A Star Destroyer vs. YOU

[the atom]

You are in command of a small fleet of Federation starships sent to investigate a distress signal on the outer rim of the Federation. Upon arrival, an Imperial Star Destroyer unexpectedly jump out of hyperspace. It ignores your hails, and begins charging it's weapons. Being too far away to receive reinforcements, you are forced to engage it by yourselves.

Your fleet consists of 2 Sovereigns, 3 Defiants, 2 Akiras and 2 Mirandas with normal compliments of photon torpedos, quantum torpedos, and phaser banks.

How do you proceed with the attack? (surrender is not an option)

[Stofsk]

I target the shield domes on top of the bridge and open fire with everything I've got yukyukyuk

Seriously I open fire with everything I've got. It's just one ship.

[VF5SS]

I break the black rod that holds it up against the blue screen and it falls to the ground

it's only a model

[Eternal_Freedom]

I break the black rod that holds it up against the blue screen and it falls to the ground

it's only a model

=win.

Turn and run. There's no point in engaging it in battle and doing so will likely provoke a war. So, turn around, jump to warp and run hell for leather to the nearest Starbase and tell people what you saw.

Seriously, what Star Destroyer captain is going to drop out of hyperspace, see a bunch of unfamiliar vessels and open fire immediately? I know there's this image of imperial offficers being losse-screwed maniacs, but come on. They can't be that crazy or they'd have got them and their crew killed by now.

[KhorneFlakes]

Have one of the Sovereigns standby where the Destroyer is and try to figure out how to contact the Imps. Have the Defiants relay this stuff to HQ, and hope that the Captain isn't a crazed genocidal fuck who'll open fire the second my ships contact him/her.

I, and the other ships, of course, will be running the fuck away.

[Cesario]

Have my fleet perform a short warp jump to get some distance between us and the ship.

Send one of my ships back to Starfleet command with a warning that it's time to implement the Ragnarok protocol. (Since I expect the imperials will be jamming us.)

Then I transmit the standard Federation greeting when an alien power we aren't even sure is capable of understanding us is encountered (per the episode Darmok). "Would you be interested in a treaty of mutual nonagression?"

As with the Crystaline entity, there is no need to blow up another possibly sentient life form when our defenses are sufficient to protect us. When the ship makes an agressive move against a ship or planet that can't just warp out of reach, then we'll have to blow it up.

Meanwhile, have my science officer anylize the sensor readings to determine how these things really match up, and if necessary order my chief engineer to whip up a subspace transporter so we can beam a bomb through their shields if it comes to that.

[Batman]

Me as me, i.e. somebody who knows just how hopelessly outclassed the Starfleet ships are, or me as some Starfleet captain restricted to the information available to a Starfleet captain?
The former-get us out of here, Maximum Warp. My task force doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
The latter-depends on how good my sensor information is, as their performance in that area tends to be inconsistent as hell. If it's good enough to tell me just how impossibly outclassed I am, see former. If they can not, at least not to the extent that I know I'm screwed, I might hang around and keep trying to hail them, counting on my having numerical superiority to win the day if and when hostilities ensue.

Something that might be interesting to know is why the ISD isn't responding to hails. For all we know, it is hailing my task force too yet thanks to technobabble we can't hear each other. Them powering up weapons doesn't mean they're inevitably going to fire them. As long as they don't shoot I'd probably ask Data/O'Brien/Wesley/Scotty/MacGyver/the Heterodyne whoever my resident tech wizard is to try to technobabble a way for us to be able to talk.

[the atom]

By decree of OP fiat, running away isn't an option (little cheaters....).

[Batman]

By decree of OP fiat, running away isn't an option (little cheaters....).

As per your very own OP surrender is not an option, it doesn't say beans about turning tail and running away

[Cesario]

By decree of OP fiat, running away isn't an option (little cheaters....).

So is there some sort of interdiction field that prevents me from moving safely out of their weapons range using my FTL drive? That limits a lot of other options as well. Warping outside their effective weapons range, then warping shuttles full of explosives up their tailpipes, for example.

If you're going to force me to engage, that's fine, but knowing the rules of the scenario up front woud be useful.

[the atom]

By decree of OP fiat, running away isn't an option (little cheaters....).

As per your very own OP surrender is not an option, it doesn't say beans about turning tail and running away

Yes, well I'm saying it now I believe the appropriate words are 'neener neener'

[the atom]

By decree of OP fiat, running away isn't an option (little cheaters....).

So is there some sort of interdiction field that prevents me from moving safely out of their weapons range using my FTL drive? That limits a lot of other options as well. Warping outside their effective weapons range, then warping shuttles full of explosives up their tailpipes, for example.

If you're going to force me to engage, that's fine, but knowing the rules of the scenario up front woud be useful.

You can use warp, but let's say you can't leave the system. Sorry about any confusion.

[Batman]

I Warp around the system until the ISD captain gets bored of chasing me and goes away?

[Cesario]

Then my strategy can proceed unaltered save no ship to get the Ragnarok protocol initiated. That ship will be ordered to try negotating with whatever godlike alien trapped us in the system.

Meanwhile, I just keep out of weapons range and continue trying to talk to them until either I succeed or they attack someone who can't get out of weapons range. (Say whoever I was answering the distress call from.)

If they do force my hand, my strategy will depend on how long I had to get this operational. Most of the Deus Ex Machina plans in my bag of tricks require a few hours to pull out of a Chief Engineer's ass.

If I don't have a few hours, then the next move depends on sensor readings and metafictionality. If Star Wars existed in this universe, and the obsessive diagrams and source books weren't destroyed during World War 3, I have my ops officer pull them up to augment sensor readings we're getting and to aid in targeting critical systems. If it didn't, just hope the sensor readings are good enough. We can tell they're powering weapons, so that's encouraging.

I stick with my avoidance goal as best I can, using the defiants as a distraction as the rest of the fleet moves to evacuate whoever we need to rescue.

If there's no one in immediate danger, but a potential threat of this ship moving on to civilized space (as it was with the planet killer), job 1 isn't destroying the ship, but stopping it. To that end, targeting the Hyperdrive is our best shot. Once they're restricted to sublight speed, they'll likely be a lot more interested in negotiating. Use our superior mauverability and targeting computers to concentrate firepower to overwhelm shields in a very small spot. Putting it all in a spot less than two meters wide ought to impress them, and overwhelm shielding in that area long enough to damage their hyperdrive, even if we do no damage otherwise.

Negotiation is always our first imperative, however, so we do try to talk to them as long as that option doesn't risk anyone's life.

[Batman]

Meanwhile, I just keep out of weapons range and continue trying to talk to them until either I succeed or they attack someone who can't get out of weapons range. (Say whoever I was answering the distress call from.)

Um-since you can't leave the system you're in weapons range by default? Of course, TLs being lightspeed weapons and you having FTL sensors that might not result in much more than your tactical officer going 'Yawn. Another weapons discharge coming our way.' 'Time to impact?'
'2 hours 13 minutes or thereabouts'. 'Well take some sort of evasive action or other when appropriate. I'm taking a nap.'

[Cesario]

Meanwhile, I just keep out of weapons range and continue trying to talk to them until either I succeed or they attack someone who can't get out of weapons range. (Say whoever I was answering the distress call from.)

Um-since you can't leave the system you're in weapons range by default? Of course, TLs being lightspeed weapons and you having FTL sensors that might not result in much more than your tactical officer going 'Yawn. Another weapons discharge coming our way.' 'Time to impact?'
'2 hours 13 minutes or thereabouts'. 'Well take some sort of evasive action or other when appropriate. I'm taking a nap.'

Let's go with "effective weapons range", to be defined as "far enough away that we can dodge their fire with contemptuous ease".

[Batman]

Wouldn't that rather mean you're out of 'effective' weapons range?

[Ahriman238]

If I found myself in command of a Starfleet vessel encountering a Star Destroyer, I'd assume I was in some sort of ill-conceived forum scenario. And therefore would need a creative solution.

I hail them, remark that they're early, and thank Emperor Palpatine for his consideration and delicacy in this matter. I'm sure i know enough about the Empire and its politics to convince them that they stumbled onto a group their government is involved in secret, top-level negotiations with.

Maybe I'll even get them to destroy the Romulan Star Empire, as a gesture of goodwill to cover for their screwup.

[Cesario]

Why? The Romulans are the nicest power in the neighborhood?

[the atom]

They're also a race composed entirely of pompous dicks. For that alone they deserve extinction!

[Eternal_Freedom]

If I found myself in command of a Starfleet vessel encountering a Star Destroyer, I'd assume I was in some sort of ill-conceived forum scenario. And therefore would need a creative solution.

I hail them, remark that they're early, and thank Emperor Palpatine for his consideration and delicacy in this matter. I'm sure i know enough about the Empire and its politics to convince them that they stumbled onto a group their government is involved in secret, top-level negotiations with.

Maybe I'll even get them to destroy the Romulan Star Empire, as a gesture of goodwill to cover for their screwup.

This is golden.

On a serious note, I can see withdrawing as the only prudent option, since we have no reason to mindlessly engage them in battle. However, the OP decides we're unable to use warp to escape the system.

Ok then, I'll take my taskforce in warp to the Oort cloud and hide there amongst the trillions of icy fragments, sending every message I can to Starfleet while I try and work out what the hell is going on.

Then, warp back in once I detect the ISd has powered down it's weapons. Then at least I'll have some warning before they start firing. Negotiations will ensue, or at least diplomatic conversation.

I'll enquire if the ISD is laying claim to the system, and if they say yes I can have a ncie talk about how the Federation welcomes new races expanding where possible.

And oh by the way isn't it astonishing that we're all human? That's worth a puase for consideration at least.

[Connor MacLeod]

Make it chase after me at full acceleration for a few hours til it runs out of hypermatter. If it's one of the ISDs using a reactor other than hypermatter (say fusion) it probably isn't as powerful as a hypermatter equipped starship and can be taken on.

[Darksider]

Wouldn't even a non-hypermatter powered ISD be vastly more powerful than federation starships?

Why would the Empire build Star Destroyers that were orders of magnitude less powerful than the standard Clone-wars era battleship?

[Thanas]

They're also a race composed entirely of pompous dicks. For that alone they deserve extinction!

LOOK AT ME, MA. I AM BEING A TOUGH GUY OVER THE INTERNET.

[Purple]

Have my personal ship (the fastest one of them all, and if it ain't the fastest switch to the fastest one ASAP) fly out toward the edge of the system as far as I can to hide in the oort cloud send a distress call to starfleet. Leave the rest to their fate to try and negotiate or something and pray they arouse the star destroyers captain to play cat and mouse with them for long enough for me to find a suitable asteroid with a nice hole I can land a shuttle pod in. Once that's done, ditch my ship and hide in the asteroid with enough replicator mater for how ever long it takes for the SD captain to get bored of searching for me.