, you're never going to last when I hit impulse," Shran laughed.

It was always fun to break in the freshly molted.

- - -

 

[Battlegrinder]

I'm interested, if signups are still open.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

I'm interested, if signups are still open.

They are.

 

[Spartan303]

Never did a role play before.

 

[Harlock]

like a fic but you can let others do most of the writing

 

[Spartan303]

This certainly seems interesting enough.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

We'd start with some basic writing bits for characters and go from there. Think of it as a Round Robin with dice rolls. You can also take a pre-existing character or make your own.

 

[GoldRanger]

I think I'll go for a human from Mars as my character, pilot.

And Ace Combat is awesome.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Federation Starbase Deep Space Nine, Bajoran Sector


2370


Quark’s was lively and noisy. Filled with the sounds and smells of beverages and food from dozens of worlds. The dabo wheel spun in the background, sapient beings from across the Quadrant hooting, cheering and gasping at every outcome. Soft music from the promenade faintly reached Shran’s ears, as he paused at the entrance to take in the atmosphere and look around. He felt a faint smile curve his lips, his antenna rising to scan around through the diverse cacophony of lifeforms. Turns out, he didn’t need to look long.


“Commander!” A burly human with curly red hair in engineering gold stood up from his table, and waved at Shran. Shran’s smile grew into a grin, as he walked through the crowd in front of the bar to reach his friend. The man reached out to shake a hand… And Shran moved past it just to capture the human in a tight hug.


“O’Brien! How many damned times do I have to tell you-”


“I know, sir, I know,” Miles O’Brien laughed back, returning the hug with only a little awkwardness, “but I can’t just turn it off!”


“You and your love of protocol,” Shran huffed, slapping O’Brien on the shoulder with friendly force. O’Brien returned it, grinning back.


“I prefer to speak with actions, sir,” he replied. “After all, who owes who a bar of latinum?”


“I paid that in full with interest, Miles. You just seem to keep forgeting it,” Shran retorted goodnaturedly, lightly elbowing the engineer. The Irishman scoffed, his grin unshaken.


“Better than remembering it and denying it, sir,” he shot back, shoulder bumping Shran back. Shran threw his head back and laughed again, his antenna shaking in mirth.


“Ah… Hem…” A soft voice broke awkwardly. Shran and O’Brien looked across the table. A tall, gangly human in medical blue was sitting there, smiling self consciously. O’Brien nodded and gestured across the table.


“Commander Ther’in Shran, this is Doctor Julian Bashir. Chief Medical officer, Deep Space Nine. Julian, this is Commander Ther’in Shran: Old friend of mine.”


“A pleasure,” Bashir said, reaching across the table for a handshake. Shran took it, shaking hard to the point Bashir almost winced. Still, he held on, which immediately improved the stand of the reedy human in Shran’s eyes.


“Friend of O’Brien’s is a friend of mine,” Shran said decisively. He sat down, Miles following suit next to him. “What’s on tap?”


“Vithi beer, properly cold,” Miles said. He raised up a hand. “Quark! Bring it out!”


A Ferengi in a predictably eye scarring suit emerged from the bustle, holding a platter with three mugs covered in frost. He set it down with an oily smile.


“I’m Quark. I own this establishment. Anything I can get you, please, don’t hesitate to ask,” he said. He added a bowl of peanuts to the center. “Enjoy!” He bowed, and went off to continue his work. Bashir hid a smile, as O’Brien sighed. Shran glanced over at his friend.


“Polite, isn’t he?”


“It’s refreshing. Less time you spend with him, the better,” Miles opined. Bashir took a sip of his beer-And immediately began coughing, some frosted foam left on his upper lip.Shran laughed.


“New to Andorian beverages, Doctor?”


“I-hack-I knew it was chilled, I didn’t know it was frozen,” Bashir hacked out. Miles laughed, as Shran held his own mug up.


“Not quite. It’s below freezing, but the natural antifreeze keeps it liquid,” he explained. He drank it down, draining the mug in almost no time at all. He let out a breath of satisfaction, the concoction washing through him like a refreshing dip in a cold spring. “Haa… Not bad.”


“It’s best to let it warm up a little first,” Miles advised Bashir, who had wiped his face with a napkin. Shran chuckled.


“It’s best when it’s cold as possible, Chief!”


“I like it just fine when my tongue’s not been turned to ice,” Miles replied with a grin. “Now a good stout, that’s heaven.”


The two began debating various spirits they’d imbibed over the years, pros, cons, and embarassing incidents that always accompany drinking stories. Bashir mostly stayed quiet, trying not to seem like an upper class fop out of his element and nearly succeeding. It was silently decided between Miles and Shran to give the doctor a break, shifting over to personal backgrounds. Bashir eagerly took to the topic.


“...Which is when I decided Deep Space Nine would be my first assignment. Which is where I met the Chief here,” Bashir concluded his tale, one beginning with university rather than the start of his life as Shran had feared. The doctor gave them a smile. “So! How did you and the Chief meet?”


Shran let out a breath. It was easier when you knew the question was coming, after all.


“Setlik III,” said someone else. Shran and Miles looked up at the speaker. Another familiar face-A tall, dark skinned human man in command red. Shran allowed himself a smile, one the speaker returned.


“Hello Cal,” he said. Miles rose, a “sir” on his lips, but Calvin Hudson held out a hand.


“At ease, Chief. It’s a bar, not a bridge,” he said. He pulled up a fourth chair, calling for a drink from the strangely eager Ferengi waiter. He ordered the same Vithi beer as the others, and let it sit to warm.


“It’s been too long, Shran,” Cal said. Shran nodded.


“It has been,” he replied. Miles was studiously looking into his own drink. At length, the chief looked up and gave Cal a sympathetic, understanding look.


“I heard about your family, Commander. I’m sorry,” he said. Cal nodded back, and took a deep breath.


“Well… That’s what my assignment is all about: Preventing that from happening… Again.” He looked back at O’Brien. “Have you heard from Captain Maddox?”


“He’s doing all right in the penal colony,” Miles said quietly. He managed a forced smile. “He’s been organizing the work, improved efficiency of the maintenance crews 130 percent.”


Cal nodded back, an equally forced smile on his face. “Never could keep him down. I’ve heard he might be released early.”


“That’s great to hear,” Miles said, his smile less brittle. Bashir looked about as uncomfortable a man could look, but was trying his hardest not to look it. Shran sighed heavily, taking pity on him.


“Doctor, if you need to make your excuses-”


“Oh, no! No, not at all! I just, well, I… Don’t know much. About the Cardassian Wars,” he admitted, an honest answer. “Much less… Setlik III…” His eyes widened. “This… This is the anniversary of it. Isn’t it?” He looked around. Shran and Miles slowly nodded, while Calvin Hudson looked grimmer than usual.


“Yeah, it is,” Miles voiced the obvious.


Bashir glanced at Calvin. The lieutenant commander shook his head.


“I was an ensign on one of the relief ships, after…” He nodded to Shran. The Andorian took a deep breath, his antenna tensed as though looking for enemies.


“I suppose it would be nice… To get the story straight,” Shran said, trying for humor and failing. He took another pull of his refilled mug, letting the cold burn of alcohol wash over his senses. He set the mug down, but didn’t let it go as his eyes focused hard somewhere else. O’Brien had the same far away look.


“I was assigned to the Ibuki, a Curry-class carrier,” Shran said. “I was an ensign, a year out of flight school. We’d been doing routine operations: Disaster relief, planetary survey, a mapping expedition and anti-piracy patrol. Usual stuff. We’d gotten a few distress calls from ships, scared about the Cardies but they were all false alarms. Until this one…”


- - -


USS Ikubi, Curry-class Escort Carrier, NCC-42551


Setlik System


2357


The Curry-class was a member of the vast Excelsior-class variant family, so the corridors and rooms all seemed to call back to the times of Kirk, Sulu, and the other legends of Starfleet. Shran couldn’t help thinking of how they must have felt, when they were newly minted ensigns, sitting in a mission briefing. Did they feel the same mix of fear and anticipation? Did they also sit up, trying not to look like a nervous Zabathu trapped in a pen? He didn’t know.


His fellow pilots, most more experienced than him, were chattering away. Bustling and a bit rowdy. Frii’Kan Hshiu, a tall Betalgeusian, told a raunchy joke that left his Tellarite co-pilot, Agram, and his human wingman, Ivan Nikitovich, laughing hysterically. Selma Cronan, a human female senior survey pilot about to transfer out to a science ship in the Beta Quadrant, was rolling her eyes like the classmate who gets the joke but thinks its stupid. Hrwar Teton, a Caitian, was reviewing his PADD while his tail twitched in what might have been nerves. Eve Sharp, his senior human pilot with whom he flew their ship, was giving him an encouraging smile.


“Ease up,” she mouthed. His antenna twitched, and he sat at attention.


“Yessir,” he replied automatically. Her smile grew, and she reached out to bat his shoulder.


“I mean really ease up,” she insisted. “You’ll give the Skipper a run for his money at this rate.”


“Commander Turix is never stiff,” he replied instantly. Eve smirked, holding his gaze. Shran sank into the seat, trying to untense. Eve nodded.


“Little better,” she admitted. She glanced at the doors, seeing them open. She stood up. “Skipper on deck!”


The conversations and horseplay ended immediately, everyone on their feet and eyes up front. Commander Turix, a tall vulcan with a dark complexion, walked in. As usual for a briefing, he was in full flight gear-suit sealed up and ready, his helmet held by his side. He walked up to the front of the briefing room, and turned precisely to face them all. He nodded, his eyes sweeping the entire room’s complement.


“At ease,” he ordered, and everyone sat down. “We have received a garbled distress call from the Setlik III colony. We are due to enter orbit of the colony in the next twenty-two minutes, thirty-three seconds.” Turix looked to his padd, and pressed a few buttons. The display screen behind him changed, showing a tactical plot of the system. “Long range sensors have verified the presence of Cardassian warp signatures, with large areas of subspace jamming. Concentrated at the L1 and L4 points around Setlik III and its two moons. Enemy force composition is unknown: Operations and the science section suggest the presence of two capital vessels and multiple support vessels, perhaps as many as ten. We do know that ground forces have landed-The distress call specified as much. Communications were lost seven minutes and twenty-nine seconds ago, passive data links were lost ten seconds later.” Turix looked up, his serene expression mildly tensed.


“Based on previous encounters with the Cardassians at other border colonies, you can expect high usage of decoy probes and drones to conceal not just their numbers but to divide our fire. The Cardassians seldom engage our vessels without a numerical advantage, so the captain is already anticipating we will be outnumbered. The Miranda-class destroyer Gral has arrived and is accompanying us as escort: The New Orleans-class frigate Rutledge is enroute at maximum warp and will reach us two minutes, plus or minus thirty seconds after we arrive in high orbit over Setlik III. Our orders are to sweep the orbitals for enemy vessels and engage them, while providing overhead cover for relief forces to make their landings. Do not stray more than 300 thousand kilometers from the capital ships: Cardassians are reportedly good at ambushes. Challenge any vessel that enters the area:”


His voice became… Somewhat softer. “Do not fire until you have visually identified them, as there may be Federation civilian vessels attempting to enter to render aid to the colony. We have already lost several citizens today: I do not want any more Federation casualties.”


“Yessir,” the room replied, almost as one.


Turix looked directly at Shran, and he sat up a lot straighter. “Ensign Shran, you will be my co-pilot for this mission.”


Shran started, his jaw dropping. “Ah-Sir-That is-”


“Lieutenant Raines is still in sickbay from the injuries sustained in the survey mission over Camus II. Lieutenant Sharp has recommended your skills to me and I have found your performance record satisfactory.”


Shran nodded quickly. From the Commander, that was the Vulcan equivalent of high praise and he felt his nervousness ease off a bit. He found himself a bit annoyed by Eve’s smirk though.


“Any questions?” Turix asked the room at large. There were none. “Dismissed.”


- - -


Twenty minutes later, Shran was running through the final flight checks on Commander Turix’s own Peregrine-fighter, sitting in the middle of the large, through-deck hangar bay. He’d gone over everything at least three times, trying to divert his nerves into something productive. He looked up at the sound of a foot on the wing, and nodded in respect to the Vulcan commander.


“Sir. The preflight checks are complete and the outside inspections are finished. We are ready to go,” he reported in as even a tone as he could. Turix nodded.


“Good.” He glanced over Shran’s console, nodding again. “You completed the LCARS interface training, I see.”


“Yes sir,” Shran said, smiling a bit. “I’m sorry if the interface isn’t quite what the regs asked, but-”


“The regulations specify that the interface should be laid out for ease of use. You have done that to make yourself more efficient. Do not apologize,” Turix said, his monotone… A bit more gentle than usual? It was so difficult to tell with Vulcans. Shran nodded back.


“Thank you sir.”


Turix sat down in the front seat, fastening his helmet. “Comms check,” he said over the internal communications system.


“Comms online, showing green,” Shran replied, as the canopy slowly closed, sealing shut with a comforting, mechanical thunk. Turix ran through his own checks, his own screens showing green. The Vulcan commander’s helmet inclined-Almost like a nod to himself.


“Ibuki, this is Bunyip Squadron. Sehlat reporting. Ready to launch.”


“Bunyip squadron, you are cleared to launch. Launch when ready,” the operations officer replied. Ahead, the large clamshell hangar doors slowly parted, the forcefield keeping the atmosphere in glowing at the edges of the portal out into space. Ahead, they could see the blue white form of an M-class planet: Setlik III. And if Shran squinted slightly, he could see the outline of another Federation starship far ahead in a lower orbit.


“Sehlat, I’ve got visual on the Rutledge,” he reported. Turix nodded at his callsign.


“Acknowledged Icebreak. Once we’re out, establish IFF link and patch into sensor network,” he ordered. The Vulcan activated the thrusters on the new fighter, and took them out through the portal with only the mildest of bumps and shakes. They shot out into the black, the shields of the Ibuki dropping just long enough to let them pass, before going right back up again. Shran was in a sea of sensor information, one he quickly sorted through to find a coherent picture.


“USS Rutledge is transporting away teams. No sign of Cardassian ships for ten thousand kilometers… Twenty thousand…Lot of jamming, stand by...” His sensors beeped, and he immediately zeroed in on the source of the report. “Contact bearing 078, mark 225. Speed, one quarter impulse, low energy output. Seems to be on a course for the colony.”


“Bunyip One, this is Bunyip Two,” Eve’s reassuring voice came over the comms link. “We see it too.”


“Hail them,” Turix ordered. Shran sent out a standard greeting, and frowned.


“No response,” he replied, adjusting himself in his seat. The Ibuki made another call.


“Ibuki to Bunyips One and Two, check it out. All other fighters, form a defensive perimeter around us,” the Ibuki’s captain ordered. Turix turned and hit full impulse power, the little fighter’s change in momentum pushing Shran back in his seat. He kept his eyes on the sensors, checking everything he could. He grimaced.


“There’s a lot of interference,” he said. “I can’t localize it.”


“Keep trying Shran. The attack is less than thirty minutes old, they couldn’t have gone far,” Turix ordered, adjusting their course a bit towards the bright star that was the contact. Out of the corner of his eye Shran could see Eve’s fighter-flying alongside.


The star grew into a boxy looking vessel-A Federation cargo hauler, and a fairly large one. Turix hailed them again.


“This is Commander Turix of the Federation starship Ibuki, identify yourselves,” Turix stated. There was nothing but silence. “Turix to unidentified vessel, respond.”

Shran worked to make sense of the confusing readings. It was like the jamming was all concentrated in one area-


“Another contact, 210 degrees, mark 039-It’s above the Ibuki!” Shran shouted, the realization hitting him like a bomb to the face. The vessel in front of them exploded, the flash nearly blinding Shran and the shockwave striking their fighter across the bow like the slap of a giant. Turix struggled with the controls ahead as they spun away. Shran focused on the sensors-He saw new contacts emerging, from underneath the Federation cargo ship, headed right for-


“Bunyip 2! Lieutenant Sharps! Incoming! Bogies, incoming!” Shran shouted. The fighter continued to spin out, giving Shran only brief glimpses of what was happening. Brief snapshots he could never forget.


Dark, amber vessels with glowing red disruptor cannons flying out of the debris and plasma fires of the destroyed ship. Them closing on Eve’s fighter, which was already trying to evade. The same vessels opening fire, unleashing a merciless storm of disruptor fire. The fighter exploding, even as Eve shouted something over the comms-


“Lieutenant! Eve! EVE!” Shran bellowed. The sensors told him the full story, to underline the terrible flashes: Bunyip 2 was gone.


“All fighters, recall, recall! We are under attack! Repeat, this is Ibuki, we need support, we are under attack-!” The captain’s voice came over the comms.


“Ibuki, we respond,” Turix said. “Shran. Shran!” He raised his voice, and Shran’s eyes were dragged from the debris field that was… Was…


“Sir!” He managed. He looked at his screens. “Fighters closing on the Ibuki, from above and below!”


Turix engaged the impulse drive, racing after the Cardassian fighters. Already, numerous fighters were striking at the carrier-From above, while the fighters that had erupted from the transport were accelerating right at her. Only a few fighters had launched, and they were engaging the Cardassians as best they could. Shran briefly wondered why the Rutledge and the Gral weren’t helping, but the sensors revealed the obvious-Both vessels were exchanging fire with large, manta-shaped Cardassian cruisers.


The phasers, already charged, locked onto the nearest Cardassian fighter. Turix’s voice was even.


“Firing phasers,” he stated. The golden beams arced out, striking the fighter. It took the hit on its shields, which flickered out. Another phaser shot lanced through the fighter’s impulse drive, and a plasma explosion erupted from it. The whole vessel was soon consumed, and the other fighters broke out of the line of fire. Turix held back, seeing the fighters turning back towards him.


“Now,” he simply stated, impulse drives at full. He plunged straight for one of the Cardassian pilots, the other fighters attempting to circle around behind the Peregrine. Turix stayed on the course, a collision course. Shran gripping his controls tightly, trying to stay calm, knowing the commander was not suicidal-but who could tell beneath that Vulcan stoicism-?


“Breaking,” he stated, dodging out of the way of the disruptor shot. He swung the fighter around, keeping its nose pointed for the belly of the Cardassian fighter as they shot past. Shran pulled the trigger, and the fighter was raked with phaser blasts at close range. Shran didn’t see it, but the sensors confirmed the vessel erupted into fire as its impulse drives went up.


“Remaining fighters are closing,” Shran warned. Turix nodded.


“Acknowledged. Stand by,” he stated. The Ibuki began to grow in their viewscreen, larger and larger. Phaser and disruptor fire filled the sky as the starship and her flock engaged the swarming amber fighters. Shran saw the four fighters behind them accelerate even harder, their impulse engines burning brightly on his sensor panel.


“Sir, they’re-”


“I see them,” Turix said. He flipped the fighter around, letting momentum keep them moving as he lined up his shot. The fighters didn’t break-They just kept on accelerating as Turix fired phasers.


One beam lashed out, striking the fighter on the lower left. It immediately burst into flames, spinning out along the path of its momentum. The other three though dodged them with barely any effort. So easy to explode, so easy to destroy, but why? Why were these taking so little to destroy…?


“Ibuki to Bunyip 1, we’re launching more backup, stand by,” the captain’s voice spoke in their ears. It was at this moment though that Shran broke through the jamming… And saw just what the Cardassian fighters were carrying.


“No! Ibuki, don’t! Don’t! Keep your shields up-!” He called frantically, but it was too late.


Dozens of photon torpedoes erupted from the Cardassian fighters-An almost beautiful, but terrible display, like flowers blooming and then bursting into flames. Turix, trained on instinct, went to full reverse and tried to take them out of the maelstrom.


“Jam their tracking systems, Shran!” Turix ordered. Even in his shock, Shran fell back on his own training-Turning the deflectors of the little fighter to full, targeting the missiles with as much electromagnetic energy as he could to jam them, fry their circuits-


But they were too close. The photon torpedoes flew true, just as the Ibuki’s shields dropped to let loose another fighter into the conflict.


The first two slammed into the open hanger bay doors, exploding and engulfing the bay in flames. The ship shook as more torpedoes slammed into its secondary hull, many others flying uselessly by, and more explosions began to rock the vessel. From within, plasma fires erupted, shooting out of the bay doors like a great dragon erupting fire into space. Windows, hull sections, entire decks were blown from the sides of the ship, a nacelle hemorrhaging plasma out into the vaccuum. Shran could see people-Bodies, twisted up like puppets caught in their strings, silently screaming.


The other Cardassian fighters let loose their own torpedoes, even as the Federation fighters kept firing on their adversaries, trying to protect their mortally wounded homebase. They too kept jamming away, even firing phaser shots to try and destroy them. It wasn’t enough.


The Ibuki bent in the center of its secondary hull, like a great beast convulsing in agony. Then, it split, the hull shattering as the warp core exploded into a massive fireball. Pieces of debris shot out like shrapnel, and Turix did everything he could to dodge the pieces. He went into dizzying manuevers, flipping the fighter every way he could imagine, the world outside a blur. They were being pelted by projectiles, the shield numbers dropping faster and faster. All the while, Turix continued calmly speaking to Shran.


“Shran, scan for survivors and escape pods. They won’t survive in this. Scan for-”


A piece of metal, like a jagged, twisted sword, slammed through the transparent aluminum canopy like it was made of paper-And right through Turix’s chest. The Vulcan convulsed, sputtering something in his helmet… And went still.


Shran vaguely recalled someone screaming. As though it was someone else. As though everything was a distant, bad dream. But the shuddering impact the Peregrine took from another piece of debris thrust him back into his body, and back into his present reality.


A reality where his ship had been destroyed. His mentor and friend was dead. His commander was dead, right in front of him. His fighter was spinning out of control, damaged, in a debris field. And his enemies…


He could see the fighters closing on him from above. They were locking weapons. He gripped his controls, hard. He fixed his eyes on them. His hearts pounded, as his antenna twitched.


Was this it then? The moment he entered the Eternal Rest? The end of his mortal life and the beginning of another? In such an injustice? In such… An outrage?


It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. It was cold and empty… Shran took deep breaths, not sure how long the life support would last or if it was one of the systems even still functioning. He looked back up at the enemy fighters. He gripped his trigger.


I die… Without dying inside, he vowed.


- - -

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

How do you sign up? Just wondering.