Post by: Kurt on October 12, 2009, 08:25:28 AM
The Scarabus 002 has been posted here since before the Reich invasion. This ship, along with another posted in the Gladius system, at the warp point to the Parakoila system, was assigned to watch for any Reich invasion force advancing down the Reich warp line that leads back to the human home system. The ship’s crew has been at a high alert level since the Reich ships entered their home system; however, they haven’t detected any ships since then and have been forced to watch as the Reich fleet advanced on their home world. Worse, the two picket ships aren’t armed and so cannot contribute the upcoming battle.
After being forced to watch the destruction of the Novaran fleet and the self-destruction of their ground bases, the Scarabus 002 received a message from General Melsnatison himself. The message ordered the picket ships to make their way to the Milosian home system, to ask them for assistance. They are directed to give the Milosians any and all information they might ask for, including survey data for all Novaran systems surveyed to date. In addition, the Scarabus 002 received several massive data files and an order to deliver the files to the main Novaran colony in the Parakoila system. The Scarabus 002 immediately jumped into the Gladius system and sent the orders and some of the attached information files on to the Scarabus 001, which was picketing the warp point to Parakoila. The Scarabus 001 transited out immediately after receiving the message.
January 8, 2037
The fighting continues on Earth between the Russians and the Japanese. Over the last five days the Russians have lost four divisions, including an armored division, while the Japanese only lost two divisions, but then the Japanese don’t have that many left to lose.
Tensions are high in the uppermost levels of the governments of the Reich, Alliance, and Indian Republic. The Indians and the Alliance are focused almost exclusively on the situation between the Russians and the Japanese, while the Reich is focused primarily on the events in the Novaran system. The Indians, in particular, are in a difficult situation. Their leaders feel strongly that they need both the Alliance and the Reich to counter the increasingly strange Russians, which is a major change of course for the small nation. For over eighty years they have survived by playing the two major powers off against each other, and using the larger nations to protect their relatively weak nation from the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire. Now, though, with the ongoing collapse of the Japanese and the increasingly incomprehensible Russians, the Indians are becoming more and more aware that they need a closer alliance with the two major powers to ensure their continued survival. Preferably with both nations, so that they did not become too dependent on one nation, but the Indians are coming to realize that they may not have that luxury. Ever since mid-December, when the Reich fleet peremptorily ordered the Indian picket ship from the Novara-Sol warp point, the small Indian trade colony in Novara had been cut off. The Indians had protested, and the Reich had given assurances that the Indian colony would not be interfered with, but so far the Reich had refused to give permission for any Indian ships to transit into Novara. The Indian protests had been politely received by the Reich but there had been no change in the attitude of the Reich government. The Indians were beginning to become concerned that they may not be able to continue balancing their relationships with the Reich and the Alliance.
January 9th, 2037
The Japanese cargo fleet arrives at Titan and begins hurriedly loading as many automated mines as they can. Once the loading is complete the fleet will set out for Japanese colony on the planet of Kobe in the Gliese-204 system. Kobe is the last remaining free Japanese population.
In the Novaran system, Admiral Derg, along with high level personnel from the Reich Foreign Ministry have been conducting intensive negotiations with the Novarans. Admiral Derg was initially hopeful that their clear superiority would convince the Novarans to surrender; however, she has become convinced that they are merely playing for time and have no plans to surrender at all. Accordingly, she transmitted her evaluation home via the ships posted at the warp point to Sol, along with her recommendation that the planetary invasion be started immediately. This recommendation has placed the Wehrmacht generals in command of the ground force embarked on the fleet’s transports a serious problem. On the one hand, they represent a winning tradition going back nearly two centuries, and they are eager to test their mettle against the alien Novarans. On the other hand, they will soon be committed to an invasion of a heavily populated and industrialized planet. Intelligence gathered by orbital surveillance has indicated that the Novarans are generally behind the Reich technologically, and that same intelligence also seems to indicate that the total Novaran ground forces are almost certainly smaller in size than the Wehrmacht, however, Earth is a long ways away, and a planet is a very large place. The Wehrmacht generals are very aware that they are facing a monumental task, one never undertaken by Mankind before – the invasion of another inhabited planet. Losses will almost certainly be heavy on both sides, and heavy losses are exactly what the government back home wanted to avoid.
Back on Earth, the Reich government is nearly paralyzed by indecision. Admiral Derg’s monumental victory over the Novaran fleet and planetary defenses was met with joy by the public and in the Reichstag, and the initial reports from Novara seemed to indicate that the Novarans would be reasonable and surrender, making this a nearly bloodless victory and an immense coup for the government, and for the Kaiser. Although initially reluctant to sanction the invasion, and still of very mixed emotions, the Kaiser had ultimately decided to gamble by becoming the public face of the government’s support for the war. Already he had made numerous public appearances to talk about the progress of the war, and the public’s support and esteem for him had risen greatly. The Kaiser had hoped that by taking this gamble he would increase his standing amongst the people and solidify his position, which was still shaky. His strategy had been a success so far, as Admiral Derg’s reports of victories over the Novarans had begun arriving. The Novaran destruction of their own PDC’s had raised hopes throughout the government that they would achieve a great, and more importantly, bloodless victory. Now that the easy victory seemed to be slipping away no one wanted to be responsible for the decision to move to the next phase. Finally, though, the Kaiser decided that his leadership position would require him to get out in front and push. If he appeared indecisive at this point, all of the good done to his image up to now would be lost. Therefore, he went before the nation late on the 8th and stated that he had issued orders for the ground invasion of Novara to begin. The orders had already been dispatched to Admiral Derg.
Admiral Derg and her generals wasted no time once the orders arrived. The generals had already planned the landings and refined their plans, so everything was ready to go. Two hours after receiving the authorization the transports began landing. The generals had decided on a final plan involving multiple landings in remote locations, followed by actions by the individual landing forces to engage local defense forces and eventually link up and eliminate all resistance.
The initial landings went well, and the transports unloaded their troops and lifted off without opposition. Once unloaded the Reich transports set out for the warp point, ultimately bound for Earth to load more divisions. Admiral Derg decided that no escorts would be attached to the transports in spite of the chance that stray Novaran ships might still be about. The transports have a maximum speed of 6,464 kps, much higher than any known Novaran ship. The transport’s speed should insure their safety, and Admiral Derg is concerned that escorts will only slow the transports down, increasing the likelihood of interception.
In addition, Admiral Derg detached all of her missile frigates and her munitions ships. The munitions ships had already transferred the bulk of their missiles to the fleet, and the frigates could only be reloaded in orbit over the appropriate maintenance facilities, such as those at Venus or Earth.
January 12, 2037, 0050 hours, El Paso System
The eight ships of the Alliance 2nd Destroyer Division had been sitting on the warp point to the Tau Ceti system since November. As forward pickets, their duty was to wait and watch for the approach of the Abonai, so that the main fleet in Tau Ceti had time to prepare for their arrival. The months had been uneventful, until now. At about the same time, all eight destroyers picket up contacts on their active sensors, at about 11 mkm’s, on the correct bearing for the last known location of the Abonai fleet. The contact was soon evaluated to be seventeen ships, matching the types spotted by the Milton. The Abonai were approaching at 1900 kps. Captain Gass, the CO of the 2nd DesDiv, immediately dispatched one of his destroyers through the warp point to warn the fleet.
The rest of the destroyers remained in El Paso to watch the approaching ships. Following his orders, Captain Gass sent a recording of Rear Admiral Reichard’s warning message to the Abonai. The message was a firm statement of the Alliance’s ownership of the Tau Ceti system, and a warning that the Alliance would fire on any ship that entered the system uninvited.
The Alliance destroyers waited for ten minutes, watching as the Abonai ships steadily approached, and then they too jumped out. The Abonai did not respond to the Alliance message before they jumped.
Once they were in the Tau Ceti system, the Alliance destroyers moved smartly away from the warp point, headed for rendezvous with the main fleet five million kilometers from the warp point.
0315 hours, Tau Ceti System, Alliance Fleet
Alarms began sounding across the Alliance fleet when five Abonai ships appeared 30,000 kilometers from the warp point, in almost a direct line in between the Alliance fleet and the warp point. The Alliance ships were already at action stations, so there was very little confusion as the crews focused on the threat. The fleet’s sensors identified the ships as a 21,000 ton Dreadnought, a 17,500 ton Battleship, a 9,950 ton Battlecruiser, an 8,500 ton Cruiser, and a 5,300 ton Destroyer. Within seconds of the ships appearing off of the warp point, Rear Admiral Reichard broadcasted another prerecorded message for the intruders, ordering them to depart the system.
Abonai Battle Group 3.02, Kilean system
Least Fang Na quivered in his combat frame, wishing that his nausea would pass so that he could get on with the conquest of the new system. He hated warp transits, and he always would. So far Domination scientists had been unable to find a way to counter the disorientation and nausea that inevitably went with a warp transit, and every time he made a transit, even in secure territory, he felt as if a big target was painted on the hull of his ship. Na’s ears swiveled forward as his communications officer put an incoming message on the main bridge monitor.
“Abonai ships, you have entered an Alliance star system. I am Rear Admiral Reichard, commanding units of the Alliance Fleet assigned to protect this system. This system has been claimed by the Western Alliance. Depart immediately, or you will be fired upon. You will receive no further warnings. My fleet will open fire in three minutes.”
Na bared his teeth in a feral grin. The idiots were giving his ships time to recover. How stupid could they be?
Ninety seconds later, Na was beginning to reconsider his first impression of the human’s intelligence. After his ship’s sensors had finally recovered from the jump effects, they showed a grand total of twenty six ships, including three 15,000 ton and six 9,500 ton ships. A respectable force, if not quite a match for his battle group. Still, Na thought, the humans had erred in positioning themselves so far from the warp point. They would have to approach, and in the meantime his jump ship would be conveying his fleet to this side of the warp point. With a better idea of the tactical situation, he ordered the Valkha to begin ferrying the rest of the group through the warp point. As the big ship departed, he began planning the attack on the human fleet. For this mission he had transferred himself and his staff to the battleship Kalakzon, as the Valkha would be occupied shuttling back and forth from the Alkumar system, and he wanted to be on the forefront of the battle with the humans.
Alliance Fleet, 0318 hours
“Explain it to them, Bonnie.” Commodore William Toole, CO of the State Mk 2 class Battlecruiser Pernambuco, settled back into his chair with satisfaction. Rear Admiral Reichard had decided against a full strike against the Abonai, preferring to send them off with a warning, if possible. Therefore, she had decided to have one of her ships launch missiles, instead of the entire fleet, and his ship was the one she had chosen.
Commander Bonnie Conville nodded and turned back to her console. She had had plenty of time to set up the shot, and all she had to do now was code in the activation command. Seconds later, the all ten of the Pernambuco’s launchers hurled Standard Mk IIIa missiles into space. As the largest Abonai ship was even then transiting out, they were targeted on the second largest ship, previously designated as a battleship.
The missiles raced away from the Alliance ships at 32,000 kps.
Ninety five seconds later, aboard the Kalakzon…
“Contact alert! New contact, range two million, ninety thousand kilometers and closing. Contact is thermal only.”
Leat Fang Na swiveled to face the plot. The new contact had appeared on a direct line between his fleet and the Alliance fleet. Before he could open his mouth the sensor officer spoke again.
“New information. Contact has been resolved as ten independent targets, very small, speed 32,000 kps. The contacts are on a direct course for the fleet. ETA is now 60 seconds.”
“Combat alert! All ships to defensive stance! Set all weapons to automated intercept mode!” Na wasn’t sure what the incoming objects were, but they were headed for his fleet and they had appeared on time with the Alliance’s threat of opening fire.
For the next minute Na watched as the Alliance weapons approached. He wasn’t too worried. There were only ten of them, and his squadron had four twin laser turrets and twenty two torpedo launchers with which to engage the incoming weapons. Of course, the unknown weapons were fast, much faster than the tracking speed of even his laser turrets. In fact, the weapons were so fast that they would cross the engagement range of his lasers in five seconds and that of his torpedoes in ten seconds.
The incoming weapons seemed to accelerate as they closed on the Abonai ships, and the end of their run was spectacular. The two laser turrets of the Tolchoi class CLE escorting the larger ships of the squadron fired when the missiles were just short of the Abonai ships. The two twin laser turrets managed to get one hit, destroying one of the weapons at 12,000 kilometers. A fraction of a second later the rest of the fleet’s weapons fired at the remaining nine weapons. Twenty two dual fusion torpedo launchers and two additional laser turrets fired as a last ditch attempt to stop the weapons. The Kalakzon’s laser turrets destroyed three of the incoming weapons, and the fleet’s torpedoes destroyed another two weapons, leaving four to slam into the Kalakzon’s heavily armored sides.
The heavy battleship shuddered for a second as the four weapons impacted. After a few seconds the damage control center reported in with a “no-damage” damage report. A few seconds later the weapons officer reported that the weapons possessed warheads 67% as powerful as a dual fusion torpedo. The weapons had hit the Kalakzon’s armor in three different locations. The deepest penetration was a little over a quarter of the way through the armor belt.
On the surface, the attack seemed to be anticlimactic. The Kalakzon had survived without even minor damage. However, as Least Fang Na considered the situation things appeared increasingly grim. The humans had struck from approximately fifteen times his ship’s weapons range, and while he had no intelligence on the speed of these human ships, all of their ships detected up to now had demonstrated speeds significantly higher than his own. When those two points were put together the prospects for a successful conquest became very unlikely. Even as Na considered the situation, another communication from the human Admiral came in.
“Abonai ships, that strike was just a portion of my fleet’s firepower. Leave this system now or you will be destroyed. You have until your jump ship returns to begin evacuating this system. There will be no further warnings.”
Least Fang Na stared at the monitor, his mind racing, until the Valkha returned with four more Mozlir class cruisers in tow. The situation was too complex, and too fraught with danger to proceed precipitously. Without any hesitation once his mind was made up, Na ordered his squadron to return to Alkumar.
Once in the Alkumar system, Na composed and dispatched a message for the Dominar, explaining his failure. In addition, he sent all sensor readings of the human fleet and its weapons, along with a tactical analysis of the implications of the missile weapons and the human ship’s higher speeds. The message caused much consternation on the home world of the Domination.
Ultimately, Least Fang Na would be recalled to Abon, where he expected to be relieved of command and cashiered from the Navy. The reverse proved to be true, however. The Dominar himself promoted Na, and put him in charge of a research group charged with determining the best way to counter the human’s technology. Over the next several years, Na would command task groups charged with bringing new races into a “Coalition” designed to counter the humans.
January 14, 2037, Earth
The ground fighting continues between the Russians and the Japanese, although the Empire is obviously faltering. The last five days have seen the destruction of the bulk of the Empire’s remaining forces. Russian cyber-shock troops have broken through Imperial lines all across what used to be China and are advancing everywhere. Reports of Russian amphibious and airborne landings throughout the Pacific basin have reached the Alliance and the Reich, and there are rumors that the Russians have landed in the Japanese Home Islands.
The military leaders of the Empire are desperate. The disaster in China is even greater than they have told their own political masters, much less the world. The Empire has only three organized Army divisions left, and they are encircled and won’t last long. Worse, while many of the officers and civilians who fell sick to the Russian illness seemed to be recovering, but it was becoming clear that appearances were deceptive. The sickness, whatever it is, has altered those afflicted in terrible ways. While Imperial doctors are not sure what exactly is going on, they can say that whatever the Russians have done has altered the brain chemistry of those afflicted.
The Army generals finally make their report to the General Staff, and then make atonement for their failure. The political leaders of the Empire are faced with disaster at every turn. Russian Special Forces groups are loose in the Home Islands, entire regions of the Empire have fallen away or have been conquered by the Russians, and both the fleet and the army have been destroyed. Worse, the terrifying Russian illness has been…altering Imperial subjects in horrible ways. The politicians, having no other recourse and no resources left, go to the Emperor to report their own failures, for which they are ordered to atone. Left with no other options, the Emperor orders the implementation of Case Omega. Case Omega was designed for a situation where the Empire had no hope of survival, where the only thing left to do was to strike at their enemies and hurt them as badly as possible.
The Imperial Order was transmitted to the Empire’s fourteen planetary defense centers via one of the few remaining secure channels. Until now the PDC’s had remained quiet, deactivated in the face of the threat from the Russian cyber attack that had crippled the Empire’s cyber-infrastructure from the first day of the attack. There was too much chance of disaster if the cyber-plagues managed to gain control of a PDC’s systems, so they had remained on the sidelines during the battles of the last few weeks, but now the Empire had nothing left to lose.
The Imperial Order arrived in the PDC’s, but in one case it was too late. Russian augmented Special Forces teams had already penetrated the PDC’s defenses and had largely destroyed the base. The other thirteen bases reactivated their systems and brought their weapons online. Ten of the thirteen bases immediately self-destructed when their fusion power plants went critical and lost containment. That left three bases, two offensive missile launching bases and one defensive meson base. All three managed to maintain control of their systems in spite of the cyber infection, and all three followed their orders.
The two Japanese missile bases hurled a total of sixteen heavy planetary missiles towards the Russian homeland. The Russian planetary defense bases were already online, as they had been since the start of the conflict. Ten meson defense bases, each with four twin meson turrets, began picking off incoming missiles. In short order every single incoming missile was knocked out of the sky by Russian defenses.
In the Alliance and the Reich the national defense AI’s began reacting to the situation. In the first seconds of the attack the AI’s generated a report and dispatched it to their human masters. In some situations they were not constrained to wait for a response. If, for example, the Japanese missiles had been launched at the countries they were assigned to defend, then they would be authorized to take immediate action without receiving human permission. In a situation where missiles were targeted on another nation, though, they were prohibited from taking offensive action on their own. Unfortunately, the human decision loop was painfully slow, and a decision would not be made for ten or more minutes.
In the meantime, the remaining Japanese bases were having problems. The crews had only suppressed the Russian cyber plagues, they hadn’t eradicated them. In the aftermath of the launch, one of the two remaining bases suffered the same fate as its fallen sister bases and self-destructed. The last base continued to reload its missiles, though, and a minute later it launched eight more planetary attack missiles against the Russians. Every sixty seconds it launched another salvo, but the Russian defenses were easily able to handle the eight missile salvoes and much to everyone’s relief the Russians declined to launch counter-strike. After eight minutes and eight additional salvoes, the last remaining Japanese base fell silent and the world breathed a sigh of relief. Not one missile struck its target.
January 15, 2037
The Reich detachment arrives at the warp point to the 82 Eridani system (in the Novaran home system). They find a newly constructed jump gate at the warp point, and report this fact to Admiral Derg. The squadron does not have jump capability, so their original orders were to picket this side of the warp point without transiting. Admiral Derg decides against ordering the ships to transit out of the Novaran home system, as she has no way of knowing if there is a jump gate on the far side of the warp point, or how many ships the Novarans might have there waiting for them. The Reich ships did not detect the Novaran picket ship, which jumped out long before the Reich ships closed on the warp point.
January 18, 2037
The Novaran picket ship Scarabus 001 arrives at the warp point to the Thioloka system. The Thioloka system is the home system of the Milosian Commonwealth, discovered six years ago. The Novarans had been initially repulsed by the hideous, non-bipedal, bug-like aliens, but after establishing communications they found the aliens to have a surprisingly mild personality that the Novarans greatly preferred when compared to the much more physically similar but abrasive humanity.
The Novaran picket ship finds a Milosian construction ship at the warp point to the Milosian home system, busily building a jump gate. This is somewhat disturbing to the Novarans, as they did not know that the Milosians, who had seemed to be somewhat isolationist, planned on building any jump gates, but the picket’s commander has his orders. After receiving permission from the Milosian construction ship, the Scarabus 001 jumps into the Milosian home system.
Once in the Milosian system, the picket commander sends General Melsnatison’s message to the Milosian home world, along with all of the data that had been attached.
The Milosians are stunned at this development. They knew that their technology was rather backward when compared to that of the Novarans, but the fact that there was an aggressive, expansionist race out there with even more advanced technology was very, very disturbing. These ‘humans’ were throwing huge missile waves around at over sixty million kilometers, a range beyond that of even the massive missiles used by the Milosian planetary defense system.
The Milosians begin debating the situation even as their intelligence services begin examining the information that the Novarans brought to them. Unfortunately, the Milosians don’t have the capacity to interfere in the events taking place in the Novaran home system, as none of their ships have jump capability. After being contacted by the Novarans the Milosians had evaluated their options for interstellar travel, and had ultimately decided that they had no need for jump ships, given that their civilization would remain centered on Milosia for the foreseeable future, therefore all planned interstellar travel in the future was to be through jump gates. Worse, given the obvious tech disparity, the Milosians had no business provoking such an obviously aggressive race, even in defense of their friends, the Novarans. Still, the Novarans were known to have established a colony in the Parakoila system, adjacent to the Milosian home system, and if that colony drew the humans into contact with Milosia, then it behooved the Milosian Commonwealth to establish that contact as far away from itself as possible. The situation was complex.
January 19th, 2037
The last five days have seen the destruction of the Imperial Japanese Army as an organized field force, and the collapse of the Japanese government. Resistance is still fierce throughout the former Imperial territories, but there is no coordination and no hope for victory.
The last three remaining ‘human’ nations on Earth, shocked at the rapid demise of the Empire, begin high level talks aimed at forming an “Anti-Cyborg” coalition. All three free nations have begun receiving pleas for help from former Japanese possessions throughout the Pacific basin as Imperial rule collapses. Opinion within the nations as to their responsibility towards the former subjects of the Empire is divided, but at least in the Alliance and the Indian Republic the public seems firmly behind intervening to secure the freedom of the breakaway territories before the Russians can garrison them. Unfortunately, even in the face of the Russian threat the major powers cannot put aside their differences and their other concerns. While the Reich government is concerned about the Russians, they are almost completely focused on the events in the Novaran system and are not willing to consider taking on any more military responsibilities. Even worse, at least from the point of view of those wanting a trilateral alliance, the Reich’s leaders are decidedly anti-interventionist in stance. The Reich’s government is as concerned as the other governments, but they fear that provoking the Russians before more substantial defenses are in place is suicidal. Meanwhile, the Alliance government has grown extremely concerned about this new aggressively expansionist focus of the Reich government, something that they had hoped was left behind in the fires of the War of European Unification. The Indian government, the smallest and weakest of the three nations, doesn’t care what else is going on and merely wants to secure allies against the Russians.
The final straw for the Alliance comes when the Reich decides to send lower ranking officials from its Foreign Ministry to attend one of the final meetings before a proposed meeting between the heads of state for the three nations. Both the Indian Republic and the Alliance had full ministers attending this meeting, while the Reich sent much lower ranked individuals. The Alliance seizes on this breach to pressure the Indians, who are hosting the talks and the primary motive force behind the talks, to exclude the Reich. The Indians are placed in a position that they have assiduously avoided being placed in since the formation of their state, that of choosing between the two major nations. After some additional talks the Reich is excluded and the Indian government agrees to a military treaty with the Alliance. The treaty is primarily aimed at mutual defense against aggression, but also contains secret provisions for joint military action to secure breakaway territories of the Empire before the Russians can secure them. Both sides see this as merely the first step towards integrating the Republic into the Alliance, something that the Indians increasingly believe is the only way to secure their nation.
As a result of the treaty the militaries of the Alliance and the Indian Republic go on high alert and begin moving to their jump-off points for action throughout the Pacific Ocean.
The Reich observes the military preparations with alarm. The Reich’s government was of the opinion that a military alliance between the three non-Soviet governments was provocative. The fact that the Alliance and India were actually preparing to intervene militarily in the ongoing Russian-Japanese conflict was beyond alarming. Hurried meetings began taking place at the highest levels of the Reich government.
On Novara, the Reich invasion is facing fierce resistance from dug-in Novaran forces. The leading waves of the invasion force are largely wiped out by near fanatical defenders and the Reich forces suffer heavy casualties. In ten days of fighting, the Reich has lost nearly half of its invasion force. The Novarans have suffered as well, losing seven divisions and 3.6 million civilians.
January 23, 2037
The Milosians dispatch two warships to the Najeeb system, known to the Novarans as the Parakoila system. While they have not completed their jump gate on the far side of the warp point it will be completed before the warship’s mission is completed. The warships are to establish contact with the Novaran colony and are carrying high government officers authorized to make treaties and otherwise deal with whatever situation they discover once they arrive. The squadron will arrive in 98 days. In the meantime, the entire remaining Novaran space force, composed entirely of unarmed cargo, colony, and survey ships, has retreated to the Parakoila colony with word of the bombardment of the home world.
January 24, 2037
The Reich troop transport fleet returns to Novara this week and drops off nineteen additional Wehrmacht divisions, all of which are thrust immediately into the fighting. The fighting continues to be fierce, though, and by the 24th, even counting the reinforcements, the invasion force has been reduced to eighteen divisions, which is smaller than the force that originally landed fifteen days ago. On the bright side, the Novaran defense forces have been reduced as well, with their strength estimated at around twenty seven divisions of various types.
The heavy ground fighting has caused much consternation at the highest levels of the Reich government. The Wehrmacht’s losses to date are twenty divisions, all heavy infantry or armored divisions. The Wehrmacht generals commanding the invasion force are now claiming to have been reluctant from the first, and are pointing to their numerous notifications to the civil government that a full-scale planetary invasion was an incredibly risky venture that no one has ever attempted before. They claim that the Raumarine and the Reich’s political leaders had ignored their warnings in their desperation to achieve a quick victory. The initial hopes of the politicians and admirals were dashed, though, when more and more Novaran troops appeared on the front lines. The death toll is shocking, and is beginning to turn the Reich population against the war. Editorials critical of the government’s handling of the war are beginning to appear, and there have been several demonstrations against the killing in several major cities. Instructions are dispatched to the commanding general by the Kaiser himself to finish the war, one way or another.
On Earth, the Japanese collapse is complete. Russian forces are everywhere and the fighting has largely died down. In conquering Japan, the Russians have acquired the Empire’s fuel stocks, along with its resource stores. In the longer run, the Russians have acquired a huge population base, along with the Empire’s industrial and mining capacity, although it will take some time to integrate these acquisitions. The USSR has already made significant progress in integrating the Empire’s clone workforce into its own economy, largely using ‘converted’ Japanese officers as commanders. As far as the clones are concerned, nothing has changed, which has made it much easier for the Russians to put them to work. To date, almost all Russian effort is focused on the Empire’s Chinese territories and the Japanese Home Islands.
January 25, 2037
On this date sixty Indian and Alliance combat divisions, mostly mechanized infantry and marine units, move into the Empire’s former holdings throughout the Pacific, primarily in the Philippines, Indonesia, and New Zealand. Further, the Indian government reveals the existence of their new treaty with the Alliance, along with the presence of ten Alliance heavy armored divisions and numerous other Alliance combat units in the Indian subcontinent.
The Reich government protests this move loudly and publicly. While they have no love for the Russians, they fear that this will be seen as an escalation of the war.
The operation goes forward smoothly. The largest impediment at first is the civil disorder throughout the former Japanese territories. The people of these territories are unused to self-rule, and have been oppressed for decades. While many, if not most, understand that their best chance for survival is with the Alliance or India, that understanding palls in many cases when it came up against their desire for revenge against their former overlords, many of whom had been struck down by disease or Russian strike groups targeting command centers or rally points throughout the Empire. The Russians offer nothing more than token resistance and withdraw in the face of heavy Alliance forces. The Russian government, if there is still such a thing, declines to comment. Russian forces begin moving towards their border with India but take no other action.
The world held its breath over the next few days as they waited for the Russian response. The Alliance military secured its position throughout the Pacific and freed three hundred million people, along with almost seven hundred economic facilities.
Deep within Russia the central consciousness of the Russian people considered the situation. In the time since its formation it had slowly been groping its way towards consensus within its consciousness, slowly and painfully evolving towards a true post-human intelligence. It was the combined consciousnesses of every solitary human that had been linked by their implants, and at first, as they struggled within the gestalt to maintain their independence and impose their will on every one else, the new entity that had replaced their old nation was chaotic and hesitant, capable of great things and awesome stupidity at the same time. Slowly, though, a new combined intelligence, neither human nor machine but with parts of both, had evolved. The new gestalt was dependent on neither human bodies nor machine networks, as it ran on both using them as a distributed network.
Over the last several years the gestalt had reacted to the world largely on instinct as its internal structure evolved, but the last Japanese invasion had jolted the evolving intelligence out of its introspection and forced it to begin interacting with the world. After reviewing its history with the other nations and the events since its birth, the gestalt realized that it faced several threats. The Japanese posed the most immediate threat, but the real threat to its existence were the two major nations, either of which possessed the military strength to destroy it. The only possible solution was to either absorb or destroy the other nations, or move away from them to a secure location. Worse, it recognized the fact that the rapidly depleting resources on Earth would shortly force all of the human nations on Earth to begin taking increasingly desperate actions to secure new sources for their ravenous industry. The gestalt was not immune to that threat; indeed, it was in a worse position than either of the major nations. Therefore, the gestalt had turned its attention to the Japanese Empire, the easiest of its current opponents to subdue. The Japanese posed both a threat and an opportunity, and therefore the gestalt had set about dismantling the Empire for its own benefit.
The alliance between the Indians and the Western Alliance was not unexpected, nor was their seizure of the lands throughout the Pacific. Indeed, the gestalt had calculated that the chance of the Alliance intervening in its efforts to subdue the Empire as being better than 80%. Unfortunately, the gestalt could not afford to provoke a confrontation with the Alliance at this time. In any case, the Pacific territories seized by the Alliance had been considered backwaters by the Japanese. The bulk of the Empire’s industry, and all of its research facilities, resource storage facilities, and fleet maintenance facilities were either in China or in the Home Islands and were firmly under the gestalt’s control.
With the ground fighting largely over on Earth, the gestalt turned its attention to the skies, and the remnants of the Japanese Empire still hiding out there. Unfortunately, events had already begun to spin out of control, although that wouldn’t be clear to anyone until much later. Minor clashes had already started along the border between the border of Russia and India, on the ground and in the air.
January 26, 2037
Nearly the entire Russian fleet leaves Earth orbit. Six cruisers lead the way, followed by twelve missile defense destroyers and twelve missile frigates. The warships are escorting seven troopships which loaded four armored and three heavy assault divisions. Their course is directly for the Imperial mining outpost on Titan, and their ETA is just over three days.
Meanwhile, the Kaiser and his government are growing desperate. The power brokers behind the war had been sure that the Raumarine and the Wehrmacht would overwhelm the Novarans in short order, and while the Raumarine had lived up to that belief, the Wehrmacht had suffered tremendous casualties since the start of the invasion. The Novarans were throwing up near fanatical resistance against any advance and had even managed to eliminate several of the Wehrmacht’s beach heads. The calls for reinforcements from generals commanding the invasion were nearly continuous, but the troop transport fleet was still on its way back to Earth and wouldn’t return to Novara with those reinforcements for nine and a half days.
On Earth the constant reports of heavy fighting and fanatical resistance from Novara were undermining the public’s support for the war. The general feeling seemed to be that the Novarans had lost the space battle, and should have surrendered. The fact that they didn’t surrender seemed to be viewed with more than a little anger by the average citizen, and the general public’s anger with what they viewed as the government’s mishandling of the situation and the Novaran stubbornness grew day by day. Protests were a daily event in nearly every major European city, and there was talk of a vote of no confidence in the Reichstag.
Finally, after conferring with his Ministers and the leaders in the Reichstag, the Kaiser issued a Reich order to Admiral Derg authorizing her to use any and all means at her disposal to end the fighting. A private message from the Admiralty to Derg accompanied the orders, informing her that she was to ‘avoid genocide’ but that short of that she could use any means necessary to end the fight.
January 27, 2037
Admiral Derg received the orders from Earth with little surprise. Based on the information she was receiving from her contacts on Earth she knew that the government wanted this situation resolved as soon as possible, so that the heavy combat units of the Wehrmacht could be transferred back to Earth to defend the Reich.
After consulting with her staff she selected two cruisers commanded by her most reliable officers for the task and put the fleet on alert. The two cruisers acquired their targets and then launched a total of twelve missiles at Novaran cities and military bases on the surface. Seconds later 10.8 million Novarans died in the resulting nuclear explosions, along with sixty three economic facilities and the manufacturing and assembly plants associated with one of the orbital slipways.
In the aftermath of the strike Admiral Derg sent a message to the Novaran high command, ordering them to surrender or face continued bombardment. There was no immediate reply. Thirty seconds later another twelve missiles flashed away. Another eleven million Novarans were killed, along with eighty economic facilities.
A third salvo raced away, then a fourth, killing twenty two million Novarans and destroying one hundred and thirty one economic facilities and two slipways. At this point Admiral Derg called a halt and sent another demand for surrender. After five minutes passed without a response, Admiral Derg gave orders for the next phase of the bombardment to commence. The eleven Reich battleships orbiting Novara launched ten short-range assault missiles each, targeted on Novaran cities. One hundred million Novarans died in seconds, along with six hundred economic facilities, three shipyards, and seven slipways. Admiral Derg received the Novaran plea for surrender immediately thereafter. The Novarans surrendered unconditionally one hour later.
Over the next several days Admiral Derg arranged for the transfer of 17,000,000 units of fuel and over 1.3 million standard units of trans-Newtonian resources from Novaran stocks to areas controlled by Reich ground forces as the first step of the occupation.
News of this ‘victory’ is tightly controlled by the Reich. While he had authorized Admiral Derg’s actions, for what he had thought were good and sufficient reasons, the Kaiser had not actually understood the reactions that would be unleashed by the infliction of megadeaths on Novara by Reich forces. The news had not been publicly released yet, and as yet it had only been released to high ranking officials in the government
Throughout the entire debacle the joint Indian/Novaran trade colony watched the events transpiring on Novara, as they were receiving a continuing transmission from Novara updating them on all the latest details, unbeknownst to the Reich.
Back in the solar system, at 1424 hours, at the IJN’s Titan Base…
Cho-sho Maubeni Kita, the senior surviving Japanese officer in solar space, has watched the Russian fleet approach Titan Base with hatred and fury. The Empire was no more, and the last transmission from the Imperial City informed all surviving officers that the Emperor had killed himself rather than be captured by Russian penetration teams. There was nothing left now but to kill as many Russians as they could.
The IJN force orbiting Titan represented every armed ship remaining to the Empire. One missile cruiser, ten modern destroyers, and seventeen older destroyers were all that were left. And, of course, the single PDC that had been built on Titan to protect the Empire’s automated mining complex. It wasn’t much, but it was what Kita had.
When the Russian force reached twenty-two mkm’s from Titan Kita gave the order for his cruiser and the ground base to begin launching their missiles.
Twelve minutes later the cruiser and the missile base had launched their entire stock of missiles and the IJN’s final missile attack was racing towards the Russians, one hundred and fifty nine missiles strong. The Japanese ship-borne missiles didn’t have enough endurance to allow all of the missiles to assemble in one wave, so Cho-sho Kita was forced to order the missiles to attack in two waves, one composed of the cruiser’s ninety Long Lance II missiles and the other of sixty nine Planetary Attack Missiles.
The Russian fleet detected the first wave of incoming missiles when they were 1.1 mkm’s from the fleet. That was well within the engagement range of the Moskva class anti-missile destroyers and they immediately began launching anti-missile missiles. Forty eight AMM’s flashed away from the destroyers every ten seconds as the IJN missiles approached. It took the incoming missile wave forty five seconds to cross the intervening space. The Russian ships were launching no less than three types of anti-missile missiles, moving at 16, 24, and 40,000 kps. The fastest AMM’s intercepted the incoming missile wave twenty seconds after the first launch, and the interceptions became continuous as the AMM’s strung out behind the leading edge of the defensive missiles slammed into the oncoming wave. Some of the slower (older) AMM’s have trouble keeping up with the incoming missiles, which are moving at 24,000 kps.
The Russian AMM’s attenuated the incoming missiles but were unable to stop them. Out of the ninety missiles of the first wave, Russian AMM’s intercepted twenty-seven and the last ditch defense by the fleet’s rail guns stopped six more, leaving fifty seven Long Lance II missiles to attack two Russian cruisers. Of those, thirty hit the two cruisers. Only one of the warheads penetrated the ship’s thick armor, and it failed to do any real damage.
Nine minutes after the last of the missiles of the first wave were either destroyed or hit their target, the sixty-nine missiles of the second wave appeared before the Russian fleet. Once again AMM’a were launched from the Russian destroyers, and once again it was an eclectic assemblage of AMM’s that raced away from the fleet towards the incoming missiles. This time, though, they had a much better chance of hitting the incoming missiles, and a longer engagement time, as the IJN missiles of this wave were bigger (and older) planetary missiles moving at only 12,700 kps.
Thirty seconds after the incoming missiles were detected the first AMM’s slammed into them, and as before the interceptions became continuous as the stream of AMM’s of various types strung out behind the leaders made their own interceptions. For the next eighty seconds the Russian AMM’s engaged the incoming missiles, and in the end the AMM’s were a match for the attacking missiles, the last of which vanished in a fireball 100,000 kilometers short of the fleet.
Two things happened immediately after the destruction of the last incoming missile. The twelve Russian missile frigates began launching missiles, nine each, at the distant Japanese fleet. Even as the Russian ships began launching their missiles, the Japanese destroyers, the last effective fighting force the IJN had, left the company of the now-useless missile cruiser and began heading for the Russian fleet, which had come to a halt thirteen point six mkm’s from Titan.
The Russian fleet was somewhat mismatched, a hodgepodge of modern and old tech, and of various design strategies. At the core of the fleet was six Kirov Mk VI rail gun armed cruisers. These cruisers boasted internal confinement fusion drives, comparable with the Alliance’s latest drives, developed after The Event by the new Russian gestalt by means of its singular insight into the universe and thanks to ransacking many of the less secure databases belonging to the other earth nations. All six cruisers had been refit with the new engines after The Event, but all had been built more than ten years ago and many of their systems were woefully outdated. Their armor, for example, was three generations out of date. The Russian destroyers were equipped with anti-missile missile launchers and like the cruisers had been updated with the latest IC fusion drives. Their armor and most of their other systems was outdated, though. The Russian missile frigates were still equipped with old-style ion drives, and were much slower than the other fleet ships. The Sverdlov Mk II class Missile Frigates were something of an experiment by the old Soviet Navy, and the new Russian Gestalt was unsure of what to do with them. The frigates were equipped with nine very slow firing missile bays, a kind of intermediate step between a full-sized and faster-firing launcher and a non-reloadable missile launch cell. Unfortunately, the Swarm Missile Bay was larger than a non-reloadable cell and much slower firing than a full sized launcher, so the Sverdlov Mk II had the worst of both worlds. Unable to fire a large enough salvo to penetrate a target’s defenses and too slow-firing to amass a large salvo, the Sverdlov’s were slated for the scrap yard in the near future. Now, though, they were what the Russians had.
The Russian missile frigates were slow firing, taking seven and a half minutes to reload after each launch. Because their targets were steadily closing on them, and because they were launching missiles developed using the latest post-Event technology, the frigates were able to launch a total of twenty missiles each in three separate launches before sending the entire wave of 240 missiles off towards their targets. The missile wave raced towards the oncoming Japanese destroyers at 26,700 kps, and behind them the Russian fleet accelerated to 4600 kps towards the Japanese.
The missile wave slammed into the twenty-seven Japanese destroyers several minutes later. At the last second the Japanese formation erupted in frantic laser fire as the destroyers engaged the incoming missiles with their laser turrets. Forty eight missiles were destroyed short of the fleet, but then the rest reached attack range and exploded. Nine destroyers were completely destroyed, another was heavily damaged, and two more were lightly damaged.
In the aftermath of the first missile salvo the Russian ships turned towards the Japanese ships and accelerated to full speed. The two groups of ships closed to six hundred and fifty thousand kilometers and then the Russian ships turned away. They then launched a full salvo of one hundred and eight missiles away from the Japanese ships, towards a point in space one million kilometers ahead of the Russian fleet, along their projected flight path away from the oncoming Japanese destroyers. Four hundred and fifty seconds later the frigates launched another one hundred and eight missiles targeted on the same point. Once the two missile salvoes joined the combined wave turned on the Japanese ships and raced to attack range.
The missile wave completely overwhelmed the Japanese destroyer’s point defense capabilities, and the destroyers only managed to destroy eighteen incoming missiles. In short order seven destroyers were destroyed and three more were heavily damaged. The Japanese force was now reduced to six intact destroyers and five damaged destroyers.
The Russian force waited another four hundred seconds, then launched an additional salvo targeted on the intact Japanese ships. The one hundred and eight missiles raced away, all targeted on the six intact ships. The last six Japanese ships no longer had the benefit of massed point defense fire and they fell easy prey to the missile wave.
With the power of the Japanese fleet broken, the Russians now moved to clean up the mess. The Russians cruisers broke away from the main fleet, accelerated to 9,900 kps, and began chasing down the crippled Japanese ships that had survived the missile salvoes. The last to go was the Empire’s last missile cruiser, which futilely tried to ram the Russian cruisers. It was ripped apart by massed rail gun fire before it could close.
As the Russian cruisers departed the rest of the fleet set out for Titan. As the cruisers began picking off the last remaining Japanese destroyers one by one, the Russian missile ships launched thirty-six missiles at Titan. The missiles raced to their target unopposed, and plunged into Titan’s thick, soupy atmosphere. Seconds later intolerably bright pinpricks appeared on the dark side of the moon as the Japanese Empire’s last PDC disappeared in nuclear fire.
Thirty minutes later the Russian fleet reached Titan and it immediately began unloading troops. Four heavy armored divisions and three shock infantry divisions were deposited on Titan’s surface and began moving against the defenders. The defending Japanese units were dug in, but their numbers had been reduced during the Empire’s futile attempt to bolster its forced fighting on Earth, and then later, after the fall of the Empire on Earth, some of the remaining divisions were transferred to the last remaining Japanese population on Kobe. Only six divisions remained on Titan, all engineering divisions. Still, they fought for the honor of the Emperor, now dead int eh ruins of Tokyo, and they would not surrender.
January 29, 2037
Japanese resistance on Titan continues. The Japanese engineers have mined every approach, and throw themselves at the attacking Russians fanatically, attempting to kill as many of the hated Russians as they can before they are killed in return. All four Russian armored divisions are destroyed, along with one of the shock infantry divisions, in return for half of the defenders. The Russian troop transports leave orbit to load more troops at earth.
Two days later seven additional Russian divisions arrived and the defenders were overwhelmed. The Russians wasted no time in seizing the one hundred and eleven automated mines that composed the mining complex on Titan, along with the resource dumps of mined materials awaiting transport. In addition, the Russians seized three deep space tracking stations and five mass driver installations.
With the fall of Titan the Japanese Empire was reduced to the colony on Kobe in the Gliese-204 system. There were also three unmanned mining colonies in the Gliese-818 system, boasting a total of 163 automated mines. The colony in Kobe had a population of just over 10 million, was in the process of being terraformed, and had fourteen automated mines and eighty-one manned mining installations. The Japanese freighter fleet was currently en route to Kobe with another sixty three automated mines they had removed from Titan before the Russians arrived. There were no defenses on Kobe, aside from the four Army divisions that had been recently relocated from Titan. There were also no fleet maintenance or construction facilities, or fuel or supplies. Because the colony had no construction factories, they had no real hope of building any sort of functioning economy.
The military governor of Kobe, Tai-sa Yukimitsu, upon hearing of the fall of Titan and the final defeat of the IJN from the Nagato class jump ship picketing the warp point to the home system, took very little time to consider the situation. His position was hopeless, and if he chose to fight all they could do was die for the glory of a dead Empire. After conferring with his subordinates, he sent a message to the Nagato, which jumped back into the solar system and immediately transmitted the message to the governments of the Reich and the Alliance. The message essentially pleaded for assistance and protection from one or both governments, in exchange for which the Japanese government in exile would turn over all its remaining ships and economic facilities to their protectors. Yukimitsu places conditions on the deal that would allow the Japanese currently in Kobe to continue in sole control of the Kobe colony under whatever government agrees to give them shelter.
Tai-sa Yukimitsu’s message was received by both governments; however, the reactions were different. The Reich was focused almost completely on the events in the Novaran system and on their internal conflicts over those events, and the offer was never really considered or answered. In the Alliance the offer was considered, but, out of consideration for their new close allies the Indian’s, the Alliance deferred to their smaller partner in this matter. The Indian Republic, which gained its independence from the Japanese Empire just over eighty years ago, remembers Japanese atrocities very well. In addition, the Republic has been instrumental in providing relief forces for the Pacific territories recently saved from Japanese/Russian domination, and the conditions discovered there are appalling. The Indian government has already uncovered incontrovertible evidence of massive genetic engineering performed on unwilling and uninformed people in what appears to be nothing short of a genocidal attempt to erase entire ethnic groups. The messages sent to the Japanese in Kobe call for their complete and unconditional surrender to Alliance forces and that the Japanese in Kobe submit to investigations and trial for crimes against humanity.
Tai-sa Yukimitsu is now has no palatable options. The Russians can and will finish off the last bastion of Japanese power, indeed, the last outpost of the Japanese race, whenever they got around to it. From the sounds of their message, the Indians and the Alliance would be little better. That left only the Reich, which largely sounded uninterested. As far as the Tai-sa was concerned, uninterested beat out hatred every time. After again consulting with his subordinates the Tai-sa sent another message offering to turn over the location and codes to every out-system installation that remained to the Japanese Empire, along with all remaining ships and the Kobe colony, as long as the Reich would agree that the Japanese officers and administrators would not be prosecuted and would be allowed to continue living on Kobe.
The Reich government, as preoccupied as they were, found this a very interesting offer. The government was still sitting on the events on Novara, unsure of how to release the information, or how the public or the other nations would react. This offer seemed like a good way to obtain a success to lay in front of the public to distract them from the bad news that was coming.
In the end it worked much as the Reich’s leaders thought it would. ‘Adopting’ the orphaned Japanese colony gave the public and the Reichstag something to focus on aside from Novara.
February 1, 2037
‘Minor” clashes along the Indian border continue to escalate. Alliance troops have now moved into position to directly support Indian border guard units, and Alliance air units quickly become engaged into larger and larger battles with Russian air units. Russian units perform unexpectedly well against the Indians, in spite of Alliance help. Late in the day, frustrated Indian Air Group commanders request assistance from the National Strategic Air Defense System, which activates its systems all along the northern rim of the country. The Russians, already on alert because of the Alliance encroachment on the border and continuing joint Alliance and Indian operations throughout the Pacific Ocean, misinterpret the Indian action as a Strategic Defense action and immediately order their Strategic Defense PDC’s to go active.
Indian and Alliance defense AI’s detect the Russian action and seconds later both nations activate their PDC’s sensors. The world had been to this ledge several times in the last decade, but this time the Russians blinked. Perceiving the Indian-Western Alliance treaty as a threat, and with Russian forces in retreat from Alliance forces in the Pacific, the Russian gestalt made a mistake, perceiving the Indian actions as the prelude to a ground invasion of Russia proper, possibly accompanied by a nuclear strike. It decided to strike first. Five Central Defense PDC’s launched a total of 120 missiles targeted on Indian population centers and PDC’s. .
The Indian AI’s responded immediately by sending their missile defense PDC’s to full readiness and launching twenty-five ICBM’s in response. Alliance PDC’s launched as well, sending one hundred missiles towards Russia.
Indian Planetary Defense stations intercepted twenty three incoming missiles, and eight more missiles were intercepted by orbiting warships. Most of the missiles intercepted by the defense stations were targeted on Indian cities, leaving the three PDC’s targeted by the Russians undefended. All three were damaged, and twenty million Indians died when Russian nukes detonated over their cities.
Seconds later the deeply buried Russian meson defense stations went into action against the incoming Alliance and Indian missile wave. All incoming missiles were intercepted by the defenses. Later analysis would reveal the fact that not only were the Russian defenses more capable than anticipated, there were almost twice as many defense bases as previously suspected.
Thirty seconds after the first launch, Russian PDC’s spit forth two hundred and forty missiles, all targeted on Indian PDC’s. The Indian defenses had been swamped by the first missile wave, this time they were simply overwhelmed. All five Indian offensive missile bases were destroyed in nuclear firestorms, and several meson defense stations were damaged.
Even as the missiles struck at their targets, the Alliance orbital defense network awoke, striking at Russian ships orbiting the Earth. This started a general brawl in orbit as the Russian ships began launching missiles and rail gun slugs at their attackers.
Ten seconds after the Russian PDC’s launched their second salvo, Alliance and Reich PDC’s launched a total of two hundred and ten missiles at Russian PDC’s. Fireballs flared all around the periphery of Russia as Russian meson defense stations intercepted the incoming missiles. In spite of the more numerous Russian defense stations, some of the incoming missiles got through, damaging several offensive missile bases. The strike was not the overwhelming body-blow that the Alliance and Reich had intended, though.
The war has lasted nearly a minute now, and so far the governments of the Reich and the Alliance are completely unaware of the events that have transpired. The emergency messages are working their way up the chain of command, but their progress is glacially slow compared to the speed of the AI’s waging the war. All of that is about to change. The Russian gestalt now believes that the war is lost, no matter the results of the missile exchange. The environment on the Earth is so damaged that it has effectively become uninhabitable without extensive protection due to the combination of temperature drop and radiation, at least over the long term. Therefore, the gestalt has changed its targeting priorities. The next missile salvo is targeted on Alliance cities.
The Alliance’s defense forces, both on the ground and in orbit, did their best. Fifteen missiles were destroyed by orbitin
Post by: Beersatron on October 12, 2009, 01:17:09 PM
Post by: Kurt on October 12, 2009, 01:58:49 PM
Quote from: "Beersatron"
Sweet way to end the story!
Thanks! I've felt bad about comments people have made concerning my other campaigns, remarking on how they just ended in mid-stroy. I wanted to provide an actual ending to this one, as I liked it quite a bit.
Kurt
Post by: Unco on October 12, 2009, 05:16:07 PM
One quick question. Why did the Reich missile launchers join in with the Alliance in the first place? All I could tell was that they started firing at Russia ten seconds after the Russian PDC's launched their second salvo.
Looking forward to your next campaign!
Post by: Beersatron on October 12, 2009, 07:29:50 PM
Quote from: "Kurt"
Quote from: "Beersatron"Sweet way to end the story!
Thanks! I've felt bad about comments people have made concerning my other campaigns, remarking on how they just ended in mid-stroy. I wanted to provide an actual ending to this one, as I liked it quite a bit.
Kurt
It was a very detailed wrap-up, just the way I like them :)
I guess you could try to re-create the final moments in the next version of Aurora using the GM tools ... that way you could start Book 2! ;-)
Just save the current DB so you don't forget the place/ship/officer names, heh.
Post by: schroeam on October 12, 2009, 10:12:04 PM
Adam.
Post by: ShadoCat on October 12, 2009, 11:54:03 PM
Also, I'm surprised that the Russian Gestalt didn't choose to surrender.
However, this did leave you with a single government for a follow up campaign if you want to keep playing in this universe instead of trying something new.
Post by: Hawkeye on October 13, 2009, 09:29:08 AM
I realy appretiate that you went to the trouble of doing it. Also, like others, I think it could provide a good starting point for a new campaign.
Keep it up!
R. Hoenig, Germany
Post by: Kurt on October 13, 2009, 03:33:33 PM
Quote from: "Unco"
Thanks for the update and conclusion Kurt! As I was reading I thought to myself that the Novarian bombardment was dark. Then I realized it was just a prelude.
One quick question. Why did the Reich missile launchers join in with the Alliance in the first place? All I could tell was that they started firing at Russia ten seconds after the Russian PDC's launched their second salvo.
Looking forward to your next campaign!
Hmmm...I didn't explain that well within the story. The Reich had pretty much broken with the Alliance/Indians due to their aggressive stance towards the Russians, but in spite of that the reich still maintained its original stance of unified action (with the alliance) against any aggressor. The strategy is to stomp anyone that gets out of hand before the environment is permanently damaged. Unfortunately, the Russians had built up their defenses to the point that it took the full strength of both the Alliance and the Reich to knock them out, and in doing so they completed the destruction of the environment.
Fortunately for the Reich and the Alliance they had habitable planets in the system that they could evacuate to.
Kurt
Post by: Kurt on October 13, 2009, 03:36:01 PM
Quote from: "Beersatron"
Quote from: "Kurt"Quote from: "Beersatron"Sweet way to end the story!
Thanks! I've felt bad about comments people have made concerning my other campaigns, remarking on how they just ended in mid-stroy. I wanted to provide an actual ending to this one, as I liked it quite a bit.
Kurt
It was a very detailed wrap-up, just the way I like them ;-)
Just save the current DB so you don't forget the place/ship/officer names, heh.
I could recreate the current conditions in the solar system, but as far as I know, I couldn't recreate the warp links and the other systems, not without a lot of effort for something that at best would be close.
I do have some ideas for something along those lines for future campaigns, though.
Kurt
Post by: Kurt on October 13, 2009, 03:38:38 PM
Quote from: "adradjool"
Nice ending! I can't wait for the next chapter! I've liked your work since I found your Empire of Man and Pheonix campaigns years ago. Keep up the awesome work. As I was reading I was wondering if you had gotten an idea of possibly going on with the Russians as the winner and using them as a hive mind race. The humans turn into the race they've fought in countless stories over the years. I am glad either the Reich or Alliance won, though.
Adam.
Wow, an Empire of Man fan! That's going back. My first campaign.
My original plan was that one of the three was going to "win" the final conflict, and then go forward with them. I thought it would be the Alliance or the Reich, hands down, but the Russians came a lot closer than I thought they would.
Kurt
Post by: Kurt on October 13, 2009, 03:42:28 PM
Quote from: "ShadoCat"
I know that it was an excuse to wrap up the campaign but I'm just wondering why there were border skirmishes between Russia and India.
Also, I'm surprised that the Russian Gestalt didn't choose to surrender.
However, this did leave you with a single government for a follow up campaign if you want to keep playing in this universe instead of trying something new.
The short answer is that it is exactly what you said above, an excuse to end the story. However, I have been in the habit of rolling percentage dice every time there is any sort of a confrontation between the superpowers, just to see if the confrontation goes farther than either side originally intended. I had a table of possible results set up, ranging from mild problems to all out war. The Russians failed this roll badly, indicating that this confrontation took a bad turn, which was reflected in the story.
As for surrendering, the Russians felt that they were feared and different from normal humans, and that if they fell under the control of normals they would ultimately be eradicated.
Kurt
Post by: Kurt on October 13, 2009, 03:52:27 PM
Quote from: "Hawkeye"
Great "wrap it up"!
I realy appretiate that you went to the trouble of doing it. Also, like others, I think it could provide a good starting point for a new campaign.
Keep it up!
R. Hoenig, Germany
I am currently playing with several different ideas for a new campaign. The problem with revisiting old campaigns is that while it would be relatively simple to recreate the situation as it was in the solar system at the end of the campaign, it would be nearly impossible to recreate the rest of the universe. While I could specify the same number of warp links in the solar system, i would have to pre-generate the systems, and do so over and over again until they sort-of matched the systems in the original campaign. Very time consuming for something that would be close at best.
I am currently thinking about reviving the old Twin Moons campaign. The campaign had expanded beyond the home system towards the end, but only surveying had taken place, no colonization, so that shouldn't be a big deal.
I am also considering revisiting the Phoenix Campaign, which was in itself a spin-off of the earlier Terran Campaign.
Kurt
Kurt
Post by: Paul M on October 14, 2009, 03:13:30 AM
Post by: sloanjh on October 14, 2009, 10:17:10 PM
Quote from: "Paul M"
Kurt, great job wrapping it all up. Looking forward to the next one (unsubtle hint...)! The bit about the universe is very true...having restarted my Draak campaign 3 times and wished in all cases for a way to save the state of the universe in a few cases...I finally accepted the newest home system after an hour of create-delete star systems. I'm not all that happy with it though. Good luck on the start for the next one.
STEVE - Now that you've moved to catalogued systems, it should be possible to export at least the jump-point network of an empire so that it can be loaded into a new campaign (in a new version). Just something to consider....
John
PS - .NET has this wonderful class called XMLSerializer - you hand it a class with a bunch of public data members, and it turns it into XML that can be deserialized into objects of the same class type. No yuckky messing about defining schema or interpreting the parsed XML. Don't know if it's accessible through VB, though - probably not for VB6 (if that's what you're still on).
Post by: Steve Walmsley on October 16, 2009, 03:59:48 AM
Quote from: "sloanjh"
I could probably record which stars were linked to each other but each time you run the game, the system generation would still be entirely different.Quote from: "Paul M"Kurt, great job wrapping it all up. Looking forward to the next one (unsubtle hint...)! The bit about the universe is very true...having restarted my Draak campaign 3 times and wished in all cases for a way to save the state of the universe in a few cases...I finally accepted the newest home system after an hour of create-delete star systems. I'm not all that happy with it though. Good luck on the start for the next one.
STEVE - Now that you've moved to catalogued systems, it should be possible to export at least the jump-point network of an empire so that it can be loaded into a new campaign (in a new version). Just something to consider....
John
PS - .NET has this wonderful class called XMLSerializer - you hand it a class with a bunch of public data members, and it turns it into XML that can be deserialized into objects of the same class type. No yuckky messing about defining schema or interpreting the parsed XML. Don't know if it's accessible through VB, though - probably not for VB6 (if that's what you're still on).
There is already a way within the code to record a whole system, as I use it to record the systems for the starting NPRs. There is a hidden button on the System View window called Store system which I make visible when I need it. The data is recorded in StoredSystems, StoredStars, StoredSystemBodies and StoredSBGas When an NPR is created at game start, a system is selected and loaded from the database and new jump points are generated. I could modify that so that players could store their own systems and retrieve them but they would still have to redo the jump point links and it would only work within the same version of the game.
Steve
Post by: sloanjh on October 16, 2009, 08:17:01 PM
Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
I could probably record which stars were linked to each other but each time you run the game, the system generation would still be entirely different.
Ah - I thought the planets were pre-generated as well. Oh well....
John
Post by: theonlystd on March 10, 2010, 10:08:15 PM
Quote from: "Kurt"
my only complaint is you guys havnt written more of emQuote from: "theonlystd"Just finished reading this..
Also great..
Glad you liked it, and I'm glad that someone is still reading these old campaigns.
Kurt
Post by: Hawkeye on March 10, 2010, 11:40:02 PM
Quote from: "theonlystd"
my only complaint is you guys havnt written more of em
seconded
Post by: Aldaris on March 11, 2010, 10:18:13 AM
Quote from: "Hawkeye"
Thirded.Quote from: "theonlystd"my only complaint is you guys havnt written more of em
seconded
Post by: Garfunkel on September 07, 2011, 10:01:30 AM
Anyway, thanks for writing, this campaign gave me several nice ideas to try out in my own game!
Post by: Griswel on July 18, 2014, 11:19:32 AM
Thank you.
Post by: Kurt on December 27, 2014, 06:33:18 PM
The Alliance’s defense forces, both on the ground and in orbit, did their best. Fifteen missiles were destroyed by orbiting ships, forty six by ground based meson turrets, and ten were destroyed by laser fire from orbiting bases. That still left one hundred and twenty one missiles to slam into Alliance cities. Blinding nuclear fireballs rose across the great cities of the western hemisphere. London, New York, Washington DC, Mexico City, Rio De Janeiro, all were obliterated without warning. One hundred and forty five million Alliance citizens died in seconds, while hundreds of millions more were grievously injured. Seven hundred and six industrial and economic centers were destroyed along with their host cities. The top political and military leadership of the Alliance disappeared along with the cities and their inhabitants. The military command structure was still intact, but its link with the political leadership had been decisively severed.
In the Reich the Kaiser was being woken up even as the missiles were hitting the Alliance cities. There wasn’t time to bring him up to speed, instead he was rushed towards a waiting trans-Newtonian transport that would take him away from the danger area. The Reich strategic defense AI has been presented with a difficult situation. The Alliance’s missile launchers are slower than the Reich’s, which have almost recharged. In a few seconds the Reich PDC’s will be ready to launch a second salvo at the Russians, however, it will take at least another twenty seconds for the Alliance PDC’s to recharge their launchers. In that time the will be able to launch yet another salvo, possibly this time at Reich cities. The AI feels an almost overwhelming imperative to launch now, however, in the end it decides to wait. Launching now against the stiff Russian defenses will almost certainly mean wasting their missiles. Launching with the Alliance will greatly increase the chance of penetrating the Russian defenses. In the end the AI decides to wait and launch with the Alliance.
The Russian bases launch yet another salvo, again targeted on Alliance cities. Once again the Alliance defenses do their best, but ultimately fail to defend their charges. Fireballs blossomed across the Alliance and nearly two hundred and thirty million people were killed and nine hundred and thirty seven industrial installations were destroyed.
Seconds later the Alliance and Reich PDC’s launched a combined salvo of nearly two hundred and sixty missiles. To achieve this salvo density the strategic defense AI’s used every launcher at their disposal, including anti-missile missile launchers and those of the two Reich cruisers in orbit. This was their best hope of penetrating the Russian defense sphere. Their alpha strike.
Hundreds of missiles rain down on the Russian PDC’s. The Russian defense stations try to stop them, but prove inadequate to the task. Four of the ten missile bases are destroyed, three more are seriously damaged.
Several more salvoes cross the skies as each side desperately tries to eliminate the other’s remaining military or economic strength, but it is the last gasps of a dying war. Over the next several days the temperature on Earth will drop precipitously. Initial estimates are that the remaining population of the planet will die in just over two years unless relocated.
In the aftermath of the nuclear exchange, as the skies darken, the Alliance orbital defense net makes short work of the remaining Russian ships in orbit. In the days to come, the Reich fleet will sweep the entire system clear of Russian ships, most of which are racing back to the Earth in a forlorn attempt to rescue something of the gestalt from the dying Earth. Both Reich and Alliance naval units begin lifting their people from the dying cities. In the Reich this goes smoothly, at least at first, and the Reich government is transitioned with little incident to Venus. For the Alliance the evacuation is much more chaotic, as most of the large cities have been nuked and the government on Earth has collapsed. Still, the Navy does what it can.
The Reich colony group is currently out-system, on a run to establish a colony in the Iota Piscum system, and won’t be back for nearly 140 days. The Reich has access to twelve colony ships obtained when they took over the remnants of the Japanese fleet, and they are pressed into duty immediately, set to transporting survivors to Venus.
Both of the Alliance’s colony groups are also out system, and aren’t expected back for several weeks. Once they do arrive they will also be set to transporting survivors to Mars. The Indians receive permission from the Alliance government on Mars to begin evacuating their people to Mars as well.
Even as the planet dies around them, the Reich Wehrmacht and the Alliance and Indian Armies move into Russia and begin slaughtering what is left. The Russian cyber enhanced ground military units put up a vicious defense, but are overwhelmed by the determined attackers.
As the extent of the damage to Earth becomes clear, recall orders are sent out to all ships in all of the national fleets, calling them back to Earth to deal with the disaster. All three surviving powers recall their terraforming fleets as well, to begin altering Earth’s atmosphere to try and halt the plummeting temperatures. Factories on Mars and Venus begin producing infrastructure exclusively, to be shipped to Earth on board the freighters that are engaged in the hurried evacuation of Earth’s industrial might.
The effort to evacuate the Earth becomes an all-consuming endeavor. Colony ships, freighters, military ships, everything is pressed into the fight, but the task is too daunting. In spite of the best efforts of the multinational fleets, hundreds of millions die over the next two years.
The political situation on Mars is chaotic. Most of the Alliance Senate died in the nuclear strikes on Earth, as did most of the government itself. The governmental structure on Mars is intact, of course, but overwhelmed by the evacuation effort. The Mars government finally collapses amid food riots just short of the one year anniversary of the war, to be replaced by a military government that imposes order through martial law. The relationship between the Alliance and the Indian government-in-exile on Mars begins deteriorating shortly thereafter.
The Reich fares somewhat better. The Reich government escapes earth largely intact, and the Reich government is re-established on Venus without incident. The Kaiser abdicates shortly thereafter, to be replaced by his cousin, an Admiral in the Raumarine. The new Kaiser focuses on maintaining order on Venus, and distributing the evacuee’s from Earth throughout the Reich’s colonies in the Solar System and in Hamburg. The Reich’s focus is narrowed to the Solar System, its primary colony in the Hamburg system, and the conquered population in the Novaran system. Two years after the war the Reich fights a short, sharp war with the Alliance military government over the Indians, who have decided against joining the Alliance. The Alliance, never really able to recover from the disaster on Earth, collapses after its defeat at the hands of the Reich, leaving the Reich as the only real government in the solar system.
Five years after the war on Earth, the Reich begins to expand its interest beyond the Solar System, Novara, and the Hamburg system. Almost immediately, the Reich runs into what it calls the Out-world Coalition, a group of alien races that have banded together to oppose humanity. The Coalition has had five years to consolidate its power and integrate its disparate populations, and is ready to face humanity. But that is a story for another time.
Post by: MarcAFK on December 27, 2014, 11:55:50 PM
Post by: Kurt on January 01, 2015, 05:59:12 PM
Thx for finishing this, I'll start reading now :p
Let me know if any of the other posts got cut off, I'll fix them if so.
Post by: JacenHan on January 01, 2015, 07:32:17 PM