THE RESOLUTE WAR (BEGINNINGS)

For over 10,000 years the Klingon Empire has expanded and grown into a vast interstellar state. This society, like every other, has its own rules and traditions that are followed and in the Empire these morals could be summed up in the "tlq ghob", the Heart of Virtue. The Heart is a three bladed icon, with each blade representing one of the bedrock character traits of all Klingons. Honor, Loyalty, and Duty are the highest ideals of this culture, set down by the great leader Khaless himself.

Like any growing space race, the Klingons have had their share of border disputes and outright wars with their neighbors. The Withiki, the Silfrax, the Hath, all have fallen to the Klingons and their vast fleets maintained by the twelve largest ruling houses in the Empire. Over time, many of these Great Houses have risen and fallen but only three of these powerful families have maintained their place at the top of this warrior society: the House of Kor, the House of Konjah, and the much hated House of Duras. As the Klingon Empire expanded over the centuries, these ruling families were given vast territories to colonize and rule, and they were able to maintain their warrior fleets based on their wealth and growing power.

Only a handful of nation-states located near the Klingons were able to withstand the militant expansion of the Empire, the largest being the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Empire. Being a proud warrior race, the Klingons had gone to war several times with both of these powers but were unable to defeat them and as time went on, the UFP became allied to the Klingon Empire, leaving only one true enemy on the battlefield: the Romulans. The Klingon High Council had always believed that war with the Romulans was inevitable and spent several centuries building up its defenses along their joint border. In addition, vast fleets of Klingon warships were constantly being built and trained for eventual combat and when a widespread civil war broke out within the Klingon Empire due to Romulan interference, the Klingons went to war. 

Like all civil wars, the 2367-68 conflict was started quickly and was brutal, and it also created long standing repercussions across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Within 6 months the internal dissent was crushed by the forces of Chanceller Gowron and the enemy House of Duras defeated. As an ally of the Klingon Empire, the United Federation of Planets was barely able to stay out of the fighting but Starfleet was able to confirm and prove Romulan support of Gowron's opponents, infuriating him and many Great Houses. Then, in late 2368, the question of all-out war with the Romulans came before the leaders of the Empire and they were more than ready to fight. Most Klingons now had a serious grudge against their pointy-eared neighbors for instigating the most recent Klingon Civil War; almost a million soldiers had perished in the fighting, earning the eternal hatred between both races.

For generations, the joint Klingon-Romulan border had lay under the jurisdiction of the Great House of Kor and they were more than prepared to fight the Romulans when the time came. At the height of the civil war, Gowron asked Kor for several guardian fleets to support him and the house leadership accepted but heavy losses in combat forced them to rebuild and Kor leaders began field-testing several new designs, including the Jav'Tal-class warbird and the Or'loth-class battlecruiser. Both turned out to be extremely efficient on the battlefield and their newest generation cloaking device proved especially effective in combat. 

Staging from the immense fleet base at Kukmor, nearly the entire space-navy of House Kor and its allies began a full-scale invasion of Romulan space in late 2368. Moving from Kukmor deep into Romulan territory with over 1,200 warships, the Klingons fought several devastating but eventually crushing battles again the defending Romulan forces, quickly taking Holoban and the Pennon System and they staging a major attack on the Romulan regional base at Palmachan. Fighting on both sides was brutal, with the defending Romulan forces determined not to fall back and fail, and the newly battlefield hardened Klingons determined to crush their foes and win ultimate victory.

House Kor secured several great victories in the early stages of the war but in the Dordellis System the Klingons came up against a solid force of D'deridex-class warbirds (over 600 of them) and and control of the planet became a titanic struggle as two vast fleets stuck at each other for nearly two days. Thought Admiral Kentasai Kor led the Klingon forces to ultimate victory on the battlefield but losses on both side were heavy.

The United Federation of Planets had also been dragged into the Resolute War by treaty obligations with the Klingons and more seriously by a number of Romulan attempts to internally destabilize the Federation. One of the worst of these was in 2281 AD the Romulans began a high-risk mission by to subvert the UFP by violently abducting a half dozen Warrantors of the Peace envoys. This assault deeply and permanently soured relations on both sides and nearly every incident between the two powers since then had been unwaveringly negative and/or hostile. So when the time came for war, the Romulans had almost no advocates for peace within Federation space and in some wings of the UFP government, officials and military personnel had been chomping at the bit for some payback against their aggressive neighbors for decades...and now the time had come.

In the Federation Annex Zone the Starfleet forces had finally gathered under UFP vulcan Admiral Sortal and the 14th Fleet, with the major combat units organized under the supervision of Commodore Declan Keogh, a battle-proven human commander. Keogh flew his flag from the USS Odyssey (NCC-71832), which was one of the very first Galaxy-class starships to be built. With combat imminent, the Odyssey was quickly refitted with better shields, an upgraded military-computer, and several hundred new marine troopers. This force of Federation starships moved against Romulan targets in support of the massive Klingon invasion of the Romulan Empire, supporting attacks in the Narendra Sector on the worlds Goksun, Grengrak V, and Athega III. 






 




 
J'TASK-CLASS WARBIRD

The Klingon Empire entered the Resolute War with the entire warbird-class completely outdated. In the past, the lightly armed but very fast warbird concept had worked exceptionally well for the Empire, with over a thousand ships built in the last 200 years. These warbirds primarily filled the scout and first strike roll within the Klingon Navy, but they were occasionally used as a covert transport platform. By the 2300s this entire previous classes of ships, from birds-of-prey to the more heavily mass-produced heavy frigate-class, were just too old to face any serious Threat power on the field of battle. Luckily, an completely new line of warship was in the planning stages, and the 
J'task were eventually fielded in large numbers during the Resolute War, where they performed above all expectations. Klingon Naval planners foresee their use into the future as a result of their successful outcome.





 




 




 




 
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR

Although the United Federation of Planets (UFP) had begun extensively colonizing the Annex Zone and prepping defenses in case of war, they were not fully ready when the Resolute War initially broke out. As a result, Starfleet proposed stationing a series of mobile and easily deployable small depots in rear areas to support combat operations and humanitarian efforts in support of the war. These depots (known formally as Changmor-Skeck Depots and informally as COPS, combat outposts) were a affordable and fast solution to the problem and quickly began dotting Federation’s perimeter within the Annex Zone.
Hospital stations, Marine bases, deuterium tankage, fleet support, smallcraft bases, and tender stations were constructed. These light Starfleet facilities were built around the core of a station container and dozens of depots were deployed in unremarkable star systems within a few months after the war broke out. During the war, only two COPS (Depot 44 and Depot 47) were ever discovered by the Romulans:

In March of 2369 a pair of cloaked Romulan vessels dematerialized in the HD37388 system and opened fire point-blank at Depot 44. They had obviously scouted the system earlier and set themselves up for a perfect attack run. While there were two Starfleet vessels nearby, the USS Justaway and the USS Colfax, neither were able to bring their weapons and shields online and engage the Romulans before they struck the Depot, which was a dispersed set of support and medical stations. More than 1,800 Starfleet personnel perished that day and the D'Deridex-class vessels escaped unscathed.

That same week three Romulan warships also raided Starfleet's Depot 47, wreaking tremendous damage. With a single pass through this uninhabited system, the Empire destroyed nearly every orbital station and platform within just a few minutes. Again Starfleet vessels were unable to intercept the Romulan D'deridex-class ships, which resulted in over 2,000 casualties for the Federation. 






 




 





 

THE WAR WIDENS

With the capture of most of Narendra Sector (mainly by Klingon forces) the second wave of invading warships from the joint Federation-Klingon Alliance began almost immediately, and ran into heavy resistance as they began to move through the Voltanis and Iconia Sectors of the Romulan Empire. Large fleets from both sides collided in the area, causing tremendous destruction of ships from all sides. 

With Starfleet Command running the Federation side of the war in the Annex Zone, it was decided at the highest levels that reconnaissance of Romulan space was critical for continuing successful operations against their forces. As such, dozens of waves of UFP information-gathering probes were sent deep into Romulan space, something that had never occurred before by Treaty and by previous unilateral UFP policy. Within a week a very detailed picture became available to Starfleet using mostly Class V probes. In Iconian Sector alone a wealth of strategic targets made themselves known: at the major Romulan colony world Alth'ndor Prime a huge military-grade shipyard was detected, the regional capital Chaltok nearly a hundred warships and support vessels were pinpointed, and at the heavily-populated Romulan world of T'iokol its immense orbital infrastructures were found, including a huge civilian shipyard in orbit.

With this information (which was passed to the Klingon High Command as well) Starfleet began planning major military operations against the Romulans in both sectors, with Klingon fleets taking point in the Iconia Sector. In a few weeks, all targets in those systems were reduced to orbiting rubble and Klingon troops were landed on each planet, beginning the initial occupation of the Romulan Empire. Total losses in the warzone to date were 218 Klingon vessels destroyed, and 28 on the Federation side, with enemy losses estimated at over 400 warships (mostly out of date defensive craft).





 




 




 



 




 




 

THE MIKULAK MASSACRE

In June of 2369 the joint-Alliance offensive into Romulan space was succeeding on both fronts, but the human-dominated United Federation of Planets had yet to commit fully to the Resolute War. Facing an armed and experienced enemy on another front (the Cardassian Union), Starfleet felt it wise to retain many of its military starships along the mutual border zone with the Cardassians. However, the Federation did shift a large number of its more combat-capable vessels across the region, redeploying them along the Neutral Zone and preparing for an all-out assault into the Romulan Empire. The UFP fleet had yet to cross the border with the Romulans, and it was at this time that their enemy struck back......hard.

A small number of unique alien races live within the Federation Annex Zone, one of which is the Mikulaks. This tall race of humanoids had several unusual ways of altering DNA and other bioforms and they had joined the Federation (as an Associate Member) when it was offered a few years before the outbreak of the war. Since it was located very close to Romulan space, the Mikulak Home System fielded an impressive array of defensive weapons and a full Starfleet task force when the conflict finally blew up in everyone's faces. 

Unfortunately, these defenses did not deter the Romulans from initially scouting and then immediately attacking on July 29th, staging a devastating strike against the system. With a force of 48 Romulan warbirds leading the assault, the defending Starfleet starships were totally surprised and badly out-gunned. Task Force 55 under Fleet Admiral Taela Shanthi garrisoned the Mikulak Homeworld with just 34 vessels but during the raid the Romulans decloaked at point-blank range and quickly destroyed everything in orbit in just under 10 minutes. The large Starfleet vessels USS Galaxy-B, USS Hood, USS Archer, USS Monitor, USS Proxima (Galaxy-class), and every other starship was lost in combat; Romulan losses were 20 D'deridex-class warbirds destroyed and 12 others badly damaged. Admiral Taela Shanthi apparently perished aboard her flagship, the USS Galaxy.

In the after-battle reports, Starfleet was able to determine that the best vessels to go one-on-one with the Romulan warships were the new Nebula-class strike cruisers. Their immense forward-facing  battlepod, built above the saucer and able to fire across a wide range of the combat zone, was able to effectively target and destroy the larger D'deridex-class warbirds. This was mainly because of the four special weapons that could be mounted in the pod; these special devices allowed the Nebulas' to disrupt enemy shields during combat, destroy incoming torpedoes, temporarily duplicate an allied ship, and create extensive tachyon fields which boosted the stealth detection and sensor capabilities of the starship. With these results in mind, fast-track production of the Nebula-class was increased at a dozen Federation shipyard including the Antares Fleet Yards (Antares IV), the New Aberdeen Fleet Yard (Aldebaran), Utopia Planitia (Mars), and the Copernicus Fleetyard at Luna (Sol System)

With all orbital assets eliminated, the Mikulak Homeworld was utterly defenseless and the Romulans set about making their intentions of the war clear: it was a fight to the death, a war of total annihilation. Over the next hour the remaining warbirds rained ruination beyond measure against the cities of the Mikulaks, utterly destroying over 98% of the worlds surface. A former staging area for Starfleet forces in the Annex, this system became a death-wracked wasteland after the assault. The outrage over such a brutal attack against civilian targets enraged the citizens of the Federation, the governing Council, Starfleet personnel, and other neutral galactic powers. Relief efforts to save the remaining Mikulaks began immediately and the full-scale invasion by the Federation into Romulan space took place three weeks later, with the 1st Fleet, 2nd Fleet, and 3rd Fleet crossing the Neutral Zone with over 800 warships, striking targets of opportunity as they advanced forward into enemy-held territory.





 




 




 




 




 
THE RATOR INTERVENTION

In the horrific aftermath of the "Mikulak Massacre" there was an enormous amount of pressure placed on the United Federation of Planets ruling Council to fully commit all available military forces to the campaign against the Romulan Empire. The brutal attack on the Mikulak homeworld and the subsequent annihilation of 99% of that race demonstrated the ruthlessness of the Romulans, and drove home a spike of commitment into nearly every UFP member world. Federation planets that had once wavered in their resolve against the war were suddenly galvanized to the cause and the entire Federation went on an all-out war footing, sending Starfleet Command dozens (and eventually hundreds) of new starships every month.

Sadly, the loss of life during the war continued to spiral out of control and with the Romulans no longer trying to avoid civilians targets, the Klingon Empire also began using the same policy in full force against them. Many Starfleet personnel and civilians lost their lives at the Mikulak homeworld, including Darcy Roy and her five young children. She was a citizen of the human colony Nemo and was working on Mikulak when the Romulans attacked the planet, killing her and her entire immediate family. However, her last surviving relative was a younger brother and he was a senior member of Starfleet, a reclusive but brilliant engineer stationed at the Qualor Depot. This facility was the site of an extensive orbital junkyard run by the Zakdorn race for the Federation. Starfleet military strategists had often complained about the extremely poor tactical location of the Depot; situated less than 50 light years from the Romulan border. However, it was noted that the vast majority of vessels waiting for dismantling at the Depot were severely outdated starships and near-worthless space station parts, and any military raid by the Romulans would be nearly meaningless if a bunch of space junk was destroyed by the enemy. Sadly, the reverse was proven to be not true.

When word of the death of his older sister and her five young children reached Senior Chief Engineer Todd Roy, he was utterly devastated. An extremely shy person, he knew that he would never marry and carry on the family name, but he always believed his sister would be able to until she died at Mikulak with her children. In a fit of determined rage, Chief Roy was single-handedly able to put two immense robotic freighters back into service in just a few months; both were old-style Bering-class cargo ships that had always been piloted by a computer instead of any personnel. With the USS Yukon and USS Kategatt Sea fueled, he launched them on a retaliatory suicidal raid against the large Romulan military base located in the nearby Rator System.

For decades the Rator System was built up by the Romulans to be part of an enormous military barrier against the United Federation of Planets and its defenses reflected that policy. However, there was no way to predict the actions of a single human, a man who had lost virtually everything in an unjust war, and that proved the undoing of the Romulans in the Rator System. Almost 3 months after the Mikulak Massacre, Starfleet Chief Todd Roy launched the robotic ships at the well-known military target and travelling at warp speed they quickly entered the system in less than 48 hours. While Romulan weaponry was noted to be very effective against starships, it was nearly impossible to target and destroy a ship in warp and both the USS Yukon and USS Kategatt Sea dropped to impulse mere seconds from their objective. The Kategatt Sea was shot down before she reached terminal velocity over the planet but the 800,000 ton Yukon rammed Rator moving at .58c, utterly destroying the world and killing at least 200 million Romulan military personnel and civilians in the system. For decades afterwards the entire area became completely useless as high-speed continent-sized boulders flew outward in random orbits from the former location of the planet Rator, which had violently broken up on impact with the drone ship Yukon.

While no word was heard from the Romulans over the incident, it was noted that attacks against civilian targets within the Federation dropped dramatically in the next few months and stayed that way until the Centauri Raid and the Raid Against Qo'noS. Once his crime was discovered, Chief Todd Roy was unrepentant and was eventually sentenced to a Federation psychiatric facility for the remainder of his days. In the aftermath many Starfleet personnel seemed sympathetic to his actions and the words "Remember Todd Roy" were often seen on walls and bulkheads of starships and on civilian worlds for years afterwards.






 
ARCHER-CLASS STARSHIP

The new Archer-class interdiction escort cruiser was the brainchild of the up-and-coming Vice Admiral P.O. Holland, a human citizen of the Phaeton Colony. This type of vessel was initially developed to police the large areas of the United Federation of Planets and was constructed in record time. Field testing easily confirmed the class would fulfill it parameters but war suddenly broke out between the Federation and their Klingon allies against the Romulans and the entire class was refitted for combat duty. With a length of almost 300 meters, the Archers were not a small ship but they were highly automated and thus only needed a crew of just 250 personnel. They were designed with a "double barrel" torpedo pod underneath and in peacetime the ships in this class were more often put to work dispensing constellations of sensor probes and relay buoys across federation space. Unlike its predecessor, the Keller-class, the Archers' have a good range at high warp and can persistently pursue even the most fleet and tireless fugitive. These starships also carry a above-standard compliment of shuttles, runabouts and inspection craft.

Archer-class vessels are usually commanded by a senior Commander or other low-grade officers, or even Chief Petty Officers, depending upon mission and mode of deployment. The crew compliment includes a disproportionately high number of security officers compared to other Starfleet vessels, and may also include Inspection Specialists or other agents — medical, engineering, investigative, offense/defense — assigned by Starfleet Command for specific mission profiles. This class of starship has very little spare room below decks; its literally crammed full with engines and fuel, crew accommodations, detention cells, medical facilities, and large cargo and shuttle bays (the latter dominating the saucer's lower decks). Most of the ship operations duty stations are therefore located on Deck 1, all on the Main Bridge proper.

With the eventual development of the 5th generation of defense shields, the Archers were suddenly equipped with a powerful defense bubble that would let it stay in a fight longer and these vessels were used extensively in the Federation Annex in support of Starfleet operations in the region. They proved very effective in the interdiction role and were continually used for the next 50 years by Starfleet.

These new 5th generation shields were a direct result of Starfleet specialist Ensign Reginald Barclay's encounter with an unknown space probe while posted aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). It was during an attack by the probe that Ensign Barclay formulated a plan to increase shield power. Rerouting substantial warp energy through the subspace field distortion amplifiers and channeling it to the shield grid, Ensign Barclay was able to increase shield power by more than 300%. The Enterprise computer verified pattern stability and energy levels were applied, allowing photon torpedos to destroy the probe, which was in close proximity to the ship at the time. Permanent computer logs were downloaded at Starbase 221 and analyzed. When asked about his radical new theory, the ensign was unable (or unwilling) to explain it or it's origins. New computer programs outlaying increased shield output were then relayed to all Federation starships, outposts, and member planets in good standing. The entire line of Archer-class Interdiction Cruisers were eventually upgraded to this more capable standard. In combat against Romulan vessels, this shield bubble proved fantastically effective, which helped end the war in a few years, not decades like some military analysts had calculated.



ARCHER-CLASS SHIPS
NAME                   REGISTRY              STARDATE LAUNCHED
USS Archer           NCC-45400            49845.2
USS Brooklyn        NCC-45407            49846.0
USS Carlisle          NCC-45402            49845.3
USS Ceres             NCC-45411            49845.5
USS Colorado
USS Emerald
USS Gearing
USS Konigsberg
USS Leipzig
USS Marconi
USS Mogador
USS Nevada
USS Orzel
USS Pensacola
USS Yarrow




 


 

MACPHERSON-CLASS STARSHIP

The MacPherson-class starship was built to replace Starfleets' aging Lagrange-class tugs but it was the second generation upgrade (Block II) of this class of ship that profoundly altered the military history of the Federation. Including it's newly built dual-purpose "pods", the MacPherson-class starship was the most powerful vessel of it's time. The Block II M class of these vessels were upgraded from tug to cruiser with the addition of heavier phaser mounts, the addition of the SPY-EYE long-range sensor, and the development of the Esta Weapons Pod and the Nimitz Carrier Pod. The MacPherson-class cruiser was designed to take these pods into battle. The development of these pods was forced upon the Federation by a devastating conflict with a hostile race, the Cardassians. The Esta-class pods had more firepower than a Galaxy-class starship and in conjunction with these pods, the MacPherson's destroyed a total of 2,340 Cardassian fighters and 288 major Cardassian combatants (including 80 Galor-class warships).These were the only Federation ships to carry fighters during that conflict. 

A total of forty-four MacPherson-class starships were built, and their stunning ability to withstand damage accounted for the loss of only one vessel due to enemy action (the USS Hadley). That fact made them immensely popular with their crews and the staff at Starfleet Command.






 


 

MACPHERSON-CLASS STARSHIP

The MacPherson-class starship was the brainchild of Commodore Ian Eisenhower, one of Starfleet Command's most famous, and prolific, engineers. Throughout his 60-year career in Starfleet, Commodore Eisenhower developed nearly 30 key engineering systems, many of which are still used in modern starships. He not only developed the Federation's first orbital beanstalk (at Urbanos) but also designed the MacPherson-class tug to be the first truly multi-role starship. Working at Starbase 660 (in the Malagasy System), Commodore Eisenhower developed several critical engineering systems that are widely used within Starfleet today. The most important of these systems being the first generation of docking latches (predecessor of the Galaxy-class docking system). Another important system was a detached upper pylon, which the MacPherson-class used as a deuterium storage tank and was also the location of the SPY-EYE long range sensor system. The MacPherson-class tug was first developed in 2344 at Starbase 660 and the Block II starship was developed at Newport News, Terra/Sol in 2356.

Starfleet Command pursued a fast-track design and production plan for the MacPherson- class starship that intended to save both time and money. Commodore Ian Eisenhower took only seven weeks to prepare and submit a design, which was approved by the Federation Council two weeks later. The first MacPherson-class tug was laid down at the Nimitz Yards/Pike System on Stardate 24543.3 and was completed just twelve months later. The USS MacPherson (NCC-27300) was the first ship in this class and was piloted out of the Nimitz Yards by her Captain, Sun Cen. This vessel was initially designed to carry 250 standard personnel, but the Block II Upgrade has much higher personnel requirements (430 officers and crew). The vessel has a gross weight of 900,000 metric tons and is 720 meters in length. The flagship of this class is the USS Lagrange (NCC-3916-B) which is currently assigned to 9th Fleet in the Bajor Sector.





 




 

WEAPONIZED PODS

The detachable Esta-class Transport Pod was also designed Commodore Eisenhower as he neared the end of his long career at Starfleet Engineering. Considered one of his crowning achievements, the Esta-class pods were built exclusively at Esta Yards orbiting the planet Golden in the Dubhe System. They were built mainly to transport bulk cargo within the Federation but as relations rapidly deteriorated with the Cardassians into a full-scale conflict, the Esta-class pods were refitted into powerful phaser platforms. These extremely heavy phaser arrays, at close range, could destroy a squadron of Cardassian warships utilizing their tremendous firepower. As the conflict between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union wore on, additional Esta-class cargo pods were refitted into Nimitz-class fighter/carrier pods. Given the extensive use of fighters by the Cardassian Union (and the associated damage of Federation starships), the UFP began deploying its own fighters in 2357, and from Nimitz-class pods in 2358. These pods were highly effective in projecting fighters with Federation task forces and fleets, and the Cardassian fighter losses reached catastrophic levels whenever a MacPherson/Nimitz combination was used in Starfleet operations. The Nimitz-class pod can carry 99 fighters and their associated flight crews, spare parts, and additional weaponry. The Nimitz-class pods (CCV-77) were designed with the following motto: "Strength in Numbers".

In 2374, after substantial debate within the Federation Council, the MacPherson-class vessels were refitted to (potentially) receive cloaking capability. 

Current MacPherson-class vessels being built are the USS Montana, USS Robspierre, USS Rainhorse, and USS T'uruk. All of these vessels are being built at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards (currently the largest in Federation space).

Newest Block III Upgrades

USS Crawford NCC-62868
USS Einstein NCC-63917
USS Everhart NCC-66721
USS
Hunter NCC-62001
USS Indus NCC-62684
USS Ireland NCC-62224
USS Porizkova NCC-65109
USS Richardson NCC-62869
USS Seymour NCC-65410
USS Taylor NCC-67312
USS Williams NCC-62663
USS Wolf NCC-67313