One of the things I wanted to see is that mammoth manta/cobra-head floating carrier that crashes in the opening credits.
Hopefully you're still cooking up some ships and stories, I know life happens and all that, but am looking forward to more
Vanguard was COBRA's first colony beyond the Cobra system, established in 2128. While not as verdant as Cobra Prime the planet was habitable, nearby and was fairly easy to establish a presence on. In spite of the limits of the population size of Cobra Prime at the time even with Sauroids the Third Commander was eager to establish a presence on this new world after it's survey. Initially some 3,000 colonists were deployed and by 2140 this had grown to 43,500 (even though by that time the luster of the first colony had wained and many of the colonists it was receiving at this point were penal colonists and the less than Stellar products of the exowomb projects that the Hama dynasty that came to dominate the settlement effectively got at bargain basement rates). Despite this fairly rapid early growth the settlement remained a minor part of the nacent interstellar polity, especially after the annexation of Nerrax. This changed with the onset of the first COBRA/Klingon war in 2142. Vanguard was slightly further from Klingon Space than Cobra Prime and there was a crash effort to develop it's industrial capacity to (in the best case) help contribute to ultimate victory or (worst case) as a place to fall back to if Cobra Prime fell. Personnel and industrial equipment were transferred to the colony, though even with that upgrade it's capacities would be limited. As such a new design was quickly contrived for something that could easily be put together named the Vanguard class Corvette. The Vanguard class Corvette (sometimes known as the Vanguard-I class, though this designation has never been official) was small at 75 meters and weighed in at a modest 2,500 tonnes and in many respects it was a step backwards for COBRA ship design. She carried no parasites beyond an EVA rig, her 30 man crew lived in cramped conditions hot bunking and many systems which kept as simple as possible. The bridge had a large transparent dome overhead which could have shutters cover it in battle. It's top warp speed of 29 c (Warp 3.1) and a cruising speed of 25 c (warp 2.8), though it did have comparatively good STL maneuverability. It's weapons included three medium particle beam cannons, one heavy particle beam cannon and four external torpedo tubes. It's most notable feature was the RAM-8 Reactor. Under normal conditions it was an adequate if unremarkable power plant slightly better than civilian models but over short bursts of up to a few hours it could provide twice it's usual output (though this was harsh on the ship's systems) allowing it to be hold it's own to some degree. Its energy weapons were each powered from a single capacitor which meant that firing it's heavy particle cannon would leave the ship unable to fire any energy weapons for twenty seconds. More than any other COBRA Vanguard class ships were made to deliver a single heavy blow and at most finish off their prey. Over the course of the war some 13 Vanguard class corvettes were built. Three of them were made on Vanguard, four at Nerrax and six were built in orbit of Cobra Prime shipyards as they could be thrown together quickly using yards that usually built in-system mining vessels at the time. On Vanguard components were for the most sections of the ship up to full nacelles were made planetside, hauled to orbit with a heavy lifter shuttle for final assembly. These were usually assigned for system patrols and convoy escort. They had not the range or durability for front line use. Of these five were lost, three were destroyed by Klingon raids and two more were lost due to antimatter containment failure related incidents. After the war the remaining eight were relegated to patrols after the war, but save for the CSN Bandit (EC-07) which was retained as a training ship (after an extensive refit) the class was all either scraped or sold off between 2149 to 2151. They had served their purpose and were being supplanted by less slapdash deisgns. Even so the last sighting of a (heavily modified) Vanguard class Corvette was made in 2177 by the Federal Navy starship USS Gagarin (NCC-443) as part of a pirate fleet along the coreward frontier.
In my imagination, if Cobra existed in the trek 'verse, Cobra Commander would be a Ferengi used starship salesman in disguise, and the Baroness would be his hew-mon wife.. Excellent artwork.As others have said, takes me back.
In the third Naussicaan Raid, COBRA's fighter corps got it's first taste of battle. Fightercraft were initially designed as low cost defensive craft for the Cobra-II lunar system, but in the battle their high speed and maneuverability proved their effectiveness. Fighter attacks disrupted the pirate's formation while laying in missile and light energy attacks from multiple vectors which softened their defenses an struck at vulnerable systems. One ship was destroyed mostly by fighter attacks and the one which was captured did not escape after it's warp drives were struck by fighter attacks. This (as well as subsequent war games) proved the effectiveness that a single man fighter could show in battle, which was taken into consideration in future spacecraft design and doctrine. Garter class frigates would carry a single Stiletto Fighter as would subsequent ships in their range. The upgrade from Mark-1 impulse Fightercraft to Mark-2 fighters capable of warp travel at 2 C in 2120 was a further boon. Even so, their were still considerable limitations imposed by range. As preparations were made to establish COBRA's first out of system colony in 2127, work began on the Wasp. COBRA's first dedicated carrier. Construction would take five years to complete, with the Wasp entering service in 2133 after passing it's shakedown cruise. At 250 meters long and massing 200,000 tonnes, the Wasp was far larger than any previous COBRA warship. It was also outfitted with the fastest COBRA warp drive of it's time, able to reach 38 C (Warp 3.3) with a cruising speed of 25 C (Warp 2.8). It had a complement of 500 personnel. It's armament was comparatively modest with twelve medium particle beam cannons and no missile capacity. Instead it carried a complement of 24 Stiletto fighters and 8 Star Rattler heavy fighters. The first combat mission of the Wasp was in 2136 in response to raids on interstellar shipping between COBRA prime and the new colony of Vanguard by another small fleet of raiders (in this case an multi-species fleet). In response a carrier group tracked them down to their asteroid orbiting an otherwise unremarkable red dwarf and launched an attack from five AU away. While three fighters were lost in the initial the attack did manage to destroy two of their five ships and damage a third. The rest of their fleet was dispatched by the Wasp's escorts with fighter support fairly easily. Even so, more pressing challenges awaited.
For all his vision and the scientific genius at his disposal and despite his hopes, Cobra Commander was unable to overcome his mortality and as such passed away in 2070 from natural causes. Fortunately he had made provisions and had specially created a number of children in exowombs to serve as perspective heirs. One of them was deemed fit and so, on his passing assumed his place, as well as his image and the name of Cobra Commander to oversee the agenda that her father had given her. Posthumously the her predecessor was given the title The First Commander for sake of clarity in the historic record, which would continue with successive generations. Like her farther she created a batch of potential heirs from her own genetic material. As such, what was originally (depending on your point of view) a military dictator or a warlord eventually evolved into a fairly stable monarchy which had the advantage over previous forms of monarchy in that political marriages and inbreeding would not be a complication. Even so the fact that the official regalia placed certain restrictions (in particular in regards to diet, which outside of private were limited to drinking beverages in zero-g cups). The Second Commander eventually retired, leaving the office to the Third Commander who died in battle against Klingon Forces in 2143, which lead to the ascension of the Forth Commander. Her reign is generally seen as being important in the history of COBRA and it's emergent interstellar polity, including first contact with earth. While she was not a front-line commander she was more than a capable strategist and planner of campaigns. Captain Johnathan Archer found her charming enough even though there was a predatory authoritative edge to that. The impression of the Vulcan leadership was less flattering, seeing a dangerous militarist who embodied the worst aspects of humanity.
Was the Third Commander male? And if so, are they alternating on purpose, or just by coincidence of which of the clone children is most suited to take up the mantle? What happens to the other clones? Logically, I would think that either the rest would be destroyed to prevent in-fighting, or, the other way to handle that would be that NONE of the kids is actually told that they are a clone of the Commander and under consideration until it is time for one to be selected. Who is responsible for selection? In my mind, I'm seeing a council of Destro, Baroness, Mindbender, Tomax and Xamot, etc, (or their descendants, later), making the selection much as they did when they had Fred VII masquerade as Cobra Commander (in battle armor) when they thought he was dead. It just occurred to me that the line of leaders that you've established could ultimately lead to a version of Serpentor, either as one in the line, or as a rival for leadership of Cobra created from the DNA of *Cobra's* greatest leaders - the people I mentioned above plus Cobra Commander - by an "Originalist" who believes that the Cobra Empire has lost its way... Edited to add: Obviously, I'm enjoying picking up what you're putting down here, quite a lot.
They're not clones. DNA from other sources is used to produce the zygote in addition which becomes a potential heir. For the most part the current Commander is involved in the selection process. If a potential heir does not measure up he/she is disinherited, either by their performance in education or in administrative posts. Potential Heirs don't know that they are heirs during childhood and are mostly raised in seclusion for part of their childhood. Eventually a heir is selected. One of the benefits of this system is that once a Heir is named his/her batch of heirs is conceived after confirmation. You don't need to wait until a marriage produces a child. Most of the surplus potential heirs become military officers with a certain amount snob factor. That's the protocol happens if the Commander dies without selecting an heir. They also have the right to disinherit heirs (IE vote to say that a certain perspective heir is unfit for office and narrow down the selected canditates) though the Commander can veto that. Zor
The Baroness class Battlecruiser meant that COBRA had a ship which could hold it's own with the other established powers (in addition to having certain advantages such as strike craft) and was in many regards a major breakthrough, but even this was not sufficient for the Forth Commander. A handful of ships which were in general on par of those that were the mainstays established powers and had some advantages was significant, but ultimately they lacked the numbers for sustained warfare and (as was shown in the Battle of Corbra Prime) a Commander in battle would be vulnerable. Ultimately the Forth Commander desired something bigger and more power powerful and a massive project was put into effect in 2148 with work beginning in 2151. It has been argued by some historians that the Arrival of a 600 meter long Vulcan Suurok class Starship in 2152 and the Xindi Incident were contributing factors to the level of resources it received to some degree or another. What is not in dispute was the scope of the plan. Full shipyard berths were given over to assemble nacelles or sections of craft. Construction would continue for six years with numerous adjustments made to the original design along the way due to a myriad of complications. Regardless in 2157 their work was completed with the launch of the CSN Star Serpent. At 460 Meters Long and massing at 825,000 tonnes, the Star Serpent was by far the largest mobile vehicle COBRA had built up to that point (even including the Coatl) and well above average for a spacecraft at that period (though a few ships such as Suurok class Heavy Cruisers, Aquatic Xindi cruisers and Romulan Amosarr (more commonly known in the Federation by their code name of "Hive") class fleet carriers). She had a crew of 800 spacers, 200 Void Vipers and 1,200 B.A.T.s. She carried a formidable armament of some 26 torpedo tubes (with a reserve of 500 torpedoes) and 16 heavy particle cannons. She had a top speed of 145 c (Warp 5.2) and a cruising speed of 96c (Warp 4.5), a minor improvement over the Baroness class if hardly exceptional. She carried a complex multi-generator shield system that was quite robust for its time but came with some complications. The advantage was that it used three DEM-3 generators, which were proven technology and meant that the Star Serpent could loose a generator and still have shields that were up to 66.66666% effective. The disadvantage was that individual generators were easier to take out and the system required a lot of complex support systems. Her parasite complement included 18 Mark-IV Stilleto fighters, 6 Mark-IV Star Raven heavy fighters, 4 S-6 Nightdragon shuttles and 4 B.A.T. Boxes. Among her most distinctive features to the casual observer however was her he forward hull, which was deliberately modeled after COBRA's namesake. The Star Serpent was a multifuction ship able to serve as both a carrier and battleship, but her primary role was as a command ship. She could launch attacks against enemy formations at extreme ranges using her fighter wings and easily dispatch a Klingon D-5 Cruiser in a straight shooting match. Even so there has been some discussion about the Star Serpent in regards to it's cost effectiveness. Not because it was a bad ship, but given the amount of effort put into building and maintaining her it has been estimated that four Baroness class Battlecruisers or Python class Carriers could have been built about half the time and supported while not being a single point of failure. The United Earth government began their own buildup after the discovery of COBRA Prime and the Xindi incident, but never built anything larger than the NX class and mainly focused on smaller craft such as Intrepid and Daedalus classes. However other reasoning beyond the simple prudence of military expenditure must be considered. The Star Serpent was a considerable propaganda boon on the home front and abroad. It was also a well defended base of operations for a Commander to oversee military operations on campaign, a significant point given the Klingon view that it was especially glorious to kill enemy heads of state leading military operations. However there was a lesser known reason why the Star Serpent was built, which was seen in her manifest. She had an expanded fuel capacity, a considerable manufacturing capacity for a ship her size and all her lifepods were outfitted with bio-stasis cells. All of which could serve some function in of themselves on campaign. The same could not be said about the 64 exowombs (including some 16 Accelerated Artificial Gestation units able to rapidly produce adults). If the worse came to worse and Cobra Prime fell the Star Serpent could fulfill the same role the Coatl did: fly off into deep space, find a suitable planet and colonize it to start again from scratch. A common feature in future COBRA Flagships. The Star Serpent's first taste of battle came in February of 2159 when a Klingon Raptor unexpectedly entered COBRA space and attacked several sensor boeys before fleeing back to Klingon Space. The ship had apparently been following orders it had received from High Command, even though no such orders had been given. Regardless this was seen by COBRA as a prelude to an invasion. As such the fleet was put on alert and so a contingency plan was launched. The Star Serpent led an force of some thirty six starships into Klingon Space in conjunction with a number of special operations were engaged. Some of these proved to be quite successful, such as the activation of Replicating Android Troopers (R.A.T.s) seeded on fourteen klingon planets, the Dethon-III uprising, the capture of thirteen Klingon cruisers by infiltrators and the scuttling of eleven more. Others (such as a ploy to get the House of Daghak to make a power grab against it's rivals or sturring insurrection among three other planets) were not. While they were still outnumbered by a considerable margin the Forth Commander's forces were able to inflict considerable casualties on the Klingon Forces. Fighter squadrons and B.A.T. boxes played a considerable role in this, though the Star Serpent proved herself more than capable for two years. Despite this the counter offensive eventually came. Even with a fleet bolstered with some thirty commandeered ships as well as some new construction from COBRA prime the Klingon sent a force which outnumbered COBRA's five to one. Casualties gradually mounted and despite some hat trick victories it was clear that neither side could take losses indefinitely. After receiving mounting battle damage the Star Serpent retreated to Cobra Prime for repairs (and to ready an Colonization fleet) in September of 2160. Fortunately for COBRA it was eventually uncovered that the incident which sparked this conflict was caused by a Romulan plot to occupy the Klingon Empire so they could pull more forces guarding that frontier to fight the Coalition of Earth, Vulcan, Andoria and Tellar. Despite having one a costly victory at the Battle of Charon (largely due to the Romulan Fighter corps), the Romulan Empire had suffered unexpectedly heavy casualties. This revelation came with an internal power conflict resulting a new Chancellor. His ruling was that the Klingon Empire that this was was a dishonorable one fought in service of their greatest enemies. Combined with the fact that COBRA had seeded several more worlds with R.A.T.s and only they had the Kill Codes which could shut them down this meant that a ceasefire was called in March of 2161 and a peace treaty was signed by July which dictated Status Quo Antebellum. This development (as well as a costly defeat at the Second Battle of Denobula) eventually lead the Romans to sign a Peace Treaty with the Coalition in November of 2161, which would soon form the United Federation of Planets. The significance of this new development was not lost on the Forth Commander, the initial goal of taking over the Homeworld of Humanity had become a much more difficult task. Even so, COBRA had been given time to lick its wounds, expand it's influence and consolidate.
This last one looks as if it has a "cobra-esque" hood and head...very, very cool! I always loved the Cobra Transport, and the Cobra Mothership from the old cartoon and these fit right in
The ability to make robotic soldiers was one of COBRA's greatest assets during the initial COBRA Wars despite the limitations of even the most advanced models of Battle Android Troopers. It did a lot to make up for the numerical disadvantage that COBRA was always at and by extension both directly (providing more disposable soldiers) and indirectly (strengthening their organization and convincing more people to throw in with COBRA). Said technology was taken with them to COBRA Prime in their interstellar exodus and in time was built on and refined. By 2152, B.A.T.s were smarter, faster, more endurent and in general more capable than their predecessors. These tenth generation B.A.T.s would be produced in the tens of millions and (especially when lead by organic overseers at the squad or platoon level) would prove to be effective ground troops in the Second COBRA/Klingon War. However, while these more traditional units were formidable shock troops a less conventional variation on said technology would ultimately prove more significant in that War: the Replicating Android Trooper (R.A.T.) The R.A.T. project began in 2139 as one of several minor R&D programs, but ultimately it's sugnifigance was given a major boost in the First COBRA/Klingon War after being adopted by the DeCobray Dynasty with satisfactory results being achieved in 2147. In many regards the R.A.T. was a significant downgrade in terms of performance when compared to a conventional B.A.T., they were sluggish, had a top speed of 8 km/h over short bursts and usually would plod along at 4km/h, less durable (its external coverings offered some protection against shrapnel and did provide decent concealment against passive scans but little else), more bulky, had a shorter operational lifespan (about two years at most), their two arm mounted laser weapons could only fire off 30 pulses per minute and were less powerful than the particle rifles that had become standard and their general processing abilities and adaptability left a lot to be desired. These features were sacrificed to achieve one desired goal: self replication. Each R.A.T. was capable of collecting deuterium for fuel, eating materials (mostly common materials such as Iron, Carbon and Silicon), processing them and using them to make components that it could assemble into more R.A.T.s (usually taking about seventy hours to do so). This meant that given an ample supply of raw materials and focusing entirely on self replication in three months one R.A.T. could become 1,048,576 R.A.T.s. It could also assemble in the span of nine days a R.A.T. Nest, a fridge sized stationary machine with an input hopper and a set of assembly arms that could make a new R.A.T. in 12 hours and (with assitance of R.A.Ts to move components away and assemble them) a new Nest in two days. Fearing that another confrontation with the Klingons was inevitable numerous Klingon worlds had R.A.T. Nests (usually several nests per planet, but never more than eight) seeded onto them in sensor resistant casing, a small supply of raw materials, basic subspace receivers and explosive charges (in case of detection) in remote locations along their surface. When war was declared an activation signal was sent out and the R.A.T. nests began making R.A.T.s, who's behavior was dictated by directive trees. The first newly created robots were programmed to fan out, avoiding confrontation, find viable resource sites, built new Nests and then work mining and building more R.A.T.s, some of which would further spread out and others would work building new Nest, mining to feed the nests and setting up defensive laser cannons around the Nest clusters. Once a certain number of generations had been achieved or Nests had reached a certain size, most new R.A.T.s would form into groups of 27 and begin to move out to population centers (setting up Nests as they'd go) and attack with a simple objective: Kill All Klingons. Most of the previous stages were done with minimal communication between individual R.A.T.s baring short range laser bursts, though once engagement with the Klingons was done they'd make use a of a variety of long range bursts to report victory or defeat. In addition to their laser weapons, each R.A.T. carried a pair of simple fire and forget chemical rockets which could be used as short range artillery or (especially in large numbers) anti-aircraft weapons. In a few months after their activation this meant that numerous Klingon planets had become warzones fighting against a seemingly endless waves of murderous machines that just kept coming out of the woodworks. Even though their efforts came in dribs and drabs and their behavior were highly predictable simple were enough to overwhelm many Klingon cities. Attempts were made to destroy Nest Clusters, but doing so was often costly and even if they were successful they were often quickly rebuilt. Additional worlds were seeded with R.A.T.s after the war began, which includes reports of them being deployed on Qo'noS. The only sure way to clear a large area of R.A.T.s was substantial orbital bombardment with a large number of kiloton and megaton strikes, doing massive environmental damage. Ultimately COBRA's main goal with the R.A.T.s was to tie down planets, east up resources and limit their contribution to the Klingon war machine as well as to act as political leverage in a war which could not be one in a starship to starship. On those occasions during the Second COBRA/Klingon War in which conventional COBRA forces took planets a Kill Command was given which caused the R.A.T.s to self destruct. While other factors played into it, the fact that COBRA possessed said Kill Commands did play a role in the eventual peace treaty that ended said conflict. After the war the Klingons made use of this to clear out all their planets and invested heavily in planetary sensor grids in case of another such attack. The Romulans also took note and began work on their own projects of a similar nature while COBRA kept research into that field going.
Hello !! OMG !! I really love this !!! It's soooo cool !! Great story and great pics !!! I hope u are going to be writing more and more colorful pics.....
Yes, I know this hasn't been updated in month's but I still reread this from time to time. fun stuff.