Thank you guys for your patience!
Guess the Zeus relies on offensive power to knock out the opposition before the opposition does the same. Lets face it, with 42 missile attack, it can pretty much take out any opposition, regardless of their defense value.
u got it idunno116. Since at this time, the Altairians and Arceans have Cruisers & Battleships (the Arceans even have a Frigate) with a firepower rating of 51 and above, putting defences doesn't really make sense, as there really wouldn't be place to have enough weapons. Also, some of the Altairian and Arcean ships have shield ratings of 40 or so, so the Zeus needs all the firepower it needs to punch through their defenses.
By the way, I am sorry to say that photons cannot go faster than light because they ARE light (as well as all other forms of electromagnetic radiation, from radio waves to gamma waves).
This is the 23rd Century! Anything can happen! On a more serious note u got me there TOV. All I can counter with is this explanation - the gravitronic waves created by the Hyper-Generator has an accelerating effect on groups of photons, propelling them at faster speeds. And so when we refer to Speed of Light, we mean the speed of normal photons, before they are subjected to any of this externally created accelerations. Whew! What did I just say???
Stardate: 10.3.2260
Location: President’s Room, Government House, Alliance HQ, Washington D.C., Earth, Sol Sector, Alliance Capital System
President Alan Bradley was being briefed about the status of construction on the new Sigma 7 Influence Starbase in the newly captured Southern Frontier Zone by his Economic Advisor Gaius, on the 51st floor of the 80 story tall Government House, when the red light on his holo-com started beeping.
Excusing himself the President walked to his desk and pressed a green button.
“Yes Jacqueline, what is it? I’m in the midst of something important.”
A rather flurried voice could be heard on the other end of the line.
“Extremely sorry Mr. President, but Grand Admiral Hartford wanted to get in touch with you on something very urgent, priority Omega Red.”
Alan Bradley turned to see his old friend Gaius looking at him quizzically.
“Should I leave?”
Alan nodded grimly, adding, “Thanks for the update, Gaius. We’ll continue this discussion in a while.”
“Okay Jacqueline, patch him through.”
As he waited, the president’s mind was suddenly filled with a sense of foreboding. The last time such a call had come through, it had been to inform him about the destruction of the Omega 7 Military Starbase. Would this news prove to be more ominous?
Soon, the holo-emitter above the terminal filled with the serious visage of a strongly built man dressed in the ceremonial dark blue uniform of a Grand Admiral.
“Alan Bradley here. How can I help you, Grand Admiral?
The grizzled veteran didn’t waste time…
“Are we on a secure channel, Mr. President?”
“Hold on.”
The president reached to his side and pressed a series of buttons. A red light started flashing in front of the holo-com.
“Switching to secure mode now. Activated.”
The audio took on a slightly tinny quality, indicating that the hyper-band blocker was activated.
“Mr. President, as of a few hours ago, one of our new NX-2s, while scanning Yor Collective border space near the Northern Colonization Zone came across something interesting, which we think you should see.”
An image of the Algore system, at the extreme south of Yor Collective space replaced the Grand Admiral’s image. The view showed the 5 planets of the system, 2 of which were marked with purple symbols, representing that they were colonies of the Collective. As the view zoomed, Alan Bradley though he could make out something – a sort of ship just visible around the radius of the big Yellow Giant star at the center.
“Some sort of ship? Another of the Yor “gifts” to the Empire?”
“Exactly sir, but this is no ordinary ship. Keep watching.”
The view centered on this mysterious ship and started rapidly zooming in. As the image grew larger and larger the president let out an involuntary gasp. For there in front of him, growing ever larger by the moment, was the largest Drengin ship he had ever seen – a terrifying monster, with 2 massive claw like protrusions, resembling the forward hull of the new Alliance Zeus class Dreadnaughts. Massive tubular structures were visible on the left claw, which the president immediately recognized from classified intelligence reports as the dreaded new Psyonic Shredders – currently the most deadly weapon in the known universe. The ship was clearly a Yor design, but it was now dressed in the rusty red and brass colours of the Empire. All around the ship metallic Yor scurried about, on a series of specially constructed platforms.
“That, Mr. President, is the D.I.S. Draginol Super Battleship, the newest addition to the Drengin Imperial Fleet. Based on a joint Drengin-Yor design, this 2,800 feet long monster is armed with 4 giant Psyonic Shredders, giving it firepower comparable to the Zeus and it is protected by 7 huge Force Shield generators, able to repel a direct hit by more than 4 Disrupter beams, the most destructive beam weapon currently known to exist. It is also equipped with 2 large Warp III drives, with a total speed of 9 LH and a sensor range of 4 parsecs. It seems the Yor was using the gravitic distortion caused by the sun to hide this vessel from our eyes until it was ready for deployment. It was only by sheer luck that we found it.”
“But why would the Collective hand over their newest and most powerful ship to the Drengin?”
“I have no idea, sir, but one thing is clear – the Drengin never had the funds to buy such a colossal and expensive ship. They must have been gifted this by the Collective, in the hope that it would enable them to turn the tide in their war with us. I guess they didn’t realize that the war would suddenly go so badly for the Drengin or that they would lose almost all their planets so rapidly, or that we would come out with a more powerful super ship of our own – the Zeus. But still, the Draginol is a very deadly ship, and can cause a lot of damage. We must destroy this ship at all costs, before it enters our territory.”
“You mean, launch a pre-emptive strike on the Draginol while it is in Yor space? That might just give the Collective a political reason to declare war on us!”
“Mr. President, even though the Collective is, on paper, slightly stronger than us militarily, I don’t think they are in a position to declare war on us…or they would have a long time ago. Despite their friendly relations with the Arceans, they still consider the Arcean Empire as their prime threat, as shown by their tendency to protect their ships with shields to ward off beam weapons, instead of missiles. If they were indeed so powerful, I am sure they would have sent their own ships, crewed by their own drones, to engage our ships in combat. Since, instead of doing this, they keep supplying ships to the Drengin to fight us, I guess they do not want to embroil themselves in a fight with us at the moment. We have lost a lot of good people to these ships, sir. I think it’s time to strike back. A quick strike, in and out within a single month, into their border area might just be the best way to send across the message that we will no longer tolerate their cowardly attempts to fight a proxy war.”
“But how do you propose to take out such a formidable ship without suffering serious casualties?”
“Fortunately sir, we have the newly formed Omega Squadron, a group of 3 of the new Zeus class Dreadnaughts, including the T.A.S. Zeus (which single handedly took out a Ith’kar Frigate with minimum damage in the Sol sector) in the vicinity, conducting a training exercise. All said and done, a single Zeus is faster, larger, far more durable and has the same firepower as the Draginol. A group of these ships, with their high speed and enhanced sensor range, and led by our best commander – Admiral Alex Gordon, is therefore the perfect way to destroy the Drengin ship in a lightning strike. It will also be a good way to evaluate the Zeus’s performance capabilities. If you give the go-ahead, we will be ready to launch a strike in the next 48 hours. This is the Drengin’s last line of resistance. After this, their vaunted Imperial Navy will exist only in their minds.”
The president sighed. There was as usual only one real choice. They couldn’t afford to let the Drengin to enter their territory. And this bold attack might just persuade the Yor to stop donating ships to the Drengin, and bring the war to a final end…
“You have a go, Grand Admiral. But remember, go in, strike and then clear out immediately. Don’t stay any longer than necessary.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. Rest assured, it will be over fast. Hartford out.”
Operation Lightning had begun.
