Part 32: Turn 63

TURN 63


Our Cardassian allies have broken their treaty with the Klingons and joined our war against them. The Cardassian leader, Gul Dukat, seeks to ensure the Federation that he is serious about the war commitment. He declares in a public statement, "This is no token gesture. We will not rest until every Klingon is hunted down and slaughtered in the streets!" Federation citizens are assured that this is a mangled translation of what he meant to say, "We will not rest until we have achieved peace."

A new Scout has been built to replace the one killed by saboteurs, and deployed to the west. It spots 2 Attack Cruisers. We will be keeping an eye on these. In the southeast, the yellow bubble of Ferengi space is now off-limits due to the non-aggression treaty.


TURN 64. The Federation is not accustomed to giving into demands for bribes, but we will make an exception in this case. Continued Cardassian support will be vital if there is any chance of a speedy conclusion to the already drawn-out war.


Cardassian ships have been taking refuge among our Starbases near the Klingon border. We have no way of coordinating with them directly, so we must field a fleet powerful enough on our own. 8 Heavy Cruisers and 6 Troop Transports have been built. We are now ready to launch invasions against undeveloped Klingon colonies.


Financially speaking, we're in the red now. We have 5 Starbases to maintain, along with the fleet. On the plus side, our colonies are still growing.


TURN 65. The Cardassians have an Outpost along their border with the Klingons, enabling us to get the occasional peak at Klingon fleet movements. The Klingons have a fleet of 2 Strike Cruisers, a Battle Cruiser, and 2 Destroyers. It is a potent combination, and it appears to be moving against the Cardassians instead of us. The Cardies' forcing the Klingons into a two-front war will be very beneficial to us.


We are planning to invade the Klingon colony of Alpha Cygnus. They used to have an Outpost there until we blew it up. They likely wanted to protect this system because it has dilithium. It is small, but they already have an Orbital Battery set up. If we take it, we can deprive them of half their dilithium and put up a defense right next door to their homeworld.


TURN 66. Our scientists report a major disaster. Saboteurs occasionally destroy a few hundred terraquads of data, but this time they destroyed nearly 23,000 terraquads.


Nevertheless, we're still 70% of the way done with the weapons research we need for the Heavy Cruiser II. Our science power is up to 2,000 points, despite resources in our core systems being diverted to intel.


It appears the Ferengi have bought another peace treaty. Their previous one with the Cardassians may have expired. This treaty is an indication the Cardies are serious about dealing with the Klingons first.


The Ferengi also sign a friendship treaty with the Romulans. In theory, the Ferengi will be in the way of Romulan expansion once the Romulans colonize far enough to the south.


Our invasion fleet is one sector away from Alpha Cygnus, and picks up the western Scout to deal with the Orbital Battery. But the Klingon Attack Cruisers have moved back next to Alpha Cygnus. We could strike Deneva instead, but maybe the Attack Cruisers will guard there next turn. We decide to make a two-pronged attack. We'll split our forces, sending 2 Troop Transports and a Heavy Cruiser from elsewhere to Deneva. No matter which system the Attack Cruisers try to defend, the other will be vulnerable to invasion.


TURN 67. The Romulans have terminated their non-aggression treaty with us. We're now in a state of neutrality: Either side can harass the other, but not invade. We have no idea what prompted the Romulans to take this course of action. We have left them in peace ever since the treaty. Indeed, the last thing we want is to pick a fight on our eastern border.


Happily, the Klingon Attack Cruisers withdrew to protect their homeworld. But we have no intention of striking there. Both of our invasion fleets arrive safely at their destinations and give the order to attack. It feels much better to be on this side of an invasion. The Klingons are on the defensive at last.


Our Scout will have the unenviable task of "probing" the Orbital Battery on Alpha Cygnus while the Troops land and 3 Heavy Cruisers bombard the system. Since the system is small, we will not have all 8 Heavy Cruisers bomb. We want to minimize collateral damage.


TURN 68. The Klingons do not attempt to intercept either invasion fleet. We receive word that the small colony of Deneva has been taken with minimal loss of life.


At the same time, Alpha Cygnus is also captured. Our Scout was destroyed by the Orbital Battery, but the invasion was otherwise without incident. Four million Klingons died.


The public is outraged to hear of our two successful invasions. As one prominent commentator wrote, "If we subject the Klingons to such brutal subjugation, how are we any different than they are?" But they are unable to suggest an alternative means of winning the war.


The people are reminded that the Klingons started the war, but morale takes a big hit, particularly in the newer colonies. And that's not counting the defiant attitude of the new Klingon members of the Federation.


We are committed to treating the conquered systems as we would our other colonies. When we have power available, we will build structures like trade centers and subatomic simulators.


The Cardassians have put together a massive command ship fleet at their Outpost on the Klingon border. This should help force the Klingons to keep their fleet defending their homeworld rather than counter-attacking.


The Klingon systems have a severe morale issue, so we'll impose martial law. This improves the morale of any system on a temporary basis. It is useful for preventing rebellion.


TURN 69. The Romulans cannot be too happy about the fate that has befallen their Klingon affiliates. They demand a payment, but they will receive nothing from us.


The Klingons do have a sizable defense fleet on their homeworld. We cannot attack them directly without suffering grievous losses. For now, we focus on defending our newly-gained territories and wait for an opportunity to strike.


Another new colony, another set of subatomic simulators to add research power.


It's especially important to add research power to the new colonies because we cannot add intel there. (We can't build phoenix facilities.) Even running our intel centers on the core systems at full capacity has proven insufficient. Quazulu and Borka will have to build more intel centers and shift more population from research to intel.


TURN 70. Luckily, most of the time enemy saboteurs pierce our defense, the damage is relatively minor.


The latest act of sabotage destroyed all of the Merak colony's farms. They will starve, so we quickly buy Federation replicators, a special structure that adds +50 food at the cost of 10 energy.


Our Starbase on Alpha Cygnus is nearly complete. We have a fleet of 9 Heavy Cruisers waiting to attack the Klingons when they split up their forces. We can grind down their fleet that way. When it has been sufficiently depleted, perhaps then we can invade Qo'nos. We're still waiting for the Cardassians to do their part and invade a Klingon system. So far there's just been a lot of posturing. But we need to bring this war to a conclusion as swiftly as possible. Our entire fleet is down next to the Klingon homeworld, leaving our eastern border bare. When the Klingons are vanquished, we will be able to redeploy our fleet and defend against whatever the Romulans have in store for us.


TURN 71. The Romulans, unfortunately, operate on their own schedule.