Part 87: Turn 388

TURN 388


We have captured Vulcan, a Federation system that was sitting next to Cardassia Prime. We could turn our attention toward attack the Feds or the Romulans, but Chancellor Martok insists on finishing the Cardassians next. "They do not deserve the honor of another empire falling before they do," he observes.


The remaining empires are dwarfed by the Klingons. The Federation is obviously the most powerful of our remaining enemies, but even it has less than a third of our systems. The Romulan-Cardassian Alliance also has 9 systems, but the Cardies' military is almost entirely gone.


TURN 389. Our rogue scientist reports another breakthrough, this time in construction tech. We could use this to upgrade to the highest-level factory. But Martok grows weary of micromanagement and most of the empire's factories lay dormant for lack of orders.


The only ship that has not been invented is the Attack Cruiser II. It requires so many breakthroughs that it's unlikely to be invented before the Klingon empire swallows the galaxy.


Our fleet chases the Cardassian ships away--they do not wish to fight us. No matter: We will invade the dilithium-rich Cardassian system of Gamma Tauri.


Meanwhile, since there are no Orbital Batteries on Norpin, a handful of Troop Transports will invade it on their own. The number of our Transports is concealed by stealth and my cursor.


TURN 390. However many Transports we had, they were enough.


Gamma Tauri is taken simultaneously. At least that system had a Battery, but who cares when you've got Scouts to spare?


Our fleet moves next door to Adelphous, a proper Cardie system with 235 million people and 5 Orbital Batteries. The Ferengi slaves throughout our empire are pumping out lots of Scouts and Transports, but Martok can no longer bring himself to conduct the tedious process of ordering them all to the frontline. They simply accumulate on the colonies.


TURN 391. We yoink another important Cardassian system. It seems the number of Scouts and Transports we gathered already are sufficient.


Martok is speechless when he learns that while he was busy taking over the Cardassian empire, the devious Romulans have attacked us! The Romulans bypassed the Starbases on our southern border and began a surprise bombardment of Yridia, killing 16 million of those pesky but recently loyal Yridians.


3 Battle Crusiers were cloaked and sent to Yridia, where they decloaked and attacked us. Klingons are amazed by this attack. Since we have 2 Orbital Batteries still intact from the old days of the Cardassian sieges, the Yridians are ordered to power them up and defend themselves.


But the diabolical Romulan attack apparently targeted our energy sources. Even with every other structure powered down and all of the power plants active, we don't have enough energy for even one Orbital Battery to be activated.


9 of our Birds of Prey are ordered to take a break from attacking the Cardassians and deal with the Romulan threat. It's a long way off, but luckily our Birds are capable of impressive speed.


TURN 392. 11 million more Yridians die as they await rescue. Many Klingons are still shocked that the Romulans actually had the cojones to pull this off.


The rest of our fleet moves to Tethys, another Cardassian stronghold. Though we won't have those 9 Birds of Prey to bomb the system, we should still have plenty of strength for the invasion.


TURN 393. Another 5 Scouts are killed when taking the system. Fortunately no matter how big the system is, we will always lose only 1 Troop Transport for a successful invasion.


Our Birds of Prey have already reached their destination and saved Yridia. The 3 Battle Cruisers saw them coming, moved away and cloaked up. Cowards.


It would be difficult to catch the enemy ships without knowing where they intend to move next, so we will make rare use of the "intercept" command. While in our own territory, our Birds can make use of their speed to automatically seek out and capture the enemy. In theory, at least.


Only one Cardassian system remains: Peliar Zel. 9 ships huddle up on the system to await the inevitable. There is a Colony Ship among them, but they don't dare move to re-colonize Cardassia Prime next door. Gul Damar tells everyone to be brave, but he himself is drinking like an Antedean.


TURN 394. The intercept command bears some fruit. The Birds catch the 3 Destroyers the Romulans had, but not the Battle Cruisers. This is odd because the Destroyers can move 3 sectors per turn while the Battle Cruisers only 2.


Because both our fleet and the Romulan fleet are comprised entirely of cloaked ships, their cloaks cancel each other out and the combat begins as if neither side had cloaks. We easily pop the Destroyers before they can escape.


The Cardassians make their last stand on Peliar Zel. Unfortunately for them, most of their ships are non-combatants.


Our own non-combatant Troop Transports enjoy another opportunity to score some kills.


There is nowhere left to run. The once great and powerful Cardassians have no ships left. Long ago, their empire struck terror into the hearts of brave Klingons and Mintakans. They incited the Caldonians to rebellion, they aborted Starbases, they wiped out fleets, and they committed genocide. Now the only thing they can do is beg for mercy.