Part 57: Turn 78

TURN 78


A Cardassian fleet is in orbit over Mintaka. It doesn't have a Troop Transport to invade us with, but they can still bomb. We don't have enough time to build a bunker network, so we cancel that. We'll start buying Orbital Batteries. Luckily we have enough power plants to give energy for a few.


The Cardies have complete supremacy in space. Our only ship is a Troop Transport that was en route to Mintaka to help upgrade the Outpost to a Starbase. So much for that. The Transport frantically changes course. Volon and Qo'nos will hurriedly build Scouts.


TURN 79. Unopposed, the Cardassians bomb Mintaka. It is humiliating, but surprisingly little collateral damage was inflicted.


The reason is that they only bombed us using 3 Battleships. The rest of the fleet departed. Since we no longer have an Outpost or any Scouts in the area, we have no scan strength. There's no way to see the enemy coming.


We will continue to purchase Orbital Batteries as long as the Cardies are overhead.


TURN 80. The empire is relieved to see that the Cardassian ships, having failed to invade Mintaka, decided to leave. But they may return. We'll build Scouts and send them down to Mintaka to stand watch.


TURN 81. The Cardassians stole more money from us. At least it was less this time.


TURN 84. We built 4 Scouts and sent them toward Mintaka. But before they even get there, they run into a Cardassian invasion fleet at sector k6. The Cardassians were headed for Caldonia instead, and we had no idea they were even there!


They didn't bring their big guns this time, but considering our entire defense fleet consists of 4 Scouts...


The primary threat is the Cardassian Troop Transport. Our Scouts decloak and destroy it. Caldonia may find itself bombed, but not captured.


Before our Scouts can do anything else, they are wiped out by the Cardassian fleet.


Suffering another defeat isn't the best thing for our morale. Home-grown terrorists on Yridia blow up a few key structures. "Remember the Illumination!" is their rallying cry. No one knows what this means until a Klingon working in the archives informs Chancellor Gowron that the Illumination was the name of the rogue Yridian Scout.


In fact, a full-scale civil war took place on Yridia. Fortunately it was put down, but 22 million casualties are reported. In other news, the Federation made peace with the Romulans. This further isolates the Ferengi--and us, it would seem.


The whole empire is losing faith in its leadership, but the real dangers are in the enslaved systems of Caldonia and Yridia.


Yridia needs to have its food supply restored first, but Caldonia will become a police state to improve morale.


Our insufficient scan strength in the south already enabled the Cardassians to catch us by surprise. And now we have no Scouts. We'll purchase a subspace scanner on Mintaka to alleviate the problem. We have energy to spare now that we're not powering the Orbital Batteries. Once built, we should be able to see enemy fleets coming from a sector away.


TURN 85. Having lost their Troop Transport, the Cardassian invasion fleet originally destined for Caldonia turns back to pick up a new Troop Transport next to Mintaka.


This time there will be no defense fleet of any kind. No kamikaze attacks against the Troop Transports. Nothing. If Mintaka is to avoid being enslaved by the Cardassians, they will have to fight on the ground. A bunker network is purchased to aid the infantry. The Klingons have trained the Mintakans to be brave warriors. Now is their chance to die a glorious death in battle.


The Yridians are put on lockdown for the time being. If one of our empire's systems is actually captured, all hell is going to break loose.


The Romulans have been behaving strangely of late. For no particular reason, a fleet of 13 cloaked warships is hanging around near Mintaka. Since the Romulans have affiliation treaties with both us and the Cardassians, maybe they're just having fun watching us fight.


TURN 86. The Cardassian invasion fleet has arrived on Mintaka. They brought their heavy-hitters: 3 Battleships. They also brought a Strike Cruiser and a Cruiser along, but no light ships to accompany them. This is the part where we'd normally be launching a suicide attack against the Troop Transport. But we have nothing to send.


Even if we had been building Scouts, they would not make it to Mintaka in time. We finish building Troop Transports on Volon and Qo'nos. These will be sent to Caldonia to build a Starbase there. We cannot defend Mintaka, but perhaps we can prevent further losses.


TURN 87. The Mintakan soldiers have proven themselves worthy of the Klingon banner. They defeated the Cardassians and repelled the invasion. Mintaka remains free. 30 million make the ultimate sacrifice for their empire.


The rebellious Yridians, on the other hand, suffer 60 million casualties due to a random act of nature.


None of the attacking Cardassian fleet was destroyed (except for the Troop Transport that disappears after unloading its troops). But the Strike Cruiser loses half of its hull to one of our Batteries.


TURN 88. Furious at their defeat, the Cardassian fleet performs another round of bombing.


TURN 89. The Cardassian fleet has left Mintaka again. But another fleet of Cardassian ships arrives nearby immediately afterward. An additional Troop Transport has been brought to the front lines with a large escort. When will the madness end?


The only ship in our fleet now is a Troop Transport. It will upgrade the new Outpost on Caldonia to a Starbase as quickly as possible. Mintakans are ordered to brace themselves for a second invasion. They must slow down the bloodthirsty Cardassians long enough to allow the Caldonians to get a Starbase.


TURN 91. The Romulans snicker at us. Either we're with the Ferengi or against them.


The Cardassians are not as foolish as they appear. They have formed up a 14-ship invasion fleet, as expected. But instead of moving it to Mintaka, they have moved it one sector to the west. They are headed for Caldonia. They have no intention of letting us build a Starbase there!


Now it is the disgruntled Caldonians who will be forced to prove their worth in armed combat. They scramble to build as many defenses as they can before the enemy arrive.