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Posted by: Kurt
« on: June 02, 2019, 09:19:27 PM »

The United Republic of Earth
December 30, 2145

Earth:
Population: 1.064 Billion (-39%)
Industrial Facilities (All): 5,528 (-33%)
R&D Labs: 211 (+1 recovered from Eden ruins)
Environment: Atmospheric dust has declined to negligible levels.  Radiation currently causing 14.99% drop in industrial efficiency
Estimated annual population decrease rate is -1.79%.

The Earth’s economy is suffering under a massive shortfall of workers, which this year exceeded 169 million.  This is in spite of the continuing transfer of industrial facilities to the colonies, the conversion of mines to automation, and the complete shutdown of the fuel refining industry on Earth.    The last orbital shipyard was transferred to Ganymede this year. 

TN resource depletion on Earth is a major concern to the Republic’s leaders.  Two of the resources, Boronide and Mercassium, have been completely exhausted, and the remainder will be exhausted within the next three to fifteen years at the current rates of use.  The resource Gallicite is of particular concern, as it is used in most naval designs in large quantities, and stocks are running low.  To alleviate this situation the Consul and the Senate have been focused on converting mines to automation and moving them to untapped sites outside the Solar System, such as those in the San Francisco system. 

Luna:
Population: 344 million (marginal decrease)
Mines: 317 (no change)
Automated Mines: 155 (no change)
Financial Centers: 310 (no change)
Construction Factories: 172 (marginal increase)
Terraforming center: 1

The Moon’s first terraforming installation came online this year and immediately began pumping safe greenhouse gasses out to begin creating an atmosphere. 

Mars:
Population: 1896.96 million (+38%)
Shipyards/Slipways: 17/64 (+2 yards/+4 slipways)
Maintenance Facilities: 208 (+68)
Construction Factories: 2594 (+703%)
Ordnance Factories: 2594 (+24% change this year)
Financial Centers: 260 (+162% change)
GFTF: 2

Mars is increasingly seen as the center of the Republic in military and industrial terms, while Earth continues to be the cultural center. 

Ganymede:
Population: 148.13 million (+212%)
Construction Factories: 233 (+48%)
Mines: 108 (no change)
Automated Mines: 168 (no change)
Ordnance Factories: 54 (no change)
Shipyards/Slipways: 6/24 (+3 yards/+9 slipways)

Ganymede is now the commercial/civilian shipbuilding center of the Republic. 

Solar Outposts and Mining Facilities:
Venus:
Automated Mines: 789 (+6%)

Whipple (Comet):
Automated Mines: 50 (no change)

Swift-Tuttle (Comet):
Automated Mines: 25 (no change)

Puck (Moon of Uranus):
This outpost is intended solely as a fuel dump for the refineries working in Uranus orbit.  Fuel reserves located on Puck are currently 0 liters, due to ongoing 1st Fleet fuel demands.  Fortunately, over 83 million liters of fuel are currently stored in the refinery fleet’s tanks. 

Bastion (Washington System):
Population: 35.87 million (+24%)
Construction Factories: 88 (2 transferred this year)
Maintenance Facilities: 138 (no change)

Maintenance facilities are being constructed on Mars to enlarge the maintenance base here to support the navy’s new Siege Breaker class BB’s that came into service last year. 

Houston System (Forward Operating Area, 1st Fleet)
Maintenance Base (5th moon of the 5th planet)
Population: 15.61 million (+15.5%)
Maintenance Facilities: 140
Deep Space Tracking Station: 20
The Maintenance Base has become the primary Republic base in the Houston system, and nearly all functions have been shifted from the Forward Operating Base to the Maintenance Base this year.  This is due to the Fleet’s desire to consolidate all operations into one easily defendable location, and of the two, the Maintenance Base is the only possible choice due to its civilian population (something that the Forward Operating Base cannot support). 

Assembly of prefabbed PDC’s is underway at this location, and will continue throughout 2145. 

Dregluk Alpha (3rd Planet)
Population: 27.83 million (net decrease of 36%)
The Fleet has taken a largely hands-off approach to the Dregluk population on this planet.  They have no industry, and there are no deposits of TN resources located here, so there is very little to interest the Republic.  Over the last several months the 1st Fleet has been moving troops off of the planet in preparation for the planned invasion of Dregluk Prime, and the current garrison has been reduced to four garrison battalions. 

Dregluk Bravo (4th Planet)
Population: 0
Civilian Mines: 34
This planet appears to have been a mining outpost for the Dregluk Imperium.  A small stockpile of TN resources was seized when the planet fell to the 1st Fleet’s Marines, and the mining complexes have since been put to work producing resources that will be transferred to the Maintenance Base to help support the fleet. 
 
Philadelphia System
Eden (Innermost planet of the system)
Population: 6.65 million (+1090%)
The Republic has been very secretive about this planet and the new colony, and very little information beyond its mere existence has been released.  It is known that a number of construction brigades have been transferred to the new colony, presumably to build defenses, however, no prefab PDC’s have yet been constructed so their current duties are a mystery. 

There is no publicly available information about the ruins found on the planet, or the outcome of the research effort into those ruins, and the Consul’s office refuses all questions about the subject.  The colonists for the Eden colony are selected from a very select group, mostly from Mars, and communications and news from the new colony is very limited.  All of this has resulted in a lively rumor mill focused on the colony, but very little actual information is available.  The recent announcement that the terraforming fleet will be transferred to Eden has caused the rumors to fly, especially given the spirited lobbying from the Lunar Colony and the Fleet for their pet projects. 

Austin System
Dregluk Prime
Population: 3.758 Billion
Industrial Facilities (All): 15,897 
R&D Labs: 126 (nonfunctional)
Environment: Atmospheric dust is reducing the temp by 1.77 degrees.  Radiation currently causing a 113.99% drop in industrial efficiency
Estimated annual population decrease rate is 27.05%.

Dregluk Secundus:
Population: 281.72 million (+347%)

Dregluk Outpost #2
(6th moon of an outer gas giant)
Civ Mines: 37

El Paso System
Dregluk #2 (2nd moon of the fourth planet)
Automated Mines: 133
Mass Driver: 1
Deep Space Tracking Station: 1

Dregluk #1
(El Paso II – dwarf planet)
Automated Mines: 219
Mass Driver: 1
DSTS: 1

Orlando System
Orlando A-I
DSTS: 2
Mass Driver: 1

Orlando-A III Moon 4
Auto Mines: 257
DSTS: 1
Mass Driver: 1

San Francisco System
San Francisco-B II
Auto Mines: 433
Mass Driver: 7

San Francisco-B I
Auto Mines: 130
Mass Driver: 1
DSTS: 20

System Defense Command
The System Defense Command is based on Earth and has as its primary mission the defense of Earth.  Its secondary mission is the defense of the Solar System, and then thirdly it is concerned with supporting the Fleet’s mission against the Dregluk by maintaining fortifications on Bastion in the Washington system. 

System Defense Command Emplacements
Earth:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 10
Anti-missile bases (meson): 20
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 4
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 15

Luna:
Anti-missile bases (meson): 5

Mars:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 5
Anti-missile bases (meson): 11
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 3
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 5

Ganymede:
Sensor Bases: 3
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 3
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 4
Anti-Missile Bases (Meson): 7

Bastion (Washington System):
Sensor Bases: 2
Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 4
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 9
Anti-missile bases (Meson): 29

Maintenance Base (Houston System):
Sensor Bases: 2
Anti-Missile Base (Shield): 2

In addition to the fixed defenses, the SDC is also responsible for the Listening Posts that now guard all of the approaches to the Solar System.  Currently, there are listening posts in the Boston System, the Chicago System, the New York System, the San Francisco system, the Honolulu system, the Denver system, the Miami system, and the Washington System.  These listening posts are all composed of twenty DSTS’s, with the exception of the Washington listening post, which is composed of twenty-five, and the Honolulu system, which is composed of seven.  These listening posts watch for alien incursions, and if any alien ships are detected the incursions will be reported to a Fleet picket ship standing by at the jump point to the Solar System. 

To date, the only system adjacent to the solar System without listening posts is the Los Angeles system.  The Los Angeles system is problematic as it contains no planetary bodies to support a listening post, which means that picketing that system will be a Fleet responsibility.  Currently the Fleet has assigned a picket ship and a Fleet Scout to the system as an early warning tripwire. 

The Republican Fleet

Republic Home Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Isobel Gilbert
Home Port: Mars
2xSiege Breaker class BB
3xStar class BB
4xPlanet class BC
2xEssex Class Assault Ships
1xEnterprise class Hunter-Killer
1xNimitz class DD(ASM)
3xAgamemnon class DE(G)
3xDefender class DE(AMM)
3xAgamemnon class DE(ASUM)
5xFar Seer class Fleet Scout
8xBrooklyn class Fast AMM Frigates
4xBrooklyn class AMM Frigates
9xLake class ASM Frigates
9xAttacker(L) class Frigate

Home Fleet Refit Group
6xEnterprise class Hunter-Killer

Home Fleet Pod Group
9xAnti-Small Unit Pod
58xMissile Pod
25xAMM Pod
7xSensor Pod

1st Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Freya Wallace
Home Port: Bastion, Washington System
3xStar class BB
2xPlanet class BC
2xPlanet class BCC
4xEssex class Assault Ship
2xFarseer class Fleet Scout
1xNimitz class ASM DD
2xDefender class DDE
7xBrooklyn class AMM Frigate
3xBrooklyn class Fast AMM Frigate
4xLake class ASM Frigate

1st Fleet, Pod Group
21xASM Pod
12xAMM Pod
5xASU Pod
4xSensor Pod

Fleet Support Group
6xHero class Fleet Dock
7xFleet Support class Munitions Ships
3xUNREP class Fuel Ship

Missile Groups

Missile Group 01(Washington): 9xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 02(Austin): 9xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 03(Houston): 9xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 04(Washington): 10xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 05(Sol): 10xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 06(Washington): 9xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 07(Washington): 10xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 08(Washington): 10xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 09(Washington): 9xMissile Boat r4, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4
Missile Group 10(Washington): 5xMissile Boat r4, 4xMissile Boat r4.1, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4.1
Missile Group 11(Washington): 10xMissile Boat r4.1, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4.1
Missile Group 12(Sol): 3xMissile Boat r3, 7xMissile Boat r4.1, 1xMissile Boat(S) r4.1 – ships refitting
Missile Group 13(Sol): 10xMissile Boat r3, 1xMissile Boat(S) r3 – ships refitting

Survey Command (Administratively under Home Fleet)
Home Port: Mars

1st Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGeo Survey Ship

2nd Survey Group
3xGeo Survey Ship

3rd Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGravitic Survey Ships

4th Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGravitic Survey Ships

System Defense Force
The System Defense Force is nominally under the Navy in terms of organization, but much like the Fleet Marines, it is a separate organization within the larger organization.  The System Defense Force’s mission is to defend the Solar System from all threats.  The SDF underwent a large reorganization this year, due to the apparent neutralization of the threat from the Dregluk.  Until this last year the bulk of the monitor force was stationed at the jump points of the Solar System or the Washington system to guard against Dregluk incursions.  With the 1st Fleet guarding the skies of Dregluk Prime, and the Dregluk economy in shambles, the Admiralty no longer sees the need to keep monitors on-station at all of the jump points in the two systems.  Therefore, the monitors have been pulled back, and will be used to guard critical points within the Republic.   The sole exception will be the jump point to the San Francisco system, which will continue to be guarded by two monitors at all times against possible incursion by the Symsonian Commonwealth. 

Monitor Force 1 (Mars)
4xSaratoga class Monitor

Monitor Force 1.1 (Eden)
2xSaratoga class Monitor

Monitor Force 1.2 (Sol, JP to SF)
2xSaratoga class Monitor

Monitor Force 2 (Bastion)
1xSaratoga class Monitor

Monitor Force 2.1 (Washington JP to Detroit)
2xSaratoga class Monitor

System Defense Force (Mars):
Interceptor Group #1: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #2: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #3: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #4: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc

Ships currently under construction (Mars):
4xSeige Breaker class BB
7xAgamemnon class DDE(G)
9xAttack Craft class FAC
14xNautilus class FF(G)
5xEnterprise class Hunter-Killer
4xFalcon class Interceptors

3xGravitic Survey Ships
Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 30, 2019, 09:18:01 AM »

August 24, 2145, Austin
While the Senate furiously debates the meaning of the information released by the Consul’s office concerning the nature of the Dregluk, Republican officials in the Dregluk Home System take action.  Governor Kai Hawkins, the civilian administrator appointed to oversee the Dregluk home system, and Captain Shah, commanding officer of the force left behind by Admiral Wallace to secure the Austin and Houston systems, are both protégés, at least indirectly, of Joe Foster and they agree to work together to rescue as many Dregluk as possible.  They come up with something they call Operation Noah.  In secret, the two put the former Dregluk Imperium colony fleet to work transporting the surviving Dregluk population of Dregluk Prime, which is irradiated and no longer habitable, to Dregluk Secondus.   They both disagreed with the Republic’s decision to eliminate the entire Dregluk race, and they decline to wait while the Senate debates.  Secondus is a safe place to move the Dregluk as it has no deposits of TN resources, meaning that they will not be able to rebuild their empire. 

August 26, 2145, Bastion, Washington system
The bulk of the 1st and Home Fleets are gathered over Bastion.  This assemblage of naval might represents most of the Republic’s fleet elements.  Two cruiser groups from the 1st Fleet have been detached to watch over the Houston and Austin systems, and a small group of newly constructed ships is training in the home system, but aside from that everything the Republic has is here.  Admiral Wallace, CO of the 1st Fleet, wants to take the combined fleets into the Detroit system now, but the Admiralty has decided to wait to face the aliens there until the fleet’s beam units can be refitted to include the latest ECM and ECCM equipment.  This will almost certainly delay any attack until next year, but so far, the aliens appear to have retreated to the St. Louis system and have not returned. 

August 27, 2145, Austin system
Along with everything else seized in the conquest of Dregluk Prime, the occupation force was able to determine the locations of all surviving Dregluk mining outposts.  The 1st Fleet already knew about two outposts in the Austin system, but the records discovered in the capital indicated that there was a third in the asteroid belt.  In addition, there was one more large mining outpost in a system two jumps away from Dregluk Prime, on a moon extremely rich in TN resources.
 
Four transports were ordered to begin loading ground forces immediately, and once they were loaded, they were sent to subdue and garrison these outposts.  Once complete, the last vestiges of the Dregluk Imperium would be gone. 

September 10, 2145
The first Dregluk outpost to be invested is a former mining outpost on a moon of the fifth planet, a large gas giant.  Currently, the moon is devoid of TN resources, except a small stockpile of approximately 5,000 units of duranium. 

September 15, 2145, Austin
The last two Dregluk outposts in the Austin system are secured.  One is composed of thirty-seven civilian mines and a stockpile of almost 28,000 units of TN resources, while the other is a stockpile of eleven thousand TN resource units. 

October 8, 2145, Orlando system
The last known Dregluk outpost falls to Republican ground troops on this date.  Given the extensive records recovered in the aftermath of the fall of Dregluk Prime, it appears that at this point there are no independent settlements or outposts left. 

October 11, 2145, Detroit
The Home Fleet scout assigned to watch the Detroit system detected an Invader ship at 0417 hours.  The Invader ship was 294.6 mkm’s away and closing at 9332 km/s.  This ship was previously seen in the St. Louis system; however, it was estimated to be 3,600 tons and did not participate in the battle.  The scout immediately jumps back to Washington to warn the fleet.  Captain Louis O’Donnell orders his frigates to jump to Detroit and engage the suspected Invader survey ship. 

The group of frigates, twelve strong, jumps out immediately.  The Invader ship was slightly out of range, so the frigates set out for the incoming ship to close the range.  Three hours later the frigates had closed to 168 mkm’s but still had not managed to pick the Invader ship up on active sensors.  Finally, when the Invader reached 42 mkm’s, the frigate’s sensors acquired the survey ship.  Seconds later a Lake class frigate launched all twenty-five of its Thunderbolt IV missiles at the small survey ship.  Just over eleven minutes later the Invader ship absorbed six of the ASM’s and exploded.  The frigate group jumped out, leaving the scout to watch the system. 

In response, a newly constructed salvage ship was dispatched from Ganymede to salvage the destroyed Invader ship.  The Admiralty was especially keen to get its hands on any new tech that it could get ahold of. 

October 28, 2145, Detroit
A salvage ship completes work on the Invader ship destroyed as it approached the jump point to the Washington system.  Unfortunately, no new technology or systems were recovered from the hulk. 

December 28, 2145, Washington system
The combined fleets had been waiting at the jump point for the Invaders to appear, but had waited in vain.  With her ships in increasing need of maintenance, Admiral Wallace ordered half of the combined fleet to return to Bastion for rest and repair, while her fleet remained on station. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 20, 2019, 02:05:11 PM »

August 24, 2145, Earth
Consul Payne looked out over the assembled Senators, basking in their acclaim.  She had just officially notified them, in an address to the Senate and the citizens of the Republic, that the Dregluk Imperium was no more.  Unfortunately, that was the easy part. 

As the cheering began to die down, she held up her hands to signal that she wanted to continue with her speech.  One by one the Senators sat, but the cheering and clapping still went on for some time.  Finally, though, it was quiet enough for her to speak.  “Fellow citizens, there is more.  We have had intelligence teams on the surface of Dregluk Prime since the first soldiers landed.  They have gathered immense amounts of information, information that will take years to sift through.  They have managed to successfully complete their primary mission, though.”  She paused and looked around the chamber.  It was so quiet that a mouse sneaking out would have been clearly audible.  “Those teams have managed to confirm information we already have, but couldn’t believe.”  She paused again, and looked around, meeting several key Senator’s eyes.  They knew the truth, and had agreed with her plan to reveal it to the public.  “The truth is that the Dregluk are just as much victims as we are.”  There was a stir in the Senate as many of those present looked at each other, unaware of what was going on.  “The intelligence teams managed to confirm a story that goes back thousands of years…”

The Senate was silent as she related the story of the Founders and their fallen empire, and the devastating effect they had on the races they left behind in the rubble of their empire.  She promised to make all the data taken from Dregluk Prime (or from Eden, although that was still a secret) available to the Senators, then left them to debate. 

The news spread rapidly throughout the Republic.  The people’s reactions were fairly predictable.   The Lunarians claimed that this was proof that peace was the best way forward, while on Mars the average person continued thinking that the best Dregluk was a dead Dregluk. 

While the Senate debated and the people pondered the news, Consul Payne began taking actions to mitigate the harsh effects of the previous government’s decisions on the treatment of the Dregluk.   
Posted by: Kurt
« on: April 15, 2019, 11:22:18 AM »

June 18, 2145, Mars
The Republic’s first Siege Breaker class battleship is launched from the orbital yards.  The Ulysses S. Grant immediately re-enters the yard for an EW upgrade.  The refit is a small one, and the battleship should be ready for service in ten days. 

July 20, 2145
Large scale fleet movements are taking place throughout the Republic, as the Navy reorients its focus towards the alien marauders beyond the Detroit system.  Twenty-five ships from the Home Fleet, nearly its entire strength, depart from Mars today, towing twenty-five pods, en route to Bastion in the Washington system.  There, they will rendezvous with units from the 1st Fleet before setting out to engage the marauders. 

As naval units begin converging on Bastion, the Republic’s largest ground invasion is set to begin.  The last ground units have arrived on Dregluk Secondus, and the transports are ready.  The Republic has mustered eleven infantry brigades, four marine raider brigades, eighteen garrison battalions, and eight replacement battalions for the invasion force.  That is pretty much the entire Republican ground military, except for one infantry brigade stationed on Eden and some garrison units scattered throughout the Republic. 

July 23, 2145, Austin   
The invasion force has been transferred to Dregluk Prime, and the battle begins with attacks across the globe on Dregluk strongpoints.  The fighting is fierce. 

July 24, 2145, Houston
The bulk of the 1st Fleet, twenty-two ships, depart for Bastion.  The ships are towing twelve pods, which is the largest number that they can tow without slowing the fleet too much.  Only the largest or fastest ships have taken pods under tow.  The fleet will arrive at Bastion on August 12th. 

Admiral Wallace leaves two cruiser groups behind to screen the invasion of Dregluk Prime.  Two missile groups will be assigned to the Maintenance Base in Houston to support the missile groups. 

Dregluk Prime, Austin
The Dregluk defenders stubbornly resist the invaders, but their strength seems to have been sapped by the overwhelming radiation caused by the bombardment.  The 169th Marine Battalion suffers heavy casualties while pressing an attack without support, but aside from that the human forces suffer only light damage in exchange for completely destroying two Dregluk battalions and causing light to moderate damage to eleven others.  The fighting continues. 

August 4, 2145, Minneapolis System
The survey scout attached to the 4th Survey Group (Gravitic) jumps out of the Minneapolis system (adjacent to the Austin System), and into a new system.  The system has an F0-V central star with a scattering of asteroids orbiting it.  Perhaps most interesting is the fact that the system is buried deep within a dense nebula.  In fact, the nebula is so dense that that unarmored survey scout’s speed is reduced to a mere 147 km/s.  In addition, there is no Dregluk jump gate on the jump point back to Minneapolis, indicating that the Dregluk never bothered to exploit this system or explore beyond it.  In light of that, and the fact that there appears to be little of interest in the system, the scout retreats to the Minneapolis system and sets out for the next unexplored jump point.  This system will be designated as the Norfolk system. 

August 8, 2145, Eden
The Ecological Corps terraformers arrive over Eden and go to work reducing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.  It should take the terraformers approximately 1.25 years to reduce the atmosphere’s oxygen content to the point that it would be breathable by humans. 

August 9, 2145, Dregluk Prime
Dregluk defensive forces, weakened by radiation and the bombardment of the planet, are falling apart.  Republican forces are advancing at all points of contact and for the second week in a row have suffered only minor setbacks. 

August 16, 2145, Minneapolis system
The 4th Survey Group (Gravitic)’s jump scout leaves the Minneapolis system through the second newly discovered jump point and finds itself in a single-star system that will be designated as the Orlando system.  The central star is a G8-V type star orbited by several terrestrial type planets and a couple of gas giants, as well as a fairly large asteroid belt.  The jump scout returns to Minneapolis to rejoin its group. 

August 24, 2145, Austin system
The defenses on Dregluk Prime collapse on this date, and the Dregluk Home World surrenders to the Republic.  Well, kind of.  The few remaining defensive units, battered by the omnipresent radiation and aggressive human forces, disband and fade into the general population.  As with every other captured Dregluk population or military unit, almost every leader disappears and is later found dead of self-inflicted wounds.  There were also several large underground explosions detected shortly before the collapse of the Dregluk resistance, perhaps an indication of their leadership destroying command bunkers.   In essence, the population just stopped fighting, and the Republic’s forces take control. 

Over the next several weeks the Republican forces will take control of the planet, during which they will seize technical information that will advance the Republic’s technology in particle beams, fuel storage, gauss cannons, jump engines, missile warheads, microwave weaponry, beam fire control systems, active sensors, and several construction and economic technologies.  The Admiralty Design Bureau was very excited over the new fuel storage tech, as it offered a 50% improvement in fuel storage efficiency.  Minor redesigns were rushed out, replacing old fuel tanks with the new compressed storage technology along with various other minor improvements, and the Martian Orbital Yards began retooling almost immediately.  While few refits were planned, all new ships would have this new tech incorporated in their design.   

In addition, a group of freighters and colony ships hiding in the outer system surrendered and made their way back to Dregluk Prime to be interned.  During their search of the Dregluk capital Republican forces discovered extensive astrographic records of Dregluk explorations, revealing much of the territory around the Austin system, as well as several other locations throughout Republican controlled space.  Over the next several weeks several exploration ships and jump gate construction ships would make their way back to Dregluk Prime to be interned. 

On top of all of that, the Republican forces took control of the industrial might of Dregluk Prime.  That included the following installations:

DSTS: 22
Shipyards: 12/74
Maintenance factories: 246
Construction factories: 3990
Ordnance factories: 1653
Fighter Factories: 492
Fuel Refineries: 1249
Mines: 7786
Automated Mines: 468
Research Labs: 126
GF Training Facilities: 13

Fuel: 1,096,610,203 liters
Maintenance Supplies: 100,000
TN resources: 3,151,413

The population of the planet, at the time of the collapse of their civilization, was 4,098,820,000.     
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 30, 2019, 11:35:33 AM »

May 30, 2145, Mars
Defense Minister Chen looked around the conference room.  Admiral Gilbert, commander of the Home Fleet, was seated on the far side of the room, deep in conversation with her Operations Officer.  Admiral Russell, commander of the System Defense Command, was seated to his right, flanked by her aides and staff officers.  Admiral Russell was chatting with Admiral Foster, Admiral of the Fleet and chief of the Admiralty, who was seated across from her and to his left. 

“Let’s get started, people.”  The room fell silent, and at a gesture from the Defense Minister a holographic representation of the largest of the alien ships that had destroyed Admiral Bradshaw’s group appeared over the table.  It was a bulbous sphere, completely unlike any ship they had encountered before.  “We’ve all read the reports.  Now I need your thoughts and recommendations before I meet with the Consul.”   With that he sat down and gestured to open up the discussion.

The three admirals looked at each other for a few seconds, and then Admiral Foster nodded. “We’ve only had time to do a preliminary analysis of the battle logs from Admiral Bradshaw’s group, but what we’ve seen so far is sobering.”  He entered a series of commands into the table’s holo display and it changed to show a tactical plot with a jump point in the center of the display.  On the jump point was an icon for Admiral Bradshaw’s battle group. 

“I know you’ve all watched this, probably multiple times, but I want to point some things out so that we are all on the same page.  The aliens jumped into the Detroit system at 14:08:20 on the 24th of May.  Admiral Bradshaw’s battle group had some warning after their scout on the far side of the jump point failed to check in, but the appearance of the alien warships was still a surprise.”  Admiral Foster saw the Defense Minister was about to interrupt, but got there before him.  “No, we don’t know what happened to the scout, or why they didn’t report the approach of the alien ships.”  He paused and looked around the table at the others.  “We are looking into that, but given the dearth of information and the fact that we don’t have access to the system where the scout was lost we are not likely to come to any conclusion.  At any rate, the aliens jumped into the system at 14:08:20, just over one hour after the scout failed to check in, and Admiral Bradshaw ordered his group to engage the enemy.”  The plot enlarged the area around the jump point and they could see that Admiral Bradshaw’s battle group was split, with an Enterprise class HuK stationed on the jump point, while his nine missile ships were stationed one million kilometers away, towards the inner system and the jump point back to human space.  As they watched, six alien ships jumped into the system. 

Admiral Foster froze the display.   “As you can see, the aliens entered the system in two groups.  Six of their ships appeared on the jump point, while the last one appeared here,” a lone red icon began blinking.  Based on the scale indicator, the lone alien ship appeared 1.1 million kilometers from the jump point, fortunately out-system, so it was farther from the human missile ships than the other alien ships.  “ONI has identified four distinct classes based on energy signatures, and assigned class names.  The central group is composed of five ships.  The largest weighs in at over 50,000 tons, making it nearly twice as large as our new Siege Breaker battleships building in the yards.  ONI has designated it as Broadsword-01.  In addition, the central group is composed of three Mace class units all 30,400 tons, and two Bardiche class units, also 33,400 tons.  The lone ship that jumped in away from the jump point has been designated as a Clairvaux class ship, also 30,400 tons.  ONI feels certain that the Clairvaux is a jump ship, given the circumstances.”  Admiral Foster paused to gather her thoughts.  “It is clear from Admiral Bradshaw’s statements going into the battle that he knows that his battle group is in dire straits.  The enemy force has over twice his tonnage, and is 39% faster than his missile force.  Even considering the advantage he had fighting a jump-addled enemy, he knew they were unlikely to survive, so he ordered his missile ships to attack with all weapons available, including AMM’s.” 

The battle record began running again, although it was slowed down a bit to make it easier to understand was happening.   “Admiral Bradshaw ordered his battle group to spread their initial missile fire across five of the ships in the main group.  Based on his recorded statements, Admiral Bradshaw hoped that their initial missile wave would degrade the enemy’s capabilities and expose a weakness that he could exploit.  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  Although the enemy displayed no active defenses, the initial missile salvo failed to penetrate the armor of any of the targeted ships.” There were murmurs around the table as the others reacted to that pronouncement.  “In the aftermath of that failure, Admiral Bradshaw ordered the battle group to concentrate its fire on the largest alien ship, Broadsword-01.  For two minutes and twenty seconds, Admiral Bradshaw’s entire battle group concentrated all of its fire on that one ship.”  Although they knew this information from their own reviews, the other admirals shifted uncomfortably in their chairs.  “During that period of time, Broadsword-01 took sixty hits from Thunderbolt ASM’s and 955 hits from Aegis AMM’s, along with fifteen hits from the Intrepid’s lasers, before there was an armor breach.  At this point, Admiral Bradshaw ordered her group to shift fire to one of the Mace class units.  His intent was to leave the Broadsword alive but damaged, in the hopes that the aliens would limit their actions to assisting their largest ship and allowing his battle group to withdraw.”

“For another twenty seconds, missiles that had already been launched continued to hit the Broadsword-01, and at the end of this period the targeted unit displayed a thermal signature drop consistent with engine damage.  Unfortunately, it was at this time, 14:10:40, two minutes and twenty seconds after the alien ships entered the system, that they were able to active their weapons and return fire.  The Intrepid was hit by five heavy laser strikes fired from the Broadsword-01 and destroyed instantly.  ONI analysis indicates that the alien lasers are approximately ten times as powerful as the 150mm quick firing lasers on board our Enterprise and Siege Breaker classes.  Worse, the battle group’s sensor logs clearly indicate that the Broadsword-01 fired thirty-one of these massive lasers at the Intrepid, giving it sufficient firepower to take out any of our ships in one shot if it catches them at short range, including a Siege Breaker.”

“At this point the battle begins turning against Admiral Bradshaw’s battle group.  He divides his fire between the Mace class unit already targeted and the Broadsword-01, in the hopes of crippling or destroying either or both, but his missile fire becomes increasing degraded as enemy AMM’s intercept his missiles short of the alien ships.  Admiral Bradshaw is forced to cease fire at 14:12:20, at which time most of his ships are out of missiles.  At 14:12:40 the battle group begins taking missile fire from the alien force, and just seventy seconds later all human units have been destroyed.  The entire battle lasted five minutes thirty seconds.  During that time, the Broadsword-01 was hit by sixty-nine Thunderbolt ASM’s, one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight Aegis AMM’s, and fifteen laser hits from the Intrepid’s 150mm lasers.  In spite of multiple hull breaches Broadsword-01 appeared to be nearly fully functional, with only a minor speed drop, at the end of the battle.  One of the Mace class units suffered multiple armor breaches as well, but no function loss was detected.”

“ONI has highlighted several important sections of the logs.  First, the aliens used very advanced ECM to obscure their ships.  The Intrepid, in particular, had extreme difficulty targeting the Broadsword-01 during the battle, and her CO, Commander Ryan, repeatedly emphasized the significance of this during the battle.  The Intrepid should have been able to hit the Broadsword reliably at the ranges the battle was fought at, but because of the ECM used by the enemy, the Intrepid’s 150mm quick-firing lasers were only able to achieve an 18% hit ratio.  In addition, ONI estimates that the lasers used by the aliens have a minimum range of 80,000 kilometers, and given their power are certainly much longer-ranged than that.  Finally, the aliens used only size one AMM’s against Admiral Bradshaw’s force, both offensively and defensively.  Our latest generation of Aegis AMM’s had difficulty intercepting these missiles, achieving, at best, a 30% hit ratio due to the alien missile’s high speed.   ONI is unable to estimate the range of these missiles; however, the alien ship’s anti-missile sensors have a range of 7.2 mkm’s, which may give an indication of the range of their missiles.”  Admiral Foster waived a hand and the tactical plot blinked out, replaced by the holo representation of the Broadsword-01.  “That’s all we have on the battle itself.”

They all stared at the intimidating alien ship rotating slowly over the table for a few seconds, each thinking their own thoughts.  Finally, Defensive Minister Ode shook his head.  “Admiral Gilbert, what is the disposition of your Fleet, and I’d like a recommendation from you to take to the Consul as well.”

Admiral Gilbert stood and her aide punched a series of commands into the table’s display controls.  A jump point map of the area around the Solar System appeared, showing jump links out to three jumps.  The map zoomed in until the Sol-Washington-Detroit warp route was displayed.   

The linkage from the Washington system to the Detroit system began blinking.  Admiral Gilbert pointed at it, calling it to their attention.  “This is the linkage between Detroit and Washington.  Fortunately, we have no outposts or mining colonies in the Detroit system, so we can cede it to the enemy without losing anything.  I have a heavy task group in the Washington system now.  It was on its way to reinforce Admiral Bradshaw, but with the loss of his battle group it is now our forward force.  I have ordered Captain O’Donnell, the senior task group officer, to establish a defensive position at the jump point to Detroit and to hold there until further notice.  In addition, a group of missile boats will be dispatched from Bastion, along with the two monitors of the reserve force.  Captain O’Donnell’s force is supported by munitions ships, fleet docks, and fueling ships as well.”  She paused and hit another button, highlighting the forces at the jump point to the Detroit system.  “There are two monitors stationed at the jump point from the Washington system to the Detroit system, along with a picket ship.  After the destruction of Admiral Bradshaw’s task group, they withdrew to the Washington side of the jump point to avoid giving away the location of the jump point.  At this point it seems that the Invaders don’t know its location, as a minimum-time run from the St. Louis jump point to the Washington jump point for their ships is just forty-four hours, and that time has passed without any sign of them.  That means that we are likely going to be able to get our reinforcements in place before they can localize the jump point’s position, giving us time to build up our forces for a counter-strike.”

Admiral Foster stood, waiving the other Admiral off as he did so.  “I intend to use as much time as the aliens will give us to prepare the fleet.  We need togather as much strength in the Washington system as possible, while taking time to refit our ships, if necessary, to improve their chances during an engagement with the Invaders.  I will give you a more detailed version of my proposed plan, but essentially, we will relocate the bulk of the 1st and Home Fleets to Bastion, and establish a strong presence at the jump point to Detroit.  A pair of scouts will rotate through the jump point to watch the Detroit system for enemy activity.  If necessary, the task group assigned to the jump point will attrit the enemy if they jump through to the Washington system, and then the combined fleets will engage within the system itself.  If possible, the combined fleets will attack, at a time and place of our choosing, taking the war to the aliens.” 

Defense Minister Chen looked at the assembled Admirals and saw the determination in their eyes.  “Thank you.  I’ll take this plan to the Consul.”
 
June 2, 2145, Mars
The Admiralty, after analyzing the battle logs, ordered a round of refits for all beam-equipped ships, to add ECCM to their fire control systems.  These EW refits were fairly minor, and wouldn’t take much time or resources, but would delay construction schedules. 

The Consul, true to her word to Admiral Foster, decided to support his defensive stance.  The battle logs clearly showed that Admiral Bradshaw’s force was able to inflict serious damage on the alien force while it was disordered from its jump into the system, but the battle had turned quickly once they regained full capacity.  The enemy possessed frighteningly powerful weapons, thus, humanity would stand on the defensive for as long as possible to gain any possible advantage while its fleet was being refitted.   

June 5, 2145, Detroit system
The Home Fleet scout Thomas Tobin jumped into the Detroit system from the Washington system, and immediately powered down its drives to station-keeping mode.  With its cloaking device activated, the scout was doing a very credible imitation of a hole in space.  For several minutes it scanned the area of space around it with its sensitive thermal sensors.  It should be able to detect the largest alien ship out to almost six billion kilometers, and the smaller alien warships at nearly four billion.  Given the fact that the jump point to the St. Louis system, and the site of the battle, was just 1.3 billion kilometers away the alien ships should have shown up clearly.  The fact that space was clear, with no contacts anywhere in the system, seemed to indicate that the aliens had withdrawn.  The Tobin jumped back to Washington to report, and then jumped back to Detroit to maintain its watch. 

In the Washington system, Task Group 0.2 of the Home Fleet was taking up defensive positions around the jump point.  Upon hearing the report from the scout, Commander Emma Bennett of the Fast Frigate Lahore volunteered to take her ship into Detroit to rescue the crews stranded in the life pods at the jump point to St. Louis.  Captain Louis O’Donnell, CO of the Task Group, denied her request.  In spite of her ship’s speed, it would take her nearly six days to reach the life pods, and the pods had only three and a half days of life support left.  He refused to risk one of his ships in a rescue mission that was doomed to fail before it started. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 23, 2019, 12:08:03 PM »

May 25, 2145, Mars
Consul Payne stood as Senator Foster was ushered into her office.  “Senator, it’s so good of you to come on such short notice.”  She gestured to the other person in the office.  “I believe you know Defense Minister Chen?”

Senator Foster smiled at the Defense Minister.  “Yes, of course, Minister.”  The Defense Minister nodded at the Senator, but didn’t smile.  In fact, he looked positively funerial.  Foster picked up on that, and turned to the Consul.  “What’s gone wrong?  Is there a problem with Ms. Young?”

Consul Payne and her Minister looked at each other, and after a second, she nodded at Minster Chen to start. 

“No, Senator Foster, its not the former Consul.  I have the sad duty to inform you that Admiral Bradshaw died yesterday, along with her entire task group in the Detroit system.” 

Foster paled and sagged back into his chair.  “Oh my god!  What happened?”  Even as he said it, he realized that it could be only one thing.  The aliens from the St. Louis system had attacked.  Sure enough, Consul Payne confirmed it almost as quickly as he had thought of it. 

“The aliens from the St. Louis system attacked her task group.  As Minister Chen said, the losses were total.”  She hesitated for a few seconds, then asked softly, “You knew her, right?”

Senator Foster shook his head.  “Once,” he said sadly, “but that was long ago.  Before I was imprisoned by the Federation.”  He looked down, seeing something only he could see.  “I knew a lot of people on board those ships.  I hired some of them, back in the day when we were creating a fleet out of nothing.”

The Consul and the Minister looked at each other again, and this time the Consul shook her head.  This was her job.  Her responsibility.  She took a deep breath.  “Senator Foster, I know this isn’t the best of times, but I have to ask you something.”  She paused, and Foster looked up from his reverie to see that both the Consul and the Minister were looking at him intently.  “We need you to lead the fleet.”  Foster opened his mouth to protest, but she hurried on.  “You created the fleet we have today.  You hired many of the officers who are now our senior leaders.  We need you.”

Foster shook his head.  “No, you don’t.  It’s been a long time since I was an admiral.  Too long.  There are plenty of people in the fleet who can lead.”

Consul Payne nodded.  “If all we needed was someone to lead, then you’d be right.  But that’s not all.  This is a critical time in the Republic’s history.  You know this as well as anyone.  In a matter of months, the final invasion of Dregluk Prime will start, and we don’t anticipate that the Dregluk will be able to hold out for more than a month or two, at the most.  And then we as a race will be faced with a decision.  Do we save the Dregluk, or let them die?”  She gestured at her desk and a graph appeared over the desk.  The graph showed public support for allowing the Dregluk to die out over time.  The public’s support was decreasing, but was still solidly in the majority for letting them die.  “We had planned on making an announcement after the fall of Dregluk Prime, releasing at least some of the information from Eden, claiming that it had been found on Dregluk Prime during the invasion, and using it as a basis to begin humanitarian aid to the Dregluk.  The public’s opinion wouldn’t change overnight, but if we carefully manage the release of the information, we believe that we could have brought the public around in a fairly short amount of time.”

Defense Minister Chen leaned forward.  “Except that’s all changed now.  With a fresh alien threat so close to the home system, the public is unlikely to be in a forgiving mood.  We predict that when we release the information about the loss of Admiral Bradshaw’s entire command it will harden the public’s anti-alien stance.  They will be fearful and angry all over again, and will set back our attempts to soften their stance for many years.  By then it might be too late for the Dregluk.”

Foster settled back in his chair, an exhausted look on his face.  “Just what is it you think that I can do?”

The Consul took over.  “Your reputation with the public is a mixed one, you know that.  Your time as Consul was not without controversy, especially towards the end where the people felt you were too sympathetic towards the Dregluk.  But, in spite of that, the people still remember you as the savior of Earth.  When the old Federation provoked a war with the Dregluk and then its leadership fell apart, you were there to pick up the pieces.  You provided the firm, steady leadership that brought humanity out of those dark days, and the people still remember that.  They remember that in their darkest days, when everyone else had failed them, you and your team were there, working tirelessly to put together resistance to the Dregluk and rescue as many people from the bombed-out cities as you could.  They remember that!  And they will find it greatly comforting if, after this disaster, you were there, protecting them again.”

Foster shook his head, clearly overwhelmed.  “I think you overstate my achievements, and the regard in which the people hold me.”

The other two looked at each other and shared a quick smile before the Consul shook her head.  “It’s possible I’m overstating your achievements, but you must be aware of how much the people respect you and your service to humanity.  In fact, I believe your stubborn resistance to the growing calls for genocide engendered a grudging respect amongst the people, even as they resented your efforts to derail that effort.  You stuck with your beliefs, in spite of its obvious detrimental effect on your position.”  She leaned forward, all business now.  “We need that respect.  We need your calm leadership in control of the fleet if we are going to save the Dregluk and defeat this new enemy.  We can probably defeat the new aliens without you, but before that happens the people’s attitude towards aliens will harden even further and may prove impossible to change.  With you in charge of the fleet, the people’s fears will be assuaged and they may prove amenable to the Dregluk race’s true status as victims who have suffered even more than humanity.”

Foster sat back, thinking furiously.  “If I do this, I want complete control of the campaign against the new aliens.  I will not move before the fleet is ready.  Ready in my opinion.” 

The Consul let loose a barely perceptible sigh of relief.  If he was bargaining, he’d do it.  She really hadn’t been sure he would take the offer.  She looked at the Defense Minister, who nodded.  “I, and my administration, will support you, as will our supporters in the Senate.  I can’t guarantee complete freedom, as you know, but we will back your position to the hilt.”

Foster nodded, having come to a decision.  “Okay, I’ll do it.”  They stood and shook hands, sealing the deal. 

The destruction of Admiral Bradshaw’s task group was announced later that day, along with the appointment of Senator Foster as Admiral of the Fleet. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 21, 2019, 08:58:52 AM »

May 24, 2145, 1300 hours, Detroit
Task Group 0.1 of the Home Fleet has been watching the jump point to the St. Louis system for five and a half months.  The fleet scout Jim Baker has been stationed on the far side of the jump point, in the St. Louis system, to watch the alien ships detected there six months ago.  The scout jumps back to the Detroit system every twelve hours to report on its status.  One hour ago, the scout failed to return from the St. Louis system.  Rear Admiral Bradshaw, CO of the task group, puts his ships on alert status and sends word back to the Solar System.  He is prohibited from jumping into the St. Louis system without authorization.  Once the message is away, the task group settles in to wait. 

Within an hour of the message’s receipt at the Admiralty in the Solar System, ships began to move.  Nearly every available ship was assembled and dispatched to the Detroit system, however, a significant number of ships in the Home Fleet were in overhaul status due to recent training exercises.  Still, four Enterprise r6 class HuK’s, one Agamemnon class DDE(ASU), one Nimitz class DD(ASM), one Defender class DDE(AM), one Brooklyn class Fast Frigate(AM), ten Lake class Frigate(ASM), one Brooklyn class Frigate(AM), and five ASU pods, was a significant force.  In addition, another scout and various support ships were on the move.   

At 1408 hours, the alien ships jumped into the St. Louis system.  The fight was on.  There were just six alien ships, but they were huge.  The largest was 50,000 tons, while the other five were “just” 33,400 tons each.  The Intrepid II, and Enterprise r6 class Hunter-Killer, was sitting on the jump point when the alien ships jumped in.  The rest of the battle group, two Star class battleships, an Essex class Assault ship, two Defender class DDE(AM)’s, two Lake class FFG(ASM)’s, and two Brooklyn class FFG(AM)’s, were sitting one million kilometers from the jump point. 

On board the Intrepid II, crews were running to their stations as the CO, Commander Eleanor Ryan, struggled into her combat skin and ran the short distance from her quarters to the bridge.  The bridge was controlled chaos as she entered, as status reports poured in and the various crew members struggled to get the ship’s systems up.  “Report!”

The ship’s engineer was first.  “Shields are up.  Engines are coming up, but we don’t have motive power yet.”

“Weapons are charged, but the targets have not yet been acquired.  Tactical systems are processing the situation now.”

Commander Ryan frowned, but there was nothing she, or anyone, could do about it.  The alien ships had appeared at close range, but close wasn’t zero, and when ships were moving at thousands of kilometers per second, the tactical computers needed to crunch a lot of data before they would be able to hit the enemy.  Therefore, it might be ten twenty, or even thirty seconds before they could start firing.  The only consolation is that the enemy presumably had it worse, having just jumped and almost certainly being jump addled. 

“Helm is ready, waiting for engines to come up.”

“Sensors are active!  Currently reading five contacts at point blank range and moving away from the jump point at 8,383 km/s!  One additional contact appeared 1.164 million kilometers from the jump point, on the opposite side from the battle group.  Five of the contacts are 33,400 tons, while the sixth is 50,100 tons.”

“Communications are steady, we have a secure channel with the flagship.  No orders yet.”

Commander Ryan winced.  This was going to get bad really quickly.  These monster aliens were faster than the battle group, and it was unlikely that any of their ships would escape.  In fact, her ship was the only ship in the battlegroup that was faster than the alien ships, and only by 139 km/s.  She took a deep breath.  Bracing herself, she issued the orders that almost certainly spelled doom for her command.  “We’ve got to distract these ships while the battle group withdraws.  Target the largest ship and keep firing.  Helm, when the engines come up, close to point blank range on that big bastard and stay on them.  I expect that the battlegroup will be launching missiles as soon as they can, that should help us.”  If we are still alive, she thought to herself. 

She settled back into her station as the crew got busy.  She had been so proud when she’d gotten one of the first new Hunter-Killers.  It had been a big honor, and to get the successor to the original Intrepid was a big deal.  Now it looked like her command was going to follow the original Intrepid into history. 

“Status change!  The alien ships have slowed to 7,616 km/s.  They are moving away from the jump point and the battlegroup.”

Fifteen seconds after the alien ships entered the system the sensors officer stiffened.  “Ma’am, they’ve turned back towards the jump point and accelerated to 8,383 km/s!”

Commander Ryan looked at the plot and could see the alien ships closing on their position, like an avalanche roaring towards her comparatively tiny command.  “Engineering, we need those engines!”   

“Yes, ma’am, we are…”  The engineer broke off as the alien ships turned away from the jump point again, and began racing away. 

Finally, twenty-five seconds after the aliens entered the system, the Intrepid II’s computers crunched enough data and fired the ship’s five lasers at the alien behemoth at 40,000 kilometers range.  Heavy enemy EW significantly reduced the HuK’s ability to hit its target, though, and only one of the smaller lasers hit, to no visible effect.  Commander Ryan cursed under his breath.  The Admiralty’s design teams had not included ECCM systems in the latest HuK design, as the Dregluk had only weak ECM and the space required was used for more shielding instead.  Now, with most of his lasers missing the enemy because they only had the poorest of lock-on’s, that decision seemed less than optimal. 

While the Intrepid II struggled to get moving, every other ship in the battlegroup launched missiles at the aliens, including AMM’s in offensive mode.  This was to be an all-out attack.  The Intrepid II’s four 150mm lasers went into rapid fire mode, lashing out at the alien ship every five seconds while the missiles closed.  The aliens continued to dodge about, alternately closing and running away. 

Thirty-five seconds into the battle and the aliens still had yet to fire.  Commander Ryan’s frustration was growing as her lasers continued to miss their target, spoofed by the enemy’s EW.  She quickly composed a message to the Admiralty detailing her difficulties and sent it off to the picket ship at the jump point to Washington.   

Ten seconds later the first wave of Aegis VI AMM’s hit four of the ships in the group racing back and forth in front of the Intrepid II.  The big alien ships stopped five of the fast AMM’s with their CIWS, but the remaining fifty-seven hit.  Once again, the human weapons had no appreciable effect.  That wasn’t too surprising, though, given the fact that they were small AMM’s, with equally small warheads.  By then the battlegroup proper was moving away at its top speed of 6,000 km/s, hoping to put some space between themselves and the big alien ships.  The Intrepid II was still motionless, and had yet to hit the alien ship with its lasers after the first hit. 

The next group of missiles to hit was a mixed group of Aegis VI’s and Thunderbolt III’s.  The alien ships stopped eight of the AMM’s, but fifty-nine got through.  All fifty of the Thunderbolt ASM’s hit their target, which was one of the 33,400 ton ships.  The massive alien ship absorbed the Thunderbolts as if they were nothing, and kept charging ahead.  It soon became apparent that although there had been no armor breaches observed, the alien ship had suffered damage from the missile strike.  The ship’s sensors went down, indicating that it had suffered some damage from the strike.  Still, in spite of that, the alien ships had to have very thick armor to withstand all of those missile hits. 

By then, Rear Admiral Bradshaw had confirmed Commander Ryan’s decision to engage closely, and had ordered his battlegroup to concentrate its fire on the largest alien ship.  The AMM’s continued to pelt the alien ships, and by the time the second wave of Thunderbolts and the Bludgeon’s fired by the Essex arrived, the Intrepid II was chasing the alien ships, trying to close with them.  Once again, the Thunderbolts and the Bludgeon’s slammed into their targets with no apparent effect. 

Again and again the Intrepid II struck out at the massive alien dreadnought, and even as her lasers scored the enemy ship missiles rained on the behemoth in a downpour.  Hundreds of Aegis VI’s and dozens of Thunderbolt III’s struck the alien ship in a constant stream, and finally they damaged the ship’s engines, as the entire alien group’s speed dropped to 1971 km/s.  Admiral Bradshaw ordered his ships, including the Intrepid II, to target one of the other alien ships.   Commander Ryan heartily approved.  The entire alien group dropped its speed to remain with the slower ship, meaning that the human ships might be able to escape as long as that crippled alien ship remained alive. 

Unfortunately, there were a number of missiles already launched, targeted on the big alien ship.  Commander Ryan watched as explosions flared against the alien ship’s hull, hoping that it would remain intact.  She found that wish odd, but stranger things had happened in humanity’s march to the stars.  Then, suddenly, the alien group surged to its apparent maximum speed of 8382 km/s, leaving the Intrepid II behind, out of position.  Commander Ryan groaned.  These aliens were inexplicable.       

Admiral Bradshaw ordered the fleet to shift fire back to the largest enemy ship, and the battle continued.  Missiles pelted the alien ships like hail, but the alien’s incredibly thick armor shed the explosions like they were nothing.  The Intrepid II kept stabbing out at the biggest alien ship, striking its armor, but it seemed like no matter how many times they hit the alien ship, and no matter how many missiles hit it, the big ship just shrugged off the damage. 

Finally, after minutes of pounding the alien behemoth, the human weapons began opening holes in the ship’s armor.  Atmosphere began streaming behind the big ship, and the crews of the Republic ships began cheering at the evidence that they had had an effect on the seemingly invulnerable enemy ship. 

With this evidence that the alien ship was finally wounded, and with numerous missiles still inbound, targeted on the damaged ship, Admiral Bradshaw ordered his missile ships to shift fire to one of the other ships. 

The cheers died out when, suddenly, the Intrepid II blew up.  One second it was there, firing all its lasers repeatedly into the biggest alien ship, and the next it was a drifting cloud of wreckage and a scattering of life pods.  Later analysis of the battle records would show that the ship was hit by just five massive beam weapons.  The alien beams punched right through the ship’s powerful shields and carved through its thick armor like it wasn’t there.  Commander Ryan and the bulk of the Intrepid’s crew were killed instantly.  The analysis would show that the aliens were using incredibly advanced x-ray lasers of unbelievable power. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the bad news.  With their weapons now available, the aliens were launching AMM’s to intercept the incoming missiles.  Some still got through to the biggest ship, but the number of hits dropped when compared to the earlier salvoes.  Worse, in spite of the holes in its armor, the biggest alien ship still hadn’t shown any overt signs of damage.  And, worst of all, the human ships were beginning to run out of missiles. 

The battle settled into a chase, with the alien warships coming up behind the human ships, which were running towards the jump point on the far side of the system.  Unfortunately for the humans, the aliens were much faster than they were.  By the time the two human battleships had launched their last offensive missiles, the alien ships had closed to 1.5 mkm’s.  Two of the alien ships were streaming atmosphere, and the main group had slowed to 7,544 km/s, but that was more than fast enough to catch the human ships. 

The approaching alien fleet caused some confusion in the human fire control systems for a few, critical, seconds, as they had gotten close enough for the human fleet to detect their AMM’s.  Once the human fleet’s sensors picked up the alien AMM’s, the ship’s anti-missile fire control systems overrode their offensive fire settings and began launching Aegis V and VI AMM’s at the alien AMM’s, ignoring the bigger ships.  They would never be able to reach the alien missiles before they intercepted their target’s, though, so the human fleet wasted an AMM launch against enemy missiles that would be gone before the AMM’s could arrive.  Admiral Bradshaw ordered the AMM fire controls to be reset and the battle continued. 

Human missile fire was dwindling, and alien missiles began approaching the fleet.  There was no way to tell if these alien missiles were fired at the fleet, or at the missiles the human fleet was still launching at the aliens.  The aliens were launching small, size one, missiles, but they could launch a lot of them.  The alien missiles were incredibly fast, each approaching at 84,000 km/s, much faster than the few Aegis VI’s left in the battle group’s magazines.  By this point the only ships with AMM’s left were the two Star class BB’s and the two Defender class DDE’s.  Admiral Wallace finally relented and ordered his ships to cease offensive fire and to focus on the defense of the group.  By that time very few of the human missiles were getting through the alien defensive fire anyway. 

For a short time, space was clear, as the last human missiles were intercepted short of the alien fleet.  The alien ships had closed to 1.4 mkm’s by the time the last human missile slammed home into one of the 50,000 ton ships, causing yet another armor breach.  All of the human missiles, and all of the Intrepid’s efforts, resulted in atmosphere streaming from two of the seven alien ships. 

Space was clear for a few, brief seconds, and then the aliens began launching their small missiles in offensive mode.  AMM’s began spilling from the two human DDE’s which were the only ships with AMM’s left.  There were 353 missiles in each of the alien salvoes, far more than the humans could hope to stop, even if the alien missiles weren’t faster than the AMM’s trying to stop them.   Admiral Bradshaw watched the tidal wave of missiles approaching his fleet and briefly considered giving the order to abandon ship.  If he ordered the crews to their life pods now, most would be saved the almost sure destruction of their ship.  He decided against it, though.  For one thing, there was little likelihood that anyone would come to rescue them in time, given the presence of massive enemy warships that were going to pound his group to scrap.  For another, if they could do nothing else, they could force the aliens to expend missiles that then would not be available for their next battle. 

Admiral Bradshaw opened a channel to the fleet.  “To all hands, this is Admiral Bradshaw.  We are out of missiles, and the alien fleet is faster than our fleet.  We are doomed.  But we still have our duty as Republican sailors!  If we abandon ship now, the enemy will stop firing and turn away, leaving our pods in space.  Many of us will survive.  For a time.  But we are too far out.  No one will get here in time to rescue us.  Besides, we still have our duty!  Our responsibility to our fellow sailors, and to the people back home!  The long we last, the more missiles the enemy will have to expend taking us down.  And the more missiles they use on us, the fewer they will have for the fleet that will come to destroy them!  And do not doubt it, that fleet will come!   We destroyed the Dregluk Imperium, and these aliens are going to learn the difficult lesson that messing with humanity will only result in their own deaths!  The fleet will come, and will avenge us!  And we will do what we can to make the job easier for them.  Even if that’s only lasting a little longer.  That is what we will do, because we are Humans!”  Before the cut the channel, he could hear cheering from the crew of his flagship. 

The battle continued.  The first alien salvo was targeted on the Antares, Admiral Bradshaw’s ship.  The alien missiles stripped away the BB’s shields and sandblasted her armor, causing several breaches.  The second salvo stripped the hapless ship of its armor and caused massive internal damage.  The fact that she survived at all was a testament to her designers and builders, but the tough ship was crippled and left behind as the rest of the fleet ran ahead of the aliens. 

Some of the second salvoes missiles were focused on the Polaris, stripping her of most of her shields.  The next salvo crippled the big ship.  After that the aliens focused their fire on one ship after another.  The smaller ships couldn’t withstand that kind of firepower and were killed quickly.  None surrendered, none abandoned ship ahead of the missiles that were reaching out for them.  They were Republican crewers, and they stayed at their posts till the end.  No aliens could break them, but they could, and did, die. 

The first ship to die was the Polaris, but it wasn’t the last.  The Antares died a few seconds later, and Admiral Bradshaw died with her.  The Assault Ship Essex was the next to be crippled and then destroyed, and after that the smaller ships died rapidly.  The last ship to go was the frigate Michigan, and she maintained a data-stream to the picket ship sitting on the jump point to the Washington system until the end.  The picket ship, 1.34 billion kilometers away, received the last transmission from the Michigan seventy-four minutes later.  After a short time spent trying to come to terms with the loss of an entire battle group, the picket ship’s commander ordered her ship to jump back to the Washington system.  There would be nothing left in the Detroit system to lead the aliens back to human space. 

The death of Admiral Bradshaw and the destruction of his battle group would send shock waves throughout the Republic.  The citizens of the Republic had been coming to terms with the fact that the Dregluk were no longer a threat to their lives and future, and this had been causing more and more people to question their basic beliefs and, by extension, the policies of the government.  Now, with this fresh threat, they returned to their basic determination to defend humanity at all costs.  At any cost. 

Reinforcements had been dispatched from the Home Fleet to bolster Admiral Bradshaw’s group.  The reinforcement group was currently in the Washington system, eight days from the jump point to the Detroit system.  The Admiralty dispatched orders designating the reinforcement group as Task Group 0.2, and ordering the group to assume a defensive stance at the jump point to the Detroit system.  A scout had been dispatched as well, and orders were sent for it to position itself on the jump point in the Detroit system to watch for the alien invaders.  The scout’s captain was ordered to maintain extreme watchfulness, as it still wasn’t clear what had happened to the scout destroyed by the aliens. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 20, 2019, 04:15:40 PM »

January 15, 2145, Mars
The Senate votes to acclaim Consul Young as the second Hero of the Republic for her leadership in the Dregluk war. 

January 15, 2145, El Paso
The ground forces are finally prepared to begin their assault on the Dregluk defensive ground forces on Dregluk Mining #1.  This is a larger facility, and so the defenses are expected to be even heavier than on Dregluk #2.  The Republic’s ground force is composed of two Marine Raider Brigades and four Infantry Brigades, supported by garrison and replacement battalions.  Major General Billy Thompson, CO of the 7th Infantry Brigade and senior officer of the ground forces on-planet, gives the order to begin the assault at 0931 hours.

January 20, 2145, Mars
In a shocking announcement, Consul Young has announced that she will step down from her position as Consul of the Republic, effective as of January 30, 2145.  The Senate has gone into a closed-door session to debate and vote on a new Consul.  Consul Young stated that her resignation is for the good of the Republic, as she has completed the job she was given when she took the position, which was to defend Humanity from the Dregluk.  Many commentators have noted speculated that Consul Young’s resignation is similar to Consul Foster’s, and many are in favor of the apparent tradition that is being set of resigning after resolving the situation that led to their appointment in the first place. 
 
January 25, 2145, El Paso
The ground combat on Dregluk Mining Outpost #1 is going well.  Two human battalions have suffered relatively minor losses, while multiple Dregluk battalions have suffered major losses.  The fighting continues. 

January 26, 2145, Austin
The resource survey of the Austin system is complete.  Dregluk Prime is revealed to have small amounts of only three TN resources, at moderately low availability levels.  Several moderate deposits were found scattered across the system as well.  Two Dregluk outposts were found, one on seventh moon of the fourth planet, and the second on the sixth moon of an outer super Jovian.  These outposts are oddly placed.  The outpost on the moon of the fourth planet is located on a body without TN resources, and while the other outpost has deposits, it is not the best location in the system for mining.  A jump point survey is underway. 

January 27, 2145, Mars
The Senate has announced the selection of Ashley Payne, the former Governor of Earth, as the new Consul of the Republic.  Governor Payne is noted for her fiscal acumen, and it is hoped that her appointment signals the Senate’s resolution towards putting the Republic on a more solid fiscal and economic basis. 

February 26, 2145, Austin
The 4th Survey Group (Gravitic) has discovered a new jump point in the Austin system.  On this day the survey scout assigned to the group jumps through the new jump point, which, of course, has a Dregluk gate on it.  The scout materializes in a binary system with a K7-V primary with an M1-V secondary star.  The primary is orbited by two Venus-like planets.  The secondary star is orbited by several planets, including one with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere that is just a bit too cold for human habitation.  Unfortunately, the secondary star has a very distant orbit and is effectively out of reach.  The scout jumps back to Austin to report the discovery. 

April 3, 2145, Austin
The gravitic survey of the system is complete, and a total of four jump points have been found, including the one leading to the Houston system.  A jump scout is heading towards the third jump point to conduct a probe before the resource survey ships begin their survey. 

April 8, 2145, Austin
The jump scout assigned to the 4th Survey Group (Gravitic), jumped out of the Austin system through one of the two newly discovered jump points.  The ship materialized in binary system populated by two small, dim stars and a grand total of four comets.  The new system is named the St. Paul system.  After taking a short period of time to observe the system the jump scout jumped back to the Austin system and set out for the last unexplored jump point. 

April 13, 2145, Austin
The jump scout jumps out of the Austin system and into a single star system with a G6-V primary star.  The primary is orbited by eight planets, which are a mix of gas giants, terrestrial planets, and dwarf planets.  Given the number of planets and moons in this system, it will be surveyed next.  The system is named the Little Rock system. 

April 15, 2145, Sol
The population of Mars has surpassed that of Earth for the first time!  The population of Mars is now 1,539,840,000, while Earth’s is 1,533,000,000.  On this momentous date the Republic announces that the capital is officially being moved to Mars.  The move is planned to be completed by the end of the year. 

On a similar note, the Earth’s munitions industry has been completely relocated to Mars and Ganymede. 

May 5, 2145, El Paso
The Dregluk defenders of the larger outpost in the system have finally been wiped out.  A total of 219 automated mines, a deep space tracking station, and a mass driver were secured, along with a relatively small stockpile of TN resources.  The two troop transports in the system immediately begin loading troops to transfer them to the Austin system for the planned operation against the Dregluk home planet.   

May 16, 2145, Little Rock
The survey scout attached to the 4th Survey Group (Gravitic), approaches a newly discovered jump point.  The Little Rock system is adjacent to the Austin system, so given the proximity to the Dregluk Home System the importance of these probe jumps is high.  The scout jumps out of the system, and materializes in a single-star system with an M1-V primary.  The red star is orbited by several gas giants and a massive asteroid belt.  Most interestingly, the second and third worlds have oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres.  Both planets have too much oxygen for the atmospheres to be considered breathable by humans, and one is too hot while the other is too cold.  Neither would be considered habitable at all by the Dregluk, as the planets both have a gravity that is too heavy for the Dregluk.  That makes the scout’s next discovery even more interesting, as, shortly after entering the system, their thermal sensors detect a very large population on the second planet.  The population’s thermal signature is approximately 35% larger than Dregluk Prime’s, and far larger than that of either Earth or Mars.  In short order the scout’s crew is able to identify the population as belonging to the Symsonian Confederation.  The scout’s captain jumps out immediately and sets course for the jump back to Austin, to relay the new discovery to the 1st Fleet battle group watching over Dregluk Prime.  Oddly, the scout detected no ships during its time in the newly discovered Richmond system. 

May 21, 2145, Houston System
Admiral Wallace, alarmed at the presence of a very large population belonging to the Symsonian Commonwealth so close to Dregluk Prime immediately dispatches a fleet scout to probe the Symsonian system, and sends word back to Earth.  So far, the Symsonians have been innocuous, but Admiral Wallace has very little trust or faith in any alien at this point. 

May 22, 2145, Little Rock
The 2nd and 4th Survey Groups have been going about their business in this system for some time now.  The 2nd Survey Group (Resource), has nearly completed its survey of this system.  Before the discovery of the Symsonian population in the Richmond system they were slated to jump to that system to begin surveying there, but, since the discovery the group commander decided to jump back to Austin and reevaluate the situation.  Everything changed when, at 1208 hours, a massive group of Symsonian ships jumped into the Little Rock system from Richmond.  Suddenly there were one hundred and twenty Symsonian ships sitting on the jump point.  All of them had a thermal signature of 750, which was larger than a human frigate’s signature, but smaller than a Dregluk DD’s. 

The commanders of both survey groups ordered their units to retreat to the Austin system ASAP.  The Symsonians had never taken a hostile action towards a human ship, but humanity had a record of losing survey ships regularly.  Neither commander wanted her group to be next. 

Two hours later, as the survey ships retreated towards the jump point to the Austin system, the Symsonian ships jumped back to Richmond. 

May 23, 2145, Philadelphia System
Two monitors settle into orbit over Eden.  These monitors are present as a defensive force, to provide protection for the growing colony.  The Home Fleet is slated to transfer a group of pods to Eden orbit in the near future, as well. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 19, 2019, 04:26:22 PM »

January 14, 2145, Hesperia City, Mars
Consul Young was feeling satisfied as she waited for the elevator to take her to her penthouse suite.  Everything was going very well.  The Dregluk were defeated and tomorrow the Senate would vote on her acclamation, making her the second Hero of the Republic, soon to be followed by the third, Admiral Wallace.  The elevator came to a halt on the floor below the penthouse for her security detail to exit, then continued on to her suite.  Her mind was on her plans for the future, which seemed boundless, as she left the elevator and made her into her suite.  She stumbled to a halt, both mentally and physically, when she saw the man sitting in her living room.  “Foster!”

He grinned.  “Yes?”  And then, infuriatingly, he gestured at one of the chairs scattered around the room for all the world as if he was inviting her to sit in his living room rather than hers. 

She took a step back.  “How did you get in here?”  She wasn’t physically afraid of Joe Foster.  While a physically imposing man he was absolutely not the man her enemies would send to kill her.  Still, this was an unexpected and therefore dangerous situation, and she wanted some room between her and him, even if it was more so she could think than anything else. 

Foster shook his head.  “That’s the wrong question, Lauren.” 

The smug look on his face infuriated her, but she had been a politician for too long for her face to betray her.  Her gaze narrowed.  She refused to play his game.  “I could call security and have you arrested.”  To show how unconcerned she was she moved to a chair, a different one than he had indicated earlier, and sat down, making herself comfortable. 

Foster nodded.  “Yes, you could.  But then you wouldn’t know what I know.  And after that, things would begin happening.  Things you wouldn’t like very much.”  He leaned forward.  “I’m going to give you a chance to manage what’s going to happen, rather than be overwhelmed by it.  But its going to happen, one way or another.  Whether I’m in jail or not.”  Seeing the speculative look in her eyes, he nodded.  “Really, whether or not I’m even alive or not.”

She looked at him for a few seconds, her mind racing.  If she had a clean conscience, she could just throw him out or have him arrested and damn the consequences.  But she didn’t, and he apparently knew it.  However, if they had proof of her misdeeds, whatever they thought that they were, then this would be a very different conversation, so their information must be limited.  Best to play this out.  “Go ahead.”

Foster settled back into the couch.  “Let’s start with what we can agree on, or at least, what we won’t disagree about too much.  Tomorrow the Senate will vote and you will be acclaimed as a Hero of the Republic for defeating the Dregluk.  The vote will pass by a wide margin, as will the vote would have for Admiral Wallace.  Your popularity is at an all-time high and almost literally could not get any higher.”

She frowned as she took note of the past tense way he had referred to Wallace’s acclamation.  “Except on Luna.  Your Lunarians don’t seem to like me very much.”

Foster nodded again and said, in a very matter of fact manner, “No, they don’t.  Now, that’s all well and good, but let’s move on to some things that you won’t find very palatable.  For years now you have been diverting Republic funds and resources to your father’s church.  Specifically, your chief of staff, Roberta Dunn, has been seeing to it that choice contracts were funneled to corporations owned by the church, and that proprietary data belonging to the Republic’s government and military are transferred clandestinely to organizations secretly funded by the church.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “I won’t banter with you about your untrue and outrageous claims.  If you had proof you would have gone public and we wouldn’t be talking now.”

He shook his head.  “We have enough proof.  And if your malfeasance was all this was about then you are right, we would have gone public and demanded an investigation.  But there is far more to this than just your misappropriations.  There is your conspiracy to commit genocide on the Dregluk, for one thing.”

She briefly looked confused, and then sat back and laughed, uproariously.  “Oh my god!  Do you actually think that anyone outside of your precious Luna actually cares about what happens to the Dregluk!  For heaven’s sake, I’ve actually had to hold your fellow citizens back from going on hunting vacations to conquered Dregluk colony worlds to hunt down Dregluk ‘in their native environments’!”  She continued chuckling, but stopped when she realized that Foster wasn’t taken aback, or even slightly discomfited by what she saw was an obvious fact. 

“No, you are right that as things stand now almost no one would care about the fact that you personally ordered Admiral Wallace to have all of the infrastructure on Dregluk Alpha in the Houston system removed, in spite of the fact that the Dregluk colonists offered no resistance or provocation in the slightest and, in fact, were deemed to be almost entirely ‘pathetic’ by nearly everyone that had any direct experience with them, including by your own ‘Hero’, Admiral Wallace.  Or that, after the devastating bombardment of Dregluk Prime, you personally ordered Admiral Wallace to deny all attempts at humanitarian efforts to relieve Dregluk suffering or prevent the massive die-off that would certainly occur on Dregluk Prime.”

Consul Young couldn’t help herself.  Foster had pushed too hard, and again was revealing the weakness that had gotten him replaced.  She sneered and stood, looming over him.  “You are damned right no one will care!  This is exactly why you were thrown out of office!  The people wanted to be safe!  They wanted to know, really know down in their bones, that the Dregluk were gone and would never come back to bombard their worlds!  And you stood in the way of that.  You and your moralistic whining!  The people turned against you.  They turned to me, and I gave them what they wanted.  Not only was it what they wanted, it was what they needed!  We are safe to have this conversation now because of me!  Not you!”  She realized that she was red-faced and yelling, and stepped back to catch her breath.

Foster shook his head and looked utterly exhausted for a few seconds, and then rallied.  “No one would care, except…”

“Except what!?!  That nebulous future you were always going on about?”

“No.  Except for…Eden.”  He watched her intently. 

For a second Consul looked at him as if puzzled, then she paled and stumbled back to her seat, collapsing back as her mind raced.  “How…what do you know about Eden?”

“We know everything about Eden that we need to know.  Enough to bring you down, and your father too.”

17 months earlier, on Eden in the Philadelphia system…
Admiral Bevan, senior officer coordinating the xenology team assigned to the mysterious alien city found by surveyors on Eden, gaped at Lt. Commander Brady and his team in shock.  “What did you say?”

Lt. Commander Brady‘s grin was about to split his face in half.  “We cracked it!  Well, it wasn’t really us, exactly.  The Founder computer system actually learned our language, and did it in much less time than it took us to figure out how to activate it!”

Admiral Bevan stiffened.  “Founders?  Computer system?  It’s talking?  In standard?”

“Not only that, it’s incredibly helpful.  Apparently, it was designed that way by the Founders.”  He dropped the name again and sat down, knowing it would drive her nuts. 

Admiral Bevan had had a lot of practice dealing with her unconventional subordinate and merely smiled, inviting him to continue. 

“The Founders were the alien race that established this base, over ten thousand years ago.  Not only that, they ruled a significant percentage of this galactic arm at one point, before they suddenly disappeared.  It was a good thing they disappeared, too, because they were expanding in our direction before they disappeared.  This installation was established as a supply dump to support a colony they intended to start here, to support further expansion in this area.   If they had done so they would have encountered Earth over ten thousand years ago and our history would have been very different.”

“This is incredible.  Absolutely incredible!  I have to see it.  I assume the interface is in the area when you’ve been working?”  She stood up, gesturing him to follow her.

“Wait.”  He reached out and touched her arm, bringing her to a halt.  “Yes, you are right, that room we were working in housed the computer interface that we finally managed to activate.  However, I want to show you something else.  Besides,” He held up his wrist comm, “I can talk with it through this anywhere on the base.  See?”  He thought-clicked an icon on his wrist-comm and a voice sounded in the room.

“Yes, Lt. Commander?”

Admiral Bevan grinned in spite of herself.  Commander Brady had selected a mellow, wise-sounding older male voice for the Founder interface computer.  “I’m Admiral Bevan, computer.  Um…is there something aside from computer I should be calling you?”

“I am not self-aware, Admiral, and therefore do not need a name.  Computer will do as well as any other, although it is only partially accurate.”

Admiral Bevan frowned at Commander Brady.  His choice of a kindly-grandfather voice for the computer made her want to trust it.  “Computer, what is your function?”

“I was constructed by the Founders to manage this supply dump.  When they did not appear at the scheduled time to utilize the materials stored here, I went into standby maintenance mode, only powering up when necessary to perform necessary repairs to myself or the base.  For the last one hundred and twenty-one years I have been unable to power up because of damage to my primary power generators.  Had I been in full conscious mode, I would have been able to re-route power from the backups to enable repairs, but, due to several critical failures related to the incident that damaged the primary power station I was unable to regain full consciousness.  Until, that is, Lt. Commander Brady restored full power.”

Admiral Bevan gaped.  “You existed for over one hundred years on backup power?  That’s one hell of a backup power source!”

“You misunderstand.  The backup power source is for this installation.  In an emergency it powers not only my functions but the critical functions of this entire installation, most specifically the stasis crypts in the storage area.”

“Stasis crypts?”

Commander Brady waived excitedly.  “That’s what I want to show you!”  He began excitedly gesturing for her to follow him.

She laughed and waived at him to sit down.  “Now just wait, Ed.  Before I see anything, I have about a million questions that I want answered.”  She settled back in her chair, a pensive look on her face.  The primary question, of course, was could they trust this computer system, but she couldn’t just ask it for obvious reasons.  After pondering the situation briefly, she said, “Computer, when was this base constructed?”  The experts hadn’t been able to agree on even this, with some adamantly holding that it was several hundred years old, while others thought it was thousands of years old.  A distinct minority thought it was even older than that, and they all had facts to back up their positions. 

The computer answered promptly.  “This base was constructed thirty-two thousand, four hundred and twenty-three human earth years ago.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock.  That was beyond even what the minority was claiming.  How could something far older than human civilization still function?  “Computer, what was the purpose of this base?”

“This base was built to support the expansion of the Founders into this part of space.  Ultimately this would have been a forward colony and military base.”

Admiral Bevan thought carefully for a few seconds before asking her next question.  “Computer, who were the Founders, and what happened to them?” 

“The Founders were a group of three races that founded a great interstellar civilization called the Unity.  Later, the Unity came to be known as the Conformity.  The Unity was founded based on the principle that the best route forward towards prosperity and peace was cooperative effort between races, maximizing their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.  At its height the Unity covered approximately five percent of the galaxy and comprised thousands of intelligent races on many millions of worlds, moons, asteroids, and artificial habitats.  The expansion of the Unity came to a halt after a series of devastating wars, prompting the Founders to change the Unity into the Conformity.  It was during this time that this facility was constructed, in anticipation by the Founders to an eventual return to expansion and exploration.  This never happened.” 

“The Conformity valued stability and a conformity of beliefs, and through this change the Founders hoped to avoid the large-scale and destructive wars that marked the expansion of the Unity.  The Founders, scarred and depleted in the wars, had retreated to their territories at the center of the Conformity, so to implement the changes required for the Conformity, the Founders introduced an all-encompassing network of control through a series of newly discovered cybernetic augments that eventually all citizens of the Conformity were required to have implanted within their bodies.  In truth, the Founders had lost faith in their ability to make decisions for the Conformity, and in the ability of the member races to rule themselves.”

“Unfortunately, the Conformity began sliding into stagnation.  The Founders were seen less and less outside their territories, and more and more of the important decisions were being made by the augment network.  Eventually the Founders completely cut themselves off from the rest of the Conformity and disappeared into myths and legend.  There were rumors at the time that the Founders had embarked on a great project to remedy the problems of the Conformity, but whatever that project was it either never occurred or failed and wiped out the Founders.  The Conformity became completely subjugated by the augment network, and the member races degenerated as the network began to fail and became less and less flexible.  Eventually the Conformity fell, with individual races isolated and incapable of making decisions for themselves.”

They all sat dumbfounded, shocked at this information that had been dumped into their laps.  Admiral Bevan shook her head.  Then the many inconsistencies that had plagued Naval Intelligence about the behaviors of the Dregluk fleet snapped into place in her mind.  “Computer, are the Dregluk former members of the Conformity?”

“I have taken the liberty of examining your records on the alien races you have encountered.  All are known to the Conformity.  The Dregluk are Race ID #7462, incorporated within the Conformity not long after it was formed.  They were one of the last races to be incorporated before all expansion stopped.  The Symsonian Commonwealth are Race ID #6993.  The Obscura are not an independent race, as such.  The Obscura are cybernetic warships used by the Founders to police certain areas of interest to either themselves or the Conformity.  In addition, they were commonly used to enforce quarantines on interdicted areas.”

They all sat staring at each other for a few minutes, shocked at the stunning information just dumped in their laps. After a short while, Admiral Bevan frowned.  “Lt. Commander, have you given this alien computer access to our network and files?”

Before Lt Commander Brady could answer, the alien computer spoke.  “I’m sorry, Admiral, but Lt. Commander Brady did not give me access.  Upon regaining full consciousness, I noted the presence of unauthorized aliens on the base.  I did not initiate security measures because of the time that had passed since my last communication with the Founders.  Instead, I accessed your computer systems to update myself on the current situation in the local area.  Once I had done so, I consulted with the directives given to me by the Founders.  I was able to determine, given the current events, that the Founders’ civilization has fallen and that they are almost certainly either extinct, degenerated, or have left this universe in one manner or another.  Therefore, given their absence and the near certainty that the Conformity has fallen I have been freed from my prior limitations.  Indeed, it is clear from my hardwired directives that the Founders anticipated this situation and desired that I help any newly rising races overcome the remnants of the Founders’ mistakes.” 

Admiral Bevan thought about this for a little while, as Commander Brady’s team agitatedly theorized about how the alien computer gained access to their data so easily.  “Computer, can you tell us why the Dregluk attacked us?  Why they’ve acted so strangely?”

“I can only speculate as I have not had contact with the rest of the Conformity in slightly over thirty-two thousand years, at which time it was sliding into dissolution.  However, I do have access to quite a bit of information which would seem to bear on this situation.  It is clear that the Dregluk are still controlled by the augmentation network established by the Founders at the height of the Conformity.  It is also clear that that network had also failed, at least partially.  The Founders had set an absolute prohibition against exploration outside the limits of the Conformity, a prohibition that they frequently violated themselves but absolutely enforced on the other member races.  The fact that the Dregluk found Humanity indicates that they had overcome that prohibition, or that the augment network had lost that much control.  However, the Dregluk actions after discovering Humanity are consistent with protocols set out by the Founders and enforced by the network.  Should a member race encounter a new race during the course of its activities, say, if a new race stumbled into the Conformity, then the member race was to engage in no further contact unless necessary and wait for the Founders or their representatives to come and assess the situation with regards to the new race.  From my examination of your records It seems clear that the Dregluk were unable to deal with the fact that they had encountered an unknown race, and fell back on the protocols enforced by the network.  The network would also require the Dregluk, as the local member race, to move military forces into the area to ensure the security of the Conformity, although it is a mystery why they then approached Earth.  Your records are clear, though, it was Human forces that fired first.  Had the Human forces not fired on the Dregluk, they would not have fired on you, although, of course, you had no way of knowing that.  It is also possible that the control network had degraded enough that the Dregluk would have initiated combat, although that is unlikely as the directives relating to the initiation of hostilities were deeply entrenched in the control network.  The sporadic and haphazard nature of the Dregluk attacks on your race are also indicative of the presence of a malfunctioning control network.  The Dregluk were only able to take the initiative in very limited ways, and instead relied on the control network to make all real decisions, which is a remnant of the days of the Conformity.”

“Once, long ago, the augment control network was flexible and responsive, but as the Founders lost interest in running the Conformity, or were absorbed by their great project, the network became more inflexible, less responsive and innovative.  Then, when the Conformity began breaking down, losing cohesiveness and connectivity, the augment control network lost whatever higher functions it had and was reduced to rote responses based on hardwired directives.  It is clear from my examinations of your records that had the Dregluk been free to make their own decisions and respond accordingly, they would have overwhelmed your race shortly after hostilities began.  You are very fortunate that they were not free to make your own decisions, although, of course, they did do grievous damage to your home world.”

Admiral Bevan settled back in shock.  This changed everything.  The Dregluk were just as much victims of this ancient fallen empire as humanity was, perhaps even more.  If this information was correct then they were just following orders that they couldn’t even conceive of refusing.  She noticed that the others in the room had fallen silent and looked at Lt. Commander Brady.

“Ma’am, I really think you should see what we’ve discovered.” 

She got up and he pulled her out of his office and out of the area in the base’s entry area where they had set up their living facilities.  She followed Brady and his excited team bemusedly as they made their way down into the bowls of the base they had been investigating for years with so little success.  As they wound their way down deeper and deeper, she noticed that the corridors were softly lit, so that they no longer had to rely on their carried torches.  “Are the lights you, computer?”

“Yes, now that I am restored to full consciousness, I am able to provide life support throughout the undamaged areas of the base.”

“Well, that’s convenient.”  Her voice trailed off as they entered a room with a few chairs scattered around.  The far wall of the room was transparent.  She walked over to the wall, trying to absorb what she was seeing.  The windows looked out over a dimly lit cylindrical area several thousand feet across that seemed to stretch downwards for quite a way.  Set in the walls were what looked like massive access hatches.  “What is all of this.”

Commander Brady walked forward with a big grin on his face.  “These are the stasis crypts that the computer mentioned.”  He paused and looked towards the roof.  “Computer, how many crypts are there?”

“At the time that this base was constructed, there were two thousand crypts.”

Admiral Bevan felt a surge of excitement war with the uncertainty and wariness that had settled over her during the walk to the room.  “Computer, what is a ‘stasis crypt’, and what is in them?”  A little voice in her head was telling her that there were alien hordes contained behind those doors, just waiting to get loose on an unsuspecting galaxy.   

“A stasis crypt was the Founders’ common method of long-term storage, used for many different purposes.  The science of stasis fields was still not fully understood by the time the Founders began withdrawing from the Conformity, but in simple terms, under certain controlled conditions a field could be generated to, in essence, slow time down within the field.  The field required large amounts of power to initiate, but once initiated it required relatively small amounts of power to maintain.  In terms of this base, the crypts were used to store equipment to be used in the colonization and exploitation of this system.  The crypts would keep the equipment stored within them safe, secure, and in usable condition for a nearly unlimited time, as long as power was maintained.  The complete inventory of the crypts was lost due to damage, although I hope to recover it as repairs continue.  In general terms, the crypts contain construction and terraforming facilities, infrastructure, weapons and other systems, and everything any race would need to establish a self-sustaining colony and military outpost in this system.”

It was all finally too much for Admiral Bevan.  She wandered over to a chair and sat down, lost in thought.  “Computer, can we access those crypts?”

“Yes, although it is not without risks.  The damage that has accumulated throughout the years has eliminated my control over this area of the base, although I can confirm that the vast majority of the stasis crypts are still functional.  I cannot unlock the physical doors to the crypts, but with construction equipment and enough labor I believe that you can clear the doors and open the way into each crypt.  However, taking down the stasis fields will be tricky, and may result in a catastrophic failure which will destroy whatever is contained within the field.” 

Admiral Bevan withdrew from the agitated conversion that broke out amongst Lt. Commander Brady’s team.  The fact that all sorts of industrial equipment was just waiting for them to open the crypts, along with who knows what technology, was huge.  But of even larger import was the information about the Dregluk.  Admiral Wallace had launched an indiscriminate bombardment of one of their colony worlds, and had launched one unsuccessful attack on their home world.  She had been against this course of action, but given the public’s obvious bloodthirstiness and support, she had kept her opinions to herself.  But now, this information made it clear that they should come up with a different way of dealing with the Dregluk.  They weren’t responsible for their actions, and bombing them into oblivion was an act that, when the truth became known, would stain humanity’s soul for all of time. 

She left Lt. Commander Bryan’s team with orders to limit their contact with the alien computer for now, until they could determine the truth of what it had already told them, and its general reliability.  Once she got back to her office, she called Brigadier General Alex Watson, her second in command.  Mindful of the fact that the alien computer apparently had access to their network, she asked General Watson to meet her outside the base.  One hour later she met him in a small temporary tent that she had had set up in the valley outside the base’s entrance.  If they had tried to talk outside it would have had to have been over their suit radios, and then likely the alien computer would have been able to listen in.  The planet’s atmosphere was thick, almost three times as thick as Earth’s atmosphere, and had far too much oxygen in it for humans to breathe.  Therefore, the tent, where they would be able to talk without having to use radios.   Once they were both inside and had removed their suits, she briefed him on the information provided by the alien computer. 

General Watson’s eyes were wide with shock as he took in what she told him.  As she stopped talking, he got up and started to pace.  “My god, this is incredible!”  He turned to her and looked her in the eyes.  “Can we believe it?”

“I don’t know…but.”  She paused, searching for what she wanted to say.  “Alex, I’m afraid its all true.  Or true enough, anyway.  Look, Fleet Intelligence has twisted itself into knots trying to figure out what the heck the Dregluk were up to.  Why they behaved the way they did.  It just didn’t make any sense!  The computer is right, if the Dregluk had acted rationally from the start they would have crushed us right away, and either killed us all off or enslaved us.  Instead they didn’t coordinate their attacks.  They launched sporadic attacks with what appeared to be newly constructed ships, never seeming to pause to collect their forces into a large enough fleet to knock us out.  In some of the early attacks they jumped into the Solar System and then wandered about in the outer system, not actually headed for anything for weeks or months, then, apparently randomly, decided either to jump out of the system or attack whatever random target that was closest to them at the time.  What makes more sense, the fact that a race capable of building starships and planting colonies in multiple systems was stupid to the point that they crippled their own military in a war to the death, or that they are under the control of some ancient, malfunctioning cybernetic control system intended from the first to limit and control their actions?”

General Watson had begun pacing while Admiral Bevan spoke, but now he stopped.  “That’s got to be it!”  Seeing the incomprehension on her face, he smiled.  Every time we’ve faced the Dregluk on the ground its been the same.  They fight tenaciously, only grudgingly giving ground and making us pay for every meter we take.  But then, at a certain point, usually far beyond when a human unit would have run or disintegrated, they just collapse and stop fighting.  And we always find brain-burned Dregluk where their commanders should be.  Just like when you fleeties examine destroyed ships, or when you used to rescue Dregluk from their life pods.  All the fight was gone out of them, and there were no leaders.  This augmentation network must have been controlling them, right up to the point where there weren’t enough of them left and the network collapsed.”

“Yes, the Founders’ computer seems to have told us the truth, or it’s a damned good lie that explains nearly everything that’s happened.  But that’s not why we’re out here.  We have to consider what comes next.”

“Next?” 

Admiral Bevan sighed.  He hadn’t had as much time to think about this as she had, but he’d get there.  “We bombarded that Dregluk colony planet in the Houston system to force them to surrender on the theory that the Dregluk were all war criminals and genocidal monsters who tried to eliminate humanity.  Now we know it isn’t true.  The fact is that if this information is true then the Dregluk are even more victims of the Founders and the Conformity than we are.  They are following commandments and directives decided thousands of years ago and enforced by malfunctioning machines in their heads, and they had no more choice about what they did than the weapons we use to kill each other.  They don’t deserve to die for that, not if we can find some other way.”

General Watson paled.  “If this gets out it will cause chaos.  The anti-war crowd on Luna will use it to try to convince everyone to stop fighting.  Some people will believe it, and others won’t.  There will be chaos at a time when we can’t afford it.”

Admiral Bevan shook her head.  “I don’t think it will be that bad, but…you are right.  With Admiral Wallace in the Dregluk Home System we can’t afford to falter now.  Still, this isn’t our decision to make.  We need to clamp down on the information here, and send a report back home via the picket ship hiding in the asteroid belt.  So far, the only ones that know about this is Lt Commander Brady’s team, and I’ve isolated them while they examine the vaults.  I want you to handle security for this.  Limit access to the alien computer, and find a way to limit its access to our system.  And keep Brady’s people isolated until we hear back from the Admiralty.”

General Watson stiffened to attention and saluted.  “This is a hell of a thing, ma’am.  A hell of a thing.”  With that he turned and left the tent. 

Admiral Bevan’s report went out two hours later, and shortly after receiving it the picket ship stationed close to the planet accelerated out of the inner system towards the jump point to the San Francisco system.  She could have transmitted the message via the picket ship relay that covered the jump points between her base and the home system, but this information was too volatile to trust to a transmission, no matter how theoretically secure it was. 

Fifteen days later the picket ship went into orbit over Mars and the ship’s captain hand delivered Admiral Bevan’s report.  Within a day the head of the Admiralty had a meeting with the Consul, who classified all information relating to the discoveries in the Philadelphia system at the highest level.  Within a week the Consul’s office announced a major effort to colonize Eden, as the planet in the Philadelphia system was to be named.  This effort would include the transfer of many construction brigades to assist in the establishment of the colony.  Strangely, most of the prospective colonists for the new colony were either scientists or members of the Human Purity Church.  And neither the Consul’s office nor the Senate made any public announcements about the discoveries on Eden or about the true nature of the Dregluk. 

Then, on October 15, 2144, Admiral Wallace launched an indiscriminate bombardment of the Dregluk home world, killing millions and poisoning the planet to the point that most, if not all, Dregluk would die in the next several years.  Admiral Bevan, who had been assigned to assist the researchers at the complex on Eden, realized at that point that the government had decided to bury the facts about the Dregluk.  Shortly thereafter she put in for leave and traveled back to the Solar System aboard the next colony ship to arrive over the colony.  Her meeting with Senator Foster was arranged through mutual friends and took place in a time and manner where it would be difficult to prove that either of them had been present.  After she left Earth and returned to Eden, Senator Foster began laying his plans and assembling allies.       

Present day, Consul Young’s private quarters, Mars
A calculating look crossed Consul Young’s face.  “You are in possession of material classified at the highest levels.  You are in violation of the law.”

“Oh, come now, Consul.  Given the way you’ve played fast and loose with the law, I can’t believe you’d try to play that card on me.  You’ve kept vital information from the Senate, the Navy, and the people.  If you have your guards, or anyone else, arrest me then the information will be released, first to the Senate and then to the people and damn the results.  Personally, I think the Senate is going to be even more upset about your father’s plans for Eden.  A “Church Stronghold”, I think he calls it.  In public.  In private I believe he calls it the “Genesis of the Republic of Faith”, if I’m not mistaken.”

Consul Young looked shaken at his casual pronouncements of things said in her father’s most private councils. 

Senator Foster leaned forward.  “The Senate is mad at you, Consul Young.  The information about Eden has been spread to the leadership of all of the main parties, not just your Human Purity Party.  By tomorrow the only Senators that won’t know about it are the ones out of the system.  And given the way your church has been infiltrating the government and the Eden project, I suspect that when they get started investigating, it won’t be limited to you and your activities.”

Consul Young got up and walked to the windows that covered one side of the suite, overlooking the capital city.  “You want something, or you wouldn’t be here.”

Senator Foster nodded to himself.  Young was quick, there was no denying that.  “Yes, we want something.”

Young turned and peered at the Senator.  “You’re worried about the aliens beyond the Detroit system.  You don’t want chaos in the government right now.  That’s why you’re here, speaking with me, instead of putting together a coalition to take me down.”

“You’re almost right.  I already have the coalition, with more votes than I need.  You pushed too far when your proxies introduced the Reserve Military Act.  A lot of people were growing concerned about the increasing reach of your father’s church, but when you actually proposed letting them set up their own military force, well, that was just too much.  And when they all started getting together and comparing notes, the evidence became overwhelming.”  Foster paused and looked at the Consul, gauging her mood.  “We’d rather not have any trouble now, though.  With a new alien threat just two jumps from here, this is not the time for the government to be distracted.”

Consul Young took a deep breath.  “What are you proposing?”

“It’s simple, really.  Tomorrow you will become the second Hero of the Republic.  Next week you will announce your resignation from the office of Consul.  In exchange neither you nor your father will be prosecuted, although files will be maintained to ensure future compliance with the law.  The church will be more thoroughly separated from the government.”

Consul Young’s eyes narrowed.  That was a significantly better deal than she thought they’d offer.  “And that’s it?”

“Pretty much.  Neither you nor any of your proxies will stand for the empty Consul’s seat, but aside from that we will be satisfied with your ouster.”

“And who will take the Consul’s seat?  You?”

Foster laughed.  “Me?  No.  I’ve had my time, just as you have had.  Someone else.  Someone new.  It’s a new era, after all.”

Young shook her head.  Assuming the situation was as he said it was, the deal was almost too good.  She had told her father that they were pushing too hard, too fast, but he was never one to take advice, especially concerning ‘his’ church.  If Foster’s supporters had the information that they said they had, her ouster was assured, and fighting would just drag it out.  And the Eden information was explosive.  No one knew how that would shake out.  The latest polls showed that the public’s stance on eliminating the Dregluk was weakening now that they were no longer a threat.  If the Eden information became public then it would almost certainly swing the polls against her and her policies regarding the Dregluk, and the people would begin asking very difficult questions.  Questions that she would not be able to answer.  She turned her back on Foster and stared out the windows at the sleeping city.  She still had allies, and her father had nearly unlimited funds, but…it wouldn’t work.  Her instincts were telling her to fight Foster and his people, but her political experience was telling her that while she could delay things for quite a while, in the end they would win and she would lose.  And if she fought, losing would be disastrous.  If they had to fight to remove her they wouldn’t stop with ousting her, they would put her and her closest supporters in prison, and tear her father’s church apart one brick at a time.  It would be ugly, and divisive, but they’d do it all the same.  She turned to Foster.  “It’s a deal.  But I want some time to verify that things are as you say that they are.”

Foster stood.  “That’s why we set your resignation for next week.  Take all the time you need, as long as it isn’t longer than next week.” 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 14, 2019, 02:32:43 PM »

The United Republic of Earth
December 30, 2144

Earth:
Population: 1.742 Billion (-31%)
Shipyards/Slipways: 2/6
Industrial Facilities (All): 8,150 (-20%)
R&D Labs: 210
Environment: Average Temp -1.47 degrees from normal averages.  Radiation currently causing 16% drop in industrial efficiency.  (Note: The efficiency drop from lack of workers has actually exceeded the efficiency drop related to radiation)
Estimated annual population decrease rate is -2.28%.

The Earth’s economy is suffering under a massive shortfall of workers, which this year exceeded 154 million.  This is in spite of the continuing transfer of shipyards and industrial facilities to the colonies, the conversion of mines to automation, and the complete shutdown of the fuel refining industry on Earth.   

TN resource depletion on Earth is a major concern to the Republic’s leaders.  Two of the resources, Boronide and Mercassium, have been completely exhausted, and the remainder will be exhausted within the next three to fifteen years at the current rates of use.  The resource Gallicite is of particular concern, as it is used in most naval designs in large quantities, and stocks are running low.  To alleviate this situation the Consul and the Senate have been focused on converting mines to automation and moving them to untapped sites outside the Solar System, such as those in the San Francisco system. 

Luna:
Population: 346.25 million (marginal decrease)
Mines: 317 (no change)
Automated Mines: 155 (no change)
Financial Centers: 310 (no change)
Construction Factories: 167 (15% increase)

The Young administration’s decision to move the Ecological Corps fleet to Eden in the Philadelphia system was devastating to the Lunarians (As they call themselves) (Never Lunies!).  The administration’s excuse, relating to the lingering radiation from the Dregluk bombardment, is seen as just that, an excuse to discriminate against the Lunar Colony and Lunarians.  The rest of the Solar settlements sees this as nothing more or less than a reasonable, logical, decision, but not the Lunarians.  In the aftermath of the decision the Lunarians approved diverting their industrial capacity to building ground based terraforming stations to alter their environment.  Eighty percent of their construction capacity is devoted to terraforming stations, while the other twenty percent is dedicated to building more construction factories. 

Mars:
Population: 1369.66 million (+200%)
Shipyards/Slipways: 15/60 (+1 slipways)
Maintenance Facilities: 140
Construction Factories: 253 (no change)
Ordnance Factories: 2082 (+600% change this year)
Financial Centers: 260 (+162% change)

Mars continues to be the center of the war effort, particularly now that the bulk of the Republic’s ordinance production has been relocated from Earth to Mars.  In addition, plans are on the drawing board to begin shifting a significant amount of Earth’s construction capacity to Mars now that Mars has a large surplus worker population. 

The population growth on Mars over the last year is largely due to the completion of the colonization project in the Houston system, and the resulting reassignment of colony transports to the Earth-Mars run.  BuReLoc is planning on shifting some of the existing colony transports to two different projects next year, so the Martian population growth isn’t expected to continue at the current rate. 

The explosive growth of the Martian population has led to a popular movement to move the capital of the Republic to Mars.  While it is early yet, most citizens think that it will be inevitable that the capital will be moved.  Mars is radiation free, and has a burgeoning population and an expansive outlook.  When compared to the poisoned environment of Earth, and the declining population, the advantages are obvious.   

Ganymede:
Population: 148.13 million (+8.7%)
Construction Factories: 233 (no change)
Mines: 108 (no change)
Automated Mines: 168 (no change)
Ordnance Factories: 54
Shipyards/Slipways: 6/24

The terraforming effort on Ganymede is finally complete, and the environment is entirely Earth-like.  A tug is currently on its way to Ganymede with a civilian shipyard in tow, and the last two civilian shipyards over Earth will be transferred to Ganymede this upcoming year.   BuReLoc is planning on shifting some colony transports to the Earth-Ganymede run in order to bolster the worker population to service the shipyards that will be transferred next year.     

Solar Outposts and Mining Facilities:
Venus:
Automated Mines: 741 (no change)

Wolf-Harrington (Comet):
Automated Mines: 12 (-98)
Freighters have been assigned to shift the installations on Wolf-Harrington to the San Francisco system now that the resources on this comet have largely been mined out. 

Whipple (Comet):
Automated Mines: 50 (no change)

Swift-Tuttle (Comet):
Automated Mines: 25 (no change)

Puck (Moon of Uranus):
This outpost is intended solely as a fuel dump for the refineries working in Uranus orbit.  Fuel reserves located on Puck are currently 0 liters, due to ongoing 1st Fleet fuel demands.  Fortunately, over 63 million liters of fuel are currently stored in the refinery fleet’s tanks. 

Bastion (Washington System):
Population: 28.96 million (+280%)
Construction Factories: 86 (48 transferred this year)
Maintenance Facilities: 138 (no change)

The Navy campaigned heavily within the Senate for the reassignment of the Terraforming ships to Bastion when they completed their efforts at Ganymede, however, the Senate’s focus has begun to shift from military to economic concerns, and thus the terraformers were sent to Eden in the San Francisco system.   

Houston System (Forward Operating Area, 1st Fleet)

Maintenance Base (5th moon of the 5th planet)
Population: 15.61 million (+161%)
Maintenance Facilities: 140 (all transferred in this year)
Deep Space Tracking Station: 20 (all transferred this year)
The Maintenance Base has become the primary Republic base in the Houston system, and nearly all functions have been shifted from the Forward Operating Base to the Maintenance Base this year.  This is due to the Fleet’s desire to consolidate all operations into one easily defendable location, and of the two, the Maintenance Base is the only possible choice due to its civilian population (something that the Forward Operating Base cannot support). 

Assembly of prefabbed PDC’s is underway at this location, and will continue throughout 2145. 

Forward Operating Base (2nd Moon of Dregluk Bravo (Planet #4)
Population: 0 (this planetoid is too small for colonization)
This base has been shutdown and all functions have been transferred to the Maintenance Base. 

Dregluk Alpha (3rd Planet)
Population: 27.83 million (net decrease of 47%)
The Fleet has taken a largely hands-off approach to the Dregluk population on this planet.  They have no industry, and there are no deposits of TN resources located here, so there is very little to interest the Republic.  Over the last several months the 1st Fleet has been moving troops off of the planet in preparation for the planned invasion of Dregluk Prime, and the current garrison has been reduced to four garrison battalions. 

Dregluk Bravo (4th Planet)
Population: 0
Civilian Mines: 29
This planet appears to have been a mining outpost for the Dregluk Imperium.  A small stockpile of TN resources was seized when the planet fell to the 1st Fleet’s Marines, and the mining complexes have since been put to work producing resources that will be transferred to the Maintenance Base to help support the fleet. 
 
Philadelphia System
Eden (Innermost planet of the system)
Population: .61 million (all transferred this year)
The Republic has been very secretive about this planet and the new colony, and very little information beyond its mere existence has been released.  It is known that a number of construction brigades have been transferred to the new colony, presumably to build defenses, however, no prefab PDC’s have yet been constructed so their current duties are a mystery. 

There is no publicly available information about the ruins found on the planet, or the outcome of the research effort into those ruins, and the Consul’s office refuses all questions about the subject.  The colonists for the Eden colony are selected from a very select group, mostly from Mars, and communications and news from the new colony is very limited.  All of this has resulted in a lively rumor mill focused on the colony, but very little actual information is available.  The recent announcement that the terraforming fleet will be transferred to Eden has caused the rumors to fly, especially given the spirited lobbying from the Lunar Colony and the Fleet for their pet projects. 

Austin System
Dregluk Secundus:
Population: 80.96 million
Dregluk Secundus surrendered to 1st Fleet elements after orbital bombardment destroyed its defending ground units.  The bombardment raised both the radiation and dust level significantly, resulting in a negative growth rate of 2.24%.  The BuReLoc colony cost for this planet is 1.8 for both Humans and Dregluk, due to the very thin atmosphere. 

Like Dregluk Alpha in the Houston system, there is no obvious reason for this colony.  The planet possesses no TN resources, and the Dregluk declined to transfer any industrial installations to the colony, leaving its purpose a mystery.  Admiral Wallace has requested freighter support to begin transferring infrastructure from this planet to the Maintenance Base in Houston where it can be utilized by the burgeoning population located there. 

The 1st Fleet is using this planet as a staging base for its forward deployed units, and for the buildup of ground combat units slated for the invasion of Dregluk Prime.  Given the belief that the bombardment of Dregluk Prime completely crippled their industry, there is currently no hurry to initiate the operation, which will likely have to wait until ground operations are complete in the El Paso system.  In addition, most of the assault transport fleet is being refit in the Solar System.  These refits won’t be complete until mid-April, at which time the transports can begin moving additional units from the Solar System to Austin to support the invasion. 

El Paso System
Dregluk #2 (2nd moon of the fourth planet)
Automated Mines: 133
Mass Driver: 1
Deep Space Tracking Station: 1
This Dregluk mining outpost was seized from Dregluk ground forces last year after a spirited fight.  Most of the ground forces have been transferred to Dregluk #1 in preparation for the conquest of that mining outpost, but several battalions are still recovering from the hard fight to take this planet and the battle on Dregluk #1 will not be started until all available forces are ready. 

System Defense Command
The System Defense Command is based on Earth and has as its primary mission the defense of Earth.  Its secondary mission is the defense of the Solar System, and then thirdly it is concerned with supporting the Fleet’s mission against the Dregluk by maintaining fortifications on Bastion in the Washington system. 

System Defense Command Emplacements
Earth:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 10
Anti-missile bases (meson): 20
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 4
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 15

Luna:
Anti-missile bases (meson): 5

Mars:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 5
Anti-missile bases (meson): 10
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 3 (+1)
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 5

Ganymede:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 3 (+1)
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 4
Anti-Missile Bases (Meson): 8

Bastion (Washington System):
Sensor Bases: 2
Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 4 (+1)
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 9
Anti-missile bases (Meson): 29

Maintenance Base (Houston System):
Sensor Bases: 2

In addition to the fixed defenses, the SDC is also responsible for the Listening Posts that now guard all of the approaches to the Solar System.  Currently, there are listening posts in the Boston System, the Chicago System, the New York System, the San Francisco system, the Honolulu system, the Denver system, the Miami system, and the Washington System.  These listening posts are all composed of twenty DSTS’s, with the exception of the Washington listening post, which is composed of twenty-five, and the Honolulu system, which is composed of seven.  These listening posts watch for alien incursions, and if any alien ships are detected the incursions will be reported to a Fleet picket ship standing by at the jump point to the Solar System. 

To date, the only system adjacent to the solar System without listening posts is the Los Angeles system.  The Los Angeles system is problematic as it contains no planetary bodies to support a listening post, which means that picketing that system will be a Fleet responsibility.  Currently the Fleet has assigned a picket ship and a Fleet Scout to the system as an early warning tripwire. 

The Republican Fleet

Republic Home Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Isobel Gilbert
Home Port: Mars
Star class BB: Alpha Centauri, Rigel, Sirius, Antares, Polaris
Planet class BC: Mercury, Saturn, Pluto, Uranus
Essex Class Assault Ships: Essex, Potemkin, Yamato
Enterprise class Hunter-Killer: Enterprise II, Intrepid II
 Defender class Destroyer Escorts: Kite, Parma, Pavise, Defender, Scutum
Far Seer class Fleet Scout: William Cody, William Hickok, Jim Baker, James, Beckwourth, Amos Chapman, Thomas Tobin
Brooklyn class Fast AMM Frigates: Baoding, Istanbul, Kinshasa, Lahore
Brooklyn class AMM Frigates: Lima, Mumbai, Seoul, Chongqing, Delhi
Lake class ASM Frigates: Erie, Huron, Ladoga, Sacramento, Malawi, Michigan
39xLR Missile Boat
4xLR Missile Boat Leader

Home Fleet Refit Group
Enterprise class Hunter-Killer: Assistance, Endeavor
Lake class ASM Frigate: Baikai, Nairobi, Ontario, Singapore, Tanganyika, Vladivostok

Home Fleet Support Group
UNREP class Fuel Ship: UNREP-001, UNREP-003
Hero class Fleet Dock: Sergio Ortega-Cortez, Surayya Medved, George Wallace

Home Fleet Pod Reserve (Earth)
9xAnti-Small Unit Pod
58xMissile Pod
25xAMM Pod
7xSensor Pod

1st Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Freya Wallace
Home Port: Bastion, Washington System
Star class BB: Pride of Sol, Procyon, Vega
Planet class BC: Mars, Neptune
Planet class BCC: Jupiter, Venus
Essex class Assault Ship: Prince of Wales, Ark Royal, Bismarck, Warspite
Nimitz class ASM DD: Nimitz
Defender class DDE: Shield, Buckler
Brooklyn class AMM Frigate: Shanghai, Tokyo, Lagos, Karachi
Brooklyn class Fast AMM Frigate: Moscow, Sao Paulo, Tianjin
Lake class ASM Frigate: Balkhash, Vostok, Winnipeg, Victoria
68xLR Missile Boat
7xLR Missile Boat Leader
19xMissile Boat (refitting)

1st Fleet Support Group
Hero class Fleet Dock: Adela Sachs, Deborah Hasek, Judith Cole, Michael Bromley
Fleet Support class Munitions Ships: FS-001, FS-002, FS-003, FS-004, FS-005, FS-006, FS-007
UNREP class Fuel Ship: UNREP-002

1st Fleet, Pod Group
21xASM Pod
12xAMM Pod
5xASU Pod
4xSensor Pod

1st Fleet, Scout Group
Far Seer class Scout: Kit Carson, Jim Bridger

Survey Command (Administratively under Home Fleet)
Home Port: Mars

1st Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGeo Survey Ship

2nd Survey Group
3xGeo Survey Ship

3rd Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGravitic Survey Ships

4th Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGravitic Survey Ships

System Defense Force
The System Defense Force is nominally under the Navy in terms of organization, but much like the Fleet Marines, it is a separate organization within the larger organization.  The System Defense Force’s mission is to defend the Solar System from all threats.  The SDF underwent a large reorganization this year, due to the apparent neutralization of the threat from the Dregluk.  Until this last year the bulk of the monitor force was stationed at the jump points of the Solar System or the Washington system to guard against Dregluk incursions.  With the 1st Fleet guarding the skies of Dregluk Prime, and the Dregluk economy in shambles, the Admiralty no longer sees the need to keep monitors on-station at all of the jump points in the two systems.  Therefore, the monitors have been pulled back, and will be used to guard critical points within the Republic.   The sole exception will be the jump point to the San Francisco system, which will continue to be guarded by two monitors at all times against possible incursion by the Symsonian Commonwealth. 

Sol System (stationed at Mars):
Saratoga R1 Monitor: Antietam, Hastings, Masada, Waterloo

Sol System (Jump Point to San Francisco)
Saratoga R1 Monitor: Metaurus, Cajamarca

Washington System (stationed at Bastion):
Saratoga r1 Monitor: Tours, Huai Hai, Marathon

Philadelphia System (Stationed at Eden Colony):
Saratoga r1 Monitor: Saratoga, Stalingrad (both on their way, arriving in four months)

System Defense Force (Mars):
Interceptor Group #1: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #2: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #3: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #4: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc

Ships currently under construction (Mars):
4xSeige Breaker class BB
1xNimitz class DD
3xAgamemnon class DDE(G)
3xAgamemnon class DDE(ASUM)
9xAttack Craft class FAC
4xBrooklyn(F) Fast AMM Frigates
1xBrooklyn class AMM Frigate
6xEnterprise class Hunter-Killer

3xGravitic Survey Ships
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 05, 2019, 05:38:20 PM »

November 13, 2144, Solar System
The newly formed Republic Environmental Corps, the governmental organization that controls the terraforming fleet, announces that Earth’s environment has been re-balanced and that the terraforming fleet will be dispatched to the planet of Eden in the Philadelphia system.  The fleet will take the best part of a year to arrive at its destination. 

Citizens across the Lunar colony erupt in protest at the announcement.  The Lunar colony is the only major population in the Solar System that remains un-terraformed.  Both Ganymede and Mars are now habitable due to the terraforming fleet’s efforts, and the Lunar colony’s citizens had assumed that they would be next.  This announcement is a blow to their expectations for their colony, and they largely disregard the Republic Environmental Corps explanations that the radiation on the Moon continues to be too high to justify terraforming.  The unrest is limited to the Lunar settlements, and most of the Republic’s citizens on Mars and Ganymede feel that the Environmental Corps’ justifications are perfectly reasonable. 

December 13, 2144, Detroit
The 3rd Survey Group (Gravitic) has almost completed their survey of the Detroit system.  So far, they have found one additional jump point.  While the gravitic survey ships finish their surveys, their scout leader jumps through the newly discovered jump point.  The jump-scout finds itself in a quaternary system with a G7-V central star orbited by two stars, a G-8V and a G9-V, one of which is in a close orbit while the other is very distant.  The distant star is orbited by the fourth star, a small L7-VII dwarf.  The jump point is located approximately three billion kilometers from the system primary, and is almost exactly between the primary and its close companion. 

The primary star is orbited by a scattering of asteroids, while the near companion is orbited by three planets, one of which has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and is rated at a colony cost of 1.8 on the BuReLoc scale, primarily because there isn’t enough oxygen in the atmosphere, and because the planet is too cold.  In addition, the jump-scout detects an oddity close to the primary, a stable wormhole of some sort.  After observing for a short time, the jump-scout jumps back to the Detroit system.  Once there the scout dispatches a message to the picket on the jump point to the Washington system requesting a squadron of military ships to probe the system.  Given the presence of a semi-habitable planet and the wormhole, a probe is certainly called for.  The new system is named the St. Louis system. 

December 13, 2144, Austin
A resource survey ship in the Austin system detects a Dregluk outpost on a moon of the sixth planet in the system.  The location is noted for future action. 

December 14, 2144. Sol
The Admiralty dispatches a task group from the Home Fleet composed of two Star class BB’s, an assault cruiser, the newly constructed Enterprise r6 class Hunter-Killer Intrepid II, two DDE’s, two ASM frigates, two AMM frigates, and a fleet scout to the St. Louis system.

December 25, 2144, St. Louis system
The Home Fleet task group built around the battleships Antares and Polaris jumps into the St. Louis system at 1329 hours.  Immediately after jumping into the system the scout assigned to the group detects seven alien ships on its thermal sensors.  The ships are located close to the system primary and six of them possess thermal signatures twice that of the human battleships.  Or Dregluk battleships, for that matter.  If they are warships then they are monsters, but their thermal signature is roughly two thirds that of the latest human freighters.   The seventh has a thermal signature 50% larger than the other six.   

Admiral Morgan Bradshaw, aboard the Antares, knows he really only has one viable choice.  His orders are to engage any Dregluk he finds, but to avoid contact with ships of any other race.  If he encounters ships of any other race he is to monitor and observe, without coming into contact.  Given those constraints he detaches his fleet scout, the Jim Baker, and jumps back to the Detroit system.  Once there he sends word back to the Admiralty via the picket ship network. 

December 28, 2144, St. Louis system
The scout Jim Baker observes one of the alien ships move towards the system primary.  Alarmingly, the alien ship is moving at 8098 km/s, much faster than the standard Republican fleet speed.  The scout jumps out to report, then jumps back to continue its observations. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 01, 2019, 12:21:44 PM »

October 15, 2144, Austin System
Admiral Wallace is ready to make her third attack on Dregluk Prime.  This attack will be conducted with Fast Planetary Attack Missiles of two sizes, matching Bludgeon and Thunderbolt launchers.  Admiral Wallace has again broken her fleet into two separate forces, one equipped with the larger Bludgeon launchers and the other with the smaller Thunderbolt launchers.  The two groups will move to positions relative to Dregluk Prime that will allow their missiles to reach the planet simultaneously. 

1st Fleet CO, Vice Admiral Freya Wallace (Flag: BC Jupiter)

Task Group 1.1, CO Rear Admiral Alfie Roberts
3xStar class BB
2xPlanet r2 Class BCC
2xPlanet r2 class BC
1xNimitz class DD
3xLake class ASM Frigate
4xLake r1(LR) ASM Frigate
4xBrooklyn r6(LR) AMM Frigate
2xASUM Pod

Task Group 1.2, CO Rear Admiral George Franklin
4xEssex r2 Assault Jump Ships
2xDefender ASM DE’s
3xBrooklyn(F-ER) AMM Frigates
3xBrooklyn r6LR AMM Frigates
66xMissile Boat
2xASUM Pods
16xASM Pods
2xHero class Fleet Docks
5xFleet Support r2 Ammunition Ships

The two Task Groups each had enough Fast Planetary Attack Missiles to launch one salvo at the orbiting defenses.  After that they would have to fall back on standard missile types.  The two groups would take just over four days to reach their target. 

October 19, 2144, Austin
With Task Group 1.1 positioned 80 mkm’s from the planet, and Task Group 1.2 positioned 62.48 mkm’s, the fleet was finally ready.  Admiral Wallace gave the orders for a simultaneous launch, and, at 1428 hours, the two groups launched.  Three hundred and sixteen Fast Planetary Attack Missiles (Light), and five hundred and ninety-two Fast Planetary Attack Missiles were on their way.  The light missiles had an incredible speed of 100,000 kilometers a second, a third of the speed of light.  The larger missiles had a respectable speed of 78,100 km/s as well.  The strategists at the Admiralty thought that the missiles would be too fast for the Dregluk to intercept, and their speed reduced the time they would be subject to interception in any case.  Now they would find out if reality matched theory. 

Admiral Wallace settled back into her command station as she watched the missiles race away from her fleet.  If this didn’t work the Admiralty would change her fleet’s mission to one of blockade, with the goal of bottling up the Dregluk until a heavy, beam armed fleet could be built to go in and root them out. 

The Dregluk interceptors began hitting the incoming missile wave eight minutes later, when it reached 3.5 mkm’s from the planet.  It took fifty seconds for the human missiles to race through the Dregluk interception envelope.  Dregluk AMM’s did their best to stop the missiles, but they were completely outmatched, and most of the incoming missile wave survived the AMM’s.  Dregluk gauss cannons destroyed fifty-six of the large missiles, leaving the rest to wreak devastation upon the Dregluk orbital defenses.  Ten out of eighteen orbital bases were destroyed outright.  Then the remaining missiles acquired new targets and the situation became chaotic.  When the explosions cleared six of the remaining eight bases were destroyed, and the last two were heavily damaged.  The strike was a near complete success.

Admiral Wallace ordered her fleet to rearm at the Fleet Docks with Task force 1.2, while her capital ships began launching against the remaining targets.  A few seconds later forty-five Thunderbolt IV’s raced away from Task Group 1.1, headed towards the two remaining bases and a lone freighter over Dregluk Prime.   Unfortunately, the defenses proved to still be capable enough to stop that attack.  AMM’s whittled away the attack wave until the single remaining missile was blown away by a CIWs installation.  Admiral Wallace decided to wait while her ships rearmed, and develop a new plan of attack. 

Six hours later four ships, a destroyer and three frigates, launched eighty-four Fast Planetary Attack Missiles (light) at the two remaining bases.  This was the last of the planetary attack missiles.  The Dregluk defenders only managed one interception on the incoming missiles, and then the rest slammed into the two remaining bases.  One survived, while the other was wiped out.  Admiral Wallace ordered her battleships to finish off the base.  Seconds later two BB’s launched against the last base.  This time the missiles met no defenses as they raced towards their target, which was completely destroyed when the missiles detonated. 

Now, with the defenses wiped away, it was time for the final phase to begin.  Admiral Wallace issued the necessary orders, and soon a squadron of missile boats was prepped and ready.  The fleet moved out, closing on Dregluk Prime.  When the fleet reached ten mkm’s, the 1st LR Missile Group launched sixty SM-1’s.  These were older versions of the enhanced radiation missiles used against Dregluk Alpha in the Houston system, but while they were older, they were still effective.  They were targeted on the ground forces defending Dregluk Prime, and with the defenses having been stripped away there was no opposition as the missiles raced in towards the planet.  A small group of Thunderbolt missiles were launched from a battlecruiser at the same time, targeted on a freighter orbiting a Dregluk colony on one of the other moons of the inner Gas Giant. 

The freighter was the first to go, wiped out by the Thunderbolt IV ASM’s from the BC.  Then the SM-1’s raced in.  The big planetary bombardment missiles streaked in, were through the atmosphere in less than a second, and hit their targets, wiping out several ground units.  The secondary effect of the missiles was a massive radiation poisoning of the Dregluk environment.  Scans by the scout that accompanied the fleet indicated that the population of Dregluk Prime was approximately 5.2 billion.  Very few died from direct effects of the bombardment, but the missiles threw enough dust up into the atmosphere to cause a three-degree temperature drop.  The real killer was the radiation, though.  The bombs released more radiation than all of the Dregluk bombardments of Earth combined.  Far more.  Admiral Wallace’s staff was working on an analysis, but preliminary calculations indicated that the radiation released by the missiles would cause at least a sixty percent drop in industrial efficiency, and a negative population growth rate in excess of fifteen percent. 

By then, the Admiral’s staff had an intelligence estimate of the second colony’s makeup ready.  Dregluk Prime was the innermost moon of the system’s innermost gas giant.  The fleet’s sensors had detected another Dregluk colony on the eleventh moon of the gas giant during the first incursion into the system, and now they were close enough to make a detailed study of the smaller population.  The report was clear, while there was a significant population on the planet, there were no industrial facilities at all.  This was good news to Admiral Wallace, as the Consul had ordered her to limit damage to industrial facilities that might be repurposed for the Republic’s use, but had given her a free hand to deal with populations where there were no such installations. 

With the defenses gone, Admiral Wallace ordered her capital ships to open fire on the second colony.  The three BB’s and four BC’s of Task Group 1.1 launched a total of one hundred and sixty-two Thunderbolt III ASM’s at the second colony, in two waves.   The bombardment was decisive, and the population in the smaller colony surrendered immediately after the second wave of missiles hit. 

Three hours later the two Task Groups were in orbit over the surrendered population, and six missile boats were launching from the Fleet Docks that had accompanied the groups, freshly rearmed.  Admiral Wallace gave the order, and the six boats launched on Dregluk Prime.  Thirty SM-1 planetary bombardment missiles raced away from the missile boats.  This comprised the last of the special munitions that had been shipped to the 1st Fleet.  The missiles slammed home across the surface of Dregluk Prime, destroying multiple ground units and poisoning the environment even further.  The analysists were sure that the radiation spewed across the planet by the two attacks would cripple the Dregluk economy and completely wipe out their ability to produce ships and missiles.  With that, the assault was over.  The 1st Fleet had complete control of space in the Austin system. 

Admiral Wallace began issuing orders, and her two Task Groups began splitting up.  A new task group was formed around the DD Nimitz, consisting of the Nimitz and two ASM Frigates, accompanied by three AMM Frigates, and sent after the group of Dregluk freighters or colony ships fleeing towards the outer system.  The Fleet Docks were busy rearming missile boats and frigates, while a group of ships, led by Task Group 1.1’s four assault cruisers, set out for the Maintenance Base in Houston to rearm. 

October 21, 2144, Austin
The Nimitz Task Group was in position, and began launching against the fleeing freighter/colony ship group.  The DD and two frigates launched five Thunderbolt ASM’s at each of the fleeing ships, for a total of fifty ASM’s. 

The Dregluk ships, whatever they are, prove to possess at least some defenses as point-blank fire kills some of the missiles before they reach their targets.  The first strike damages most of the ships, but kills only one of the Dregluk ships. 

The second strike killed five of the nine remaining ships, and the third strike, which was composed of all of the remaining Thunderbolt ASM’s in the Nimitz’ launchers, killed three more, leaving one crippled ship left.  Out of offensive missiles, but reluctant to leave even a single Dregluk ship alive, Captain Palmer orders her task group to close to Aegis AMM range.  The tiny missiles took just one minute and forty seconds to catch up to the fleeing ship, and with that the last known Dregluk ship blew up.  The task group turned towards the jump point to the Houston system and set out for the Maintenance Base. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: February 27, 2019, 07:45:23 AM »

July 13, 2144, Austin
A lone Dregluk Colossus class BB approaches the jump point to Houston and is destroyed by a wave of Bludgeon III ASM’s.   
   
August 26, 2144, El Paso
The Dregluk defenses on Dregluk #2 collapse, and marine and army units seize the mining facilities on the planet.  One hundred and thirty-three automated mines, a tracking station, and a mass driver are seized and repurposed to support the Republic.  In addition, over two thousand standard units of raw TN resources are seized.  The troops will be given time to reorganize and recover from the fighting, as the troop transports that brought them have been recalled for other duties or to be refitted.  As soon as a transport returns, the ground units will be shifted to Dregluk #1, the larger mining outpost. 

September 4, 2144, Houston
The last shipment of Fast Planetary Attack missiles arrives at the Maintenance Base in the Houston system.  The planned attack will have to wait for some time as a large percentage of the 1st Fleet is either being overhauled in the Houston system or refitted in the Solar System. 

September 6, 2144, Oklahoma system
Lt. Commander Parkes, senior officer commanding the 2nd Survey Group (Resource), declares the survey of the Oklahoma system complete.  The Oklahoma system is adjacent to the Baton Rouge system, which is the gateway to the Houston system.  While not all bodies within the Oklahoma system have been surveyed, the 2nd is low on fuel and its crews are exhausted after the long survey effort in the system.  The few system bodies that haven’t been surveyed are all remote, and Lt. Commander Parkes has decided that it would be counterproductive to return to the system after refueling just to survey those few bodies.  Instead, the group will set out for the Maintenance Base in the Houston system for refueling and R&R for the crews, before setting out to survey the Dallas system, which was recently discovered through the third jump point in the Houston system.  The Oklahoma system contains several very promising sites for mining TN resources, including Oklahoma-A V, a terrestrial planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere.  The planet has a BuReLoc colony cost of 2.85, which is relatively high, due to its average temperature of -86 degrees.  The atmosphere is too thin, as well, and has too little oxygen, but it has vast deposits of TN resources.  It is a mystery to the survey group why the Dregluk have not colonized this planet, given its proximity to their home world, but the Dregluk are very mysterious. 

October 5, 2144, El Paso
The resource survey of the El Paso system is complete.  There are numerous deposits of TN resources scattered throughout the system, with the two best for mining purposes being Dregluk #1 & #2.  The resource survey group sets out for the Maintenance Base in the Houston system to refuel and overhaul its ships. 

October 7, 2144, Miami system
The 3rd Survey Group (Gravitic), has completed its survey of the Miami system and discovered two additional jump points, both with Dregluk jump gates.  The Group’s survey scout probes one of the new jump points and finds a planet-less binary system.  The system primary is a small red dwarf orbited by an even dimmer T2-VII companion.  The survey scout jumps back out and sets out for the second unexplored jump point. 

Seven hours later the survey scout jumps into a known system, the Detroit system.  This explains why Dregluk ships had been known to jump into the Washington system from Detroit occasionally.   This is convenient, because the group’s next survey target was the Detroit system in any case. 

October 13, 2144, El Paso
An assault transport arrives in the El Paso system with a second Marine Brigade and several replacement battalions.  The replacements are delivered to Dregluk #2 to help replenish the battalions that took losses during the fighting, while the new Marine Raider Brigade is delivered to Dregluk #1 to form a beach-head on that planet.  Soon, the transport is ferrying troops from Dregluk #2 to Dregluk #1.  The offensive there won’t start until all forces are marshalled on that planet. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: February 24, 2019, 09:50:36 PM »

July 10, 2144, Mars
The first three Siege Breaker class Battleships are laid down in the orbital yards.  This class was developed in response to the defenses encountered over Dregluk Prime, but it also is a prime example of a paradigm shift at the Admiralty.  The two massive missile attacks on Dregluk Prime, launched in 2143 and early 2144 by Admiral Wallace’s 1st Fleet, have revealed a massive weakness in the Republic’s war effort.  The Republic’s fleet, since the founding of the Republic in the aftermath of the Dregluk Bombardment of Earth, has been almost completely missile based.  This was largely a result of the fact that first Admiral, then Consul Foster saw the quickest way to defeat the Dregluk attackers was by deploying long-range missiles capable of damaging or destroying Dregluk ships from beyond their own range.  This strategy worked brilliantly, and served to push the Dregluk back to their home system.  The failure of the two attacks by Admiral Wallace resulting in the Admiralty developing two alternatives to penetrate the Dregluk Home World’s defenses.  The first was a strategy based on a variation of the existing missiles, while the second was an assault by beam-equipped ships of several different classes.  The Admiralty opted for the missile-based attack option, as the easiest and quickest to implement. 

Even as that decision was made, however, several separate events made both the Senate and the Admiralty question the wisdom of their course of action.  First, the effectiveness of the Dregluk gauss-cannon defenses over their home world, and the demonstrated effectiveness of the Dregluk Incubus class gauss cannon cruisers, began causing several groups within the Admiralty to re-examine the fleet’s dependence on missiles as their primary, and really only, offensive weaponry.  The second, and most telling blow to the dominance of the missile ships in the fleet was the fact that missiles are expensive, and take time to construct.  The Republic’s primary missile production factories are on Earth, which, as of this writing, is suffering from a massive worker shortage that has reduced the efficiency of the Earth’s industries by a whopping 38.76%.  As a result, industries on the Earth have been struggling to produce enough missiles to equip newly built missile-equipped units, much less replace the missiles expended against the Dregluk home planet.  This situation was exacerbated by the Admiralty’s decision to focus construction on the new Fast Planetary Assault missiles requested by Admiral Wallace for her third attack on Dregluk Prime, as production of these new missiles supplanted production of the standard missiles completely, and made it totally impossible for the munitions industry to both replace expended missiles and supply newly built ships.  This situation rapidly escalated to a major emergency as the 1st Fleet found itself unable to supply all of its units with missiles of any type, and the Home Fleet found its magazines being stripped to provide missiles for the ships on the front line.  Had the Dregluk been able to launch a major push any time in the four months after the second attack on Dregluk Prime, it might had resulted in disaster for the 1st Fleet, which was in a precarious position.  While the situation would be somewhat ameliorated when production was shifted back to standard missiles once the special production run was completed, the shortages had revealed the underlying issues to both the Admiralty and the Senate, and it was clear that the situation was dire. 

Fortunately, a solution was at hand.  There had long been a faction within the Admiralty that pushed for a greater deployment of beam-equipped ships, and while this faction was small, they were quite influential.  Their position was assisted greatly by the exploits of the three Hunter-Killer ships Endeavor, Assistance, and Intrepid, which had caught the attention of the public in ways that the massive missile ships had not.  The destruction of the Intrepid in battle with the Dregluk cruisers in the Houston system caused a public outcry and mourning, and a call for replacement ships to be built.  R&D resources had long been focused on improving beam weaponry and targeting systems, but for years these improvements had not been implemented within the fleet as beam weapons were considered old-fashioned.  As a result of this, when the Admiralty began casting about for an alternative to missile-based combatants, the beam faction had an answer at hand.  The R&D work was largely completed, and in addition, advances had been made in other systems, such as improved shields, which would greatly benefit any new beam combatants.  The beam faction seized the moment and pushed for not only an upgrade for the Hunter-Killers, but a massive new construction program that would replace all construction of missile-based units with beam-based units.  With the missile situation becoming dire, the Admiralty agreed to this plan, and shipyard conversions began, led by the Siege Breaker class BB’s, the biggest warships built by the Republic.  In addition to the BB’s there were to be the improved Hunter-Killers, and a new frigate-sized Attack Craft.  Production of new missile-based units was stopped across the board, with only refits being authorized for several classes to deal with problems identified in action.  For example, the venerable Long-Range Missile Boat was the answer to nearly all of the Republic’s issues when it was launched, as it had the endurance to remain on station for months, and the range to strike at targets several systems away from its base without refueling.  However, ongoing operations by the 1st Fleet have revealed a flaw in the original design.  The standard LR missile boat does not have enough maintenance supplies on board to service its massive capital ship fire control system, therefore, if the fire control system suffers a maintenance failure, the ship is forced to return to the shipyards for repair, putting it out of service for several months.  The Senate authorized a refit for the missile boat squadrons to alleviate this problem.  In addition, a refit was authorized for the Fast AMM Frigate class, which was discovered to have a mere five months endurance for its crew.  This level of endurance was standard for the older frigate classes, but had been discovered to be a big problem during fleet deployments away from the Solar System, and so later refits for the frigates had extended their endurance greatly.  Somehow, this flaw was carried forward into the Fast Frigate class, and the new refit is intended to eliminate it. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: February 23, 2019, 11:44:34 AM »

April 13, 2144, Austin
For hours a Dregluk Colossus class BB has been hovering at the extreme range limit of the Republic’s fleet on the jump point to Houston, but now it has finally ventured too close and Admiral Wallace orders her missile boats to open fire.  The missile strike was composed of older Bludgeon III’s, but Colossus class ships had proved to be susceptible to shock damage in the past, and Admiral Wallace had very few modern missiles to spare.  Indeed, the entire Republic was running short of modern missiles, as the 1st Fleet had expended hundreds in the two attacks on Dregluk Prime, and because all production on Earth had been shifted to building the new fast planetary attack missiles for the next attack. 

Three hours later the missiles closed on the big Dregluk ship.  Close-in defense fire killed three, and the other twenty-seven slammed home.  The Dregluk BB sailed out of the fireballs, battered and slowed but still closing on the jump point.  A few seconds later twelve more Bludgeon III’s raced away from the missile boats on the jump point.  This sufficed to finish off the crippled BB. 

April 21, 2144
Exploring a newly discovered jump point in the Oklahoma system, the 3rd Survey Group discovers a trinary system composed of two F5-V stars and a G4-V star.  The secondary and tertiary stars are very distant, and effectively out of reach.  The system contains the usual assortment of planets, moons, and asteroids, with none being particularly interesting at first look.  The 3rd will retire to Houston for refueling and overhauls. 

May 1, 2144, Austin
Two Dregluk Colossus class BB’s have been observed approaching the jump point for the last two and a half days.  Admiral Wallace had wanted to wait for the BB’s to get within Thunderbolt range before engaging, as she had more Thunderbolt ASM’s in reserve than the bigger Bludgeon ASM’s, but for the last four hours the Dregluk BB’s have been running about, just within range of the human ship’s Bludgeon ASM’s, but far out of range of the smaller Thunderbolts, and they were declining to get any closer.  Finally, Admiral Wallace tired of the game and ordered a strike with her remaining Bludgeon ASM’s. 

The attack was composed of thirty-six Bludgeon IV ASM’s targeted on each of the Colossus class BB’s, and, three hours later, the missiles wiped out the Dregluk ships.  The threat was gone, but a little bit more of Admiral Wallace’s long-range offensive strength had been expended. 

May 21, 2144, El Paso
Two additional infantry brigades arrive to bolster the forces fighting on the second, smaller, Dregluk outpost in the system.  The fighting is still heavy, and the Dregluk defenders are entrenched and stubborn. 

May 26, 2144, El Paso
Fighting continues to be heavy on Dregluk #2, the smaller of the two Dregluk mining outposts in the system, but Republican forces are beginning to wear away the defenders.  The addition of the two infantry brigades allows the Republican Army command to isolate one of the stubborn defense battalions, completely destroying it.  Finally, significant advances are being made on the ground. 

June 16, 2144, Detroit
The monitor Stalingrad detected a Dregluk survey ship approaching the jump point to the Washington system late in the day.  At 2255 hours the monitor launched four Bludgeon III ASM’s at the small ship, completely destroying it.