July 14, 2356
A Zog gravitic survey ship in the Herschel 5173 system picks up a strength 75 thermal contact 2.2 mkm’s out. The ship’s commander immediately orders the shields raised and for all sensors to be activated. The ship’s active sensors identify the contact as a 2,600 ton ship that doesn’t match any known profile. The unknown ship is heading towards the survey ship at 1,442 kps, much slower than the Zog ship’s maximum speed, therefore the commander orders his science team to initiate communications and, once that is done, orders his ship to retreat to the warp point. It will take the survey ship just over 29 days to return to the home system with the news.
While the survey ship is retreating, the scientists and communications staff finally makes contact with the aliens, at least to the point where they can receive a video and audio broadcast from the alien ship, even if they cannot understand the message. What they see shocks them. The aliens are humanoid in appearance. While the details are not all the same, the appearance is enough for the survey commander. Humans are the old enemy of the Zog race.
August 15, 2356
The Zog survey ship involved in the contact in the Herschel 5173 system arrives in the home system and immediately transmits its contact report. The report sends the Zog high command and government into a tail spin as they try to decide what to do. The problem is that while the Zogs hate the Terrans, even after all of this time, they fear them more. The Terrans were the masters of a vast interstellar empire, and were very dangerous. The Collapse may have changed that, or not.
To buy time, while the government debates, the survey ship is sent back to the Herschel 5173 system to continue contact efforts.
August 2356
The contact report causes the fall of the last of the interim governments. The military steps in and forms a new government to deal with the humans, who everyone agrees are a threat.
October 20, 2356
The military government has decided that the fleet will be dispatched to deal with the humans in the Herschel 5173 system. If they represent the Empire, and are still a part of a larger interstellar nation, then the contact will be limited and peaceful. If the humans are alone, though, then they will be dealt with as all threats are.
November 1, 2356
The Zog Grand Fleet leaves orbit for Herschel 5173. The fleet is composed of two jump cruisers, six area defense cruisers, seven strike cruisers, and ten missile destroyers. Five troop transports carrying no less than fifty battalions, brigade HQ’s, and replacement units depart under the protection of the fleet as well.
November 26, 2356
The Grand Fleet arrives in the Herschel 5173 system and immediately sets out for the third planet from the sun. That planet, along with the fourth planet, are the primary suspects for the human home world.
Eighty three hours later the Grand Fleet arrives at Herschel III and finds an uninhabited world. In addition, the fleet’s sensors haven’t detected a population on IV either. The fleet sets out for IV to confirm its status. Less than a day later IV is confirmed as uninhabited. That leaves only one possibility in this system, Herschel B-II. The fleet sets out for this last target immediately. It would take the Zog ships just under a month to reach the B component of the binary system if they traveled through normal space, but as both components of the binary system possess super-jovian planets the Zog ships will be able to use the in-system jump points located at the LaGrange points of these stupendous planets. That will reduce the travel time to just over two days.
Eleven hours out from IV the Zog ships detect two human ships 112 mkm’s out-system from their location. The two ships mass 13,200 tons and 6,600 tons. The Zog commander orders the fleet to close. The alien ships are moving at a mere 1324 kps, so the Zog fleet, which is speeding along at 3,125 kps, will close fairly quickly.
Six hours and thirty minutes later the two groups of ships have closed to a distance of 14 mkm’s. At first the alien ships were heading towards the oncoming Zog ships, but then, when the range closed to 15 mkm’s they turned away. It wouldn’t do them any good.
The Zog commander had strict orders concerning his contact with these humans. He was to establish peaceful contact first, to determine if this was the colony of a larger power. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche, CO of the Grand Fleet, disagreed strongly with those orders. He fervently believed that the humans were a threat, and had decided to provoke them into firing first. Therefore, as his entire fleet closed on the human ships, he deliberately failed to make any attempts to contact the humans, publicly stating that he wanted to wait until they were closer, so that the humans could not possibly misunderstand what was being communicated to them.
During this entire period the humans made multiple attempts to contact the Zog ships, all of which were ignored by the Zog communications teams, at Warrior Briadrnchitlasche’s orders.
Eighteen minutes later the first missiles appeared from the alien ships. The two salvoes were composed of a total of twelve size six missiles. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche decided to conserve his missiles for now, and declined to launch, instead settling for closing on the alien force. With the confirmation that they were hostile, the two contacts were re-designated as an Alpha class cruiser and a Beta class destroyer. Anti-missile missiles flashed away from the Zog fleet, racing towards the incoming threats. Seconds later nuclear explosions blossomed in front of the fleet and the first wave of missiles was destroyed.
A second missile salvo appeared on the Zog screens and still Warrior Briadrnchitlasche refused to launch a counter-attack. The Zog anti-missile missiles were achieving a one-to-one hit ratio on the lumbering enemy missiles, and because the Zog ships had a significant speed advantage, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche was determined to use to chase down the enemy.
Finally, many minutes later, the enemy was within torpedo range and Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered his Glamatus class strike cruisers to open fire. Twenty seconds later a ragged salvo of torpedoes was launched at 84,000 kilometers against the Beta class destroyer. Twelve out of fifteen torpedoes hit the alien ship, causing it to trail copious amounts of atmosphere behind it. Seconds later ten more torpedoes were launched, scoring eight hits. The smaller enemy ship was rocked by the explosions, and two small internal explosions were detected. When the explosions cleared the enemy ship was dead in space, little more than a wreck. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche then ordered the strike cruisers to shift their fire to the Alpha class cruiser.
Seconds after the destruction of the smaller ship the larger enemy ship launched another salvo of missiles at point blank range. Anti-missile missiles flashed away from the Zog fleet, interposing themselves between the incoming missiles and the fleet at the last second. Once again the lumbering enemy missiles were destroyed before they could reach their targets. Their launchers recharged, the strike cruisers launched thirty five torpedoes at the large enemy ship, most of which hit. The alien ship was rocked by massive explosions, both from without and from within, and in seconds the big ship was reduced to scattered wreckage.
Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered the fleet’s attached troop transports to pick up the scattered life pods, and then to continue on to the suspected location of the enemy homeworld. Forty minutes later, while still fifty eight mkm’s from the in-system jump point, the Zog fleet picked up four alien ships on their sensors. The alien ships, a mix of Alpha class cruisers and Beta class destroyers, were sitting right on top of the jump point. Once again Warrior Briadrnchitlasche gave the order to close on the enemy. After a few minutes the four enemy ships left the jump point, headed towards the Zog fleet at 1325 kps.
While the Zog warships were closing on their enemies, the troop transports ‘rescued’ four hundred and eighty two alien survivors from their life pods. The survivors were immediately turned over to the Mental Hygiene Enforcement Police embarked on the transports.
As the chase went on, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche began receiving strange reports from the Mental Hygiene Police interrogation teams on the troop transports. The prisoners were claiming that they weren’t human, and that they didn’t know what a “human” was. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche dismissed this as misinformation and focused on the coming fight.
Eighty one minutes later the alien ships were within range of Zog anti-ship missiles, however, once again Warrior Briadrnchitlasche declined to launch against the enemy, instead, he ordered the fleet to close to point blank range.
The approach to weapons range was grueling as the Zog crews waited for the enemy to open fire. One hundred and forty seven minutes later, when the two groups of ships were just four hundred and sixty eight thousand kilometers from each other, the alien ships finally opened fire. However, although their anticipation was now relieved, the Zog commanders were confused. The alien ships appeared to be launching anti-missile missiles at the Zog ships. Zog AMM’s raced away from the Area Defense Cruisers, running more than seven times as fast as the enemy missiles.
The alien ships launched two more times before the Zog ships reached torpedo range. In both cases the enemy missiles were intercepted by Zog AMM’s shortly after they were launched. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered his strike cruisers to split their fire between two of the Beta class destroyers. Once again the salvoes from the strike cruisers are ragged, but the results are gratifying. One of the destroyers was hit by four torpedoes, the other by ten. Neither appears to have any passive defenses whatsoever, as both begin losing atmosphere with the first hit. The second ship, rocked by explosions, tears itself apart in a brilliant flash of light, while the first continues to limp on.
Seeing the results of the torpedo attack, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered his cruisers to shift their fire to the other two ships. Seconds later the first ship was hit by three more torpedoes, while a third enemy ship was hit by five more.
The alien ships managed to get off one more salvo of small missiles, but then the two remaining smaller ships were hit by a total of five more torpedoes, which was enough to destroy both. The Zog strike cruisers then turned their fire on the last remaining alien ship, the sole Alpha class cruiser. Seconds later nine torpedoes slammed into the big ship, staggering it. Ten seconds later the big ship was hit by four more torpedoes, utterly destroying it. Once again the troop transports were detailed off to pickup and interrogate any survivors, while the fleet approached the in-system jump point.
One hundred minutes later the Zog fleet had reached the jump point without encountering any further opposition. Not knowing what opposition awaited on the far side of the jump point, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered a combat assault. A few second alter a jump cruiser, escorted by two strike cruisers, jumped out. Thirty seconds later the three ships returned to report the far side clear. With the route forward open, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered the fleet to transit to the B component of the system, and to proceed to B-II at flank speed. In the meantime, 1,111 survivors were rescued by the troop transports.
During the next several hours, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche pondered the information coming in from the rescued humans. One and all they continued to claim that they were not human, but rather part of something called the “Madras Alliance”. After perusing the interrogation reports, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche called up an image of on of the rescued alien spacers and displayed it over his desk, next to an archive image of a Terran. For several minutes he compared the two, and in the end decided that all bipedal humanoids looked alike. True, the “Madras” was bright blue, and the Terran was a dull brown, but surely, he thought, the skin color difference was minor compared to the larger issue of body type. The two were virtually identical. Eventually he gave up and focused on the coming conflict.
Eleven and a half hours later, while still 220 mkm’s from B-II, the fleet’s sensors finally detected a population on the planet. The population had an EM signature of 13,741, just two percent that of the Zog home world. Relieved, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered the fleet to continue forward at flank speed.
When the Zog fleet reached 114 mkm’s their sensors picked up a shipyard in orbit over the enemy world. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche was encouraged, as the obvious small size of the enemy population had brought the profitability of the entire endeavor into doubt. A captured shipyard would go a long ways towards convincing the naval high command that the venture was worthwhile.
At the point at which the Zog fleet had closed to within 64 mkm’s of the planet, a group of six new, very large contacts, appeared 50 mkm’s beyond the planet. Each of the six ships was almost 34,000 tons, and would be daunting if they were warships. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche was fairly sure that they were civilian ships of some sort, and so the fleet maintained its course for the planet. Indeed, shortly thereafter it became clear that the alien ships were moving away from the oncoming Zog fleet at 547 kps, a speed so low that they could not possibly escape if the Zog ships gave chase, so Warrior Briadrnchitlasche felt justified in continuing to ignore them in favor of their true objective, the planet.
By the time the Zog fleet was 22 mkm’s from the planet the number of contacts had grown to nine, with the three new ships weighing in at 21,200 tons each. The new contacts were also headed away from the Zog Fleet, and so were ignored. Two hours later the Zog fleet entered orbit unopposed. The troop transports were several hours behind them and rapidly approaching. Once the transports made orbit they immediately began unloading their troops. Ground combat began shortly thereafter.
By the end of the day, a heavy assault brigade, three assault brigades, and a marine brigade were on the ground and in contact with the enemy. In addition, two heavy assault battalions, five assault infantry battalions, thirteen infantry battalions, and six replacement battalions would be landed by the next day.
Even as the troops were landing, two new contacts appeared just 16.4 mkm’s from the fleet. Each contact was just 950 tons, which explained how they got so close. Mindful of the troops being unloaded from the vulnerable transports, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered an immediate missile strike launched against the two contacts, which were closing at 2630 kps. Twenty-five seconds later twelve anti-ship missiles were launched against each target. The missiles raced to their targets unopposed, and both small ships disappeared in blinding flashes as the missiles reached their targets. After action analysis indicated that only five missiles were required to destroy each small ship. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche declined to pick up the life pods, as they had enough prisoners and the survivors were doubly damned, disgraced for having failed and heretics for carrying arms against the True Race.
December 9, 2356
Warrior Briadrnchitlasche, growing tired of the slow pace of ground operations, orders an orbital strike against the troops opposing his ground forces. Three DDG’s unleash a full salvo of anti-ship missiles against the opposing ground forces. The missiles ravage several ground units, however, before a second salvo can be launched, the Viceroy, the representative of the central government on board the flagship, intervenes. He is alarmed at the rise of dust and radiation in the atmosphere, and has no wish kill all of the aliens, who the government wishes to employ in useful tasks. The bombardment is stopped and the ground war drags on.
January 2, 2357
Enemy resistance on the ground is collapsing.
January 24, 2357
The aliens surrender after the last of their ground units is destroyed. The aliens, who continue to claim that they are not humans, call themselves the Madras Alliance, agree to submit to the will of the Zog.
The population is small compared to Zog Prime, with a population of only 182 million. Their industrial capacity is equally low. The aliens possess two shipyards with a total of four slipways, a total of 212 automated and crewed mines, a grand total of one research lab, and 182 industrial centers.
In addition, six medium sized freighters and three colony ships surrendered, along with a geo survey ship. All of the ships are very old and outdated compared to current Zog technology.
In the aftermath of the alien surrender, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche orders the embarkation of the bulk of the ground units for return to the home world. He decides to stay behind to oversee the integration of the aliens into the Zog Federation. Several days later the bulk of the fleet departs, leaving a small group of ships to watch over the Prophet’s new possession.
Before the fleet departs Warrior Briadrnchitlasche finally makes the determination that in spite of all appearances, this is not a human civilization. While there are remarkable similarities between humans and the Madras, there are significant deviations between environmental norms for the Madras and those recorded for the humans. While he is disappointed in finding that he did not actually conquer a human population, he is relieved that the central government will not be reviewing his actions in light of possibly provoking the feared Terran Empire.
As the battle group departs, it detects several sensors activating about a third of the way to the A component of the system. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche had ordered the departing force to use an in-system jump to avoid the tedium of traveling through normal space to the warp point, however, with two unknown sensors on his plot there was no way he could allow them to remain uninvestigated. He orders the battle group to intercept the sensors, which are just over 2.5 billion kilometers away.
Thirty minutes after they first appeared the sensor contacts disappeared again. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered the group to close on their last known location.
February 10, 2357
The Zog fleet was three quarters of the way through normal space to the Herschel 5173 system’s A component when an active sensor contact appeared on the stay-behind force’s screens just over 800 mkm’s out. The departing ships had missed the alien ships in the immensity of space, and were now completely out of position. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche’s stay-behind force, composed of a jump cruiser, an area defense cruiser, and three missile destroyers, now moves out to intercept the unknown contact.
Shortly after Warrior Briadrnchitlasche’s force departs the active sensors disappear yet again, leaving them with nothing on their screens. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche orders his group to move out to a blocking position in between the last contact location and the planetary population.
Thirteen and a half hours later the Zog force arrives at its waypoint without incident. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche is sorely tempted to continue on towards the last location of the contact, but he doesn’t want to let the alien force slip around behind him and so he decides to remain in a blocking position.
Three days pass without incident, causing Warrior Briadrnchitlasche to grow increasingly uncomfortable. Fearing that the unknown ships may be trying to slip behind his force and attack the now-valuable Zog industrial and shipyard complexes on Madras, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche orders his force to return to orbit.
February 15, 2357
Just one hour after returning to orbit the Zog thermal sensors pick up three in-bound contacts 370 mkm’s out and approaching at 1325 kps. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche orders his force to intercept yet again. Shortly after leaving orbit a new thermal contact appears in close proximity to the original three; bringing the total number of contacts to four.
Sixteen hours later Warrior Briadrnchitlasche’s force had closed to 115 mkm’s, just within their active sensor range. The contacts were revealed to be previously unknown ship types. All four were Alpha class cruisers and had similar signatures. While Warrior Briadrnchitlasche’s force had the aliens out-numbered, the alien group significantly out-massed the Zog fleet before them. While the Zog ships could easily avoid contact with the aliens because of their superior speed, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche didn’t want the aliens coming anywhere near the planet. He ordered his force to close to missile range.
Four and a half hours later the alien ships were within extreme range of the Zog anti-ship missiles. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered a single salvo from each of the DDG’s to be launched, all targeted on a single alien ship. Twenty seconds later twelve anti-ship missiles sped away from the three Zog DDG’s.
Fifteen minutes later the missiles hit their target. The alien cruiser managed to destroy just one of the incoming missiles, leaving the other eleven free to make the final attack runs. All eleven hit the slow-moving target, which sailed through the explosions without apparent damage. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered a second salvo launched against the lead ship, this time including his flagship, bringing the total number of missiles to fifteen.
Thirteen minutes and twenty seconds later the larger salvo closed on its target. This time two missiles were shot down short of the target, but once again the rest homed in unerringly on the hapless alien ship. The remaining thirteen missiles slammed into the ship, causing no less than seven hull breaches.
With the lead ship obviously damaged, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered two more salvoes to be launched against the damaged lead ship and the second ship in the group. The first salvo ravaged the damaged ship and caused two hull breaches in the second ship. The second salvo failed to finish off the first ship, but caused two more hull breaches in the second.
With the first ship heavily damaged, and the second damaged, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche turned his attention to the third, launching two full salvoes against it. The thirty missiles of the two salvoes take just over twelve and a half minutes to close on the third ship, and twenty-nine of the thirty hit, causing twelve hull breaches.
Warrior Briadrnchitlasche now turns his attention on the fourth ship, ordering two salvoes launched against it. Nine minutes later the lead salvo arrives on target. Two missiles are shot down, leaving the remaining thirteen to slam into the alien ship, causing four hull breaches. None of the second salvo’s fifteen missiles were intercepted, and all hit, causing nine hull breaches.
All four enemy ships were now heavily damaged. Some had managed to maintain their speed, while others had been drastically slowed. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche now ordered his ships to target individual ships with single salvoes. The Zog ship’s magazines were running low, and he had no wish to run them dry while over-killing their targets.
The Zog ships launched three salvoes against the alien ships before they ran their magazines dry. The alien ships absorbed the Zog missiles, staggering, leaking atmosphere, with their speed falling off, but still they came on. Seeing no alternative, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche ordered his group to close to within range of their anti-missile missiles, which were the only weapons left in the ship’s magazines.
Forty five minutes later the lead alien ship was just 1.5 mkm’s away, within range of the fleet’s AMM’s. The Zog ships launched thirty three of the small missiles shortly thereafter. All thirty three hit, causing thirteen hull breaches. Still the alien ship came on. In all it took five salvoes of AMM’s to destroy the leading (and least damaged) ship.
Five minutes later the Zog ships began launching on the second alien ship. This target was more heavily wounded, and took only two salvoes to destroy. The Zog ships immediately launched on the third, which was in close proximity to the second. This ship was barely limping along at 237 kps, and one salvo did it in.
The Zog fleet changed course for the fourth and last alien ship, which was vainly trying to close at 473 kps. Twenty nine minutes later the Zog ships were in range and the alien ship’s speed had increased to 661 kps. The final alien ship was stubborn, but finally, after the third salvo of AMM’s flashed away from the Zog ships, life pods began spilling from the doomed ship, which disappeared in an actinic flash of light when the missiles arrived.
Warrior Briadrnchitlasche, shaken by the fact that he had been forced to expend all of his offensive missiles and deplete his supply of defensive missiles to finish of the alien ships, orders his ships back to Madras. He then orders the main fleet to return to Madras via an in-system jump so that his group’s magazines can be replenished. Angered by what he sees as a betrayal by the Madras, he issues orders for the life pods to be left drifting in space, and for reprisals to be taken against former naval personnel on Madras.
February 19, 2357
With his fuel topped off, magazines replenished, and two strike cruisers transferred to his force, Warrior Briadrnchitlasche feels secure enough to allow the rest of the fleet to return home. They depart immediately, heading for the La Grange point to jump to the A component.
March 3, 2357
Academician Klazhnjaflashav, a specialist in defensive technologies, is arrested by the Mental Hygiene Police and summarily executed for his blatant lack of public piety. The Prophet is still supported by some, including many within the MHP, and they have decided to make their displeasure known. It was just Klazhnjaflashav’s bad luck to end up as an object lesson. There are some rumblings of discontent in the universities and research centers, but when the Mental Hygiene Police begin making widespread arrests of students and their families the nascent protest died before it could begin.
March 17, 2357
The Zog fleet returns to the Zog homeworld and reports success in the Herschel system. The government appoints a young administrator from a favored family Viceroy of the new territory. The religious orders, newly resurgent now that the threat has been dealt with, charges him to deal with heresy harshly.
April, 2357
Zog Prime
General Vriaprinzhtlas clicked his battle claw as he read the report on the conquest of the Madras. It was clear to him that Warrior Briadrnchitlasche exceeded his authority, but at the same time, the young scamp had merely done what he himself would have done had he been in-system. Aliens were all a threat to the Zog race, and must be controlled. Everyone knew it.
After a few seconds he made his decision, and one of his manipulating tentacles whipped out and activated his personal communicator. A few seconds later Major Prebrbipllieatl, senior officer of the Zog Ground Military Force, appeared before him. “You have the reports?”
Major Prebrbipllieatl waived his battle claw in affirmation. “The threat has been neutralized.”
“And wasn’t as much of a threat as we feared.”
Major Prebrbipllieatl, who along with General Vriaprinzhtlas, comprised the most important faction of the ruling military council, studied his fellow councilor carefully. Finally he spoke. “The wheel is turning, is it not? Control is leaking through our claws.” He raised his claws and clacked them together loudly, emphasizing his point.
General Vriaprinzhtlas shook his claws and crouched lower. “It has happened before, and will again. We must be prepared to protect the military when it does. Part of that is making the population aware of the heroism of their defenders. It will not save the council, but will cement the military’s position in Zog society.”
Major Prebrbipllieatl paused in thought for a second. They could fight their coming loss of control. The military would follow them, particularly after the conquest of the Madras, but like the General, he had studied the history of their race. The wheel turned, and trying to stop it merely meant that it crushed you when it turned. If instead you turned with it you would eventually be on top again. “Agreed.”
The announcements went out shortly after that. Warrior Briadrnchitlasche of the space fleet and Sergeant Obriaiashav of the ground force are awarded the newly created “Planetary Conquest” medal, and promoted two steps to Captain and Major, respectively.
May, 2357
With the immediate threat resolved, the government’s support begins withering. A new religious council takes over in the name of the Prophet. The new council takes power with the promise to convert the newly conquered people to the true belief, and to focus on concerns closer to home, such as the perennial threat of resource shortages.
