Space Empires Volume 1: Space Empire

[Sabin]

I have finished the third chapter, but I am not sure what to write about for the sub-chapter. Does anyone have an particular topic to be covered?

[Cipher7071]

Keep at it Sabin. The more you write, the better you get at it. I often find it helps me if I put something away for a day or so, then look at it again. Rewrites are just another fact of life.

[Sabin]

I have decided to exclude the sub-chapters, due to a lack of ideas. However, in this post, I have placed Chapter III, so please enjoy. Also, does anyone have any insights about what the Space Empire has been doing wrong thus far, combat-wise?

SPACE EMPIRES VOLUME I: Space Empire

Chapter III: The Pegasus Question
Stardate: 2414.03

Planet Earth, Sol System, 2414.03.(The Grand Master bedroom of the Space Palace.)

The isolation of the Space Empire irked it's leader, Grand Master Sabin, and the people he ruled over, at least that is what he believed. During his reign as the Grand Master, he tried to live up to the former Grand Master's ambitions: To improve society, and to reach the stars. He, in the year of 2400.00 did just that, and now has managed to do more for his people then what has been done in the Last 4 centurys...at least, that is how the history book by an on-line author has been saying, which has been more or less accurate. However, Sabin felt that the amount of expansion that has taken place would have been emulated by any other empire, and the other empires that have been met thus far were proof of that. He knew, that more expansion was important, but he questioned how to go about it, and what it may cost the Space Empire. Indeed, there was the possibilty that by attempting to do so will destroy the Space Empire. Then again, the Space Empire can't wait, since it is already falling behind, if it already didn't.

Sabin paced about the room, and then halted. He began to toy with the idea he just thought of. He began pacing again, moving about in a continous circle, and the idea's roots took hold of the fertile soil of the Grand Master's mind. He quickly accepted the decision, and summoned forth the council, and put before them the idea. It was quickly accepted, and all of the council members had something to gain from such a project. Sabin allocated the personnel and resources required for this particular task, and returned to the Space Palace's Grand Master bedroom. He went to his desk, and turned on the monitor of his personal computer, and accessed the electronic diary he kept. He began typing. "Today, I have had a marvelous idea, which would expand the knowledge of the Space Empire greatly, and show us many things that even Starfleet Command doesn't know about..."

Electronic History book, titled SPACE EMPIRE VOLUME I: Space Empire, Chapter III: The Pegasus Question

In the year 2414.03, a project was taken up by the Space Empire. It had some new ideas, more specifically, it was the idea of designing a new starship, one meant for exploration. This ship was meant to travel among the stars and explore the unknown half of the galaxy...the North-East section. This ship had a different size compared to the Saber series, the size of which was only 200kt. This ship, on the other hand, was 400kt, which doubled the amount of room available for parts. This vessal also featured shields, an invention that couldn't be used on small vessels like the Saber series, due to the size of them. These shields are capable of preventing damage to a starship, more specifcally, damage caused by weapons. This was a good trait for an exploration ship, due to what may be met on a long journey. The final addition was the Quantum Torpedo III, a weapon that was very different from phasers, the default weapons that Sabers were armed with, since the assaults made with a torpedo did not deteriorate over time, a radical difference.

The prototype was eventually created. It was sent on it's maiden voyage, and at one point, it was felt that testing such a vehicle at combat would be a good idea. The ship engaged a Borg planet, and was destroyed by the small fighters that protected the planet. Despite the combat failiure of the vessel, it was decided to create a second, unmodified vessel. It was sent on it's exploration mission and successfully traveled 9 systems away. Near the end of that trip, it met two races, the Romulans and the Orian Syndicate. Non-Agression treaties were formed with both races. During this time, the vessal attacked a planet that housed 9 Borg vessels, unarmed ones. It successfully destroyed all of the vessels, and the five fighters guarding the area. Maxia A was razed, and Maxia III quickly met the same fate. The ship was recalled, so that it may be replaced by a varient more dedicated to exploration, which also featured a different torpedo, the Trilithium-Cobalt Torpedo III, which did similar damage with a side effect of doing quadruple damage to shields, which would make it far more valuable as a secondary weapon. This varient was called the Pegasus-E, due to the ship it was supposed to replace, the Pegasus.

During the return to Sol some events occured. The Orian Syndicate extended a treaty of trade alliance, which has been accepted by the Space Empire, and then was escalated into one that had to do with exchanges of research matierial. Starfleet Command also made another request for help against the Klingons. The Space Empire sent a single Saber MK.II to the Bajor system, which was to be this time an individual unit that would fight primarily the Klingons. The ship was granted a new title, the Chozo. An trade alliance was formed with the Romulans, else, they threatened, they would burn the Space Empire's worlds. The Space Empire took the meaning of it as a joke of sorts, and accepted, laughing all the way to bank, their coffers being filled with a new source of financial support. The project to add the Colonizatation MK.I series was completed, and they promptly entered the museum fleet.

The Pegasus-E attacked a Borg vessel that entered the Sol System and destroyed it while taking little damage. It was reported that the new torpedo in use did away with the shields in almost a single blow, which were rated at 450. It was decided that this torpedo is to become a standard on larger vessels, due to it's usefulness in combat. The Chozo was destroyed by a large group of Klingon ships, and could not resist any attacks that the enemy made at blank range. It was discussed that the Chozo may have been able to defeat a single Klingon vessel, but the point was moot. However, it has been considered that it may have been time to update the Saber series into it's third incarnation. Research about it was taking place, when it was discovered that the Saber series may have finally met their end: Their overall cost was not worth the amount of armor & weapons they could carry.

However, there is hope for this series: Some needed research is coming to a head, and may give this ancient series one Last revival, by improving the amount of ground these ships could cover, and possibly how many supplies they can carry. Also, it was found that if they were in range of a planet equipped with a command center, their combat performance increases by 30% in their attacks and defensive manuevers. It is argued, though, that an new series would gain a far better advantage then the aging Saber series.

Meanwhile, the Pegasus (A), has yet to return to Space Empire territory, for the crew thought they could explore on the way to the Sol System. Now, the trip has been delayed greatly, and it is currently expected that the varient of the Pegasus may have to be remade, due to new technological developments. On 2426.0, it has been decided the Pegasus-E shall be placed on it's maiden voyage, despite the fact that the original has yet to come back. It is to travel to Bajor and return to Sol afterwards.

An offer was made by the Fluidic Imperium for a military alliance, but it was turned down by the Space Empire. The Pegasus-E was destroyed, which has now prompted that a new varient is to be made, due to the fact that new warp technology is available. What destroyed the Pegasus-E is an Klingon vessel, due to it's powerful weapons, and that the Pegasus-E got too close for it's own good, it seemed. The Space Empire decided to change how it conducts battle. However, the Pegasus (A) got destroyed on it's journey home, unlike the way it was shown in motion pictures, where a ship goes down bravely: Hardly without a fight. The Space Empire felt embarressed, it seemed they were completely incompetent in the arena of space, thus concludes chapter three, where the Space Empire is humiliated on a regular basis, though it learned a little more about what goes into designing a starship, and the tactics involved...but would the Space Empire apply them? Or would it continue to flounder like a fish on the deck of a starship?

[ February 22, 2004, 22:34: Message edited by: Sabin ]

[Sabin]

Nevermind, the problem has been corrected. I will place another chapter here shortly.

[ February 23, 2004, 06:09: Message edited by: Sabin ]

[Sabin]

SPACE EMPIRES VOLUME I: The Space Empire
Chapter IV: Project Star Slayer
Stardate: 2433.06

The power of the Space Empire has seemingly grown greatly, ever since the Grand Master has implemented his agendas. What agendas? Well, one of them is Operation Sabercat. It's goal is to strengthen the borders of the Space Empire, so that invasion and general inflitration would not be possible. How it does so, is by placing a trio of Saber MK.IIIs in each system, which would triple the amount of combat vessels the Space Empire has available for use. Also, the Pegasus Rising, another varient of the Pegasus series, has been completed. It has better shields then older models, and replaces the Quantum Torpedos with a pair of Photon Torpedos. In other news, the Space Palace has been completed. The original Space Palace was a small space station that had no weapons, armor, or anything of that sort dating after the stardate 2400.00. It has been replaced with the new Space Station MK.I, which has been named the Space Palace. In this palace, the Grand Master would live, along with his staff, so that they may control the Space Empire easily, in a protected facility. However, it is already out of date, and a new design to replace it has already been put into the planning stages.

The Space Empire has decided to expand it's borders, by invading Borg planets. However, they will be careful, and slowly take the system they desired: Ophiucus. This system has three planets, all of which are controlled by the Borg. The invasion would be spearheaded by the Pegasus Rising and will eventually include 4 Saber MK.IIIs and a new type of ship, which has been code-named Pestilence. The state of technology of the Space Empire has expanded greatly, enough so that some of the scientists have been claiming that we will soon not be able to progress further. However, what did we develop? Shield-depletion technology, shields, and so on. Our medical technology has improved, due to the Solar VIII biological sabotage, which was quickly countered by our scientists within four months or so.

What has occured on the battle-front? It has been discovered Operation Sabercat has worked well: three Saber MK.IIIs have been able to destroy two Borg tactical cubes, each of which weighing at 400kt, for a total of 800kt. In contrast, our Saber MK.IIIs weight total was 600kt, which also lacked shields. To say the least, an excellent victory, knowing the track record of the Space Empire when it had to do with space combat. Operation Sabercat has been completed on 2433.07, but what of updates and the like? Already, the Saber MK.III is outdated. There have been ideas about how to extend Operation Sabercat's tenure, by replacing the Saber MK.IIIs with an updated Version, and to increase the ship count per system to 5, which would make our Space Forces have 35 ships of the Saber series. Terra Nova II has been razed by a firestorm recently, which has made it a priority for the transportation of labor to that location.

Stardate: 2438.09
It has been much time since I have Last typed into this text, and now I continue to do so again. Many things occured, which have begun to show how strong our people are when we summon forth our strength. The most of importent of which is project Star Slayer. As the name would probably mean to most people, the project was meant to collapse a star. More specifically, the star in the system Bajor. Why we would do so is because it is a stronghold of the Klingon race. We would have to someday assault them, and destroying the planets and the like around the mouth of the worm hole was crucial for a future assault. It also allowed us to actually test the weapon. However, it came at a cost for our forces: three Saber MK.IVs, and the famous Pegasus Rising. They were lost in a battle with three heavily armed Klingon vessels, where they were horribly out-gunned by far. In the end, the Star Slayer MK.I escaped, but the others didn't. The Pegasus Rising rammed itself into the lead Klingon vessel when they realized they were lost, but it did no damage to the lead Klingon ship, since the shields were so strong, that they merely shrugged off the blow.

The Star Slayer MK.I managed to reach Bajor's star and implement the operation. The ship was lost, but all that the Klingons owned in that system was destroyed, and ultimately worth the cost of the ships lost, and 1.5 months of work. Hmm...yes, we did update the Saber series not just to MK.IV, but to MK.V. The latest Version has shields and we believe it to be far more reliable in combat, since it weighs in at 750kt, a major boost over the Pegasus series, which weighed 400kt. Truth be told, however, a final Pegasus series vessel has been in development, in order to explore the galaxy further. We have also finshed the design phase of the "Pestilence" series, which is designed to seige planets. Now it is in heavy production. The planed assault on the Ophiucus is to proceed shortly. If it works successfully, the Space Empire's domain would expand, which should lead to further expansion eventually. The political fallout from this attack has been minor: Besides some small Groups in our system, few people really disagreed. In fact, it seems few people were fazed by it, including other races. The only race that got truly angry at us is the Klingons.

Stardate 2439.0
The assault has begun, and has already ended within the month. The Borg's grasp on one system has been pried away, much like some unattached revived hand that is desperately trying to stay put on it's victim. In this case, it removed quite forcibly. Bracas was next. The majority of the planets there are controlled by the Borg, with the exception of Bracas III where the Fluidic Imperium has taken residence. We have already decimated Bracas IV, a large rock planet. It appears we will conquer this system within 12 months, if all goes according to plan. We will also begin negotiations with the Fludic Imperium about entrusting us with Bracas IV. Also, the Pestilence MK.I design has managed to prove itself in enemy combat, it seems: One of the Pestilence-class vessels got to blank rank within the premises of Bracas IV, where it was assaulted by a weapon platform's firepower. It's shields held up to the attack successfully. A similar attack also happened to another Pestilence MK.I, but it was at long range and it was attacked by 12 or so enemy platforms. It managed to evade the majority of the attacks, and the ones that hit were too weak to penetrate the shields at all.

Bracas II has been conquered. Three more planets are left, according to my information sources. These planets probably won't offer much resistence, since they seem to be far away from friendly territory. Bracus I is now the Space Empire's planet. At this rate, the remaining Borg planet is the only resistence left. However, the Space Empire may have to break relations with the Fluidic Imperium in order to take control of Bracus III, but the diplomats are at work to negotiate an exchange.

Stardate 2440.0: We have declared war on the Fluidic Imperium, and have conquered the rest of Bracas. The defense fleet is in place, so the Space Empire is now planning to colonize Doralis, a system that has not been colonized by any other race, it appears. The Space Empire is sending a defense fleet to prevent future possibilities of colonization from other races. The fleet is the one that has formerly been assigned to the assault on the Bracus System.(Which have not lost any ships in combat yet.)

[Taz-in-Space]

Good story so far! Taz loves to read about space battles... Its just in his nature!!!

Only one question so far - Does your space empire use Bases equipped with Spaceyards?

I have found that a couple of turns building one early can accelerate your empire growth in the long run. (I usually build one, then have it produce more, while the planetary spaceyard is producing colonizers and other needed stuff.)

[Atrocities]

Very Enjoyable.

[Sabin]

I have only built one Space Station, and that is the Space Station MK.I which orbits over Earth.(It's name is the Space Palace)

It is fairly weak when you consider that it has no shields, and is the smallest space station size available.

[Cipher7071]

Sabin, here's an example of what I was talking about, using a piece of your most recent work. Notice that I removed 3 commas.

The power of the Space Empire has seemingly grown greatly ever since the Grand Master has implemented his agendas. What agendas? Well, one of them is Operation Sabercat. It's goal is to strengthen the borders of the Space Empire so that invasion and general inflitration would not be possible. How it does so is by placing a trio of Saber MK.IIIs in each system, which would triple the amount of combat vessels the Space Empire has available for use.

[Sabin]

Thank you, sir. I will try to reduce the amount of commas I make use of, though that may take time. That is because it seems that I have developed some bad typing habits over the years.

SPACE EMPIRES VOLUME I: Space Empire
Chapter V: Isolationist Policy
Stardate: 2440.00


Terra Nova II was attacked and the colony on it was destroyed by a Klingon vessel. The defense force arrived too late to save the planet, but they managed to destroy the Klingon vessel-barely. They suffered heavy casualties, and only one remains, and it is too damaged to conduct battle operations. A replacement force is being created. In the battle, the Klingon vessel destroyed all but one of the unshielded Saber MK.IIIs. The remaining one was crippled, and the Saber MK.IV fought the enemy vessel in hit and run attacks, but got moderately damaged. The Klingon vessel was heavily damaged before it attacked Terra Nova II, and apparently did so in a final act of desperation, which was quite effective. It nearly destroyed the Saber MK.IV, but it ran out of fuel before it could do so, at which point it's shields were deactivated, and the weapons disabled. The Saber MK.IV destroyed the Klingon vessel. However, the Saber MK.IV was destroyed due to a weapon malfunction on the Saber MK.III, which was fatal.

Our information about Doralis being unoccupied was wrong. In that system, there are multiple Borg colonys, which seem to be quite well off, for now. The assault is to begin within two months, and colonization vessals would be prepared. Doralis has been cleared of all known Borg infestations, and the older Saber MK.IIIs and IVs are being replaced entirely by the newer Saber MK.V. Also, a project has been begun by the Space Empire to optimize the planets that are under it's control. It has not been yet proven how effective this project may be. Earliest results are predicted to occur in one year and five months. A new exploration vessel that weighs 850kt has been in construction. It's name has been determined to be the Pegasus Soaring, which is be primarily an exploration vessel. However, it is very heavily armed, perhaps more so then any other vessel encountered, though the Space Empire's admirals are not betting on it, according to my information sources. Construction is to be completed in 3 months.

The Pegasus Soaring has been completed. It is now going to be sent to the far north-east section of the known galaxy to conduct general exploration, according to the official Space Empire website. Also, the same website cites that construction on a "Mobile Shipyard" has begun. Recently, Starfleet Command and Ferengi vessels have begun to colonize the Doralis System, which would make the Space Empire's bid for that system much more difficult, since breaking away from either race may result in a large amount of loss for the Space Empire.

The Doralis System has been lost to the Ferengi and Starfleet Command. This is due to that our colonization vessels were too far behind to colonize the worlds there, and even they got there in time, the Space Empire managed to forget about loading the vessels with colonists. The Space Empire has picked a different system to conquer. Triala has been chosen. The main reason to do so according to official and unofficial sources is that a beachhead can be established in Klingon territory, which should aid our attempt to defeat the Klingons. They are isolated in that area, which is a good and bad possibility for our forces. The Klingons can't be infiltrated easily, but they are trapped in that area, which leads to several other systems.

A trio of a new class of vessel is being constructed, the Galaxy-class. These are warships, meant to battle the powerful Klingon vessels that will be encountered. Conquering Triala will be quite difficult according to our intelligence, due to the location, which is infested with Klingon vessels. It is a gamble that may very well destroy a large portion of the Space Empires forces. However, such a loss is acceptable since the Space Empire has a sufficient number of ships to protect it's borders if the attack fails. Also, the Pegasus Soaring is nearing the unexplored region. Once it's scouting has been completed, it will be assigned to the Triala System, to assist the war effort.

On Stardate 2442.03 it was decided that the invasion fleet is to be trained, and to create a flagship. The new Galaxy-X's weight is 1,000kt, and is a far more powerful vessel then the regular Galaxy, though quite expensive. Also, another galaxy-class vessel is to be added. This fleet appears to be the strongest one that has ever been created by the Space Empire. However, it is still somewhat questionable if such a deep strike into enemie territory can suceed. Also, there are concerns about the colonization vessels: Their shields are outdated, at only 5th generation technology. Accordingly, new colonization vessels are being developed to replace this class.

The Galaxy-X has been launched, and shall retain the name. The invasion is almost ready, but the training of the crew aboard the Galaxy-X has yet to be completed. The alteration of the atmospheres that has been conducted upon planets of the Space Empire that lack oxygen has been completed in the Sol System, which has expanded the amount of space available for new facilities. It has been decided by the Space Empire that this is an extremely valuable way to improve the quality of a planet, and has decided to make it a requirement. Disaster for the Pegasus Soaring has been averted: It nearly went into a star-less system without a large supply of fuel. It could have been marooned there without any stars to supply it the energy required for crossing. It was also found that the intelligence stratedgy of the Space Empire had a large hole that allowed for a single monh as a window for sabotage to occur. It has been believed to be corrected, which should prevent many problems in the future.


Stardate 2443.06
The assault has begun, but an incredible event occured: The Idran warp point has been closed. The Klingon system is truely isolated according to the pre-recorded Messages we have recieved, and we probably won't know more for 10 or so more years, since there is currently no way to enter the Klingon systems. This means if the attack succeeds, those systems would be exclusively owned by the Space Empire, since no other race can enter, either...but on the other hand, if the Klingons win, they may very well become much stronger. The closing of the warp point was intentional, as part of the stratedgy to conquer the Klingon systems, and was carried out by a varient of the Galaxy-class, the Anti-Warp Field Frigate.