Bravo Fleet
In for a Pound
OSS Fang
Docked at Drozana Resupply Station
Starfleet’s ships could run for months or years without resupply, but that was not life aboard a pirate vessel, especially one trying to keep a low profile while crossing Federation space. No raids meant no loot, no loot meant no fuel or rations, and no fuel or rations meant the need to stop off for supplies. A hold full of Thot Prel’s latinum could warm the heart, but it wouldn’t fill the belly or keep the engines going.
“Refueling is complete,” Tibalt said from her place at Ops. “All supplies are aboard, Captain. Requesting clearance to depart.” Simple practicality meant that even the most lawless places in the Beta Quadrant had some rules, and among the most inviolate was that you waited for clearance to leave dock.
“When we have clearance, release docking clamps and take out outsystem at half impulse,” Molni said.
“Releasing…” Tibalt began, then her eyes widened, and it was only how quick Pass was that kept her from screaming.
“Neutrino surge!” Pass was a Tactical, claws making clicking sounds against the transparent aluminum of the console. “Ship decloaking.” As the Gorn spoke, Thanget, who had until that moment been standing, silent and statue-like at the side of the chamber, made his way to them.
“Evade,” came the entirely synthetic voice the universal translator ascribed to the Breen. “It is Breen.”
Indeed, the ship that decloaked was one of the newer Breen warships, a Chel Boalg-class cruiser. “You heard the man!”
Dgeezat hit the impulse engines hard, forcing Fang away from Drozana and into open space, not a second too soon. The Breen ship turned in space, then opened fire. Three white streaks burst from its forward torpedo launcher, ripping easily through the meager shields of Drozana and impacting the hull below. The station was ripped open to space, venting atmosphere and plasma to space.
“Emergency force fields on Drozana are failing,” Tibalt said. “Where they are up, showing Breen transporter signatures.”
“Station’s lost. Going to have to find somewhere else to shop,” Molni said. “Poor bastards who got spaced are the lucky ones. Get us outsystem where we can go to warp, Dzeegat!”
“The warship is pursuing.” Tibalt’s voice took on a note of panic. “Weapons fire!”
“Evasive!” Molni grabbed the armrests of her seat as violet fire lashed at and through her shields. Fang was a fighting ship, and had the armament to match, but the Breen ship was bigger and equipped with Dominion weapons. The bridge rocked under the first impact of polaron to hull.
“Shields at seventy percent,” Pass growled.
“Aft torpedoes,” Molni said. She’d feel the price of each of those, but between torpedoes and her ship? No question. “Ready to fire.”
“After plasma control module,” Thanget said, the clicks and rumbles of his natural voice audible under the words of the Universal Translator. “Here.” He shoved the Gorn aside from the weapons console, taking control of it himself, even as Tibalt stepped away from her position and drew down on the Breen.
“Step back from the console!” she called, Cardassian pistol trained on Thanget.
“He’s our bounty!” Molni called out.
Thanget fired the torpedoes.
Two photon torpedoes, precisely targeted to strike to either side of the after plasma control module. And the Breen ship sputtered, impluse engines dying.
“I think we can forgive him,” Molni said. “Dzeegat, maximum warp!”
As the Breen warship fired again, the stars turned to lines, and Fang broke the light barrier.
Specs, and the In Play Project
The Bravo Fleet Wiki has long been our main repository for information about the shared universe in which Bravo Fleet operates, holding information about species, cultures, stories, technology, and starships. The In Play Project is an effort by the Lore Office to improve the wiki’s structure by having it offer advice on how different elements can be used in a story – what kinds of stories a starship class or species of alien is most likely to be used to tell or to appear in, what it means in a story when a piece of technology is used. This is a huge undertaking, and the Lore Office is very much looking for more hands to help with it, but the end goal is to make the Wiki not only a powerful repository for knowledge but also a toolbox for ready-to-use story elements. The project is still in its early stages, with some structural ideas still in the works.
As part of our ongoing efforts to make the Wiki more usable, the way starship specifications are presented is also getting a new pass in an effort at emphasizing the information most useful to GMs and players and reduce the chaff while adding the same In Play advice other story elements will receive. What starships do will be focused on – what missions they were built for, what goals they serve, the ways they perform in practical circumstances – over cold numbers and deck listings. To this end, the Specs Team is also looking for members. Working on Specs is a rewarding way to leave your mark on the fleet in the long term. Those interested should contact the Loremaster on Bravo Fleet’s Discord.
For examples of the In Play Project’s outcomes, please see the following articles:
https://wiki.bravofleet.com/index.php?title=Sovereign_Class
https://wiki.bravofleet.com/index.php?title=Hazard_Team
The Hand of Fate
Terran Rebellion Starship Kent
They were outunumbered, outgunned, outmatched. Outfought, which was the thing that grated hardest on Captain Marian O’Rourke’s pride. What had been a simple raid on a minor Alliance shipyard at Betazed by three small ships had turned into a pitched fight, and Admiral Jenner had led the Rebellion’s Second Fleet – its largest and most advanced, operating from their main shipyard at Terok Nor – in to rescue the raiding party only to have it ambushed by a massively superior Alliance armada. With Rebellion comm traffic disrupted across the system and Jenner’s flagship completely disabled, this was going to be a slaughter. The Second Fleet would die here, and with it the Rebellion.
“Two birds of prey coming in, vector 428 mark 6!” Tibalt, at the weapons station, called out. “Shields on that facing are down and armor failing, Captain.”
Tell me something new. “Evasive pattern Alpha 223,” Marian called out. “Lock onto the starboard enemy ship with forward torpedoes and fire once they are in arc.”
The young man at the helm – Marian didn’t know his name; Lieutenant Commander Li’s body still hadn’t been moved from where it lay near that station and the man who’d taken his place had only boarded Kent a week ago – pushed the cruiser’s impulse engines far past tolerances to execute the maneuver, still barely managing to get a functional shield facing between the ship’s hull and the Klingons before cannon fire erupted against those shields, spraying the main viewscreen in azure and violet light. Marian couldn’t fault the new man’s guts, at least.
“Torpedoes away!” Kent’s forward tube spat out three white spheres of light that ripped through shields and hull on the Klingon ship, one landing a direct hit on the engine room, and the bird of prey exploded violently. The other came in harder, as if invigorated by the loss of its companion.
“Cardassian cruiser coming in aft,” Tibalt said. “Forward phasers hot.”
“Brace for impact!” Marian suited action to words, gripping her seat hard as if her hands could add more security to the harness by which she was already held in place. Others grabbed at consoles or guard rails. It wouldn’t help. Kent’s crew might still have fight in them, but the situation was inescapable. In the condition they were in, even without reinforcements, that cruiser would tear them apart.
The impact never came. Instead, on the viewscreen, a jagged bolt of plasma broke through the shields of the bird of prey, ripped through the neck, severed the ship’s bridge from the rest of its hull and sent both spiralling helplessly through space before a second bolt struck its impulse engines and destroyed its already-disabled body.
“Plasma storm,” Tibalt said, eyes widening as lightning arced across space. The cruiser behind Kent took hits to the bridge and shuttlebay, a Klingon warship lining up for a kill shot on Melbourne was torn apart. One of the new Cardassian attack ships was struck by two bolts simultaneously and simply disintegrated. And, moving through the thick of the battle, the Klingon flagship drew seven bolts which left it dead in space.
“The plasma is attracted to the jamming frequency,” Tibalt breathed, wonder in her voice.
The First and Fifth Orders, the forces of House Duras, House Mo’kai, and House Ma’rek. All gone. Just… gone. “Target the enemy flagship,” Marian said. “Contact the fleet. Tell them…”
She paused. This is not coincidence, or simple good fortune. Fate itself smiles on us. On the Rebellion.
On the Empire.
“Tell them Kent holds the flag. And there are to be no survivors.”
As the last bolts of plasma faded, the Rebellion fleet opened fire on its disabled enemies, and once again the Terrans laid waste to those who opposed them.
Exactly as it should be.
Summary:
OOC Developments
- The primary goal of the Bravo Fleet Wiki is changing from it being a simple repository of canon and history to it being a storytelling toolbox.
- Starship specifications have moved to the Lore office, and will focus more on the use of ships in storytelling and less on the cold numbers.
- Both the Lore office in general and the Specs Team in particular are recruiting. Please contact Tia on Discord if you are interested.
IC Developments
- The pirate port at Drozana was destroyed by a Breen warship under Domo Sar in an apparent assassination attempt against the deposed Thot Thanget. Thanget and the crew of the OSS Fang escaped largely due to Thanget’s knowledge of Breen shipbuilding.
- A large Klingon-Cardassian Alliance armada in the Mirror Universe was destroyed by a freak plasma storm over Betazed. The survivors of the armada were killed by Terran weapon fire.