January 2027The first Japanese survey group transits through the solar system’s innermost warp point to discover an uninteresting binary system, and then sets out for the solar system’s #3 warp point. After transiting into the system the Japanese ships encounter a Reich Hamburg class jump ship escorted by the latest Blucher Mk 3 cruiser at the warp point. The Reich commanders are clearly unhappy with the Japanese presence in what they clearly consider to be “their” system, however, given the Reich government’s stated position on the ownership of systems they cannot interfere with the Japanese squadron.
As the Japanese survey group splits up to begin surveying the system, the Reich jump ship returns to the solar system to inform its government of the new development. This unwelcome news complicates the Reich’s plans. The Reich had counted on having more time to fully exploit the Hamburg system before the conference and any agreement on claiming planets or moons in other systems. The presence of the Japanese in the Hamburg system meant that the Reich would have to accelerate its program of exploitation. One of the system’s two planets in the colony cost 2-3 range was already colonized, and thus safe from claim by the Japanese, but the other, which also had some resources, was not. In addition, non decisions had been made as of yet about some of the moons that contained resources.
After a short debate the orders of the Reich’s main cargo group was changed to begin transporting infrastructure to Hamburg III, the second colony cost 2.0 planet in the system, so that a colony could be planted there, securing the Reich’s claim.
February, 2027The Alliance completes a deal with the Indian Republic to purchase the services of the Republic’s five terraforming ships. The Republic’s terraformers had been trapped in the solar system due to their delay in building a large enough jump ship. In the meantime, the Republic has been sounding out other nations to determine if they would be willing to pay for the terraformers to work on one of their worlds. The Alliance intends to send the terraformers to Alpha Cephi, through the Alliance jump gate at that warp point, to the colony on New Boston.
Part of the price agreed upon by the two powers is the construction of a jump gate by the Alliance at the warp point to Gliese-754, where the Indian colony is located.
Late in the month, Mogadishu, African Union…
Diktat Anen sat in the darkened room and pondered the situation he found himself in. He had spent the last eight years since the Battle of the Moon strengthening the Union’s armed forces to the point where none of the other nations, not even the Alliance or the Reich, could credibly threaten them, and he had strengthened the economy as well. But for all of that his reward was increased unrest throughout the Union.
Anen’s gaze wandered around the room and eventually landed on the large map of the African continent hanging on the far wall. Most of the continent was colored green, representing the Union’s member states, but there were two discordant splotches on the map, one in the north-east corner and the other at the southernmost tip of the continent. The two splotches were the source of all of his problems, it seemed, and his gaze sharpened as he stared at the map. The northern area was colored red, denoting its allegiance to the Reich, while the southern area was colored blue for its membership in the Alliance. There were elements of the Union’s citizenry that could not forget that parts of the continent were occupied by other nations, and many of the Union’s citizens resented the fact that the birthplace of their religion, the Arab peninsula, was controlled by the Reich. In fact, many of the most radical firebrands, who dominated the Union’s poorer areas, which just happened to border the two states owned by the other nations, had been agitating for a campaign to regain the lost territories. Anen shook his head as he remembered his predecessor’s decision to let the religious refugees from Egypt settle around the Lake Chad area. Taking in the refugees from the Reich’s amalgamation of Egypt had played well with the Union’s citizens, and the former Diktat had hoped that the refugees would be a dagger with which he could stir unrest in Egypt. What none of them had counted on was the very efficient Wehrmacht Territorial Guard and the massive investment in infrastructure that the Reich was willing to make in Egypt. In a fairly short amount of time the Egyptians who had stayed were better off than they had ever been, and with self-rule, of a sort. The refugees had been almost completely unable to recruit supporters in their old country, and were limited to corrupting minor officials and the insane or unstable. In frustration the refugees had turned even more fanatical than they were originally, and had dedicated their new city on the shores of Lake Chad, Luxor, to revenge against the Reich and the people of their old homeland.
The Egyptian refugees had prospered since the old wars, like everyone else in Africa, but that meant nothing to them, especially when they saw what they perceived as corruption all around them. The secular government of the Union was an abomination to them, and the fact that the Union’s government was dominated by the Islamic Action Party meant nothing to them, as they denounced any type of religion that wasn’t theirs, no matter the origin. Over the years the refugees had persistently called for a war of liberation against the Reich, and if anything they had grown more vocal over the years, not less. The fact that the Union’s military was much stronger these days just lent credibility to their arguments, and like all fanatics they cared nothing for the possibility of overwhelming nuclear retaliation. It is in Allah’s hands, they would say.
Anen’s face grew longer as he considered the situation. The fanatics had a large following in the poorer areas of the Union, and lately they had been making inroads among some of the more influential in the cities. In fact, reports had been coming in of disturbing incidents in the Army, particularly in the infantry divisions that were the backbone of the Union’s Armed Forces. The more the government failed to move against the fanatics, or to support them in their efforts to strike against the occupiers, the worse his position got. The problem he faced was that the units most loyal to him, and the most powerful, were also the worst units for rooting the fanatics out of their desert strongholds. The heavy armor divisions were the strategic striking force of the Union, and their loyalty was unquestioned, but they would be useless against the light infantry groups and cells employed by the fanatics, which would merely melt away when the armor entered their area, and then reconstitute the minute the armor moved away. The Union’s infantry was the best choice to go in and dig them out, but the infantry was precisely the force he couldn’t trust. Too many of the men sympathized with the fanatics, and he was becoming convinced that some of their officers were secret supporters as well. If he sent in the armor and it was ineffective, the results would be the same as if he sent in the infantry and they mutinied. Either would be fatal for his regime.
Anen sighed. He had wanted to root the fanatics out after he took power, but in the end he had listened to his advisors, who had argued for co-opting them with gifts and promises of support if they announced their support for his regime. At first it had worked well, as the fanatics had preached obedience to the new regime, but over time their message had changed. They had begun criticizing the regime for being too secular, too concerned with worldly things rather than expanding god’s territory on Earth. As the years passed without any overt reaction from the government they grew more and more bold, and by the time he had begun to perceive them as a threat it was too late. Too many people looked at the map and resented the foreign control of lands that should belong to the Union.
He shook his head. The evening had been taken up by meetings with his closest supporters, the officers from his old division, whom he had promoted to leading positions throughout his military. They were, to a man, for launching an all out assault on the fanatics, come what may. They saw only the military consequences, though, not the political and social consequences. He feared that those consequences would be grave, no matter what the military result was. It was even possible that the social and political result would be bad, even if the military could eliminate the fanatics, as unlikely as that was.
His choices were clear. He could give support to the fanatics, in the hopes that they could destabilize the Reich State of Egypt and the Alliance State of South Africa, or he could attack the fanatics and eliminate them as a source of discontent. Unfortunately, neither choice was viable. Attacking the fanatics wasn’t likely to work and would probably just drive them further underground, and allowing the fanatics to attack the Reich and the Alliance would just bring those governments down on the Union. His current course of ignoring the fanatics wouldn’t work anymore, as they were becoming more and more influential within the Union, something he could no longer allow, given their growing opposition to his government.
Anen thought late into the night. Finally he decided to take the middle course of giving the fanatics some support and turning their gaze towards the Alliance and the Reich, so that he would have time to rebuild the Army into a force that could deal with the fanatics in their own territory. With luck the fanatics wouldn’t be strong enough to do much damage to the other nations, whom they were already raiding anyway, and if they were the aide would be low-level enough to be deniable. If they were lucky.
Things were already a lot worse than Anen knew, though, largely because so many of his advisors were either lying to him, or were being lied to themselves.
May, 2027The Alliance completes R&D on their advanced missile launch systems, and announces plans to begin construction on a new class of warship, the Arleigh Burke class Dreadnought.
Arleigh Burke class Dreadnought 15000 tons 1384 Crew 2865 BP TCS 300 TH 960 EM 2850
3200 km/s Armour 4-54 Shields 95-375 Sensors 66/44/0/0 Damage Control Rating 15 PPV 57
Annual Failure Rate: 360% IFR: 5% Maintenance Capacity 1597 MSP
Magazine 940
Gen Atomics MP Drive (12) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 50.0 billion km (180 days at full power)
Republic DS Delta Class Shields (38) Total Fuel Cost 665 Litres per day
Triple 12cm PD Ultraviolet Laser Turret (1x3) Range 128,000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 12-12 RM 4 ROF 5 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 1 1
Gerard Systems Mk 2 PD Fire Con (1) Max Range: 128,000 km TS: 16000 km/s 92 84 77 69 61 53 45 37 30 22
Stellarator Fusion Reactor (SM) (1) Total Power Output 12 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Heavy Missile Launcher (6) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 40
Sprite AM Missile Launcher (4) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Gerard Systems AM Missile Fire Control (1) Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
Gerard Standard Missile Fire Control (1) Range 37.8m km Resolution 20
Sprite II AAM (120) Speed: 32000 km/s End: 39.1 minutes Range: 75m km Warhead: 0 MR: 30 Size: 1
Javelin Lg AS Msl (136) Speed: 21300 km/s End: 29.3 minutes Range: 37.4m km Warhead: 9 MR: 20 Size: 6
Gerard LG AM Active Sensor (1) GPS 224 Range 2.2m km Resolution 1
Gerard Systems Class C Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 7560 Range 75.6m km Resolution 60
Cyberdyne Class C Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 66 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 66m km
Cyberdyne Class S EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 44 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 44m km
ECM 10
June 6, 2027This is a momentous date in human history. At 0135 hours on this date, a Novaran jump ship enters the solar system, escorted by three Novaran destroyers. The small flotilla is met by full Reich and Alliance Battle Squadrons, intended not to overawe the Novarans but to discourage the USSR from any precipitous actions.
Once the Novarans have recovered from the jump the ships set out for Earth, where they will take up an orbit around the Moon. The USSR protests the event, but none of the other nations are inclined to listen.
June 8, 2027The Novaran ships enter Lunar orbit and Novaran representatives are shuttled down to Earth to meet with every major government. The Novarans are met by huge celebrations in every major Earth city, with the exception of the USSR, where they enter into formal negotiations to end the state of war that exists between the two governments, and the African Union, which has refused to participate.
One week later, after touring the major cities and countryside of the four participating major nations, the Novarans arrive at Berlin, the site of the international, and now interspecies, summit on extra-solar exploration, colonization, and exploitation.
June 17, 2027See the post entitled “Civil War”
July, 2027The international/interspecies summit on interstellar exploration and exploitation comes to an end with a triumphant press conference announcing an agreement signed by all participating parties. The agreement calls for the establishment of a Council on Claim Registration that would document and maintain claims filed by the signatories. The signatory nations agreed that entire solar systems could not be claimed, but individual worlds, moons, and asteroids could be claimed for sole exploitation rights. In order to claim a body the claimant must be able to provide identifying information and must be prepared to exploit the body in the “near future”, which was defined as a time period of less than six months. If six months passes without an exploitation colony of some sort being set up the claim will lapse. All attending nations agreed that the home systems of the signatory nations will be inviolate to other races, the one exception to the ban on claiming entire systems. In order to avoid misunderstandings all nations agreed to require all ships under their control to run with active transponders at all times. Under this clause any ship detected without an active transponder will be considered an outlaw and subject to boarding and/or destruction.
Another, lesser clause allows the discovering nations to name the systems they discover under whatever scheme they desire. To date most nations have been trying to determine if newly discovered systems are already known, and thus associate them with any name they already possess in Earth’s astronomical catalogs. This process is problematic as there have been several disputes over the correct identification of systems and is largely meaningless as it no longer matters whether a star is five light years from Earth or five hundred.
The announcement is met with a marked lack of interest by the publics of the various nations, most of whom are riveted to their TV’s watching coverage of the titanic battles in Africa.
August, 2027Late in the month the Reich government implements Imperial Order 827, a requirement to prepare national defense “fallback” positions against the possibility of nuclear war. As a result of the recent nuclear attack on Reich cities, the Kaiserin ordered a study be completed detailing the effects of various size bombardments of planetary targets. The study was alarming, particularly in its conclusion that if the Earth in its current state underwent a second nuclear bombardment similar to the one that just occurred the average temperature would drop to the point where humans would be unable to survive without significant infrastructure investments to protect them. The study further noted that even if a nation was untouched by the bombardment it would still find it difficult to build the needed infrastructure as its industry would be crippled by the radiation released by the bombardment. Therefore, the study concluded, protected bunkers and even cities should be constructed now while the industry is functional instead of later.
Imperial Order 827 requires the establishment of underground cities under the guise of the manufacturing of equipment for off-planet colonies. The underground cities will be built in stages to avoid alarming the other nations. In addition, the Kaiserin has authorized a crash program to improve its meson defense technology and to begin building missile defense stations. This decision was made in spite of the fact that it is in blatant violation of treaties with the Alliance, but the Kaiserin strongly feels that the defense of the Reich can no longer be left to deterrence.
In the meantime the bulk of the Reich’s attention and resources are devoted to helping those who live in the cities that were struck by the African missiles. Clean up operations are already underway, but the damage is extensive and it will be some time before things begin to return to normal. The Reich press is dominated by calls for reprisals against the Africans in the conquered territories, and there are also calls for the conquest of the remainder of Africa to ensure that this will not happen again. The Reich government had briefly considered just such a course of action, but the study that led to IO 827 made it clear that continued use of nuclear weapons could cause the environment to deteriorate to the point where people would begin dying. As there is no other way to eliminate African Union strategic defense bases other than nuclear bombardment, these plans had to be shelved and the government has announced its intention to begin negotiations with Diktat Anen’s government intended to ensure peace.
Every nation on Earth has had to institute civil defense procedures to help its citizens deal with the increased radiation and fallout.
September, 2027The Reich finally completes development of its massive new jump engine. The new design is plugged into the design for the latest Reich warship:
Von Roeder class Dreadnought 16000 tons 1454 Crew 4025.4 BP TCS 320 TH 800 EM 900
2500 km/s JR 4-100 Armour 8-56 Shields 30-300 Sensors 70/0/0/0 Damage Control Rating 15 PPV 41
Annual Failure Rate: 409% IFR: 5.7% Maintenance Capacity 2786 MSP
Magazine 641
J16250(4-100) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 16250 tons Distance 100k km Squadron Size 4
IGF Magneto-plasma Drive (10) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 230,000 Litres Range 43.1 billion km (199 days at full power)
Beta R300/9 Shields (20) Total Fuel Cost 180 Litres per day
Anti-Msl Missile Launcher 01-010 (5) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Anti-Ship Missile Launcher 04-030 (9) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 30
Mk 2 Standard Missile Fire Control (1) Range 67.2m km Resolution 40
AM Missile Fire Control (1) Range 1.7m km Resolution 1
AMM mk 2 (100) Speed: 32000 km/s End: 39.1 minutes Range: 75m km Warhead: 1 MR: 10 Size: 1
AS Mk 2 (80) Speed: 24000 km/s End: 39.1 minutes Range: 56.3m km Warhead: 9 MR: 15 Size: 4
SR AS Msl Mk 2 (25) Speed: 32000 km/s End: 9.8 minutes Range: 18.8m km Warhead: 9 MR: 15 Size: 4
LR AS Msl Mk 2 (25) Speed: 20000 km/s End: 109.4 minutes Range: 131.2m km Warhead: 6 MR: 10 Size: 4
Mk 2 AM Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 168 Range 1.7m km Resolution 1
Mk 2 LG Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6720 Range 67.2m km Resolution 60
Mk 2 LG Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 70 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 70m km
Unfortunately, this design has been eclipsed by the events on Earth, and may have to wait even longer before being built.
The Kaiserin appoints Kontreadmiral Martin Arendt governor of the newly organized Reich Territory of North Africa. Kontreadmiral Arendt has served with distinction in the Reich Survey Corps and is a known confidant of the Kaiserin.
Kontreadmiral Arendt’s first task will be to oversee the transfer of over 100 industrial facilities of various types from North Africa to Europe to replace those destroyed by the recent missile attack. Complaints from observers from India and the Alliance about the “looting” of the new Territory have been dismissed by the Reich government as the plaintive cries of bleeding hearts who are ignoring the plight of the displaced peoples of Cairo and Paris.
The Novaran ships depart this month, bound for home. They are taking with them ambassadorial parties from the Reich, Alliance, Japan, and the Indian Republic. The Russians refused to negotiate with the Novarans, who ultimately told the other nations that they would consider the war over as long as the Russians did not return to their system under any circumstances.
Late in September the Reich construction ship laboring in the Hamburg system at the warp point back to the solar system reports it has completed work on the jump gate. The route to the Hamburg system is now open.
December, 2027The Reich has announced that their newly established territorial government in the North African Territory has lifted some of the restrictions on the civilian population, including the curfew and the ban on public assemblies. While the Reich government has touted this as a milestone and proof of their enlightened governing, critics in the Alliance and the Indian Republic point to the massive deployment of Reich troops to North Africa as the reason for the lack of unrest. In addition, Alliance and Indian newspapers continue to allege that the Reich government has engaged in savage repression of native peoples throughout the conquered territories, including instances of massive bombing of villages and relocations of entire peoples. The Reich government has responded to these charges with their standard line, pointing to the destruction in Europe as proof that the people of the conquered territories are not ready to govern themselves, and must be dealt with harshly to prevent such an event from happening again.
Late in the month the USSR completes development of the Ion engine, and begins converting a shipyard to refit its freighter fleet to the new design. The USSR, in a bid to maximize their fleet speed, is developing two new engines for their space units. The first is a civilian Ion engine with the best fuel conservation technology, while the second is a Military Ion Engine, with good fuel conservation but also with newly developed systems designed to get the best performance possible out of the engine. This performance comes at a cost, while the new engines will be 10% more powerful, they will also be less efficient and much more likely to destabilize if they suffer damage. The High Command is willing to take the inherent risk to increase the performance of their fleet.
The Imperial Japanese Navy completes development work on 2nd generation missile launchers for their Kongo class missile cruisers and their PDC’s. The 2d generation missile launchers incorporate new technology that reduces their cycle times by 1/3, significantly increasing the firepower of the missile units without a corresponding increase in tonnage. Refits are planned for both the Kongo’s and the PDC’s. The refit for the missile cruisers will also incorporate a significant increase in the ship’s engineering capacity and fuel store, giving the ship a longer cruising range and greater staying power.
With the new launchers completed, the IJN’s R&D efforts are now turned to basic research aimed at increasing the capabilities of its missiles. Ion missile drives, levitated-pit implosion warheads, and increased agility are all scheduled to be researched over the next year.
January, 2028The first Arleigh Burke class Dreadnought is laid down in the Bethleham-Fairfield orbital yards. The ship is scheduled to be launched in November, 2029.
Later in the month the Alliance launches its first three orbital defense bases.
February, 2028The Reich is suffering from increasing shortages of duranium. This is in spite of transfers of resources captured in Africa, and the situation has become serious. Fortunately, large stocks of duranium exist on Venus, however, all freighters are currently out of the solar system. Orders are sent to divert a freighter to transfer duranium from Venus to Earth ASAP.
March, 2028An Indian survey group, exploring newly discovered warp points in the Sigma Draconis system, two jumps from Earth, make a startling discovery. On approach to one of the newly discovered warp points, the Indian survey ship detects a jump gate in place around the warp point. After cautiously approaching, the survey ship’s crew determines that the gate is very old and possibly dates from the same period as the other Ancient ruins. The gate is still active, and, once the Indian ship transits, it finds a matching gate on the far side of the warp point. The purpose of the gate-pair is unclear as the new system, a trinary composed of three very small, dim, stars, with no significant planets, appears useless.
June, 2028The Alliance and the African Union announces a new agreement between the two nations. In exchange for access to the Alpha Cephi system through the Alliance jump gate, the Union has agreed to transfer technology to the Alliance. The details of the transfer are secret, and the Reich reacts negatively to the announcement. Reich intelligence services are unable to determine the actual terms of the agreement, but there are many that doubt that the Union has any technology that the Alliance could use.
This announcement causes ripples throughout the international community. The African Union has been extremely isolationist since it lost the Battle of the Moon, and the newly announced joint venture with the Alliance marks a significant change in the Union’s outlook. In response to the Reich’s reaction, Alliance representatives state that the agreement with the Union marks a new ago of cooperation with the Union and that this agreement brings a nation that had been isolated back into the international fold.
July, 2028The first Hero class CLE, the Agamemnon, is launched from Alliance yards.
October, 2028Units of the Alliance 4th Survey Group transit through one of the newly discovered warp points in the Tau Ceti system, three jumps from Earth, to discover one of the most majestic systems discovered by human explorers to date. The central star is a massive A9 IV sub-giant star with six equally massive jovian and super-jovian planets orbiting from 250 million kilometers to forty-eight billion kilometers from the blazing central star. The huge planets possess no less than ninety-nine moons, one of which is eminently habitable. The secondary star, a G4 sub-giant, actually orbits in between the second and third planets of the primary star, and has a tiny and sun-blasted terrestrial planet of its own. The system is completely outside of the local area around the solar system, and so Rear Admiral Meullion, CO of the Magellan, names the system Valhalla.
As the Magellan probes the first warp point, the Gilbert, a second ship from the 4th, transits through another warp point in Tau Ceti, discovering a G5-V star with three habitable planets. The star is soon identified as Kappa Ceti.
Even as the Gilbert and the Magellan make their discoveries, the third ship of the 4th, the Raleigh, makes an even more momentous discovery. While its sister ships probe the newly discovered warp points, the Raleigh has been occupied finishing up the geo-survey of Tau Ceti. To date the geo-survey of the system has been mostly disappointing, with the only interesting discovery on one of the moons of the innermost gas giant, where moderate amounts of boronide and duranium at good availability levels were found. The Raleigh was finishing up yet another disappointing survey, this time of the innermost habitable planet (there are two), when it located a ruined Ancient colony. Plans are made for the Raleigh to return to Earth as soon as its survey is complete to pick up an archeological team to determine if there is anything valuable left in the colony.
Later in the month the Reich’s Interstellar Exploration Group #2, (IEG#2), discovers a ruined Ancient settlement on Nuremburg, the habitable planet of the Gliese-808 system. The Gliese-808 system is located two jumps from Earth through the Hamburg system (the Reich’s main colonial system).
November, 2029The Alliance Council makes a momentous decision. The Earth’s radiation count has come down slightly since the Reich-Africa war, however, industry is still suffering and is still only 80% as effective as it used to be. The projections are that this will not change for some time. Therefore, the Council has decided to relocate as much industry to the Mars Colony as possible. Mars currently has enough excess population to accommodate approximately one quarter of the Alliance’s industrial potential, and the Council orders that one half of the Alliance’s colony transport fleet, or four ships, be transferred to the Earth-Mars run, to bolster the Colony’s population. This is not presented as a flight from Earth to the masses, but rather as an efficiency measure during the hard times on Earth.
This is a major change in the Council’s policies, which previously were seen as anti-Mars industrialization. In fact, the major cause of unrest and resentment on the Mars Colony was the perception that the government on Earth was limiting their growth.
Intelligence Report, December 2028
Overall Note: All six Earth nations have seen their population go down as a result of the Reich-Africa war, also known as the One Minute War. This population loss is small and while it is not seen as nationally threatening, it has caused a significant amount of unrest among the citizens of the six nations. To date, the high radiation levels have only affected the sick, elderly and infirm, however, everyone fears the invisible killer that could be present anywhere at any time. The effects of this are many. Applications for spots on colony worlds made by Reich and Alliance citizens have gone up tenfold over the last six months, and the fact that there are now far more applicants than there are spots has increased the unrest. This unrest has been manifested as an increased pressure on the governments and corporations running the civilian transport fleets to accelerate their operations and get more people away from what is increasingly viewed as an unhealthy environment on Earth.
The recent war is viewed differently in the different nations. In the Reich the citizens are firmly behind the government and its efforts to root out the religious fanatics in the North African Territory. The Reich citizens place the blame firmly on the fanatics and the African Union, which allowed them to get out of control in the first place. In the Alliance, while the citizens are appalled at the destruction of the European cities, they view the Reich’s current actions as an overreaction towards a defeated enemy. In addition, fanned by the media, the citizens tend to think that the Reich and its policies towards Africa are largely to blame for the One Minute War, thus there is a growing resentment towards Europe over the reduced temperatures and high radiation counts.
The Japanese and Russian governments are unconcerned about what their citizens think, as long as they continue to do as they are told. These governments fear the Reich’s increased power and strength, though, and therefore will be more likely to side with the Alliance in any future political conflicts.
The Indian Republic’s citizens are appalled at the results of the war, in all respects. For the most part, though, they recognize the fact that the fanatics launched an unprovoked attack on the Reich, and from there the results were inevitable.
AllianceThe Alliance has focused its colonization efforts on New Boston in the Alpha Cephi system. Alpha Cephi is accessed through the Solar System’s seventh warp point, and the Alliance has built a jump gate on both sides of this warp point to facilitate travel to this colony. New Boston currently has a population of six point five million people, and seventy mining complexes have been relocated to the colony from Earth and the Mars Colony. Thanks to the efforts of the Alliance’s geological survey teams, New Boston has vast deposits of resources, many of which are present at very good availability levels. In addition, New Boston is currently being terraformed by the Indian Republic’s terraformer ships, although it is a slow process. Finally, the Alliance has agreed to grant the African Union a colony site on New Boston once they complete their grav survey of the solar system.
While several other planets and moons in the Alpha Cephi system have significant deposits of resources, none can match New Boston. There are two other habitable planets, one of which has a rating of 2.0, while the other has a rating of 2.98. A colony is already planned for the fifth planet, which has some resource deposits and is currently being surveyed by geological teams to determine if there are additional resource deposits. Other than this there are no further plans to colonize other bodies in the Alpha Cephi system. It is likely that the Alliance will continue to focus their colonization efforts on New Boston and New London (planet #5).
The Alliance currently fields four survey groups, comprising twenty survey and escort ships. The 1st Survey Group is currently undergoing a major overhaul in Earth orbit, while the other three groups are out of the solar system. Until recently the Alliance has focused its survey efforts on the Alpha Cephi warp line and the Procyon (Solar warp point #4) warp line. Recently, the 3rd Survey Group was dispatched to Gliese 818 (Solar warp point #6) to begin survey operations. So far, none of those systems have been exploited by any of the other nations, all which seem to be following a pattern similar to the Alliance of focusing their colonization efforts on a single warp line. Alliance survey units have extended known space three jumps beyond Procyon and to the systems one jump beyond Alpha Cephi (two jumps in one case).
While the Alliance has no current plans to begin colonization of any other systems, several sites in the 58 Eridani system and the Sigma Draconis systems (beyond Alpha Cephi), and the Tau Ceti and Kappa Ceti systems (beyond Procyon) are of interest due to their extensive resource deposits.
The high radiation levels on Earth continue to hamper industry, reducing productivity to approximately 79% efficiency. The effort to relocate industry to Mars is well underway and over 250 construction complexes have been transported to date.
The Alliance Senate is under heavy pressure from civilian transportation corporations to divert more yards from military construction to the production of freighters and colony ships. Currently nearly a third of the Alliance’s slipways are devoted to civilian ships, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. The Senate has decided to make one major change, though. Thanks to the new understanding with the African Union, and the end of that nation’s isolationism, the threat presented by Africa’s orbital defense network is not perceived to be as significant as it used to be. Therefore, the General Systems #1 Yard, currently devoted to building the Alliance’s Orbital Defense Bases, will be re-tasked to build an Alliance Terraformer design as soon as slipway expansion plans are completed. This will allow the Alliance to replace the Indian Republic’s six terraformer ships in orbit over New Boston with Alliance ships at some point in the future.
Alliance research is focused on magnetic confinement fusion drive technology, which will be completed in mid-2029. Once this research is complete resources will be diverted to terraforming technology to prepare for the re-tasking of the General Systems #1 yard late in 2029. Subsequent to terraforming technology, the Alliance’s research assets will be devoted to developing ancillary systems for a new generation of engines (thermal masking and improved fuel efficiency). Finally, three new jump engine designs will be developed.
The ReichThe Reich has focused its colonization efforts on the Hamburg System (Solar warp point #3). The Hamburg system is buried deeply in a Type 7 Nebula, limiting ships to a maximum of 357 kps unless they are armored. While this has been a speed bump for the Reich’s unarmored civilian ships, it has been seen by the Reich government as a valuable defensive feature that will limit the ability of the lightly armored warships used by other governments to penetrate the system. The Reich maintains two colonies in the Hamburg system, Nue Berlin and Nue Paris (recently renamed in honor of the devastated city), as well as two mining colonies. The colony at Nue Berlin is devoted to mining the planet’s extensive resources, while the colony at Nue Paris has no purpose yet, and was established mostly to deny the planet to other nations. The combined population of the two colonies is just over six million citizens.
The Reich government intends to continue expanding the colonies in the Hamburg system over the near future. Beyond that the Reich has tentative plans to expand into the Stuttgart system, beyond Hamburg, and construction of jump gates to connect the two systems is already underway.
The Reich fields three Interstellar Exploration Groups composed of a total of twenty-two survey and escort ships. All three groups are currently in overhaul status in orbit over Earth. Almost all Reich survey efforts have been focused on surveying beyond the Hamburg system.
Fourteen out of eighteen Reich slipways are currently devoted to a massive refit program for the Reich’s fleet. This refit upgrades the sensor and fire control systems of fleet units, and expands their magazine capacity. Approximately three quarters of the fleet has been refitted and the rest will be completed over the next two years. Once this undertaking is complete, the Reich plans on a major refit for its civilian fleet, including better survey instruments, cargo handling equipment, and heavier armor that will allow increased speed in the Hamburg system.
Reich research and development has been hampered by conflicting and rapidly changing research priorities over the last several years. As a result of the war with North Africa all research assets were reallocated to develop meson missile defense systems, postponing R&D that had already been postponed several times. R&D on meson systems is almost complete, and once that is done all assets will be devoted to completing several delayed projects. First in line is the Survey Systems improvement project. Better jump engines coupled with improved survey instruments will allow the armoring of survey ships without loss of functionality. After that, the long delayed Scout Project will be put on track again. The Scout Project includes heavy sensor systems and a drone/drone launcher combo that will extend the Fleet’s sensor range. After that, research on improved financial systems to ameliorate the Reich’s constant deficits will be restarted.
The Reich has established a research station with ten research labs on Venus. These labs are currently focused on a top-secret project to develop systems for a new class of unit that is smaller and much faster than current ship designs. Unfortunately, chronic personnel shortages on Venus have prevented the planned expansion of these labs. Four of the Reich’s seven colony ships are devoted to transporting colonists to Venus to remedy this situation, however, the Reich homeland population does not possess a large body of free workers and worker shortages may soon begin on Earth. There is increasing pressure from Reich industries to begin tapping the vast population of North Africa for workers. To date the Reich government has stood firm on its controls of the North African Territory, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. The Reich government is adamant that the taint of fanaticism must be rooted out before self rule and integration into the larger Reich economy can happen.
Imperial JapanJapan is a relative late-comer to interstellar exploration, and is the last of the five major nations (Africa excepted) to begin exploring other systems. Faced with the reality that the other nations had already claimed the best bits of the systems accessed through the warp points located closest to the inner system, the Japanese government decided to probe all of the warp points in the solar system and has even launched a survey of the Hamburg system, mostly to test the Reich’s insistence on the right of free travel through all systems, and the USSR’s warp chain through the solar system’s innermost warp point. Although the Reich was clearly unhappy with the presence of Japanese ships in the Hamburg system, their survey was completed without incident. The USSR was clearly unhappy with the Japanese presence in their warp chain, however, the might of the IJN clearly limited their choices. After surveying several of the systems connected to the solar system, the Empire has decided to begin colonization efforts on a planet in the Gliese-204 system (Solar warp point #5). So far no other nation has focused on this system, and Imperial survey ships discovered significant resource deposits at medium availability levels on the system’s one semi-habitable (rating 3.
planet. In addition, several moons, asteroids, and comets in the system have good resource levels and plans have already been made to begin exploitation of these bodies. So far, only infrastructure has been shipped to the planned colony on the planet of Kobe, but colonists will soon be on their way to this new colony.
Imperial Japan has put two survey groups into space, composed of a total of sixteen exploration ships and escorts. Initial efforts were focused on discovering the extent of the other power’s colonization efforts, and this continues as the 1st Survey Group survey’s the Alliance’s Alpha Cephi system. Over the next several years survey efforts will be increasingly focused on expanding Japan’s own warp chains, though.
Japan’s ship construction resources are currently devoted towards a large refit program for the fleet’s Kongo class missile cruisers, and expanding the civilian fleet. This refit is one third complete and will take several more years to complete.
R&D assets recently completed a program to improve the Empire’s missiles, and are currently focused on improving ground combat capabilities. Once that project is complete, all assets will be devoted to developing improved jump engine technology.
USSRThe USSR has focused its exploration and colonization efforts on the Leningrad warp chain (Solar warp point #1). Leningrad is an unremarkable system with a couple of unremarkable planets, however, Psi Serpentis, the next system in the chain, has several valuable resource deposits, and Psi Serpentis III, named Saratov by the Presidium, is a colony cost 3.8 world with large resource deposits at moderate availability levels. A mining colony has been established on a moon of the innermost super jovian planet, and plans are in place to establish a colony on Saratov in the next several years. The USSR is counting on the fact that the Leningrad system is unremarkable to shield its interest in the Psi Serpentis system.
Soviet colonization and exploitation efforts will be focused on Psi Serpentis for some time. The Soviet freight and colony fleets are old, outdated, and small, a result of the USSR’s focus on military ships and the need to rebuild its fleet after the Novaran conflict. In addition, the Leningrad warp chain is a long, narrow chain of warp points leading from Leningrad, through Psi Serpentis, to a planetless K8-V starsystem named Rostov-na-Donu, to 72 Herculis. Soviet exploration ships recently completed a survey of 72 Herculis, finding one additional warp point, however, the ships were forced to withdraw before probing the warp point due to lack of fuel and supply problems.
The USSR fields one survey group with five exploration ships and escorts. The 1st Survey Group is currently undergoing a major overhaul in Earth orbit.
The USSR’s shipyards are currently split evenly between upgrading and enlarging the fleet, and improving and enlarging the civilian freight transport fleet.
Soviet research assets are currently focused on a project aimed at improving the USSR’s missiles, after which they will be turned towards a series of long term projects intended to improve the efficiency of the USSR’s research labs and shipbuilding industry.
Indian RepublicAs the oldest starfaring human government, Republican exploration ships have traveled far and wide. Surveys have been conducted on six of the systems connected to the solar system, excepting the three innermost systems (excluded during the days of sole Republican possession of the jump drive). Indian exploration activities have largely been concentrated in the Gliese-754 system, the location of India’s primary colony, and the systems beyond it. The Republic has established a large colony on Ludhiana, the innermost planet of Gliese-754. Nearly 5 million Indian citizens have been relocated to Ludhiana, along with two research labs and six mining complexes. In addition, a mining complex has been set up on a moon of the third planet. The Republic intends to focus its limited transport resources on building up the colonies in the Gliese-754 system, although it has located several interesting planets and moons in other systems.
The Republic has two exploration groups with a total of twelve exploration ships and escorts.
The Republic’s shipyard resources are currently devoted to upgrading its geo-survey ships, building terraformers, and expanding India’s fleet of cargo ships.
India’s research assets are devoted to developing magneto-plasma drive technology and improved fuel efficiency. Once this effort is complete late in 2030, new drives will be developed for deployment to India’s fleet of ships.
African UnionThe Union has suffered grievously over the last two years. It lost more than two thirds of its population and a third of its industry when Northern Africa split away, and the bulk of its army trying to regain the lost territory. In the aftermath of the disastrous civil war, Diktat Anen has been forced to recognize that his bid for a strong, independent Africa has been at best postponed. In recognition of this fact Anen has forged ties to the Alliance, which fears Reich expansionism. In exchange for favorable consideration of future treaties and some technology, Anen gained jump technology, gravitic survey technology, and the right to plant a settlement on New Boston.
Diktat Anen has shifted his country’s focus from preparation for war to an expansion of its survey and freight capacities. Even with Alliance help this is likely to take some time.
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