I tried again recently, but the people I was working with weren't as good on that go-round, and it kinda fizzled out after about the same number of pages. At least that time the last three pages weren't me posting back and forth with one other person, overdetailing a scene.
Still, the basic premise you're seeing here is just a stripped-down, rules-mostly-removed iteration of the intro post for the RP, which, as the name suggests, takes place in 2402.
It centers around the Raptor Group, which is trapped behind Selra lines when war erupts.
In the year 2399, first contact was made with the Selra, an insectoid species from the Beta Quadrant.
Relations were tense from the beginning. The Selra were an imposing warrior race with biological ties to the Klingons, but having evolved along a very different path. They proved belligerent and difficult to deal with, and now, as diplomacy begins to break down, Starfleet has bgun to gear up for war.
The Selra are closely allied with the Klingon Empire, and the ambitious Klingons have become more hostile to the Federation since the alliance was made.
Meanwhile, the Romulan Empire has made itself open to Federation diplomacy. The old wounds of its near collapse in the wake of the Scimitar Incident, the ties formed by the Dominion War... It all leads to a stronger relationship with the Federation and Starfleet.
The Alpha and Beta quadrants are suddenly divided. Lines have formed, and war seems to loom large in the distance.
The swift, powerful, but compact ships of the day are mobilized and the Federation prepares itself for an almost certain war as the bristling powers threaten each other.
In Sector 591, near the edge of Selra space, a large battlegroup prepares for the worst.
The Raptor Group, headed by the USS Gallant (NCC-80648), a Tremor Class starship, is about twenty vessels strong, with the resources to fend off several of the larger, more powerful Selra vessels at once.
War is brewing...
Starfleet tactical support pod
designation: small fighter
length: 10 meters
width: 2.4 meters
height: 2.4 meters
defensive: 10 enhanced single-point shield emitters, 3mm heavy ablative armour.
offensive: 2 subquantum burst emitters, 2 pulse phaser emitters, 2 conventional phaser emitters-type IV modification #5 (small shuttle)
crew: 1 pilot
speeds:
cruise: 0.38c
maximum sustainable: 0.3911c
maximum emergency: 0.412c
The Fighter comes with several optional attachments, including but not limited to warp nacelles offering limited FTL capability, extra weapons, and extra shield emmiters.
Which would be stored on the Intrepid, our Nautilus Class carrier, which carries 144 of the little beasties, or in much smaller numbers on any other cruiser-or-larger vessel. As a pilot, you have a lot of advantages, including being almost pure military.
Tremor class starship
Classification: heavy support cruiser
Length: 601.25 meters
Height: 86.25 meters
Width: 403.75 meters
Top speed: warp factor 9.21
Weapons: 28 type XI phaser arrays, 4 quantum torpedo launchers
Defenses: class 12 heavy shield system
Other equipment: 24 deployable heavy-duty grappling cables, 6 spacedock-grade tractor emitters, medical quality transporter facilities, 6 industrial replicators, Shuttle facilities containing a half-dozen fighter pods
Design history:
The Tremor class starship was first imagined in 2367 as a heavy warship design to complement the Defiant class, but when the Defiant class project was abandoned in 2369, the Tremor was recast in a variety of roles, from a hospital ship to a diplomatic transport, but the concepts were all blueprint-only; none of them ever made it to the spaceframe level.
At about the same time as the Defiant class was pulled out of mothballs, and put into regular production, the Tremor class was reviewed and found suitable for use in fleet combat as a heavy cruiser with limited field repair and shelter capabilities. In other words, its hullform allowed it to shelter a smaller starship and escort it out of a dangerous situation. The design was approved for construction in 2371, and the U.S.S. Tremor was completed in June of 2374.
The U.S.S. Tremor first saw action during the Battle of Tolinn, where she escorted six starships out of the combat area while destroying a total of nineteen Jem'Hadar fighters, and one Jem'Hadar battle cruiser.
The Tremor was nearly destroyed in the action, and sustained especially serious damage to her nacelle pylons, nearly losing the dorsal nacelle. After much review, the design was found to be lacking in certain areas, most notably the nacelle pylons and the connection from the saucer to the engineering hulls.
The towing capabilities of the Tremor were also found to be lacking, as her grappling cables and tractor emitters had proved to be insufficient for the task of towing any starships larger than an excelsior class.
The U.S.S. Tremor was recalled from active service. All of the components that Starfleet Command had deemed too fragile were completely removed and replaced with temporary parts built with techniques and materials similar to those used in Galaxy class starships. The Tremor was pressed back into service, and her unusually mismatched appearance soon earned her the title of "ugliest ship in the Fleet".
Also replaced was the faulty towing equipment, especially the grapplers, which had to be tested for resilience under shearing forces. The single tractor emitter in the back of the saucer was removed and replaced with a set of tandem emitters, designed to regulate the motion of sheltered starships more effectively.
Despite her uninviting appearance, the Tremor was frequently referred to as a beautiful sight, mostly because of her exemplary record; every ship that she escorted out of a combat zone during the war survived the battle intact, leading some to believe that she, and other ships refitted in unattractive ways, were blessed with extraordinary luck.
The Tremor, however, was the only ship of her class with such a mismatched appearance, and her single wartime successor disproved the "luck of the ugly" theory, accounting for a total, in the seven months between its launch and the end of the war, of ninety-seven kills and twenty-three rescues.
After the war, the U.S.S. Tremor was upgraded to fit in with her sister ships, and six more Tremor class starships were built to assist in reconstruction efforts in the Federation and abroad. The ships proved particularly useful in the areas that once belonged to the Cardassians, mostly due to their combination of cargo space, shield power, and weapons coverage, which allowed them to defend against attacks by pirates without taking damage.
Characters:
Name: Dean Jonathan Martlou
Rank: Commodore, acting as captain of the USS Gallant, NCC-80648 (Tremor class heavy support cruiser)
Gender and Species: Male Human
Age: 56
Bio: Born in 2346 on Mars, Dean Martlou is a fan of the old-style Starfleet. A follower of Kirk's philosophy, he was awarded command of the Gallant during the Dominion war, when the second vessel of the Tremor Class served as an instrument of war. In the war, he found himself in temporary command of more and more ships, and soon, as will happen in war, he began to experience losses. Eventually, Dean began losing the ability to cope properly with the losses and suffered a brief mental breakdown, but was pulled out of his distress by the timely intervention of Benjamin Sarez, the helmsman of a rescued Defiant class, who prevented a suicide attempt and struck up a friendship and, eventually, a romance with Martlou. After Sarez's warship was repaired, the two went theur separate ways, but kept in contact as steadily as possible during the course of the war. Their romance was clearly well-fated, and after the war's end, they were reunited for a long shore leave together.
They have spent the last quarter century together, and are generally regarded as a permanent couple.
Martlou's career since the war has been somewhat less than illustrious, with his old-style maneuverings keeping his rank relatively low. Being a follower of the old space-cowboy mentality, Martlou often got on the nerves of Command, but when the Selra made contact and made their intentions clear, several like Martlou were advanced in rank and sent to control groups on the Selra border.
Name: Benjamin Andrew Sarez
Rank: Leiutenant Commander, head of Arrowhead Squadron, USS Intrepid, pilot of FP-013/IN
Gender and Species: Male Human hybrid (one-eighth Andorian)
Age: 43
Bio: Benjamin Sarez is faintly blue. He also has vestigial antennae and white hair, which make him appear older than he is.
He is a very talented pilot. He began his Starfleet career as the pilot of a shuttle at Utopia Planetia Shipyards, but was soon chosen to be the helmsman of the ill-fated USS Voyager. Fortunately, he missed that assignment when he came down with a bad case of Targ flu after coming into contact with an infected Klingon.
When the Dominion war broke out, Sarez was shuffled through assignments as the helmsman of various ships, but due to the heavy losses being taken by the Federation in the early days of the war, ill luck led to frequent ship changes as his charges were repeatedly brutalized by Dominion forces.
Eventually, he wound up at the helm of the USS Striker, a brand-new Defiant class starship. He found that he liked the way the ship flew, and was pleased to fly her, often helping her to avoid heavy damage in major battles. Still, war spares no one, and the Striker was eventually caught by enemy fire in the Battle of Keel Prime, a desperate and hopeless struggle to defend a key Federation system a couple of months before the Cardassians turned on the Dominion. There was a single Tremor Class Heavy Support Cruiser present, the USS Gallant, and among the three starships and dozen runabouts she rescued was the Striker. With his ship immobilized, Sarez took the opportunity to explore the Gallant, and found himself face-to-face with her captain in the ship's officers' lounge. They struck up a friendship and grew close as the Gallant, damaged herself, limped towards the nearest starbase for repairs, a journey that was projected to take two weeks.
Martlou was troubled at the time, having taken hard the losses of several ships, and indeed, he attempted suicide on the way to the starbase, but was foiled by Sarez. After the incident, the two began a romantic relationship. The war took them away from each other fairly quickly, but they kept in contact and reunited after it was over.
Afterwards, Martlou tried to get Sarez transferred to the Gallant, and was briefly successful, but Sarez was soon recruited for the Tactical Pod Program, and he accepted the position. They remained in contact once more, and after the Selra made their appearance, Martlou was able to get Sarez assigned to the Raptor group, along with an entire Nautilus class starship, the Intrepid.
Name: Kepar Tereis
Rank: Captain USS Intrepid, NCC-93115 (Nautilus class carrier)
Gender and Species: Female Romulan/Vulcan hybrid
Age: 72
Bio: Born on Vulcan to a Vulcan woman and her Romulan husband, Kepar's racial identity was long kept secret from her. Her father was among the first Romulans to believe in reunification, and snuck over the neutral zone to come to Vulcan.
She joined Starfleet early on, and her heritage was kept secret from the other students. Upon graduating the academy, Kepar served briefly on the Enterprise C, but left it two weeks before its fateful demise at Narendra III.
She found herself drifting for a while, but when the Enterprise D was built, its new captain requested her for the position of head of security. Curiously, she declined the offer, opting instead to serve on the James Kirk, a Nebula class starship with a special pod that carried extra shuttles. In several combat situations, she discovered that the shuttles, though fragile, made an excellent last line of defense--or unmanned flying bombs if things got desperate enough.
She soon ascended to the position of first officer aboard the James Kirk, and when the Dominion war broke out, her captain was killed in one of the first battles. Kepar was abled to organize a brittle and scattered Starfleet force well enough to make a fighting retreat that dealt severe damage to their Dominion attackers. For her efforts in the battle, she was awarded command of the James Kirk.
She continued to use shuttles in combat, and her insistence on the practice eventually led Starfleet to simply give up and equip the Kirk with better shuttles, and, eventually, seventeen runabouts in place of the numerous shuttles.
Kepar's effective use of the runabouts in combat situations, and her frequent role as the default leader in a battlegroup, led Starfleet to offer her several promotions throughout the war, which she refused, preferring to fight on the frontlines.
She survived the war intact, as did the James Kirk.
When the tactical pod program produced its first carriers, the Powhatuan, Chequamegon, and Nautilus classes, Kepar was offered command of one of the scheduled Nautilus class starships. She took the job, and handpicked all of her pilots, including one Benjamin Sarez.
Kepar is a very stoic woman, and frequently makes decisions guided by both logic and emotion. She seems to have found a balance between her Vulcan and her Romulan traits, but she can be very deceitful at times. She is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, and has a very good sense of fleet tactics, making her a prime commander for a carrier. She is second in command of the battlegroup, but she often clashes with her direct superior, Commodore Martlou, especially over his relations with her crew. Well, one of her crew.
Name: Pekor Kenta
Rank: Captain USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F (Lucifer class heavy cruiser)
Gender and Species: Male Bolian
Age: 61
Bio: Pekor is old, blue, and cranky. Born when anti-Cardassian feeling was the peak of fashionable hatred and war with everyone seemed just around the bend, he was barely mellowed over the years, although he has let go of hatreds.
His experiences in Starfleet have made him rough, tough, and respected, and after the recent destruction of the Enterprise E at the hands of a Selra patrol, an action that nearly led to war, he has been awarded command of the brand new Enterprise F, the fifth ship of her class.
the Lucifer class is about 800 meters long, armed to the teeth, and the only ship in Starfleet that can take on a Selra medium cruiser in single combat and win reliably, the only ship in Starfleet capable of slugging it out successfully with a heavy cruiser.
The Selra: The Selra are insectoid, physically very large and imposing. They have ships designed for heavy combat, and large numbers, but lack the ability to deal effectively with Starfleet's fighters. This generally doesn't matter, as the only Starfleet carrier that poses any threat to a Selra heavy cruiser is the massive Nautilus class, and even a Nautilus will be destroyed before her fighters take down the Selra ship.
In a full-out, one-on-one war, the Selra would crush the Federation. With their Klingon allies, it would cease to be a war, and would become a slaughter.
The Federation: Since the Dominion War, two camps have existed in Starfleet. There is the military and the exploratory. The military has their pet projects, and the exploratory theirs, and they have reached a tentative truce over the last quarter century.
This is a good thing, or it has been until recently, when the Selra reared their terrifyingly ugly heads and showed their ability to demolish any Federation ship. Although a couple of large captial ships have begun production, it's the Dominion all over again, but worse.
Starfleet does have a few advantages. They have much better sensors, and the Selra seem either unable or unwilling to construct an effective fighter. Sadly, the Klingons may make up for this deficit.
EDIT, JUST REALIZED MY INTENTIONS WEREN'T CLEAR:
I intend to make this into a fanfic, unless there is interest expressed in RPing this and a forum where it can be played.