January 18, 2362
The Empire’s leading defense systems researcher, Mark Arnold, dies of natural causes on Venus on this date. The loss is keenly felt, and research on defense related technologies will suffer from this date.
February 2, 2362
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet arrives at the innermost unexplored warp point in the Kruger 60 system. After taking a short time to reorganize, elements of the fleet jump through to the far side.
Almost immediately cheers rang out across the bridge of the command battleship North Carolina. This was the first transit into an unexplored system for the 2nd Battle Group, hopefully the first of many. Less than five minutes later more cheers broke out as the system was identified as Teegarden’s Star, a small red star less than 12 light years from Terra. This system was well known in the old Empire and was home to two major populations before the collapse. Admiral Franklin, after calming his people, orders a scan of the system.
The results are ominous. The 2nd, along with its attendant Guard units, are 1.2 billion kilometers from the star and its innermost planets, which include the two former Imperial populations. That is well within the active scan capability of the Guard scout, but there are no contacts within range. Worse, while passive scans and science instruments confirm that Teegarden’s Star II, known under the old Empire as Wayland, and the second moon of Teegarden’s Star IV, known as New Arabia, are still there, they are both colder than they were, and their atmospheres don’t seem quite right.
Admiral Franklin orders the 2nd to proceed directly to Wayland. He orders the Guard detachment to head for New Arabia to determine the status of that planet.
February 5, 2362
The 2nd BG arrives over Wayland to find something horrible. The planet’s radiation level is high enough that it should glow in the dark, and the location of nearly every city recorded in the old databases is marked by large craters indicative of large-yield fusion weapons. Careful study indicates that the disaster took place approximately one hundred years ago, but remarkably only now is the atmosphere finally clearing of the dust thrown up during whatever disaster befell the colonists. The planet’s average temperature is still approximately 10 degrees lower than it was, and the radiation level won’t drop enough for the planet to be considered habitable for several decades, at the very least. Possibly centuries.
Two hours and twenty minutes later the Guard detachment arrives at New Arabia to find the same thing. Given the radiation levels there is no hope of finding survivors, so Admiral Franklin orders the groups to depart the system. Admiral Franklin will recommend that an archeological team return, as there are extensive ruins on both planets, and study might reveal the story behind the horrible events that obviously transpired here.
February 10, 2362
The 1st EF jumps into a new system from Kruger 60 through the second unexplored warp point. This system is a binary system with an M3-V primary and an M4-V secondary star. The primary is orbited by two chunks barely worth calling planets and some comets, but the secondary star is orbited by three terrestrial planets and two gas giants. The second planet out from the secondary star has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, but is colder than humans prefer. The system is quickly identified as EQ Pegasi, which was unknown to the old Empire. The fleet heads for the inner system to begin a civilization probe.
February 13, 2352
The Venus, the Empire’s third Planet class Superdreadnought, is launched from the Terran yards. The Venus departs on a short shakedown cruise, but then immediately returns to the yard for a refit with the latest technology.
February 29, 2362
The Verge shipyard is certified by the Imperial Navy. The shipyard, which was originally built by the old Empire, has three slipways and is now capable of producing the Lexington class frigate for the Imperial Navy. Work begins immediately on new frigates.
March 5, 2362
The 1st EF jumps through the last unexplored warp point in Kruger 60. The fleet appears approximately three billion kilometers from a very dim stellar remnant. The white dwarf is orbited by a single frozen rock currently in between the jump point and the star. Admiral Franklin orders the fleet to check the rock for signs of civilization before moving on.
March 9, 2362
The Imperial yards in Terran orbit complete expansion and refit work, and begin construction on the Empire’s first two General class heavy cruisers, the MacArthur and Rommel.
March 17, 2362
At 1457 hours, the Terran geo-survey ship Granville, having completed its survey of the LHS 292 system’s single planet, and now closing in on the system’s only other object, a comet 4.1 billion kilometers from the system primary, detects a thermal source 60 mkm’s ahead, in between the Granville and its destination. The Granville’s CO, Commander Catherine Howarth, orders the ship to come to halt and for the ship’s active sensors to be brought up. There are no other Terran ships in this system, so this is either a new alien race, or someone that the Empire has already contacted.
After a few seconds the sensors power up and returns begin coming back. It took the ship’s computer a few extra seconds to crunch the numbers, then a tentative ID came up. The contact was a 7,200 ton ship with an emission profile that matched the automated warships encountered most recently in the Wolf 359 system approximately 10 years ago. Commander Howarth orders her ship to come about and head back to the warp point to Wolf 359 at maximum speed. Shortly thereafter, the contact went into pursuit at 5,555 kps. Fortunately, the Granville’s top speed was 7,500 kps, comfortably higher than the pursuer.
The presence of the automated warship was confusing. The LHS-292 system only had two bodies, a super jovian with no moons and no sorium, and the comet that the Granville was approaching when it discovered the automated warship. The warship was in deep space, in fairly close proximity to the comet, but only at this point in the comet’s eccentric orbit and it wasn’t close to anything else, including anywhere that a gravitic survey ship would go. All of these questions were filed along with the data on the contact as the Granville retreated.
Nineteen hours later the automated warship fell off of the Granville’s sensors when it dropped beyond the fleeing survey ship’s sensor range.
March 26, 2362
The Granville arrives in the Solar System and reports its contact in LHS 292 system. The Granville proceeds to Terra for overhaul. The Imperial Guard claims jurisdiction over the automated warship, due to the likelihood that it will have advanced technology on board.
Meanwhile, in the Sirius system (located adjacent to the Wolf 359 system), the Ponce de Leon completes its geo-survey of the system. The results are astounding. There are no less than five planets and moons in the system that possess multiple resource deposits with one or more availability levels in excess of 0.8. In all cases the resources are present in quantities that range from millions to hundreds of millions of units. In addition, there is a planet and a moon that are somewhat easily terraformed, and both possess resource deposits. The Ponce de Leon sets out for home to report its find.
April 2, 2362
The 1st EF is ready to probe the first unexplored warp point in the EV Lacertae system. The fleet appears in a binary system with a G0-V primary and K7-V secondary star. Both stars have the usual complements of planetary attendants. Admiral Franklin orders the fleet to probe the system.
April 5, 2362
The Ponce de Leon arrives in the Solar System and reports its findings. A construction ship is dispatched to the Wolf 359 system to begin building a gate. In addition, orders are dispatched to the terraforming group to relocate to the Sirius system.
April 17, 2362
The Empire’s first Depot class ship, the Diego Garcia, is launched from the orbital yards. The Diego Garcia is a stupendous ship, more than three times as large as a Planet class superdreadnought. The ship can carry 5,000,000 liters of fuel and 20000 standard units of maintenance supplies, and, in addition, mounts fifteen fuel harvester modules that, with current technology, can produce 900,000 liters of fuel per year. Finally, this monster mounts a latest generation jump drive capable of conveying it unaided through a jump point.
The ship does have several drawbacks. First, its maximum speed, 3827 kps, is slower than the standard fleet speed, and thus can only keep up with the Flight I and II superdreadnoughts. Additionally, the ship is unarmed and unarmored, making it a big, slow target.
The Navy’s current plans for this class are as follows: Depot class units will be used to support major fleet deployments to frontier locations. To do so, Depot class units will move forward to a gas giant nearest to the area of deployment, but still within secure territory, and establish a forward base on one of that gas giant’s moons by dropping off the bulk of its fuel and supplies. It will then move into orbit of the gas giant and begin producing new fuel. UNREP class ships will then ferry the fuel and supplies forward to the fleet as needed.
The Navy views the employment of Depot and UNREP class units as essential to its ability to deploy major fleet units to forward locations and sustain them for useful amounts of time.
June 16, 2362
The 1st EF jumps through the second unexplored warp point in the EV Lacertae system. They find themselves in a binary system with a G5 sub-giant primary and an M9-V secondary star. The primary star is orbited by a terrestrial type planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, although the atmospheric pressure is 2.6 times that of Terra, and the average temperature is -91.8 degrees. The dim secondary star is orbited by a rocky planet and two gas giants.
After some study the Imperial scientists determine that the system is Mu Cassiopeiae, 24.6 light years from the Solar system. It was not known to the old Empire. The 1st EF sets out to probe the system for civilizations.
July 9, 2352
The 1st EF arrives at the last unexplored warp point in the EV Lacertae system. The fleet jumps through to find a single-star system with an M4-V central star. The star is orbited by three terrestrial type planets and three gas giants. Incredibly, two of the terrestrial planets have oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres, and one of the two is incredibly Terra-like. The planet has a gravity of 1.33, an atmosphere pressure of 1.42, an average surface temperature of 4.5 degrees, and 92% of the surface is covered by water. The system is determined to be Gliese 445, and was unknown to the old Empire. Admiral Franklin dispatches the Imperial Guard to probe the system.
August 28, 2362
The 1st EF arrives at the sole unexplored warp point in the Gliese 745 system. After refueling from the attached UNREP ship, the combat elements of the fleet jumps through the warp point. They arrive in a planet-less system with a K2-V primary. This system was known to the old Empire, but there are no planets, asteroids, or comets, so there is no reason to remain in the system, so the EF jumps out.
September 10, 2362
The first two Island class scouts, the Guam and the Malta, are launched from the orbital yards. They join the 1st and 3rd Battle Groups, respectively.
September 21, 2362
The 1st EF is mustered at the innermost unexplored warp point in the Wolf 922 system. After refueling the combat elements of the fleet jumps through the warp point. The 1st appears 5.2 billion kilometers from a blazing A6-V star that is quickly identified as Delta Capricorni, 39 light years from the Solar System. Delta Capricorni is twice the size and mass of Sol, and a blinding eighteen times as luminous. The star is orbited by a small asteroid belt, three terrestrial type planets, three gas giants, and several chunks. One of the terrestrial planets is incredibly Terra-like, with a gravity of .76, an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with a pressure of .58, and an average temperature of 37.3 degrees. The planet’s surface is 48% water. The planet orbits Delta Capricorni nearly three times as far out as Terra’s orbit, at 434 mkm’s. This system was not known to the old Empire.
Admiral Franklin orders the 1st into the system to probe for civilizations.
September 22, 2362
The 1st EF has traveled 585 mkm’s in-system, towards the eleventh planet. As it continues in-system the Guard’s old-tech scout suddenly picks up a thermal and EM contact on the Terra-like planet in the inner system. The readings are substantially lower than the equivalent EM and thermal strengths for Terra or Mars, indicating a smaller and possibly less advanced or industrialized population.
Admiral Franklin orders the 1st forward to the eleventh planet, where it will stop and wait for a response from the aliens. One hour later a transmission from the planet is received. The language is incomprehensible, but the video signal is quickly sorted out and the Imperials get their first look at the aliens. They are lizard-like beings, looking sort of like a bipedal tyrannosaur. Their language is composed of hisses and clicks. Admiral Franklin orders his scientists and Administrator Lily Howells’ diplomacy team to begin working on deciphering the alien’s language and establish contact.
Once that is done Admiral Franklin dispatches the Imperial Guard group back to the warp point to secure their exit point. The Far Eye deactivates its sensors as it retreats. At the same time he orders his battleships to activate their sensors, to prevent an alien force from sneaking up on the Imperial force.
Twenty four hours later the 2nd Battle Group settles into orbit around Delta Capricorni XI, a small chunk of rock orbiting the primary at 4.1 billion kilometers. The Imperial Guard detachment is closing on the warp point, where it will observe the 2nd’s attempts to contact the aliens.
October 2, 2362
Progress on making contact with the aliens has been slow. Being four billion kilometers away is making it difficult to make progress. The science team has been recommending to Admiral Franklin that they need to be closer, so Admiral Franklin authorizes moving the fleet inward to the ninth planet, a gas giant two billion kilometers closer to the inner system.
October 5, 2362
The 2nd BG is approximately halfway to planet IX when its detectors reveal six contacts 386 mkm’s away. There are four 6,900 ton contacts, one 13,800 ton contact, and one 20,700 ton contact, and are moving towards the Terran ships at 2607 kps. Admiral Franklin immediately orders the group to come to a halt and sends a message to the aliens.
Twenty five hours later the alien fleet crosses an invisible line in space 150 mkm’s from the Terran battlegroup. Admiral Franklin immediately sends an urgent message to the aliens warning them to approach no closer. While he knows the aliens can’t understand the language, he hopes the imagery that accompanies the message will be unmistakable. The aliens continue to approach.
Five hours later the alien ships are 100 mkm’s away, and Admiral Franklin again sends a message ordering the aliens to come to a halt. Again there is no response and the aliens continue to approach. Admiral Franklin considers retreating. The Terran battle group is nearly twice as fast as the oncoming aliens, but if he retreats he won’t know their intentions. Admiral Franklin’s inclination is to find out now if the aliens are hostile, rather than waiting until they intrude into Imperial territory. Therefore, he orders his ships to activate their sensors and raise their shields, but leaves them where they are.
Five hours later the aliens were 50 mkm’s away and still coming forward. Once again Admiral Franklin sent a warning message, which was again ignored. At this point the alien ships were within range of the Terran Capital II and Standard III missiles that the battle group has in its magazines, but Admiral Franklin held his fire, wanting the aliens to make the first move.
Three hours later the alien ships passed 25 mkm’s, continuing in spite of yet another warning. At this point Admiral Franklin decided to open fire if the aliens approached to 10 mkm’s, or, of course, if they launched on the Terran force.
Shortly after the alien ships passed 25 mkm’s, the largest alien ship came to a halt, while the remaining five ships continued towards the Terran ships. Thirty minutes later eleven size 7 missiles appeared on the Terran ship’s screens 4.6 mkm’s away. Anti-missiles flashed away from the Terran battleships. The incoming missiles were moving at 11,390 kps, while the Terran anti-missile missiles were moving at 53000 kps. Sixty seconds later the Terran AMM’s intercepted the incoming missiles, achieving a one to one hit ratio. Admiral Franklin, observing the results of the alien missile strike, ordered his battle group to respond in kind. Before the Terran ships could launch a second salvo of eleven missiles appeared on 3.6 mkm’s from the fleet.
Shortly after that the Terran ships launched fifty four capital II and twenty four standard III missiles at the alien ships. The missiles were divided between the alien ships, with the capital ship missiles targeted on the nearer group and the standard missiles targeted on the large alien ship.
The second group of alien missiles was intercepted far short of the Terran fleet, as was the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh.
The Terran capital missile salvo sailed into the alien formation unopposed, and wiped out two of the four smaller alien ships and the mid-sized alien ship. The sensor data from the missile strike was very interesting. The mid-sized alien ship began losing atmosphere when the first missile hit, meaning it had little in the way of passive defenses. Six capital II missiles survived the attack on the mid-sized alien ship and retargeted themselves on one of the smaller ships, destroying it. The remaining two ships were heavily damaged.
Less than a minute later the standard missiles slammed into the largest alien ship, completely causing four secondary explosions and completely destroying it. At that point Admiral Franklin ordered two of his light cruisers to finish off the remaining alien ships. Seconds later a total of twelve standard missiles left the light cruisers. The missiles were more than enough to finish off the crippled ships.
With the enemy force destroyed, Admiral Franklin ordered his escorts to pick up the alien life pods. All told, 2,251 aliens were rescued from their life pods. Once the rescues were complete, Admiral Franklin ordered the Gallipoli, which was waiting at the warp point, to move forward and join his fleet. In the meantime he ordered the Guard detachment to return to Terra to inform the government of the developments in the system, and to convey his request for additional ground forces. Admiral Franklin only had three brigades in-system. Conquest of an entire alien planet would almost certainly require additional forces.
October 12, 2362
The troop transport Gallipoli joins the 2nd BG, and the combined force sets out for the alien home world. Their ETA is in just over eight days.
October 21, 2362
The 2nd BG arrives at its assembly point one mkm from the alien home planet. They detected a sizeable shipyard on the way in, and three large civilian ships moving away at 1097, but other than that the approach has been uneventful. Admiral Franklin orders his scientists to redouble their efforts to decipher the alien language. In the meantime the group will wait for the additional troops from Terra.
November 11, 2362
The Imperial Guard detachment from the 1st Expeditionary Fleet arrives in the Solar system with the reports from Admiral Franklin. While the Senate debates the development, embarkation begins for the reinforcements Admiral Franklin requested.
The Navy officially supports Admiral Franklin’s actions, and Admiral Tannenbaum personally speaks to the Emperor to support the Navy’s position. The expansionist parties in the Senate also approve of Admiral Franklin’s actions, and even the few isolationists are reluctant to let aliens who were willing to fire on Imperial ships without communicating first run around ungoverned. All in all, there is broad based support for the conquest of the aliens. The public’s reaction is generally positive as well.
November 23, 2362
Based on recent scientific and technical advances the Imperial Navy institutes a fleet-wide round of upgrades. This series of upgrades will be focused on increasing the defensive capabilities of the fleet, and will include advanced shields, ECM/ECCM, CIWS installations, and improved damage control. In addition, changes are made to several classes, removing full sized ECM/ECCM installations and replacing them with compact ECM/ECCM installations to save space. While the upgrades mean that construction of new units will fall, the Navy believes that the upgraded defensive capabilities of the existing ships will be well worth the cost.
November 29, 2362
The scientists attached to the 2nd BG finally decipher the alien language. Admiral Franklin immediately broadcasts a demand for surrender to the aliens, and orders his group to move forward into orbit around the planet. The aliens respond with demands of their own for the Terrans to leave their system. In addition, they accuse the Terrans of intruding in their space and claim that they merely acted in self-defense.
The Terran scientists gathered some information during the process of learning the alien language. The aliens are called the Ssssith, and their nation is called The People’s Republic of the Ssssith. As nearly as the scientists can determine, it is a form of despotism and appears to be extremely xenophobic and reactionary.
Based on the response, and the fact that reinforcements are likely en route from the home system, Admiral Franklin orders his three brigades to be landed and begin operations against the aliens.
December 3, 2362
Six troop transports loaded with eight combat brigades, along with replacement troops and garrison units, rendezvous with the 2nd Guard Detachment at the warp point to Proxima Centauri. The combined force sets out for Delta Capricorni. Their ETA at the Sssith home planet is fifty five days.
December 12, 2362
The Granville, a Terran geo-survey ship, detects a Ssssith outpost on the second moon of the seventh planet.
December 23, 2362
Resistance on the Ssssith home planet is collapsing. In spite of their fearsome appearance, the Ssssith had a small regular military that was completely overmatched by the three Terran brigades landed by Admiral Franklin.
Overall Situation in the Empire as of December 2362
The Imperial government has been under increasing economic pressure to change its policies concerning industrial facilities and shipyard installations. The Empire returned to the stars carrying with it the economic mindset of what was essentially a “one-system” government. During the years of its isolation the government had moved towards specialization of its populations, to maximize production and minimize control issues. Venus was the research center of the Empire, Terra was the seat of the government and where the ships were built, Mars was the industrial center, and Titan was the source of the resources that the rest of the system depended on. That system worked very well for a government that controlled just the one system.
When the Empire begin expanding it was fairly easy to maintain that system. The colonies the Empire established in the surrounding systems were established for the express purpose of mining resources needed by the construction concerns in the Solar System. This economic plan maximized the limited shipping capacity available to the Empire by focusing it on establishing automated mining complexes on uninhabitable planets, or crewed mining complexes on newly established colonies. Additionally, the travel times for the freighters establishing these complexes was relatively low, as these colonies were close to the home system.
All of this changed when the Empire began encountering former colony worlds. Both Verge and New Victoria are three jumps away from the Solar system, meaning that freighters transiting from the capital to these new Imperial possessions needed to make a total of six jumps. Still, in spite of the distance to these new possessions, the Imperial government faithfully tried to fit them within the planned Imperial economic framework. Research labs and industrial facilities were transferred back to the solar system while mines were shipped out to replace them. This effort absorbed a significant percentage of the transport capacity of the entire Empire and threatened to do so for a significant time stretching out into the future. Plans to shift mines from Mars and Titan to the systems adjacent to the solar system fell behind, and new plans to establish mining colonies to support the new possessions were shorted the transport capacity originally promised to them. The diversion of transport capacity was disastrous to the Empire’s ability to expand, particularly in light of the looming resource shortage in the solar system, as the vastly expanded shipyards over Terra consumed ever larger amounts of resources.
Finally, in the last half of 2362, the Senate acted. With the approval of the Emperor, the Senate has approved a new “nodal” format for the Empire. Under this format, nodes, such as New Victoria and the Solar System, will have well developed construction capacity, and will be supplied with resources from mining networks in the systems nearby, established from stocks of mines built at that node, eliminating the need to ship those mines all the way from the solar system.
This new economic plan will reduce demand on the Empire’s freight transport network, which has been identified as the bottleneck to further expansion.
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*Author’s Note: I did a careful count of Guard ships this time, and made sure I stuck to my combat/non-combat classifications as I counted. Most are non-brainers, but I think I flip-flopped on carriers. I now count them as combatants, and the count above is the one I came up with. There hasn’t been a Guard unit added in quite a while, so I’m not sure where that one came from, but there it is.
