Part 86: Turn 382

TURN 382


Dukat is furious at the Romulans for not playing enough of a role in the war. The Romulans send their Battle Cruisers against another Starbase on our southern border.


The creepy Battle Cruisers creep toward the Starbase but do not open fire on our Strike Cruiser.


The Strike Cruiser doesn't return the favor once their cloaks drop. With the Starbase's own weapons, the Strike Cruiser kills one of the Romulan ships while the other 2 escape to think about what they've done.


The bombing only stops when every last Cardassian in the system is dead. Once upon a time, the Cardassians were so powerful that we could only watch helplessly as they slaughtered the valiant Mintakans. Times have changed. Dukat himself is among the dead on Cardassia Prime. Chancellor Martok orders that the system, though it could contain 400 million people, never be inhabited again. Instead, a single statue of a Mintakan is built in the middle of the wasteland.


TURN 383. Our spy in the Cardassian empire--luckily not on Cardassia Prime at the time--steals some weapons research. Our spy had been instructed to concentrate on military sabotage rather than scientific espionage, but he couldn't make heads or tails of the user interface.


Our scientist gets his hands on the new data. It gives us 1% of our needed progress toward weapons level 10.


We have been gathering Scouts and Troop Transports on Galdonterre, near the Cardassian core. Now they will be sent to attack Cestus, the system northwest of Cardassia Prime.


TURN 384. Our Birds of Prey are restless and want to join in the attack against the Outpost. The Cardassian Outposts fires on some of our Scouts, but let's face it, Outposts suck.


Gul Damar is in charge of the empire now that Dukat is dead. He continues to build up resources on the unlikely colony of Norpin.


TURN 385. Our Birds are ordered to launch a sneak attack against Norpin. The Cardassian fleet has no chance to escape.


Military analysts suggest the Cardassian fleet lacks the power to launch any invasions against us, so the Cardassian Cruisers are our first priority. Destroying these command ships will leave the Cardies helpless.


Our Birds of Prey launch their torpedoes. Sadly, someone forgot to enable the cloaks on our ships, so instead of getting a free turn and an attack turn, the Cardies will be able to attempt escape.


Most of the Cruisers are killed anyway.


However, our failure to use cloaking devices has enabled many of the Cardassian ships to retreat. Martok dismisses the error. "Klingons don't need cloaks anymore," he scoffs, "We rule the galaxy."


The Romulans steal some credits while they still can.


While our Birds of Prey were attacking the Cardassian fleet at Norpin, our Scouts and Troop Transports were preparing an invasion of Cestus all by themselves.


TURN 386. Cestus is easily enslaved, despite the absence of a real attack fleet.


TURN 387. Vulcan is next door to Cardassia. The fact that the Federation managed to get them to join before the Cardassians could is a testament to Human diplomacy and Cardassian bumbling. But because we want to show the Humans that we are at war with them also, we will conquer the Vulcans.


TURN 388. Vulcan is invaded and forced into our empire. When the Federation gets the news, they are stunned into silence. President Kirk is with his old friend Spock when they learn the Vulcans have all been enslaved. Kirk nudges Spock and says, "That's gotta hurt!"


The Vulcan special structure is one of the best for an empire to receive early on: a 35% bonus to all types of research empire-wide. But we have no further need of science.


Instead, we will purchase a shipyard to extend our range further to the east. Chancellor Martok plots his next move.