The end of the long war leaves the Strug at a loss as to how to proceed. For years their only focus has been on defeating the Colonist threat, and now that it is gone there are many different ideas as to how to proceed. One of the first things that happens is that the government orders that the production of freighters be resumed as soon as possible. Work is begun on retooling Orbital Yard #2, which had been devoted solely to building laser defense bases. In addition, research resources are diverted towards developing troop transport bays so that Strug ground troops can be transferred to The Sister.
In the days after the war it became clear that the Strug Government needed a presence on the ground on The Sister. A diplomatic team led by Kadar Tetisheri is assembled and transported to The Sister by one of the three surviving Tharsis Montes class cruisers. Once the team is dropped off, the cruiser, joined by its two sister ships, oversees the decommissioning of the Colonist?s remaining orbital bases.
In October of 913, the first new freighter is laid down in Orbital Yard #2. All of the Colonist orbital bases have been decommissioned, and the Strug government has decided that no new military units will be built in the foreseeable future. All production is to be turned towards rebuilding the economy.
Conditions continue to be bad on The Sister. Twenty-two million civilians have died since the end of the war from radiation poisoning and exposure. The remaining industry is desperately trying to build infrastructure to help the populace cope with the changed environment, but dislocations due to the war, and continuing political unrest hamper all recovery efforts. Infrastructure is being produced on Strug Home, but none can be transferred to the Sister until the first new freighter is launched in March of 914.
In November, 913, the Strug government decides to decommission one third of the orbital defense bases. This decision is made over the strong protests of the military, and in particular the Orbital Defense Command, but the government is determined to deal with the duranium shortage, and the Orbital Defense Command, with its twenty-three Olympus Mons Flight II bases is the largest single consumer of duranium in the Strug military. Decommissioning eight orbital bases will save 150 units of duranium a year, or approximately 2 percent of annual production.
In January, 914, research into the new troop transport bay is completed and the design for the new transport is finalized. Work is begun to retool Orbital Yard #1 to produce the new transports.
Bahram Vallis class Troop Transport 4000 tons 238 Crew 411.6 BP TCS 80 TH 120 EM 300
1500 km/s Armour 1 Shields 10-400 Sensors 32/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Troop Capacity 2 Divisions Replacement Parts 10
Ion Engine (2) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 67.5 billion km (520 days at full power)
Gamma R400/16 Shields (5) Total Fuel Cost 80 Litres per day
Thermal Sensor, Small (1) Sensitivity 32 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 32m km
In March, 914, the first new Strug freighter is launched from Orbital Yard #2. The freighter is immediately put to work transporting infrastructure to The Sister to help the rapidly dwindling Colonist population there. In the seven months since the war, over seventy-five million civilians have died from radiation poisoning and from the many effects of the drastically changed environment. Colonist efforts to produce infrastructure to ameliorate the effects of the changed environment have been negligible.
By August, two Strug freighters are in service, shuttling back and forth between Strug Home and Sister. The freighters take infrastructure to The Sister and bring back mined duranium from the vast stockpiles the Colonists had mined for their war machine. This new source of duranium has done much to alleviate the Strug shortages.
There is quite a bit of resentment on The Sister at the looting of their resource stockpiles, but it is apparent to most that the Strug are doing their best to improve their situation. For the most part the surviving Colonist population was of the lowest economic strata, and had been oppressed by their rulers for decades, if not centuries, and for that reason they do not seem to expect better from the Strug. The Strug government, which is growing desperate to find a way to save the rapidly declining Colonist population, reduces restrictions on the Colonists and reclassifies them as a Subjugated population.
The reclassification and increased freedoms produce an almost immediate result. The Strug have spent much time since the end of the war interrogating surviving Colonist officers to try and determine the cause of the seemingly implacable Colonist hatred for the Strug. Little progress was made, especially since so little of the Colonist command structure or government remained after the nuclear holocaust. The Strug efforts to assist the remaining Colonists, though, have motivated the few who know anything to come forward and volunteer their information. Although they have little specific information, the stories they tell are compelling. According to the information compiled by Strug Intelligence, the Colonists claim that they came from another system, and that they were escaping a dangerous race or races that wanted to kill them all. The remaining Colonists do not have any details, and all say that their leaders merely referred to the threat as ?The Great Enemy?. The Colonists claim that their leaders told them that they retreated to the Strug system to hide from The Enemy and a generally hostile universe, and all are clear that their leaders claimed that the many restrictions on the Colonists life and economy were intended to help them hide from their enemies. The Colonists claim that their leaders feared the Strug, and in particular they feared that any Strug exploration or expansion would bring The Enemy down on them. The most interesting part, though, is that the Colonists claim that travel between stars is possible via naturally occurring worm holes. Although the surviving Colonists have no hard information, the data they were able to give matches several theories developed by Strug scientists. The Strug government hopes to begin research and development on these theories once the immediate pressure of recovery is relieved.
The first Bahram Valles class troop transport is launched in November, 914. The new ship is immediately put into use transporting Strug ground units to The Sister. The new ground units are immediately assigned to strugitarian missions to help the poor, dying, Colonist civilian population.
February, 915: Five Strug freighters are now in service. All five are currently assigned to transport infrastructure from Strug Home to The Sister, and, now that the short-term duranium shortage has been relieved by an infusion from the Colonist stockpile, the freighters are transporting Colonist research centers to Strug Home on the return trip. The Colonist population has dropped from just over 400 million who survived the war, to 235 million struggling survivors. The environment has stabilized, but it is doubtful that enough infrastructure can be built to house more than a few tens of millions.
In March of 915, research is completed on the salvage module, which will allow the Strug Navy to design and deploy a vessel to clean up the numerous wrecks floating around the system.
Abalos Undae class Salvager 4800 tons 363 Crew 511.6 BP TCS 96 TH 120 EM 0
1250 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Cargo 5000 Replacement Parts 15
Salvager: 1 module(s) capable of salvaging 500 tons per day
Ion Engine (2) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 56.3 billion km (520 days at full power)
This design is classed as a non-combatant for maintenance purposes
August, 915: Nine freighters are currently shuttling back and forth between Strug Home and The Sister. These freighters are capable of keeping up with the production of new infrastructure on Strug Home, thus the tenth freighter to be launched is ordered to begin transporting newly converted automated mines from Strug Home to Twelve.
Now that the Strug are looking outward again, considerations aside from immediate efficacy are being looked at again. An upgrade of the standard freighter design is authorized, replacing the original engines with Ion engines, which will boost their speed by 50%.
Freighter Flt II class Freighter 4800 tons 203 Crew 376.6 BP TCS 96 TH 300 EM 0
3125 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Cargo 25000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 5 Replacement Parts 5
Ion Engine (5) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 56.3 billion km (208 days at full power)
This design is classed as a freighter for maintenance purposes
October, 915: The dust thrown up into the Sister?s atmosphere by the hundreds of nuclear explosions is beginning to settle out, bringing a welcome increase in planetary temperature. In the weeks after the war The Sister?s average temperature dropped by nearly 40 degrees. In the last several months the average has increased for the first time by almost 3 degrees. A small, but welcome, change.
Almost four thousand units of infrastructure have been transferred from Strug Home to The Sister. In exchange, the freighters have brought back fuel refineries, deep space sensors, ordinance factories, and now, construction factories. The only thing the Strug have left in place is the Colonist?s mines, which are better used where they are.
December, 915: R&D on improved mining techniques is completed, and the Strug government is turning more and more to the information provided by the Colonists about worm hole travel. Therefore, research assets are assigned to develop practical systems based on the information that has been obtained from the Colonists. In the meantime, a new gravitic survey ship is designed to begin looking for the worm holes that the Colonists claim are present in the Home System.
Star Flt II class Gravsurvey Ship 6000 tons 579 Crew 1233.6 BP TCS 120 TH 360 EM 300
3000 km/s Armour 1 Shields 10-400 Sensors 32/0/4/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 11
Replacement Parts 15
Ion Engine (6) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 135.0 billion km (520 days at full power)
Gamma R400/16 Shields (5) Total Fuel Cost 80 Litres per day
Twin 12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser Turret (1x2) Range 96,000km TS: 12800 km/s Power 8-8 RM 3 ROF 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 0
PD Fire Control (1) Max Range: 96,000 km TS: 12800 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Pebble Bed Reactor (1) Total Power Output 9 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Missile Sensor, Small (1) GPS 12.8 Range 128k km Resolution 0.2
Ship Sensor, Small (1) GPS 2560 Range 25.6m km Resolution 40
Thermal Sensor, Small (1) Sensitivity 32 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 32m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (4) 4 Survey Points
This design is based on the basic Valles Marinaris class geo-survey ship design. It incorporates several improvements, including a 12 cm laser turret and Ion drives.
September, 916: The last shipment of infrastructure is offloaded on The Sister. The Strug government has decided that no more resources can be spared now that the Sister?s environment is recovering. This is a blow to the Colonists, but they can do little about it.
The freighters that had been transporting infrastructure now begin transferring mining complexes from Strug Home to The Sister. The Strug government claims that this is being done to help bolster The Sister?s economy, but all of the resources being mined are sent right back to Strug Home for use in the home planet?s construction factories and shipyards.
November, 916: The Colonist government has been re-designated as a Candidate State in the Strug World Government. Leaders within the World Government are already debating the possibility of changing the name to the System Government, to reflect the reality of the situation.
April, 917: Research is completed on the J8000 (3-50) jump drive. Three new Star class gravitic survey ships are under construction, and the design for the Strug?s first jump ship, the Deuteronilus Mensae, is finalized. It is an exciting time for the Strug.
Deuteronilus Mensae class Jump Ship 8000 tons 766 Crew 1504.4 BP TCS 160 TH 480 EM 480
3000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 16-400 Sensors 96/0/0/3 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 25
J8000(3-50) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 8000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Ion Engine (8) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 135.0 billion km (520 days at full power)
Gamma R400/16 Shields (8) Total Fuel Cost 128 Litres per day
Thermal Sensor, Large (1) Sensitivity 96 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 96m km
Geological Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points
ECM 10
