LibriumArcana.Games

March 2381
Three years after the return of Voyager
One year after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis


It has been a trying year for the Federation.

Six months ago, on it's first mission since the death of Preator Shinzon and the Reman Warbird, the U.S.S. Enterprise discovered the a enclave of Borg, left trapped in the Beta Quadrant since the destruction of the Transwarp Hub some six years earlier. In that time, cut off from the Collective, these Borg had adapted, becoming more vicious, more willing to kill instead of assimilate. Their technology advanced, their implants and forms having grown sleeker, more responsive and quicker - the Borg no longer appeared to be dead things walking, but showed a propencity to act and a alertness not seen in battle before now.

It was by luck, that Captain Picard and his crew managed to trace the Borg attacks back to their source - a Borg Cube. In a attempt to carry out their underlying drive and goal; Assimilation of Humanity; the Borg had adapted their Cube, increasing it's size and power till it was the size of a small moon. It was a Super Cube - in a Regeneration Cycle. Within it, gestating, was a Borg Queen. The Borg within only waited for the maturation of the Queen, for her to be ready, before they would strike out, smashing their way through the Federation and Assimilate the cradle of humanity...Earth.

A daring raid by the Enterprise crew, lead to the defeat of the Borg Queen. With the Queen gone, the Borg went dormant. Safe to be studied, or so it was thought.

While Federation scientist traveled to study the super Cube, the Borg adapted to the loss of a Queen. The Many spoke out, and decided on a new course of action. A new Queen was required, one stronger than ever before, one who could show them their weaknesses, and improve upon them.

They chose Katherine Janeway.

As the Federation Equinox-class Starship Einstein arrived to study the dormant Cube, they found instead a trap. The crew and ship fell under attack, the Borg drones killing over half the crew, before finding those worthy in their new view, of Assimilation. Once the crew was one with the Collective, the Borg used the Einstein to travel to Sector 001, and abducted Admiral Katherine Janeway. Once onboard, she was informed of the Borg's choice.

Admirably, Janeway attempted to fight the Borg, but fell to Assimilation. Her body was prepared, the Royal Protocol downloaded into her now Borg mind, and she became The One who Speaks for the Many.

Using Janeway's knowledge of their weaknesses, the Borg adapted themselves further,the Borg onboard the Einstein becoming the Janeway Queen's honor guard - further refined and adapted so that should the impossible happen, they would carry on.

The Super Cube, now finally fully awakened, cut a swath of destruction through the Beta and Alpha Quadrants, destroying instead of assimilating. At Wolf 359, where Starfleet first attempted a fleet defense against a single Borg Cube, over five hundred Federation Starships gathered.

They were swatted away like flies before the might of these Borg. Some few were Assimilated, to make the Many greater. And the Janeway Queen was pleased.

Hearing the call of the Borg in his mind once again, Captain Picard and the Starship Enterprise once more managed to defeat the Borg. The Starship Einstein, the former carriage of the Janeway Queen, was thought destroyed in the final battle over Earth - as the Super Cube was defeated along with the Janeway Queen.


Three months ago, the Starship Rhea, a Luna-class ship, while studying the open cluster NGC 6281, came under attack by thea heavily Borg modified U.S.S. Einstein. Fortunatly, the Cluster was inhabited by a unique interplanetary intellegence, which sent the Borg ship away, and managed to save one of the Rhea's crew from a faith worse than death.

The Enterprise-E was called once more to serve the Federation. TRavelling to NGC 6281, the Enterprise was able to make contact with the intellegence, and, with the help of the former Borg known as the Liberated, defeat the now redubbed Frankeinstein and stop them from being able to obtain the power of the Cluster Entity.

Nearly two months after the defeat of the last of the Borg left in Federation space, with the destruction of the Frankeinstein and the modified Borg who could act without a Queen - thanks to the sacrifice of the former Borg Drone known as Hugh - the Federation thought a time of peace had arrived.

Then came the sudden attacks by two Borg Cubes.

Within a hour, the two Cubes destroyed their targets, one over Acamar, and one over the distant trade hub of Borilia. A security team from the U.S.S. Buccha boarded the Cube, intending to deliver a Multi-Vector Viral Agent to the Cube, a weapon tested on the Borg onboard the Frankeinstein by injecting Hugh, who allowed himself to be reassimilated, which would shut down the Collective once and for all. The security team was cut down as soon as they beamed onto the cube, the Borg keeping the security team's commander alive just long enough for him to see a back-up hypospray of the agent collected from the floor, a few centimeters from him, and placed into a aclove for examination. With the destruction of Borilia complete, the Borg sent a message to the Federation Starship, one which would send icicles into the hearts of those who heard it.

We are the Borg. You will be annihilated. Your biological and technological distinctivness has become irrelevant. Resistance is futile....but welcome.

The last two words to the message was what made the Borg's intent crystal clear. These were Delta-Quadrant Borg. Unaware of what had occured over the past year in the Beta Quadrant, they had taken so many losses to the Federation, thanks to the Voyager, to be allowed to survive, the destruction of one of six Transwarp hubs, destruction of the Unimatrix-01.

The Federation had become a threat that could no longer be tolerated. Before, all the atrocities and horrors the Borg had commited against the Federation - none had been personnal. Now the Borg dared the Federation to do it's worse, and let them know it was coming.

But with these Borg being from the Delta Quadrant, unaware of the victories over the Super Cube and the Frankenstein, with the fury of the Borg as it was now.....what would happen should the Borg discover the fate of it's errant children?

How much greater would the horror unleashed become......



------------------------


1) Characters - Players will create their characters as commanding officers of the ships they choose. All Federation races are open, there is no limit on which race you can play. Be aware they will be the captain of a starship. Your starships will be apart of the 184th Fleet's Taskforce Damocles.


2) Starships - all current era Star Fleet ship designs are available. Players may also create their own ship design, within reason. Discuss with the GM to help refine if you wish to go with a player created ship class.

2a) Federation ship classes include (but not limited to):

• *Battlecruiser - Soverign, Galaxy
  *Heavy Cruiser - Akira, Excelsior
  *Light Cruiser - Ambassador, Nebula
  *Destroyer - Defiant, Norway
  *Frigate - New Orleans, Steamrunner
  *Scout - Intrepid, Nova

3) Weapons - The Federation has uprated it's weapons development over the past decade since the second Borg incursion into Earth space. Weapons systems under development since the time of the first encounter with the Borg, as well as weapon systems brought back with Voyager from the Delta Quadrant. These weapons include:


*Plasma Phaser - a uprated, more powerful weapon than the standard Phaser Array. These turrented weapons are mounted on starship hulls and are designed to give overlapping coverage. The process works by injecting a a shard of frozen duterium into a laser chamber, sparking a fusion reaction. The resulting plasma charge, then travels along a modified Phaser beam as a carrier wave. The large portion of this weapon comes as Direct Energy transfer, thus cannot be "adapted" into irrelevance by Borg shields. Only brute force can beat brute force. Mostly found on larger starships and Starbases whose power plants can provide the immense energies nessacry for it's firing.


*Isokinetic Cannon - a weapon discovered in the Delta Quadrant, but which Voyager failed to obtain a working copy of. The schematics were brought back to Star Fleet, and Star Fleet weapons Development has managed to create a working series. Essentially a uprated Rail Cannon capable of launching projectiles at relavistic speeds that are appreciable fractions of C. Dedicated Replicators provide ammunition for these weapons, which cut down on storage needs. These weapons are primarily found on smaller starships, who cannot meet the energy demands of the Plasma Phasers.


Transphasic Torpedoes - a weapon brought back in time by Admiral Janeway, the Transphasic Torpedoes are the Federation's ace in the hole. Borg shields adapt to the energy wavefront of even explosive weapons, manging to shunt the bulk of the force away from the ships, thus allowing shield life to be extended against barrage. Transphasic Torpedoes delivers a subspace compression pulse exsisting in a asymmetric superposition of phase states. Because such a massive number of variations are delivered at one time, Borg Shield's cannot adjust and adapt for the phase state of the weapon, and while a small portion gets blocked, the greater bulk of the wavefront strikes the target. Each torpedoes transphasic configuration is different, randomly generated by a dissonate feedback effect - and as such, there is no way for the Borg to predict the next torpedoes effect so it can shield against it. They are used sparingly, and as extreme long distance assaults where phasers and isokinetic cannons would not be useful.[/list]

Character Sheet:

Name:
Ship: (Class) (Name)
Race:

Description:

Personality:



-----------------------------------

For User-created ships:

Class Name:
Type:

.:Basic Dimensions:.
Length -
Beam -
Height -
Mass -

.:Crew Compliments:.
Standard -
Emergency Evac -

.:Defensive Systems:.
Shields
Armor

.:Armament:.

.:Warp Speeds:.
Normal Cruise
Maximum Cruise
Maximum Rated


.:Design Notes:.


Example:

Class Name: Ajax
Type: Special Operations

.:Basic Dimensions:.
Length - 110m
Beam - 75m
Height - 25m
Decks - 7
Mass - 2,569,000 metrix tonnes

.:Crew Compliments:.
Standard - 50
Emergency Evac - 400

.:Defensive Systems:.
Standard Capacity Regenerative Shield
Duranium/Tritanium Double Hull w/ 20cm Ablative Armor
Standard level Structural Integrity Field

.:Armament:.
2x Type X Phasers arrays
2x Pulse Fire Quantum Torpedo Tubes (fore and aft mounted)
2x Isokinetic Cannons (fore dorsal and ventral mounted)

.:Warp Speeds:.
Normal Cruise - Warp 5.7
Maximum Cruise - Warp 8.78
Maximum Rated - Warp 9.4 for 8 hours

.:Design Notes:.
The Ajax class Special Operations transport was developed by Section 37 as apart of their "Black Fleet". It is designed to insert a special operations team and give off a minimal sensor crosssection so it can avoid detection. It incorporates sensor ablative hull design, allowing it to cut down the cross section, as well as warp bafflers to disrupt it's warp signiture. It's also made of choclate and gumdrops.

I'll just sit this one out, thanks.

Well I'll bite!

USS Trafalgar
Trafalgar Class

Ship Specifications:
Type: Escort Destroyer

Unit Run: (NX-63280 USS Trafalgar) Plus 5 planned
(USS Stalingrad)
(USS Aboukir)
(USS Salamis)
(USS Actium)
(USS Midway)

Commissioned: 2383 - present

Dimensions:
Length : 170.68 m
Beam : 134.11 m
Height : 30.1 m
Decks : 4

Mass: 340,000 metric tons

Crew: 44, 140 evacuation limit

Armament:
10 x Class IV rapid fire phaser pulse cannon (Eight mounted forward, two aft)
6 x Mk II isokinetic cannon (Four mounted forward, two aft)
2 x Type X phaser bank, total output 150,000 TeraWatts (one mounted dorsally, one ventrally)
1 x Probe launcher/Minelayer


Defense Systems:
Auto modulated energy shield system, 130% Defiant capacity.
Heavy Duranium/Tritanium Double hull plus 25 cm Ablative armour.
High level Structural Integrity Field


Warp Speeds:
(TNG scale) Normal Cruise : 6
Maximum Cruise : 8.7
Maximum Rated : 9.512 for 12 hours.


Diplomatic Capability: 2


Expected Hull Life: 20


Refit Cycle:
Minor: 0 years
Standard: 0 years
Major: 4 years


Notes:
With the eventual success of the Defiant project, and the creation of the Defiant-Class destroyer, Starfleet began to look for other roles to expand its new warship into. One of the specific roles that was becoming more and more important in the middle of a war was that of close-range ship escort. Defiant-class ships were considered to be perfect escort vessels (and incidentally, convoy raiders), their small sizes giving them the ability to pass in and amongst larger transport vessels with grace and ease, and their heavy weapons enabling them to defeat even the most hardened opponents.

But of course nothing is actually perfect, and Starfleet engineers continued to come up with new and innovative ideas for this and many other vessels. One of the concepts conceived of was modifying the Defiant-class ship so as to better suit it for the close-combat high-maneuver combat that escort demanded. When the lives of potentially tens of thousands of Starfleet marines or vital supplies were at stake, Starfleet was willing to consider any possible options.

After some months of testing and upgrades, Starfleet command produced a prototype of their new Defiant variant Escort Destroyer. Christened the Trafalgar-Class of ships, they were externally indistinguishable from a Defiant-Class Destroyer, but their similar look masked the massive modifications undergone by the new ship. The prototype, USS Trafalgar, was delivered to the command of Commander Ivan Kalpov, assigned to the Federation task force assigned to the 184th fleet.

Unlike most Federation ships, the Trafalgar class is a close-range, high maneuverability warship, and nothing else. All systems have been optimized towards this goal, and as a result the Trafalgar, despite glaring weaknesses, is a very deadly spacecraft. Its oversized warp core and enhanced maneuvering thrusters give it sufficient speed to avoid enemy weapons fire at extreme close range, while the remodulated shield system provides it with the protection it needs in the directions it needs it.

Most important though are the Trafalgar's weapons systems. Designed as a close-range escort destroyer, the Trafalgar has NO torpedo systems whatsoever. In exchange, the space and weight normally taken up by torpedo launchers, guidance computers, storage bays, and loading systems, have been completely devoted to phaser arrays and the brand new Mk. II Isokinetic cannons that Starfleet hopes will prove extremely useful against the Borg. Mounting eighteen separate phaser and cannon arrays, the Trafalgar is capable of unleashing lethal punishment in practically any direction, giving it well over four times the firepower of a Defiant-class ship at super-close ranges. The downside to all this, is that the Trafalgar is completely unarmed for combat at distances greater than phaser range, and has no means of fighting while at warp. Given however the role this ship is designed for, that should not prove to be TOO great of a problem, and besides, should the Trafalgar prove a failure, it would be a simple task to turn her sisters back into classic Defiant-Class vessels... not that this will come as a comfort to the crew of the Trafalgar herself.

CHARACTER RETRACTED; SEE BELOW
(left up at DS' request)

Name: Captain Jonathan Augustus
Class: USS Tyr (Fenris-class)
Type: Heavy Cruiser

Unit Run: (5 built, 5 more planned)
(USS Fenris)
(USS Apollo)
(USS Tyr)
(USS Mjolnir)
(USS Zeus)

Class commissioned: 2382

Dimensions:
Length : 680 m
Beam : 290 m
Height : 130 m (210 m including top & bottom nacelles)
Decks : 12

Mass: 610,000 metric tons
Crew: 65 (310 evacuation limit)

Armament:
- 6x Class II Plasma Phasers (turret-mounted, able to focus top & bottom cannon in 180 degree arcs, able to focus the four side-mounted cannons fore and aft - can focus all six to the front or rear)
- 6x Class IV rapid fire phaser pulse cannon (three mounted forward, three aft, used for point defense)
- 10x Torpedo launchers
- 2x Probe launcher/Minelayer

Defense Systems:
- Auto modulated shield system
- Heavy Duranium/Tritanium Double hull plus 25 cm Ablative armour
- High capacity shield regeneration matrix
- High level Structural Integrity Field
- Baffled systems: warp, heat, and energy signatures are 1/4 that of an unbaffled equivalent-sized and powered ship

Additional systems:
- Very powerful and sophisticated sensors (normally found only on science vessels, 1.5 range and resolution as normal sensors)
- Advanced targeting systems (able to accurately track and prioritize 200,000 targets simultaneously)

Warp Speeds:
Normal Cruise : 6.6
Maximum Cruise : 8.98
Maximum Rated : 9.8 for 12 hours.

Diplomatic Capability: 3
Expected Hull Life: 25

Refit Cycle:
Minor: 1.5 years
Standard: 3 years
Major: 6 years

Notes: An outgrowth of the success of the Defiant project, a larger class was already being developed by the time the tragedy of Wolf 359 occurred. This incident helped to hone the design of the ship, bringing it to terrible fruition.

The Fenris class is somewhat unique among most Starfleet combat-capable ships, as it uses the heavy Plasma Phaser Cannons (unofficially nicknamed "Hellbore Cannons") as its main beam armament, rather than the standard classes of phaser designs. This was chosen due to its non-frequency based direct-energy qualities, and refined further as the Fenris class was being designed.

Resembling a Defiant hull scaled up to the size of an Akira class, the Fenris has a longer "nose" than the Defiant class (in proportion), somewhat resembling the Intrepid class's saucer section. It also has larger side nacelles, and two nacelles on the top and bottom as well. The top and bottom nacelles are warp nacelles as well as mounts for one Plasma Phaser embankment each, whereas the side nacelles each have two Plasma Phaser embankments each, as well as being warp nacelles.

The Fenris class is designed to give a target a hard and unrelenting bombardment from well outside their weapons' range, thus providing dependable long-range capabilities to Starfleet. In addition to primarily using its Plasma Phasers as medium, long, and extreme-range weapons, the ten torpedo launchers are designed to supplement the Plasma Phasers as the Fenris class closes on its target, using the short-range pulse phasers as point defense all the while. Thus far, even in trials by fire, this class of ship has lived up to its design philosophies with resounding success, and reportedly has encouraged its designer to next work on creating a true battlecruiser class of war starship for the Federation.

Character Sheet:

Name: Matthew Antony Belkin
Ship: (Modified Akira Class) (USS Thermopylae)
Race:Human

Description:1.8 meters tall, 73 kilograms , Captain Belkin has close cut brown hair and blue eyes. He started his career in engineering and moved up the ranks to chief engineer, then received his own command at the age of 35 when the USS Thermopylae was completed as a test-bed for certain new technologies. It was thought that an engineer would be a good choice for the command of one of the newer ships. This was not something he expected, but he gladly accepted the assignment (especially because he had been following the design and testing of the new weapons systems, there was a rumor going around his old ship that he Squeed after closing the comm channel through which he was offered the assignment, but this rumor is unsubstantiated). He had to put in a formal transfer "request" to flight ops to do it, but it was a formality.

Personality:
Captain Belkin is a very interesting person. He went through the officer academy like everyone else, and thus is very disciplined, and stoic, in the mode of a 19th century british officer. However which officer that is is a point of contention. He is a bit odd for a ships captain. He is calm, approachable, has a keen tactical mind and a good moral sense. Like any federation officer should. But he has several personal idiosyncracies that make him more than slightly odd. The first is seemingly unreasonable paranoia regarding the holodeck. He reprogrammed the operating system to function using Asimov's three laws, with a fourth that removes the ability to turn off saftey protocols, and he cut off the holodeck's connection to the ships main computer. There will be no holodeck takeovers of his ship

The second can only be described as an under current of nerdiness that seeps into every aspect of his command.

The last is unlike many other federation officers, he keeps a log of novel solutions to problems so that the wheel does not have to be reinvented every two weeks. Anything that is broadly applicable that he comes across, he signals the battlegroup and recommends implimentation(he also sends a message to command). For example, if he can do something to the main deflector to boost shield strength, the will keep this modification and recommend others do the same if they can.


Class Name:USS Thermopylae
Type: Modified Akira-Class Heavy Cruiser

.:Basic Dimensions:.
Length: 464.43 meters
Width: 316.67 meters
Height: 87.43 meters
Weight: 3,055,000 metric tons
Cargo capacity: 47,254 metric tons

.:Crew Compliments:.
Standard - 353 enlisted+147 officers
Emergency Evac - 4500

.:Defensive Systems:.

- Auto modulated shield system
- Heavy Duranium/Tritanium Double hull plus 25 cm Ablative armour
- High capacity shield regeneration matrix
- High level Structural Integrity Field


.:Armament:.
x7 Mk II Plasma Phaser (Hellbore) cannons
4 forward(dorsal, 2 ventral capable of firing aft), 3 aft (2 catamaran, capable of firing forward as well), 1 dorsal, 1 ventral, 1 straight aft)
4x Type X phaser arrays. 2 saucer (dorsal and ventral) 1 on each nacelle pylon, used for point defense and special projects.
Torpedo launchers: 15x Torpedo launchers, 6 fore, 3 starboard, 3 port, 3 aft
Maximum volley per launcher: 4 torpedoes
(2 forward, 1 aft, and one each side fire transphasic torps)


.:Warp Speeds:.
Sustainable warp cruise: Warp 9.3
Emergency cruise: Warp 9.8, for up to 12 hours
Emergency speed: Warp 9.95, for up to 10 minutes

Auxilliary Craft
Type 18 Shuttlepod: 6
Type 7 Personal Shuttle: 2
Type 6 Personal Shuttle: 2
Type M-1 Sphinx Workpod: 10
Danube Class Runabout: 4
Peregrine Class Raider: 10
Valkyrie Class Fighters: 20

Both Fighter types modified with Isokinetic cannon in place of their torpedo launchers


.:Design Notes:.

This ship is basically designed to do terrible terrible things, designed to be able to go toe to toe and win against just about any other contemporary non-borg ship before the modification (to say nothing of power multiplication with fighters) the modified Testbed Akira is the death machine that the federation needed, but up until now never had the political will to build.

Havoc, your approved.

rheonix is modifying his ship, so the current one if off the books.

CT, approved as it.

Name: Captain Jonathan Augustus
Race: Half-Human, Half-Vulcan
Class: USS Firelance (Salamander-class)
Type: Heavy Cruiser

Captain's Description: Standing 1.93 meters tall, and weighing 95.5 kilograms. Dark brown hair, slightly tanned skin, and piercing green eyes.

Captain's Temperment: Captain Augustus is the result of an unusual marriage between a Human and Vulcan. His human father was careful to make sure he understood the value of one's feelings, as well as one's reason - making the two move in harmony within him was to be his personal challenge. His mother helped him to find peace within him, wherever he might be. This combination made Jonathan a thoughtful and very intelligent young man, with a natural gift for tactics.

Encouraged by his parents, he undertook each challenge he faced in school and then Starfleet Academy with relish, becoming captain of his martial arts team at the Academy, and graduating second in his class. After several years of exemplary service in Starfleet, he reached the rank of Captain, and with it, the command of a true warship: the Firelance. With it, he has already helped to give the ships of the Salamander class a reputation for a battle-ender, and a well-deserved one. His natural talent for space naval fleet tactics shines more and more brightly with each passing year, both in coordinating tactics with others, and with anticipating (and defeating) the tactics of his opponents.

Ship's Crew:
First Officer: Commander Ezreta Sindous (Betazoid)
Though a full-blooded Betazoid, Commander Sindous nonetheless has a talent for the arts of war. She has served with Captain Augustus for 4 years now, and specifically requested she be reassigned with him to his new post, the Firelance. She has a keen tactical mind to match her Captain's, and hasn't lost her innate talents to feel others' emotions and surface thoughts.

Tactical Officer: 1st Lieutenant Rosa Sparks (formerly Third Of Fourteen, a Romulan-born former Borg)
Seven of Nine was not the only Borg who was severed from the Collective. During a deep space exploration mission at Captain Augustus' previous post, a small number of survivors from a crashed Borg ship were rescued. Of the five, one lost his sanity when his individuality was restored, two more slipped into catatonia, one simply wished to be relocated as far from the Borg as possible, and the last - Third of Fourteen - wanted to learn more about her rescuers. Eventually, after she had made a new life for herself as an individual (even to choosing a new name for herself), she entered Starfleet Academy, rising rapidly to graduate a few years later. She requested to join Captain Augustus' command, and was accepted. She has given no reason whatsoever to make him regret his choice since then, proving herself time and again with her quick thinking and rapid grasp of battlefield tactics.

Chief Medical Officer: 2nd Lieutenant Michael Santos (Human)
Known for both his quick thinking as a surgeon as well as his ability to coordinate others in a wartime clinic situation, Lieutenant Santos is an exceptionally competent surgeon and pathologist, encouraging others with his quiet, confident air.

Chief Engineer: Commander T'pele (Vulcan)
Commander T'pele was known on her home as having an almost supernatural intuition for fixing ailing machinery; rare, especially for a Vulcan. Deciding to enter Starfleet Academy at a rather young age for a Vulcan, T'pele is only 79 years old. However, she has confidently and logically worked her way up as engineers for starships right up to the Salamander class, which she is tremendously proud to wrench on. She considers it a personal affront if any systems aboard the ship have an ailment, no matter how small, without her full knowledge, permission, and advance notice.

Unit Run: (5 built, 5 more planned)
(USS Salamander)
(USS Firelance)
(USS Helios)
(USS Phoenix)
(USS Meteor)

Class commissioned: 2379

Dimensions:
Length: 440 meters
Beam: 180 meters
Height: 150 meters (210 meters including top & bottom nacelles)
Decks: 10


Mass: 610,000 metric tons
Crew: 65 (310 evacuation limit)

Armament:
- 8x Class II Plasma Phasers (turret-mounted, able to focus top & bottom cannon in 180 degree arcs, able to focus the four rear nacelle-mounted cannons fore and aft in 180 degree arcs, able to focus the the cannons mounted on the sides of the saucer section in 180 degree arcs - can focus all eight to the front or rear)
- 6x Class XII Rapid-Fire Phaser Pulse Cannons (one on each of the rear nacelles, and one on the top & bottom nacelles)
- 2x Isokinetic cannons
- 2x Probe launcher/Minelayer

Defense Systems:
- Auto modulated shield system
- Heavy Duranium/Tritanium Double hull plus 25 cm Ablative armour
- High capacity shield regeneration matrix
- High level Structural Integrity Field

Additional systems:
- Very powerful and sophisticated sensors (normally found only on science vessels, 1.5x range and resolution as normal sensors)
- Advanced targeting systems (able to accurately track and prioritize 200,000 targets simultaneously)
- Advanced Heat Sinks: converts excess heat surrounding the ship (usually used after firing weapons) back into energy for the ship, thus making it more energy-efficient
- Labs & Engineering bays: though the Salamander-class is a warship, it does hold to the Starfleet tenets. Containing an astrophysics laboratory that doubles as an advanced sensor room, as well as an engineering bay for repairs & maintenance to the ship, as well as maintenance and repairs for the runabouts.
- Shuttle bays: Enlarged to account for runabouts instead of the regular shuttles, the Salamander class only has room for two shuttle bays, each with three runabouts at maximum berth.

Warp Speeds:
Normal Cruise : 8
Maximum Cruise : 9.5
Maximum Rated : 9.98 for 12 hours.

Diplomatic Capability: 3
Expected Hull Life: 25

Refit Cycle:
Minor: 2 years
Standard: 4 years
Major: 8 years

Notes: An outgrowth of the success of the Sovereign and Prometheus projects, a larger class was already being developed by the time the tragedy of Wolf 359 occurred. This incident helped to hone the design of the ship, bringing it to terrible fruition.

The Salamander class is somewhat unique among most Starfleet combat-capable ships, as it uses the heavy Plasma Phaser Cannons (unofficially nicknamed "Hellbore Cannons") as its main beam armament, rather than the standard classes of phaser designs. This was chosen due to its non-frequency based direct-energy qualities, and refined further as the Salamander class was being designed. Upgraded pulse phasers are still used as an armament, but their use is typically relegated to point-defense on this class of ship.

Resembling a Prometheus hull scaled up and slightly stretched out, the Salamander class has a bulkier nacelle frame in proportion. It also has larger side nacelles, and two nacelles on the top and bottom as well. The top and bottom nacelles are warp nacelles as well as mounts for one Plasma Phaser embankment and one isokinetic cannon each, whereas the side nacelles each have two Plasma Phaser embankments each, as well as being warp nacelles. The six total warp nacelles accounts for the ship's rather high speed, and better than average maneuverability.

The Salamander class is designed to give a target a hard and unrelenting bombardment from well outside their weapons' range, thus providing dependable long-range capabilities to Starfleet. In addition to primarily using its Plasma Phasers as medium, long, and extreme-range weapons, the two large isokinetic cannons heavily supplement the Plasma Phasers, as this ship curiously lacks torpedo launchers. However, it was determined that the Borg would have far greater difficulty adapting to these weapons due to their very nature.



(EDIT 2.0: after a long discussion with DS, and after seeing CT's character sheet, heavy edits were performed. Now, this ship truly is a Salamander)
(EDIT 2.1: Added captain's description and temperment)
(EDIT 2.2: Fixed vestigial stuff)
(EDIT 2.3: Fixed starship names at General Havoc's suggestion)
(EDIT 2.4: Cleaned up captain's history, fixed typos)
(EDIT 2.5: Added prominent crew, and cleaned up ship's other systems)
(EDIT 2.51: edited ship dimensions to be more sensible; ship should be Heavy Cruiser size, not Galaxy-class size)
(EDIT 2.52: Edited ship height - 250m was ridiculous with the ship's new dimensions)

Name: Jacob Latier
Ship: USS Hawaii (NX-9780611) (Hawaii-Class)
Race: Half-Bolian Half Human

Description: Lighter blue then the normal Bolian, Latier is about 2 meters tall weighing in at around 200 pounds.

Personality: Known as a bull headed commander, Latier is known for sticking to his guns and cowboy diplomacy. His idol in life is Captain James Tiberius Kirk and is not ashamed to say it, heck, even preach it from the shuttletop.

History: As a half breed on his homeworld of Bolia, Jacob was never one to fit to norms, but when the USS Excelsior came through on a routine mission, he joined up and went to Starfleet Acadamey. After serving on a series of ships in his forty year Starfleet career, Jacob was posted to Utopia Planetia to oversee Project Isle. Isle turned out to be also known as the USS Hawaii. He was eventually assigned as her first officer and after the untimely death of Captain Hansen late in the Second Borg War, he was given her command.



Class Name: Hawaii Class
Type: Battlecruiser

.:Basic Dimensions:.
Length - 782 Meters
Beam - 455 Meters
Height - 325 Meters
Mass - 126,000,000 Metric tonnes

.:Crew Compliments:.
Standard - 1,975 + 800 Officers
Emergency Evac - 8,000

.:Defensive Systems:.
Shields 70,000,000 Terrajoules
Armor Ablative Armor, 1 foot thick

.:Armament:.
12x Type 8 Rapid Fire Quantum Torperdo Launchers (8 Fore, 4 Aft) (transphasic capable)
6x Mark 3 Hellbore Plasma Phasers (4 fore, 2 aft)

.:Warp Speeds:.
Normal Cruise 6.25
Maximum Cruise 8
Maximum Rated 9.1 for 8 hours


.:Design Notes:.
Designed as an almost dreadnaught style starship, the Hawaii class is intended to rip holes in Dominion ships with use of Quantum Torpedos. First of her type, the USS Hawaii is an awsome sight to behold at her gigantic size. Sporting four warp nacelles she is designed to be the center of a fleet, capable of landing smaller ships or coming around for repairs on smaller ships (mostly destroyers and smaller). She is designed also to carry large ammounts of troops as nessecary. With over 36 standard transporter rooms, she can offload large numbers of troops to planetside in just a few minutes.

I hate to break it to you, but neither Zap Branigen or President Bush the Younger would have made it through the academy.

Now for your ship. The weapons load-out seemed reasonable until I looked at your plasma phasers. There would not be Mk 3s. Here is why. These are technology testbed ships, to see if the technology is effective in the field before other ships are built or retrofitted. They are operating with the first production model of the new weapon systems, and because mk 1s would have been the prototype/testing model, we are working with mk 2s.

Also, you are not large enough to do mobile repairs on a destroyer. A steamrunner which is frigate class is 400 meters long. The smallest ship present is the Nova, at 200. You might be able to dock and do some jury rigged repairs that that one, but if you have the part storage and favilities for that you wont be able to fit 8000 people in your ship, or quarter federation ground troops. Look at my ship. I have an actual flight deck, and an fit 4000 people on my ship in an emergency... comfortably it would be less than a quarter of tha, and my cargo capacity is low for the mass of my ship

Ok..Havoc, just noticed it...no need to put the amount of energy your phasers can put out, or how much your shields can take. We're gonna use "arbitrary descriptors on here, we can assume the power of the shields.


Jason:

Ok.....this is gonna be a fun one...


Your dimensions....are fine....your ship is bigger than a Sovereign, but not by much....but fine since your going for a Battle cruiser type ship. I'd suggest something more like a Dreadnought, considering what your floating around in, than a battle cruiser....but yeah.

your dimensions are a bit wide.....

let me try to scale this...beam and length each of the marks will equal 100 meters

That's your ship, for all intents and purposes, in length and width...kinda ackward in design footprint.

your NOT much bigger than a Soverign, yet you've a crew compliment in officers alone which is damn near what the Galaxy class had. Trim the crew down.

You arbitrary descriptors for your shield outputs. like everyone else did. 70 million terajoules of energy absorbtion is wank numbers. That's like what the Tantive IV took at the begining of Episode IV of Star Wars...major firepower there. Also try to use some detail in your design specs like the rest of the players are doing if your making your own class.

Your weapons are...fine for the most part, but having that many torpedo tubes and trying to "alpha strike" with them will deplete your antimatter supplies, much like it does with the Akira class ship. Also...what's the amount of Torpedos you have on the ship? You don't get infinite torpedo supplies....

Transphasic Torpedoes require their own launching tubes and facilities, so no photon or quantum torpedo tubes will be transphasic capable.

Plasma Phasers....you didn't go overboard, which is good. Plasma Phasers are energy intensive weapons, and even the Sovereign-class can only mount about 15 usable turrents (though the hull could hold up to 30 of them). But you forwent any type of point defense. Plasma phasers are excellent for snipping and doing major damage from a several light second distance, but up close, their RoF will leave you defenseless. Pulse Phaser turrents or some normal phaser arrays would be suggested for point defense, at the very least.


You don't get to have a Fleet tender/mobile repair ship along with a "centerpiece" dreadnought style ship. Chose one role, modify the ship to suit that role. If you want to be a fleet tender and mobile repair, you lose a good portion of your weapons, as the bulk of your ship becomes about keeping supplies for other ships. If your a battle cruiser, you lose the "I carry everything for everyone AND can fix you!" mentality.


Your a battlecruiser, be a battlecruiser.

Name: Jacob Latier
Ship: USS Hawaii (NX-9780611) (Hawaii-Class)
Race: Half-Bolian Half Human

Description: Lighter blue then the normal Bolian, Latier is about 2 meters tall weighing in at around 200 pounds.

Personality: Known as a bull headed commander, Latier is known for sticking to his guns and cowboy diplomacy. His idol in life is Captain James Tiberius Kirk and is not ashamed to say it, heck, even preach it from the shuttletop.

History: As a half breed on his homeworld of Bolia, Jacob was never one to fit to norms, but when the USS Excelsior came through on a routine mission, he joined up and went to Starfleet Acadamey. After serving on a series of ships in his forty year Starfleet career, Jacob was posted to Utopia Planetia to oversee Project Isle. Isle turned out to be also known as the USS Hawaii. He was eventually assigned as her first officer and after the untimely death of Captain Hansen late in the Second Borg War, he was given her command.



Class Name: Hawaii Class
Type: Battlecruiser

.:Basic Dimensions:.
Length - 782 Meters
Beam - 455 Meters
Height - 325 Meters
Mass - 126,000,000 Metric tonnes

.:Crew Compliments:.
Standard - 1,075 + 275 Officers
Emergency Evac - 6,000

.:Defensive Systems:.
Shields High Capacity regenerative shield matrix
Armor Ablative Armor, 1 foot thick

.:Armament:.
12x Type 8 Rapid Fire Quantum Torperdo Launchers (8 Fore, 4 Aft) (compliment of Torpedos: 1,750)
6x Mark 2 Hellbore Plasma Phasers (4 fore, 2 aft)
8x Type V Phaser Arrays (Used for point defense, 2 fore, 2 aft, 2 top, 2 bottom)

.:Warp Speeds:.
Normal Cruise 6.25
Maximum Cruise 8
Maximum Rated 9.1 for 8 hours


.:Design Notes:.
Designed as an almost dreadnaught style starship, the Hawaii class is intended to rip holes in Dominion ships with use of Quantum Torpedos. First of her type, the USS Hawaii is an awsome sight to behold at her gigantic size. Sporting four warp nacelles she is designed to be the center of a fleet. She is designed also to carry large ammounts of troops as nessecary. With over 36 standard transporter rooms, she can offload large numbers of troops to planetside in just a few minutes. With large bays to store large numbers of torpedos, the Hawaii Class was designed specifically for fighting the Dominion, but with Borg incurusions, there is little use for such a pre-dreadnaught except to take punishment. The quantum torpedo launchers were going to be upgraded to Transphasic launchers but Starfleet, being the beuracracy that it is, has yet to do so.

Rhoenix, there's a nomenclature problem I have with your ship.

First off, if your ship is "Salamander-class", then that means that the first ship of your unit run is going to be named USS Salamander. Ship classes take their names from the first ship in the class to be launched. The Galaxy-class for example is so-named because the first one was USS Galaxy. You'll notice that Trafalgar is the first ship of her class (often called a Class-ship).

The other issue is the name of your ship. The Federation does use martial names for ships, especially for Destroyers and actual warships. There is however a theme to even their ships-of-battle. Most of the names are either defensive (USS Sentinel, USS Bastion), neutral (USS Defiant, USS Majestic), overtly positive (USS Valiant, USS Righteous), famous battles and warriors (USS Achilles, USS Geronimo), or warlike and powerful things (USS Hurricane, USS Cavalier). What they do not use, are names like Immolation or Inferno, as those are overtly negative things, just as they wouldn't call a ship Conqueror, Devastator, or Incineration. These are simply not names that reflect the Federation's mindset. The Federation does not see itself as an entity that spreads infernos and immolation across the galaxy, and thus I don't think they would name a ship as you have.

Even when they use mythical beasts, they pick and choose ones that don't have (entirely) negative connotations. There is a USS Centaur, but no USS Siren. There is a USS Thunderbird, but no USS Wendigo. There is a USS Dragon, but no USS Hydra.

All of the above ships that I cited as existing, by the way, do exist in some Star Trek media or another. This is just my take on how they assign names for their more overt battle-vessels.

Name: Thy'Lek Shraf
Race: Andorian
Description: 1.93 meters tall, 90 Kg weight, white short cropped hair, blue skin

Bio: Born on the ice world of Andor, Shraf served in the Imperial Guard for a number of years before transferring to Starfleet. Shraf routinely distinguished himself during combat situations. Two years before the Dominion War, he was XO on a Miranda class. Seen by in Starfleet Command as to aggressive to make a good captain. When the Dominion War broke out, however, that changed. Due to the nature of combat and causalities, he advanced steadily through the ranks, rising to command the USS Monitor, a weapon pod equipped Nebula. He remains in command of the Monitor to this day.

Ship: USS Monitor
Class: War-Refit Nebula with Enhanced Weapons Pod
Modifications:
Weapons Pod:
Shraf had the weapons pod gutted, and jammed in as many Isokinetic cannons and replicator mass for them as he could beg, borrow or steal.
Ship modifications:
Two Photon Torpedo tubes removed and replaced with Transphasic Torpedo launchers.
50% of the stander Phaser Array's removed and replaced with Plasma Phasers.

General Havoc wrote:All of the above ships that I cited as existing, by the way, do exist in some Star Trek media or another. This is just my take on how they assign names for their more overt battle-vessels.

Thank you for that - I toned it down for the ships, and changed the ship name as well.

So... who is going to be flag-officer...?

I would nominate myself... but...that would be tacky

I'm a Lt. Commander Brevetted to Commander, and thus I am likely of lower rank than most of your First officers, let alone Ship captains. I think I'm out of the running for flag officer.

CT, no offense, your character is a bad choice for a flag spot. Never mind he's too young, he's only had command of just one ship.

that is why I didnt nominate myself ;)

Frankly I think the other Heavy Cruiser captain, Rheonix would be a good choice... he has held his rank longest if nothing else...

*shrug*

I'll accept my character being flag captain if there isn't anyone else. For pacing though, it might be easier for an NPC DS controls to be flag captain.

Flag officer for now will be a NPC. We'll see if more people join

More tomorow when I'm not on a PSP

GM NPC:

Commodore David Taylor
Human
Flag Officer of Task force Damocles, 54th Fleet

Bio: Born in the year 2308, David Taylor joined Starfleet Academy at the age of ninteen. He graduated Star Fleet Academy in 2331 majoring in Diplomacy and Tactical Space Combat. He entered in the Flight Operations branch of Star Fleet, leading to his first posting as a ensign on the U.S.S. Tecumseh. He served his role, and worked his way up to his first command, the Miranda-class U.S.S. Saratoga, eventually obtaining command of the Excelsior-class U.S.S. Breman. Eventually, he transferred to Star Fleet Command and took a position in design of the next generation of starship weapons.

After the first Borg incursion and the Battle of Wolf 359, Captain Taylor accepted command of a New Orleans-class Starship, the U.S.S. Corpus Christi. As the Fleet began to rebuild from it's losses, Taylor eventually left the Corpus Christi and accepted a position at Starbase 45 near Betazed.

The the outbreak of the Dominion War, Wayne once more accepted command of a Star Ship, this time the Galaxy-class U.S.S. Indefatigable and the Flag Rank of Commodore. At the end of the Dominion War, Commodore Taylor managed to keep his command, until the Battle of Sector 001. His ship was one of the hundreds loss to the Borg Incursion which was only stopped by the Enterprise-E. Luckily, he and a good portion of his crew managed to escape the destruction of the ship, and he transferred back to Earth, where he took a position on the Prometheus-class Project. After the return of the U.S.S. Voyager from the Delta Quadrant, he returned to Star Fleet Weapons Technologies, and began study of the Transphasic Torpedo, Ablative Armor Generators and the Isokinetic Cannons. Along with information brought back by Voyager, he managed to get the Plasma Phaser Project restarted, after years of having been quietly swept aside in favor of the Defiant-class starship.

This was proven to be a worthwhile undertaking when the Borg Supercube was discovered in the Beta Quadrant. The first iteration of the Plasma Phaser was tested and rushed into production as a Starbase mounted orbital defense weapon - which went unused in the second battle of Sector 001. After the blitzkrieg attack by the Borg on Acamar and Borilia, the second generation of the plasma phaser cannons were rushed into production, and began to be fitted onto a handful of ships. Commodore Taylor accepted command of a new build Galaxy-class starship, the U.S.S. Alexander and Flag-ship of the 54th Fleet's Task Force Damocles.


Description: two meters tall, greying-brown hair, green eyes, medium build clean shaven.



U.S.S. Alexander
Improved War-refit Galaxy-class
Flagship - Taskforce Damocles, 54th Fleet.

Class Name: Galaxy-Class (
Type:

.:Basic Dimensions:.
Length - 641m
Beam - 470m
Height - 145m
Mass -

.:Crew Compliments:.
Standard - 500 (400 Enlisted, 100 Officers)
Emergency Evac - 15000
Federation Marine Detachment - 500

.:Defensive Systems:.
Standard Capacity Auto-modulated Regnerative Deflector Shields
Standard Duranium/Tritanium double hull 20cm ablative armor
Enhanced Capacity Structural Integrity Field

.:Armament:.
10x Mk II Plasma Phaser Cannon
2x Isokinetic Cannon (fore and aft)
1x Mk I Plasma Phaser Cannon
5x Type XI Phaser Arrays
2x Pulse Fire Quantum Torpedo tubes (300 rounds)

.:Warp Speeds:.
Normal Cruise 5
Maximum Cruise 9.2
Maximum Rated 9.996 for 6 hours


.:Design Notes:.
The hull began life as a testbed ship for new standardized Star Fleet weapons technologies, utilizing design concepts as related by Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Star Fleet Command via log.

Aft-firing Isokinetic Cannon armature is located above main Impulse Engine on Engineering Pylon.

Fore-firing Isokinetic Cannon located in amature on underside of Engineering hull.

Mk I Plasma Phaser in "under slung" armature mounted on Primary Hull Section, forward firing controls and primary connection point replacing "Captain Yacht", armature "built" into Engineering Pylon.

Diplomatic and Secondary science labs removed. Reaction and Replicator mass for Isokinetic Cannons and Plasma Phasers taking precedence.

Ship carries a detachment of 500 Federation Marines, for planet side combat.

Remains the only one of her sub-type in the Fleet, special dispensation given to Commodore Taylor to command as Flagship for his Task force.

Mk I Phaser Cannon cannot be fired off axis, and can be the only non-torpedo weapon being fired prior to activation. Energy consumption for the weapon leaves it as a "one shot" weapon.

Prelude.

Captain Matthew Belkin sat in a chair, going over the schematics for his new ship, the USS Thermoplylae, shield capacity, acceleration figures, when he heard a beep at the door

"Come"

The door opened to reveal another man, around Matthew's age, though of a slighter frame, dark brown hair, and a bit of goatee shaped stubble

"Doctor Fletcher, a pleasant surprise, I didnt know you were assigned to this star base" he said with a smile "Computer tea, two mint green, hot" the replicator buzzed to life and from its plate appeared two mugs of mint green tea"

"Thank you" replied the doctor "But I am not assigned to this station, I have been assigned to your ship"

Matthew raised his eyebrows in a manner not dissimilar to how spock raised his

"Steven, if I didn't know any better I would think you were stalking me through space, first the academy, then my appointments on the Valdez and Dresden, strangely absent from the Horus though"

"Who says I am not Captain" he said in a way that was almost teasing.

"Hey now, none of that. It is unethical for a ships captain to fraternize with the ships doctor"

"Oh please, Riker married the ship's counselor, you dont get any more unethical than that. Some of the smaller ethical minutae get tossed out in practice"

"Very well then... my quarters, Twenty one hundred hours"

The doctor gave Captain Belkin a somewhat sidelong glance

"Bring your Cello"

"Ah, very good sir"

"That reminds me Steven, are you using the second generation of the EMH system?"

"Yeah, I finally switched to the upgraded version"

"They made you didnt they?"

"Yeah, which is unfortunate. Honestly I am not sure how ethical it was, I wonder about the ethics of using and abusing sentient holograms like that"

"I agree... you sound like you solved the problem"

"I did. I just upgraded The Doctor's programming to the new specifications and kept his personality. His consciousness is technically continuous."

"This is what I get for having a best friend who majored in Computer Science and Astrobiology in the academy"

"Like you are any better Mr. Astrophysics and Engineering"

"Point"

The two drank their tea and caught up for a while, it turned out that while Belkin was on the Horus, Fletcher had been stationed on another Akira, the Actium, and had been one of the survivors beamed off right before the ship was destroyed by the borg.

Another little beep resounded through the room, signaling an incoming transmission

the captain tapped a little button and opened the panel

"Captain Belkin, your shuttle is ready"

"Thank you ensign"

"You're taking a shuttle?" Fletcher asked

"Yes. I want to see my ship on approach"

They walked down the hall and into the turbolift down the shuttle bay and walked down the flight deck until they reached a Danube class shuttle

"Hello Enslgn Schmidt. Have all of my belongings been transported to my quarters on the Thermopulae?"

"Yes they have sir. I take your friend will be joining us"

"Yes ensign, this is Doctor Fletcher, can you have his belongings transfered to the ship as well?"

"Of course sir" the young man said as he tapped his communicator and relayed the order

The two officers boarded the shuttle and it took off a few minutes later, slicing through the vast expanse between the flight deck and the space doors. They existed the space station and the ship turned toward the ship years, tiny in their vision to start but rapidly becoming much larger as the engines thrummed behind them

"There she is Doctor, the USS Thermopylae. Beautiful isnt she?"

"Yes she is, are those turreted guns I see on her hull?"

"Why yes, yes they are, they are weapons specially designed to combat the borg, they send a bolt of plasma at the target using a phaser as a carrier"

"This is going to be interesting"

...

The shuttle docked in the Thermopylae's flight deck, surrounded not just by shuttles but also squadrons of fighters, all of them modified to have a figher-mounted isokinetic cannon.

The two headed up to the bridge to see the command crew assembled and ready to be inspected

"Captain on the bridge!" belted out a vulcan wearing Commander pips.

"At ease" Belkin said, and the assembled

The Vulcan stepped up and held out his hand, his face completely expressionless

"Commander T'lon, first officer" he explained with a slight head-nod

"A pleasure to meet you" he said, then turned to the rest of the command crew

"A pleasure to meet you all. I am captain Matthew Belkin, you on the command crew can call me Matt, Captain, Captain Belkin, whichever of those three you comfortable with. You might hear Doctor Fletcher here call me more colorful things, but we have known eachother almost twenty years, I would hope you do not follow his lead" the crew, all but the Vulcan, tried to suppress a chuckle

"You all can laugh you know, I am not going to toss you in the brig or anything, I like to keep things informal. I read all your files but would like a formal introduction anway... lets start with this end of the line and go down" he said, pointing to the left end of the line to a Ferengi

"Commander Norg, Chief of Security, each shot by my phaser will cost you five bars of gold press latinum captain" the Ferengi said, with a toothy grin. The captain gave him a strange look and started to chuckle

"Good! I was afraid you wouldnt get the joke"

"Never have that fear again" the captain replied with a grin "We should get along fairly well

The next person in line was a huge green skinned gorn.

"Lt. Commander Ssssssirik Captain" the gorn said "Tactical"

Matthew looked between him and the Ferengi several times

"I am going to assume there is a logic here, but a pleasure to meet you"

The next person down the line was a a human female

"Lt. Emily Hikara, navigation"

"A pleasure, I get the feeling you will probably save our hides more than once" he said, then moved on, to the second to last person in line, a very wiry, tense looking Vulcan woman with an intense stare.

"Lt. Commander M'rina. Chief Engineer"

"Excellent, we will need to go over a few things, I have some... improvements... I want to make to some systems"

"Very well sir"

The last person on the line was a betazoid male

"Lieutenant Evan Trel, communications officer"

"A pleasure to meet you"

"Alright" the captain started in again. "back to your posts" he said as he sat down, then realized he was forgetting something

"Doctor, the introductions were as much for the rest of the command staff as me"

"Oh!" Said the doctor "Dr. Steven Fletcher, my position should be... self evident. I am going to head to sick bay and make sure everything is ready there"

"Dont forget! Twenty One hundred hours" the captain called back as the turbolift door closed. With everyone at their duty stations

"I like what they have done with the bridge... everyone has a chair, and the chairs have seat-belts. You have no idea how many heads I had to knock in to get these installed. Lt Hikara"

"yes sir?"

"Are we cleared to leave?"

"yes sir"

"Then take us out, one quarter impulse"

"Yes sir!"

I heavily edited my post, showing prominent crew, and editing a few descriptions. I'll post a prelude of my own shortly.

Prelude

"Target is slowing to half impulse, target will attempt to dock," Ensign Mila said.

Behind her, Captain Augustus was intently studying a three-dimensional hologram of surrounding space, with their area centered. The target vessel, a Dominion battleship, was carrying many important materials for research, a recovered plasma phaser cannon from the wreckage of a prototype Federation ship, and many high-ranking members of the Dominion.

It would never reach the docking point.

Captain Augustus' quiet, assured voice echoed across the bridge. "Calculate firing solution for Lofwyr firing sequence."

Lieutenant Sparks' fingers rapidly moved over her console, as every angle for every shot would be calculated to add to the effects of the previous. The goal of the Lofwyr sequence, as her Captain had named it, was to utterly destroy the target. The calculation included the precise number of plasma phaser blasts it would take to break through a target's shields, hit the ship's reactor with one isokinetic cannon blast, hit the warp core with the second, and finish off the target with subsequent plasma phaser blasts. It had to be calculated precisely, and required time and heavy assistance of the computer's processing power and database of known ship's schematics. The payoff would be rapid and unpreventable destruction of the target.

Soon, the green light for the background calculation appeared, causing Lieutenant Sparks to nod to herself once. "Firing solution calculated, Captain. Target's lead indicator for the firing sequence activated."

On the circular hologram of the tactical area, a ghostly reddish line appeared, tracking the target ship. The Captain zoomed in, and individual strike points from each of the guns became visible. Zooming out again, he studied the battle map a moment more before speaking. "Helm, bring us out of the photosphere at half impulse. Tactical, once we clear the photosphere, fire in sequence."

The Firelance gracefully emerged from its hiding place within the red giant star of this solar system. Captain Augustus had a fondness for doing so with this ship, and not just because it made the ship exceedingly difficult to detect before it was time to fire. It also helped the immense heat bloom created by firing all the guns be lost against the background thermal radiation of the star. His one private disappointment was that the advanced heat sinks on the ship that not only reclaimed much of the shed heat back into energy for the ship, it also allowed the ship to absorb and withstand the intense heat of a star - but it couldn't handle both at once.

Just as the Firelance's rear nacelles cleared the star's photosphere, its guns seemed to glow for a nanosecond before firing. For a few long moments, a reddish-looking spiral was visible in space, moving at the speed of light. After doing so, again came Captain Augustus' order. "Take us in reverse through the star's photosphere, and out the other side. Plot a warp course back to Starbase 433 after the target is confirmed as destroyed."

His fingers moving through the commands, Ensign Mila entered in the course changes and calculated the rest, all while the rest of the bridge crew watched the hellish red spiral speed implacably toward its intended victim.

The target ship had just enough warning to raise shields before the streams of energy, fusion-temperature plasma, and isokinetic cannon shells struck their target at exactly the angles specified.

For a brief moment, the large battleship's shields flared an angry red, then a terrible reddish explosion melted a chunk out of the ship's hull. Nanoseconds afterward, two isokinetic cannon shells, each traveling at nine tenths the speed of light in a vaccuum, struck their targets. More reddish bursts followed on the hull, but this only accelerated the great ship's impending destruction.

A few tense seconds later, the ship lit up in a tremendous explosion, damaging the ship dock it was about to dock with, and sending shockwaves and debris scattered far and wide.

The Firelance, now emerging from the far side of the sun away from her target, thus evaded the Dominion patrols now speeding toward the space station. The ship's warp signature, when detected, would be too far away to catch. Very shortly, the ship burst into warp speed. Upon doing so, Captain Augustus sat down in his Captain's chair finally, and allowed himself a slow, deep breath of relief. His crew and the ship under his command had performed even better this time than the last, and he allowed himself a smile. "Very good work, everyone. Mission accomplished."