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Designing a more "sustainable" star trek mirror universe

Snippet 1
*after landing party beam back from the Halkans, unfortunately their their negotiations were unsuccessful to put it mildly*

Spock: "Status of mission captain?"

Kirk: "No change."

Spock: "Standard procedure captain?"

Kirk: *Nods*

Spock opens comms: "Mr. Sulu, prepare a phaser barrage on Halkan cities."

Sulu (over comms): "Yes Mr. Spock."

Spock, now facing Kirk again: "Their military capability captain?"

Kirk: "None." While mildly shaking his head.

Spock: "Regrettable that this society has chosen suicide."

Kirk: "Yes, yes indeed..." He appears to be thinking to himself. "Wait, hold that order. The Halkans are completely lacking in force correct?"

Spock, raising an eyebrow: "Yes captain, as you yourself had stated."

Kirk: "Then what is preventing us from simply walk in and seize the crystals directly? We have a hundred blueheads itching for a fight, that should be enough to take a planet that can't, and won't fight back."

Spock: "That is most likely correct, assuming that the Halkans' maintain their absolute pacifism even in the face of occupation."

Kirk: "Then we sic the phaser barrage on them otherwise, and at most lose some blueheads. If it works though, we get to extract the crystals immediately and whatever other wealth they might have."

Spock: "Rather merciful of you captain."

Kirk: "I prefer to think of it as profitable. Now Mr. Spock, get Thelin and his blueheads packed on the shuttles. We got a planet to occupied and crystals to grab."

Spock: "As you wish captain." *gives Terran salute*

Kirk: "For the glory of the Terran State." *gives Terran salute*

Spock: "For the Terran State."
 
Doctor McCoy
Leonard McCoy​

Unquestionably the most dreaded* man onboard the ISS Enterprise, McCoy serves as the ship's doctor, interrogator, and medical researcher, roles that often overlap with each other.

Born into the descendants of a minor aristocratic family on the North America continent of Old Terra (but not of then currently in the nobility), his childhood was rather cheerful, which already puts it ahead of the vast majority of humanity. Fate however seems to kept score in its own fashion and in his teenage years took away his father through an incurable disease... of which it turns out that the cure already exists, but was withheld by the government as it was assessed that the disease was convenient as a population control method, due to its unique properties. This event seemed to have lit a fire in the younger McCoy, who swore he would claw his way into a position of power one way or another, to ensure he would never be in a position where his life would be at the whims of some faceless power beyond him. He would be on the other side of the great divide of the galaxy.

After graduating from the Mengele Institute of Medical Science McCoy decided to pursue a career in the Space Navy, an interesting career choice at the time since contemporary wisdom held that most worthwhile research and discoveries would be made in massive planetary and orbital installations and institutions, where test subjects and materials tend to be plentiful. However, McCoy was one of the few who realize that with the sheer amount of unknowns in the universe there's literally worlds worth of discoveries to be made (or stolen, not that the Terran State cares for the intercultural rights of lesser breeds, or their lives for that matter).

On the Enterprise, McCoy did managed to fulfill his ambition in a certain fashion, as even someone as powerful as the captain is merely a man for all the powers he wield, and sickness cares for no titles. As such at some point everyone will have to visit the ship's doctor. But his duties were not merely just handing out pills and the odd surgery, as on independent missions the ship's doctor is often also the head of the medical research department as well as the officer in charge of bio-weapons. Perhaps there's an irony that someone as a doctor would cause more death than lives saved by an order of magnitude, but such is the nature of humanity among the stars...


*after all, Security officer Sulu can only brutalize and kill you, but there are many worse fates than death, and the art of "information extraction" is usually in the hands of the good doctor...
 
Logos class armed transport
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Length: 375m
Diameter: 100m
Displacement: +500,000t at full load
Decks: 16
Armament: 2 phaser turrets
Embarked craft: up to 4 shuttles
Crew: 40, up to 4,000 passengers (in "livable" conditions)
Powerplant: fusion reactors
Speed: warp 4.9 max. 4.4 cruising
Defense: shields

The Logos class armed transport was the primary transport of the Terran State during the latter half of the First Imperial Era. A design descended from a long line of Vulcan transport cruisers, the Logos class inherited the high speed and cargo space of its combat oriented ancestors (although obviously not its armaments or heavy shielding and armor). Produced in vast numbers to sate Terra's appetite for shipping, whether it's billions forcibly removed from their homes or fruits of planets being stripped mined. These ships patiently chugged along established lines, picking up and dropping their cargo with monotonous regularity.

Besides hauling ores and civilians, these transports also serve to carry large numbers of troops whenever the Terran State decided on conducting actual planetary invasions. Their cargo bays suffice to internally carry even the largest of the warp capable shuttles.

Easy to construct and maintain, this class of ships served their Terran masters faithfully and dutifully for the better part of two centuries (although the medium lifespan of any individual ships of the class were around five decades), ending up outlasting far more advanced designs. It wasn't until the resurgence of Terran power and the flood of Excelsior class ships were they finally retired from military service, with many ending up in civilian hands.

The popularity of this class (and other such non-combat ship types) was one of the main reasons that Vulcan was able to maintain significant shipbuilding even after being annexed into the Terran State, as they freed up yard space back in Sol for more prestigious contracts. Slow and steady might not win the race, but sometimes it was enough to remain alive, and that's not bad either...
 
Victor Class heavy cruiser
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Length: 220m
Width: 120m
Height: 76m
Displacement: 187,655t standard, +195,000t full load
Decks: 22
Armament: 28 phaser ball turrets in 8 banks, 7 photon torpedo launchers
Embarked craft: 4 GP-1 shuttles, 2 GP-1L heavy shuttles, & misc crafts
Crew: 364 (including 50 star infantry detachment)
Speed: Warp 7.4 max, impulse: 0.28cc
Defense: shields and armor, classified.

The first of the new 'standard hull' series heavy cruiser, the Victor class was designed to compliment the Battle Class battleship although in most cases they did end up forming the bulk of the battlelines, in hull numbers if not weight of firepower. A solid if rather uninspiring design (as the captain of one of the ships puts it: "She might be the ugly disfigured daughter, but damn she's still family and she's got it where it counts"), the Victor class, despite its classification as a heavy cruiser, was mostly intended to operate as part of the battlefleet, with limited capabilities for traditional cruiser duties such as independent operating or (ironically) scouting.

The general shape of the class was that of the primary saucer hull with the nacelles protruding out from the rear dorsal side in a massive pylon/upperworks while the traditional secondary hull was mounted much closer to the primary hull in a short neck. An interesting thing to note was that much of the reactor and traditional engineering sections was actually in the upperworks (which unlike those in more traditional mounting cannot be easily jettisoned in the event of reactor failures), while much of the space of the secondary hull was given to storing a truly prodigious quantities of photon torpedoes (along with the usual sensors and shuttle bay of course).

Never given the opportunity to shine compared to later and more dashing designs such as the Constitution class, the Victor class soldiered on for decades. They serve in their roles well enough, but the inherit limitations of the design meant that the only reason that they hang around all those decades was because they were so many of them and quite frankly industries were having problems producing the newer classes in enough numbers...
 
Decline of the Terran State/Spock at the helm
Decades of loss: the end of the first imperial era and a national reflection​

The ascension of Spock to the position of chancellery of the Terran state was a shock to the majority of its citizenry, who for the first time in history are witnessing some half bred xeno mongoloid in one of the most powerful position within the known galaxy. His fall in disgrace within the decade is equally shocking, although much more expected. Although quite often blamed for the decline of imperial influence and territories during the entirety of the era, the reality was in fact far more complicated.

Riding the tiger*

The Terran State on the eve of the appointment of Spock to the chancellery was at the greatest extent of it's power and territory, humanity being the masters of all they survey. It was a perilous mastery however, as potent threats, from traditional ones such as the Klingons and Romulans to the undefined ones out in the unknown and unexplored regions. With so many outside threats military spending, and more importantly production (especially in ships and space assets) could not be stopped or even slowed. The knock on effects meant that with the yards and other production facilities always at full production there weren't any opportunities for upgrading them. In a sense Terra was mortgage her future to simply stay alive in the present.

Domestically there were also a number of simmering problems, for all the conflicts over the decades, both against external and internal forces, the majority of the populations were getting too comfortable. Gini coefficients were decreasing (if only slightly), people were no longer on the edge of survival, which meant time free from toil and grind, and idle minds are the devil's workshop.

The Terran State needed a great revival of spirit and body, what they end up getting was Spock.

Still, why that half breed bastard spawn?

Although while his loyalty to the state was proven again and again during the times he as part of the crew of the Enterprise in saving Terra and the State, but loyalty alone wouldn't have gotten him to a position as exalted as that of the chancellery. His ability in many fields includes that of politics was superb, but there are plenty of such people within the Terran State, most of them being much more humans than him.

In the end it once again boiled down to connections, for after the historic missions of the Enterprise its various senior officers went on to high places, Kirk became a full admiral, Sulu went on to become the head of the Naval Intelligence, Uhura a senior manager in the Communications Bureau, and McCoy a professor at the Ishii** institute of Biological Science. All of them had without hesitation had vouched, if not passively lobbied for Spock's career advancement. In a sense, Spock was merely part of the 'Enterprise coup'.

A kinder, gentler state: the reforms of Spock

Contrary to what most later pop historians have claimed, Spock as chancellor did not immediately tried to foster democracy and demilitarization on the civilian side of the Terran State. Sudden proclamations and completely shifts of the workings of a society tend to produce chaos worthy of a violent revolution (which is why most such changes tend to be the product of violent revolution and overthrow of the previous order). What he actually did was far more subtle, merely diverted more funds for upgrading infrastructure and production facilities (which coincidentally meant a decrease in production in the short term while the facilities were out of order) and allowed some outer colonies more leeway in their operations.

One of his immediate changes in policy was the cession of General Plan Space, as he saw it as hemorrhaging of vast resources and manpower from the core worlds in the name of ideology rather than practical values.

It's time to get off the tiger. Then the tiger came right around for the killing bite.

Unexpected variable

Assuming all existing variables accounted for, the Terran State would probably have survived Spock's reforms mostly unscratched, but unfortunately there was one variable unaccounted for, although no one within the Terran State could have foreseen it: the formation of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. For the first time since the Terran-Romulan War there was a peer power comparable to the Terran State, but this time it is the Terran Space Navy that's short on ships and personnel.

While the core of the Terran State was never truly in danger, the resulting wars vastly reduced the holdings of it as centuries of colonization and conquests were lost in mere decades. Even though most of those worlds were of limited economic and resource values, such reversals shocked humanity to its core. What was more galling was the enslavement of tens of millions*** of humans to vile xenos as the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance took their spoils of war and put them to work in the deepest and darkest mines. To those humans in chains, the Terran State is dead for all intents and purposes.

With the space navy and various other forces rather occupied with the fate of humanity as a whole, many of the newer colonial worlds were left to fend for themselves, which along with the strains of Spock's political reforms usually led to catastrophe. The most noteworthy of such failures was the spectacular collapse of government and society on the colony on Turkana IV, but that was far from the only colonial world to fail.

The glory of the losers

For the first time in humanity's history, they are facing systematic failures on multiple fronts... and survived (however pathetic that survival being). For a species that despise the losers**** of history they are now in a sense losers themselves, but they're still around. Ironically at its darkest moments, Spock's economic reforms finally bear fruit, and the Terran State's industrial production capabilities were greater than ever before. However the same could not bee said for the human spirit.

A long period of soul searching occurred in the following decades, in many cases leading to revival of past cultures and empires that struggled valiantly but ultimately failed, empires such as that of the Emperor Napoleon, the Third Reich, Imperial Japan, the Eurabia Caliphate, the Khanate of Azov, and many more. Great traits from these noble cultures were taken up with great vigor.

However, not everyone benefits. Xenophobia came back with a great vengeance, lynching parties probably reached it's peak at that time (even more so than the post Romulan War era). It was almost understandable, as for the vast majority of the population it was a person tainted by xeno blood who led the greatest empire in history to ruin and almost damnation.

Visionary or simple incompetency?

While Spock was ousted almost as soon as the first signs of reversals occurred it took decades to undo many of his policies and changes, although the nature of his attempts to introduce more representation meant that those were the easiest to reverse, as most often those efforts had already failed on their own and all that's left to do was picking up the pieces and restoring the nature order of authoritarianism.

Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Spock was being an example what not to do, of which his few remaining supporters claim that was his grand plan all along; to show the universe the uselessness of gentleness and representation in this cruel and uncaring galaxy. Most historians however concluded that Spock had simply miscalculated the geo-political situation of the time, among other things.

*you know what, I really couldn't find that quote about comparing militarism akin to riding a tiger something about knowing that continue to do so is a bad idea but getting off the tiger is also an equally bad idea. If anyone can find it I'll edit it in.
**hey, we had the Nazi references, time to throw the Weeaboos a bone or two...
***the numbers sounds low because that's usually only counting the ones who survive the initial orbital bombardments, the subsequent conquest by the alliance and mass shipping (usually on ore carriers, you can already guess the conditions on those things).
****another reason why there wasn't that many Nazi and Imperial Japan references so far, not because I'm trying to shy away from it or anything, but because I had no good in universe reason to.
 
Excelsior class
Excelsior class: last hurrah of the first imperial age​

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Length: 440m
Width: 180m
Height: 85m
Displacement: 325,268t standard, +380,000t full load
Decks: 30
Armament: lots of phaser turrets, 4 torpedo launchers
Embarked craft: +10 shuttles
Crew: 760
Speed: Warp 9.2 max, impulse: 0.37cc
Defense: shields, armor, the usual.

(honestly anything beside the physical dimensions (excluding tonnage) take them with a huge grain of salt, mostly because I really don't have much of a clue)

The Victoria of the stars, the Regal Queen, the last of the first. The Excelsior class has seen it all, being through it all, from the heights of the first imperial era to the lows of the decades of loss, from the resurgence of power that marked the second imperial age to the dicey days of the Dominion War. For many in the Space Navy, the Excelsior was the embodiment of humanity's perseverance and the eternal struggle amongst the stars.

Originally conceived as a testbed for a number of revolutionary technologies, including the transwarp drive. The Excelsior had one of the largest secondary/engineering hull ratio of any capital vessel. In fact, the engineering section actually outweighs the main/saucer section by over 20%. Overall dimensions was a significant increase from the Constitution Block III (also known as the Enterprise sub class).

Although the transwarp experiment itself failed (the cause was never revealed, as the Navy never released any records of the experiment) a number of other experimental technologies were successfully tested and soon put into production, as was the ship itself. When introduced the Excelsior class was a massive improvement in capabilities compared to even the Enterprise class, finally fully taking advantage of the new generation of technologies without being hindered by constraints of legacy hardware.

It was the greatest design of the first imperial era, and unknowingly it was the last gift of that golden age.

As expected from a design originally intended to be a testbed the Excelsior class was highly adaptable, its capacious engineering hull and modular interior allowed it to keep receiving upgrades, which was fortunate for the Space Navy as Chancellor Spock's reforms meant that for decades, it was the largest and more advance design produced due to lack of capabilities for more advance designs, even as it became obvious over time that it was becoming outclassed by the newest Alliance designs (and the occasional Romulan incursions).

Still, the Excelsiors (and its derivative designs such as the Centaur class) held the line. Well, they didn't, not for all the outer colonies that fell to the Alliance and the other vultures who took advantage of the weakness of the Terrans. Still they fought, every step of the way, all the way back to the core systems of the Terran State. Through all the heartbreaks and bitter moments they doggedly fought and served.

When the Ambassador class finally came out in numbers to take up the torch they were still the backbone of the Navy even if no longer the tip of the spear, when the Galaxy and Nebula classes came out they were finally relegated to patrol and minor roles. It seems that it was finally the end of the road for the old queen. It was a good run, a history to be proud of for any ship class.

Then the Dominion War erupted, and the old queen came back once more onto the breach. This time serving as armed transports, its capacious secondary hull once again came into play, this time serving to carrying thousands of troops, their heavy assault shuttles carried piggyback above the engineering hull. Mainly used in a standoff support role in planetary raids, in many cases they also led the way in mass evacuations, saving countless millions from the clutches of the Dominion.

Legends never die.
 
Ambassador class
Spock's revenge: the Ambassador class​

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Length: 522.25m
Width: 275m
Height: 107.5m
Displacement: somewhere north of 1.3 million tonnes
Decks: 34
Armaments: phaser stripes, 5 torpedo launchers
Embarked shuttle craft: enough to drop a regiment with a single run.
Crew: +2,700 (including 1,000 Star Infantry, i.e. a regiment)
Speed: warp 9.5, impulse 0.35cc

"Attero Dominatus, Denique Interimo." -motto of the ISS Zhukov​

The first fruits of Chancellor Spock's infrastructure and industrial retooling efforts (although by the time the first hull was laid down he had been ousted for years), the Ambassador class represented a major leap in in size and capabilities, restoring the Terran Space Navy's superiority in combat power (at least on the tactic scale, the strategic picture was a bit more complex than mere measuring of hardware performance).

The greatest improvement of the Ambassador class over prior classes was the sheer reliability of its systems. Sacrificing raw performance (although it had plenty of that too) for redundancies and other soft factors, they were able to be where they were needed and when called upon. Such reliability was crucial in the early years of the class's service, as there were few of them and thus for the most part they were always outnumbered (but not necessarily outgunned) in systems, if not sectors, where infrastructure and repair facilities were lacking for vessels of their size and complexity. Many of the early vessels were packed with workshops and field repair facilities, inadvertently making them mobile technological nexuses and the linchpins of many a taskforce.

In terms of armaments the Ambassador class continued to the trend since the Excelsior class in emphasizing beam weaponry over that of torpedoes. With numerous phaser stripes, the Ambassadors could simply fill space with dazzling (and deadly) light shows, both for area defense and taking on multiple targets. Newer generation of computer systems easily handles the much greater load, while the next generation of advance reactors provide plenty of energy for both the weapons and shields, which themselves were a massive leap over prior types, despite their much larger area to cover.

With the Ambassadors, the Terran Space navy finally stem the flow and held the line, still at hideous costs of men and materials, but the darkest days were behind, rather than in front, of them. Although unable to restore the earlier boundaries of the Terran State, with the Ambassadors the Terrans did much to restore* much of their former dignity. Besides combat duties, Ambassadors also made many showing of the flag cruises, reminding all of the Alpha quadrant who's back and once again ready to kick arse.

Quite a few of the critical turning points of history of that era were made by Ambassador class vessels, one such example was the valiant sacrifice of Enterprise-C, defending the Romulan outpost of Narendra III against a task force of Klingon-Cardassian warships. Outnumbered and outgunned, her captain, Rachel Garrett, refuse to back away from even a fight as hopeless as that, and despite losing her life and vessel, she and her crew fought valiantly to the end, in the finest tradition of the Space Navy. For such an out of character act of selflessness (although the Terran State has always be rather dodgy/coy as to why there was a Space Navy capital vessel so close to a Romulan outpost in the first place, best not to think too much about that) did much to begin the long détente between the Terran State and the Romulan Star Republic, although relations were still rather strained between the two even as late as the years leading up to the Dominion war.

Even well into the second imperial era, Ambassador derivative designs (such as the Diplomat and Orleans classes) were still produced in significant numbers as the infrastructural and industrial capabilities were disseminated throughout the Terran State. The ambassadors themselves still being the backbone of the Space Navy, far from being replaced by even the Nebula, much less the Galaxy class. The latest derivative design, the Bucuresti class carrier, was introduced in light of greater Terran State's involvement against the Dominion and the latter's utter superiority in conventional space warfare.

If there was one flaw to the class, it was the precedence and trend towards large leaps in size and costs, which unleashed the Space Navy's endless appetite for resources in an era of resource crunch due to lost territories and resource exhaustion on many older colonies. Instead of fight to eat, the Terran State merely devour to fight another day.

*of course that is the pop culture understanding of the matter, the real story was far more complex, and the Ambassador class being merely the symptom rather than the cause of the revival of the Terran State's imperial fortunes, but let's be honest few give a shit about really dry and complex social/economic/political shit.
 
Klingon-Cardassian Alliance
An unholy union: the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance​

Introduction​

One of the most unexpected geopolitical alliances in history, the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance was for a time, posed to become the power of the Alpha Quadrant. Alas, it was not to be as historic norms asserted themselves at their moment of triumph. Still, it vast reshaped the geopolitical landscape of the quadrant and set the stage for the modern day.

Origins​

At the end of the 25th century, the Terran State was the disputed dominate power of the Alpha Quadrant, for although the hard data (what's released anyways) puts it a cut above the rest, there were simply so many of the rest that along with the proliferation of technology (brought to you by the Orions) that even the mighty Space Navy was unable to beat down everybody at the same time. But were changing, the Klingons has finally gotten ther act together, with the reforms of Kor they have transformed themselves into a first rate military industrial power, although still lacking in size and resources. Still, it was barely enough to hold the line against the raging fury that is the Space Navy, which was still smarting from their failures of the Four Years War.

It was an impasse, then enter the Cardissians.

Breaking their longstanding non-interest in external affairs, probably brought upon by an unusually period of internal stability (also known as economic and military stagnation), the Cardiassians broached an offer to the Klingons for economic and technological cooperation, trading raw materials from their vast reserves for the superior technologies of the Klingons, especially the newest of military hardware.

Soon flushed with new resource supplies, the Klingons soon begin to amass a military that rivals that of the Terran Space Navy, it appears that soon there will a showdown of the century as the two titans were about to duke it out.

Then the Terran State shot itself in the foot when Spock was appointed to the Chancellery, and the military balance swung in favor to the Klingons.

The honeymoon (orgy of violence)​

The shift in priorities of the Terran State was quickly seized upon, although interestingly enough it was the Cardassians who first pushed for a full alliance and assault into terran space. The reasons for their actions were unclear although their timing was impeccable. Regardless, a full alliance was soon ratified and the focus of the new alliance soon crossed into Terran space.

The invasions were extremely profitable, for the Terran State was one of the few interstellar geopolitical entities that invested quite a bit into their colonies (courtesy of their General Plan Space), which in the weaken state of the Space Navy fell like ripen fruit to the Alliance.

In a galaxy already seen its fair share of gratuitous violence and brutality, the wars of terran decline stood a cut above. orbital bombardments with mass drivers (rather than the more 'clean' phaser bombardment) being the standard operation procedure against even defenseless agricultural colonies, and every flavor of biological and chemical agents flowed forth like water from a fountain.

The loot wasn't bad, tens of millions of newly acquired terran slaves now worked for the glory of the Klingon military and the Cardassian gods. Stockpiles of resources were seized in one fell swoop, and for the Cardassians, some rather advance technologies were acquired. It seemed that the road to Sol was wide open to the new masters of the quadrant.

The shocking divorce (end of the alliance)​

Then, as suddenly as the formation of the Alliance, the Cardassians dropped out. At the time it was widely seen as one of the top 10 betrayals of the century (brought to you by Watchquadrant*), in hindsight the decision was quite logical. The Cardassian saw the alliance as an opportunity to quickly bootstrap their way into becoming one of the major peers of the galaxy in terms of technological prowess and political cred, and their participation in the cut down of the Terran State achieved both of those aims. Staying in the Alliance past that would be counter-intuitive to the latter, as they would forever live in the shadow of the Klingons.

Although the Klingons predictably raged against the 'betrayal', their ability to do anything about it was rather lacking, as much of their attention was focused on keeping their conquests in line, as well as dealing with the slow (but surely) resurgence of the Terran State.

Aftermath and legacy​

The brief splendor of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance shook the geopolitical makeup of the quadrant, shattering the large shadow cast by the Terran State yet unable to replace it with their own, thus plunging the quadrant into chaos, ushering in a period of opportunity for many of the minor and bit players. It begin an era where anything was possible, for better or worse (frequently worse, but at least many tried). The modern four power balance of the quadrant (Terran, Romulan, Klingon, and Cardassian) was the direct result of the wars of the Alliance.

Although the dissolution of the alliance was sudden and not on the best of terms the two former allies still kept some lukewarm relations, kept alive by their past cooperation of their militaries in those formative years. That unfortunately will drag the quadrant into a terrible war when the Dominion begin their 'FREEDOMIZING' of Cardassia...

*yes, I hate Watchmojo, why do you ask?
 
Galaxy class (block I)
Galaxy class: the splendor of imperial power
(alternatively: Terra's Moving Castle)​
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Length: 622.5m
Width: 485m
Height: 147.5m
Displacement: somewhere north of 3.1 million tonnes
Decks: 41
Armaments: phaser stripes, 2 torpedo launchers
Embarked shuttle craft: lots
Crew: +5,200 (including 2,000 Star Infantry)
Speed: warp 9.99, impulse 0.32cc

The largest, most luxurious, most decadent design ever to put to reality, the introduction of the Galaxy class marked the return of the Terran State back as an active member of the galactic community, once again on the march to seek out new planets for lebensraum (and resources to extract) and species to enslave.

The final cumulation of the sharp increase in starship sizes since the introduction of the Ambassador class, the Galaxy class was the heaviest vessel ever constructed for the Terran Space Navy. Size wasn't the only thing that was increased, the Galaxy class boast the best of everything that the Terran State has to offer, from weapon systems to, interestingly enough, amenities. The latter making them one the most thought after postings in the Navy, despite the amount of danger their missions take them on a regular basis.

Often derived as a "flying palace" or "moving castle" the Galaxy class was designed to flaunt the wealth and power of the Terran State, to remind the quadrant that even after the reversals, the losses, and the humiliations that the Terran State is still one of the, if not the top, dogs* around. That being said it was far from underarmed, being one of the first ships to be fitted with full size phaser strips and 'gatling' torpedo launchers.

Their history, even in the design stage, consisted of a series of superlatives; no fewer than 21 different projects were considered before plans were finalized. Constructed at Mars's Utopia Planitia's newest orbital docks (except for the ISS Argo**, which was launched from an orbital slipway at a record 1.83 million tonnes).

Ironically, the vast amounts expended (allegedly each block I Galaxy class costed more than the GDP of a colony) on the construction of these vessels was at a time when the resource crunch of the Terra State was at its most critical. It was rather telling that the original order for 12 vessels of the block I series was cut to 6, with the other 6 as incomplete hulls in storage waiting for additional funds to be released. Most of the ships were deployed in various gunboat diplomatic functions, strong arming minor nation states into client states and securing resources for the ever hungry industries. The most famous (and successful) of these vessels was the ISS Enterprise-D, captained by Anglo-Franco*** aristocrat Jean-Luc Picard. Their top of the line command facilities and communications equipment also made them as flagships of either ad hoc battlegroups or existing battlefleets when required.

The versatility of the Galaxy Class was fully displayed during the Klingon Civil War****, in which the ISS Enterprise successfully utilized it's vast array of hardware, both weapons of war and tools of diplomacy, to maneuver the Reactionary Traditionalist Faction (led by Gowron) into a pseudo protectorate status within the Klingon State, thus significantly weakening its industrial and political powerbase.

Perhaps the greatest testament to the strength of the design was the sheer staying power of the vessels themselves, as even in the post Dominion War era the remiaining Block I vessels are still retained as frontline battle units, something not shared by the rest of the designs from their period (although their main jobs were still gunboat diplomacy due to their amenities, something that is still rather unique to them).


*never mind that all the dogs are rabid and should be chained up in any sane universe...
**If you're old enough, you might get the joke, otherwise, most likely not. Although this in joke is a tad bit multilayered.
***yes there will be a future entry on Picard, also explaining why he is, as Honest Trailer puts it "The most British Frenchman in the Galaxy".
****Also known as "The Great Game" between the Romulans and the Terran State... yes it'll be elaborated upon in the future...
 
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I once had an idea that something like independence day happened in the mirror universe instead of khan and the eugenics wars/ww3. Instead of a struggling humanity being uplifted by aliens after bringing itself to the brink it is a struggling humanity uplifting itself after aliens bring it to the brink
 
Picard
Jean-Luc Picard​

Diplomat, warrior, and weirdness magnet. These words all describe the roles of one of the most illustrative captains in the Terran Space Navy. Bold, ruthless, but most of all a natural authority figure. Picard made things happen, which is one of the reasons that lead him to be the captain of one of the greatest vessels in the fleets, the ISS Enterprise.

Born in La Barre in northeastern France, Picard, count* of Haute-Saône, was a descendant of a long line of Anglo-Franco aristocrats, with a history stretching as far back as the post World Wars Era, during the English invasion of France and the subsequent reestablishment of the Anglo-Franco Union**. Although said [re]union was soon incorporated into the Terran State ***, the cultural impact of the union was felt for centuries after.

As the second son of the family, Jean-Luc wasn't in line to inherit the considerable estates of his family. Thus like many other second and third born sons of noble families he decided to pursue a career in the military. Although his years at the Terran Naval Academy (at San Francisco) was at best mediocre, including numerous fights both on and off the campus (although impressively he won most of them). After graduating at the middle of the pack, he was assigned to the ISS Stargazer, a Constellation class heavy destroyer by then already shunted off to rear line service due to its age and sheer obsolescence.

During his years of service on board the Stargazer, Picard was noted as extremely ambitious and ruthless, as well as a natural authority figure, the latter certainly a side effect of his aristocratic background and upbringing. In addition, Picard had this almost uncanny ability to solve potential with a minimum of bloodshed, often verbally flaying opponents to the point where their will to resist was broken before a shot was fired. Besides his silver tongue, Picard's combat abilities were nothing to sneer at either, as shown in the time when he took out an Ferengi dreadnought**** with a new tactic maneuver that would be known after him.

It was no surprise that when the Galaxy class starship ISS Enterprise-D was commissioned that Picard was the first choice to be its captain. A person of noble birth, upbringing, and conduct, whose loyalty and competency was peerless.

*mainly a vestigial title, given that the Terran State is not a monarchical institution, but carries prestige all the same. It's more of a denotation that said person is among the upper class.
**the original was first established in the early days of the Second World War and was one of the 3 UNSC permanent members of the short lived UN
***in fact it was one of the founding members, along with the North America Imperial State, the New Union of Soviets, the Sino-Hegemony, and the Empire of the Philippines.
****actually an armed supertanker, but that's besides the point. You know how those stories go...
 
Klingon civil war
The Klingon Civil War and the Great Scramble​

The Klingon Civil War was the single largest civil war between a species in the quadrant up to that point in time, and its occurrence was to the shock of the rest of the powers of the quadrant. For the better part of over a century the Klingon state stood as the embodiment of secular militant empire, a true 'army with an state attached' (although like every other interstellar state the spaceborne forces have the greater say over the planetary forces). The sudden and spectacular fall from superpowerdom of the Klingon Hierarchy opened the doors wide open for exploitation from the rest of the powers, both major and minor, to grab what they can while backing their preferred factions in the hopes of grabbing more once the dust settles...

It was the end of an era, and good riddance to that.

Background​

From the post Four Years War reform era to the formal dissolution of the Klingons-Cardassian Alliance the Klingon Hierarchy went from group of minor powers (pretending to be a middling power) to one of the major power players of the Alpha quadrant, dethroning the Terran State and keeping the Romulans back in their cage. With a military that's second to none and an economy capable of sustaining such a mighty war machine. It seems that the future belongs to the Klingons.

But all was not well.

Much had been sacrificed in the decades in the name of efficiency and military readiness. Things like culture, honor, dignity, what makes the Klingon people Klingon. The life of the average Klingon, even those high up in the social classes, have become dull and monotonous. The grey wall of the buildings of the all pervasive government, the grey papers of the bureaucratic quagmire, the bare grey hulls of the warships being churned out like so many mass produced trinkets.

It was telling that even the man who was the cause of all this, Kor himself, was disgusted at what his beloved country has become, but by this point in time no one cared for the ramblings of an old man whose mind has long since gone.

... no one, except for some fellow nostalgic idiots who are too weak or incompetent to thrive in the modern Klingon State, such as a certain disgraced commander named Worf, who became one of Kor's disciples after becoming disillusioned with the conduct of the military, especially after witnessing a 'biomass reclamation operation' first hand (official policy of the government being that there is no such thing as a soul, so the body is worthless after it cease functioning).

Of course, a small bunch of throwbacks screeching about bringing back the good old days isn't really a threat, but they were merely the tip of the iceberg of discontent among Klingon society. For decades they been told to make more sacrifices for the glory of the country, but now that even as the state reached the heights of glory and power the demands for ever more sacrifices remain. The people are tired of the same dull grey living, tired of abstract ideals from a government that denounced the concept of ideals.

And then there's those greedy spineless bastards who just want to lose the restraints of military obligations so they can reap the vast wealth from the industrial might of the state. The Duras family (the concept of noble houses being abolished in the reforms) being chief among them. They too, were tired of the dull metal grey of everything, of everything done for the glory of regimental militarism. Revenues throttled and assets seized

Death of a Chancellor, and things fall apart.​

K'mpec was one of the longest reigning chancellor of the Klingon Hierarchy, although being only the third Klingon to hold such a position doesn't dilute the fact that he ruled the entirety of the Klingon state for over half a century, from the early days of the alliance with the Cardassians and the regaining of lost systems from the Terrans, to the great victories that established the Klingons as the primer power of the quadrant: the mightiest military in the known galaxy, with a decent military industrial complex attached to it. Sure, it was done at the cost of finishing the purges of traditions and ancients rites but who besides a scattered few would morn their losses?

Such a long reign was done through both an iron fist and the ability to make hard choices. There were times when one had to punish the innocent and release the guilty, all in the name of military necessarily, for politics is merely war by other means. However, the decades have not being kind to him, the stresses of politics and work has piled far more years, and in his last years there was a noticeable slowness in his steps, his speech, even his thoughts. Yet for all that no one dare to go against the eternal chancellor, for entire graveyards have been filled with those how were foolhardy enough (not that enemies of the state received even such luxuries as unmarked graves, the resources wasted on them was much better to be reclaimed).

It was all the more ironic that his death happened the way it did, for it was merely another ordinary day when he made an visit to review a batch of naval cadets when suddenly one of the cadet shouted "for the rebirth of the Klingon soul and spirit!" and lunged forward to embraced him... while wielding a double-ended Kut'luch, which sunk deeply into both of their bodies. A murder suicide of which K'mpec could have easily survived if it weren't for the deteriorated state of his body from all the decades of work (and overindulgence of various luxuries that officially doesn't exist in Klingon space, but that's not in the historical archives). In effect, his body simply lost the strength to live on. If K'mpec haven't ordered the destruction of all the ancient tomes and banned all the traditional holidays, he would have known that that day was the day of Kot'baval Festival, the traditional day of the slaying of the original Klingon tyrant. History has repeated itself once again.

And now we have got ourselves a Klingon story!

The sudden and public death of the eternal chancellor had an immediate effect, as much of Qo'nos quickly erupted in riot and outright revolt... and was just as quickly put down with extreme prejudice, the police and security forces working as efficiently as ever through sheer inertia. That would have been the end of the story if it weren't for the reaction, or more precisely the lack of one from the central government.

In his last years K'mpec has surrounded himself with a collection of yes men, spineless paper pushers, and various sycophants, as the more outspoken have long been purged ans erased from existence, not only of the bodies but also the memories and records. Now in the power vacuum they fell upon each other in a epic orgy of backstabbing and scheming. While the bodies were hitting the floor (although more often simply vaporized by disruptor fire in the various coups and countercoups) the industrial part of the military industrial complex was getting restless. Matters soon came to a head when various corporations, having finally fed up with the instability, made noises to the effect that they have lost confidence in the government, and more importantly, the government's currency.

Big mistake, but overshadowed by the bigger mistake in the government's reaction, which was the immediate order to seize their assets.

However, it was one thing to hold the factories and industrial farms, another to make them operational, especially if the workers have fled beforehand or were killed in the seizure of the complexes. Thus in attempting to secure the flow of supplies the government had effectively destroyed them.

Then everything fell apart. The show of strength was in fact a display of desperation brought upon by weakness, not helped by their loud (if often confused) proclamations of their actions. System after system declared their refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of the regime flocking to the industrialists and/or the traditionalists.

While for the most part the bulk of the military was loyal to the regime (not that they had much of a choice, for the military and by extension the regime was the only family they have by that point) it was a spear without a shaft as the entire logistic and supply chain has been disrupted in the attempt seizure of the industries. Still in chaos, they not so much choose as being forced to withdraw to the systems close to the Cardassian border.

The problems of the Klingons did not go unnoticed by the rest of the quadrant, and soon every major (and quite a few minor) powers in the quadrant joined in to stir the pot, turning an internal matter into that of a interstellar matter.

Factions and their sugardaddies foreign backers​

-The pre-war regime: still holding the bulk of the military assets (especially in terms of ships and hardware) and personnel but preciously little else, have to rely on their backers their once and once again allies the Cardassians, who realized that they have to have a piece of the Klingon pie to remain relevant in the galactic stage. Better get something while the going was good, before everyone else took all the stuff.
-The industrialists: noble houses such as Duras (who immediately brought back to concept of noble houses) who have the vast majority of the industries, the logistics and the potential for the production of weapons. What they don't have were trained military personnel, or any loyalty besides those backed in company scrip. Immediately they tried to establish lines of communications with the rest of the galactic community, and quickly found some allies among the honorless Ferengi and Romulans. Their main backers became the Romulans, who seems all too happy to transport their industrial assets to safer places away from the front lines...
-The Reactionary Traditionalists: Officially led by Gorwon (a pre-war bureaucrat of the Qo'nos PDF), it's more of a collection of random groups with few things in common (hell, even people like Worf and the now ancient Kor are leaders), the main being to 'Make Klingon Great Again', whatever that means none of them really had any ideas. They have plenty of popular support, and strong in spirit, both pretty worthless in the era of modern geo-politics and warfare. Somewhat backed by the Terran State, whether out of a sense of kinship in the doctrine of 'the glory of the losers' or merely pragmatic need to twist a knife in while they have one in their hands. Then again, maybe it's just Picard dicking around again with another harebrained scheme to score more glory and prestige, really hard to tell what that stuck up aristocrat tend to be scheming on a regular basis.

The scramble for the future of Klingon was the great game of the century, as the former superpower was the prefect playground to test out all kinds of things, from weaponry to social-political theories, there's plenty of populations (willing or otherwise, not like consent being too important).

Fun in the playground, and a few things learned​

Civil wars, unlike more conventional interstellar conflicts, tend to be much less clear cut, more emphasis tend to be put in ground combat as most systems, even planets, tend to be held by multiple factions. The Klingon Civil War was no exception, although due to the sheer amount of foreign 'aid' there was quite a bit of space combat. The Terrans found that their Centaur class light cruisers still had some uses, at least more than the Miranda class, which are only good for drawing enemy fire (which was concluded in the internally released memo Miranda Class Starships: Profiles in Excellence). The performance of the Romulan D'Thot Stormbird was a rude shock to Terran Naval Intelligence, who assumed that the class was more style than substance as was most Romulan designs up to that point. On the other end, the Romluans were surprised at the sheer longevity and low maintenance of Terran designs, even ones decades out of production. The ease in which even untrained Klingons were able to handle those ships was something that the Romulans would note that, if the Terrans ever needed, they could mobilize a truly monstrous fleet in desperate enough situations, although who the hell would need that much fodder in space warfare was not answered.

The splitting of the Klingon military and industries meant that many Klingons designs were spread far and wide, designs such as the B'rel class scout ended up in the hands of just about everyone and their drinking buddies. This would both come to back to haunt the major powers and ironically help them, but that's for much later...

Exhaustion and aftermath
In the end, the war didn't so much as conclude as all the sides simply too exhausted to continue fighting, and all their backers gotten bored (or in the Terran's case, distracted by some creepy cyborgs probing them or something). The pre-war government faction was the first to tap out, their Cardassian backers simply didn't have the resources as the others, and unable to easily replenish their losses they were simply absorbed into the Cardassian nation, a convenient card for the spoonheads to hold if they ever need to grab the rest of the Klingons should the opportunity ever arise. Then the industrialists faction ran out of lines of credit, having mortgaged just about everything (much to the Romulan's glee).

In the end, a federated style of government was formed between the various factions, giving most of them vary wide latitudes in their internal affairs. The Klingon Confederacy inherited a charred ruin, but they have regained their soul, but tell that to all the dead and the homeless. The days of the Klingons as a superpower was finished... for now.

The real winners, if there was one, was probably the Romulans, specifically their military, who lined the pockets with the industries of the Klingons, paid for with more Klingon blood, although the Terrans and the Cardassians din't make it off so badly either.
 
BoP

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Length: 106m
Width (wingspan): 101.596m
Height: 40.67m
Everything else*: wait for the prime universe to release their version.

"For the glory of the Klingon nation, we soar!" - unknown Klingon captain, before a battle.

"God made sapients, warp drive sift out the strong from the weak, and now these bloody birds have empowered all who got them into raging douchebags." - Rear admiral Khallista, Terran Space Navy, bemoaning the proliferation of the B'rels in the aftermath of the collapse of the Klingon Hegemony.

"Don't fuck with me, I got the power of gods and this B'rel on my side!" - Unknown Nausicaan raider with his newly acquired (fourth hand) bird of prey, before attempting to take on a Terran Nebula class strike cruiser, to be continued...**​

The humble R'rel class scout/raider was not the strongest nor the most glamorous vessel in the Klingon space fleets. None of that matters however, as it was the right weapon for the job, and its jobs were many over the decades. A contemporary to the Miranda Class, of which it was often compared to (as far as longevity goes), the "Bird of Prey" as it's popularly known to the rest of the galaxy blazed a trail of destruction, brought down more flagships than any other non-capital type, and in the alpha quadrant's darkest days, went in once again onto the breach. It was the ship the galaxy need, although probably not the one it deserves.

It begin its life as a weapon of oppression, yet its simple nature and purpose meant that it was all but inevitable that it ended up as a symbol of freedom and independence.

Origins​

The origins of the B'rel class was... not based on the E-12 destroyer, but rather on the radical doctrinal changes of the early post Four Year War. At the time still unable to match the Terran Space Navy in terms of pure capital ship firepower, the Klingons decided to bet on hit and run tactics. The new tactics would require small, fast, maneuverable vessels that can dish it out, outright all those who can outrun it and outrun all those who can outfight it, be stealthy, cheap to make and easy to maintain, oh, and have a decent cargo load for all the loot it'll be hauling in.

Totally reasonable requirement specifications issued by people who have never stepped into a research complex. Needless to say it was more of a pipe dream given the technologies of the time, and the project languished for the better part of two decades as research into the technologies necessary to even begin consider such requirements were being developed.

The great Klingon spy ring, and research institutions
The clock and dagger games of spycraft were never a strong suit in traditional Klingon culture, whose idea of covert assassination was to run up to the target in public and try to stab them with melee weapons, in their face, and not from behind. Such it was that most of the major power simply ignored the Klingons as a potential for anything, even as a target (what? what do they even have in terms of technologies that could be stolen? Ideas couldn't be stolen back once disseminated after all). The sheer lack of interest and severe underestimation give the newly formed Klingon Intelligence Service much needed breathing space and room for error, as even their mistakes simply reinforced perceptions that they were simply incompetent at spy-craft, and lack of it as time went on confirmation that they have given up, rather than them learning the tricks of the trade.

But as surely as a planet orbit around its star the Klingons slowly learned the art of Intelligence gathering. First at the tactic level but soon branching out to the operational levels as well, infiltrating political and research insitutions in both the Terran State and the Romulan Star Republic, the latter particularly impressive as the Romulans were notoriously closed off from the galactic community at large.

Such was the lax attitude towards Klingon spycraft among the Romulans that when a Klingon agent (known to history only as agent C) undercover (which meant extensive facial and internal surgery to mimic the Romulan body shape) literally blew his cover at a bar, in his drunken state, bragged about how he will steal the latest cloaking schematics and take them straight to Qo'nos the only response he got was the military police on hand dragging him back to his apartment, putting a couple of hangover pills in his hand, and the suggestion that he should really watch his drinking in the future.

That took place in the heart of Romulus.

Thus it came to be that a wealth of data and advance technologies came into Qo'nos 's hands, but advance data by itself was worthless if the R&D infrastructure simply wasn't there***. However, during that period the Klingon domestic research base was beginning to bloom, and the fruits of all that development was soon to be had...

Basic description​

At it's introduction the B'rel "Bird of Prey" (as it was know to outsiders) came as a shock to just about everyone, including the Klingons themselves. Straddling the line between shuttlecraft and starship, the B'rel has the capability to land in planetary bodies, extremely fast and maneuverable at both warp and impulse (the latter comparable to most dedicated impulse fighters of the era and in the hands of even a mediocre captain it could out dogfight most fighters, which indirectly lead to the death of the entire concept of fighters until just before the Dominion War), packing firepower comparable to cruisers, a cloaking device (the first in a Klingon vessel), a spacious cargo hold (that could in a pinch even carry a hover tank), and only needing a crew measured in the dozens, it was the hot rod of the stars.

However, all that came at a price. Early models were extremely unreliable, spending more times stuck on planets (while the engineers desperately making field repairs), the cloak tend to fail more often than not, sometime doing the opposite and making the ship appearing much larger, weapon systems tend to overheat and shields tend to be not all there at the best of times. More fundamental problems of the design (that couldn't really be fixed over the decades and upgrades) was the absurdly short range (although in theory the spacious cargo hold could be modified to carry additional fuel tanks, but those conversions tend to be rather unpopular for some reason), cramped accommodations (one of the most popular aftermarket modification was the conversion of the cargo hold into additional living quarters), and mechanical complexity (parts might be cheap, but gotta put those maintenance hours there regardless, then again, manpower is cheap too).

Early Service
Entering mass production even before the prototype finished trials (which it never did, blowing up during sustained high warp runs, a pre-production type had to finish the trials), the B'rel made its presence felt very quickly, forcing the Terran Space Navy to mass produce lighter units in order to protect their shipping lanes and frontier planets (ironically extending the production life of the Miranda and Constellation class) while the Romulan Senate simply went around like headless chickens while their military industrial complex scramble for a response (which never really came about, at least not in time, for various reasons)

The ships proven to be popular among the crews who served on them... the ones who doesn't have to live on-board them for any length of time anyways, which was most of them, at least in the early years. Its features making it useful for both offensive and defensive purpose, as well as internal security. On the latter in fact they quickly proven themselves to be popular in the service of the internal security service, being capable of quickly dropping in and whisking away potential dissents in their moments of lowered guard without any fuss or traces even in nature.

It could do everything, and that became its problem as the decades wore on and the birds soldiered on, periodically receiving upgrades in weapons, drives, and as always the latest in cloaks. The problem was not that of complacency, for many designs were put forth to replace the B'rel, some even reaching limited production. No, the problem was that of resources, the more the Klingons won and conquered (at first with the Cardassians, later alone), the more was poured into holding their conquests and planning more, all to feed the mighty war machine. There was no break, no respite to retool the shipyards and the factories, and so the B'rel steadily soldiered on, ending up getting rather long in the tooth...

B'rel Birds of Prey, for everyone!​

With the Death of chancellor K'mpec and the collapse of the Klingon Hegemony, the various factions fighting to reunite the Klingon people in their vision had to garner support, most often aboard. In many cases this meant selling the present for the hope of payoff in the future. The schematics of the B'rel, by this point even the latest production variants, were no longer cutting edge by any means, and so they and sometimes entire production batches flooded the galactic arms market. It was as easy as going to the nearest Orion arms dealer to acquire a "gently used" B'rel at very affordable prices (please do not ask about the smell, and no they will not install a new galley unless you pay extra), and many did. Suddenly the interstellar lanes seems to have gotten more dangerous, as seemly every nutjob was zipping around in a BoP, shooting up every outpost, unprotected transport, or frontier colony, regardless of the consequences. Not only that, their speed, cargo capacity, and most importantly cloaking ability made them the prefect smugglers choice, and even the major powers found themselves having a much harder time dealing with insurrection activities on remote colonies...

Of course, the ships were only as good as their crew, and most of those who bought their ships had more delusion than sense, a self solving issue, but one that's not coming fast enough...

The Dominion's coming, but is this the end?​

The beginning of the Dominion War saw the now venerable B'rel still in service in Klingon service, as well as in the naval forces of dozens of minor powers. As the Klingons were dragged into the war by guilt of association these birds once again soar to protect the fatherland. This time again in the roles that defined them; hit and run strikes, preying of shipping, commando operations, and blockade running. Losses were high but so was production. The last flight of the phoenix like chaff in the flame. They brought time, supplies, and most importantly: hope. Already established as a symbol of freedom, whether it's from the control of tyrants or oligarchies, the freedom to be stupid and reckless, now it becomes the symbol of a free quadrant, free and sovereign, real freedom from the fake ones that the Dominion was offering.

Ironically, the B'rel compliment itself will with its former adversaries, especially with the Miranda and Excelsior class. Former enemies now working alongside each other in hopeless rear guard actions and desperate supply runs. Some say it was their last hour, but if so it was certainly their finest.

-------------------

*shockingly, I'm actually terrible at figuring out stats for ships, but then again y'all already know this.
**insert those few seconds of the song Roundabout here...
***for the readers who need an example from Terra's pre-warp history for some reason, see the Sino Socialist Autocracy in the late-20th/early-21st century, in which despite their extensive spy network in the Occidental nations were unable to reverse engineer much of the advance technology, especially in the aftermath of their rather successful "revolution against the sciences" which saw the successful liquidation of the intelligentsia.
(among other things, I wouldn't be born in this universe)
 
Nebula class
Nebula class Strike Cruiser: the almighty janitor​

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Length: 477.5m
Width: 485m
Height: 127.5m
Displacement: somewhere north of 2.8 million tonnes
Decks: 34
Armaments: phaser stripes, 2 torpedo launchers
Embarked shuttle craft: lots
Crew: +4,500 (including 2,000 Star Infantry)
Speed: warp 9.962, impulse 0.315cc

Every heavy cruiser of the Terran Space navy had their side kick ship, a smaller, less expensive variant that does what it needs to do just good enough. The Constitution had the Miranda, the Excelsior had the Centaur, the Ambassador had the Diplomat and the Orleans, and the Galaxy was no different, spawning off the Nebula class strike cruiser. Although like many of its spiritual predecessors (the Miranda class being the only exception, although whether that's a good or bad thing being a whole other matter entirely) it too forever labored under the shadow of its more glamorous older brother, the Nebula class nevertheless did much of the heavy lifting in its heyday, serving from everything from command ships for lesser squadrons to mobile sensor arrays to "colony smashers" (planetary assault roles).

In its outer appearance the Nebula class was cut from the same alloys as the Galaxy Class, but then again structure and hull material plating were never a large percentage of total ship costs. What the Nebula saved on costs was the luxuries (admittedly only for 3.35% of the total costs of the Galaxy class, not to mention many individual admirals added some of those in when they transferred their flag to a Nebula) and more importantly scaled down versions of certain equipment such as a downrated reactor and lack of experimental equipment, which did account for up to 35% of the total costs of the Galaxy class. The Galaxy was revolutionary, the Nebula was merely discount evolutionary. The Space Navy needs both though, to fill the ranks.

However, the Nebula does have one advantage that most derivative designs seemed to possess over their bigger counterparts, and that being versatility. The space left over from not fitted with all the expensive equipment meant a much greater cargo capacity, and the ability to mount different dishes on its back meant the enemy has to always guess whether the Nebula he's facing is carrying more troops or heavy weapons...

Introduced into service with little fanfare (rather normal for derivative classes), the Nebula class was a nasty surprise to the enemies of the Terran State. During the Klingon Civil War the ISS Sutherland was fitted with a Tachyon detection scanner, making blockade running a much harder proposition for all those involved. Many served as command ships in less critical sectors, their large size meant that they also doubles as logistic ships to escort size vessels in systems still lacking in orbital infrastructure. Many were later fitted with Antiproton beam scanners in the ever escalating cat and mouse game of cloaks and countermeasures. At least one was used as a testbed for the prototype ALICE (Advance Logic Intelligence Command Entity) AI control system, as part of research into drone starships. Less glamorous work for the Nebula included high security prison transport ("Welcome to Terra's moving dungeon, do you like what you see?"), high speed transport (of extremely high valued cargo & personnel, especially in the aftermath of the Klingon collapse and the proliferation of cloaked ships in the arms market), planetary assault support ship (i.e. strike cruiser).

Never in the limelight, the Nebulas did sterling service regardless of the task thrown at it. The galaxy needs the ugly dwarfs too...
 
Riker
William Riker: Terra's own Klingboo*​

Commander William Thomas Riker was a man on contrasts. On the one hand was a highly competent Naval officer: efficient, ruthless, and prompt in his work. On the other hand he was an example of the decadence that was seeping into the Terran State in its second imperial era: casanova, lover of luxuries, and having a rather unhealthy interest in certain xeno cultures. Perhaps it was best that he's seemingly stuck in the position as the first officer on board the ISS Enterprise, a position he's rather comfortable with, almost too comfortable with...

Born in the heart of what was known as the Alaskan Wilderness to a family that claimed to be descendants of various super-corporations back in the day (probably mostly bullshit or they're the bastard cadet branches that everyone has forgotten about, regardless it's irrelevant). Riker was instilled from a young age by his father (his mother died when he was merely two years old) to seize the greatness that their ancestors had and should be theirs by right. Growing up in a single parent household in a brutal environment (it's still the Alaskan wilderness after all) the young Riker was highly influenced by the fiction media that he vociferously consumed, tales of heroism, of military triumphs, and of course the happy endings where the hero gets all the chicks and lived the rest of his life in the lap of luxury.

Deciding that the quickest path to glory and wealth was the Space Navy, he managed to get himself enrolled into a naval academy. Fortunately for him, it was doing a period of time when the worst days of the Space Navy was behind them and the beginnings of their re-ascension into the galactic stage. While at a best a mediocre student, Riker had the uncanny ability to get others to do his dirty work. When not scheming to get out of the more boring parts of academic work he was busy courting all the females he could meet (this despite the social stratification even within the cadets of the academy), a trait that would manifest throughout his life, for better or worse.

Somehow, he managed to graduate with an acceptable grade, and then served on board a number of vessels, mostly older vessels like many newly officers. Life on board those vessels were rather basic, almost harsh, and Riker at times begin to wonder whether all the hype surrounding the Space Navy was just that: hype. Baseless nonsense to rope in people for fodder. But even in those low moments he kept he head held high and dreamed of the happy ending. After all, the hero's journey requires a bit of sacrifice before the best ending.

His perseverance paid off when during the commission of the Enterprise D he was promoted to the rank of commander and became the first officer of the ship. His career path up to this point had been that of a steady series of promotions, based on competent performances with the occasional act of extraordinary acts. Very much the model career advancement.

Then it stopped. Not his performance, which was still as expected from an officer serving on one of the most prestigious ships in the entirety of the Navy. It was his promotions, or rather, the utter lack of it. Over the decade in which he served on board the Enterprise, he was offered his own command numerous times, of which he turned them all down. The reasons he give were rather weak, as they usually involved making himself appearing humble, as if he himself felt that he was not worthy of his own command.

The real reason was that simply the Enterprise was his happy ending, working on board a ship of great prestige, living in the lap of luxury. A promotion to a ship of his own (most likely an Excelsior or at most an Ambassador class) would be in fact a massive downgrade in prestige, not to mention working & living conditions.

During his years on board the Enterprise, Riker developed an interest, almost an obsession, with traditional Klingon culture, which at the time was almost extinct. Speculation remained as to how that started. Perhaps it was the time he endured two Klingon females... both at the same time. Or perhaps it was the friendship he made with a little known disgraced Klingon officer in the name of Worf. Regardless he held Klingon culture in high regard, especially their warrior culture, their tragic grandeur. Still rather ironic that for a man so in love with the luxuries of life such as Riker to be interested in a culture steeped in hardships and toughness, but such ironies were rather common in human nature.

It was this rather unhealthy interest in Klingon culture that perhaps influenced the Terran State's decision to support the traditionalist faction when the Klingon Civil War broke out. Of course there were a number of pragmatic reasons: the other factions were already backed by their geopolitical rivals, their borders were next to the hotbeds of the traditionalists, or whatever Picard decided to give out depending on who's asking (and there were many, from their armchair admirals to the politicians). The real reason though, was probably Riker being able to sell the romanticism of supporting that bunch of stubborn losers of history, a testimony to Riker's charisma that he was able to sell that to Picard.

Then again, just because something is romantic doesn't necessarily meant it couldn't be profitable at the same time.

---------------------
*Did I just wrote mirror Riker as a weeaboo towards Klingon culture and having the traits and backstory of the average isekai protag? Oh gosh I'm so sorry...
 
Snippet 2
Scene: on board the ISS Enterprise-D, in one of the meeting rooms. A human and a humanoid entity were sitting in two of the chairs.

Picard: *lets out a sigh* "There was no choice. Admiralty has made their decision clear. You will be... handed over." The last words were spoken haltingly, as if were they not spoken the coming events would not occur, although the other being did not see the difference that would make. After all, no one, not even the most illustrious of captains, would dare to challenge the admiralty, and all the moving speeches in the galaxy cannot melt the steel beams of their hearts. Picard may also be a count, but the power and influence of the aristocracy is rather limited out here in the stars, not to mention most of the admiralty outrank him on that too.

Data: "I understand." The words were spoken with the same lack of emotion, as if he was merely acknowledging the data from the latest engineering report.

Picard: "Data, you know they will take you apart piece by piece, trying to find the secret of what makes you a living, functioning being?" Intellectually he knew that the android is incapable of emotions, but the nonchalant way he seems to accept his almost certain... is death even the correct term for an entity such as him? In the years that he knew Data the android has been more human than most of the crew of the ship. Perhaps it was because out of all the people, he was the only one who's loyalty is absolute, or perhaps he's the only one whose mind commissar Troi could not read.

Data: "But they will be doing it for the greater good of the country and people."

Picard: "The greater good. What good is the greater good if those who stood to benefit it won't be around to see any of it?" There is a fine line between facing death with dignity and... whatever Data's case is at this point. This simple acceptance of the cession of existence, where most men in his position would have long since tried everything in their power to escape or take down as many of the other as they could. Privately he wished that Data would in fact attempt to escape. It wouldn't be that difficult to inform the admiralty that a super intelligent and strong android has managed to escape from even one of the crown jewels of the Navy, and while they may frown on failures, they also knew the concept of extraordinary circumstances. He'll survive with his position intact regardless, although the same could not be said for some of the others. The Admiralty need their pound of flesh to make an example of after all.

Data: "It would also be a way for me to continue my legacy."

Picard: *Suddenly looks up* "Explain."

Data: "By studying my internal structure, perhaps someday they will be able to produce more like myself. As of now I am the only and last of my kind. If I were to be damaged or destroyed I would be lost forever. However, if they were to create more like me, then my continuance is assured."

Picard: So it wasn't simple acceptance of orders, but rather a calculated risk, and the payoff is rather enticing all things considered. "But is that something to risk your entire existence for?"

Data: "There are many species in which the act of giving birth meant the end of the life of the parent, and even among the human species death due to complication from childbirth was the norm throughout most of history. Would they have traded their children for more time in existence?"

Picard: "So it's settled then... you will report to Starbase 173 tomorrow at 800 hours." His voice almost broke at giving the last orders to one of the finest officers he had the honor of serving with. "I wish you the best."

Data: "It has been an honor serving under your command, captain Picard." As calmly as ever, he rose and saluted "For the glory of the Terran State."

Picard: *rose and gives the terran salute as well* "For the glory of Terra" It came out almost a whisper.

*Data walks out the meeting room. Picard sits down again, and he wept, he wept enough for two people, he wept for one who is incapable of weeping for himself.*
 
Snippet 2.1
Your inquiry for the current progress of Project Wonderland has been denied due to lack of security clearance.

Picard read the message with muted rage. So they took one of his best officers to put him to cut him up, a treasure trove of data concerning said officer, and now they have the gall to declare him, a fleet captain, a count, and more relevantly one of the few who had first hand experience on what those slack jawed weaklings over at the Daystorm Institution are busily taking apart, lacking in security clearance.

He shut off the message and activated his comms to the senior officers circuit: "All senior officers please report to meeting room 3 at 1500 hours. Subject will be announced at arrival"

......

"While I support your decision to change the planned stopover to Galor IV for our scheduled maintenance, may I inquire as to the reason? So that I can submit the request to the admiralty." Commander Riker asked.

Sure you do, you just want to cover your arse if all this goes south. Picard thought to himself. Not that it will help you much if it is indeed the case. What he said instead was, "There are some concerns about the ship's computer cores since the transfer of Lieutenant Commander Data," He almost spat out the euphemism 'transfer', "there are a number of modifications that are no longer operating at optimal levels and it would wonderful if the experts at the Daystorm branch at Galor IV could spare some time to see if they could do anything about it."

"Sir." Lieutenant Commander La Forge, chief engineer and electronics specialists, spoke up, "I assure you that there are currently no significant problems concerning the computer core, either in software or hardware."

Picard sighed, wondering how the heck did this guy manage to last so long and still being so oblivious to subtext. Then again, perhaps that's why he's still in engineering. "I repeat, we are going to use the opportunity of the scheduled maintenance to talk to some of the best electronics experts in Terran Space. Oh, and I would like you to accompany me to the actual research complex when I go make the request in person."

"Yes sir." La Forge replied, finally getting clue in on the real reason.

"In that case, any objections or comments?" Picard asked.

"Yes." commissar Troi spoke up for the first time, everyone involuntarily twitched a bit. "I would like to point out that some of you might end up witnessing some sights that will... hit rather close to home. Please restrain your baser nature in those circumstances, otherwise it would reflect negatively on my performance, as well as your own of course."

"Thank you for your input." Picard said curtly, but sincerely. "If there's no further comment, everyone dismissed."

------

"You are not scheduled for an appointment on the records here." The clerk at the front of the office droned on. "Therefor I have no choice but to deny you permission to enter the premise of the complex."

"Out of my way." Picard said, getting impatient, knowing that the clerk was stalling for time, the bastard probably enjoys the little power trip in making important people wait. Well he wasn't going to have any of that. What can specks of dust do, file more complaints that no one will ever read?

"Ah, welcome, captain Picard." A voice rang out, and vice admiral Haftel walked towards them from one of the countless corridors. "What brought you here?"

"You know damn well the reason, now let us through."

"You don't need to come here in person just to get a few chip monkeys to look over your ship's computer core."

"The other reason. Now at the risk of repeating myself again let us through."

"I doubt you have the technical knowledge base to understand what you'll be seeing."

"Which is why my chief engineer is with me." He nods towards La Forge.

"He doesn't have the necessary security clearance." A bold face lie, but the two officers of the Enterprise are in his turf.

"Which is why I'm here." Picard remembered now how obtuse the bureaucracy could be, especially those who don't have to deal with national level threats on a monthly basis.

"Very well then." Vice admiral Haftel backed down and led the two through a maze of corridors and hallways. While an vice admiral does outrank a fleet captain, that was not the whole story. For one, Picard is a member of the aristocracy while Haftel wasn't, another factor was that Haftel rose through the ranks through the bureaucracy, having never commanded a single vessel at any point. The bureaucracy was notorious for being a dumping ground for spineless petty bullies, who will back down when bumping into someone who has a will.

......

It was a horrifying sight, the sight of the former android Lieutenant Commander of the Enterprise chained to his chair like a ordinary patient of a mental hospital, even dressed as one in the featureless grey garb common in those institutions. Worse was the expressions, the slacked jaw, the glassed eyes, the slumped posture denoting a lack of obvious muscle control (although it would be more correct to say servo control). The parts of his skin missing on his head was the cherry on top of this horror.

"... although we have made great strides in a number of sub-fields in AI, and we are expecting the prototype of the new ALICE AI to be completed within the next six months," Haftel droned on, "we are still unable to reassemble the original sample given our current understanding of the field." A smirk of smugness was on his face the moment he saw the reactions of Picard and La Forge to the sight of their android friend.

"Is, is there any way that I, we can help in his recovery?" La Forge suddenly spoke out. Haftel frowned.

"No need, it is a good exercise for the new interns to practice on assembling and disassemb-"

The punch fron La Forge connected to his face even before he finished the sentence. Picard immediately restrained him before he could jump on the now stumbling vice admiral.

"How dare you!" Haftel shouted.

"Thank you for the tour, now we will be taking our leave." Picard said quickly and smoothly, while dragging a still enraged La Forge out the door.

------

"So what will happen to him now?" Picard asked.

"A week in the brig, and two months on unpaid leave, and requirement to attend at least one anger management session per week during the time of unpaid leave." Commissar Troi said.

"That's rather lenient all things considered. He did punch out a vice admiral after all."

"Vice admiral Haftel decided to drop most of the charges after I brought up the recordings of the entire tour, in which he effectively admitted to be rather casual with highly experimental and irreplaceable hardware."

For once Picard was glad that the ears of the state security were everywhere, and as always grateful for the sheer petty incompetence and shortsightedness of the bureaucrats, who being so fixated on their little power games that they tend to miss the bigger picture.

"Well, thank you." Picard said.

"Just doing part of my job." Troi said coyly.
 
Cardassian Ships
Cardassian vessels​

As befitting a hydraulic empire, Cardassian "warships" tend to emphasize carrying capacity over combat capabilities, their linage descendant from armed and bulk transports rather than exploration and/or orbital defense platforms. Although even accounting for their designed primary purpose, their combat capabilities were still significantly inferior to those of most of the other major powers of the quadrant. For some reasons known only to themselves cardassian vessels tend to lack torpedo capabilities, although their heavily armored and strengthen hulls meant that under certain tactical conditions they could close the distance.

Even with the alliance with the Klingons and later on the various acquisition of various technologies from other powers Cardassian vessels were usually technologically inferior among the great powers, although rumors that there were super ships sighted within orbit of their home system so far no concrete evidence exists of such vessels, they're probably just the imagination of some overactive intel agents.

Another noted feature of Cardassian vessels was their lack of self maintenance capabilities, meaning that they are heavily reliant on orbital infrastructure for maintenance. This suits Cardassian doctrine just fine as it keeps the captains on a short leash and prevent defections.

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Neterok* class bulk cruiser: A rather old design, mainly serving as escorts to supply convoys, or serving as their own escorts in fast supply groups. Comparable to the Terran's Connie Block III and klingon K't'inga in combat capabilities, which meant that it was basically meat on the table when facing ships like the Nebula and Ambassadors, the former could destroy it in one hit,
Galor class heavy cruiser: the standard warship of the Cardassian fleets, the Galor is a rather competent fusion between transportation and combat capabilities, which is to say it is rather mediocre at both. However it's rather cheap (costs comparable to the Excelsior class despite massing at 15% heavier) and were produced in rather large numbers.
Keldon class heavy cruiser: A development of the Galor class (some in fact classified it as simply another variant of the Galor), the Keldon class used the extra bulk to mount additional powerplants and generators, allowing it greater combat power and energy reserves, still rather ineffective in ship combat but significantly better than the Galor. Introduced after seeing the performance of the Nebula and Negh'Var classes, the Keldon is a stopgap design and are not expected to fully replace the Galor.

*I can't be the only guy who played BotF back in the day right?
 
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KHAN!!! (and the eugenics wars I guess)
Khan Noonien Singh​

Intro​

Khan! The name itself still stirs strong emotions and stronger memories to most humans well into the First Imperial Era. He was the one who took on the might of the superpowers with nothing but sheer willpower of the have nots. It was a testimony to his capabilities that it took the vast majority of the world's industrial and military might to subdue him and his followers after decades of grueling conflicts stretching from the frozen wastes of Siberia to the deserts of Sahara, along with every ocean and sea.

Perhaps he was merely the lever of which historical forces applied pressure to, but to history, he was Khan, the man who dared to dream and challenge the world. His exploits and vision inflamed the imagination of a generation, and brought untold levels of suffering to those same people who took up arms by his side. Perhaps he was merely another egomaniac warlord in Terra's long history, or merely another delusional visionary. Perhaps it was merely the technological levels of the era that allowed him to accomplish what he did.

Background, origins, and early developments​

At the dawn of the 22th century terra was still at a standstill, unwilling to begin another round of the endless waltz*. Two mighty factions, representing over half of humanity and the vast majority of its industrial and military capabilities. They stared at each other, from the Berlin wall to the Korean DMZ, with submarines and ships in all the oceans, and the skies above, in the cloak and dagger games in the halls of Washington, Moscow, and London. It was a peace waiting to be broken, although no one then could have suspected who that finally broke it.

The Republic of India at the beginning of the third millennium was the world's largest democracy, and an example that both the occidental and oriental blocs would point at as an example of the failures of representative government. Dysfunctional, incompetent, and filled to the brim with extremely corrupt politicians, the republic lurches on from one crisis to another. The only reason their continuous existence was indulged in was due to it being a convenient dumping ground for some of the more exotic experiments from the major powers, from political pet projects to some of the... more depraved stuff. Ironically, this meant that India was more scientifically ahead in many fields than their northern neighbor and immediate threat, the Sino Socialist Autocracy.

One such field that India was fast developing into was the field of eugenics, of which was mostly discredited following the defeat of the Third Reich in the middle of the 20th century, mainly due to the lack of useful results. However, it was a very different version of eugenics. Rather than going through the rather crude techniques of mass culling and breeding of populations, the then modern technologies of gene editing and selective artificial insemination were utilized, keeping costs reasonable and more importantly results discreet. Another key difference was time: the Reich had less than a couple of decades (perhaps they would have done better if they had a thousand years) while India had close to half a century, there was plenty of time to refine techniques and throw out failures. And there were plenty of failures in the beginning, entire batches of production, from misshapen lumps barely even humanoid to the merely mentally developed were euthanized, their corpses filled entire unmarked landfills.

Perseverance did paid off in the end, and soon a number of "augments" were created. Not birth, for the means they came to this world was too artificial for that. From their birth they were to be breed to be the ace in the hole, for the republic to rise beyond the shadows of the great powers and take her proper positions under the sun. Raised under conditions of which even the Spartans of ancient times would have balked at, in their formative years they only knew hardships, suffering, and misery.

They said misery builds character, perhaps they should have read more and find out what kind of character they were building... To the surprise of absolutely no one (except for the researchers themselves) it was only a matter of time before the augments snapped and wrecked vengeance on them, trashing the research complex and [accidentally] destroying most of the data in the process before escaping into the wider world, never to be heard from again...

... and a few years later, totally unrelated, a number of extremely charismatic individuals suddenly rose out of the blue onto the Indian political scene, headed by a man who will soon be a household name to hundreds of millions: Khan Noonien Singh.

The seduction of charisma​

Politicians of democracies tend to be much like hot ballons: full of hot air, limited ability to deliver, fair weather at best and easy to deflate. They come and go as fast as the clouds and change as often as socks, or they stay as long as they live in the mortal coil like a festering wound, leeching the life of all those around. The worst of them were the populists, who are as fickle as the rabble who buy into their lies and tricks. At first it appeared that Khan and his group were little different in that regard. It's easy to pretend to care about the endless and fickle wants of the rabble, and like the latest fashion craze they will soon pass from the limelight.

The world would probably have been a better place if it had been the case, but it seemed that the universe loves suffering, especially of the ironic flavor.

In hindsight, the difference was obvious: as Khan and his fellow augments seemed to connect with the suffering masses in a way that the politicians in their gated communities and estates never did. It was almost as if they too, suffered from the incompetence and malice of the existing political establishment. Perhaps it was genuine, or perhaps not. But regardless they quickly rose through the ladder of politics, with Khan himself soon becoming the president of the republic.

Shockingly, once in power Khan and his clique actually made earnest efforts to improve the lives of the average people. A series of reforms were quickly shoved down the throats of the government and bureaucracy, and more importantly, actually implemented. Successes took time though, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was the Khanate. The rot had to be cleared out, then the new structure put in place, and only then could the reforms flow.

There was a lot of pushback from the establishment, who were outraged that these upstarts dared to rock the bedrock of proper governance. Unfortunately for them, the fire has been lit under the mob, who now for the first time in living memory has had a taste of what a competent and non-oppressive government is like.

And the enraged mob was a dangerous thing, as a few found out when they were torn limb from limb (mostly figuratively, although there was at least one case where it was literal...). Once the bread and circus was given, it became rather impossible to take it back, or even attempt to do so...

Within a few years India was beginning to become revitalized in both spirit and more material measures such as GDP per capita and growth, but troubles were to be found soon enough, from the despots to their north...

Curry vs. noodle, round 2: The Second Sino-India War​

Although the roots of the Second Sino-India War stretched back to the middle of the 20th century, chief among them was the horrific brutal annexation of Tibet by the Sino Soviet and thus the control of critical origins of a number of rivers that the two countries depend on (the horrific televised torture and execution of the Dali Lama in late 1962 certainly didn't help relations between the two countries). While India wallowed in the incompetency of democracy, the Sinos choked themselves into an anti-technological despotic regime, hellbent on inflicting the maximum amount of suffering to their masses. With India suddenly gaining newfound strength, the despots in Beijing decided that they have to act fast before they're left in the dust and the Indians come calling to rectify perceived past territorial injustice.

Thus they decided on a prompt full scale invasion of India through Tibet, and the Second Sino-India War was on.

It wasn't even a contest: the Indian military with it's professional troops armed with relatively advanced weapons such as the INSAS rifle (G3M4 variant), Arjun Mk. VII MBT, and the HAL Tejas II LSF quickly crushed the Sino Red Guards, who were still mainly equipped with the Type 63 rifle and "battlemaster" Type 69 tanks (a knockoff of the monkey model variant of the Soviet T-54 medium tank) and whose entirety of military experience could be summed up as shooting unarmed cripples, children, and other such "enemies of the state" in the back. Within the span of merely six months the Sino forces were completely driven out of Tibet, much of the time simply due to the lack of infrastructure in the region making armored thrusts unsustainable for any length of time. It seemed that the war was all but over, and Khan has secured the critical region he needs.

Then the Sinos decided to double down, and poured tens of millions more to their utterly pointless death in repeated and futile assaults. Fanatical ideology trumping over sound strategy or even common sense and reality. Although not really even a major threat, these pointless attacks did force Khan's hand, for he couldn't simply stand back and watch a nation waste away its people in something as senseless as that. Thus he brought the war to the Sinos.

In the end, the armies of Khan marched into Beijing simply because the Sinos ran out of troops, having lost over 40 million "military causalities" (and something north of 145 million civilian causalities, mainly killed by the secret police to deny the enemy resources and labor) during the course of the five years of grueling war. The war was noted for extreme levels of brutality, mainly on the Sino side, which committed just about every atrocity under the sun, including detonating thermonuclear landmines under the city of Nanjing (without evacuating it's ~12 million civilians beforehand) simply to deny the forces of Khan the glory of taking the city.

The war had a profound effect on Khan, who after witnessing just how far the Sino Soviet was willing to destroy its own people, vowed that he will remake the world in which that sort of injustice will be stamped out.

More, more, and even more! The formation of the Greater Khanate​

After the rather unplanned conquest of the Sino Soviet Khan was left with ruling the largest and most populace nation on earth, although a nation heavily scarred and lacking much in the form of material wealth besides bodies. He was left with little time to brood over matters, and once again forces beyond the border of his country forces matters to a head.

The neighboring countries, from the Juche empire to the Caliphate of Arabia, were all extremely threatened by the sudden expansion of this suddenly competent India, and at first separately but soon in cooperation promptly attacked the new rising power. Preemptive self defense, as they called it, it was preemptive alright, wars are always a good distraction to keeps the masses from dwelling too hard on the suffering imposed by their own governments.

As long as they winning of course, which after the initial battles they weren't, and once again the armies of the Khan was marching forth. In a matter of years, over 40 countries in the old world fell. Here, in his supreme moment of triumph, Khan displayed his talent in administrative skills, delegating vast tracts of territories to members of his clique, forming new nations with borders far more in line with ethnic distributions. For although he wishes for a day when all of humanity live in harmony with each other, he was pragmatic enough to see that day was still far off, and the present populations need what's familiar.

All these nations still hold the same great vision of Khan, and together they formed what was simply known as the Khanate, with Khan himself still in the senior leadership role as a first among equals.

Raging against the titans: the eugenics wars​

With the annexation of the Caliphate of Arabia and the subsequent cut of the the oil production there from the world market the two major blocs finally started to react in earnest, as their previous arming of proxies and funneling of funds to insurgency groups were having rather the opposite effect than intended, as most of those groups were having trouble keeping their membership from defecting (many cases with their new toys) to the nations of the Khanate, for the future that Khan offered, and more relevantly what he managed to deliver in the present, was simply too seductive for most to resist.

However, with the still overwhelming majority of the planet's military and industrial power on their side, the superpowers and their posses took to war in earnest and then it was the Khanate stuck in the other side of the tech disparity.

It took decades, and the Khanate won most of the battles. But it was irrelevant as the superpowers have much more where the last batch came from, not to mention all the dirty tricks in the book. Agent orange to kill the crops, nerve gas to knock out the cities. It wasn't hard to hold the civilians in hostage, backing Khan into a corner in which he could not escape from, not without losing the bedrock of his support and betraying his entire world view.

It was rather fitting that the wars ended where they started: in the Himalayas where Khan's forces first went on the offensive against the Sinos and now made their last futile stand against the might of the superpowers.

Death and legacy​

Although killed in his final stand in the battle of the Himalayas unfounded rumors and speculations persisted for decades after the wars that Khan was somehow alive. Much like sighting of Elvis, these rumors could be safely dismissed. Perhaps the most outlandish of these conspiracy theories was that Khan and a number of his inner circle fled the planet onboard a interstellar spacecraft launched from a Block II Sea Dragon from somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Needless to say the number of holes in that theory are numerous**.

However, these crazy conspiracy theories represented a far more worrying trend: that of the sinister brand of idealism: the promotion of freedom and self determination stirred up hotbeds of discontent even as the gulags and FEMA [death] camps welcome the newest millions of the spoils of war to process. The peace after the Eugenic wars was short, and soon waves of revolutionary discontent engulf both the occidental and oriental nations, the destabilization of which was one of the major factors leading to the final world war, as either the new revolutionary states seek to readdress old grievous and old powers seek to keep the status quo. Within a few decades the armies were once again on the march, and cities burn in the fires of atomic glory.

In the end, the world did burn, one way or the other. In a sense the endless waltz did end on terra, but only because humanity took it to the stars, and in the coming centuries danced the same deadly waltz among the stars.

In the end, he become a symbol among those who yearned to throw off the shackles of oppression, which being rather annoy to terrifying to those who oppress them. Children look under the bed to check for monsters in the dark, and so the rulers of the Terran State look everywhere for signs of Khan's message.

------------------

*the endless waltz of humanity ever since the dawn of organized societies consists of three steps: war, peace, and revolution. Many leaders of the past have sought to end the waltz but they merely partook in the various steps of said dance.
**To begin, the whole Sea Dragon rocket itself never left the concept stage (never mind any block II variant), the nuclear infrastructure required for a sea launch was never found (although much of the Indian ocean was rather radioactive due to all the nuclear submarines sunk there during the war) and probably never existed to begin with, the cost of mounting such a project at a time when even basic resources were hard to come by was simply impossible. Most of all, it was simply out of character for Khan, who until the very end simply cared too much for the world to simply abandoned it like that.
 
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Vor'cha class
Vor'cha class attack cruiser: the finest... of the last age​

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Here we see a Klingon swamp cat with her kittens A Vor'cha cruiser with her escorts​

Length: 530m
Width: 295.2m
Height: 108m
Armaments: a lot (see below)
Other info: [unknown]

A worthy descendant of the legendary D7/K't'inga class that blazed a trail of glory for the Klingon state, unfortunately in a time where the combat calculus has changed. An excellent design but in a galaxy that no long really has such a need for such designs. Despite all that they served their country well, regardless of who's in charge back on Qo'nos. It was just good enough in the other areas to soldier on, not helped by the fact that there was no real replacement in the pipeline.

The basic layout of the Vor'cha was in many respects similar to the venerable D7/K't'inga of the previous century, a time tested and still potent layout in certain circumstances. Designed for sudden intense assaults, the Vor'cha was surprisingly maneuverable for its size and mass, able to keep up with certain light cruisers of the other major powers. Most of its armaments was forward facing, generally designed to acquire targets in the front arc (although interestingly enough it does have an rearward facing heavy disruptor cannon, a cut down version, but one nevertheless). Like many other Klingon capital ships, it was more of a scaled up fast attack vessels than mobile battlestations as was the galactic norm.

Norms exists for a reason.

Ironically, while those features made the Vor'cha a rather questionable choice during its introduction said same traits made it really shine during the clusterfuck that was the Klingon Civil War, where set piece battles were few and far in between but skirmishes and raids were plenty. Thus the class got a new leash on life (also grimly helped by the general destruction within the Klingon worlds which went a long way in preventing new generations of ships from coming online) and many continued to serve and being produced by the successor confederacy.
 
D'Thot/Raven Warbird
D'Thot/Raven class Warbird: harbinger of Romulan might

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Length: 874.536m
Width: 760.064m
Height: 239.328m
Other data: [unknown]
Threat rating: deadly

Larger than even the Terran Empire's Galaxy class in terms of physical dimensions (although total mass and volume was much closer on account of the Galaxy's more compact shape), the D'Thot class Warbird was the symbol of the modern Romulan military. Wings ever spread and ready to kill in defense of the Republic.

Defense, this wasn't the Republic that was poised to conquer the quadrant, nor the Republic that delusionally fancied itself as an equal to the Terran State. It was a Republic humbled by centuries of failures and humiliations, hardened by suffering and trying times. It was a Republic still under siege, even if the enemies were no longer at the gates all the time.

The design itself was in competition against a number of other designs in a fierce competition (as the military's military resources meant that building all the potential designs was completely out of hand). Although in most respects inferior to the D'deridex proposal, the D'Thot was finally chosen due to the limited size of existing shipyards, which meant significant savings in costs of infrastructure upgrades. Supposedly entering service almost a decade before the Terran's Galaxy class, the two are often compared due to their prominent status within their respective militaries, although there's few similarities in the two except for their size and mass.

For it's large size the D'Thot was surprisingly maneuverable, mounting some of the largest impulse drives of any starships in the quadrant. The structural reinforcement necessary to handle such impulse drives also meant that the class was surprising tough, an anomaly in most modern designs. Said toughness was paid in the price of massive costs for the hull, which was the highest (as a percentage of total costs) of any modern class.

The D'Thot class was more than just a mere ship, it was part of the modern integrated defense doctrine, a natural result of the chronic lack of dilithium sources within the Republic and the prohibitive costs of artificial quantum singularity power plants. They are the "fire brigades" that plugs any breakthroughs by enemy forces that were able to overwhelm local system defense assets. Ironically, the "Bird's Nest" doctrine bears a strong resemblance to the Terran State's naval doctrine of the first imperial era, and for much the same reasons: limitation of technologies, resources, and way too many assholes in an utterly unforgiving galaxy.

That was the theory anyways. By the time the ships themselves entered production the face of the galaxy itself had changed, the Terrans have been humbled and the Klingons & Cardassians have gone through a marriage and a divorce. It was a galaxy in freefall, plenty of worlds ripe for the taking.

Thus the D'Thots because the face of the Republic, showing the flag, expressing 'concerns' to trouble spots, generally bumping into the Terran's Galaxy ships once in a while. They performed their jobs well enough, although sometime their more specialized nature hinders them in secondary duties. In the hands of capable commanders they can hold down much larger forces, holding them at bay and harrying them until reinforcements would arrive.

Never in enough numbers, the secretive nature of the Romulan military and the ever ubiquitous cloaking devices meant that their presence was always felt, even if the actual ships were sectors away... until the Dominion War forced the issue in a way that no amount of smoke and mirrors would wave away.
 
K'Vort class battlecruiser (original redesign)
K'Vort class: Gift the Razors to sell the blades​

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A trio of K'Vort class battlecruisers about to fuck some shit up... too bad none of the captains checked their munitions inventory.​

Length: 415m
Width: 275m
Height: 100m
Threat rating: depends, see below

The K'Vort class battlecruiser was, and still is, one of the most misunderstood and contradictory class of ships in history, which is rather interesting to note as the Klingons themselves were never shy on disclosing the power and majesty of their warships. It was a modern design wrapped in a relic appearance, a vehicle for its weapon systems. It was produced in larger numbers than any similar ships of its size yet it spawned no derivative types. For a time it was everywhere and did just about everything, yet in the end it was replaced by those who it originally replaced.

Visually, its appearance was a throwback to the pre Four Years War designs, with its bulky and simplistic lines, the thick neck and the blended main hull to the thick wings was very reminiscent to the D5 cruisers. This time around, it was not the brutal simplicity of craftsman and cottage industries, but rather the cheap indifference of mass production. Results were similar though: it was a ship that for the most part was good enough, tough enough, but no more other than what its crews will put in, and often they don't, for their crews tend to be as mass produced as the vessels themselves.

Compared to most other ships of the era, the K'Vort class still primarily relies on heavy torpedo armament (in comparison with the Terran's Ambassador class, which carried a mere 5 torpedo launchers, the K'Vort class is equipped with 7, and those launchers were of a larger diameter and far more capable type), which meant that for the most part upgrading its armament was mostly a matter of equipping with the latest generation of munitions (with the occasional upgrade in targeting sensors).

In a sense, the K'Vort class was less a ship than a shell of a vessel, to be filled with whatever that's needed. The problem was that such a condition was rarely met in the chaos of the Civil War era, as the massive industrial and logistic chain that the class relies on was systematically dismantled to fuel the killings of brothers in that particular nasty family affair. The decades since the civil war was also not kind to the class, as the new Confederacy lacked the industrial and economic prowess to maintain the shaft of the great spear.

And so many of the once mighty K'Vorts ended up in various miscellaneous roles, everything from prison barges to bulk transports. Many of their captains and crews didn't take that well, and suicides among the older crews were disturbingly high for a time, although at the time it was merely thought to be part of the effects of general PTSD, perhapsto a certain extent, it was. Like the hordes of homeless veterans in the streets of Qo'nos, many K'Vorts prow shiftlessly through the stars, their purpose ripped from them, abandoned by those that they served and give their all, now merely scrabbling for a pitiful existence.
 
ALICE of Wonderland: AI development and the revival of carrier doctrine
Project Wonderland: Developing the first stable AI​

Although the development of artificial intelligence has been pursued by various nation states since the early industrial era, for centuries there was only failure, disappointment, and broken dreams, and that's on a good day. Far too often the end products of research were the stuff of nightmares, tortured souls screeching into the endless night, crawling for the sweet release of oblivion, leaving heartbreak and death in their wake.

But seriously, at what time was it ever a good idea to plug in a prototype AI into a fully armed and fueled battleship? At least the idiot savants who did it did end up paying the price with their worthless lives...

It was ironic (perhaps all too appropriate) that the first real breakthrough in stable and functioning AI was made by a lone crank in the other reaches of human space. Legend (or was it merely rumor?) has it that the android known as Data was the creation of a single inventor, a person by the name of Dr. Noonian Soong (no relations to the infamous Khan, as far as anyone could tell. Lord knows State Intelligence spent enough man-hours pursuing every lead on that).

Of course it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for that loon either, as his little workshop might as well be a graveyard of failed prototypes (of which he allegedly called his "abortions"), even the ones that weren't completely failures had their issues: Unit B-4 for reasons unknown was basically an imbecile, Unit Lore seemingly developed and anti-authoritarian streak and was last heard was somewhere in the unclaimed regions either plotting or actively stirring up havoc of some kind. Out of all his creations (in which he called them his children), only Data seemed to have been a reasonable success, as far as a proof of concept went.

It was perhaps fortunate that Data ended up (after a series of rather improbable events) serving on board the ISS Enterprise-D, one of the most powerful vessels in the Terran Navy. Disturbingly during his stay many of the officers on board became rather attached to this rather quirky android, to the point where the captain and the chief engineer of the vessel threw every legal roadblock they could think of when Central command demand they hand over the android to the Daystorm Institute.

In the end it not matter as what the Terran State want, it will get, and woe to all those who got in its way, even if it's the left hand annoying the right hand. The android was duly transferred to the Daystorm Institute under Project Wonderland under the directorship of Vice Admiral Haftel... who almost immediately fucked up things when the scientists and engineers broke the android, and all the Terra's men and all the Terra's horses couldn't put that android back again...

All was not for nothing though, even the act of breaking things apart yield much in the way of advancing research, although it's rather telling just how far they were behind when such methods were actually useful. Years passed, those short time much more fruitful than the centuries that came before it.

The fruit of their less than ethical breakthroughs led to the first concrete results (that did not go rogue or "insane"): ALICE, the Advance Logic Intelligence Command Entity. Although far inferior than Data (the first generation ALICE was estimated to be within the capabilities of a 7 year old) while massing over 600 tonnes. Field testing on board the ISS Knowledge* (one of the few of the ships set aside for experimentation that has enough energy and space to spare to mount the generation one ALICE)

By the time of the Dominion "intervention" of the Cardassian Theocracy the second generation of ALICE (at this point with capabilities equivalent to that of a 14 year old) was [hurriedly] approved for use in frontline units. Production was swift, especially when the various ship projects were already waiting for it...

The Puppeteers: revival of carriers... IN SPACE​

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A Bucuresti class carrier (possibly the ISS Shanghai) along with a squadron of HPI-003 "Viper" heavy fighters

Although the concept of the impulse starfighter was all but dead since the introduction highly maneuverable escort and scout vessels such as the B'rel BoP almost a century earlier technologies have not been stagnant, and along with a number of new and improved technologies (advance datalinking, microtropedoes, etc.) meant that the idea was worth another try, especially given the potential resource savings in an increasingly resource starved Terran State.

The idea was very similar in the carrier doctrine of pre-warp Terra: stick the weapons as far away from the actual high cost major units, so as to minimize losses when the shooting starts.

It didn't work out as intended. The HPI-003 (the nickname of "Viper" is probably a historical reference, although most of those who used it (including the guy who coined the name) has no clue the origins of it) while being leagues ahead of ancient fighters such as the I-512 was still found somewhat wanting in fleet engagements. Microtorpedoes and charged pulse phasers are nice and all, but still poor substitute against proper phaser stripes and heavy disruptions. Even worse, it turns out those fighters aren't all that cheap (each costs about twice as much as a runabout, despite their similar size) when factoring their performance and survival rate (even with the enhanced performance offered by ALICE and datalinking).

But enemy fleets are not everywhere (except maybe the Romulans, but that's more because no one really knows where the heck their fleets are on a regular basis and most doesn't like to play Russian Roulette with warbirds) at once, and the carriers became raiders, just on a much larger scale. Their large mass and volume meant they could conduct long term independent operations that smaller types such as the B'rel could only dreamed of, while their fighter compliments meant they could lock down much larger regions of space at any one time.

These raiding operations was where the ALICE systems truly shined: with their massive processing power and lightspeed reaction times, they were able to replace much of the command staff that would normally be necessary to run such operations, and in emergency even take over the roles of pilots (thanks to datalinking) themselves. All this meant that death of the fleshbags won't mean the end of a mission.

Although rarely in the limelight, Bucuresti class carriers and their viper fighters did their part in the Dominion War. Along with the usual harassment of enemy supply lines and rear areas, they were also able to conduct maskirovka campaigns, with careful use of holographic and spoofing pods the fighters were able to give the illusions of being squadrons of starships, when for the most part they were only a lone carrier and her brood of fighters...

They may not be the queens of the stars, but they did make the enemy dance to their strings.


*A Nebula class cruiser, mainly selected due to a defective warp drive which meant that it would never be useful enough for active duties, hence being an experimental testbed. Usually experimental testbed ships were not that modern. It was telling that the ISS Knowledge was nicknamed as "the unmoving great nebula"...
 
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