[center:w8042zn9]Return to Gliese 832[/center:w8042zn9]
3rd October 2093. Guardian, Defender and Cerberus (Pathfinder Mk I class) built on Earth. The first three Fleet Scouts came off the ways; the FAC squadrons now had eyes to direct them onto their targets! Guardian was immediately assigned to the Second FAC Squadron, which in company with Fort Worth departed for Gliese 832.
2nd November. A team on Earth led by Liu Feng Hui has completed research into Quad 12cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser Turret, completing the new family of lasers.
3rd November. The Second FAC Squadron returns to Gliese 832. This time the Fort Worth transits with the Squadron before detaching with the FSC Guardian. The new sensor was activated and lit up the whole of the inner system while still at the jump point! Wreck contacts were immediately detected, four marking the graves of Ajax, Achilles, Dido and Theseus as well as that of Demolisher 002. There was also evidence that the system was no stranger to conflict as at least one other alien wreck was detected. The Second FAC Squadron proceeded to the vicinity of the wrecks of Ajax, Achilles, Dido and Theseus cruising at its maximum velocity of 8000 k/s.
On 4th November the Squadron was now past the wrecks and heading for Gliese 832 AVI, when the Guardian picked up a new contact. The ID was rapidly established, it was Demolisher 001! The vessel they had failed to locate on their first visit. The Second FAC Squadron was vectored onto its target. By 07:53:09 on 5th November, the Second Squadron had closed Demolisher 001 to within its engagement envelope of 16.8 million kilometres. Grey Shark, Grey Shrike and Grey Whale, prepared to fire, however Demolisher 001 was not without its defences, as due to enemy ECM, as the FAC found their engagement range decreased to10.08 million kilometres. Then at 08:26:32 Grey Shark, Grey Shrike and Grey Whale each launched 18 AST3-1 Asp missiles. It was only a short wait until 08:34:02 when the Asps intercepted their target. Only two salvos were required as Demolisher 001 was riven by thirty 5 kiloton incandescent fireballs followed by secondary explosions as power systems and magazines detonated. The victor was vanquished, the Solar Union prevailed. The Squadron continued on into the system, checking out first Gliese 832 AVII to which Pioneer 003 was enroute to when it was destroyed. Then it was onto Gliese AVIII. There on one of its moons on 12th November at 04:34:02, a new strength 5 thermal contact was found, an enemy colony or listening post!
The news was relayed to the jump Gate network and thence to the Admiralty. Ground troops were now required. Fortunately on 7th November the carriers Furious, Victorious and Illustrious had just completed and they could carry five Grey class FAC or five LCA dropships, enough to deploy the troop complement carried by an Invader class troop transport. The Victorious and Illustrious were immediately despatched to join the Second FAC Squadron as a mobile base for the Second FAC Squadron.
Furious Class Carrier 12500 tons 804 Crew 1928 BP TCS 250 TH 960 EM 0
5120 km/s Armour 1-47 Shields 0-0 Sensors 11/1/0/0 Damage Control 12 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 39% IFR: 0.5% Maintenance Capacity 2215 MSP
Parasite Capacity 5000 tons Magazine 272
Magneto-plasma Drive E7 Mil (16) Power 80 Fuel Use 70% Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 660,000 Litres Range 135.8 billion km (306 days at full power)
AST3-1 Asp (91) Speed: 17,600 km/s End: 16.2m Range: 17.1m km WH: 5 Size: 3 TH: 117 / 70 / 35
Thermal Sensor TH1-11 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Signature 1000: 11m km
Active Search Sensor S140-R100 (1) GPS 14000 Range 140m km Resolution 100
ECM 10Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposesShip in Class to date: Furious, Victorious, Illustrious, Formidable, Indomitable and Glorious.
LCA Mk I class Dropship 1000 tons 41 Crew 164 BP TCS 20 TH 120 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 2-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control 1 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 0% IFR: 0% Maintenance Capacity 51 MSP
Drop Capacity: 1 Battalion
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E70 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 700% Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 120,000 Litres Range 30.9 billion km (44 days at full power)
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposesTwenty of this class are in service.
Thus it was that Task Group Narvik consisting of the Troop Transport Narvik with the 26th Brigade HQ Unit, 16th and 17th Assault Infantry and 10th and 11th Mobile Infantry battalions embarked, in company with the CV Furious with five LCAs embarked left Earth on exercises to prepare for their task. Christmas Day 2093 found the Task Group Transiting the Sirius Gate on its way to Gliese 832. It was a calculated risk, as while the Furious could pass into Gliese 832, until a gate had been built on the opposite side of the jump point it had no way out. The Stellar Conveyor construction ship had been instructed to proceed to Gliese 832 with all possible speed, but that only amounted to 1341 k/s, and then it would take 6 months to build the Gate after it arrived.
29th November, 500 tons of capacity added to Lockheed Shipbuilding & Construction Co. on Earth. The ‘Yard was now ready to be retooled to build the first of the new Moon class Jump Cruisers massing 12,500 tonnes.
14th December, Alpha Centauri. Construction of Commercial Spaceport completed on Alpha Centauri-A II, the first off Earth.
4th January 2094, Kapteyns Star, Addition of Oxygen to the atmosphere of Kapteyns Star-A I was halted as the specified atmospheric concentration had been reached and the atmosphere was now breathable by humans. The atmosphere will be thickened to approximately one third of standard before the terraformers finish.
28th January 2094 A team on Earth led by Eleanor Freeman has completed research into Laminate Composite Armour.
4th February 2094 Gliese 832, Jump Gate Construction underway at the Kapteyns Star Jump Point
28th February 2094. Task Group Narvik arrived off Gliese 832 AVII moon 2, the 10th and 11th MI battalions carried out a combat drop on the moon, preparatory for capturing the alien outpost.
3rd March 2094 07:39:02, General ground attack on Gliese 832-A VIII - Moon 2. No defending units were present and no garrisoned enemy PDCs remained in operation. There was no population present.
The invading troops found the Alien outpost to consist of an automated Deep Space Tracking Station, beaming its data into space using entangled quantum pair resonators to communicate with other ships, outposts or colonies. Unlike a com laser which could be inadvertently intercepted by a ship this unit effectively teleports the information into the receiver, and the receiving unit need not even be in the same star system or even galaxy. It was a functioning Ansible! This was technology far above that possessed by the Solar Union and only barely understood! It was only because of the waste heat emissions from the Stations power plant that the outpost was detected at all.
5th March 2094. Gliese 832. Geo-Survey Group 2 arrived in system to complete the survey started by the ill-fated original Geo-Survey group 1 all those years ago.
19th March 2094, Gliese 832 Salvager 001 completed salvage of a Demolisher class ship, 1 x Thermal Sensor TH2-28, 5 x Size 4 Missile Launcher, 1 x Active Search Sensor S84-R65, 2 x Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E6, and 1 x ECCM-4 were salvaged from wreck of the Demolisher in a repairable or intact state and loaded into cargo holds of Salvager 001. Evidence of Active Grav Sensor Strength 28 was also found within the wreck of the Demolisher. Salvager 001 was another of those vessels which would have to wait the completion of a jump gate before it could escape Gliese 832.
10th April 2094 11:39:02, While the GEV Marco Polo was surveying the moons of Gliese 832 AVII it detected a faint new thermal contact! Strength 5, the signature of another alien outpost. The Marco Polo’s captain, Lieutenant Commander Liao Guo Bo immediately signalled Rear Admiral Imogen Bolton in the Fort Worth, the ranking naval officer in system. Orders were given to Task Group Narvik which began recovering its MI battalions.
16th April. Task Group Narvik arrived off to Gliese 832 AVIII moon 10 where the second outpost had been discovered. This time only the 10th MI battalion made a combat drop prior to securing the Station.
22nd April 2094 13:39:02, General ground attack on Gliese 832-A VII - Moon 10. No defending units were present and no garrisoned enemy PDCs remained in operation. There was no population present.
Once again it was a single DSTS, though this time there was a bonus, it also proved to be an ammunition dump and 119 Berserker ASMs where found stored in the outpost, the same missiles which had destroyed the core of the Battle Group. With the completion of the geo-survey Gliese 832 appeared to be finally sanitised and safe for Solar Union shipping. However the process had now to be repeated for Ross 154.
Below is illustrated the sensor envelope of the SUS Guardian, Fleet Scout in Gliese 832. at the termination of hostilites in the system.
