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STAR FLEET UNIVERSE CAPTAIN’S LOG #23

CAPTAIN’S LOG #23 — Publication Date 8 November 2001 Page 1

New Worlds to Conquer

This issue brings you an entirely newrace (the Imperium, an extension of ModuleE2), a new weapon (the Particle-SplitterTorpedo for the Omega Sector), an entirelynew class of starships for SFB (the Skiffs),new cards for Star Fleet Battle Force, newrules for the incredible X-ships, and anentirely new game in GURPS PrimeDirective. We also have a template for you towrite your own rules and (never seen before)an index of just where all of those famousplanets and battles are on the map. Thecompany is going new places, and you willhave new worlds to conquer.

CAPTAIN’S LOG STAFFPublisher ........................Stephen V ColeManaging Editor ............. Steven P PetrickBusiness Manager ............ Leanna M ColeStar Fleet Staff………Stewart Frazier, John

D Berg, Chuck Strong, Ken Burnside,Jon Cleaves, Bruce Graw, Jeff Laikind,Gary Plana, Scott Moellmer, Joe Butler,Mike Calhoon, Mike Filsinger, PeterDimitri, Nick Blank, Andrew Harding,Trent Telenko.

Security Staff ...................... Ramses, IsisCover Art .............................. Ted GeibelInterior Art ......Dale McKee, Alvin BelflowerGraphics ...............Steve Cole, Ted Geibel

PUBLISHER’S INFORMATIONCaptain’s Log #23 was created and

published by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.,P.O. Box 8759, Amarillo, TX 79114. ContactADB, Inc. to order spare parts (or to obtain alist), replacement of defective or missingparts, or anything relating to Star Fleetproducts. Include a stamped self-addressedenvelope. See page #12.

Captain’s Log #23 is copyright © 2001Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.; all rights arereserved under the Pan-American, Interna-tional, and Berne Copyright Conventions.

All rules questions and submissions ofnew material should be sent to ADB, Inc.,Post Office Box 8759, Amarillo, TX 79114.Include a stamped self-addressed envelopeif you wish a reply. Unsolicited submissionsare accepted only under the standard termsfound in SFB Advanced Missions andbecome the property of ADB, Inc. on receipt;but authors are compensated if the item ispublished. Others should inquire by letter.No materials based on, for use with, orincorporating elements of SFB or the StarFleet Universe may be published withoutpermission of ADB, Inc.

Elements of the Star Fleet Universe arethe property of Paramount PicturesCorporation and are used with their

permission.

TABLE OF CONTENTSHISTORY

First Blood by Shelley Stuart................................................................. 2Not Good Friends by Scott Moellmer...................................................... 5Index of Planets................................................................................. 9Development of the Standard Small Freighter ........................................10

COMMUNICATIONSStar Fleet Communications Center .......................................................12Service Awards ................................................................................13Notes for Judges...............................................................................13Ranger Report..................................................................................13Ten Questions..................................................................................14To Ask the Question WHY?.................................................................15The X-Ship Project by Mike Filsinger.....................................................16After Action Reports: Recent Products...................................................17Command the Future: New Products.....................................................18Starline 2400 Miniatures; building Fed & Kzinti LTTs ................................19Input Guide: The New System .............................................................20Decisions of the Star Fleet Universe Board of Proposals ...........................21Standard Rules Templates by Ken Burnside ...........................................22You Know Your Captain is from New York City if ... ..................................27Ask Admiral Growler by Mike Filsinger ..................................................28

VENUESStar Fleet Warlord: Awards, Diplomacy, Prospecting ................................31Star Fleet Command: The Wreck of the Rex ...........................................32Galactic Conquest: A History of the First Ten Years .................................33Playing SFB By E-Mail: Games Merge into Ladder...................................34Star Fleet Battles On-Line: Version 3.0 now in Beta Test...........................35

DATABASEThe Omega Sector: The Particle Splitter Torpedo ....................................36Brothers of the Anarchist: Klingon vs Federation .....................................38Battle Group 700: Attack And Defend ....................................................41Shipyard Report: New Ships for SFB.....................................................65Star Fleet Battle Force: Bases, Planets, and Scenario ..............................66Introducing GURPS Prime Directive......................................................68Triangulum Galaxy: The Imperium by Francois Angers .............................74

SCENARIOSSL200 First Blood by Isaac Trimble.......................................................80SL201 Not Good Friends by Isaac Trimble .............................................81SL202 Attack and Defend (Battle Group) by Steven Paul Petrick ................82SL203 Joint Operations by David Kass..................................................83SL204 Grab And Run by Mike West......................................................84

TACTICSVictory At Origins 2001 by Vince Weibert ...............................................86Mæsron Tactics: A Primer by Andrew Harding ........................................94Term Papers ....................................................................................96

FEDERATION & EMPIREJindarians in Federation & Empire ...................................................... 105Rules & Rulings .............................................................................. 106Scenario 699: The North-South War by Stan Taylor ............................... 109Tactical Notes ................................................................................ 110Expansion Preview: Operational Bases, Colonial Development ................ 112

SHIPYARDNew Freighters for Star Fleet Battles.....................................................49Skiffs: A new ship type for Star Fleet Battles ...........................................54Brothers of the Anarchist ....................................................................55Omega Sector: Vari Torpedo Ships.......................................................57Triangulum: Ships of the Imperium .......................................................61

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Page 2 CAPTAIN’S LOG #23

STAR FLEET UNIVERSEHISTORY

First Bloodby Shelley Stuart

Spring, Y183. Federation Frigate Drake

Her first command was ending in disaster.Don’t think about it.Commander Kimberly Vail sat in her command seat, her

clenched hands digging furrows into the arms. Blue-white arcs ofelectricity sparked around her. The red glare of emergency lightsreflected grotesquely off of the faces of her crew, turning ribbonsof blood into black gouges. Lieutenant Commander Roberts lay ina crumpled heap against the bulkhead. The others were alive, butno one escaped damage. Dimly, Vail felt a dull throb in her leftarm. Strained at least, perhaps broken.

Original crew complement: 156.The Drake suffered just as badly. Somewhere amidships the

vacuum of space sucked at the innards of the frigate through gap-ing holes in the hull. Her starboard shields were stripped awayand her warp engines off-line. She drifted among the asteroidsthat had harbored her Romulan ravisher, making the hazard offurther damage a very real possibility.

Oh, hell, what’s a couple of rocks at a time like this?“Where is she, Mr. Ramirez?”Vail forcibly kept her tension out of her voice, and the calm

request brought life back into her crew. Helmsman Carter straight-ened in his chair and tried to make sense of his monitor. He tiltedhis head, getting the best focus he could from the one eye re-maining to him. Lieutenant Ramirez limped to her console andcoaxed data from the sensors. Ensign Feng, her communicationsboard useless, grabbed a first aid kit and slapped a compress onher oozing scalp, then attended to Roberts. Lieutenant “Guns”McLee pressed a comm unit to one ear, tallying the damage re-ports. Guns was the gunner, but was filling in for the junior engi-neer who now lay close to death in sick bay.

Responsible parties: one. I popped the weasel too quickly;most of the first torps were pseudos. That pinned us in place forthe second volley .

“No sign of her, captain,” Ramirez finally reported, her voicecracking under the strain of duplicating Vail’s calm demeanor. “Butsensors aren’t precisely cooperating right at the moment. We’restill on passive; we’ve got a forty kilo-klick range at best. With allthe asteroids around, I could be looking right at the bastard andnot know it. Computer has identified her profile. She’s a FireHawk,probably the Maelstrom.”

With effort, Vail kept her face impassive. A FireHawk? Andthey still lived to talk about it? It was almost enough to make Vailbelieve in a god. Any god. Feng knelt beside the motionless Rob-erts. Vail watched the ensign for several minutes, hoping for asecond miracle. “Helm?”

“One-half impulse only, sir,” Carter responded immediately.“Not exactly battle speed.”

“That’s all right, Carter. We’re not exactly a battle ship.” Fenglooked up at Vail and shook her head slightly. Vail nodded towardCarter, and Feng took the first aid kit to the helmsman.

The effort of maintaining her impassive façade was startingto give Vail a headache. She wanted to rage at the Romulan, butall that would accomplish is to startle her already jittery commandofficers. That she wanted to avoid at all costs. Their dooms loomedbefore them and they were holding on to their composure by thefinest of threads. Let them die proud as befitting Star Fleet offic-ers, not hopeless and weeping.

“Lieutenant McLee, you are now acting second in command,”Vail announced, her eyes on the forward screen. Establish thecomfort of formality: rules, regulations and a chain of commandthat refused to admit defeat. “Ramirez get me what you can onscreen. Guns, let’s hear it.”

Guns wasted no time in delivering the eulogy for the Drake.“Port offensive and defensive phasers and photon tube function-ing. Power at seventeen percent. We’re running on impulse power;warp nacelles were unstable and had to be taken off-line. We’restill getting some power from them, but not for movement. Hullbreach in the mid-starboard section. Decks seven through ninelost integrity, but the air locks are holding. Medical has deployedtriage teams throughout the ship and is handling only the mostcritical cases in sickbay. They relocated sick bay to the crew messhall. I have the last Marines and some able-bodied personnel de-ployed at critical systems to repel boarders. If the weasel had nottaken out the first salvo, we’d all be dead.”

“Screen coming on, Captain,” Ramirez reported. “We’ve onlygot a forward picture.” Almost everyone snapped their attention tothe screen. Feng diligently continued to apply a bandage to Carter’seye. Vail noted the young woman’s poise and attention to duty. Ifthey survived, Vail would recommend Feng for promotion andtransfer to her choice of starships.

On the display, asteroids floated in the silent void of space.The Romulan cruiser had settled in behind one of them and am-bushed the Drake. A mere frigate, the Drake had barely enoughwarning to turn before the Romulan’s full force struck them like agiant, angry fist. It was a pirate’s trick, a maneuver without finesse,but it nearly destroyed them. Only quick thinking and fast fingerson the helm had allowed them to spread the damage of the Rom’sthree torpedoes around, saving the ship.

For what?Questions nagged at Vail, critical questions that she prob-

ably wouldn’t live to ask. She mulled them in her mind regardless,to silence the part of her that wanted to vent violent emotions atthe lost lives and frigate. Why were the Romulans here? Werethey launching a flanking attack on 6th Fleet? With one FireHawk?Unlikely. There must be something else here that they sought.What was so important about this sector that merited a Romulancruiser? How could she warn Star Fleet Headquarters about theevents that took place? Long range communications were out; itwas the first thing she had tried. Their last situation report had notmentioned an enemy; their next check in was not due for threehours. Add another hour for the nearest ship to get here. Can wehide four hours? Probably not, but every minute counts, and thereis nothing to be gained by giving up.

Where is the enemy? Of the Romulan, there was no sign.Only the crystal cold reality of space that was the new quarters fortoo many of her crew.

“They’re playing with us,” Carter growled. “Some sick gameof hide and seek.”

“It’s not their style,” Guns countered. “They would have fin-ished us off already.”

“I want that photon ready to go, and phasers ready to fire,”Vail snapped. “Get repair teams working on the warp nacelles.Helm, give me a slow one-eighty. Ramirez, keep your eyes peeledand tell me if you see anything out of the ordinary. Feng, kill the

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