Star Trek - Non Federation timeline

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Star Trek - Non Federation timeline

Chapter 1 - Prelude

In the early 1980's Britain was experimenting with a space system called HOTOL. HOTOL, stands for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was a realised British space shuttle proposal.

Designed as a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable winged launch vehicle, it was to be fitted with a unique liquid air cycle engine (LACE), the RB545, built by Rolls Royce. The engine was technically a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen design, but by collecting and liquefying oxygen from the air as the spacecraft climbed, the amount of LOX (liquid oxygen) carried onboard was dramatically reduced. Since LOX typically represents the majority of the takeoff weight of a rocket, HOTOL was considerably smaller than normal all-LOX designs, roughly the size of a medium-haul airliner such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9/MD-80.

HOTOL was 63 metres long, 7 metres in diameter and with a wingspan of 28 metres. The unmanned craft was intended to put a payload of around seven tonnes in orbit. It was intended to take off from a runway, mounted on the back of a large rocket-boosted trolley that would help get the craft up to "working speed". The engine was intended to switch from jet propulsion to pure rocket propulsion at 26-32 km high, by which time the craft would be travelling at Mach 5 to 7. After reaching orbit, HOTOL was intended to re-enter the atmosphere and glide down to land on a conventional runway. The internal landing gear were too small to carry the weight of the fully fuelled rocket, so emergency landings required the fuel to be dumped.

Development began with government funding in 1986. The design team was a joint effort between Rolls Royce and British Aerospace led by John Scott and Dr Bob Parkinson.

The first version of HOTOL was called HOTOL1 this would be unmanned the second version would be called HOTOL2 would be a manned version.

By the mid 1990's the HOTOL project was well under way and a launch site in Australia was chosen Woomera is a town in South Australia, 488 km north of Adelaide, along the Stuart Highway. This was expanded and upgraded to handle HOTOL.

Also at this time 3 other countries joined the British in the space program, these are Australia, New Zealand and Canada. These countries would have a percentage of the investment and would also receive the same percentage of any profits from this space program. The percentage breakdown was as follows Britain 50%, Australia 20%, Canada 20% and New Zealand 10%.

By 2005 the HOTOL 1 & 2 were operating with and HOTOL 3 & 4 with a much larger cargo/passenger capacity. The difference between is the stronger under carriage and stronger rocket motors witch allows to removal of the large rocket-boosted trolley.

The income would grow until the HOTOL program in 2010 was making 3 Billion pounds a year with a 1 Billion-pound profit for the 4 member countries involved.

In Britain at this time there was increased hostility to the European Union, the British government decided to hold a referendum on weather Britain stays in the EU of leaves. The results were staggering 78% for leaving the EU. This caused a run on the Euro but strengthened the British pound.

Britain withdrew from the EU on the 1 January 2012 the fears that the British economy would collapse did not happen, the opposite happened the British economy began to strengthen.

Britain would use the 1% of Britain's GDP that was going into the EU to fund a rearmament program with the world getting increasingly hostile. Most of the money would be put in to designing Deep Space Exploration Vessels what was left over would be put into the rest of the UK economy.

Between 2015 and 2025 Britain and its the partners expanded beyond the space program to all other areas including trade and defence. In the defence area they began would on a ground based laser defence system with the first until becoming operation by 2025.

Britain, Canada and Australia would be construction a new generation of nuclear power stations of the Pressurised Water Reactors (PWR) type, to provide power not only for the laser defence system by also to reduce the dependence on imported fuels.

In 2020 the construction starts in geo stationary orbit of two dry docks for the construction of Deep Space Exploration Vessels, construction of these two dry docks takes 4 years. On the 1 June 2024 King Charles III of Britain christens the first section of the new Deep Space Exploration Vessels. This will be called HMSS (His or Her Majesty Space Ship) Great Britain this ship will be followed by HMSS Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Also in 2020 will see the formation for the Royal Space Navy consisting of military personnel from all 4 countries under a joint command.

This design of these ships will be an elongated saucer shape with two new designed Ion engines as the rear between the small shuttle bay. The armament will consist of two forward firing rail guns and two aft firing rail guns, also there will be 8 lasers with 4 mounted dorsal and four mounted ventral covering 45 degrees each. There will also be a very primitive "navigation deflector" to deflect space dust etc. With a crew of 60, of these 10 are scientist and the rest are military personnel. They are designed to be away from earth for up to 5 years. With a length of 100 meters and a height of 25 meters and a beam of 70 meters and having 5 decks. These ships are powered buy 4 fusion reactors.

During this time the US space program is going though a lot of problems with the tragic loss of two space shuttles and the withdrawal of the space shuttles from service from 2010. The US goes back to using the Orion Spacecraft (formerly known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle or CEV) is NASA's series of human space flight spacecraft, replaced the Space Shuttle fleet. Together with the Earth Departure Stage (EDS), the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM), and the Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicle.

This US space program is far behind the British, Australia, Canadian and New Zealand joint space program. This is manly due to the constant shifting political situation in the US from on political party to an other every 4 years or so.

When the joint British, Australia, Canadian and New Zealand space command was set up it was made independent of political control. But did have to answer to the 4 ministers from each country that formed the space commission. Each of the four members had the power of veto but could be overruled by the other 3 if they were in agreement. This allowed the "Space Command" later called the "Royal Space Command" to remain virtually independent.

By 2029 all 4 Deep Space Exploration Vessels were operational and had begun exploration of the solar system.

The US and NASA had been watching this with envy and begin construction of there own Deep Space Exploration Vessels. These are not as elegant as the Royal Space Commands vessels. They are a series of tubes and pods joined together with one forward firing rail gun a 4 lasers 2 ventral and 2 dorsal. They called the USSS (United States Space Ship) America, Freedom, Kitty Hawk and Constellation these last two are not started until after World War III. These vessels are also buy 2 fusion reactors. This would be under the United States Space Command.

At the end of 2029 a certain young Zephram Cochrane and his family would emigrate from the US to the UK. Later Zephram Cochrane would be given a job at Britain's Space Research Institute. To develop his theories of a faster that light drive called Warped Drive, later to become Warp Drive.

By 2029 the HOTOL program has about 70% of the world’s satellite launch program and 100% of the satellite recovery and overhaul program. Also the space program was doing a healthy space tourism with the cost of going into space even for just a day coming down, the price was within reach of most middle class families (even though it was still only a once in a lifetime thing to do).

The profits from the space program have risen from 1 billion pounds in 2010 to 5 billion pounds by 2029 making the Royal Space Command financially independent of government funding.

But in 2030 that would all change as the 4 Royal Space Command ships would be used for a different purpose.

A further 12 Deep Space Exploration Vessels also to follow the Deep Space Exploration Vessels were vessels designed to carry colonists to the Moon and Mars. The production rate was 2 Deep Space Exploration Vessels and 3 colonist vessels per year. Also with a major colonisation of most of the solar system within the next 50 years and the setting up of mining outpost in the asteroid belt. But with the advent of World War III this program was put on hold.

Next - Part 2 - World War III




Part 2 - World War III

Note - This chapter is a bit brief, but if I went into detail it would take too long to do!

In 2030 various conflicts would boil over in to full-scale wars.

The first of these would be India and Pakistan they would start of over the disputed Kashmir and steadily escalate until both sides conventional forces would be locked in a deadly fight that neither side would back down. By the end of 2032 both sides had gone to a full nuclear exchange, decimating most of the populations of both countries.

The second conflict to start up just after the India and Pakistan was China and Taiwan. Taiwan declared independence from China on the 1 June 2030 after a referendum. China would launch a massive conventional attack on Taiwan to "reclaim" there "lost" territory. The US and Japan along with the EU supported Taiwan's independence. With Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada remain neutral. The Russian federation would support China.

Most of the conventional fighting was in the Taiwan Strait over navel and air superiority. The US, Japan and the EU had superior air and navel technology while China and Russia had numbers on their side. The conventional fighting would go on for 18 months of continuous fighting and the causalities on both sides were very high especially for Russia and China.

While all this was going on Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada would remain neutral in any conflict. They would continue to build up their defences against any attack on them. The defences would also be enhanced by the 4 Deep Space Exploration Vessels of the Royal Space Command. These 4 vessels would take up geo stationary orbit above the 4 member countries to shoot down any missiles that threaten them.

When India and Pakistan launch their nuclear weapons the vessels of the Royal Space Command did not intercept any of the warheads, as they were not attacking them. Thus in the space of a few hours 70% of the population of India and Pakistan were wiped out. Most of the casualties were in the large cities and most of rural India and Pakistan were left unscathed by nuclear strikes.

On the 15 January 2032 China launched a limited number of nuclear missiles at Taiwan. Some of these missiles were shot down by sea and land based ABM systems around Taiwan. But 6 warheads detonated killing 30% of Taiwan's population.

The US responded with a limited nuclear strike against China and China upon seeing this launched all its nuclear weapons against the US, Japan and EU. To witch the US responded with a full counter strike against China. Russia then responded by launching it missiles against the US, Japan and EU. The US also launched against Russia in response against Russia launches added to that France also launched her sub-based missiles against both Russia and China.

Most of the US strike against China was against military targets and several major cities. Thus most of the rural population survived the nuclear strikes against China.

The missile attacks against china were devastating, destroying most of Chinas infrastructure and population. The attacks against Russia were less successful as Russia had a basic form of missile defence around the major city's and industrial centres. The attacks against the US and Japan were not as devastating as the attacks against Russia and China as the US has deployed its ABM defence systems to defend the US mainland and over seas bases, but several nukes did manage to penetrate the defences and destroy several city’s in the US. As the US had only two spaceships in orbit to intercept warheads coming towards the US and its allies, this reduced the effectiveness of these defences.

The EU had mixed results due to the fact the in geo stationary orbit over the UK was HMS Great Britain. HMS Great Britain was under orders to destroy and weapons that were coming in the UK direction this had the added "benefit" of also protecting most of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and western Germany the rest of the EU was not so "lucky" and would receive several nuclear strikes. HMS Great Britain used her rail guns at long range and lasers at medium range to shoot down 90% of the approaching warheads the rest were destroyed by the land based laser defence system.

The same cover applied to Australia, New Zealand and Canada were no nuclear weapons detonated due to the cover provided by the ships of the vessels of the Royal Space Command. Also the use of the ground based laser defence systems based in these countries.

This would leave the 4 countries of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada unscathed by the war and with their economies in one piece.

The US economy was also partially intact with France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and western Germany's economy's also. The damage to Russia was limited to those nukes that got though Russia missile defence system.

Most of the destruction was in India, Pakistan and China with a death toll of over 1 billion dead. There would be problems with radiation, but surprisingly there was not a nuclear winter as most of the nukes that got though the defences ended up hitting either, the cities or military bases, this lead to the large number of causalities for a small number of nukes used. All of the missile aimed at Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada were shot down, thus reducing the amount of damage done. As were the majority that were fired at the US.

World War III would come to an end on the 1 May 2033 with a peace treaty with remaining government leaders of the surviving countries was signed.

Next - Part 3 - Aftermath/Space/Warp Drive/First Contact.




Part 3 - Aftermath/Space/Warp Drive/First Contact

Aftermath

China descended in to a feudal system and the only good thing to come out of the war was that Tibet became an independent country.

Russia with most of its cities in tacked Russia would slowly get back on its feet over the next 3 decades.

The US having suffered some of the fewest nuclear strikes of all the countries, economy was now devoted to rebuilding over the next 2 decades. Its space program would continue at a much-reduced rate.

The European Union countries varied in the amount of damage was done from country to country. With HMSS Great Britain in geo stationary orbit over the UK all of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and western Germany's were protected from attack. This allowed these countries to help the other EU countries recover from the war.

Japan was well defended against attack therefor its economy also survived mostly in one peace.

The four members of the Royal Space Command survived with their economies in one peace. They also were very strong trading partners with each other. This would allow these four countries some limited growth.

Space

The Royal Space Command four Deep Space Exploration Vessels had proved very good a defending themselves against attack. Therefore the space program would resume but at a much slower pace than before the war.

HMSS New Zealand would be refitted for a five-year mission to explore the solar system, especially the asteroid belt for raw materials. The mission departed earth on the 25 April 2035.

The other three Deep Space Exploration Vessels would remain in orbit for defence.

The construction of new vessels would start at the end of 2035 with a production rate of 1 Deep Space Exploration Vessel and 2 mining/colonist vessels per year.

By 2037 the six mining/colonist vessels would be sent to the asteroid belt to set-up mining facilities these would be escorted by 3 Deep Space Exploration Vessels who's job would be to protect the mining facilities and escort the ore back to earth for processing. By 2042 several mining colonies had been set-up and were sending ore back to earth for processing.

In 2045 an ore processing facility would be set-up near the asteroid belt mining facilities to process and refine the ore. This would allow the construction of a new dry dock facility near the ore processing facility to produce new warp spaceships, as well as shipping the remaining ore back to earth.

In December 2040 HMSS New Zealand returned to Earth from her 5-year mission to a heroes reception. HMSS New Zealand would go into dry dock for an 18-month overhaul and refit before becoming the flagship of the RSC.

During this time there was a debate amongst the members of the Royal Space Command weather or not to colonise the Moon and Mars. The invention of the warp drive and testing by Zephram Cochrane in 2063 the decision was to bypass the Moon and Mars and to focus on colonising other systems beyond Earth.

The US space program would be limited to two programs over the next 3 decades of establishing a moon base and a colony on Mars in 2050. It's space ships of the United States Space Command the USSS America, Freedom, Kitty Hawk and Constellation (the last two ships would be completed in 2035 and 2036) would be used in duel roles of warship and colony ships. The US space program would produce one new vessel per year coming out of the USSC dry dock on geo stationary orbit over the US.

Warp Drive

In 2050 Zephram Cochrane started work on his Warp Drive theory and began construction of the first warp-capable vessel, the Phoenix. The Phoenix was a spaceship launched in the 21st century. The Phoenix was constructed from an old Titan V nuclear missile purchased from the US as a cost saving measure rather than launching the Phoenix on top on a HOTOL.

It would take Zephram Cochrane 13 years to construct the Phoenix. The Phoenix itself would have a crew of three 1 pilot, 2 crew and would have a length of 20 meters (excluding the lower half of the Titan V launch rocket) and would reach just over warp 1.

On April 5, 2063 at 11:15am (Australia time) Cochrane made Earth's first warp flight, the first flight lasted on 40 seconds, but it propelled the Phoenix to a speed of just over Warp 1. When the Phoenix came out of warp it was just past the moons orbit. The second warp trip was a return flight back to earth orbit and docking with the orbital dry docks and then by HOTOL back to Woomera launch site.

First Contact

When Zephram Cochrane made his first warp jump in the Phoenix he was being monitored by a passing Vulcan ship, the T'Plana-Hath. First Contact took place on the evening of April 5, 2063, when a Vulcan survey ship, the T'Plana-Hath, having detected the warp signature of the Phoenix. The Vulcan ships captain decided to make first contact with earth.

The Vulcan ship T'Plana-Hath entered earth's solar system at impulse speed and headed towards the dry docks in geo stationary orbit over Australia. The two HMSS Deep Space Exploration Vessels HMSS New Zealand (flagship) and Canberra detected the Vulcan survey ship approaching and went to "action stations" and sent a signal to the Vulcan survey ship asking what its intentions were.

The Vulcan survey ship reply was that it had detected a warp signature as was investigating and that they came in peace. A quick series of communications between the HMSS New Zealand and Canberra and the Woomera launch site stating that the Vulcan survey ship was welcome. Woomera launch site gave co-ordinates for the Vulcan survey ship to send a shuttle down to the Woomera launch site to meet the pilots of the warp vessel.

On April 5, 2063 at 11.30pm first contact between Earth and Vulcan was established.

After several days of negation diplomatic relation between Vulcan and Earth were formed. But Vulcan would not interfere in Earth’s development by giving them advanced technology. This annoyed the US delegation but the member countries of the Royal Space Command accepted this and ask the Vulcan’s if they could exchange cultural items, the answer came back, yes.

On the 1 May 2063 the Royal Space Command issued orders for all spacecraft under construction to cease and the design and production of warp capable spaceships to begin.

The basic warp dive was shared with the US but not the planned improvements, so as to keep the US one step behind the Royal Space Command.

Next - Part 4 – First Steps




Part 4 – First Steps


Earth would be divided in to two space fairing power blocks, one under the Royal Space Command and the other under the United States Space Command.

By 2065 construction of these new ships had begun.

The Royal Space Command would come in several classes.

Frigate – This would be an enlarged version of the Great Britain class to accommodate the warp drive and the new matter anti matter power core. The Great Britain class had a length of 150 meters and a height of 30 meters and a beam of 85 meters. The warp drive nacelles rather that being on pylons stretching out from the hull of the ship the warp drive nacelles were made flush with the hull and were mounted on the port and starboard sides of the saucer.

This design would allow greater protection of the warp drive nacelles. The armament would consist of two forward firing rail guns and two aft firing rail guns, also there will be 8 lasers with 4 mounted dorsal and four mounted ventral covering 45 degrees each, these ships would be upgraded as new weapons were designed. The hull would be covered with polarised armour that would provide the ship with some protection; this armour would be 5cm thick. The frigates would have a crew of 60 with a detachment of 30 Royal Space Marines for on board security.

The frigate would be used to do many roles including planet defence, convoy escort and patrol duties. The class name would be the Leander class frigates. These frigates would be formed into squadrons of 6 frigates under the command of a captain with each frigate being commanded by a commander.

Destroyer - This would be an enlarged version of the Leander class frigates to accommodate the warp drive and the new matter anti matter power core. The Leander class frigates had a length of 250 meters, height of 45 meters and a beam of 95 meters. The armament will consist of four forward firing rail guns and two aft firing rail guns, also there will be 14 lasers with 4 in pairs mounted forward dorsal and ventral positions and 4 in pairs mounted port and starboard dorsal and ventral positions, these ships would also be upgraded as new weapons were designed. The hull would be covered with polarised armour that would provide the ship with some protection; this armour would be 5cm thick. The destroyers would have a crew of 95 with a detachment of 50 Royal Space Marines for on board security and to escort landing parties when exploring new worlds.

The destroyer would be used mainly for the duel roles of exploration and planetary defence, with a secondary role of convoy escort as needed. The destroyers would be formed in squadrons of 5 destroyers under the command of a commodore with each destroyer being commanded by a captain. Destroyers would also operate individually, such as diplomatic missions to other worlds such as Vulcan

The destroyer would be the main exploration vessel for the RSN for the next 4 decades from 2065 onwards. The class name would be the Dauntless class destroyers.

Both of these star ships would have a maximum speed of warp 3 with burst of up to warp 3.5 for just over 1 hour.

There would also be a modular freighter/passenger warp ship. This looked like a flying brick, with various modules bolted on to the end depending on what was needed. These would have minimal armament, but would be escorted in convoys form system to system by RSC frigate squadrons.

The production rates for these ships would be 12 frigates, 6 destroyers and 30 modular freighter/passenger ships per year. This production would go up as new colonies would set-up their own shipyards to add to the production, overhaul and repair. This would take the strain of the RSC production, overhaul and repair facilities in orbit over earth and near the asteroid belt.

The United States Space Command would only have one class of warship.

The type of warship is a cross between of frigate and a destroyer but with less firepower than both. The class name would be the Intrepid Class. The Intrepid class would be used by the USSC as a combination of warship, exploration and escort vessel rolled into one. The design is a saucer with warp drive nacelles coming out of the hull. The armament would consist of 2 laser cannons forward and 2 rail guns one forward and one aft. The hull would be covered with polarised armour that would provide the ship with some protection; this armour would be 5cm thick.

The production of freights would be left up the commercial companies that were part of the USSC. This would lead to many incompatible designs and production would vary from company to company.

The production of the Intrepid Class would run at 14 per year.

The first steps take to form colonies were done by the RSC fleet in 2070 the system of Alpha Centuria was claimed by the RSC and the plants in the system were colonised. The main colonisation effort by the RSC would be towards Vulcan controlled space. Between 2071 and 2100 would see 19 other colonies set up between on worlds that lie between Earth and Vulcan.

The expansion would be suspended by 2100 to allow the colonies to firm up and the construction of solid colony facilities. All colonised systems would have a least one frigate squadron to defend it, also would have a least one dry dock facility available. Some worlds would have much larger facilities depending on the resources in that system and its strategic location. Some of these strategic systems would be heavily defended by orbital defence stations, these systems would by bases for the ships of the RSC to be based, it would also allow them to respond in force in case of attack.

There would be a large movement from earth to colonise the new systems reducing the population of the member countries of the RSC between 2070 and 2100 by 50 million.

The USSC took a different approach; they would base most of their facilities in and around Earth, Moon and Mars with only small outposts that could top up the USSC star ships supplies, but and major repairs or overhaul have to be done back in Earths solar system. This approach would cause the USSC problems in the long term.

The USSC provided support for companies to colonise systems under the USSC banner. Between 2070 and 2100 put colonies or small out posts on 50 systems. But these had very limited means of defence or in some cases no defence, only 3 systems were given permanent defences this would lead to problems when the USSC encountered the Romulans in early 2100’s.

Most of the countries on Earth joined with the USSC but several joined up with the RSC these were Malta, Nepal and Tibet. Some would just remain neutral like the United Regions of China and the Russian Federation these two countries would trade with both sides between 2070 and 2100 while the expansion into space was going on.

Earth would also have two main currencies the US dollar and UK pound.

Technology between 2070 and 2100.

The RSC would concentrate on weapons, warp drive and improve polarised armour for the star ships. The first breakthrough was the invention of plasma weapons, these weapons starting replacing laser from 2080 onwards; they would also replace all pistols and rifles with plasma versions. Also by 2100 the theory of transporters was put forward, but it would be another 30 years before transporters would become a reality.

In 2090 the discovery of a derelict space ship brought the development of a form of disruptor technology to the RSC. These new disruptor weapons technologies were not shared with the USSC but kept for the RSC own Royal Space Navies use. It took only 8 months to reverse engineer the technology and begin fitting the disruptors to RSC RSN ships. These weapons discharged differed from plasma weapons in that the beam was more powerful and also was a light blue colour instead of red.

USSC would also concentrate on weapons, warp drive and improve polarised armour for the star ships and also develop plasma weapons, these weapons starting replacing laser from 2080 onwards. Unlike the RSC the USSC would rename itself the United Earth Space Probe Agency (but would not include all the nations on earth some would remain neutral) in view of the number of countries taking part in space missions.

By 2100 the RSC was ahead in terms of technology but the UESPA was ahead in the number of colonies. But the RSC colonies were better protected against attack than the UESPA colonies.

Next - Part 5 – New Friends and New Enemies.




Part 5 – New Friends and New Enemies


Between 2100 and 2150 saw a leap forward in warp design with the coming of the warp 4 engine in 2110 for the RSC and 2120 for the UESPA. By 2030 the warp 5 engine was in service with the RSC, but it would not be until 2151 before the UESPA would have its first warp 5 engine in its new NX class of star ship. The NX series would include the new Photonic Torpedoes and Phase Cannons.

The RSC would keep with the design of its Frigate/Destroyer designing and incorporate the new technologies in to new ships coming out of the shipyards. These new ships would replace the older versions.

There would be two new designs from the RSC and the UESPA.

The RSC Excalibur Project in 2145. This project was designed to produce a combat cruiser of an equivalent size to the Vulcan combat cruisers; it was also designed to incorporate all the technological improvements over the past 100 years. The design of these ships would be a change from the saucer design of the past 100 years. The ship would have a saucer and a secondary engineering section with the warp drive and navigational defector with room for an enlarged shuttle bay. The engineering section was mated directly to the saucer section with no connecting "neck" as with the UESPA Horizon project ship design. This ship class would be 600 meters long.

The warp nacelles were fixed almost flush with the engineering section this made of the appearance of a blister running along the engineering section, this was for improved protection against attack. The warp speed of this new call of ship would be warp 6 with speeds of up to warp 7 for short bursts.

The RSC Excalibur project also included the latest weapons; these included Matter/Anti matter torpedoes (called Tigerfish torpedoes), Phasers and 1st generation shield generators but also retained polarised armour for added protection.

The size of the RSC Excalibur would be 600 meters in length and have a crew of 550 and a Royal Space Marine unit of 200.

The UESPA Horizon project in 2151. This project was designed to give a longer ranged star ship than the NX series. This design would have the new Photonic Torpedoes and Phase Cannons from the NX series. This ship class would be 450 meters long.

The UESPA Horizon would be a different design to the RSC Excalibur in having a saucer section and an engineering section connected together by a neck. The warp nacelles were mounted on pylons extending from the engineering section.

The UESPA Horizon class star ship would have a maximum speed of warp 5 with speeds of up to warp 6 for short bursts.

Of the two designs the Excalibur class was more powerful than the Horizon class. Both of these ship types would see action during the war with the Romulans.

Both the RSC and the UESPA introduced transporters at this time. The RSC would use them only for transporting cargo and the UESPA would use them for both people and cargo. The RSC did not consider the technology safe for people to use transporters except in emergencies.

New Friends

The RSC RSN would make contact with the Andorians in 2135 when a RSN exploration group skirting the edge of Vulcan space encountered a ship of the Andorian Imperial Guard. The first contact between RSC and the Andorians went well with the forming of diplomatic relations in 2139.

Also the RSN made contact with Tellarites the 2141 and also established relations with the RSC.

By 2143 RSC had ambassadors on three other space fairing nations Vulcan, Tellarite, and Andorian home worlds.

The UESPA also established relations with Vulcan, Tellarite, and Andorian home worlds, but to a lesser extent than the RSC, due to the rapid expansion of new colony worlds.

Conflict

Between 2100 and 2150 there was a number of border disputes between Vulcan and Andorian military over the control of worlds along there borders. The conflict would be an on off conflict and not a continuous war. Both sides would not gain an advantage over or able to gain any territory without loosing the territory they had gained at great cost in lives.

The Vulcan's would have a small advantage in terms of technology but the Andorians would counter this with numbers of ships.

In 2150 a peace deal between Vulcan and Andorian races with mediation from both the RSC and UESPA ending in a peace treaty being signed on the RSC colony would of New Gibraltar on the 8 November 2150.

This would lead to the Vulcan's and Andorians leaving negotiating team on New Gibraltar to iron out any differences. The Tellarites also did not want to be left out so they were added to the loose partnership. Each of the three governments would have one of their ships in orbit for use as diplomatic vessels.

New Enemies

The UESPA encountered the Romulans in 2152 when the NX-112 USSS Colombia encountered 4 Romulan birds of prey. With shot being fired both sides withdrew figuring that it was each other space.

This sort of limited action would continue until 10 March 2156 when the Romulans attack the UESPA colony of New Paris was at the edge of UESPA space. This was a new colony only recently set-up and the colony only had a few hundred colonists. New Paris did have 2 NX class ships in orbit for defence.

The Romulans attacked New Paris with 50 birds of prey destroying the 2 NX ships and bombarding the colony from orbit. Because of the suddenness of the attack no distress signal was sent. Also when the 2 NX ships failed to make a regular report 3 ships were sent to investigate, these were 1 Horizon class and 2 NX class ships.

When these 3 ships came out of warp as the edge they saw the destruction and the orbiting Romulan birds of prey, the Romulans attacked the 3 UESPA, but this time the outcome was different in that the UESPA vessels had time to go to battle stations. The Romulans dispatched 12 birds of prey, this was a mistake by the Romulan commander as the three ships that he faced were fully alert and the Romulan commander did not have the element of surprise. The engagement was spectacular in the first pass 4 Romulan birds of prey were destroyed for no loss, three of the kills going to the Horizon class ship USSS Lexington.

The second pass by the Romulan birds of prey concentrated on one of the NX class ships and destroyed it for the loss of one bird of prey. The Romulan commanded realising his mistake dispatched the rest of the birds of prey to destroy the two remaining UESPA ships. The Romulans only succeeded in destroying the other NX ship while the Horizon class ship USSS Lexington escaped at high warp to raise the alarm.

On hearing of the attack on one of is colonies UESPA mobilised a task force to retake the occupied system. The task force would consist of 9 Horizon Class and 25 NX class ships, this attack took place on the 1 December 2056.

At the same time the UESPA informaed the RSC of the "small problem" and said that they could "deal" with problem without help. This would be proved VERY wrong for the UESPA.

The first major engagement of the Romulan Earth war would be for the control of New Paris. For the UESPA it would be a major test of the new weapons and ships. What the UESPA did not know is the Romulans were using New Paris as a forward base of operations and rally point for the Romulan fleet for an attack on UESPA colonies. In the system there were 600 Birds of Prey not the 50 odd that the ship USSS Lexington had reported. The UESPA was in for a very nasty shock when they arrived.

The Romulan fleet consisted of Birds of Prey they were not as large as the NX series but they were being produced in sufficient numbers to overwhelm an enemy ship. Their armament consisted of disrupters and missile launchers.

To be continued.......

Next - Part 6 – Earth Romulan War





Part 6 – Earth Romulan War

The second battle of New Paris started on the 1 December 2056 the 9 Horizon Class and 25 NX class ships moved in to combat formation with a certain NX-111 USSS Enterprise commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer on the right had side of the UESPA task force.

The commander of the task force saw that the Romulans had a larger number of vessels, but ordered the attack confident that the ships under his command had superior firepower. In the first exchange between the two fleets the NX-111 USSS Enterprise took the brunt of the attack and was destroyed, The Romulans lost 11 Birds of Prey with another 25 damaged.

The battle would go back and forth for the next few hours, but the Romulans having the numbers would gradually wear down the UESPA ships. By early on 2 December 2056 the Task force commander ordered a withdrawal of the remainders of the UESPA task force of the 6 Horizon Class and 11 NX class ships, with all of these ships having various forms of battle damage. The Romulans lost 78 Birds of Prey with another 107 damaged to various degrees.

The UESPA ordered a withdrawal from 21 colony worlds over the next 8 months knowing that these worlds could not be defended. The Romulans would occupy the systems but not land any forces of the surface of the planet(s) in the occupied systems.

The UESPA would form its main defence around the colony of New Berlin. This was one of the three colonies that were defended unlike other systems. The defences of New Berlin were rapidly reinforced with additional ships and orbital defence platforms over the 8 months since the defeat at the second battle of New Paris.

During this time the RSC/RSN continued to offer support in the defence of the UESPA but this was repeatedly turned down, also the Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites. This is because the UESPA thought that they could defeat the Romulans without any help.

The first battles for New Berlin were inconclusive, as neither side would commit to a full strike against; rather they were waiting for the other to make the first move. This meant the casualties on both sides were very light. This odd stalemate would go on for 6 months with either side not wanting to go first.

The Romulans sent a scout force of 75 Birds of Prey to nearby system to see if they could provoke a response from the UESPA. What they found in one system would change the course of the war.

In a system on the edge of UESPA space the 75 Birds of Prey came upon 3 NX class ships scouting the system. The Romulan commander attacked destroying 2 of the NX class ships, but one ship got away. The Romulan commander decided to pursue as the NX-134 USSS Hornet, as the USSS Hornet seemed to be going a way from UESPA.

The USSS Hornet was in fact heading for the RSC/RSN base a New Gibraltar to ask for help with repairs. The Pursuing Romulan command thought that he might find a secret UESPA base. The Captain of the USSS Hornet could not detect the pursuing Romulans as the Hornets long-range sensors were down and so did not know that he was being pursued.

The RSC/RSN base a New Gibraltar was one of the most heavily guarded RSC/RSN bases out side of Earth. The USSS Hornet came out of warp asking for help and was told to go to the dry dock facility in orbit around the planet of New Gibraltar.

In the New Gibraltar system there were 4 squadron's of Leander IV class frigates and 2 squadron's on destroyers, also in system there were 7 of the new Excaliber Combat Cruisers and single warships from Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites their on diplomatic duty. The pursuing Romulan commander did not wait to see what the strength of the colony was and attacked.

In the initial attack the Romulans destroyed one squadron of Leander IV class frigates on patrol on the edge of the system. The time it took to destroy the frigates, this allowed the other RSN ship to go to "action station" and prepare for the Romulan attack.

As the Romulans made there way towards the planet they found coming around from the other side of New Gibraltar the 7 Excaliber Combat Cruisers armed and ready for combat, followed by the three cruisers on diplomatic duty. Also converging was the 3 remaining squadron's of Leander IV class frigates and 2 squadron's on destroyers.

The 7 Excaliber Combat Cruisers were the first to engage the Romulan Birds of Prey, using a combination of the 4 forward firing Tigerfish torpedo launchers and Phasers, they destroyed in the first pass 25 Romulan Birds of Prey and damaging 10 others. The Romulan commander now new that he was out numbered and ordered the Birds of Prey to fire all there missiles at the planets surface to cause maximum damage.

The defence platforms engaged the on coming missile and destroyed most of the incoming missile, but a few go though and struck the planets surface causing heavy casualties including the embassies of the Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites. Then the Romulans tried to disengage and withdraw. The Romulan withdrawal was not very successful and only 22 Birds of Prey managed to withdraw out of the total attacking force of 75 birds of prey/

On the 31 December 2057 the RSC, Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites sent an audio message declaring war on the Romulans.

The Romulans on hearing this mobilised the majority of there fleet increasing the number of Birds of Prey from 600 to 1,200 to try to hold onto the space that they had acquired in the past 12 months.

By May 2058 the combined fleet of RSC, Vulcan's, Andorians, Tellarites and UESPA ships began an offensive to retake the lost UESPA worlds.

The first action was to break the attack on New Berlin, this attack succeeded in driving of the Romulans from the attack on New Berlin.

Over the next 3 years the combined fleet took back system after system but at great losses to both sides. The Romulan Birds of Prey that were unable to withdraw from battle used suicide tactics to take out the ships of the combined fleet.

By January 2060 the combined fleet had reached the edge of Romulan space. By this time the Romulan fleet along the boarder was up to 2,500 Bird of Prey with another 1,000 on their way from the rest of Romulan space.

In February an audio transmission was received from the Romulans asking for a cease-fire. The UESPA wanted to continue in to Romulan space but the RSC, Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites all agreed that they had achieved their objectives by recapturing all UESPA worlds lost during the war.

The Romulans had sent the request for a cease-fire because they knew that they could not win against the combined firepower.

The RSC, Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites members thought that the Romulans would get increasing desperate once they had entered their space; also they were not very keen on being an occupying power.

In 2160, the Romulans and the humans signed (electronically) a treaty ending the war and establishing a neutral zone one light-year wide between their territories. The treaty was negotiated via subspace radio, again with no visual contact between the parties.

Next - Part 6 – "To boldly go were no man has gone before"




Part 6 – "To boldly go were no man has gone before"

In early 2161 the RSC and UESPA were still going their own ways, although they had been united against a common enemy. Once the treaty was signed they when there own separate ways as normal.

In mid 2161 the formation if a loose alliance between the UESPA, RSC, Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites for mutual defence, trade etc. This would be called The Alliance, the UESPA wanted to form a United Federation of Planets but this was rejected by the other races.

The Alliances headquarter would be based on New Gibraltar and not on Earth as the UESPA wanted.

The RSC/RSN would in 2161 establish a new dedicated exploration division to see out new life form and to boldly go were no man has gone before. For this endeavour the RSC/RSN created a modified version of the Excaliber Class Combat Cruisers. This new class would be the Scott class exploration cruisers. These new ships would be the same size as the Excaliber Class Combat Cruisers but with a slightly reduced armament of 2 forward firing Tigerfish torpedo launchers instead of the Excaliber's 4 launchers. The extra space would be dedicated to a Stella cartography and enhanced diplomatic facilities to help with first contact with new races.

For 2163 onwards join crews would be established between the RSC/RSN and the Vulcan's, Andorians and Tellarites also the UESPA would also have joint crews, but there would be little exchange of crews between RSC/RSN and the UESPA.

The other main change to the RSC/RSN would be the removal of the Destroyer class from RSC/RSN inventory over the next 2 decades. The RSC/RSN would concentrate on producing improved versions of the Leander class frigates in various forms and the Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser also in various forms.

The final change was the construction of a one off special versions of the Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser. This would be the Royal and Diplomatic Combat Cruiser HMSS Britannia, this ship was extensively outfitted for diplomatic duties. The ship was 100 meters longer than the Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser. This ship would be escorted by a minimum of 4
Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser and 6 Leander class frigates. This ship would prove an excellent place for host diplomatic and trade negations for the RSC and Alliance members.

The mistrust between the RSC/RSN and the UESPA would grow as the UESPA wanted the technological advances that the RSC/RSN, but the RSC/RSN was not will to share its advances with the UESPA.

The UESPA would use their Horizon class ships with very little modifications, as the resources were not available to build a new sub class of star ship.

The Horizon class would go on to be the main star ship of the UESPA until the new Constitution-class heavy cruiser in 2245. The Horizon class would receive numerous upgrade and enhancements during its 90 years of service, lost and destroyed ships would be replaced along with new Horizon class making this the most produced star ship.

Between the end of 2161 and 2200 numerous new races were contacted, some would join the Alliance some would remain neutral and some would just not want to know and a small number would be hostile.

The races that would be most receptive included the Denobulians, Betazoids and Bolians amongst the many races that would that the Alliance would make contact with and would join the alliance.

The races that would remain "neutral" would be races like the Romulan Star Empire, Tholian Assembly, Cardassian Union. These races would have some sort of conflict with either the alliance or and alliance member over the next few years or even in some cases decades.

The main cause of problems for the alliance would be the Klingon Empire. A RSC Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser while patrolling the neutral zone in 2166 first encountered the Klingon Empire. The Klingons are roughly humanoid in appearance; Klingons typically sport long manes of luxuriant hair with moustaches and beards common among males. Perhaps their most prominent external feature is their ridged forehead. These intricate, bony patterns, which are also visible on their feet, vary by family line and are an evolutionary remnant of their prehistoric crustacean forms, when Klingons had a more extensive exoskeleton.

Most Klingon body functions incorporate multiple redundancies, such as redundant stomachs, lungs, livers, an eight-chambered heart, and twenty-three ribs. This characteristic, known as "brak'lul," makes Klingons incredibly resilient. Klingon ribs are arranged in a latticework; the structure might be compared to chain mail. The Klingon expected life span is at least 150 years. However, it is typical that male Klingons die young while in battle and not of natural causes.

Klingon Technology at the time of the first contact was on par with the Vulcan's, but much more orientated towards combat that the Vulcan's. Klingon ships are able to with stand much more punishment in combat than any alliance member's ships.

The RSC Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser HMSS Victorious encountered a Klingon bird of prey. This first encountered went well as the bird of prey captain was clearly out gunned by the Victorious so a fight was out of the question.

Over the next few months an agreement was come to with the Klingon Empire and the alliance, that each side would respect each other's boarders. The RSC in private what the UESPA had asked the other members of the alliance to keep from the Klingons for now. Warned the Klingon Empire about the Romulans and that the Romulans boarded Klingon. This was not news to the Klingons as they had encountered the Romulans in 2163 and had an on going boarder dispute with the Romulans, though the Klingons did not tell the Alliance or the RSC about this. But this did help in the relations between the RSC and the Klingon Empire and some of the other members of the alliance but not the UESPA after the Klingons found out that it was the UESPA that had suggested not telling the Klingons about the Romulans.

The semi peaceful existence between the Klingon Empire and the UESPA would continue until around 2223, tensions thickened between the UESPA and the Klingon Empire. This would become a cold war until the Khitomer Accords were signed in 2293.

During the period between 2223 and 2293 there would be a brief alliance between the Romulan Empire and the Klingon Empire in witch a technological exchange took place. In exchange for cloaking technology, the Romulans received several D7 battlecruisers, which were upgraded into extremely deadly war machines. This alliance would last less than 12 months and would see the restarting of hostilities between Romulan and Klingon Empires.

During this period of tension between the UESPA and the Klingon Empire the rest of the alliance members kept their distance. As the alliance did not know who started the cold war between UESPA and the Klingon Empire the alliance decided to keep its distance in this conflict in case the Klingon Empire felt that they had no choice but to attack before the alliance did. This decision did not go down well with the UESPA and it led to a cooling in relations with the other alliance members.

The Klingons would employ "rouge" Klingons to raid UESPA space. At the same time assuring the rest of the members of the alliance that these "rouge" Klingons would be brought to justice. The Klingons would step up patrols along the boarder to try to catch these "rouge" Klingons but they did not have much luck. Though in reality the Klingons were not trying to capture the "rouge" Klingons at all.

Next - Part 7 - Growing pains




Part 7 - Growing pains

From 2200 there would be a large number of new races joining the alliance though out 2200 to 2300. For trade and mutual defence, also during the late 2200 some new members were actually seeking the alliance out and asking to become members without having to be asked themselves.

The RSC/RSN was leading the push in exploration encountering races like the Tholian Assembly in early 2200's who guarded their space against and out side intervention. Tholians are a star faring and extremely territorial. The Tholians very rarely went outside there own space, but when they did they always went in-groups.

Also encountered were the Cardassian Union mid-to-late 2200's . Cardassians are humanoid in form, but have distinctive ridged arches connecting their shoulders to the top of their necks. They also have ridges on either side of their forehead, ridges surrounding their eyes and protrusions on their chin and below their nose. They also have a spoon-shaped feature starting in the centre of their forehead and running down the length of their nose. This has earned them the derogatory name of "spoonheads." The spoon shape is also on their chest.

Cardassians tend to be predatory in nature, like wolf packs, always seeking out the dominant position in any social gathering. In normal courting behaviour, Cardassian couples routinely act bitter and snap at each other. Cardassian society is generally non-sexist - both men and women can rise to high ranks in the military, for instance. However, some fields are not so diverse, such as the scientific community that is mostly female.

Cardassia's educational system is legendary throughout the quadrant. From a very young age, Cardassian children are trained in techniques such as photographic memory, which allow them to retain vast amounts of information. Cardassian mental disciplines are rumoured to be so complete that a Cardassian will prove almost totally resistant to torture; a Vulcan mind meld is also usually ineffective against a Cardassian who is properly trained.

The Cardassian Union in terms of technology are slightly behind the RSC but have more ships. Cardassian Union ships are armed with two large phaser cannons (or it may be a plasma cannon), one forward and one aft. They are also armed with numerous secondary phaser cannons mounted at other points across the hull, and they may carry a complement of photon torpedoes.

A mutual understanding between the alliance and the Cardassian Union that each side would respect each others space. The Cardassian Union was busy at this time building its own colonies on the other side of Cardassian space and this would not change until 2328.

The RSC/RSN would continue to expand and upgrade is fleet with the latest technologies including the new Spearfish heavy weight torpedo, that would replace the Tigerfish torpedo.

The RSC/RSN would start work on a new type of ship in 2235. This would be the Dreadnought class battle cruiser. This would be an attempt to keep pace with the Vulcan's in terms of ship size (if not in technology), with the Vulcan's deploying a new enlarged type of combat cruiser with an increased length from 600 meters to 900 meters. This new Vulcan combat cruiser incorporated the latest advances in warp drive, allowing the new ship to travel at warp 9.9 for extended periods.

The Dreadnought class was an enlarged version of the Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser. The layout was similar to the Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser but the Dreadnought class was 50% bigger than the Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser. The Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser could attain a cruising speed of warp 8.5 with bursts of up to warp 9 for short periods. Its armament consisted of the latest phaser and the new Spearfish heavy weight torpedo also with improved shields and next generation polarised hull plating.

The UESPA would start work on a new type of star ship to replace the Horizon class ship. Constitution-class heavy cruiser in first launched in 2245. The Constitution-class also served as a mighty deterrent to both the Klingon and Romulan Empires. With a length 305 meters, crew of 500 (72 officers, 428 enlisted) and an armament of 18 phaser emitters (9 banks of 2), 2 forward and 2 aft photon torpedo launchers and deflector shields and screens.

In 2266 one of the Constitution-class heavy cruisers USSS Enterprise patrolling the neutral zone between the alliance and the Romulans empire encountered an unidentified alien ship with the ability to render itself invisible (later know as cloaking device) attacks a series of UESPA outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone. The Enterprise was in the vicinity and investigates. The unknown enemy reveals itself as being of Romulan origin, and it is soon believed they are trying to test Alliance resolve.

The USSS Enterprise sends out an alert to warn other ships and then engages the Romulan ship. For the next few hours both ships played a game of cat a mouse, each trying to out think the other. The USSS Enterprise was using her photon torpedoes like depth charges hoping to force the Romulan vessel to drop her cloak. During this engagement the Romulan vessel sent a transmission to the Romulan home world and the crew of the USSS Enterprise got their first look at a Romulan. This came as quite a shock to the crew of the USSS Enterprise as the Romulans looked like Vulcan's.

One near miss caused the death of several members of the Romulan ships crew, these were jettisoned into space with any other rubbish to make the USSS Enterprise that the Romulan vessel had been destroyed. But in the debris there was an old fashioned nuke as the USSS Enterprise closed on the debris field the nuke detonated causing the forward shield to weaken, at the same time the Romulan vessel de cloaked and fired her primary weapon as the USSS Enterprise. The captain of the USSS Enterprise ordered full reverse to try and outrun the Romulan plasma bolt. After a short chase the bolt began to disperse, but it still struck the USSS Enterprise disabling the ship.

As the Romulan vessel was closing in for the kill another star ship came out of warp. The ship was HMSS Hood one of the new Dreadnought class battle cruiser, putting itself between the Romulan vessel and USSS Enterprise while opening fire on the Romulan vessel. HMSS Hood had disabled the Romulan vessel and sent a signal to the Romulan vessel to prepare to surrender. The commander of the Romulan vessel ordered his ships destruction to avoid being captured.

Within a few hours of the arrival of HMSS Hood additional reinforcement arrived.

The crews of the USSS Enterprise and HMSS Hood were treated as heroes.

The revaluation that the Romulan were a Vulcan offshoot that went in to space before the time of Surak. The Vulcan's explanation of their Romulan cousins that they had lost touch with them during a world war on Vulcan was for the most part accepted. The UESPA would remain suspicious of the Vulcan's. This revaluation also had the affect of cancelling out any counterattack against the Romulan Empire.

One other event that happened in early 2200 on earth was the formation by the original 4 members of RSC (Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) of a secret intelligence organisation under the joint intelligence charter. The secret part of the intelligence charter was referred to as Article 14, Section 31, from which its name is derived. This give's Section 31 extraordinary powers under certain circumstances. This organisation is known only to a few people within the original 4 members of RSC. Even the members of Section 31 do not know the number of people who work for Section 31, they worked either as individual agents or in cells or agents. Section 31 has intelligence agent(s) abroad every ship in the RSN also most member worlds have Section 31 operatives located on their home world. This organisation would remain secret from the other members of RSC and alliance members.

Also the RSC added three new earth governments to its own alliance, these were India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. These three countries did not have space programs of there own so they decided after much debate that they would join forces with the RSC. The main reasons why these three counties took so long to join was that they took a long time to recover from world war 3. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh would all be given a system each to colonise that would be guarded by the RSN.

Each member of the RSC would pay a percentage in ether money, goods or services to maintain the RSN.

The UESPA was a looser organisation, as there were so many countries competing for there own colonies. The UESPA "Star fleet" was well funded like the RSN; it also had a major disadvantage of trying to defend over 50 colony systems. Were as the RSN had only 23 colony systems to defend. At the end of the 2200's UESPA stopped all new colonisation of new system to consolidate its holdings, something that the RSC had done nearly 100 years earlier.

The majority of Earth had joined with the UESPA in a loose alliance with many conflicting needs. Were as the RSC was formed under a mutual defence a trade agreements with very clear goals.

Also in 2270 so the introduction of a new frigate class ship in the UESPA/Starfleet, this would be the Miranda-class.

The configuration of the Miranda-class shares a similar design lineage and features with the Constitution-class, implemented in 2270.

All Miranda-class star ships have a saucer section making up the majority of the vessel. The saucer is similar to that of a Constitution-class, but with a bulkier aft end with shuttle bays and a Warp core. Below the saucer, at the aft edges, are the nacelle pylons connected to the warp nacelles.

There are three configurations of the Miranda-class.

The most common configuration which had a "roll bar" immediately above the nacelle pylons. The "roll bar" had two phaser emitters on each side that can fire forward and aft, along with 2 forward and 2 rear firing photon torpedo launchers.

Another configuration, which lacked the "roll bar" and featured only Class 3 defensive armaments. This type of Miranda class was apparently suitable for transport duty.

The last configuration, which lacked the "roll bar", and had two large sensor pods installed on the port and starboard sides of the ship. It also had a phaser array mounted on the lower part of the sensor dome; and

Next - Part 8 - Problems, problems and more problems




Part 8 - Problems, problems and more problems

The first problem to hit was the V'ger incident in 2272 An immense cloud of controlled energy passes through Klingon space. Three K't'inga-class battle cruisers led by the IKS Amar respond to the incursion. After the cloud without effect swallows their photon torpedo volley, the squadron tries to pulls back and is destroyed.

A nearby UESPA/Starfleet listening post, Epsilon IX, observes the engagement, including the effortless annihilation of the remaining Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruisers by the cloud's energy weapon. Unhindered, the cloud continues on a course that will take it into UESPA space, headed directly for Earth.

Chief of Starfleet Operations Rear Admiral James T. Kirk arrives at the Presidio campus of Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, is given the assignment of intercepting and stopping the energy cloud with the newly refitted USSS Enterprise.

After making contact with the "cloud" the USSS Enterprise gradually journeys to the centre of V'ger, where V'ger is revealed to be the unmanned scientific probe Voyager 6, which was part of the Voyager program, and launched in the twentieth century by NASA. The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions from God to "learn all that is learnable" and return that information to its creator.

These machines made V'ger into something capable of fulfilling that mission, and on its journey back it gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness itself! Having learned all that is learnable on its journey home, which took V'ger across the Universe, V'ger finds itself empty and without a purpose. Only through the creator can V’ger begin to explore illogical things, such as God, other dimensions, or higher planes of being.

The probe has become sentient and wants to continue to explore, but lacking the ability to think beyond logic, so V'ger links with Commander Willard Decker to acquire the ability to think beyond logic to continue its voyagers and the threat to Earth is ended.

The next problem that come along is the Project Genesis. Genesis Project was first proposed to the UESPA/Starfleet in the late 2270s. Over several years, the scientists developed a Genesis matrix and a three-stage test. The first stage was conducted in their laboratory in orbit around Regula. Project Genesis was a process of rapidly terra forming worlds to make them suitable for settlement and food production. The Genesis Project was developed by a team of UESPA scientists, led by Dr. Carol Marcus and her son Dr. David Marcus, working in an orbital laboratory in orbit around the Class D planetoid Regula.

When some renegade Klingons sized a UESPA/Starfleet Miranda Class Frigate USSS Reliant and in set-up to steal the Genesis device. They were intercepted by the refitted Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser USSS Enterprise under the command of Admiral James T Kirk. During the fight the Klingons activated the Genesis device to try and destroy the USSS Enterprise. This created a new world and destroying the USSS Reliant in the process, just as the USSS Enterprise managed to escape. The USSS Enterprise took heavy damage during the conflict but survived, this seemed to underline the effectiveness of the Constitution Class refit program.

A science vessel sent to observe the new world that the Genesis device had created was attacked by another group of Klingons in a Klingon bird of prey. The partially repaired USSS Enterprise was "acquired" by Admiral James T Kirk and a small crew to return to the Genesis would. In the ensuring battle the USSS Enterprise was destroyed and the Klingon bird of prey was captured and Admiral James T Kirk returned to earth a hero.

As a reward a now demoted Captain James T Kirk was given command of USSS Enterprise 1701 - A to replace the original lost in combat. With orders to continue to "boldly go were no man has gone before"

Examination of the captured Klingon Bird of Prey found that the cloaking device was damaged so could not be reverse engineered. But the Klingon Bird of Prey did give the UESPA/Starfleet information on Klingon weapon systems and warp drive.

The revaluation of the Genesis device caused shock amongst the other members of the alliance. The Genesis research project was cancelled and the Alliance banned research into this area.

During these incursions the RSC/RSN did not intervene in UESPA/Starfleet responses, but did maintain a task force to intercept (with the exception of the Genesis problem). The main thrust of the RSC/RSC was an anti piracy drive against the Orion Syndicate. This proved remarkably successful and a large number of the Orion Syndicate's vessels were either captured or destroyed. The Orion Syndicate pirate operations against the RSC/RSN was reduced to virtually zero. One of the main reasons for the success was that Section 31 had infiltrated into the lower levels of the Orion Syndicate organisation and was able to provide very useful intelligence.

This led the Orion Syndicate to choose less well protected areas such as the UESPA and other alliance members as the picking in the RSC area of space did not make it worth the effort.

Relations between the UESPA/Starfleet and the Klingon Empire would hit an all time low, but the relations between the other members of the alliance would remain stable especially with the RSC/RSN. The RSC/RSN and the Klingon Empire would actually come closer during this time and would continue to expand their ties that would include a technological exchange and improved trade between the two, also several members of the alliance took advantage to also expand their relationship with the Klingon Empire. This would included Vulcan, Andorian and the Tellarite.

The RSC/RSN would commence a large refit program to bring all its current ships in line with the most up to date technology available. This would include a technological exchange between the RSC/RSN and the Klingon Empire this would include the Klingon Empire giving the cloaking technology and weapons technology to the RSC/RSN on condition that they did not share this with the other members of the alliance. The Klingon Empire would receive information on the latest warp drives and weapon systems from the RSC/RSN.

The main reason for the technological exchange between the RSC/RSN and the Klingon Empire was that the relations between the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Empire were again dissolving in to a conflict between the two empires. The Klingon Empire was seeking to expand its friendship that its had started with the RSC/RSN, the Klingon Empire also knew that there was no love lost between the Romulan Empire and the RSC/RSN.

This new technological exchange would allow the RSC/RSN to start equipping their ships with cloaking technology from early 2300's. This would give the RSC/RSN a considerable advantage over other races. The RSC/RSN was as good as there word; they did not share the technology with any of the other members of the alliance.

The other peace of technology was the heavy disrupter, this weapon replaced the forward torpedo launcher in some Klingon warships. The RSC/RSN applied this technology to their phasers and came up with the heavy phaser cannon. This new weapon could only be mounted on the Dreadnought class Battle Cruiser due to its size and only one per ship due to the heavy phaser cannons power requirements. This was mounted underneath the saucer section firing forward.

Using the cloaking technology the RSC/RSN would build a small number of stealth ships. These new stealth ships would be known as the Shadow class vessels. These vessels would be used for intelligence gathering. Their construction would not be reviled to the other members of the alliance.

The Shadow class is a usual design that it departs from the saucer design of the current RSC/RSN ships. The front half of the ship is shaped like an arrowhead and the rear half is squared of, the warp nacelles run the length of the rear half. The Shadow class is coloured black and has sensor bafflers along the hull and its sublight engines are muffled to reduce to a minimum any emissions when cloaked. The armament consists of only phasers and no Spearfish torpedo launchers. The Shadow class is equipped with a cloaking device. Length of 211 meters and a maximum warp speed of warp 9 with burst of warp 9.6 for short periods. This ship is virtually impossible to detect at low warp and at impulse speeds.

Shadow class would be built in small numbers (about 70) for the RSC intelligence also Section 31 would receive 20 of these ships for there own use.

The timing of the technological exchange RSC/RSN and the Klingon Empire was also good as the other alliance members attention was focused of the Genesis project problem.

Towards the end of 2200's the UESPA/Starfleet began to expand and add a new class of star ship the Excelsior-class with the first ship coming of the production line in 2285. With a Length of 467 meters and an armament 12 dual phaser banks and 4 torpedo launchers.

The Miranda-class ship is one of the easiest star ships to build and would be built in large numbers by UESPA/Starfleet, also the Miranda class would be refitted to keep pace with the latest technologies. This would match the RSC/RSN Leander class frigate's multi role capability many commentators said that the UESPA/Starfleet was on the right track, by copying the RSC/RSN Leander class frigate idea witch is something that UESPA/Starfleet should have done from day one.

UESPA/Starfleet was now stopping it colony expansion and focusing on securing the 58 colonies that is has and exploration. The exploration was not for new colonies but to seek out new life forms and new allies for the UESPA and the Alliance, again something that the RSC had been doing from day one.

Next - Part 9 - Interlude




Part 9 - Interlude

By the end of 2200's the sizes of the major ships in the RSC/RSN and UESPA/Starfleet. This does not include support vessels, long range shuttles or civilian freighters.

RSC/RSN

Leander Class Multi Role Frigates (various versions and types) - 6,500 (more building)
Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser (including Scott and Britannia classes) - 3,950 (more building)
Dreadnought Class Battle Cruiser - 1,211 (more building)
Shadow Class Stealth Ship - 50 (with an additional 20 being operated by Section 31)

Most of these vessels are fitted with a cloaking device. The exception being those forces assigned to system defence.

UESPA/Starfleet

Miranda Class Frigate - 2,700 (all versions and more building)
Horizon Class Heavy Cruiser (relegated to second line duties after 2255 phased out of service after 2310) - 4,350 (out of production and being replaced by the Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser)
Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser - 2,200 production ceased when the Excelsior class starts in 2285 and are refitted to extend service life.
Excelsior-class Heavy Cruiser - 850 (more building)

Major systems of the RSC

RSC has 23 colonised systems.

The most important system outside of Earth is New Gibraltar. New Gibraltar is the location of the largest orbital shipyards and dry docks in the RSC. New Gibraltar in also the headquarters and meeting place of the Alliance and contains a diplomatic mission from the Klingon Empire to the RSC, this also includes a Klingon cruiser in orbit.

In this system there are two rapid reaction task forces ready for deployment, these are force H and force M, each of these task forces contain a least 5 Dreadnought Class Battle Cruisers, 12 Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser and 30 Leander class frigates. These do not include New Gibraltar's own defences and the alliance members who also have ships in system.

The other four systems that have large shipyards and dry docks these are New Sydney, New Wellington, New Toronto and New Quebec.

The 15 other systems also have dry docks and a smaller shipyard capability; these systems tend to concentrate on Agriculture, Mining, manufacturing and producing consumer goods rather that the military goods.

There are three newly colonised systems New Pakistan, New India and New Bangladesh. These three systems have very strong system defences courtesy task forces guarding each system. Until they have build there own orbital defences and have their own RSN system defence task force deployed. These will come on line as the colony grows and expands its own industrial base and more ships are produced from the main shipyards to provide a system defence force for all three systems.

All these systems have a system defence force defending. There are also several task forces patrolling from system to system, and there are convoys going from system to system that also have an escort force of frigates.

Most of the frigates are used to protect convoys of freighters going between RSC systems and Earth, also there is a large amount of trade between the RSC and Alliance members and the Klingon Empire. The rest of the frigates are split between system defence and being part of patrol task forces.

All member countries of the RSC have at least one colony.

All the 23 colonies system in RSC space has at least one class M world to support a population in the system and to ensure long term growth.

Militarily, financially and economically the members of the RSC are better off than the UESPA with a strong emphasis on trade and growth with other members of the Alliance and with their growing friendship with the Klingon Empire. The RSC has limited trade with UESPA, due to the fact that the trade is limited to non-military items only.

Each RSC system was considered a dominion of the country back on Earth, but due to the distance from Earth most colonies had some form government that was similar to its own country back on Earth. This also was the same for any mining operation in that the company had to register what country the mining was under, and was assigned a law enforcement unit from the RSC. This did not lead to the problems encountered by the UESPA, as the RSC was only made up of a few nations from Earth.

The RSC had a council set-up in London that represented each country of the RSC and each member had one vote on this council. These members are Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Tibet, Malta and Nepal, along with their membership in the Alliance and their treaty with the Klingon Empire.

The RSC has its own military in the form of the Royal Space Marines made up from volunteers of each member of the RSC. The RSM has 25 Divisions based on the 23 colonies (one division per colony) and RSM detachments on every RSN ship and star base. The RSC can also call on the regular army units of the member countries for reinforcement if necessary that are based on Earth and the countries colonies. This creates a very strong military force for each of the 23 colonies in the RSC and Earth.

On Earth the Royal Space Marine maintains 5 Divisions as a strategic reserve along with training units as well as Special Forces units such as Royal Space Marine Commando Division.

Each Royal Space Marine Division has a combat strength of 18,950 personal and is equipped with the latest weapons; these Divisions are extremely well trained in planetary warfare and space warfare.

RSC is also a member of the Alliance with one vote in the Alliance just like the UESPA.

Major systems of the UESPA

UESPA has over 50 colonies.

There are only three major systems in the UESPA. These are New America, New Berlin and New Paris. These systems are the most strongly defended as they contain major shipyards and dry dock facilities and are well populated. These three systems have several dozen Constitution Class and Excelsior Class Heavy Cruisers to defend them.

The remaining 50 odd systems vary depending on location and colony development. The minimum defence for these systems would be a mix of Horizon Class Heavy Cruiser(s) and Miranda Class Frigates.

These 50 odd systems are a mix of Agriculture, Mining and Manufacturing producing military and consumer goods for sale to UESPA and Alliance members in trade. Some of these colonies are based on moons or lifeless worlds, as they are really just large mining outposts.

The UESPA is spending most of its time and resources either defending these systems or continuing to expand the colonisation of the M class worlds in these systems. That is the main reason for stopping at creating new colonies and concentrating on growth within the existing colonies, rather than trying to grab a much territory as possible. So that over the next few decades most systems with an M class world would be 90% self-sufficient and also have their own system defences.

The UESPA should actually be pulling back from some systems to concentrate on systems that are more established and are still trying to do too much at once.

USEPA is also using this time to stabilise its relation with other members of the Alliance and improve and create me trade deals.

The UESPA colonies were directly controlled by the country that set-up the colony from Earth. Also some mining systems were directly controlled by the large corporations that were based on Earth. This sort of corporate control lead to large-scale problems with jurisdiction over what country should prosecute a corporation when it broke the law.

This lead to the UESPA setting up its own law enforcement units to police this growing problem. These corporate mining operations took up a lot of resources to monitor and police, that in turn lead to the UESPA spreading itself very thinly until more ships and trained personnel were available. This is another reason why the UESPA stopped colonising new systems and new worlds.

The UESPA had set-up a UN stile council with a small Security Council that was US lead with the power of veto along with France, Japan, Germany, China and Russia. This was a bureaucratic nightmare. Fortunately Starfleet had its own funding and resources allocated so the ship building and recruitment programs were not affected as this required the full agreement of all members of the Security Council to cut the resources of Starfleet.

Military power in UESPA/Starfleet was under Starfleet security and had no army units of its own. Though it member countries had their own armies that were equipped to various standards.

UESPA is also a member of the Alliance with one vote in the Alliance just like the RSC.

Next - Part 10 - "New Encounters"

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Next - Part 10 - "New Encounters"

Problems on Earth

In early 2304 China started making noises about retaking Tibet back as part of China and began mobilising troops along the China/Tibet boarder. Tibet moved its own small army to counter China's military along the boarder. Tibet also appealed to the other members of the RSC for help; the RSC deployed all five RSM divisions to Tibet to reinforce the Tibetan Army.

These five RSM divisions were beamed from their camps right to Tibet via the orbiting star ships and dry-docks; the whole process only takes of a few hours. Also made ready were several British, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian divisions to support Tibet in defence of its country.

In orbit over Tibet there was a RSC/RSN task force to provide cover and observation on China's military moments. Also provided jamming against China beaming troops into Tibet after the arrival of the five RSM divisions. The rest of the reinforcement would come by more conventional means.

China had assembled a force of one million troops along the border compared to RSM/Tibet forces of 400,000 odd troops along the border. The Chinese troops were armed with second hand first generation Phase Pistols and Rifles while the to RSM/Tibet forces were equipped with advanced second generation phaser Pistols and Rifles. Thought the RSM/Tibet forces were greatly out-numbered by the Chinese army the RSC had superior firepower and combat capability at their disposal.

China also deployed 50 second hand Horizon Class Heavy Cruisers purchased from UESPA for colony defence. These Horizon Class Heavy Cruisers would be used to clear the space over Tibet and would be used for orbital bombardment. These were equipped with the old Phase cannons and Phontic Torpedoes and first generation shields.

The RSN deployed 3 Dreadnought Class Battlecruisers and 8 Excaliber Class Combat Cruisers in geo stationary orbit over Tibet, to defence Tibet's space.

The "war" between China and Tibet lasted only 5 hours. China launched a series of attacks against Tibet on the morning of the 5 April 2305. These attacks were designed to encircle portions of the RSM/Tibet forces, but the Chinese army was not well equipped as the RSM/Tibet forces and were out manoeuvred and destroyed or driven back to their boarders.

In space the 50 Horizon Class Heavy Cruisers faired even worse as the 11 RSN warship had a greater margin of firepower than the Chinese's space fleet. The 3 Dreadnought Class Battlecruisers used their Heavy Phaser Cannon's to destroy the 50 Horizon Class Heavy Cruisers without having to resort to using their "normal" armament or the need for the 8 Excaliber Class Combat Cruisers to fire one shot. The return fire from the Horizon Class Heavy Cruisers easily shrugged off by both the Dreadnought Class Battlecruisers and Excaliber Class Combat Cruisers. This space "battle" lasted lest than finish 1 hour from start to finish it would go down as the fastest space battle in history.

The UESPA declared that they would not intervene in this war to help China as China had attack Tibet first, also no one on Earth wanted another world war.

Thus isolated on the morning of the 6 April 2305 China signed an agreement of cease-fire and also recognising Tibet as an independent country.

Discoveries

Between 2290 and 2318 a number of new civilisations are discovered including the Cardassian Union.

In the year 2318 while skirting the Cardassian boarder with a joint long-range exploration between the RSC, Vulcan's, Andorains and the Klingon Empire discovered the Bajoran system. The Bajorans had recently had developed warp drive and the four ships from the joint exploration group made first contact with the Bajorans. The first exchanges between the Bajorans and the four members representing the Alliance went very well.

This lead to a cultural exchange between the Bajorans and the four members of the joint exploration group. The Bajorans left a very favourable impression on both the RSC and the Klingon representative, also the Vulcan's and Andorains were both pleased with the way the first contact went.

The joint exploration group was at this time several weeks away from any major base at maximum warp. This meant that the joint exploration group would not return for some years, but promised to do so.

The Cardassian on seeing that the Alliance and the Klingon Empire had made contact with the Bajorans were not pleased. The main reason was that the Cardassian were paranoid about the possibility of the Bajorans forming a pact with the Alliance and the Klingon Empire, this would allow the Alliance and the Klingon Empire to place ships right on the Cardassian boarder. This led the Cardassian Union to begin preparations to invade Bajoran system and occupy it.

In 2328 the Cardassian Union invaded the Bajoran system with ease and conquered the plant of Bajor within a few days. Bajoran home world of Bajor was under the control of the Cardassian Union. During the Occupation, the Cardassians perpetrated a co-ordinated scheme of strip-mining, forced labour, and genocide across the planet. The Occupation gave rise to the fierce Bajoran Resistance. Both the RSC and the Klingon Empire would secretly support the Bajoran Resistance.

The Cardassian Union in an attempt to divide the Alliance attacked two small Klingon colonies. These two colonies were not inside Klingon space but were out side the boarders of the Klingon Empire. The Klingons reacted by sending reinforcements to the two small Klingon colonies and to mount a counter attack. For this they had to withdraw their forces from RSC space were they were on joint patrol and exploration missions.

The Alliance condemned the attack but did not declare war for the invasion of Bajor or the attack on the Klingon colonies. The only member of the Alliance to come out on the side of the Klingon Empire was the RSC who offered help to the Klingon Empire to protect their colonies with ships and troops. These was also logistic support from the Vulcan's, Andorians and a few other members of the Alliance, but these members would not get involved in the war directly.

There would be an ongoing conflict between the Cardassian Union and the Klingon Empire/RSC over these two Klingon colonies for the next 10 years. The main problem with this conflict is that neither side could gain the advantage over the other. The Cardassians had the numbers but not the technology of the Klingon Empire/RSC and the Klingon Empire/RSC had the technology but not the numbers due to the two Klingon colonies being to far away to properly support by either the RSC or the Klingon Empire.

The other main reason was that the Cardassian Union was also using the war between themselves and the Klingon Empire/RSC to secure its hold on the Bajoran system.

The war would drag on for 10 years until the peace treating was signed in 2339. Both sides new that neither was going anywhere, this lead to the peace treaty being signed between the Cardassian Union and the Klingon Empire/RSC. This peace treaty did not solve the problem of the Bajoran occupation. Causalities during the war were fairly light, as either side did not possess a significant advantage over the other. Also the Klingon Empire/RSC were supplying resources covertly to the Bajoran Resistance during the war.

The Bajoran Resistance had grown in strength during this time as was becoming more formidable day by day, by being supplied covertly with the ability to manufacture their own weapons and small warp capable ships called raiders.

The Bajoran Resistance set-up a refugee camp on Valo II that was midway between Bajor and RSC space. The Klingon Empire/RSC gave the Bajorans replecators to manufacture weapons of Bajoran design, but would not give them their own weapons to manufacture. The refugee camp on Valo II was protected be the Klingon Empire/RSC as a "protectorate" and always had a strong defence fleet protecting the system from attack. The Cardassian Union on hearing of this was outraged but there was nothing that they could do about this as Valo II was well supplied and defended.

This allowed the Bajorans to develop their own warp capable spacecraft and build them in orbit around Valo II. These spacecraft were very limited in there capably and could only ever cause pit prick attacks. The

The Bajorans would use their small space fleet to conduct hit a run raids against the Cardassian outposts and convoys between Bajor and Cardassian space. The intelligence for some of these raids was provided by the Klingon Empire/RSC intelligence services. Even with this support the Bajorans were well behind the Cardassians in terms of technology.

UESPA/Starfleet exploration

During 2300 to 2338 UESPA/Starfleet begin its own exploration of the stars, but this time it was not for new colonies but to "seek out new life form and new civilisations". To invite them into the Alliance and to form trade agreements that would be beneficial to UESPA.

During this time UESPA/Starfleet boosted the number of members in the Alliance or that would be trading partners with Alliance members to over 100 different civilisations.

Upgrades

During this time the RSC introduced upgrades into their Leander X Class Frigates, Excaliber III Class Combat Cruisers, Dreadnought II Class Battle Cruisers and Shadow II Class Stealth Ships. These classes old classes would be upgraded to the new levels of technology; along with new ships would come of the production line.

The RSC did not sell and of its old star ships they would all be scrapped after being decommissioned at the end of their service life.

The UESPA/Starfleet would start upgrades on the Miranda Class Frigate and Excelsior-class Heavy Cruiser also production of these two ships would continue. UESPA/Starfleet would introduce new ship types including the Constellation/Ambassador class star ships. The UESPA/Starfleet would continue to sell its used space ships to UESPA members to help defend their colonies, even though China had used their ships to try and conquer Tibet.

The Constellation-class star ship was similar in overall size to a Constitution class star ship. Constellation vessels were equipped with four nacelles and were suited for both deep-space exploration and defensive patrol duties. The Constellation-class was introduced in service in 2302.

The Ambassador class star ship follows a conventional approach to UESPA/Starfleet star ship design, with a saucer attached to a tubular engineering section and two warp nacelles attached to the rear of the secondary hull. At the bow of the engineering section is the navigational deflector, while the shuttle bay is at the stern. The main bridge, lifeboats, and dorsal phaser arrays are embedded into the top of the saucer section, while the ship's ventral phaser arrays, a sensor dome, and more lifeboats occupy the bottom half of the ship. With a Length of 526 meters and a crew of 700 an Armament of ten phaser arrays (original), eleven phaser arrays (upgrade); two photon torpedo launchers. The Ambassador class was introduced in service in 2320.

Next - Part 11 - Dr. Noonien Soong/Narendra III/Khitomer

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Part 11 - Dr. Noonien Soong/Narendra III/Khitomer

In 2310 K'mpec sworn in as Klingon Chancellor of the High Council and would be the longest-lived Klingon Chancellor in Klingon history. K'mpec rules with an iron hand and managed to keep peace within the Klingon Empire, and also would bring peace between the Klingon Empire and UESPA.

In 2030 Dr. Noonien Soong created the first working android that he call data, this was his third attempt at producing a working android, while working for RSC research and development department. Dr Noonien Soong had been kicked out of the UESPA research program in 2025 after several failures in android research, but was recruited by the RSC research arm in 2026 and put back to work on android research, as the RSC could see merit in Dr Soong's work.

Data was the third android creation by Dr. Noonien Soong after the first two prototypes failed (B-4 and Lore). Data would go on to graduate from the RSC/RSN academy and achieve the rank of Captain in the RSN commanding his own star ship. Data's "bothers" and "sisters" would follow in the decades to come, these androids would go on to serve in all branches of the RSC and the RSN with distinction and would continue to be upgraded and also upgrade themselves.

The UESPA began to regret its decision to fire Dr. Noonien Soong from their employ and put a ban on firing any one just because of a failed experiment failed. Only the UESPA research board could fire any scientist and then only after a long review process, this process was hopped that it would stop the "brain drain" of top scientist and engineers going over to the RSC research and development department.

Narendra III, a Klingon outpost attacked by four Romulan warbirds, the outpost was saved by the Ambassador class Enterprise-C that helped save the outpost from destruction, but the Enterprise-C was destroyed in the process. This helped end decades of hostility between the UESPA and the Klingon Empire. In 2344 a peace treaty was signed between UESPA and the Klingon Empire bring to an end to decades of hostility.

This peace treaty also freed up Klingon forces in defence of the Klingon/Romulan boarder and the two colonies along the boarder with the Cardassian Union.

In 2346, the Klingon colony on Khitomer fell victim to a Romulan attack that became known as the Khitomer Massacre were over 4,000 colonists were killed. The total destruction of the colony was averted by the intervention of the RSN Dreadnought II Class Battle Cruiser HMSS Trafalgar. The Romulans used 34 warbirds to attack the Khitomer system catching the Klingons by surprise.

The battle between the Klingon Colony defences and the Romulan warbirds was in to its third day of fighting before the RSN Dreadnought II Class Battle Cruiser HMSS Trafalgar intervened. HMSS Trafalgar approached the battle under cloak, when HMSS Trafalgar opened fire with her heavy phaser cannon destroying three Romulan warbirds in the first pass. This action caught the Romulan commander of guard and allowed the Klingon defenders to catch their breath.

The remaining 21 Romulan warbirds left continued to fight as the Romulan commander thought that he could easily defeat the weakened Klingon defences and one RSN warship. But the Romulan commander was wrong because all that the Klingons and the RSN warship had to do was hold out for a few hours before more RSN warship would arrive and within a day their would also be Klingon reinforcements arriving.

The RSN ship HMSS Trafalgar was staying at maximum weapons range so that the Romulan warbirds fire did not cause any significant damage, as the Captain of HMSS Trafalgar was just trying to pin down as many Romulan ships as possible. So the Romulans would have to split their forces fire between the Klingon colonies defences and HMSS Trafalgar.

This tactic worked as the hours dragged by with out either side being able to gain advantage over the other. Then just as the Romulans thought that they had the RSN warship cornered the RSN reinforcement arrived forcing the Romulans to flee. Within a day of the attack on the Klingon colony on Khitomer more reinforcements from not only the Klingon Empire/RSC but also the UESPA/Starfleet and several members of the alliance would send warships to help defend the Klingon colony.

This action by the RSC/RSN would solidify the relationship between the RSC and the Klingon Empire. Also the Klingons would see the Alliance as allies rather than enemies because of the alliances help with the defence of Khitomer.

In the aftermath of the attack on Khitomer a Klingon baby called Worf and his nanny Kahlest both survived Khitomer and being rescued by crew from the UESPA USSS Intrepid and would be raised by them as the baby Worf was thought to be an orphan.

On Valo II orbiting moon the RSC/Klingon Empire set-up a military base and some orbital dry-dock facilities for their ships.

Ship developments

The RSC decided that the RSN need a more powerful warship to supplement the RSN Dreadnought II Class Battle Cruiser, so the design for the Invincible Class Battleship came to be. The Invincible Class Battleship had a length of 1,012 meters long with an armament of two forward firing heavy phaser cannons, 26 dual phaser banks, 10 spearfish heavyweight photon torpedoes (6 forward and 4 aft) and with a maximum warp speed of warp 9.9. Also equipped with a cloaking device, improved polarised hull armour, improved shield generators and a battalion of 800 RSM for on board security and combat missions.

The Invincible Class Battleship was extremely expensive to produce so the production rate would only be one every 6 months. The Invincible Class Battleship would be used as flagships by Admirals of RSN task forces and system defence forces such as those around New Gibraltar. Between 2346 and 2351 only 10 of these powerful battleships are produced with more being produced at the rate of one every 6 months. The RSN had now become number one in terms of ship firepower even eclipsing the Vulcan's.

The UESPA on seeing this new class of warship ordered the development of its own different design that would become the Galaxy Class star ship, this would not enter into production until 2061. This star ship would not be a battleship but a Heavy Cruiser/Explorer type of ship.

Alliances as of 2345

The biggest alliance was the Alliance itself members that included RSC, UESPA, Andorians, Tellarites and over 100 other races.

The RSC and the Klingon Empire has its own mini alliance.

The UESPA has only trading agreement within the Alliance and no mini alliance of its own. The UESPA has a peace treaty with the Klingon Empire.

The Romulans are not allied to and of the Alliance members or have any form of trade agreement with them since the peace treaty of 2160. There has only been one major boarder incident between the Romulan Empire and the Alliance in 2266 that is known as the Enterprise incident.

Neutral races include the Tholian's and the Breen were those races that wished no involvement at all with outside races at all and some that were xenophobic.


Next - Part 12 – Different Opinions

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Part 12 - Different Opinions

2345 to 2360

The RSC would continue to expand its own alliances as well as invite new members into the Alliance as well. With only 23 colonised systems the RSC was much smaller than the UESPA but the RSC colonies were more developed than the UESPA colonies.

In trade the RSC was also ahead due to its more secure trade routes and long term trade agreements with other governments.

The RSC military was also much stronger than the UESPA/Starfleet as the RSC had less space to defend than the UESPA that was spread over a large number of colony worlds. The RSC would concentrate on producing upgraded versions of existing designs rather than producing new ship designs. The RSC also had an integrated army were as the UESPA/Starfleet did not have a standing army but instead have a security force to guard its star ships and facilities.

The RSC main ships are still variants of the Leander Class Multi Role Frigate, Excaliber Class Combat Cruiser (including Scott and Britannia classes), Dreadnought Class Battle Cruiser, Invincible Class Battleship and the Shadow Class Stealth Ship. All of these ships have at least 80% compatibility in there systems.

While the UESPA had a large number of different designs and sub designs Miranda Class Frigate, Horizon Class Heavy Cruiser, Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser, Excelsior-class Heavy Cruiser, Ambassador Class Heavy Cruiser and after 2060 the new Galaxy Class Explorer/Heavy Cruiser. All these ships have different systems that are not easily interchangeable this causes the UESPA/Starfleet supply problems, although replecators do solve some of these problems.

In 2346 the Alliances own Security Council made up of the permanent members witch are RSC, UESPA, Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite. The remaining seven seats occupied by Alliance members rotating into the Security Council on a 12 month basis. The Klingons were also represented on the Alliance Security Council but as a non voting observer. The Klingons got this seat was mainly due to the RSC insistence and was not well received by the UESPA who did not trust the Klingons.

All of the Alliance members have various forms of trade deals with each other and with non Alliance members. The main trade deals are with the five permanent members of the Security Council.

The Klingon Empire has and alliance with the RSC and also has separate peace agreements with the Alliance and the UESPA.

In early 2347 the UESPA again began to expand its colonies by placing them along the Cardassian boarder in a hope that the Cardassians would see this as a trading opportunity, all that Cardassians did was view lodge a complaint to the Alliance Security Council.

The main problem occupying the Cardassians at this time was Bajor and the problems caused by the Bajorian resistance and trying to quell the resistance attacks of Cardassian facilities.

The UESPA wanted a negotiated settlement with the Cardassians over Bajor the RSC wanted the Cardassians to leave Bajor without protracted negotiations and the Alliance Security Council was also in favour of negotiations as long as they were moving forward. Even thought the Cardassians were committing atrocities against the Bajoran people.

The RSC and the Klingon Empires protectorate of the Valo system were the Bajoran Government in exile was based and a large number of Bajoran refugees. This system was is one of the major sticking points in a solution between the Alliance and the Cardassians as the Cardassians want control on the Valo system before they give back Bajor, but the RSC and the Klingon Empires will not give up Valo as a protectorate until the Cardassians have left the Bajoran system.

With the resources supplied covertly by the RSC and the Klingon Empire the Bajoran resistance and the Bajoran refugees Valo II was considered a Bojoran colony in all but name. The Cardassians dared not attack Valo II as both the RSC and the Klingon Empire had bases in the Valo system and also as it was listed as a protectorate it would be deemed as an attack on the Allience because of the RSC presence and an attack on the Klingon Empire because of the Klingon presence in the Valo system. All the Cardassians could do was protest a lot and be ignored by the RSC/Klingon Empire over there protectorate, as the Alliance treaty that this was an internal matter for the RSC/Klingon Empire as Valo system was a joint protectorate.

The atrocities that the Cardassians committed in the Bajoran system were horrific and caused wide spread condemnation from the Alliance, but majority of the Alliance did not want war with the Cardassians. Only the RSC, Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite with a small amount of support from the UESPA called for action in various forms but nothing could be decided.

The RSC, Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite wanted to use the threat of force to remove the Cardassians from the Bajoran system. The UESPA wanted to use negotiations and use the threat of force as a last resort. The rest of the Alliance was split between the two factions and it would take a serious tragedy to move the Alliance to use force against the Cardassians.

The difference of option between the RSC and UESPA was growing wider and neither side wanted to unite Earth under one banner as the RSC did not want to come under the UESPA banner and the UESPA did not want to come under the RSC banner.

In 2311 the Treaty of Algeron was signed between the Romulan Empire and the UESPA. The main point of the Treaty of Algeron was the recognition of the Romulans of UESPA territory and in return the UESPA/Starfleet agreed not to develop cloaking technology and also recognise Romulan territory. This treaty did not apply to the Alliance as a whole this treaty was only between the UESPA and the Romulan Empire.

The Treaty of Algeron was extended to most of the Alliance with the exception of the RSC that would only accept the Treaty of Algeron without the ban into cloaking technology, the Romulan Empire eventually gave way with the RSC being exempt from the cloaking technology clause. This would allow the RSC to continue to develop cloaking technology without being in breach of the Treaty of Algeron.

This did mean that UESPA/Starfleet could call the treaty a success in one way but a loss in another due to the fact that Starfleet and most of the Alliance could not develop cloaking devices but the RSC could develop clocking devices as they had not signed that part of the Treaty of Algeron with the Romulan Empire.

In 2360 the UESPA launched its largest ship the Galaxy Class Heavy Cruiser/Explorer this class of starship would be come the flagship class of the UESPA. The Galaxy Class Heavy Cruiser/Explorer with a length of 641 meters a crew of approximately 1,000 (officers, enlisted, and civilian) and an Armament of 12 Type-10 phaser arrays and 3 photon torpedo launchers.

Next – Part 13 – Bajor

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Part 13 – Bajor

In 2361 the RSC made the decision to force the Cardassians out of Bajoran space and began a slow build up of its military forces in darkness of space between systems. RSC intelligence also began to increase its intelligence missions in the Bajoran system; this included the use of the cloaked Shadow Class Stealth Ship. The Klingon Empire also would provide military forces for this attack.

Alliance members were now well aware of the military deal between the RSC and the Klingon Empire, especially the acquisition of cloaking technology by the RSC. The UESPA treaty with the Romulan Empire was looking like it was a bad idea, but the UESPA was going to keep with the treaty as it ensured the peace between them and the Romulan Empire.

The UESPA, Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite were also informed about what the RSC/Klingons were about to do and they gave their support for the attack and they would send 100 warships each. The UESPA was not too happy about what the RSC was doing but the UESPA would also send 100 warships to help with the liberation of the Bajoran system.

The gathering of so many starships in one place would take time and a lot of coordination between Alliance members.

The RSC would also provide five of its RSM divisions to assault Bajor and to provide military assistance to the Bajoran resistance. The Bajoran resistance would at the same time launch a series of attacks to disrupt the Cardassians on the surface of bajor.

The plan did not go as planned as the Cardassians got to hear about the attack and withdrew their troops back to their main military bases on Bajor and reinforced their fleet in the Bajoran system. The man defence of the Bajoran system would come for the Cardassian space station of Terok Nor. The commander of Terok Nor Gul Dukat who would oversee the military aspects of the defence of Bajor. Though Gul Dukat did not get all the resources that he wanted to defend the Bajoran system, so Gul Dukat had secretly being prepared to evacuate the system in the event of an attack by an overwhelming force.

Gul Dukat had managed to convince his superiors that all non military personnel to be evacuated back to Cardassian space. This looked like the Cardassian were reinforcing their positions rather than preparing to withdraw.

When the Alliance saw this information they came to the wrong conclusion that the Cardassians were reinforcing their positions. This did not mean that the attack was going to be postponed.

The Alliance and the Klingon Empire would issue and ultimatum to the Cardassians ordering them to leave the Bajoran system by 1 January 2362 the Alliance and the Klingon Empire would take the Bajoran system by force and restore the Bajoran government.

The ultimatum was ignored by the Cardassians so the Alliance and the Klingon Empire would attack.

The attack force would consist of several waves. The first wave would be cloaked ships of the RSC and Klingon Empire, these ships would hit the first line of Cardassian ships defending Bajor. The remaining waves would be those Alliance members who do not possess cloaking devices. The final wave would be the RSM ground troops and the Bajoran militia.

The first wave attacked the first line of the Cardassian ships defending the Bajoran system and the Cardassian ships were rapidly destroyed by the combined forces of the RSC/RSN warships and the warships of the Klingon Empire. The first line of Cardassian ships defending the Bajoran system was of an older design and they were crewed by less efficient crews.

As soon as this first wave struck Gul Dukat began ordering the withdrawal of the Cardassian military forces on Bajor. These military forces destroyed everything that they could not take with them. The Cardassian space forces were ordered to cover the withdrawal from Bajor while not engaging the Alliance or the Klingon Empire in a major space battle, the overall objective was to withdraw Cardassian military forces in tacked.

As the Cardassian begain to withdraw from Bajor the Alliance or the Klingon Empire switched their attacks from the Cardassian forces defending the withdrawal to supporting the RSM and the Bajoran militia that would be landing on Bajor.

After the first 24 hours the battle had settled down into minor skirmishes between the opposing sides. The Cardassian withdrawal was now well under way and the Alliance or the Klingon Empire was quite happy to let them go. This was much easier as they did not have to force them out of the Bajoran system.

Within 12 days the Cardassian had withdrawn from the Bajoran system and had abandoned the space station Terok Nor though the station had been stripped of anything of value.

The freeing of Bajor from Cardassian occupation was greeted with great joy from the Bajoran people. A provisional government would be set-up until elections could be held. Also a small take force would be left just in case the Cardassians decided to try and take back the Bajoran system.

The Alliance and the Klingon Empire took over the defence of the Bajoran system until the Bajorans could defend the system themselves and helping in reconstructing Bajor.

The UESPA took over responsibility for the space station Terok Nor and renamed it Deep Space Nine. Deep Space Nine, over a kilometre in diameter, is composed of a broad outer docking ring; an inner habitat ring containing residences; and a central core containing the promenade, the fusion reactors, and the operations centre, known as "ops". Three sets of docking pylons sweep up and down equidistantly around the docking ring, defining a spherical shape.

Exploration of the Bajoran system would be postponed until the Bajoran government was up and running, this would not happen until 2369 this was due to Alliance assets needed elsewhere that would lead to several major discoveries.

Early in 2363 the UESPA USSS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard was sent to investigate a number of outposts have been completely obliterated in the neutral zone between the Alliance and the Romulan Empire. There is no evidence of conventional weapons or attack.

In the ensuring investigation the Enterprise would encounter a very powerful race…….

To be continued……..

Next – Part 14 – The Neutral Zone

[whatisinaname]

Part 14 – The Neutral Zone

The UESPA/Starfleet vessel USSS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard is sent to investigate a number of outposts have been completely obliterated in the neutral zone between the Alliance and the Romulan Empire.

Unknown to the captain of the Enterprise he was being shadowed by a RSC/RSN intelligence Shadow Class stealth ship under cloak. Behind the Shadow Class stealth ship was an Invincible II Class battleship under cloak HMSS Invidious. The RSC had come to this decision without telling the other members of the Alliance.

The Alliance was also gathering several large fleets together to defend against a suspected Romulan attack on the outposts. This gathering for Alliance warships would take time as some members would have to send warships form their own space to the rendezvous points. It also did not help that a large number of Alliance warships were still involved in protecting Bajor, some of these warship would be withdrawn and moved a high warp to the rendezvous points. But all this would take time because of the distances involved.

The Enterprise D arrived to begin its investigations of the outpost’s destruction and found that the outputs had not been destroyed but scooped up as if a giant hand reached down and taken the outposts. The Enterprise was making regular reports back on what they have found out. These reports were monitored by HMSS Invidious following under cloak, also making regular reports was the Shadow Class stealth ship monitoring the Enterprise D, and these reports were made to RSC command and not to the Alliance, as some of the RSC intelligence assets were not know to Alliance members.

As the Enterprise D continued along the neutral zone the Enterprise detected that it was being shadowed along the Romulan side of the neutral zone by a partiality cloaked warship that was following the Enterprise.

The Romulan warship then de cloaked and opened communications with the Enterprise and during the first set of talks between them. In the talks the Enterprise captain learned that the Romulans had also lost outposts along their side of the neutral zone and agreed a joint investigation along the neutral zone.

The communication about the Romulans also losing outposts was met with a mixture of shock and some disbelief amongst Alliance members, but the build up of forces would continue and would be available against whatever the investigation found.

The Enterprise and the Romulan warbird discovered a cubed shaped vessel moving along the neutral zone and moved to intercept. The cubed shaped vessel also altered cause to intercept the Enterprise and the Romulan warbird.

On board the Enterprise a crew member know as Guinan identified the race as Borg and advised a strong defensive posture. This was a little late a both the Enterprise and the Romulan warbird had been boarded by Borg scouts to examine the technology of both ships. The initial scouts were killed but when new scout appeared they had adapted to the Enterprises phaser pistols and the Romulan disruptors. Thus allowing the Borg scout drone to complete its task.

After the Borg scout left the following message was sent to the Enterprise and the Romulan ship - "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The Borg ended the communication without waiting for a response.

Guinan who is an El-Aurian and who’s home world was destroyed by the Borg, but not before a large number of refugee ships escaped. Guinan states that - "You can't outrun them, you can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They regenerate and keep coming. They are relentless."

Guinan stated that also stated that the Borg has no culture in the traditional sense of the word. Their sole purpose was the assimilation of other beings in their pursuit of perfection. Being a Collective, members lose any sense of individuality. The moment someone was assimilated his or her individuality was integrated within the Borg hive mind and they would be a part of the Borg Collective.

Their organic bodies are enhanced, and some parts completely replaced, with cybernetic implants. The nature of these implants is determined by the drone's intended function, for instance a tactical or medical repair drone would be fitted with appropriate hardware. Every drone is equipped with a homing device and has the ability to assimilate beings by means of nanoprobes, dispensed through three tubule-like structures located in the hands or forearms.

Borg vessels were among the most powerful in the galaxy. Highly decentralized, they had no bridge, living quarters or engineering section. All drones collectively operated the vessels under the general direction of the Collective. While each of their vessels is highly unique in its design, all Borg vessels shared common elements. These included the ability to repair any spacecraft structure that was damaged in battle, as well as a Vinculum (which is the core of every Borg vessel) that was used to interconnect all the drones on board and to purge any individual thought. A critically-damaged Borg vessel would self-destruct, destroying all vital technologies, such as any transwarp coils.

The Borg then locked onto both the Enterprise and the Romulan vessel with a tractor beam, both the Enterprise and the Romulan vessel opened fire and managed to free themselves and damage the Borg cube. The Enterprise and the Romulan vessel sent a joint away mission to explore the apparently lifeless Borg vessel. They were able to learn that the Borg are able to use their collective power to regenerate their ship, the away team is immediately beamed back.

The Enterprise and the Romulan vessel attempts to flee, but the Borg cube follows them. The Enterprise and the Romulan vessel are rapidly losing the chase with the Borg ship, after getting within firing range, the Borg vessel fires a shield-draining weapon twice on the Enterprise and the Romulan vessel, now with very low shields, the Enterprise and the Romulan vessel fires torpedoes again, with the same result. The Borg fires twice more, and the Enterprise and the Romulan vessel loses both shields and warp drive.

With the Borg tractor beam locking on the Enterprise and the Romulan vessel look doomed, but suddenly a vessel de cloaks and opens fire, it is the Invincible II Class battleship HMSS Invidious. HMSS Invidious opens fire with a deadly combination of her two forward firing heavy phaser cannons and photon torpedoes that manage to punch though the Borg ships shields and knock out the tractor beam and severely weaken the Borgs shields and weapon systems. The Enterprise and the Romulan vessel also add their firepower and manage to destroy the Borg cube, but this takes all the firepower of all three ships as is considered a close run fight.

HMSS Invidious with its combination of superior firepower and cloaking device tipped the balance in their favour, but the Borg won’t fall for the same trick twice. Also HMSS Invidious has raised the alarm and more ships are on their way.

Within a few hours more and more reinforcement arrive at the neutral zone both Alliance warships and Romulan warships, both sides agree to search their sides of the neutral zone to make sure that there are no more Borg vessels. The search reveals that there are no signs of any other Borg vessels in the neutral zone.

The Enterprise's now compromised computers revealed the location of Earth. Picard and Guinan surmise over a game of 3D chess that it would then only be a matter of time before the Borg arrived at Earth in force, ready to assimilate humanity and then the Alliance and after that the Klingon and Romulan Empires.

Next time the Borg will come with more than one ship to assimilate the major powers of the alpha quadrant, they would have to be ready for the Borg.

One of the Benefits of the Borg attack was that the Alliance and the Klingon Empire opened up diplomatic relations with the Romulan Empire. This did not leave to the end of all the hostility between these powers but it did help to ease the tension. This diplomatic start was seen a crucial if they were going to fight the Borg.

This did prove one other thing that when necessary all members of the Alliance could work very well together when sufficient motivation was provided, and for a short time the RSC and the UESPA could work well together. But once the crisis was over it was back to business as usual with the RSC and the UESPA unable to agree on all issues between them with no likelihood of any change.

Next – Part 15 – Aftermath

[whatisinaname]

Part 15 – Aftermath

In the aftermath of the Borg incident all the major powers of the Alliance began to upgrade their warships to better deal with the Borg threat.

United Earth Space Probe Agency - Starfleet

The UESPA went with several new designs –

Akira-class heavy cruiser – Length of 465 meters, Crew of 500, maximum speed of warp 9.8 for 12 hrs and an armament of 6 type-10 phaser emitters; at least 11 photon torpedo launchers. An unusual feature of the Akira-class was the shuttle bay arrangements. There were two large shuttle bays in the saucer section, one at the forward edge of the saucer section and one at the rear.

Sabre-class - Starfleet star ship was first introduced in the late 24th century. The ship featured a design more compact than other Starfleet vessels, and was fai