Hey! I've decided to do an After Action Report on Birth of the Federation, a Star Trek-themed Masters of Orion game. This is my very first After Action Report, but please enjoy it like any other. I chose Birth of the Federation, because it is one game, that I have always had a special palce in my heart for, so I hope I can share that.
With each part, I will post a story from my evolving universe along with a video matching the gameplay to the events in the universe.
I am using the Ultimate Dominion Mod and so far I think, it improves the game immeasurably. I am playing the Federation, but as an understatement, I won't be pulling my punches. Here is the first story that goes along with a video of me introducing the game, it's dynamics, it's benefits and it's game-crashing flaws!
He sat in the Admiral's waiting room, clenching his fists until they were white. He stared ahead into nothing, but he could see it happening over and over. The clenched fist of guilt held him, as he momentarilly played with the toy on his superior's table, trying to distract himself. It was a model of the old Excelsior class, the kind that used to play cat and mouse with the Xepolites only twenty years ago.
He took a moment to look around, he knew better than anybody about the changing galaxy around Earth, but even he was taken aback as a Xepolite stopped for just a moment and scrutinized him, bringing him out of his thoughts. The uncomfortable inspection by the alien was odd. Yes, things were certainly changing around here.
"Mr. Ambassador, this way, I'll show you the construction of our flagship, the USS Akira." The alien was distracted enough to draw his uncomfortable gaze from him, despite an eccentric race, they were curious enough to see Earth's- sorry, the Federation's- newest starship being built one hundred miles above. As he continued to look at the faces that could only distract from the memories inside he just wanted to forget, he couldn't rid himself of the feeling, that he was about to be left behind.
"Commander Mirai?" The Japanese officer rose to attention, as the Admiral finally rode out of his conference room, a toothy grin on his lips, extending his hand to his own, his own still carrying that tremor that had lessened over the week, and just barely gripped the other man's hand. The Admiral stopped for a moment, possibly pondering the tremor, before his smile became reassuring "I wouldn't expect you to get over it so soon, son... If ever."
"Thank you, Admiral Kelvin." The shake in his fingers stopped for a moment to mirror the smile in the Admiral's face.
"Come into my office, Commander."
Mirai sat uncomfortably, opposite the Admiral, as he shot profanities across his computer screen. "These god damn computers even more confusing than the old models." The Commander smiled, before turning his eyes away. He was sure this was just a formality and they had the whole event on record, every single second from the flight recorder, and in moments when the Admiral's computer responded to him, it would be a polite dismissal for the Commander . He was dressed differently from everyone around him, he wore the old uniform, and however proudly he wore it, he still stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Ah, there we go." Smoothing back his grey-hair, to further deduct what was happening on his screen, he leant forward with courage and tapped a few panels. Smiling in success, like he'd just invented warp drive as Mirai couldn't help but be infected by it, but the Commander's mirroring smile dropped. "So, Commander, tell me in your own words, what happened?"
His heart started to race and his fingers started to become laced with sweat, and his lips shivered as he knew recalling the events would just make him feel like they were happening again. Yet he pressed ahead and raised his eyes to the Admiral. "The USS Sabre was exploring the Typhon sector." The moments froze him for a moment. "We had detected two neutrino readings emerge from the beta cluster... it was two Klingon warbirds... it was seconds until the three decks below were on fire, seconds more, the fires had gone out and every crew member floated out into the vacuum."
"That's always a shocking moment, son." The Admiral clasped his hands together. "And can you go over how you and your surviving comrades escaped?" The Commander clenched his fingers for dear life, almost as hard as he had clung to the pipes of the Jefferies' tubes as the ship shuddered around them.
"Every system, including our sensors were offline. We had no idea what was going on outside the ship, until the ship shook. They had docked onboard the ship. We had already diverted our remaing power to placed forcefields blocking off the surviving areas of the ship, but it wasn't long before they hailed us over the ship's communication system and gave us their demands."
"These weren't two rebel Klingon warbirds were they?"
"They claimed they were from the galactic council and the brief scans we made of their ships said as much. They said we had strayed into their territory... under Galactic law, the remaining crew would be sentenced to death... they also wished to plough the ships of any valuables ofcourse... " Mirai paused for a moment, bringing a half-clenched fist to his chest as he breathed in slowly, as the Admiral looked at him with an emotionless expression, curiously, drawing a pencil and scrawling across a piece of paper as Mirai began to talk again. "Either I could sit there and let my crew taken one by one to Qo'nos under arrest and be executed as an example... or I could defy galactic law, endanger Earth but save my crew."
"Both Klingon ships had docked with the ship and they had overran the forcefields, but by that time, the rest of the surviving crew were in the Jefferies tubes on their way to the escape pods..."
"And you?"
"I had made my way to the engine room. The Klingons knew what we were up to, and they were in the middle of decoupling their warbirds to pursue our escape pods, and I had been narrowly missed by disruptor beams, as I made my way to the core, but I got there. Locked down the doors, but they immediately started to work their way in. I had little time..." A tear rolled down his cheek as his eyes left the Admiral, hands clasping together harder than ever before. "To save the crew, I fired a phaser into the warp core, vapourizing the ship, the Klingons and myself.
"I died for them."
He started to weep openly. "Destroying two ships of the galactic council just to save my friends" His cries were pained "Let alone shame, I have brought inevitable war to the Earth!" The Admiral nodded slightly as a glaze overcame his own eyes, and the small yellow pencil stood still across the piece of paper.
"No, son, you are not shamed. The Galactic council is an Illegal organization. For too long, the galaxy has been held in a criminal monopoly by the Klingons and Romulans, under the guise of peace. A shameful man is someone who lets that continue, lets that thrive. You are a hero of Earth... of the Federation. Which will one day, be the true force peace in the galaxy" The Admiral dropped the pencil, as it rolled across the scrawled on leaf of paper, to stroke just below his eye.
"Computer, End Commander Mirai holo-programme." The Admiral grunted.
The Commander across his desk who had sacraficed his life to save his crew, disappeared in a haze of photons and forcefields, as the Admiral stood up and slid his hands into his pockets, turning to look at San Francico: the dusk across the city, as shuttles zooed across the horizon, it's ancient landmarks being dwarfed by the world ahead of them. Starfleet Academy projecting a shadow across the Golden Gate bridge and the Federation Council, being constructed and soon to betowering above it all.
"Admiral Kelvin have you completed your report on the Sabre incident yet?" A voice came over the intercom, shaking the the elderly man from his thought, quickly scrambling forward to press his finger onto the speaker. His thumb there, he paused, thinking for a moment.
"I've completed my report. Tell the Federation parliament I will get it to them as soon as possible. Commander Mirai will face no charges post-humously."
There was a pause at the other end of the line. "Yes, Sir."
The Admiral walked sanguinely to his door, head down only to lift his hand and open the door. He stepped back, eyes widened as a pair of unfamilar eyes stared at him. The Xepolite ambassador stuck out his hand awkwardly like he just memorized the conversational tactic, mere moments before. The Admiral took it. "Admiral, so good to meet you. I just want to ask where the young man is who was sitting outside your office... he was wearing the most curious of uniforms."
The Admiral's fingers tightened and he gradually shook the Xepolite's hand, "That man is a hero of the Federation, and now that your people have joined our new alliance, you'll be seeing a lot more of them."
Hope you enjoyed the story and the video and look forward to the next in my Birth of the Federation AAR.
Link to video.
With each part, I will post a story from my evolving universe along with a video matching the gameplay to the events in the universe.
I am using the Ultimate Dominion Mod and so far I think, it improves the game immeasurably. I am playing the Federation, but as an understatement, I won't be pulling my punches. Here is the first story that goes along with a video of me introducing the game, it's dynamics, it's benefits and it's game-crashing flaws!
He sat in the Admiral's waiting room, clenching his fists until they were white. He stared ahead into nothing, but he could see it happening over and over. The clenched fist of guilt held him, as he momentarilly played with the toy on his superior's table, trying to distract himself. It was a model of the old Excelsior class, the kind that used to play cat and mouse with the Xepolites only twenty years ago.
He took a moment to look around, he knew better than anybody about the changing galaxy around Earth, but even he was taken aback as a Xepolite stopped for just a moment and scrutinized him, bringing him out of his thoughts. The uncomfortable inspection by the alien was odd. Yes, things were certainly changing around here.
"Mr. Ambassador, this way, I'll show you the construction of our flagship, the USS Akira." The alien was distracted enough to draw his uncomfortable gaze from him, despite an eccentric race, they were curious enough to see Earth's- sorry, the Federation's- newest starship being built one hundred miles above. As he continued to look at the faces that could only distract from the memories inside he just wanted to forget, he couldn't rid himself of the feeling, that he was about to be left behind.
"Commander Mirai?" The Japanese officer rose to attention, as the Admiral finally rode out of his conference room, a toothy grin on his lips, extending his hand to his own, his own still carrying that tremor that had lessened over the week, and just barely gripped the other man's hand. The Admiral stopped for a moment, possibly pondering the tremor, before his smile became reassuring "I wouldn't expect you to get over it so soon, son... If ever."
"Thank you, Admiral Kelvin." The shake in his fingers stopped for a moment to mirror the smile in the Admiral's face.
"Come into my office, Commander."
Mirai sat uncomfortably, opposite the Admiral, as he shot profanities across his computer screen. "These god damn computers even more confusing than the old models." The Commander smiled, before turning his eyes away. He was sure this was just a formality and they had the whole event on record, every single second from the flight recorder, and in moments when the Admiral's computer responded to him, it would be a polite dismissal for the Commander . He was dressed differently from everyone around him, he wore the old uniform, and however proudly he wore it, he still stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Ah, there we go." Smoothing back his grey-hair, to further deduct what was happening on his screen, he leant forward with courage and tapped a few panels. Smiling in success, like he'd just invented warp drive as Mirai couldn't help but be infected by it, but the Commander's mirroring smile dropped. "So, Commander, tell me in your own words, what happened?"
His heart started to race and his fingers started to become laced with sweat, and his lips shivered as he knew recalling the events would just make him feel like they were happening again. Yet he pressed ahead and raised his eyes to the Admiral. "The USS Sabre was exploring the Typhon sector." The moments froze him for a moment. "We had detected two neutrino readings emerge from the beta cluster... it was two Klingon warbirds... it was seconds until the three decks below were on fire, seconds more, the fires had gone out and every crew member floated out into the vacuum."
"That's always a shocking moment, son." The Admiral clasped his hands together. "And can you go over how you and your surviving comrades escaped?" The Commander clenched his fingers for dear life, almost as hard as he had clung to the pipes of the Jefferies' tubes as the ship shuddered around them.
"Every system, including our sensors were offline. We had no idea what was going on outside the ship, until the ship shook. They had docked onboard the ship. We had already diverted our remaing power to placed forcefields blocking off the surviving areas of the ship, but it wasn't long before they hailed us over the ship's communication system and gave us their demands."
"These weren't two rebel Klingon warbirds were they?"
"They claimed they were from the galactic council and the brief scans we made of their ships said as much. They said we had strayed into their territory... under Galactic law, the remaining crew would be sentenced to death... they also wished to plough the ships of any valuables ofcourse... " Mirai paused for a moment, bringing a half-clenched fist to his chest as he breathed in slowly, as the Admiral looked at him with an emotionless expression, curiously, drawing a pencil and scrawling across a piece of paper as Mirai began to talk again. "Either I could sit there and let my crew taken one by one to Qo'nos under arrest and be executed as an example... or I could defy galactic law, endanger Earth but save my crew."
"Both Klingon ships had docked with the ship and they had overran the forcefields, but by that time, the rest of the surviving crew were in the Jefferies tubes on their way to the escape pods..."
"And you?"
"I had made my way to the engine room. The Klingons knew what we were up to, and they were in the middle of decoupling their warbirds to pursue our escape pods, and I had been narrowly missed by disruptor beams, as I made my way to the core, but I got there. Locked down the doors, but they immediately started to work their way in. I had little time..." A tear rolled down his cheek as his eyes left the Admiral, hands clasping together harder than ever before. "To save the crew, I fired a phaser into the warp core, vapourizing the ship, the Klingons and myself.
"I died for them."
He started to weep openly. "Destroying two ships of the galactic council just to save my friends" His cries were pained "Let alone shame, I have brought inevitable war to the Earth!" The Admiral nodded slightly as a glaze overcame his own eyes, and the small yellow pencil stood still across the piece of paper.
"No, son, you are not shamed. The Galactic council is an Illegal organization. For too long, the galaxy has been held in a criminal monopoly by the Klingons and Romulans, under the guise of peace. A shameful man is someone who lets that continue, lets that thrive. You are a hero of Earth... of the Federation. Which will one day, be the true force peace in the galaxy" The Admiral dropped the pencil, as it rolled across the scrawled on leaf of paper, to stroke just below his eye.
"Computer, End Commander Mirai holo-programme." The Admiral grunted.
The Commander across his desk who had sacraficed his life to save his crew, disappeared in a haze of photons and forcefields, as the Admiral stood up and slid his hands into his pockets, turning to look at San Francico: the dusk across the city, as shuttles zooed across the horizon, it's ancient landmarks being dwarfed by the world ahead of them. Starfleet Academy projecting a shadow across the Golden Gate bridge and the Federation Council, being constructed and soon to betowering above it all.
"Admiral Kelvin have you completed your report on the Sabre incident yet?" A voice came over the intercom, shaking the the elderly man from his thought, quickly scrambling forward to press his finger onto the speaker. His thumb there, he paused, thinking for a moment.
"I've completed my report. Tell the Federation parliament I will get it to them as soon as possible. Commander Mirai will face no charges post-humously."
There was a pause at the other end of the line. "Yes, Sir."
The Admiral walked sanguinely to his door, head down only to lift his hand and open the door. He stepped back, eyes widened as a pair of unfamilar eyes stared at him. The Xepolite ambassador stuck out his hand awkwardly like he just memorized the conversational tactic, mere moments before. The Admiral took it. "Admiral, so good to meet you. I just want to ask where the young man is who was sitting outside your office... he was wearing the most curious of uniforms."
The Admiral's fingers tightened and he gradually shook the Xepolite's hand, "That man is a hero of the Federation, and now that your people have joined our new alliance, you'll be seeing a lot more of them."
Hope you enjoyed the story and the video and look forward to the next in my Birth of the Federation AAR.
Link to video.
