Series help requested

[Imagus]

Ok, at long last, I need some help on my series details!

Before I start, here's a couple of decisions I made, specifically for plot and background purposes! I'm using much of the old FASA background for setting, especially for the Orions, the Triangle and the Klingons. In particular I am exploring the presence of the Klingon Fusion races, and the reason for their disappearance.

My series will be set in the late 2280's on the Klingon Neutral Zone between Rigel and the Triangle. Thus, it's basically late movie period, and plumb in the middle of the Klingon-Federation Cold War. The players will be members and allies of the Interstellar Commerce Regulatory Agency, a division of Starfleet devoted to border patrols and anti-smuggling operations. They're basically special agents of the customs service, but will frequently get dragged into the FIS's anti-Orion investigations, Starfleet Intelligence operations and all kinds of other nonsense They will have no ship of their own, but will have access to warp shuttles (23rd century runabouts) and can commandeer passing escorts or frigates if the situation warrants it (and the skipper agrees!).

At the moment, I'm working on their base of operations - and this is where I need help right now!

Starbase 12 is the largest Starfleet facility in the immediate area, and is responsible for fleet operations from Orion Space to the rimwards portion of the Triangle, where Starbase 27 takes over responsibility. The old Orions book mentions a backup repair facility at Rhinate (about 7 parsecs from SB 12), but says nothing about SB12 itself. I envision the place as a big ground facility, with training centres for enlisted personnel, recreation areas and orbital docks and repair yards. It's basically the Starfleet Command branch for two entire sectors (Orion and Ukrainia Novya), so it's extensive. Services are provided by several entrenched Orion Families.

So first question is: should the Crew be based here? It allows for plenty of command-level interference, but also a lot of passing the buck (which can be a problem with some players). An alternative is to put them on a small local base closer to the frontier, but I might lose out on a lot of episode possibilities then. Any thoughts?

Also, what kind of fleet do you think would be operating from SB12? I'm looking for a rough idea of numbers and ship types (heavy cruisers, frigates etc), mostly for background flavour. (I can figure out actual ship classes and names, but if anyone has any suggestions... ) At the moment, I'm envisioning a Constitution, a couple of Mirandas, and a lot of smaller ships, but visions of a Pearl Harbor size installation keep leaping out at me (and will keep the players anticipating a massive surprise attack which will generate the kind of paranoia I want ).

One final question: At the moment it's Star Trek: Orion Space - anyone have any better suggestions? Series Feel is "A cross between James Bond, Mission: Impossible and Miami Vice, in space" if that's any help

[Dan Stack]

A few notes...

The late 2280s is actually rather late in the cold war, not in the middle, given it'll end in the early 2290s. That might be ok, as the characters you describe sound like they'd be great for the post-cold war period, especially of the Klingon Empire experiences chaos that makes the breakup of the Soviet Union look trivial.

I'd say go with the big Starbase, much like you could use Washington DC or New York City as a base for a game of CIA or FBI agents. But I'd emphasize how slow things can be there due to all the beauracry to force characters to take initiative. Given that you said that might be troublesome with your characters I'd have an early adventure which begins with an event that forces the characters to seize the initiative or some small tragedy will occur - perhaps a single freighter lost. Ah, maybe early in the adventure they learn of an impending Klingon privateer raid on a shipment of medical supplies and their superiors are hesitant to allow the characters to stop it, fearing ramifications. If the characters wait (which they may very well do) have the freigher lost, boards of inquiry, etc.

(Note - this isn't realistic - in the real world agents who bypass the chain of command aren't agents for long - but in Star Trek those who do and get good results seem to get rewarded, espcially in the 23rd century).

[Ronin84]

Imagus,

Sounds like a great idea that would allow some other types of characters other than the SF stiff necks. The PC's could be drawn in from other services such as the merchant marine or some good ground pounders.

The Pearl Harbor in space look is great, you could even work in some kind of memorial to a great starship that is there.

Name: Star Trek: Black Ops (not to fond, it jumped into my head)
Star Trek: MG-7 (Mission Group Seven)
Star Trek: Option Zero (thought I read a book like this once)

[Imagus]

Originally posted by Dan Stack
The late 2280s is actually rather late in the cold war, not in the middle, given it'll end in the early 2290s. That might be ok, as the characters you describe sound like they'd be great for the post-cold war period, especially of the Klingon Empire experiences chaos that makes the breakup of the Soviet Union look trivial.

Ok, maybe "at the peak" would have been a better choice of phrase I don't think the series will last long enough to reach Khitomer, but you've hit the nail on the head as to the kind of characters I'm working with. My take is that at this stage, the Empire is torn by a long-running, low-intensity civil war between the Fusions and Imperials (think of Vietnam, Nicaragua or any of a dozen African nations). The Empire is doing its best to hide the war's existence as it does not want to betray weakness to either of its rivals. The war will climax with the terrorist bombing of Praxis, and the IKEF's Jem'hadar-like extermination of the Fusions.

Originally posted by Dan Stack
I'd say go with the big Starbase, much like you could use Washington DC or New York City as a base for a game of CIA or FBI agents. But I'd emphasize how slow things can be there due to all the beauracry to force characters to take initiative.

Good parallel, I like it!

Originally posted by Dan Stack
Given that you said that might be troublesome with your characters I'd have an early adventure which begins with an event that forces the characters to seize the initiative or some small tragedy will occur - perhaps a single freighter lost.

Actually, I'm probably being a little cynical, based on past experience with different players. I'm an experienced ref - I can deal with the problems. But if it's built into the setting, it's less like to rear its head! I'm not looking for scenario ideas at this point, although that one is certainly being slotted away for reference

Originally posted by Dan Stack
(Note - this isn't realistic - in the real world agents who bypass the chain of command aren't agents for long - but in Star Trek those who do and get good results seem to get rewarded, espcially in the 23rd century).

I think you got it spot on with the 23rd century statement. They've got to be maverick to achieve anything and that's what makes it worth a series...

[Imagus]

Originally posted by Ronin84
Sounds like a great idea that would allow some other types of characters other than the SF stiff necks. The PC's could be drawn in from other services such as the merchant marine or some good ground pounders.

Thanks! I'm thinking more in terms of police and domestic intelligence. These are the guys who work on the less glamorous law enforcement aspects of Starfleet's work. Note that revenue customs work is the responsibility of planetary agents. The regular ICRA officers and men are basically the guys trying to prevent Orion smuggling of illegal goods and piracy from all sources. There are also special agents (my Crew) who conduct investigations into interstellar crime networks - the stuff that would be a little too trivial for the FIS. They get around a lot, but don't have the true back-up of a starship.

Originally posted by Ronin84
The Pearl Harbor in space look is great, you could even work in some kind of memorial to a great starship that is there.

Nice idea! Harking back to the Four Years War perhaps? (That's FASA's Klingon invasion of Axanar - Kirk got his early experience in this one.) Were you inspired by any such memorial? To which ship?

I'm afraid "Black Ops", "MG-7", "Option Zero" all sound a little too like spy settings to me - I want something a little more mundane!

[Chris Blanchard]

Imagus, I like this idea.

Some of my thoughts go along the same lines as Dan, making the ground-based starbase like Washington DC for the FBI. Along that same line, in aswer to your question about "the credit stops here," I would make the characters a small department in the service (consisting of just the players and their supervisor) sort of like in X-Files. This division is semi-autonomus, meaning they can create their own cases, but are also assigned them from their supervisor. This way, they are wholely responsible for all their actions, and cannot pass the credit along.

[Ronin84]

Imagus,

Having had an Uncle killed at Pearl and having visited their twice my inspiration was of course the Arizona.

Yes I was also thinking of the the FASA supplement as well!

Hmmmm....more mundane....

Star Trek: Chasers
Star Trek: Code 3
Star Trek: I.C.R.A. (I was thinking of the old SWAT TV show here in the US)

Ronin84

[CmdrBluejeans]

Why not just call it 'Star Trek: the Triangle'?

I mean, it reflects both the region of space, and the multi-angled plotlines, and even carries undertones of the Bermuda or Devil's Triangle.


BJ

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

If you want to render your players fearful of an eventual Klingon attack then make the fleet's maintenance be less than stellar. Have the crew see ship's being badly maintained or parts are removed without new one's replaced. A type of laissez-faire attitude about the whole fleet.

Have the crew maybe even take a Fed ship out for a mission and when they need to use a ship's system you can pull a ST:Generations and tell them it'll be in Wednesday.

How about StarTrek: The Triangle?

[Imagus]

Khrys, BJ, I think you've got it! Strictly speaking it's not in the Triangle itself, that's merely a local neighbourhood, so perhaps I shall modify it slightly, how about "Star Trek: Triangles" ?

Hmm, starting to get ideas about a local missing starships area now... Add that to the piracy documentary I saw this morning, I could have fun!

I like the bad maintenance idea, but another idea I might work with is to have the fleet obviously understrength. Hmm, maybe the local commander is a bit too spit and polish, and not enough on regular training? Or maybe he's just lax? It has been twenty-odd years since the Four Years War after all...

Anybody got any ideas on fleet size? It's the most important question I have right now!

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Fleet size in my opinion should be roughly ten ships ready for duty, after all this is a dangerous area of space and another 5 or so on stand-by or mothballed. You could have some ships missing systems and others with "extra" systems.

The commander could be lax and allow for the ships to be customized a bit like during the Vietnam war.

[Antonsb214]

Have the new Fleet Captain or Commodore arrive in a brand new Excelsior-class HeavyCruiser(or is that Battle Cruiser?) It is fresh out of Spacedock and hasn't had a proper shakedown yet. The Captain had some friends in high places and got the ship along with the command of the fleet. The Captain also does not get along with the base commander. So there you have some friction between the two commanders, increased tensions with the Klingons, ships disappearing, local piracy in an upswing, cats and dogs living together... mass hysteria!!!

[Imagus]

Originally posted by Antonsb214
Have the new Fleet Captain or Commodore arrive in a brand new Excelsior-class HeavyCruiser(or is that Battle Cruiser?) It is fresh out of Spacedock and hasn't had a proper shakedown yet. The Captain had some friends in high places and got the ship along with the command of the fleet. The Captain also does not get along with the base commander. So there you have some friction between the two commanders, increased tensions with the Klingons, ships disappearing, local piracy in an upswing, cats and dogs living together... mass hysteria!!!

I have plans for the Excelsior-class actually! I've set the pilot episode not long after the time that the transwarp experiment has been declared a failure. The U.S.S. Excelsior and U.S.S. Proxima (never completed her trials) have just returned to Spacedock for refit to the Mark II model, with standard warp drive. The U.S.S. Andromeda and U.S.S. Galacta have been converted during construction and Andromeda will be the first ship to be commissioned. She will be paying a visit to SB12 on a goodwill tour of the Federation Orion systems at some point later in the season. Given that getting her into space was a political priority after the failure of the "Great Experiment" - it's easily possible she was rushed through her shakedown. I didn't plan for her to be part of the 14th fleet though.

I like the idea of the rivalry - I'll use it for the existing base and fleet commanders (Captain and Fleet Captain respectively)

[Imagus]

Thanks for all your help, folks! This is what I came up with for the fleet eventually – the numbers and types are mostly based on info from Khrys, Ronin and my flatmate’s encyclopaedic knowledge of First World War battleships Ronin’s PM’d link to the Pacific Fleet site was particularly useful. Apologies if I missed anyone!

The 14th Fleet (Orion Sector), based out of Starbase 12:

1 Northampton-class command frigate (Samarquand).

3 Enterprise-class heavy cruisers (WarSpite, SwiftSure and Vanguard). These are refitted Constitutions, originally built for Andorian use, and have uprated weaponry.

3 Miranda-class light cruisers (Athena, Artemis and Hecate).

1 Loknar-class, 1 Thufir-class frigates (Rhea and Shraan). I redesignated the Thufir.

2 Larson-class destroyers (Axanar and Richthofen – yes, the latter is painted bright red!).

1 Chandley-class assault frigate (Vindicator).

14 Griffon-class, 10 Remora-class escorts.

48 assorted cutters.

4 Nelson-class, 2 Ranger-class scouts.

2 Derf-class tenders.

4 Aakenn-class supply freighters.

The fleet has a disproportionate number of capital vessels in active service, due to the proximity of the Klingon border. Generally no more than one each of the cruisers, frigates and destroyers will be in for maintenance at any one time. The heavy cruisers, the Samarquand and the Vindicator spend most of their time in port, with occasional patrols in strength for the benefit of the Klingons. The escorts and cutters are used for general system patrol, and are often involved in active conflict with smugglers and pirates. The fleet has some of the best-trained cutter crews in the quadrant – and the highest casualty rates.

SB12 is defended by three [I[Alamo[/i]-class defence outposts, designated Conwy, Harlech and Caerphilly - the base commander is a bit of a military history buff

(Note that all of these classes are from the FASA Federation SRM. I have modified some of the concepts a bit.)