January, 2031
Nearly the entire Indian fleet, along with several survey ships and the troop transport Nipat, leave Earth orbit bound for the jump point to Gliese-754. Before departing the Nipat was observed to load the 16th assault infantry division. When the other nations inquire about the purpose of the sortie, the Republic issues a news release stating that the Indian Fleet is engaged in a mission to set up a base of operations for Indian survey units three jumps from Earth, in the Delta Pavonis system.
February, 2031
A Novaran survey group jumps to a new system with a central G1-V star located three jumps from Novara. The new system is named Thioloka, and the explorers discover a world perfectly suited for Novaran (and Human) life. The exploration commander orders his ships back to the Parakoila system, where he informs the other survey group of his find. Then he jumps back to the Thioloka system to begin a survey of the new planet. The exploration ship’s ETA to the planet is over twenty-six days, as the jump point is 5.3 billion kilometers from the system primary.
March, 2031
The Reich’s Interstellar Exploration Group #1 is currently exploring the Iota Piscum system, three jumps beyond Hamburg. The system has an F7-IV central star, five planets, thirty-seven moons, and a scattering of asteroids. One of the planets is fairly Earth-like, with a gravity of 0.42 and an average temperature of -23.5 degrees. Unfortunately, the world has no atmosphere to speak of, but the Reich scientists are fairly sure that can be remedied by the new terraforming project established by their government. However, the system is four jumps from Earth so that will not happen for some time yet.
The system’s Earth-like world was christened Nue Duisberg by Admiral Helene Heinz, CO of the 1st IEG. The Galileo, Admiral Heinz’ ship, sets out for the planet to begin survey operations while the other ships dispersed throughout the system. Upon making orbit Admiral Heinz and her crew realized that they had made a momentous discovery. The planet was covered with numerous intact Ancient cities. After studying the planet for a short period of time the scientists of the 1st IEG are perplexed. There are numerous signs that the planet once had an atmosphere, but there are currently no signs of that atmosphere at all. Worse, the Ancient cities are “open-air”, not domed, which seems to indicate that the planet once had an atmosphere. There is no sign of a cataclysmic event that might have ripped away the atmosphere, making the whole thing a mystery.
Admiral Heinz immediately sent a message to the Jumpship Koln at the warp point, to return to Earth with the news and to pick up every archeological and cybernetic team the Reich had.
In mid-month in the month the Indian Fleet arrives at the planet of Ponda in the Delta Pavonis star system. Once settled into orbit off-loading began immediately. The 16th assault infantry division immediately set up a base of operations on the planet’s surface, and one by one the orbiting ships sent down their excess fuel and maintenance supplies. In short order nearly a million units of fuel and over five thousand units of maintenance supplies had been stockpiled. Once the unloading was complete the Fleet left orbit to return to Earth.
March 17, 2031
The Novaran survey ship in the Thioloka system is now 894 million kilometers from the system primary. Suddenly, alarms go off throughout the ship, rousing the officers and the science crew. The sensors have detected a civilization on their target, Thioloka IV. The civilization’s thermal signature is high, higher than Novara’s, but substantially lower than several of the human states on Earth. The ship commander, Leutnant-General Finnbogison, immediately sends a signal to the other ship in the squadron, a gravitic survey ship currently trolling around the outer system, ordering them to head straight for Thioloka IV, while Finnbogison’s ship halts in place. The gravitic survey ship isn’t equipped with a jump drive, while Finnbogison’s ship is. Therefore, the gravitic survey ship will make first contact, while Finnbogison and his ship will drift quietly, waiting to see what happens.
April 2, 2031
When the Novaran gravitic survey ship is just 300 million kilometers from Thioloka IV it receives a message from the planet. Colonel Stybbirson orders his ship to stop and sends a reply. Once that is taken care of the Novaran commander sends a message to the geo-survey ship sitting in the outer system.
Fourteen hours later a large ship was detected closing on the Novaran exploration ship. Based on the signature the ship, which was approaching at 2,500 kps, appeared to be nearly 9,000 tons. It took the alien ship over twenty hours to complete its approach to the stationary Novaran ship. The alien ship moved to a point approximately 100,000 kilometers from the Novaran ship and then came to a halt. Colonel Stybbirson watched in wonder as the view-screen on the forward wall of his ship’s bridge lit to show a being more alien than anything he had ever imagined. Far more alien than the humans, who were at least bipedal. These aliens were insectoid, with no apparent eyes or other facial features. Or faces, for that matter.
After a few seconds a grinding whine punctuated with clicks issued from the bridge speakers. Colonel Stybbirson shook his head. This one wasn’t going to be easy. After confirming that his communications officer was recording the broadcast for the scientists he walked over to his tactical officer, who was examining the alien ship. “What do you have?”
“Sir, that is a freighter. No question.”
Colonel Stybbirson leaned over the officer’s station. Input from every sensor on the ship was routed through the station and displayed on several of the displays. The most interesting was the display showing the optical input. After a few seconds he could see it. “I think you are right. Look, here, those are cargo bays. A lot of them.”
“Yes sir. I estimate that this ship has twice the capacity of one of our freighters.”
“Interesting that they would send a cargo ship out to meet us.”
“Maybe they don’t have anything else.”
Colonel Stybbirson considered that for a few seconds. “Or maybe they don’t want us to see what they have.”
The two ships sat and watched each other for two days, periodically exchanging messages as both sides tried to develop a program to decipher the other’s language. Finally, at the end of the second day the alien ship sent a clear schematic showing a planet with one moon. A point on the moon’s orbit on the far side of the planet from the moon was flashing. After sending the schematic the alien ship turned towards its home planet and accelerated away.
After confirming that the schematic did indeed appear to represent Thioloka IV with its single moon, Colonel Stybbirson ordered his ship to follow the alien freighter.
April 6, 2031
The Novaran survey ship achieves orbit over the alien world. Intensive efforts begin immediately to learn the alien language. While on approach, the Novaran ship detected a grand total of five ships in orbit over the alien planet. Three appeared to be identical to the ship that had come out to meet them. One was very small, approximately 1,400 tons. None appeared to be armed.
April 27, 2031
The Novaran 2nd Survey Group transits into the Thioloka system after completing its survey of the adjacent system. Immediately after transiting they receive a message set to continuous transmission by Leutnant-General Finnbogison, informing them about the first contact situation. After sending off a message to the Leutnant-General confirming receipt and requesting all current information, the 2nd leaves the system and sets out for Novara. It will take them almost fifty days to get to Novara.
May, 2031
The Indian Fleet returns from its mission to establish a base in the Delta Pavonis system. The mission took a grand total of 130 days, and stretched the endurance of the Indian fleet to its maximum, and in some cases, beyond. The cruise exposed critical weaknesses in the cruisers used by the Indian fleet, which were definitely not designed for long-duration missions away from base.
June 25, 2031
Colonel Stybbirson and his scientists finally complete work on translation software that is reliable enough to translate the alien’s language into Novaran. The aliens call themselves the Milos Commonwealth, and they claim to be an ancient society that has had spaceflight for thousands of years. In fact, the Milosians claim that they had explored throughout the local warp chain long ago, leaving artifacts everywhere, before returning to their planet to consider all that they had learned. Colonel Stybbirson is somewhat dubious about this claim, although it would explain the ruins and the jump gate found in the adjacent system.
In any case the Milosians seem friendly and are clearly interested in a closer relationship. After some discussion the Colonel suggests that his ship should return home with news of the new race, and the Milosians agree, and request that the Novarans send another delegation empowered discuss a closer relationship between the two races.
June 28, 2031
The 2nd Survey Group arrives on Novara. The Scarabus geo-survey/jump ship that is the heart of the group is refueled and prepped for a return to Thioloka with an escort of three Toad II class destroyers. The Toad II’s are the latest and most advanced Novaran warships, and just happen to be the largest ships that the Scarabus can escort through a warp point. Unfortunately, the small squadron will have to wait until the three Toad II’s are brought out of overhaul status.
July, 2031
The first two Alliance Gaia class terraforming ships are launched from the orbital yards. They are immediately dispatched to New Boston.
September, 2031
Colonel Stybbirson’s 1st Exploration Group encounters the ships dispatched from the home world en route to the Milosian system. They fill the Contact Expedition in on the most recent developments, and then both continue on their way.
August, 2031
The Koln, a Hamburg Mk 2 class jump ship, finally returns to Iota Piscum system with a full complement of archeological and cybernetic teams. Once they are in position on Nue Duisberg, their initial survey confirms the size of the discovery. There are an incredible 2,937 crypts scattered throughout the intact cities on the surface of the planet. During the intervening time the science teams have confirmed that the planet once had an atmosphere and an associated biosphere, begging the question…what could have ripped away an entire planet’s atmosphere, leaving dozens of major cities intact?
September, 2031
A Reich cybernetic team working on Nue Duisberg discovers technological plans and a disassembled sample of a very advanced rail gun. The Koln is immediately ordered to return to the Solar System with the new find.
Once the Koln returns the Reich government decides to abandon R&D on torpedo weaponry and instead will focus on developing the advanced rail gun technology discovered on Nue Duisberg.
October, 2031
The Novaran negotiating team arrives in the Milosian system and establishes an embassy on the Milosian homeworld. While apparently eager to begin negotiations with the Novarans, the Milosians prove to be difficult negotiators, and little progress is made.
December, 2031
The Reich announces that the North African Territories will be fully integrated into the European economy and social system over the next month, and that military government will be lifted during that period of time. The Kaiserin is known to be opposed to this, however, has given her assent in view of the chronic manpower shortages that continue to affect the Reich economy. The Reich government continues to deny rumors that the Kaiserin is sick with radiation poisoning.
February, 2032
The Alliance and the African Union government jointly announce that secret negotiations between the two governments have been underway for over a year. These negotiations have resulted in an agreement between the two governments that will result in the merger of the two nations. Although the exact terms of the agreement are not made public, in essence the Union will be disbanded and its constituent states will join the Alliance as full member states. Commentators are quick to pick up on some of the details that are released, noting that these details are very similar to the deals that were offered to most of the South American nations during the last expansionist phase of the Alliance. During that period the Alliance absorbed all of the Central and South American states, but given the corrupt, provincial, and insular nature of most of those governments (at least from the point of view of the American and English governments), there was little interest in bringing those governments into the Alliance as well. Therefore most of the medium and high level officials were bought off and allowed to retire with guarantees of freedom from prosecution for actions taken by their government prior to the merger. The Union government, and in particular Diktat Anen, have been given the same deal to convince them to get out of the way of the merger. The merger is contingent on a referendum being placed before the people, or the people’s legitimate representatives, but this is a mere formality at this point, given the widespread discontent.
The effects of this merger are far ranging. If it wasn’t for the preoccupation of the other nations on their own internal problems it is likely that they would have prevented this move through military, economic, covert, or political pressure. In one fell swoop the Alliance has increased its population by approximately 250 million people and its industrial and mining capability by 13%. In addition, the Alliance has gained 26 divisions of variable reliability and capabilities, two shipyards with a total of five slipways, twenty-three orbital bases, twelve PDC’s, and five ships of various types.
Almost immediately the Alliance Navy and government are forced to the realization that things aren’t as rosy as they initially appeared. For the most part the Union’s technology base is far behind that of the Alliance, and its ships are relatively small and slow. After very little debate the Alliance Navy decided to scrap all of the Union ships it inherited during the merger. The Union’s PDC’s and missiles are relatively poor as well, and the political implications of their transfer to Alliance control are problematic at best. The Reich, the USSR, and the Japanese Empire are all quick to protest once it becomes clear that the merger is a done deal, and none of the other powers are happy that the Alliance will be able to significantly enlarge its supply of planetary missile launchers over night. Therefore, as political opposition solidifies, the Alliance government agrees to decommission the Union PDC’s rather than turn them over to the Alliance military. The Union orbital defense bases are another matter. Although their technology is also rather dated, they are optimized for one job, engaging ships in orbit and destroying them. The addition of the twenty-three Union plasma armed orbital bases to the Alliance’s fleet of six heavy laser armed bases gives the Alliance overwhelming force in orbital space. By the time the other nations do the math and begin to protest it is too late, the Alliance Navy had already taken possession of the bases and the Senate had voted to retain them. The Reich, although not happy, can console itself that the balance of power in orbit hasn’t really changed. The Alliance always had the advantage in near orbit, while the Reich held the advantage in ranged combat.
Along with everything else the Alliance inherited the Union’s small mining base on the Moon. Officially, the base consists of ten automated mining complexes, a small staff of maintenance people and overseers, and three engineering divisions assigned to provide security for the installation. In reality the Union government has used the Lunar outpost as a dumping ground for political undesirables and inconvenient embarrassments ever since the Civil War. The people assigned to the base are almost pathetically grateful when the first Alliance ship arrives to investigate the installation, and the Alliance government ultimately decides to close the installation down and shuttle everyone and everything there back to Earth as soon as possible.
March, 2032
The Japanese government dispatches a Nagato class jumpship to the Kumamoto system (beyond Gliese-204) with two teams from the Imperial University on board. These teams are composed of Imperial officers and scientists trained in archeology and cybernetics. The teams will be examining the ruins of an Ancient outpost found on Kumamoto-V.
April, 2032
The Alliance government, which has been dealing with a significant worker shortage, decides to ship one half of the Alliance’s fuel refineries to a storage location in the Alpha Cephi system. The fuel refineries had been operating at reduced efficiency given the radiation and the very large fuel stockpile maintained by the Alliance government and the various corporations, so deactivating them and shipping them out won’t affect ongoing operations but will free up large numbers of workers.
May 18, 2032
Greater European Reich
Kaiserin Hildegarde I is discovered in her bed, dead at the age of 70. Medical personnel determine that she died in her sleep sometime during the night. The nation goes into mourning as the citizens realize that the monarch that has ruled the nation for over fifty years is really gone. While there is no indication of foul play, there have been persistent rumors that the Kaiserin, who was known to be in good health until recently, received a high dose of radiation at some point during her tireless work to aide those injured and displaced by the African nuclear attack during the One Minute War. Anti-African feeling runs high throughout the Reich.
The Reich has complicated succession laws that limit the possible candidates to the royal family, but do not ensure that any one candidate, such as the oldest child, will inherit. Preference is given to the former ruler’s chosen successor, however, even that is not a sure thing if the Reichstag refused to certify the successor. Kaiserin Hildegarde had three children, one of which died during her long reign. For various reasons the Kaiserin had officially named her youngest son Johann as the successor. Immediately after learning of the Kaiserin’s death the Reichstag goes into emergency session. They are left with no good choices. Her oldest son, Heinrich, is known for his sybaritic ways, including womanizing and drug abuse, while her younger son, although serious, is an adherent of a political party that many conservatives within the Reichstag find unpalatable. There are other potential candidates scattered here and there, including a high officer in the Raumarine, but for various reasons the Reichstag finds itself limited to the two sons of the former Kaiserin. The general feeling is that the public, who genuinely loved Kaiserin Hildegarde, wouldn’t stand for a distant relative, while the liberals, who are a vocal minority in the government, wouldn’t stand for the Raumarine officer.
After a marathon eighteen hour session the Reichstag announces that Kaiserin Hildegarde’s younger son, Johann, has been chosen to succeed her. There is surprise among the political cognoscenti, who had predicted that the very liberal Johann would not be chosen by a largely conservative Reichstag. Rumors immediately spring up of back-door deals and compromises both within the Reichstag and between the Reichstag and the new Kaiser.
Kaiser Johann I is crowned in a massive ceremony one week later, making him the fourth Kaiser of the Greater European Reich. In his first speech to the nation he promises to take the government in a new direction, to create a more compassionate and humane nation for all of the peoples of the Earth. His first act is to appoint his Council of Ministers. The new Council is a mixed bag. The Minister of War is a hard-line conservative, as is the Minister of the Interior. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Reich Territories are both Social Democrats, as is the new Kaiser. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Reich Territories, in conjunction with the Kaiser’s office, begin a radical reorganization of their Ministries and a review of their priorities.
The practical effects of all of this are relatively small, at least for now. The Reich’s citizens mourn the passing of a favored Monarch, and then get on with their lives. The citizen’s representatives in the Reichstag are concerned about the “new direction”, but are satisfied with the compromise that they have reached with the new Kaiser. What was unforeseen by any within the Reichstag, and indeed was likely unforeseeable, was the far reaching effects this succession would have throughout the other nations.
May 18, 2032
The USSR
The news of the death of the Kaiserin reached the Kremlin within minutes of the event being reported in the Reich. Deep within the bowls of the building, Colonel Dmitri Popov, KGB, sat within his small office considering the situation. After several minutes of examining the fact of the death of the European monarch, and its likely impact on international relations, he made up his mind. After letting his secretary know where he was headed, he proceeded down the long halls of the old building, lost in thought. As he went he passed numerous hulking guards, each of which was dressed in midnight black body armor and whose faced were largely covered by glittering implants that let them see far better than a normal human. The guards had far more significant enhancements elsewhere in areas that weren’t currently visible, but Popov had seen them all before and was, in any case, one of the people most responsible for the implant program. This was nothing new to him, even if some of the implants and their capabilities would have been of extreme interest to the other powers.
After threading the maze-like interior of the building Colonel Popov arrived at his destination, the office of his nominal superior, General Fedoseev. The General was aware that he was coming, but still made him wait. It didn’t bother Popov much, as that was the way of things in the Soviet Union. Getting mad at waiting would be like getting mad at the weather, less than useless. After cooling his heels for ten minutes in the General’s outer office Popov was ushered into the inner sanctum of the man who was responsible for Technological Security in the Soviet Union. He braced to attention and saluted.
“Sit.” General Fedoseev waived at the stuffed chairs facing his desk. “What can I do for you today, Dmitri?”
“Sir, have you seen the reports about the Reich?”
“Yes, what of them?”
Popov leaned forward in his chair. “Sir, this is our opportunity! This is the perfect time to implement Winter Heat!”
Fedoseev leaned back in his chair, looking at Popov interestedly. “What makes you think so, Dmitri?”
“Sir, when the Presidium last considered Winter Heat, they decided that the reaction of the other nations was too unpredictable, as was the level of our incapacitation during the installation phase. Since then we have had more time to study the situation, and can predict the results much better, and with the death of the Kaiserin we have the opportunity of a lifetime. The Reich will be preoccupied with internal matters for months to come, and their foreign policy will be uncertain as their new ruler and his advisors try to learn their jobs. This is the perfect time, and this opportunity will not recur for years, if ever. We must move now!”
Fedoseev sat still for a few minutes, considering. The Presidium was reluctant to take a drastic step like Winter Heat, for the reasons they had given him as well as others they wished to keep hidden or that the refused to face. Things had been changing, though, and not for the better. The Soviet Union had last its fleet twice now, first in the battle against the damned Japanese off of Titan, and most recently against the alien Novarans. The first defeat cost the USSR the mine complexes that it had painstakingly established on Titan, while the second had lost the USSR its international standing and any respect that any of the other nations had had for its military. The final blow, and the one that was dragging them all down, was the war between the Reich and the Africans. The radiation was causing untold hardship throughout the USSR, and they had no outlet. Unlike the other nations they had no out-system colonies, only mining complexes. The Presidium had been trying to organize a colony in the Psi Serpentis system, but industrial efficiencies were way down due to the radiation and now worker shortages were further eroding productivity. Unrest was rising throughout the Soviet Union, and the bad feelings were targeted directly at the Party and the Presidium that the people increasing felt had led them to a dead end. Several uprising had already occurred in remote areas. The uprisings were limited and were bloodily put down by KGB troops, but the loyalty of the Army was becoming increasingly questionable. Coming to a decision Fedoseev leaned forward. “Do you think it can work?
“I know it can work! We’ve thought of everything! You know, better than anyone, the increased efficiencies we’ve achieved from the basic implant technology. Winter Heat can triple that, easily! And the security inherent in the system cannot be overestimated. Think about it. When the new system is up and running we will have real time thought monitoring. Disloyal thought detection, keyword searches for all communication, we can do it all. And it will be our office that controls all of that. We will be THE primary security apparatus for the State.” Popov caught himself, realizing that he was getting ahead of himself. “Of course, we need a trial run first. We are prepared to go forward in a major city, Leningrad, right now. Once we’ve proved the concept we can nation-wide in a matter of weeks. We can do this!”
Fedoseev was very aware of what Winter Heat would do for his division, which was why he had given Popov and his people as much support as he had. He sighed. The Presidium was growing desperate, but they were afraid. They were afraid of the implications of Winter Heat, they were afraid of the growing discontent, and they were afraid that the other countries were growing beyond them. It was time to see what they were more afraid of. “The Presidium is growing concerned about the unrest. This may be what they are looking for. I will take this to the Presidium. If they give permission, how long until you can implement Winter Heat?”
“Two weeks. Maybe three if we start preparing now.”
“Make your preparations, but take no other action without approval. Understood?”
Popov braced to attention. “Perfectly, Comrade General!”
The two parted. Popov left the building and was driven to a nondescript office complex on the outskirts of Moscow. The building was deceptive. On the surface it looked like hundreds of other grey office complexes in the area. Project Winter Heat was buried deep beneath the building. Entering the building, Popov walked through three separate scanners which verified his identity and the fact that he carried no contraband such as weapons or any type of unauthorized data storage modules or other electronic equipment. Finally, after passing through two physical security stations, he entered an elevator which immediately began descending. The car descended over two hundred feet before stopping and opening on yet another security station.
Popov passed through all of the security without really noticing. His mind was really on the great computers housed in the rooms beyond the security stations. The computers that were at the heart of Winter Heat. In spite of the confidence that he projected to his superior, he had some concerns. The computers that they were depending on were the latest technology obtained from the Alliance and the Reich through both above-board methods and other, less reputable methods. They represented a huge technological leap in computing, and unfortunately neither he nor any of his people really understood how they worked. Quantum computing was just too new, too revolutionary. The benefits were enormous, though. Using quantum entanglement to link the implants with the central computers meant that communications were instantaneous, or very nearly so, and also meant that the communications couldn’t be detected by any means. Unfortunately it only provided communications over planetary distances, so they hadn’t discovered an FTL communications system.
They were pretty sure how it all worked, but every experiment they had run had had small anomalies that they couldn’t explain. They weren’t major or important, but none of his people could explain the results either. He had become convinced after the last experimental run that no one on his team really understood the computers and how they worked. He was pretty sure that they did understand enough to make it work, though, and they couldn’t go back. He couldn’t tell his superiors what was going on, because his career, and possibly his life, was linked to this project. They were languishing now, in limbo. If he was upfront about his misgivings then they would pull the plug completely, and his career would be over. If enough of his superiors were discomfited then his life might well be in jeopardy as well.
Popov shook his head as he walked into his office at the heart of the complex and shut the door. He brought up the latest test results and began reviewing them, hoping that the Presidium would approve his proposal for a test run even as he fought his fear that was rooted in his lack of understanding of the test results.
Even as Colonel Popov sat at his desk General Fedoseev was being ushered into the latest meeting of the Presidium. He hid a smile as he felt the tension in the air. The Presidium was deeply concerned about the increasing unrest, far more than he had hinted to Popov. They were looking for a magic wand that they could waive and get them out of the corner into which they had painted themselves, and he intended to give them that wand. In one fell swoop his relatively obscure directorate within the KGB would be catapulted to national prominence. The Presidium would be relying on them for everything. If the nation’s leaders were as panicked as he thought they were then he was pretty sure that he could get them to approve a full national rollout, skipping the smaller test phase completely. Once the system was out and in place there would be no limit to his future.
The Presidium meeting had been going on for six hours before Fedoseev arrived. The news was steadily worsening, and a mutiny of army troops was feared to be imminent. Some in the outer areas had already killed their officers and gone into the hills. The Presidium was grasping at straws, and Fedoseev gave them what they were looking for. Winter Heat, he promised, would place controls in the hands of the government that would make all of this moot. By linking every Soviet citizen’s implant through Winter Heat’s central computers, new levels of efficiency and control would be possible that were undreamed of by earlier generations. Any Soviet citizen would be able to talk to any other citizen instantaneously, merely by thinking it. Of course, because these communications went through Winter Heat’s computers they could monitor them in real-time, and, or so Popov promised, edit the conversations in such a way that disloyal speech could be eliminated. Indeed, extrapolating from what Popov had told him Fedoseev had promised the Presidium the ability to control the average citizen’s thoughts, something that, given the current problems, they were very interested in.
The Presidium authorized an immediate national implementation. Winter Heat was given the go ahead not only with the Presidium’s blessing but their requirement to implement it as soon as possible. Things were going downhill quickly.
Nineteen days later
One by one the other nations on the Earth awoke to the realization that something was going on in Russia. The Alliance was the last to come to that realization as they were focused more on Japan and Europe. The Indians, the Japanese, and the Reich all realized something was going on fairly quickly. The Soviet Union had fallen silent. All radio and television transmissions were gone. When orbital telescopes were turned on the USSR all they saw were apparently empty cities. There were no cars moving, no planes or trains or ships. There weren’t even any pedestrians. The USSR appeared to be empty. The lights were on, just like normal, but no one was home.
Each of the nations went through similar process. First they checked with their border guards, who confirmed that there were no Russian troops in sight, even in established border crossing stations. Then they checked with the Soviet Embassies located in their major cities. Every single one was unresponsive, locked up tight, with what appeared to be automated defenses active. Intelligence analysts quickly decided that this was a planned event, given the lack of car crashes, or downed air planes.
Hours went by while the other governments tried to decide what to do. The Japanese were the first to react. Two hours and sixteen minutes after Russia had fallen silent the Japanese Army dispatched a special forces team composed of genetically engineered Chinese soldier-variants across the border. They crossed in a remote area without opposition, but when they approached a small town they were brought under withering fire from heavy defenses and were forced to retreat.
Four hours and forty minutes after the event began, even as the leaders of the other nations were trying to decide what to do the event ended. Without fanfare the Soviet people reappeared in their cities as if they had never been gone. Cars moved, ships sailed, and planes flew. There were a few differences, though. Radio and television transmissions never came back. It was as if the Soviets had found a new way to communicate. Contact was reestablished shortly afterward with the Soviet Ambassadors in their Embassies, but no explanation was every forthcoming for the event.
The other nations quickly began noting differences in the Soviets. Always cold and distrustful, the Soviet Ambassadors were now distant and seemed to be changed men. In addition, every spy and double agent employed by the other four powers disappeared during the event. Every single one. That didn’t become clear until much later, of course.
There were other changes as well, some of which were obvious to the other nations as they stepped up their orbital surveillance programs. Overnight the USSR leaped ahead by decades in terms of productivity and efficiency, seemingly by magic. It would take the other nations months to compile enough data to come to any conclusions, but eventually they would be able to determine that Soviet productivity in nearly every area had jumped by an average of forty percent. This wasn’t enough to make them a serious threat to the Reich or the Alliance, but it did put them back within striking range of the Japanese Empire, which had drawn ahead during the last decade.
Other changes weren’t as obvious, at least not at first. The Soviet military, known since its start for its rigid thought patterns and unbending strategies and tactics, suddenly began acting very strangely when they were observed conducting exercises. Their actions didn’t seem to make much sense until studied in greater detail, but once the studies were completed it appeared that the Soviet Army had developed an entirely new way of conducting war, again, seemingly overnight.
Project Winter Heat had been a success beyond the wildest dreams of its creators. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t live to see this success. During the “Event” there were numerous incidents that resulted in several hundred people being killed across the nation. This had been anticipated as it was very difficult to shut down an entire country, even one centrally directed like the USSR. One of those “incidents” involved a fire at a small nondescript office complex on the outskirts of Moscow. The fire didn’t damage the computers that were buried deep within the complex, but they did produce enough smoke and other byproducts to kill everyone in the building, including Colonel Popov and his administrators, programmers, and engineers.
July, 2032
The USSR closes its border with all of its neighbors. While the USSR has never been welcoming to guests, this is a complete shutdown of all contact, physical and electronic, with the sole exception of its embassies around the world.
August, 2032
The USSR closes its embassies in all other nations, withdrawing its personnel back to Russia. Before leaving, the Russian Ambassador to the Reich gave a very serious and impassioned speech to the Reich employees of his Embassy, claiming that the “Reich’s policies of purple embasement would ultimately lead to the unflugerment of humanity.” And variations on that theme. The confusing speech appeared to make perfect sense to the Russians present for the event, and was recorded by several employees and turned over to the Reich government. Analysis is ongoing, but Reich analysts have become convinced that the speech is most likely an attempt to confuse the government.
During the closing of the Russian embassy in New York, the Russian Ambassador contacted the Alliance’s Combined Intelligence Services and requested asylum. Once taken into protective custody, the Ambassador claimed that his implant had malfunctioned some time ago, and voiced his suspicion that the odd behaviors of his people were related to an extensive new program downloaded through their implants. Unfortunately, the Ambassador, a CIS doctor, and three CIS agents were killed when they tried to surgically remove the Ambassador’s implant for study. The implant exploded with enough force to destroy the room the operation was taking place in, ending the effort fairly dramatically.
August 2032
The Reich finally completes its R&D program and the designs for the first Raumarine ships to be equipped with rail guns are finalized. The first ship is the Graf Spee class Light Cruiser:
Graf Spee class Light Cruiser 7200 tons 605 Crew 1392.2 BP TCS 144 TH 720 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 8-33 Shields 0-0 Sensors 42/0/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 46
Annual Failure Rate: 103% IFR: 1.4% Maintenance Capacity 483 MSP
IGF Magneto-plasma Drive (9) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 83.3 billion km (192 days at full power)
Quad 100mm PD Gauss Cannon Turret (1x12) Range 30,000km TS: 12800 km/s Power 0-0 RM 3 ROF 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
15cm Advanced Railgun (1st Gen) (2x5) Range 90,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 9-3 RM 3 ROF 15 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
MB Fire Control (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 4800 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
AM Gauss Trt Fire Control (1) Max Range: 32,000 km TS: 12800 km/s 69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Small Stellarator Fusion Reactor (1) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Mk 2 AM Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 168 Range 1.7m km Resolution 1
Mk 2 SM Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 3360 Range 33.6m km Resolution 60
Mk 2 MDM Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
The Raumarine High Command is somewhat disappointed in this design. At 1,700 tons the quad turret is massive, meaning that only two 15 cm advanced rail guns could be installed. This ship is intended to act as an escort for Raumarine heavy ships, and as a frontline combatant in the Hamburg system.
The second new design is the Baden class monitor:
Baden class Monitor 6500 tons 804 Crew 1280 BP TCS 130 TH 160 EM 0
1230 km/s Armour 12-31 Shields 0-0 Sensors 70/0/0/0 Damage Control Rating 12 PPV 48
Annual Failure Rate: 28% IFR: 0.4% Maintenance Capacity 1477 MSP
IGF Magneto-plasma Drive (2) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 80,000 Litres Range 36.9 billion km (347 days at full power)
15cm Advanced Railgun (1st Gen) (8x5) Range 90,000km TS: 3200 km/s Power 9-3 RM 3 ROF 15 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
MB Fire Control (2) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 4800 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Small Stellarator Fusion Reactor (4) Total Power Output 24 Armour 0 Exp 5%
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
This ship is intended to operate either in Earth’s orbit or in the Hamburg nebula.
September, 2032
The Reich’s first terraforming ship is launched. It is immediately dispatched to Nue Berlin.
October, 2032
Two warp point surveys are completed within the Hamburg warp chain, both with the same result – no new warp points in the system. While this fact isn’t particularly interesting to the survey crews except operationally, when the news finally reaches Raumarine Headquarters in Berlin there is much consternation among those in charge of Reich exploration. The Hamburg warp chain now consists of ten systems extending, at its farthest extent, five jumps from Earth. The results of the two latest surveys mean that there is only one system in the chain still un-surveyed, and no systems with known unexplored warp points. If the survey of Osnabruck system comes up empty then the Hamburg chain will be fully explored, with no outlets for Reich expansion.
November, 2032
IEG #2 completes its warp point survey of the Osnabruck system, finding one additional warp point. When the 2nd’s jumpship transits through the newly discovered warp point it discovers a binary F9/K3 system that the ship’s scientists quickly identify as Gamma Leporis, 29.25 light years from Earth. The system contains three colony cost 2.0 worlds, two of which appear to close to Earth-norm and thus can be easily transformed to a lower colony cost. Unfortunately, the secondary star in this system is very far out, along with one of the colony cost 2.0 planets, likely meaning that it will never be explored or colonized. The grav survey ships of the 2nd IEG are called forward to Gamma Leporis to begin their survey, while the geo survey ships finish in Osnabruck.
December, 2032
The Reich government, and in particular the new Kaiser, is embarrassed by riots on Nue Berlin. As part of his new cultural sensitivity program the Kaiser stepped up population transfers to Nue Berlin. Unfortunately, this caused scheduling conflicts with the Reich’s transport fleet, a significant portion of which was occupied transporting jump gate components to support the construction ships working to extend the jump gate network to Iota Piscum. The Raumarine advised against shifting colony ships from the Venus run to the Nue Berlin run, as Venus is completely Earth-like at this point and new colonists would not need any additional infrastructure support, unlike on Nue Berlin, which is very cold and requires significant investments of infrastructure to ensure the survival of new colonists. The Kaiser and his advisors ignored this advice, for various reasons, and the riots are the result. The population on Nue Berlin now exceeds available infrastructure by 10%, causing much unrest.
By order of the Kaiser all available transport capacity is shifted to transport infrastructure from Earth and Venus to Nue Berlin as soon as possible. In addition, the Raumarine begins shifting Wehrmacht military police and engineering divisions to Nue Berlin to deal with the unrest.
Intelligence Update, December 2032
Current National Boundaries:
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Radiation woes continue on Earth. Industrial productivity remains 17% below previous norms, while the average temperature Earth-wide remains 8.5 degrees below normal. At the current time only the Reich and the Japanese Empire have surplus population on Earth. The Reich has this advantage as a result of its absorption of the North African Territories, while the Japanese have always maintained a large surplus of Chinese laborers against contingencies. The Alliance is currently experiencing severe shortages related to its absorption of the African Union, which had its own population problems.
The Alliance
The Alliance is searching for ways to reduce its worker shortages on Earth. Both Mars and New Boston currently have worker surpluses, so once freighters are freed up to transfer construction factories from Earth to Mars, and mines from Mars to New Boston, the shortages on Earth should lessen, but won’t be solved. Currently, most of the Alliance’s freighters are occupied moving the Alliance’s fuel refineries to a storage depot on Alpha Cephi III, thus reducing worker demand on Earth.
The Alliance’s colony transports are divided almost equally between the Mars run and the New Boston run. In practice this means that Mars receives more colonists due to the fact that a round trip to New Boston takes thirty six days, compared to five days for the Mars run (including loading and offloading times). Terraforming efforts on both Mars and New Boston have effectively reduced the colony cost factors on both worlds, and Mars is very nearly Earth-normal, while New Boston is under 1.0 (0.9577).
Currently, the Alliance is planning on continuing the transfer of construction factories from Earth to Mars, and mines from both Earth and Mars to New Boston. There are also plans to transfer all of the remaining fuel refineries on Earth to New Boston, making it the Alliance’s fuel refining center. The recent launch of three tankers with a combined total of 8.7 million liters of fuel storage makes this plan a reasonable possibility. The population of Mars is now 330 million, while New Boston is 24.5 million.
The Alliance Navy has remained stable over the last few years. Two new Arleigh Burke class dreadnoughts were built during this period, along with several support ships. For the most part the Alliance’s shipyards have been devoted to building up the Terraforming Corps and the civilian transport fleet.
The Alliance archeological mission on New Anchorage in the Tau Ceti system continues to bear fruit. To date 2 tracking stations, 10 maintenance facilities, 2 construction factories, 7 ordnance factories, three fuel refineries, 31 mines, 11 automated mines, 1 terraforming installation, 4 research labs, 15 jump gate components, and various amounts of mercassium, sorium, and corundium have been found. The Ancient crypts have almost been fully excavated, with only 17 of the crypts typically used to entomb mining equipment remaining to be investigated.
The Reich
The Reich is still recovering from the death of the Kaiserin and the ascension of the new Kaiser. A complete re-evaluation of the government’s policies is underway, and this has caused more than a little confusion throughout the nation. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Reich’s colonization program. The new Kaiser has seized on this program as one way that he can express his concern for downtrodden minorities within the Reich, by giving them a new start on distant planets. Unfortunately, the Reich colonization program was already stretched by the previous government’s attempts to deal with the huge demand for transport by the middle-class and the corporations, both of which were trying to flee the increased radiation on Earth. Throwing the old program into turmoil, and then shifting priorities away from central European populations towards the populations on the fringes of the Reich has made the government unpopular in its traditional strongholds in Germany, France, and Poland.
A demonstration of this confusion can be seen in the changes to the Reich’s colonization program over the last several months. First, the Kaiser issued an Imperial order moving the Bureau of Colonization, which controls the Reich’s colony ships, from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Territories, which just happened to be controlled by a Social Democrat. This transfer took place in spite of opposition within the Reichstag from the conservatives, who still controlled a majority within that body. Once the transfer was complete the Minister of the Territories issued new regulations that gave priority for transport to minority peoples, particularly those from the outer Territories. This too was done in spite of opposition within the Reichstag, where there was strong support for the current program that favored those with economic means, which in essence favored central European countries.
Once these changes were made shipments of “economically disadvantaged” peoples from the fringes of the Reich started, primarily to Venus as that was the closest destination. After only a few shipments the Venusian representatives within the Reichstag began loudly complaining about Earth “dumping” its poor and untrained problems on Venus. Given the fact that Venus’ 249 million residents comprised over 14% of the Reich’s total population, the Kaiser was forced to back down from his plans in the face of opposition in both the Reichstag and from the public. Shortly thereafter the colonization program shifted most of its assets to the Nue Berlin run, and shipments of economically disadvantaged people resumed, this time to a location with less political clout. Unfortunately, terraforming efforts on Nue Berlin have barely begun, and the influx of new colonists rapidly outstripped available housing and resources, resulting in deadly riots and a general breakdown in order as desperate newcomers battle established colonists for food and shelter.
Facing criticism in the Reichstag and ridicule from the press, the Kaiser has dismissed his Minister of the Interior and installed a replacement, also from the Social Democrat party. In addition, martial law was declared on Nue Berlin, and Wehrmacht divisions are being transported even now to quell the riots and restore order. For now the colony program has been returned to the old standards while the Kaiser and his advisors reconsider their approach.
Venus currently has a population of 249 million, while Nue Berlin has a population of 35.2 million and Nue Paris has a population of 2.4 million. Venus is primarily devoted to mining and to Raumarine and Wehrmacht support activities, which include munitions production, maintenance facilities, ground division training, and research and development. Nue Berlin is almost completely devoted to mining, while Nue Paris has not been developed as of yet.
The Raumarine has remained stable over the last several years, although this is changing. The first Von Roeder class dreadnoughts are due to launch in January and February of 2033, and five new Baden class monitors will launch in April of 2034. Most of the Reich’s slipways have been devoted to building up its freight and colony transport capabilities, along with various other projects like the terraforming fleet and fleet support capacities.
The Nue Duisberg archeological project has made good progress. To date 1 tracking station, 25 maintenance facilities, 8 construction factories, 2 ordnance facilities, 22 mines, 9 automated mines, 3 mass drivers, 1 terraforming installation, 1 research lab, 20 jump gate components, over 5,000,000 liters of fuel, and quantities of three trans-Newtonian minerals have been located. In addition, advanced rail gun technology was recovered from the Ancient cities, along with several other supporting technologies. This incredible find represents a tiny portion of the overall project, though, and over 2,800 crypts remain to be exploited.
The Japanese Empire
The Empire has been almost completely focused on building up its presence in the Gliese-204 and Gliese-818 systems. As of December 2032 there are 133 automated mines on three planets or moons in the Gliese-818 system, and Imperial industry on Earth is producing even more automated mines which will be transported to the system as soon as possible. Gliese-204 is the location of the Kobe colony, which now boasts nearly 4 million colonists working in 48 mining complexes. Of the 4 million colonists, 3.8 million are ethnic Chinese clones of the “worker” or “organizer” variants, while the remaining 200,000 are Japanese overseers and managers.
The Japanese government has been focusing on building up the Kobe colony, however, there is a dawning awareness that the current methods are inevitably limited. Kobe is a colony cost 3.8 world, with an environment that is far too cold and an atmosphere with no oxygen to support life, meaning that huge amounts of infrastructure have to be transported into the system to maintain the colony. In addition, two of the Empire’s five jump ships must be retained on the warp points to these two systems to allow the freighters and colony ships of the transport fleet to transit into and out of the systems. One of the Nagato class jump ships has been on station for over four years at this point, and while the Nagato class was built with long duration missions in mind, this level of commitment will be difficult to maintain in the long run. The Japanese government is seriously considering a shift in R&D and shipyard resources towards projects that will alleviate this situation.
The Kumamoto archeological project has reactivated six installations and 100 large Ancient missiles, and eleven crypts remain.
The USSR
The USSR underwent a fundamental change in 2032, the extent of which still isn’t clear. The Event occurred in May-June of 2032. In July of that year Russia closed its borders, and in August it withdrew its Ambassadors, completely closing itself off from the rest of the nations on Earth.
So far the USSR’s fleet movements have remained unchanged, with ships going out on training missions and freighters and colony ships departing regularly. The other nations have grasped on to this visible demonstration of normality in the hopes that the changes they have seen are merely temporary or cosmetic. A large number of reports have been coming in from the various national intelligence services, though, that point to a large number of abnormalities currently going on in the USSR.
The Russians have undertaken a number of large scale construction projects deep within their borders since The Event. Some appear to be completely incomprehensible, like the construction of three very large dams deep in a remote area far from rivers or other suitable waterways. Others are completely comprehensible and deeply frightening, like the nearly overnight conversion of the bulk of the USSR’s mining capacity to automation, using methods currently unknown.
Extensive surveillance undertaken by all of the other nations on Earth, both electronic and orbital/visual, have revealed the existence of these projects, but have given little understanding of what is going on inside of Russia. Electronic transmissions, both radio and television, have fallen off to nothing, a seeming impossibility unless the Russians have gone over to hard-wire communications in preference to broadcast, a seeming impossibility given the short time period attendant with the falloff in transmissions. All attempts by espionage teams to penetrate Russian territory have failed, usually fatally and suddenly.
Indian Republic
The Indian Republic has been focusing on its colony in the Gliese-754 system. The colony of Ludhiana currently has a population of 7.6 million, most of which are employed in the three R&D facilities shipped to the planet so far. In addition, forty-seven automated mines have been emplaced on the moons of Gliese-754 III, and the resources mined by those moons are transferred via mass drivers to Ludhiana for eventual shipment to Earth.
Indian terraforming efforts have finally increased the percentage of oxygen in Ludhiana’s atmosphere to a breathable level, however, this has also put the percentage of oxygen over 30%, which is too high and must be reduced before it can be considered breathable. As the planet’s temperature also needs to be reduced the terraformers in orbit have switched over to converting planetary material into safe anti-greenhouse gases, which will serve the dual purpose of reducing the overall percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere and cool the planet.
Indian survey fleets have discovered ten systems beyond Gliese-754. These systems include several planets that would make good colony sites, and several good mining sites, but India’s transport capacity and industrial might have barely sufficed to exploit the Gliese-754 system, so those systems will have to wait.
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