I Seek Knowledge about Tanks - Part One

Posted on Fri Mar 6th, 2020 @ 9:25pm by Fleet Captain Marie Yamaguchi & Colonel Marc Krueger

Mission: Mission 67: In The Service of Life and the Living
Location: High Orbit over B Kayor
Timeline: 0900Hrs Local Time - March 12th, 2392

Colonel Marc Krueger stepped off of the Large Runabout owned and operated by the Starfighter corps, he found it more useful then wasting hundreds of Starships as the taxi cabs of the various Admirals who didn't deserve them, also it cleaned out a lot of the garbage in the fleet as far as Kreuger was concerned.

He was arriving on the hanger deck of the USS Stalingrad as he found a dark skinned human woman standing before him, wearing the uniform of someone in starfleet, her uniform designated her as someone in command red and her four pips meant that she was the Captain of this particular starship. "Permission to come aboard Captain?"

"Granted." Yamaguchi responded. "I'm Captain Marie Yamaguchi, skipper of this ship."

"Colonel Marc Krueger. Marines Armored Corps." he responded. "I'm here to see how the Akurians deal with armor."

"Ahh. I got your advance notice from General Sh'Trell earlier today." she explained. "I have your quarters arranged for you on deck Six, section eleven." Marie handed the Colonel a PADD with all the information he would need. "Thank you Captain."

"Your welcome. If there is anything you need. The ships computer can help you out with things."

"Of course. Thanks." as he hefted his bag, the two then parted company as he departed the hanger before making his way to his destination.

A short time later. Krueger was eager to go to work so he went over to the nearby Akurian flagship, after emerging from his shuttle which he had borrowed from the Stalingrad, he looked around.

He secured the shuttle before he found himself facing two Akurians. "I'm Marc Krueger. I'm here to see someone about tanks."

One of the Akurians looked at the new arrival replying," You will want to talk to Fourth general Zoka Ukar."

"Okay." Kreuger responded. "Do you know where I might find the General?" he inquired with a smile.

The Akurian shrugged," Probably on the flag bridge, if not someone there should know."

Krueger smiled. "Thank you." After receiving the directions, he set off, down the hallway towards his new destination, Several minutes later he reached the flag bridge. "Hello.." he announced himself. "Anyone seen General..." he paused. "Ukarr... I think is the name I was given?"

Nevanzi was in the middle of a conversation with the Android General whom looked up at the new arrival. "Yes."

"I'm Colonel Marc Krueger and I was asked to see you about Akurian armor." he commented as he came over towards the General who he found looked rather odd, especially in comparison to the other personnel here.

Ukar gave the starfleet man a curious look," OK, what is it you want to know, or are you wanting to inspecting the vehicles."

"Well.. More or less everything." Kreuger responded. "The Federation is looking to establish an armored force with tanks and the like...My superiors have asked me to look into the matter.. So here I am."

Ukar sighed and crossed her arms. "OK, well that doesn't tell me a whole lot, anything you want to start with."

"The tanks themselves and your order of battle.." Kreuger responded. "The Federation doesn't know much about them... " he shrugged. "I'll start with seeing the tanks up close and then learn about their order of battle.."

"OK, for that we will have to go down to the planets surface," Ukar explained," there are very few tanks on the ship."

Krueger nodded. "That's fine. I'm here for the next while to learn all I can." he explained. "The superiors gave me a mandate so I have the time to accomplish it." he paused. "Do you have any literature I can read over?"

Ukar shrugged as she picked up a tablet. "If you can read Akurian. Anyway, we have regular shuttle flights from this ship to the ground, next one leaves in ten minutes."

Kruger smiled. "From the main hanger?, I'll be on it..." he responded. "I can always get it translated while I wait.." he added.

Ukar shook her head. "Not familiar with this ship I see. There are 10 larger hangar bays on this ship and numerous smaller ones, Follow me, I know which one the next shuttle is departing from."

"Very well. After you then." Kreuger responded, before he followed her out the door.

Ukar didn't say much as she led Kreuger to one of the shuttle bays, the one where a shuttle was readying for departure. Like many Akurian spacecraft, the shuttle was much larger than a standard federation shuttle, with a mass of over 200 tons, a 40 meter length and having two decks.

Krueger boarded the shuttle after the Akurian female who had some rather odd colors in her fur patterns, he took a seat as he gave the tablet the once over, as expected it was written in the Akurians native tongue. "Can I get this translated to english please?"

Ukar took the tablet and went over the settings, before finally saying," Eh sorry, this tablet does not contain that language. From what I have been told, the language you federation humans speak has been extinct with our humans for over a millenia."

"Wait a minute." Kreuger responded. "Over a millennia... What do you mean?"

Ukar worked on configuring the Padd while replying. "Well needless to say, the Akurians and OISU, we aren't just from another galaxy. Actually to be more accurate we are from the same galaxy as you, but from a different reality, an alternate universe. But our universe is roughly 2100 years ahead of yours. However we aren't from your future, given that humanity in our universe had just barely attained FTL by their 23rd century, and only by reverse engineering alien technology, and they certainly didn't have a large interstellar federation going. Plus between our universe and your universe, Humans are the only common species present in both universes." She then handed the tablet back to Kreuger, " Anyway, tablets translated."

Kreuger regarded her in silence as she provided her explanation, he accepted the tablet back from her. "Thank you.... You look different from the average Akurian..." he admitted. "I assume you aren't Akurian.."

Ukar gave a light smile. "Well there is a reason I was able to translate that tablet so quickly. Though I am definitely considered Akurian by my comrades, no technically I am not, I am an android."

"Ahh. I understand." Krueger responded as he made himself comfortable before he began reading the tablet. "Mmm..." he smiled as he read over the Akurian tanks and the like.

Several minutes the shuttle landed on the planet as Krueger tapped the power toggle on the tablet. "I'll read more later."

Ukar got out of her chair and opened the shuttle door, walking out onto the landing pad. The prefabrication base that the PADD was mounted on had several large Airships docked to the base. all four resembled old style wet navy vessels. Two of the 400 meter long vessels resembled old style battleships while the other two where aircraft carriers.

"Interesting designs..." Kruger commented when he saw them. "How do those fit into your order of battle?"

If your going to conduct a ground war and be able to land troops, then you need a method of attaining local Air Supremacy," Ukar explained," That and with planetary energy shields being a nearly ubiquitous technology, orbital fire support is rarely something that can be counted on. Since a full sized space warship is too large and clumsy to operate in atmosphere, that is where the Airships come in. The first two are aerial combat ships, carrying a dozed 38 cm guns they can deliver heavy firepower to a hardened target. They along with the Aircraft carriers are used to attain air supremacy. Since Space fighters and lancers are also too large and clumsy to effectively operate in atmosphere in a combat role, that's where the much smaller fighter and bomber aircraft come in handy to provide aerial interdiction and close air support. While the aerial combat ship is a very powerful and impressive machine, it cant be everywhere, so that's why fielding an Aircraft carrier that can carry 150-200 smaller aircraft comes in real handy, with the fighter and bomber aircraft performing roles than an ACS is unsuited for, such as Aerial reconnaissance, interdiction, CAS, and just in general being able to cover a larger area. But since the average aircraft doesn't have a powerful enough engine to effectively operate in space, that is why an aircraft carrier is needed, which that is what the third vessel is. the fourth vessel is an assault lander. Though it looks superficially similar to the regular aircraft carrier, the landing carrier, instead of predominantly carrying aircraft, that vessel is what carries the ground troops and vehicles, as well as a smaller complement of transport aircraft."

Krueger regarded her. "I should get you to write all of that down." he commented in a dry tone. "I am probably going to remember about a tenth of all of that information." he paused. "Does the information you gave me cover it?"

Zoka gave Krueger a look. "If its that important to you, shouldn't you be taking notes then. Because if its not important enough to bother taking notes and remembering, then why are we even doing this in the first place."

"Because I want to see the tanks first... Before I start my work." he responded. "I am going to be here for the foreseeable future and I will have a lot of paperwork to write. So. I am taking notes." as he tapped the PADD located on his belt. "For my note keeping."

"Well then keep this in mind," Zoka explained, "Before you can even think about fielding the tanks in the first place, you need to consider how you are going to transport them and get them on the ground. Without that capability, the tanks are paperweights."

"Well I do have a large Federation ship, presently being constructed. Called the Vishal Class, it has a volume of some one fifty million metric tons." Krueger sighed softly. "Trouble is.. she's lightly armed so she'll require dedicated escort vessels. Those are under construction too."

"Unless I am mistaken, the federation does not have the technology to land something of that size on a planet, You still need something to transport the tanks from their ship to the ground, and something better than a small shuttle," Zoka explained.

Krueger regarded her. "One tank per runabout is not going to work..." he sighed. "I have been assured that that problem is being handled... How.. I honestly have no idea." he sighed. "I did not see that one coming."

Zoka looked back over at the docked Airships," Well, its something to bring up to your superiors. Anyway, I have two options for you. There are tanks here in the vehicle bay you can review, or if you like, there is a unit on maneuvers about 40 minutes drive away from here, which do you prefer?"

Kreuger regarded her. "No.. Lets drive out.. I came to see the real things... seeing them in action for me, would be a bonus." he responded while he regarded the smaller being next to him.

Zoka nodded and led him to the Vehicle bay, then selected one of the nearby light trucks that wasn't being used and hopped in.

Krueger followed in silence before he got comfortable, then within minutes they were off, heading down the trail towards their destination. "She is quiet..." he commented, indicating their ride.

Zoka kept her eyes on the trail. "Well, all our ground vehicles are all electric. Powered by high capacity batteries and electric motors. simple but highly reliable, and most vehicles can still travel several thousand kilometers on a single charge plus still have plenty of power to spare for weapons."

Krueger opened his mouth but then he paused. "Electric.. I was told that that idea was stupidly primitive... But then I was sent here to establish guidelines for Federation Armored Units... and Units of all times if I got the time." he explained. "I can see me using one of an electric system and one with a microfusion reactor." he explained. "I will field test both concepts in the holodeck before I help the Federation to decide."

"Well our generator vehicles use microfusion reactors," Zoka explained," but we don't particularly like microfusion reactors for all vehicles. While vehicles with microfulsion reactors have longer endurance, and microfusion reactor vehicles can certainly use hover mode for much much longer, their disadvantages is mainly in reliability. Microfusion reactors require a lot more maintenance than battery powered vehicles, plus a microfusion reactor is not as tolerant of battle damage. It takes a hit, its out for good, on top of the fact that a damaged reactor can leak radiation and destroyed reactor can leave radioactive materials lying around. On top of that microfusion reactors require specialist knowledge to service or repair, but any regular soldier with minimal technical knowledge can service a battery powered vehicle. Reactors also don't sustain rough terrain or battlefield wear and tear as well, a hard enough bump can shut down a fusion reactor. Our electric vehicles can be dropped from a rather impressive distance and continue to run. Plus if a vehicle takes a hit to the battery compartment, there is a good chance not all the cells will be destroyed allowing the vehicle some ability to retreat. Where as even hit's that don't penetrate the vehicles armor are known to shut down a reactor."

Krueger was busy taking down notes, PADD in hand as he typed quickly top keep up with her talking to him about tanks and the generators that runs them. "This will greatly aid my cause." he responded. "So... electricity is the way to go then."

Zoka nodded," As long as you intend for your vehicles to primarily use tracks and wheels, but if you want your vehicles to use hover mode for more than just a short burst to get over an obstacle, then microfusion becomes more of a necessity. Now keep in mind I also speak from the perspective of our microfusion technology, not yours. I am not familiar with your technology, so my perspective may not fully work for your people."

Kreuger regarded her. "I can show you why I dislike my own tech.." he explained as he tapped his combadge. "Kruger to Stalingrad..."

"Stalingrad here. Go ahead Colonel."

"Captain... Could you send me down some old gear you don't need or want.. like old Argo jeeps and maybe a shuttle or two...?"

"Yeah.. I can send you two old shuttles, a Runabout and four Argo jeeps.." Yamaguchi's voice came back.

"Excellent. Send them to?" he turned to regard the Akurian next to him as if he wanted her to answer in his stead. "Where do we want them?"

Zoka didn't really get what he was meaning," What are you wanting to do with them."

"I want to see your weapons in action... So I'm going to blow something up." Kreuger explained. "And you get to see why I dislike the Federation's reliance on overly complicated technology."

Zoka turned her attention back to driving. The roads were little more than dirt trails, mostly made by the tracks of tanks moving through. "Well as I mentioned its still a 40 minute drive there."

"I am in no rush my dear." Krueger settled in to wait and enjoy the drive, he then rolled down the window as he smiled, clearly wanting to enjoy the ride and not talk her ear off.