March 28, 2363
The ongoing Zog geo-survey effort in the two systems colonized by the Planters reveals that Gliese 680 III has significant deposits of resources at good availability levels. This is very important as the resources on the Planter home-world are failing. Approximately 250,000 colonists on III have died since the infrastructure was removed and transported to the Planter home planet. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav orders the transport group to return the infrastructure immediately. In addition, he orders the surviving colonists on V to be transferred to III to work the mines that will be shipped out from Planter Prime.
January 29, 2364
The first group of hyper-capable freighters and troop transports arrives in the Gliese 563.2 system. The transports embark the infantry brigade stationed at the base in Gliese 563.2 A, while the freighters load automated mines that were stockpiled here last year.
March 5, 2364
The hyper group arrives at Gliese 563.2 B and unloads its troops. The Zog troops immediately begin operations against the facilities still active. They quickly discover that there are a very large number of non-functional mining sites and automated industrial installations scattered about. The still-active sites are buried deep within the center of the industrial installation.
March 14, 2364
The industrial installation on Gliese 563.2 is under Zog control. There are 100 still-functioning automated mines on the base. It is apparent that they have maintained their functionality by cannibalizing their neighboring installations, and that the number that is still functional has been steadily declining as time has passed.
The real prize, though, is an incredible hoard of mined resources awaiting transport. Over 1.4 million standard units of resources has been extracted and refined, and is assembled on the spaceport awaiting cargo ships.
The commander of the ground force orders the orbiting freighters to unload their automated mines and to begin loading the waiting resources.
July 20, 2364
A Zog survey ship detects an alien ship in the Gliese 555 system. As the survey ship has been working with its active sensors powered down it didn’t detect the alien ships until they were much too close. The survey ship turns to flee but is run down and destroyed by five small alien ships. There are no other ships in the system and the survey ship was too far from the warp point to leave a message buoy that has any chance of being found. As far as the Zog government is concerned the ship has disappeared, although that will not be clear for some time.
September 15, 2364, 0625 hours
A Zog geo-survey ship in the Woolley 9559 system picks up three unknown ships on its thermal sensors. Unaware of the destruction of the other survey ship in Gliese 555 system, the ship’s captain orders his ship active its sensors and to close on the contacts. Both Woolley 9559 and Gliese 555 are adjacent to the Gliese 588 system, which not only leads back to the Zog expanses, but also connects to the Gliese 563.2 system, which is of prime importance to the Zog race.
30 minutes later…
The survey ship has closed to 115 mkm’s of the three contacts, which is just within its maximum active sensor range. Suddenly the three thermal contacts are replaced by no less than nine contacts, three of which are 14,400 tons while the remaining six are 7,200 tons. After a few seconds the ship’s tactical computers identify the contact’s signatures. The signatures of all of the contacts are consistent with those of the automated warships encountered in several other systems. The survey commander orders his ship to come about and run at its maximum speed for the warp point.
September 30, 2364
The Zog survey ship arrives in Gliese 667 and dispatches its report on the automated warships in Woolley 9559. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav immediately recalls the Frontier Fleet from its training exercises in the inner system.
October 1, 2364
Colonel Dlevravrevliashav sets out for Woolley 9559 with a newly refitted jump cruiser, three bombardment cruisers, five area defense cruisers, six strike cruisers, and six missile destroyers. The fleet is supported by two fuel/supply ships and an ammo ship. The fleet’s ETA at Woolley 9559 is twenty one days.
This emergency has revealed how problematic the shortage of missiles on Planter Prime is, and Colonel Dlevravrevliashav dispatches a request to the home system for new stocks of missiles.
October 11, 2364
The Zog survey ship that reported the presence of the automated warships in the Woolley 9559 system returns to the Gliese 588 system, the warp point nexus that leads to both the Gliese 563.2 system and the Woolley 9559 system, along with six other systems. As per his standing orders, the captain orders his ship into the Gliese 555 system. Unknown to him a Zog survey ship was destroyed in this system three months ago. Unlike the earlier ship, though, this survey ship is running with its sensors powered up, a legacy of its recent discovery of the automated warships.
October 15, 2364
The Zog survey ship in the Gliese 555 system has detected five unknown ships on its thermal sensors 148 mkm’s inward of its location. Adding to the captain’s disquiet, they have been unable to establish contact with the other Zog survey ship in the system. Now, with the discovery of the unknown ships their inability to locate the other ship has taken on sinister overtones.
The captain of the survey ship orders his ship to close on the unknown contacts to bring them within active sensor range and gather more information.
Thirty five minutes later the ship is within active sensor range. Almost immediately the ship’s tactical computer identifies the ships as automated warships. There are five 14,400 ton ships and four 7,200 ton warships.
The survey commander immediately orders his ship to come about and for a course to be set for the warp point. Once at the warp point the ship transits out and immediately sends a contact report to Colonel Dlevravrevliashav’s Frontier Fleet detachment, which is in the Gliese 588 system, en route to Woolley 9559 to deal with the automated warships there.
October 23, 2364
The Frontier Fleet detachment under Colonel Dlevravrevliashav has arrived in the Woolley 9559 system. After activating its sensors and shields, the fleet sets out for the last reported location of the automated warships.
Thirty four hours later the fleet detects active sensors just beyond its own sensor’s range. Based on the sensor’s emissions profile they are still far beyond the automated warship’s sensor range.
Twenty four minutes later the contact is within sensor range and the fleet’s tactical computer ID’s the contact as automated warships, the same number and class as was detected by the survey ship. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav orders the fleet to close. A few minutes later additional information becomes available about the enemy ships, including the fact that they are headed towards the Zog fleet at 5,555 kps, which is 555 kps faster than the Zog fleet is moving.
As the two fleets close the range, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav decided to close to 25 mkm’s before launching his missiles. Unfortunately, when the automated warships reached 34 mkm’s from the Zog fleet they turned around and matched the speed of the Zog ships, maintaining their range. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav assumed that they were launching missiles and ordered all ships to missile defense stations.
Eventually Colonel Dlevravrevliashav was proved right when a salvo of eighty three size three missiles appeared on the fleet’s sensors. AAM’s raced away from the Zog ships, and the two groups of missiles met 600,000 km’s from the fleet. The Zog AAM’s achieved a 70% interception ratio, which was good but not as good as Colonel Dlevravrevliashav had been hoping for. By the time the first salvo was intercepted a second was on the screens.
The incoming missile salvoes pushed the Zog defenses to the maximum. Nearly every salvo penetrated to attack range, only to be picked off by gauss cannon turrets or last-ditch CIWS defenses before it could detonate. Fifteen identical salvoes appeared one after another, followed by a sixteenth composed of seventeen missiles. After that the missile attack continued for five more salvoes, each of which contained fewer missiles than the last. Not one missile hit its target, and by the time the last missile was destroyed, the Zog area defense cruisers had only 37% of their initial loadout left. Some of the destroyers were out of anti-missile missiles, but Colonel Dlevravrevliashav was sure that the enemy had fired off all of their missiles. It was his turn now.
The enemy ships were fleeing now, at 5555 kps. The only ships in the Zog force that could catch them were the strike cruisers and the missile destroyers. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered his area defense cruisers and bombardment cruisers to replenish the destroyer’s stocks of AAM’s and then detached the strike cruisers and missile destroyers to chase the automated warships.
The detached group raced away at 6,000 kps. With an overtake speed of 445 kps it would take them eight hours and forty minutes to reach attack range.
Eight hours later the detached ships were 22 mkm’s from the fleeing warships and Colonel Dlevravrevliashav’s patience had worn out. Even though they hadn’t quite reached the range he had initially established for the missile attack (20 mkm’s), he ordered the missile destroyers to launch on the enemy. Seconds later 210 Mark II anti-ship missiles raced away from the destroyers.
For ten minutes the Zog crews watched their missiles race towards the enemy ships. Just short of impact the automated warships launched AAM’s of their own, but either they had only a few launchers or their missiles weren’t very effective. Only twenty of the Zog missiles were intercepted short of their targets, leaving one hundred and ninety to attack the enemy ships. Three of the smaller 7,200 ton ships were destroyed outright. Several of the others were damaged and slowed.
Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered the missile destroyers to launch the rest of their missiles. This time the destroyers launched their entire remaining stock of missiles, one hundred and fifty Mk II ASM’s. Once again the incoming Zog missiles were intercepted short of the automated warships, but once again the enemy’s efforts were inconsequential. One hundred and forty missiles survived to slam into their targets. Only one of the warships was destroyed, but all had taken hits and all had surely suffered damage.
Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered the missile destroyers to rejoin the main fleet, freeing the strike cruisers to accelerate to their maximum speed of 6,766 kps. One by one the strike cruisers chased down and destroyed the automated warships, until finally they approached the final three, which had managed to remain together while the others fell behind. Before the strike cruisers could enter firing range they were pelted with small missiles. Nine of the incoming missiles were destroyed by last-second torpedo fire, leaving seven to hit one of the strike cruisers. The small missiles carried equally small warheads, and the seven missiles merely depleted the cruiser’s shields. Ten seconds later, before the cruiser’s torpedo launchers could recharge, another sixteen missiles arrowed in and struck the same cruiser, knocking down its shields and pitting its armor.
Every ten seconds a new salvo appeared, which was a problem as the strike cruiser’s torpedo launchers took fifteen seconds to recharge, meaning that every other missile salvo came in unchallenged. The small missiles pelted the two lead cruisers, and although the missiles each had tiny warheads, their number made up for their individual weakness. Eventually the two strike cruisers fell behind their squadron mates, and the missiles followed them. Finally one of the hapless cruisers literally fell apart under the ceaseless bombardment. The second stopped to recover the first’s life pods, as they had fallen far enough behind to be free of the missile fire.
The enemy had shifted their fire to a third cruiser, which eventually began dropping behind as well. By that time, though, the remaining three cruisers were in range of their torpedoes. At first their fire was inaccurate, as the enemy ships mounted fiendishly effective ECM, but eventually they began consistently scoring hit after hit. The large alien ship began to suffer and the missile fire dropped off. First one and then the second automated warship fell apart under relentless torpedo fire. That left one warship, now 750,000 kilometers away. The last three strike cruisers set out for their final target while the two wounded cruisers limped back towards the warp point.
The end came for the last automated warship as it had for its fellow ships, in a hail of Zog torpedoes. With the final automated warship destroyed, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered the fleet to continue on to the point at which the automated warships had originally been spotted. He was sure that his force had destroyed the automated warships originally spotted by the survey ship, as the numbers and size matched, however, it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that there were two such forces in the system.
October 26, 2364, 1058 hours
The Frontier Fleet has reached its objective in the Woolley 9559 system, finding nothing. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav orders the fleet to return to Planter Prime for repairs and to reload his empty magazines.
November 28, 2364
The Frontier Fleet under Colonel Dlevravrevliashav arrives over Planter Prime. The damaged strike cruisers are detached, and the fleet’s magazines are replenished. Several additional ships are attached to the fleet from the forces left to guard the planet, and then the fleet sets out for Gliese 555 system.
December 18, 2364, 0758 hours, Gliese 555
The Frontier Fleet detects nine unidentified ships in-bound towards the fleet from the inner system. There are five 14,400 ton ships and four 7,200 ton ships, and they are coming in on a course that, if backtracked, would lead back to the point at which the survey ship originally detected the automated warships. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav is confident that these ships are the same ones detected by the survey ship and so orders his fleet to close on the automated warships. The contacts are 115 mkm’s from the Zog ships and inbound at 5,555 kps.
0954 hours…
Amazingly enough, the alien warships cruised right into Zog missile range, unlike every other time they had been encountered. In the previous encounters the alien warships had approached only close enough to launch their own missiles, which were larger and longer-ranged than Zog missiles, and then turned away. Whatever their reason for changing their strategy, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav wasn’t going to wait for them to change their minds. He ordered a maximum range missile strike the second they entered range. Seconds later three hundred and thirty anti-ship missiles raced away from the Duldurlos bombardment cruisers, which had been tasked with the strike because of their ECCM systems, which were able to partially counter the automated warship’s advanced ECM. The strike was launched when the enemy ships were 34 mkm’s away.
After launching Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered the fleet to come to a halt, hoping to increase the time until the enemy closed on his fleet. Shortly after the Zog ships came to a halt the bulk of the enemy ships did so as well, indicating to Colonel Dlevravrevliashav that they had reached their preferred engagement range as well, and were even then launching missiles at his fleet. One small enemy ship continued on towards the Zog fleet alone. It was now a race to see which side’s missiles reached their target first.
The Zog missile wave reached the small enemy warship that had raced ahead of its consorts first. Four missiles were intercepted by point blank point defense fire, but the other thirty six slammed into the enemy ship. The small ship proved to be incredibly tough as it not only survived the attack but continued on towards the Zog fleet, albeit at a reduced speed.
When the missile wave reached 550,000 kilometers from the main group of alien warships they were intercepted by anti-missile missiles. Sixty one missiles were intercepted short of the automated warships, which left two hundred and twenty-nine missiles to close on their targets. More missiles were destroyed as they approached their targets by last-ditch defenses, but then the missiles began hitting their targets. When the explosions cleared there were only two large enemy ships left.
Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered an immediate follow-up strike, and seconds later his cruisers launched sixty missiles against the three remaining ships. Two minutes and twenty seconds later twenty eight missiles appeared on the Zog ship’s screens, inbound at 32,000 kps. The area defense cruisers began launching interceptor missiles which then raced to interpose themselves between the fleet and the incoming missiles. Fifteen seconds later another twenty-eight missiles appeared in front of the Zog ships and more interceptors were launched. After that the incoming missile salvoes arrived every fifteen seconds. The Zog anti-missile batteries were set to launch one interceptor per incoming missile, and were achieving a 40% hit rate. At this setting, a few leakers from every salvo penetrated the Zog anti-missile envelope, only to be stopped by massed gauss cannon fire or last ditch CIWS fire.
Eventually the incoming missile salvoes petered out. Not one missile made it through the Zog defenses, which were never seriously taxed. By then the Zog offensive missile salvo was approaching the enemy ships. The two remaining enemy ships were hit by nineteen and twenty Zog missiles, respectively. Both survived the attack but were obviously damaged.
Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered another salvo launched. Ten offensive missiles were launched from one of the destroyers immediately, targeted on the nearest enemy ship, but none of the Zog ships could launch on the second target, which was 36 mkm’s away and approaching the maximum range for the Zog offensive missiles. Unfortunately, the second target had weathered the attacks with its engines intact, and was now fleeing at 5,555 kps, which was 555 kps faster than the Zog fleet’s speed. After observing the enemy ship fleeing ahead of his fleet for a few seconds, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered his five strike cruisers to run down the automated warships. The five strike cruisers immediately raced ahead of the main fleet, closing on their target with a 1,211 kps speed advantage.
The closest automated warship was destroyed by the ten-missile salvo from the Zog destroyer, but the furthest warship continued to flee, pursued by the Zog strike cruisers. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav settled in for a long pursuit.
After an eight hour stern chase the strike cruisers were within range of their torpedoes. They began attempting to lock on at their maximum range, 200,000 kilometers, however, the enemy’s ECM caused their targeting systems to breakdown in confusion. It was only after closing to 175,000 kilometers that they could target the enemy effectively, and they didn’t hit the enemy ship until they had closed to 157,000 kilometers. In spite of all of the troubles that the strike cruisers were having the end of this battle was foreordained. The enemy had no close-in weapons and could only flee as torpedo after torpedo slammed into its armored hull.
It took twenty-five hits from the Zog torpedoes before the automated warship finally exploded, and by then the strike cruisers had closed to 37,000 kilometers.
With their screens clear of contacts, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered the fleet to assemble and proceed to the inner system to probe for civilizations or other threats. Twenty-two hours later, while passing the orbit of the fourth planet, the fleet detected the wreckage of a very large, 23,250 ton ship, nearly on the orbit of the second planet. None of the planets in the system were particularly habitable by Zog standards, or, for that matter, by the standards of any of the conquered races either.
Upon approaching the innermost planet, a tiny, hot, chunk of rock orbiting 3.6 mkm’s from the M4-V system primary, the fleet detected an outpost on the planet. The outpost’s signature was identical to outposts located in other systems occupied by the mysterious automated warships, and those had been found to be deep space tracking stations. Not wanting to take the time and effort to bring in troops, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered a missile strike from one of his destroyers. Five missiles from one of the orbiting destroyers sufficed to wipe the installation from the face of the universe. The rest of the planets in the system were visited, one by one, but none contained any trace of the enemy. Finally, on the 21st, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav ordered the fleet to depart.
Zog Update, 2364
The Zog Empire is focusing on integrating its conquests and exploiting the massive resource deposits found in the Gliese 563.2 system. The last several Zog governments have been isolationist, and for that reason the Empire’s gravitic survey ships have largely been idle.
Over the last two years the Frontier Sector under Colonel Dlevravrevliashav has become a reality. The Frontier Sector comprises four inhabited systems under the direct control of Colonel Dlevravrevliashav, and includes shared responsibility for ten other uninhabited systems in the frontier area. The Home Sector includes one inhabited system (Zog Prime), and three exploited systems. Two of the three exploited systems are adjacent to the home system, but the third, Gliese 563.2, is five jumps away. The path to Gliese 563.2 runs directly through the Frontier Sector, and the Frontier Fleet bears primary responsibility for dealing with any alien force that threatens the vital trade routes that run between Gliese 563.2 and the home system.
The Home Fleet is comprised of new-build latest generation warships equipped with SCAM drives. At the time of the establishment of the Frontier Fleet, the Emperor decreed that the Frontier Fleet would include only old-tech ships, while the Home Fleet would be comprised of new-tech ships, as a way of ensuring that the balance of power favored the central fleet. The Zog bureaucracy has been remarkably adamant about maintaining this ban in spite of the vagaries of the Zog government, and to date Colonel Dlevravrevliashav has received only one waiver. It has been long recognized that the jump cruisers were the weak link in Zog fleets, as they were the slowest and weakest ships, and thus slowed down the fleets in which they were included. The re-design of the jump cruiser to include SCAM drives also alleviated some of the weaknesses of the design, and increased the overall fleet speed to 5,000 kps, thus, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav was given permission to upgrade all of his jump cruisers to the latest design.
The Frontier Fleet is comprised of old-tech ships, including new-build units now being launched from the Planter orbital yards. As noted above, Colonel Dlevravrevliashav has received permission to upgrade his jump cruisers, but the bureaucracy has remained firm on disapproving any requests to include SCAM drives in any other unit. Colonel Dlevravrevliashav has been successful in getting modifications to the designs of his old-tech ships approved, and some of these are actually being implemented, such as his modified area defense cruiser design, which improves the ship’s magazine space at the expense of the gauss cannon turret.
The Zog courier network now connects all three conquered systems and Gliese 563.2 to the home system. The courier network is firmly under the control of the home system, and while it can be used by the Frontier Sector, any and all communications sent will first be routed to the home system before being sent to their ultimate addressee.
Zog freight resources will be devoted to expanding the mining installation on Gliese 563.2 B-I, which will involve increasing the number of hyper-capable freighters and using normal freighters to stockpile automated mines on Gliese 563.2 A-I.
Zog Home System
This system is the heart of the Zog Empire, and contains 100% of the Zog race, as they have, to date, refused to colonize. There is one automated mining outpost in this system, on the system’s innermost planet, appropriately named Hell. This planet boasts 517 automated mining complexes, and has been the Zog Race’s primary source of resources for some time.
Zog Home Fleet
Active: 2xCJ Mk 2, 8xMunitions Ship, 6xCB Mk 2, 1xADC Mk 2, 7xCS Mk 2, 23xDDG, 1xLarge Support Ship
Overhaul/Refit: 3xMunitions Ship, 3xADC, 4xCS, 3xDDG
Courier Group: 3xCourier
Planetary Defense Group:
35xType II Gunboat, 31xType 1 Gunboat
20xPDC
EG 165
This system is adjacent to the Zog Home System, and is a resource extraction site for the home system’s industry. 1,467 automated mines have been emplaced in three mining sites throughout the system, and their output is shipped via mass driver to a central location for pickup by freighter. There is no Zog military presence in this system, merely a courier stationed at the warp point to the home system to watch for any intruders or disruption of the mining network.
Relay Group: 1xCourier
Lacaille 9352
Like EG 165, this system is adjacent to the Zog home system and is utilized as a resource extraction site. There are 1,241 automated mines in three locations in the system. There is no Zog military presence, merely a courier stationed at the warp point to warn of intruders.
Relay Group: 1xCourier
Herschel 5173
This system is the home system of the Madras, the first race to be incorporated into the Zog Empire. The system is three jumps from Zog, and is connected to the home system via the relay network. The system’s B component’s second planet is the Madras homeworld, and currently boasts a population of 238 million Madras.
There is an extensive civilian mining complex on one of the outer gas giant’s moons. The complex is guarded by a civilian security force. Madras Prime is guarded by two infantry brigades, composed almost entirely of local troops officered by Zog cadres.
This system primarily serves as a resource extraction site for the industries on New Birmingham.
Frontier Fleet, Madras Guard Group
1xCJ, 4xDDG
Relay Group: 1xCourier
Gliese 752
This system is the location of the Terran New Birmingham colony, conquered some time ago. The colony has been successfully integrated into the Zog economic framework, and incidents of rebellion have been reduced to a few scattered loners. New Birmingham is located four jumps from Zog Prime, and one jump from Madras. New Birmingham is connected by the Zog relay network.
New Birmingham boasts a population of 682 million. New Birmingham is the location of 6% of the Zog Empire’s industrial might, and also boasts three shipyards with ten slipways. The planet is guarded by an infantry brigade and a garrison brigade, both composed of local troops officered by Zog cadres.
Frontier Fleet New Birmingham Guard Group
1xCJ, 4xDDG
Relay Group: 1xCourier
Gliese 667
This system is the home system of the former Planter Empire and the current capital of the Frontier Sector. Gliese 667 is four jumps from the Zog home system. Planter Prime has a population of 1.64 billion and contains 13% of the Zog Empire’s industrial strength. In addition, Planter Prime boasts a very large shipyard containing ten shipyards with twenty-seven slipways. In addition, there are two mining colonies set up in the trinary system, one of which is a civilian effort.
Planter Prime is guarded by two Zog infantry brigades and an assault infantry brigade. These forces are not only assigned to protect Planter Prime, but also to act as the Frontier Fleet’s ground arm.
Frontier Fleet
Active: 3xLarge Support Vessel, 2xTanker, 2xCJ Mk 2, 2xCJ, 1xMunitions Ship, 8xCB, 13xADC, 10xCS, 12xDDG
Overhaul/Refit: 2xCJ, 5xCS, 3xDDG
Relay Group: 1xCourier
[Gliese 680]
This system is five jumps from the Zog home system and one jump from Planter Prime. It currently contains one Planter colony of 4.49 million located on the third planet. This colony was established by the Planter Empire, and was nearly eliminated by the Zogs after the conquest. Once the mineral wealth of the planet was discovered, the Zog occupiers changed their policy towards the colony and began shipping new colonists and mining complexes. The colony currently has thirty four mines and fifty one automated mines in operation, and more are slated to be shipped in the near future. The colony is garrisoned by an under-strength Zog assault infantry brigade and four garrison battalions. Unrest is still prevalent on the colony, perhaps because of the way it was treated after the conquest.
Relay Group: 1xCourier
This system contains the most exciting find that the Zogs have made since returning to interstellar space. The solitary planet orbiting the system’s B component is a treasure house of trans-newtonian resources, practically sitting on the surface of the planet waiting to be picked up. Currently, 281 automated mining complexes are located on Gateway (the lone planet of the A component), awaiting transfer to Treasure House (the lone planet of the B component). 218 automated mines have been emplaced on Treasure House to date.
Gateway is guarded by three engineer regiments, while Treasure House is guarded by an infantry brigade and an assault infantry battalion.
Gliese 563.2 Guard Group (Frontier Fleet)
1xCJ, 2xCB, 1xADC, 1xCS, 2xDDG
Relay Group: 1xCourier
[attachment=0:3r716yr3]Zog 2364.gif[/attachment:3r716yr3]
