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The return of "You're The Admiral!"--Dorza Sector
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: [QB] == Part One == Woah! Is this a border skirmish or a reenactment of the Dominion War? If the Gorn are planning a bluff, this is one [i]hell[/i] of a bluff! This changes my strategy, kinda in the same way that a runabout reverses course when it sees a Borg cube coming. (Okay, maybe not that extreme, but you get my drift?) There's no way that my fleet could possibly hold a blockade against this kind of force, assuming the Gorn want to actually fight it out. Sure, my fleet will have the obvious advantage of smaller size and extreme maneuverability, but I'm quite sure that those battlewagons will be packing plenty of firepower. The best we could possibly do is try to buy time by disabling the colony transport as originally planned, but then immediately retreating back to Starbase 403. There's little point in the Gorn actually invading the ZTZ, since most of the materiel will be on the transport (although I'd bet that the battlewagons probably have the resources to set up some kind of military outpost). Hmm... on second thought, one could argue that the large size of the Gorn fleet is intended to be a show of force to try to get me to back down. I'll be burning up the comm lines to Starfleet Intelligence to see if there's any other, similar activity along the other sectors of the Gorn frontier. If there [i]is[/i] some activity, then the Gorn are obviously planning to take on the Federation. But if not, then it's got to be a bluff. Or at worst, something that the Gorn don't intend to escalate beyond the level of a border skirmish. So potentially, there's the chance that preemptively striking the advance force before the reinforcements arrive will end up calling the whole thing off. Diplomatic overtures will become much more insistent. I will reiterate that if the reinforcements don't turn around and go home, I will be forced to act in self-defense. There will be an ultimatum sent, giving them 48 hours (or rather, until the reinforcements are 24 hours away from arrival) to withdraw. I will also reiterate my offer to recognize the Gorn claim to AJ-946, the habitable world outside the ZTZ, so that the Gorn colonists' trip out this way won't be in vain. Just to show that I'm deadly serious about the timing of my ultimatum, I will have my comm officer continuously broadcast an old tune from an ancient Earth entertainment program called [i]Jeopardy![/i] until they reach a decision. And finally, I'll be burning the comm lines to San Francisco, wondering why the hell the Federation Council hasn't gotten involved in this situation! It occurs to me that I should justify my reasons for launching a preemptive strike before the Gorn reinforcements arrive. Certainly part of it is the numbers issue, since I'd have no chance of winning a straight fight if I just waited for the Gorn to come. But also, I want to launch an active defense (i.e. "the best defense is a good offense") in the hopes of convincing the Gorn that the Federation is willing to defend any part of its territory, even one that's "just" a Prime Directive Trusteeship. It's psychology and brinksmanship, based on the knowledge that the Gorn really don't have a hope of winning any long-term conflict with the Federation. (Especially since we'd also get the Klingons involved in any full-scale war.) == Part Two == Finally, some good news. Except, jeez� It seems I'm going to be rescued by Frankenstein's fleet! What kind of hallucinogenics were the starship designers taking when they laid down the specs for those classes? And where can I get some? (No, scratch that� I don't want my sense of perspective and spatial orientation distorted that badly.) Anyway... this also revises my plan somewhat. Obviously my extant forces won't be able to hold off the entire Gorn fleet, but now I've got a fighting chance. The initial part of the plan will proceed as before � if the Gorn haven't turned around by the time they're 24 hours away, I'm launching a preemptive strike. My five combat ships will pin down and disable the three escorting warships, while the 114th Fighter Squadron performs surgical strikes on the transport, doing as much damage as possible to the engines without endangering the civilians inside. The important part here, is to ensure that the transport and the civilians don't go anywhere, thus ensuring that any further combat isn't complicated by the presence of civilians. I have no reservations about bombarding any military outpost from orbit, but a civilian colony is completely different. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. After the preemptive strike is complete, I will effect a retreat of all my forces back to G5-Q25, approximately 4LY away to the "west." The Starfleet RRF will be able to rendezvous with my forces right there, approximately one day later. Thus, we'll be able to form up into a single, cohesive unit and immediately charge back into the ZTZ to meet the Gorn, hopefully before they get their act together and land on any of the planets. (I'm going to assume that the Gorn want to leave Zemch itself alone... their current forces aren't nearly enough for any kind of planetary invasion, even if it's a pre-warp culture. Plus, that wouldn't be worth their while when there are four other habitable systems they think are worth fighting over. Thus, I probably shouldn't have to worry about any immediate Prime Directive concerns for this immediate engagement.) At that point, the Gorn will have had about two days to get their act together, from the arrival of their reinforcements at the original confrontation point. (That'd be three days from the time I launched my attack.) If they simply stay put and cluster around their disabled ships, we'll reestablish the blockade. If they enter the ZTZ, the intercept time will be shorter, but their arrival in any of the star systems (most likely to be CD-183, since it's the closest to the confrontation point) will be close enough to the arrival of our forces that they won't be able to entrench themselves anywhere. And at that point, all we have to do is make too much trouble for the Gorn to think it worthwhile to set up an outpost there. Just to be clear, the main goal of the retreat after my preemptive strike is that I don't want my own fleet anywhere nearby when the Gorn reinforcements arrive. No way can I possibly hold the blockade outnumbered four to one. TIMETABLE: D+0: Gorn are one day away, Starfleet three days away, from confrontation point (CP). Starfleet is only two days away from G5-Q25, the rendezvous point (RP). I launch my preemptive strike and immediately retreat to RP. D+1: Gorn arrive at CP, I arrive at RP. Starfleet is one day away from RP. D+2: Starfleet joins my fleet at RP, and we head back into the ZTZ. D+3: Starfleet returns to CP to reestablish blockade, or intercepts Gorn force inside ZTZ. Also, as with my command in Sector Beta, I'm perfectly willing to have Captain Shaala take overall command of the tactical side of combat, while I retain full charge of the strategic side of the operation. (This is a decision not without precedent... after all, I'm pretty sure that there had to be an admiral or two somewhere in the 600+ fleet that went to retake Deep Space 9 during the Dominion War, yet the force was commanded by Captain Sisko.) == Part Three == Meh, fanatics on both sides. Are there still Federation citizens on the colony, or were they successfully evacuated? (Shik, an answer will be needed.) If we were unable to extract the Federation citizens, then I'll send [i]Runnymede[/i] back to the Dorzan system, and I'll declare my right to intervene in order to defend Federation citizens. I'll spend an hour or two sending some nastygrams to the Dorzan government, demanding that they halt their assault and threatening just about everything short of actual war. Obviously the [i]Runnymede[/i], being two days distant, won't be able to do anything to intervene if the Dorzans decide to blow me off, but hopefully the Dorzans will be smart. If not, [i]Runnymede[/i] will do what it can to rescue any survivors, Federation and rebels both. If the Federation citizens are already extracted, then I'll keep [i]Runnymede[/i] for the Gorn engagement. Although I obviously would like to stop the apparently imminent Dorzan slaughter, I can't justify endangering my officer's lives to violate the Prime Directive when the rest of my fleet is fighting to protect the Prime Directive. (Because even a combustible flying human shield might be able to account for a fighter or two before it spontaneously explodes from one of the Gorn pilots looking at it cross-eyed. :D ) Therefore, I'll threaten the Dorzan government with a complete severance of trade relations with the Federation, as well as a complete rejection of their Federation membership application (rather than just a postponement), if they initiate any hostile action against the rebels at this time. == Part Four == The Semmans seem rather likely to be intending to contribute to the defense of the ZTZ. Unless they've made some kind of pact with the Gorn that we don't know about (something I find highly unlikely), then they're probably here to help protect one of their neighbors. Considering how little we know of them and their technology, they've probably been monitoring the situation and realized the critical nature. Promising. I'll try to establish contact with them, if possible, if only to determine their intentions. Assuming they're friendly, I'll also keep them appraised of our rough strategy and get them involved in some way, try to coordinate. If not, I'm simply going to leave them out of the equation until they start shooting at me. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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