Part 81: Turn 355

TURN 355


We joined the Romulans' war pact against the Federation. We can't see the Romulans' cloaked ships, so we don't really know how the war is going on their end, but it can't be great if Federation Destroyers are on Romulus.


Our invasion force will launch against Deneb, the final stronghold of the Ferengi south.


TURN 356. A Ferengi Marauder harasses Harrakis again and is chased away.


Deneb is taken. Now the Ferengi only half about half a dozen systems that were too small to bother with earlier.


The Minor Race inhabitants of Deneb have a special structure that gives a 100% empire-wide bonus to construction research. Supposedly our scientist is conducting illegal research in this field, but we will not help him. Instead, Deneb will put its industry to use in making more Scouts or Troop Transports.


An interesting structure survived our bombardment on Bandi. It is a "communications grid" that helps protect your Minor Races from being bribed by outsiders. This is only used if the Minor Race joined your empire willingly. Besides the Mintakans, no Minor Race has ever done that for us.


Federation ships are stirring. The Humans are sending more warships to their frontline. It's been a long time since we toured Federation space, so we have no idea what they've got.


The Ferengi are attempting to build a second front against us in the north using their ill-gotten ships. We will have our Birds of Prey fly against them immediately.


TURN 357. The Federation sends a trio of Destroyers to scare us, but they meet a Starbase on our southern border. They retreat.


Our Starbase on Qo'nos gets a combat alert that it has to check and re-check in disbelief. The Romulan Troop Transports there are hostile?


Incredibly, the Troop Transports can no longer be hosted by our Starbase because the Romulans have terminated their affiliation treaty with us. We fire on the Transports, but they all escape.


Our Birds defending Bynaus encounter some hostile Ferengi ships.


It's yet another Marauder-War Cruiser combo. They are wiped out easily.


Yet another combat alert. Our Scout in Romulan space is no longer in friendly territory thanks to the Romulans' treachery.


Obviously our Scout is no match for the Romulan Warbird II. It escapes during the cloak turn. We get a cloak turn because the Romulan Outpost (obviously) has no cloak. If this had been an empty sector, the Warbird would have simply killed our Scout.


The Federation have grown even closer to the Ferengi now that they are both at war with us.


The Romulans have stabbed us in the back after more than 300 turns of uninterrupted peace. They have no honor. Nor do they have good timing. They couldn't even wait until they evacuated all of their Troop Transports that were enjoying safe harbor on our capital. And if the Romulans wanted war with us, why start a war with the Federation?


While Klingons are furious, the war with the Romulans makes them rally to their leadership. Qo'nos has achieved "loyal" morale.


TURN 359. Our Birds of Prey have set upon the Ferengi ships in the far north. But instead of waiting to be attacked, the Ferengi ships moved south to attack their former capital.


Though the Ferengi did bring a Marauder, neither side is in proper shape for a battle. We only have some Scouts and Troop Transports at the Starbase. For some reason, the Ferengi brought Troop Transports and a Colony Ship to the battle.


We destroy the Colony Ship and a Scout, but the rest run away.


The Cardies, led by Gul Dukat, are increasingly wary of our power. They grow closer to the Ferengi.


We're tired of dealing with the Ferengi. Both the Feds and the Romulans apparently want to fight us. We must capture and crush the remaining Ferengi so we can deal with other wars.


TURN 360. On Merak to the far southeast, the Federation muster a sizable fleet. They could be planning to attack the Romulans with it, but they could also be headed toward our own southern border.