(Author’s Note: I have been writing this using natural breaks for my chapters - first geological survey, discovery of first jump point… the next one was supposed to be jumping through said point, but the computer decided - instead - to put a gate there and freak out the UEA. That remains the next chapter break before things start to settle down, but there’s a lot happening in that interval… just as it took four years to get the first geo survey done, it’s taking that long or longer to get a half-decent military up so we can look and see what’s on the other side of this gate…)
The news is past the point of incredible. Clearly an intelligence of some sort, a civilization that may be dead or very much alive, has built this jump gate. Astronomers are baffled - they had not detected it before. The military is shocked into near-catatonia - there had never been any hint or indication before of the possibility of an alien race. But now that they have seen evidence of this possibility develop, steps must immediately be taken to protect their home system.
Commodore Owens orders the Prespa to continue on her quest for new jump points. But he must be careful as well. There is a faction in the military that believes that weapons systems must be developed quickly and armed ships deployed. These calls for immediate action are countered by a second faction within the military that is not convinced the gate’s creators are even still alive. Owens knows he must carefully navigate these waters, so he orders up plans for both sensor suites that can be deployed onto ships as well as a variety of weapons as well.
After the initial shock things begin to settle down. In the days and weeks that follow everyone expects alien ships to appear in Earth orbit at any moment. Yet as time goes by and those fears do not come to pass everything starts to return to some semblance of a routine. After several months, the design is laid down for an early-warning vessel that can be stationed outside of the jump gate.
Hecate-class Early Warning Craft
Size: 4,000 tons
Crew Compliment: 135
Top Speed: 1,000 km/sec
Range: 14.8 billion km
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months
Maintenance Life: 2.58 years
Fuel Capacity: 250k liters
Richardson Dynamics 40 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)
Holt-Lynch Thermal Sensor TH50-300 (1) - Sensitivity 300, Detect Sig Strength 1000: 300m km
Because of it’s larger size only one shipyard - Franklin - can currently construct it. They begin retooling but estimate it will be August, 2123 before they can begin construction of the vessel. While, once again, it would normally take 9 months to build, Earth’s factories have been pre-producing necessary components to minimize the construction time.
Of the other five shipyards, each are in varying states of readiness. Wall International now has 3 slipways with a capacity of 3,000 tons per. They are adding another 1,000 tons and expect to be set by 2124. Booth Shipbuilding has 4 slipways at 2,000 and has 2,000 more capacity in the offing by 2126. Wells Marine has 4 slipways and is jumping from 1,000 to 3,000 with a completion date in 2124. Crawford & Noble have 3 slipways and will, by 2126, be able to handle 6,000 tons on each. Armstrong Gulf is the busiest - with 3 slips they are 20% done to being able to support 11,000 tons - but it will be another 9 years to completion.
An additional 10 shipyards are ordered to be built. So long as the UEA military ships remain fairly small - less than about 5,000 tons for the moment - it should be relatively easy to get shipyards up to speed quickly. For larger ships, Franklin can handle 6,000 tons on her single slipway at present.
Five additional commercial yards are running, and each is in the process of jumping to 40,000 tons, expected to be complete by the end of 2123. This is good, because retooling to the Hamlet-class colonizer at Gardner Marine is taking a long time to complete.
Almost 18 months have now passed since the jump gate was discovered. Things are starting to move faster. A civilian organization has started a colony on the comet Wild.
Wild Preliminary Survey
Duranium: 125k, 0.8
Tritanium: 18k, 0.5
Boronide: 5k, 0.6
Mercassium: 6k, 1.0
Vendarite: 18k, 0.9
Corundium: 5k, 0.6
The first Hamlet-class colony ship is completed and begins to load colonists at Earth for transportation to Mars. Freighters have spent the past several months shuttling infrastructure to the red planet in anticipation of the colonization.
On November 7, four days before the Hecate is scheduled to be launched, Captain Phillips of the Prespa reports that a second jump point - but with no jump gate on it - has been found. The point’s location is roughly the same distance from the sun as Neptune.
The Hecate is launched and placed under the command of Commander Zachary O’Brien. O’Brien, who has just been promoted to the rank of Commander three months prior, has spent time commanding the freighters Othello and Emilia. He has been chosen for the command due to his training capabilities, and his first orders are to conduct shakedown exercises with the Hecate in preparation for deployment to the jump gate.
On November 17, 2123, the Mars Colony is officially founded. William Savage is picked to become the first governor of the colony. He is also very young - only 22 - but he is a shining example of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps as he came from a poorer family.
Prespa, and her Captain, Captain Phillips, discover a third jump point in the Sol system in early January, 2124 located also near the orbital route of Neptune but located some 120 degrees away from the second point. It also lacks a gate, which makes the military and scientific communities start to feel that whatever is beyond the first gate may be unique. If there have been alien ships transiting into Sol they have not revealed themselves.
Less than two weeks later they detect yet another gate, just slightly beyond Neptune’s orbital path and only about 20 degrees from the second jump point. The scientific community is taking bets on how many jump points the Prespa will find, and Commodore Owens begins to pat himself on the back for not having ordered construction of a second ship - the Prespa is nearly finished with her survey of Sol and it will have taken her only two years to have completed the survey if she continues according to schedule.
Owens goes to the Global Congress, seeking the creation of a medal to reward Captain Phillips for her discoveries made in the name of science. The Congress agrees, and the Star of Science is developed and awarded to the 40-year old Captain Phillips upon her return.
The jump-gate construction ship Doirani is completed. As she was conceived before the presence of a gate was detected around the first jump point, Commodore Owens decides to hold on giving her any orders until Hecate is done with her shakedown cruise. She has been holding training exercises for several months now, and it is expected that she will not be given her orders until the Demeter, her sister ship, floats off of the blocks and commences her own shakedown exercises. At that point, Hecate will begin patrolling the gate.
There is also no set timetable on exploring the other sides of any of the gates, especially Jump Gate 1. Commodore Owens is uneasy about sending in an unarmed survey vessel, and his first inclination is to wait until several of the shipyards have completed their upgrade cycles. Wall International’s three slipways are being improved to 5,000 tons per slip, and that is expected to be completed by March. At that time, Franklin Naval is likely to be taken offline and have additional slipways ut in. The bulk of the upgrades will not be completed until closer to the end of 2125, when five shipyards - each with one slipway - will be able to support 6,000 tons per slip.
Colonization of Mars continues apace. Bird Transport group has launched it’s first colony ships, which alleviates the need for any dedicated UEA colonizer ships for the time being unless new bases are established. The freighter fleet continues to run infrastructure to Mars at present, and the planet can now support a population of 2 million. Once the infrastructure is in place, the freighters will begin moving mining equipment and other installations as is necessary and demanded.
The number of automated mines on Venus now numbers 270 and the planet is producing almost 3,500 tons of Duranium each year. The mass driver on Venus can handle another 1,500 tons, but right now the priority lies in getting additional infrastructure to Mars.
After some time a survey team headed by Lt. Cmdr Ashley Garner reports back that they have found a previously-undetected supply of Corbomite - almost 8 million tons - on Mars. The trouble is that it is not very accessible (0.1), so it will take a large mining effort to get at it. This is, however, good news as Earth’s supply of it is less than 10 years away from being depleted and what has been found on Mars is 80 times what is left on Earth.
The Garner team is packed into a transport and sent to the Moon. Though the geological survey ships suggest there is nothing on the Moon, Administrator Faulkner decides to take no chances, especially in the wake of the Garner team’s report.
Midway into 2124, the Naval Design Board puts forth a prototype design for a new Frigate, the Stalker. Weighing in at 3,500 tons, it is a start in warfare designs, but clearly those designs will have a long way to go as newer weapons systems are developed.
Stalker-class Frigate
Size: 3,500 tons
Crew Compliment: 101
Top Speed: 2,285 km/sec
Range: 16.9 billion km
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months
Fuel Capacity: 250k liters
Richardson Dynamics 40 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (4)
Kaur Heavy Industries 10cm C2 Infrared Laser (5)
- Range: 30k km
- Tracking: 2,285 km/sec
Burke-Daly Fire Control S01.5 30-1250 (1)
- Range: 60k km
Grant-Begum Active Search Sensor MR15-R40
- Range: 15.8m km
- Resolution: 40
Three hulls are laid down at Wall International and they are expected to be finished by the end of 2124. They will mark the first time that humanity has armed itself in space to this point. Their creation, as well, will enable Commodore Owens to satisfy the demands of the military who call for greater protection while also satisfying the demands of the scientific community to see what is on the other side of the gate. It has been two years since the gate was discovered.
On October 8, the Albion, Bulwark and Stalker depart their slipways. They are assigned to three new captains who are best qualified for crew training, and shortly afterwards they depart on shakedown.
Two weeks later, Francesca Phillips is promoted to Commodore but retains, for the present, her command of the Prespa. Her future, as the Prespa winds down surveying and returns to Earth is likely very bright but somewhat unsure at the moment. It is possible that she may retain her command if and when mankind starts investigating the jump gates. Or she may be given a larger role heading up a fleet of scientific vessels. Commodore Owens will have some difficult decisions to make when the time comes.
January, 2125 marks the approach of the selection of the new Congress and the vote of confidence in Administrator Faulkner. But there appears to be change coming on the wind.
The first Global Congress had never considered that mankind would eventually have colonies on other worlds, and the current body has spent the last six months in debate and discussion as to how to incorporate these new twists into the framework that has existed for over 50 years now. It is finally decided that the Congress will incorporate delegates from Mars until they reach a population of 25 million. At that point a new solution will be needed. In the interim, the votes of confidence will apply now both to Administrator Faulkner and her counterpart on Mars, Administrator Savage.
In late January three more Stalkers begin rolling out of the Wall International Shipyard. Due to shortages in pre-built components the launches are staggered - one in late January, one in late February and one in Early March. The factories on Earth have been continuing to produce infrastructure, financial centers, and trade ports for Earth but attention gradually turns back towards creating additional stockpiles of vital ship components for faster construction.
In early February the Congress decides to grant a subsidy of 5,000 credits to Bird Shipping. Administrator Faulkner has been pushing for a stronger civilian sector to handle hauling of supplies and colonists to Mars, which frees up the existing hauling tonnage - now 200,000 tons spread between 8 ships - to handle any heavy lifting that may be required as well as mineral movement to Mars to help support their growing construction base. By April, Bird has launched three more freighters.
The March 1 Congress is selected. For the first time, there are delegates from two planets in attendance. The vote of confidence in Administrator Faulkner remains 100%, continuing her position for at least another five years. The Congress is pleased that Mars has been colonized and is satisfied with her actions in handling the jump gate situation. Though they feel that the military side of things has been a bit slow to develop, there is a general consensus that she has reacted appropriately and the continued construction of the Stalker-class frigates contributes to that consensus as well as the rapid tooling up of the naval shipyards.
There are 12 naval shipyards orbiting Earth. These shipyards contain a current total of 25 slipways, and an additional slipway is under construction. By the end of 2125 it is expected that 9 yards - accounting for 17 (+1) slips - will be ready to handle ship construction. 6 yards (7 slips) will be able to handle construction of up to 6,000 tons. Three more (10+1) will be able to handle construction of up to 4,000 tons.
In the long term, three more yards (8 slips) are still upgrading with ETAs of 2126, 2127, and 2132. By 2127 the yard capacity will be such that 12 slips will be able to turn out 6,000-ton vessels. By 2132, three slips will be able to turn out 11,000-ton vessels. It is, admittedly, a ways off yet but it demonstrates the long-term thinking and planning that the Administrator and the Navy have had.
On March 21, Commodore Owens is promoted to the rank of Admiral - a position recently created by the Congress given the continued growth of the Navy. He remains in his current position as the commander of Fleet Headquarters on Earth.
As 2125 continues, plans are being drawn up for the usage of the shipyard capacity that is expected to become available by year’s end. There has been absolutely nothing seen at the gate, which continues to be picketed around the clock by one of the two early-warning craft. If there is anything out there it is completely stealthed and is either watching or observing. Newer ship systems are being researched to take advantage of recent improvements including better reactor technology and improvements in the focal size of lasers and meson cannons.
Sheffield-class Destroyer
Size: 5,650 tons
Crew Compliment: 144
Top Speed: 2,123 km/sec
Range: 25.3 billion km
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Fuel Capacity: 500k liters
Richardson Dynamics 80 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (3)
Twin Kaur Heavy Industries 10cm C2 Infrared Laser Turret (2)
- Range: 30k km
- Tracking: 10,000 km/sec
Lei-He 12cm C3 Infrared Laser (2)
- Range: 40k km
- Tracking: 2,500 km/sec
Grant-Begum Active Search Sensor MR15-R40
- Range: 15.8m km
- Resolution: 40
The first three Sheffields are laid down in the yards in December, 2125, with a projected completion date of May, 2126.
When the Bulldog, Crown and Crusader launch on May 6, the Admiralty faces a new challenge - they have far too few qualified personnel to captain ships in the quickly-growing fleet. Requirements for the Stalker-class had been lowered from Captain to Commander, but even with that there were not enough to handle all the assignments both military and civilian. At the onset there are only 8 who have the rank of Captain, 11 with Commander, and 35 with Lt. Cmdr. (There are also 3 Commodores and 1 Rear Admiral)
Admiral Bates immediately begins making a series of promotions, bringing the numbers to 11 Captains and 15 Commanders. The hope is that the naval academies on Earth will begin to overcome the shortages before they become too pronounced. Promoting so many so soon runs the risk of having inappropriate personnel in place should something unfortunate happen.
It’s now mid-2126, and Bates is ready to send a ship through the gates. Eight frigates and three destroyers are the whole of the UEA’s military might. They will be waiting on the Sol side of the gate in case anything goes terribly wrong, but the hope is that there will be nothing waiting on the other side.
