Part 26: Turn 278

TURN 278


The Borg arrive at one of our colonies near the southeastern border of the galaxy. Upon their appearance, about half the population of Forlat is instantly killed.


The vessel is identified as "Cube 235". If there really are about half a million Cubes out there, we got one of the first ever made! Its shield strength is about ten times that of a Warbird. But what we're most interested in is how much firepower a Cube has.


TURN 279. The Borg kill another 48 million people on Forlat. But our fleet merrily trains away in Romulus, not lifting a finger to help. We intend to study these Borg, and will watch as they kill more. The citizens of Forlat knew that living on the edge of the galaxy was risky when they chose to move there.


TURN 281. The number of people the Borg kill each turn has been declining, which is helpful because it means they can't kill any system within just one or two turns.


Romulan scientists claim to have achieved a breakthrough in propulsion technology, which will come in handy the next time we want to send a ship somewhere.


By assigning people to science instead of intel, we achieve science power of 7,000 points. We activate the Vulcan structure to get a 35% bonus. We could do much more than this, but we can't be bothered to micromanage everything. We'll just keep hitting the "turn" button.


TURN 283. The Forlat system is almost completely dead now, but none of the Borg attacks actually destroy infrastructure.


TURN 284. The Borg finally finish eating Forlat. All of the planets become classified as "J" class barren planets, though they're still terraformed. They look different than normal barren planets--they're kind of cybernetic-looking. But no Borg live there. We could colonize it again immediately if we wanted.


TURN 285. The Borg immediately attack another system, killing 62 million.


It's quite convenient--the Borg Cube went to the system right next door to our fleet at Romulus. But we notice that this is also Cube 235. That other Cube to the east is the Cube that was generated by the destruction of Forlat.


It's time to put our fleet's training to the test, and send them against the Cube.


TURN 286. We've got 43 Battle Cruiser IIs and 2 Warbirds. We're curious how much destruction a Cube could do, so none of our ships are cloaked.


Unlike other enemies, the Borg attempt to taunt the fleet by broadcasting a message encouraging assimilation. Let's see what the Borg are made of.


We get no free turn because no ships were cloaked, so we and the Borg will open fire simultaneously.


With 45 command ships, green weapons go everywhere. But the Borg are able to put out quite a lot of orange weapons of their own, firing at multiple targets. The Borg appear to be calling the Warbirds as their primary target.


The Cube is exploding, but several green explosions are easily seen--they've inflicted casualties before we could insta-pop them.


The Cube is gone, and most of us are left standing. Spica is saved.


Lots of our torpedoes continue to travel into the distance--hope they don't hit Romulus.


Before we can even celebrate our victory, we're notified that 132 million have been nuked by the Borg at Zakdorn. At least it's a Minor Race taking the punishment this time.


The Borg managed to kill 2 Warbirds and 2 Battle Cruiser IIs before being taken down by the fleet. Impressive, considering we had 45 ships attacking at once. I suppose the Borg never retreat.


TURN 288. Our remaining ships attack the Borg Cube at Zakdorn before it can reproduce. This time, we're all cloaked.


The ship is called Cube 238. But if it was just constructed, shouldn't it be Cube 500,000something?


The fleet decloaks and opens fire before the Cube has time to respond.


Whatever the Borg are made of spews out the other side of the Cube. They will be instantly killed, and we will take no casualties.


We are the Romulans. Resistance is futile.


TURN 289. We invent the Matrix.


TURN 293. We can make anything happen.


TURN 303. ...and our beams are stronger. That last one isn't quite as inspiring, I know. But now we can construct a Warbird II, the most powerful ship around!


The Warbird II is special because it can travel two sectors in one turn and thereby keep up with a Battle Cruiser fleet. They cost 26,730 credits to purchase outright. No problem since we have almost as many credits as the Borg have Cubes.


TURN 309. Now it is time to face our true enemy.


TURN 310. The Edo Guardian has served us for a long time, but we can tolerate no other power in this galaxy.


Our fleet consists of the remaining 41 Battle Cruiser IIs and our new Warbird II, which eagerly goes to the front of the line. Again, none of our ships are cloaked, because we're curious to test the Edo Guardian's firepower.


The Edo Guardian is overwhelmed.


But the Edo Guardian is still an impressive entity, as it is able to kill at least one ship before dying.


Looks like it destroyed the Warbird II and of our Battle Cruisers. Not as powerful as the Borg Cube, but pretty close. Oh well, we were just curious.


Wiping out the remaining Klingon sector will give us victory and just a few more points than our regular domination victory. As seen by this wonderful scoreboard (with previous "high scores" contributed by Microprose), we did better than the next-best Romulans, ruled by "DJ Jazzy D'Juan".

We even managed to outscore our archnemesis, "Head Smackin' Steve". It is a triumph.


NEXT TIME: The Federation.