February, 2034
An Indian Ganga class jumpship leaves Earth orbit in the company of two Raiput class cruisers. This is initially unremarkable, except that shortly after leaving orbit the three ships change course towards jump point #2, to the Novaran system. To date the Indians have shown no interest in the Novarans, however, that has obviously changed. When questioned by the Alliance and the Reich, the Indian government explains that their mission is solely to re-establish contact with the Novarans and to investigate the possibility of trade.
The Indian ships disappear through the Novaran warp point, and then return less than a day later. Shortly after they return a group of twelve Indian freighters orbiting the Earth take on a cargo of infrastructure and depart for the Novaran warp point. Once again the Indian government receives inquiries from the Alliance and the Reich, and once again it explains that its goal is to establish a presence in the Novaran system to further trade opportunities with the Novarans.
May, 2034
The Alliance is undergoing a significant gallicite shortage, both on Earth and on Mars. Neither Earth nor Mars currently has any deposits of that resource, and in fact, the only significant source of gallicite in the Alliance is the mining outpost in 58 Eridani. The First Colony Group has just returned from a long-term mission shifting fuel refineries to the Alpha Cephi system, and it is immediately turned around and sent out with a full load of new automated mines to augment the mines already in the 58 Eridani system.
May 17, 2034
The Reich launches the first five units of the Baden class. The Baden class is intended to operate in the Hamburg nebula, and is relatively unsuited for operations outside of that environment. Units of the Baden class boast the heaviest armor of any Reich mobile unit, but are slow compared to other fleet units. Because of their armor plating, though, they can maintain their same maximum speed inside the Hamburg nebula, giving them an advantage over ships with lighter armor. The Baden class is armed with eight advanced 15cm mass drivers, suitable for operations in the nebula.
With the launch of the new ships, the Reich announces the creation of a new fleet, the 1st Out System Fleet, based in New Hamburg. Kontreadmiral Rainer Teltschik, currently the CO of a Hessen class battleship, is named to be the first commander of the new fleet.
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: 4000 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
August, 2034
Two groups of Russian freighters take on cargo, then depart Earth orbit for the Solar System’s innermost warp point. This is the first time since The Event that Russian civilian ships have left Earth orbit. The first group, composed of thirty four freighters, departs at 3,000 kps, which is the speed that the other nations have come to expect from this class of Russian freighters. The second group, which is composed of eleven freighters, streaks out of orbit at 5,800 kps, nearly twice the speed of the first group.
The departure of both groups is of interest to the other nations. All four of the other Earth nations are very interested in any action taken by the Russians, and the departure of a group of civilian ships gives the various governments at least a little more information about what the Russians are up to. The shocking speed increase of the second group of freighters is alarming, though. A review of all information about the Russian ships shows that all eleven freighters had recently spent time in the Russian shipyards. At first it appeared that the Russians may merely have added additional engines on to their freighters, thus increasing their speed, however, a review of the surveillance data and sensor readings decisively proved that the ship’s cross section and profile had not changed at all. The Russians had nearly doubled their freighter’s speed by replacing the old engines with completely new engines of unknown design. Analysts with Alliance Naval Intelligence quickly recognized the engine signature readings as being consistent with internal confinement fusion drives, which the Alliance Navy was had been using for some time. This news caused quite a stir amongst the upper leadership of the Alliance Navy and government, as this represented a leap of technology for the Russians, who had apparently jumped at least one intervening technology to achieve the most current generation of Alliance drive systems.
For the Reich the situation was even worse. Raumarine analysts correctly identified the new Russian propulsion signatures as consistent with the drives used by the Alliance, drives that were more advanced than those used by the Raumarine. As with the realization that the Reich had grown complacent in the ground combat arena after observing the Soviet-Japanese war, the realization that the Reich was now behind the USSR in drive technology was stunning to the Reich political leadership.
Later in the month the 2nd Interstellar Exploration Group made a very interesting discovery. The IEG #2’s Hamburg class jumpship had been probing the three additional warp points found during the Group’s survey of the 82 Eridani system, seven jumps from Sol along the main Hamburg warp line. Two of the three new warp points had already been probed, finding little of interest, however, when the jumpship transited through the third new warp point it found itself 2.55 billion kilometers from a G4-V star that they quickly identified as the Novaran home star.
After some dithering, the mission commander, Fregattankapitan Andrea Klaproth, decided to follow standard operating instructions for this situation and sent a contact message off to the Novarans informing them of the Reich’s involuntary intrusion into their space. She would eventually claim during her mission debrief that she did so out of desire to avoid an interstellar incident, however, in reality she was merely following orders. She was known as a dull, uninventive officer, and she always, always followed orders as this was a sure method to avoid making any decisions for which she could be criticized. She had made this decision against the advice of the commanders of the two Scharnhorst class frigates accompanying her ship, both of whom wanted to keep this discovery a secret against the possibility of future exploitation. Fortunately for Fregattankapitan Klaproth, her decision to reveal their position was confirmed when, 4.7 hours after entering the system, they received a hail from the Novaran home planet. A careful analysis of the records revealed that the hail was sent before the Novarans could possibly have received Fregattankapitan Klaproth’s message, thus indicating that the Novarans had detected the group on their own.
After exchanging pleasantries with the Novarans and informing them that her government would contact them concerning the intrusion once she reported the incident, Fregattankapitan Klaproth took her command out of the Novaran system. It would take seventy-four days for the 2nd IEG to return to the Solar System.
November 24, 2034
The 2nd IEG returns to the Solar System. Fregattankapitan Klaproth delivers her report to the Admiralty in person, as per standing orders for sensitive situations. The news about the Group’s discovery caused chaos in the Reich government as it was disseminated. Unlike some of the other nations, the Reich had chosen to focus all of its survey assets on extending one warp chain, the Hamburg warp line. The fact that the Hamburg chain had narrowed down as branch warp lines petered out had been a primary long-range concern for the Reich government. In fact, the 2nd IEG had been sent out to explore the last remaining un-surveyed systems primarily to determine if the warp chain would open up again or if it would end up closed, with no routes out. The news that the warp line terminated in the Novaran system was alarming, particularly in that the remaining branches off of the main warp line were all close to the Novaran home system, and the Novarans, during their brief contact with Fregattankapitan Klaproth had indicated that they had several missions active in those systems.
The 2nd IEG’s news was, of course, top secret, however, over the next several weeks it would percolate down through the Reich’s government and corporate structure until it became more or less general knowledge. The reactions from the various power groups to the news were quite complex. The Kaiser and his administration were actually quite uninterested in interstellar matters, as their focus was on internal social issues that they felt were far more important. As far as the Kaiser and his supporters were concerned, the only use the Reich should have for interstellar space was the acquisition of resources to keep the Reich’s industry going. The Hamburg warp chain currently consisted of seventeen systems, including hundreds of planets and thousands of moons and asteroids. Even subtracting the systems claimed by the Novarans still left enough systems to occupy the Reich for decades, maybe longer. Their rather logical attitude wasn’t generally accepted, though. The Reichstag had been rocked by bitter debates over the last year, focused on the narrowing down of the Hamburg warp chain. The news that the chain could effectively be considered closed gave a new frenetic energy to these debates.
The expansionist parties, which included most of the corporate representatives, had long been pushing for an alternative to the Hamburg chain. Several of the other Earth nations had begun operating down a second warp line originating in the solar system, and the expansionist parties had been pushing for the Reich to do so as well. Only one warp point, warp point #8, was currently un-exploited by any of the other powers. It had been probed several times by other nations, however, none had established any claims to the systems beyond it. The Reich government had made a strategic decision to focus their efforts on the Hamburg chain, though, and had seen no reason to change. The news about the termination of the Hamburg warp chain gave these arguments new weight, even as it split the expansionists right down the middle. One group of the expansionists used this news to redouble their arguments for exploration and exploitation of the solar system’s eighth warp point, ultimately successfully. The 1st IEG was dispatched to the Gliese-257 system two weeks after the 2nd IEG returned.
The other group of expansionists had a different take, though. The termination of the Hamburg warp chain in the Novaran home system, they argued, presented a unique opportunity to the Reich. The Hamburg warp chain contained vast resources and several habitable planets, however, much of this wealth was five+ jumps from Earth. The Iota Piscum system, the Reich’s next target for exploitation and the location of the vast Ancient cities that were continuing to reveal new secrets every day, was 25.6 billion kilometers from Earth along the Hamburg warp chain. Analysis of the 2nd IEG’s data showed, however, that Iota Piscum was only 20.8 billion kilometers from Novara. Even more interesting was that the most valuable resource deposits in the Hamburg warp chain were much closer to the Novaran home system than they were to Earth, meaning that if Reich ships could travel through the Novaran system they would be able to reach these systems much quicker than if they had to go through the Hamburg system, which posed its own problems because of its nebula. The expansionists argued that if the Novarans could be “persuaded” to allow Reich ships to transit through their system then the Reich’s exploitation of these distant systems would be made much more efficient. The fact that the Novarans seemed unlikely to grant such concessions, especially in light of the fact that they had already asserted some interest in those same systems, didn’t bother the expansionists at all. They argued that a visit from a Raumarine battle squadron would clear up any reluctance that the Novarans felt.
The debate raged for weeks, ultimately only to die down unresolved. It wasn’t over, though.
April, 2035
The Reich government dispatches a high level negotiating team to discuss the situation in the Hamburg warp chain with the Novaran government. It has taken the Reich government five months to sort itself out as to their preferred course of action in this matter. On the surface the progressives and the peaceful expansionists have won the day, with the Reich government authorizing exploration and exploitation of the Gliese-257 warp chain and the dispatch of a negotiating team authorized to deal with the Novarans in a mutually beneficial manner. The “forceful” expansionists, who believe that it is the Reich’s manifest destiny to control both ends of the Hamburg warp chain, have not given up, though. Representing powerful interests in the Reichstag, this group manages to “stack the deck” within the negotiating team, securing several positions for its adherents. In addition, by manipulating public opinion and factions within the Raumarine, this group also manages to influence several of the basic decisions about the composition of the mission. When the mission to Novara departs on the 21st, it does so onboard the pride of the Raumarine, the Von Roeder, the Reich’s first dreadnought/jumpship.
Von Roeder class Dreadnought 16000 tons 1354 Crew 4001.4 BP TCS 320 TH 800 EM 900
2500 km/s JR 4-100 Armour 8-56 Shields 30-300 Sensors 70/0/0/0 Damage Control Rating 15 PPV 29
Annual Failure Rate: 409% IFR: 5.7% Maintenance Capacity 2782 MSP
Magazine 829
J16250(4-100) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 16250 tons Distance 100k km Squadron Size 4
IGF Magneto-plasma Drive (10) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 230,000 Litres Range 43.1 billion km (199 days at full power)
Beta R300/9 Shields (20) Total Fuel Cost 180 Litres per day
Anti-Msl Missile Launcher 01-010 (5) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Anti-Ship Missile Launcher 04-030 (6) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 30
Mk 2 Standard Missile Fire Control (1) Range 67.2m km Resolution 40
AM Missile Fire Control (1) Range 1.7m km Resolution 1
AMM mk 2 (200) Speed: 32000 km/s End: 39.1 minutes Range: 75m km Warhead: 1 MR: 10 Size: 1
AS Mk 2 (105) Speed: 24000 km/s End: 39.1 minutes Range: 56.3m km Warhead: 9 MR: 15 Size: 4
SR AS Msl Mk 2 (25) Speed: 32000 km/s End: 9.8 minutes Range: 18.8m km Warhead: 9 MR: 15 Size: 4
LR AS Msl Mk 2 (25) Speed: 20000 km/s End: 109.4 minutes Range: 131.2m km Warhead: 6 MR: 10 Size: 4
Mk 2 AM Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 168 Range 1.7m km Resolution 1
Mk 2 LG Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6720 Range 67.2m km Resolution 60
Mk 2 LG Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 70 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 70m km
The ostensible reason for embarking the mission on the massive 16,000 ton warship is that it alone has the facilities and berthing requirements, coupled with the self-defense capacity, necessary for the mission. In reality, though, the expansionists have chosen the Von Roeder specifically to provoke the Novarans, in the hopes that either they will be intimidated and thus give the Reich what it wants, or that they will be offended and will flat-out refuse, giving the Reich the excuse they need to launch a war.
When the Von Roeder jumps into the Novaran system the Novarans are openly welcoming, but behind the scenes they are very disturbed by the presence of the huge Reich warship. The Von Roeder is fully twice as large as their biggest ship, and is filled with the latest Reich technology, some of which was recovered from Ancient cities. All in all it is a very impressive ship. Of course, in terms of actual combat strength the 13,650 ton Hessen class battleship is a more powerful ship, as the Von Roeder class units, as jumpships, have had to devote 4,300 tons to their massive jump engines, but it is still an impressive warship. The ship’s capabilities are even more impressive when the fact that it can perform an opposed combat transit is taken into account.
The Novaran picket on the warp point agrees to dispatch a message requesting a meeting with government officials authorized to negotiate with the Reich. Predictably, the Novarans show little interest in allowing the Von Roeder to orbit their home planet, so a deep space rendezvous is set for the orbit of Novara X, which is currently on the far side of the system. The Von Roeder is escorted to the rendezvous point by a Toad II destroyer, and when the Novaran delegation arrives it engages in some posturing of its own. The delegation arrives in a civilian ship, a geo-survey jump-ship, but it is escorted by nine Salamander II cruisers and six Toad II class destroyers. Individually none of the ships comes close to the Von Roeder’s size or combat capacity, but the display is still very impressive, with the Novaran ships flying in close formation in a stunning display of piloting skill as they approach the rendezvous point. The Reich officers and negotiators are not intimidated, of course, but they are impressed by the professionalism and skill displayed by the Novaran crews.
The negotiations began with the Novarans making clear their claim on the 82 Eridani system, which was adjacent to their home system, and all of the systems connected to it, specifically including the Gamma Leporis system. Gamma Leporis was of particular interest to the Reich, as it possessed two colony cost 2.0 worlds, and in addition it was linked to another system that possessed a colony cost 0 world. Reich survey units had probed these systems, and in fact had completed a warp point survey of the Gamma Leporis system, but the survey group had not conducted a geo-survey. If they had they would have discovered the basis of the Novaran interest in the system, but they had not. Both of the habitable planets in the Gamma Leporis system had massive deposits of readily available trans-Newtonian minerals, and one of the two planets had significant stockpiles of economic facilities that had been recovered by Novaran survey teams from Ancient ruins. In addition, an alien race had been located beyond Gamma Leporis, and when it became clear that the Reich didn’t know anything about them the Novarans stayed silent on the subject. The Gamma Leporis system is the Novaran race’s primary focus for interstellar exploitation and the only reason the system isn’t more fully exploited is that the Novarans have had a hard time developing the infrastructure necessary for the establishment of an interstellar colonial empire at the same time that they expanded and modernized their fleet to deal with the potentially hostile humans next door. The Novarans were finally in a position to begin exploiting their neighboring systems and they were in no mood to give them away, or to allow a combative race like the humans unrestricted access to their system.
The negotiations, if they could be called that, lasted for two weeks and ended in a complete impasse. The Novarans could see no reason to give the Reich access to systems that they viewed as representing the future of their race, and the idea of giving the Reich unrestricted transit rights to their home system horrified them. For their part, the Reich negotiators had little to give the Novarans in exchange for the concessions for which they were asking. The Reich government wasn’t willing to give up technology, under any circumstances, and the Reich was already short of resources. In essence, they were asking the Novarans to make serious concessions to the Reich for such intangibles as “good-will” and “favorable future considerations”. No one was surprised when the negotiations ended without result, and indeed, for a significant portion of the Reich’s negotiating team this was the desired result. Two weeks and two days after the Von Roeder entered the Novaran system it departed with nothing to show for its time or the effort of its negotiators. On the way out of the Novaran system the Reich ship was escorted by the same Novaran squadron that had come to meet it, and after it jumped out, two of the Novaran cruisers remained with the three destroyers watching the jump point to the Solar System when the rest of the ships returned home.
August, 2035
Alliance and Reich sensors watch carefully as a Russian cruiser, which had spent the last several months in the Russian orbital yards being refitted, moves slowly away from the yards. The ship doesn’t leave orbit, and never accelerates beyond a very slow orbital speed, but Alliance and Reich sensors pick up clear indications that the refitted warship has been equipped with internal confinement fusion drives, like the USSR’s refitted freighters. From her configuration, it doesn’t appear that any other changes have been made to the cruiser.
September, 2035
The Reich launches the first two units of its new Graf Spee light cruiser class. The Graf Spee class, although designated as a “light cruiser”, is only 200 tons lighter than the latest Blucher class heavy cruisers, but its designation reflects different mission requirements. The Blucher class is designed for independent missions and participation in the battle line with the battleships, while the Graf Spee is designed for close combat and battle line support. To fulfill those roles the Graf Spee class mounts two advanced rail guns of the same design as those mounted on the Baden class planetary defense monitors, and for missile defense the Graf Spee’s mount a massive gauss cannon turret.
The two new CL’s are dispatched to perform working up exercises with the Training Flotilla in the inner system.
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
October, 2035
The Japanese Empire completes construction of a jump gate at the jump point to the Gliese-204 system. The construction ship immediately jumps through to the far side of the warp point, and in a few days a group of freighters carrying jump gate components rendezvous with the Kamikaze class construction ship and work begins on the far side.
Later in the month the Indian Republic announces success in its trade negotiations with the Novarans. The Novarans have agreed to allow limited access to their system to the Indians. This access will be limited to one of their planets, and the number of Indian freighters in the system at any one time will be monitored closely, but still, this represents a step forward in Human-Novaran relations.
December, 2035
The Indian government’s investigators conclude their investigation of the collapse of the world’s data nets in August of 2033. Their exhaustive report cannot conclusively place the blame, however, they have developed significant information that indicates that the collapse was caused by a massive cyber-attack launched from the Soviet Union. Based on the patterns of intrusion efforts, the investigators conclude that the attack was designed to penetrate information networks and leech information to be sent back to the originators of the attack. Surprisingly, the investigators conclude that the collapse was not actually the goal of the attack, but rather was due to the system defending itself and then shutting down when it was no longer able to fend off the attacks. Based on information received from the Reich and the Alliance, the Indian investigators conclude that all three governments and their core information systems successfully resisted the attacks right up to the point where they overloaded and shut down in a last ditch attempt to prevent penetration. The investigators also conclude that other, non-governmental, organizations met with varied success in their attempts to resist the penetration effort. For example, many of the biggest corporations in the three nations maintained even better security than the government, and thus were able to protect their databases and proprietary information throughout the attack. Almost all of the universities in all three nations, however, were immediately penetrated and their databanks were looted of their information in the first seconds of the attack.
In conclusion, the investigators concluded that the collapse of the data nets of the three nations was actually an example of the system working as it was designed to, although they recommended significant upgrades to the protections already in place.
All three governments took the report very seriously. The collapse of the data nets that all three societies depended on scared all three governments, and the proof, such as it was, that the attack originated in the USSR was worse. There existed no way to make a complaint to the Soviets, no embassies or ambassadors. The Russians were essentially a race apart at this point, and that in and of itself was disturbing. All three governments decided to invest massive amounts of money on security systems for their networks, both governmental and civilian, to prevent a recurrence. The Alliance, in particular, suspected that the Russian deployment of internal confinement fusion drives over the last year was directly related to the cyber-attack, as several of the universities that were penetrated had worked on various phases of R&D for the Alliance’s IC drive.
The Indian investigators made one further conclusion. The Japanese refused to participate in the joint investigation, and indeed they appeared to have been spared during the attack. The Indian investigators concluded, though, that either the Japanese Empire was indeed ignored during the attack, or that their computer systems were thoroughly penetrated during the attack, and indeed were so penetrated that their systems didn’t crash like the other three nation’s systems. The Indian government attempted to warn the Japanese, however, the Empire was uninterested in the alarmist messages from the Indians.
Intelligence Report, December 2035
International Situation:
The governments of the Reich and the Alliance have both been forced to reorganize to deal with the ongoing problems associated with the high background radiation levels. These reorganizations have had the effect of turning both societies’ focus away from international competition and technological advancement towards internal matters like health care and education. The reason these changes are taking place now, instead of years ago, is that a long term study on the background radiation levels by a joint Reich/Alliance research team was finally completed in 2034. The results of the study were shocking, and portions were kept from the public. Both governments felt that the fact that it was going to take another twelve years before the mortality rate fell to the point where it equaled the birth rate, and that it would take another ten years beyond that for the radiation to leave the environment was just too alarming to broadcast to the public. The reorganizations undertaken by both nations have greatly reduced the mortality rate and thus helped to reduce the drain of skilled workers.
Now that the Alliance and the Reich have faced their population problems, and have at least made a start at getting them under control, a huge new crisis is looming on the horizon for all of the nations of Earth. The specter of resource depletion is hanging over the governments of all of the nations. Four of the eleven trans-Newtonian minerals have been completely mined out and most of the other seven are nearing depletion as well. Accessibility levels for the remaining resources have been declining dramatically over the last several years, meaning that even as the demand for resources has been increasing, mining rates have been falling. Most critically, duranium is at 0.3 accessibility levels now, and is expected to be completely depleted within two to three years. All of the nations have been experiencing shortages of critical resources due to these factors, and this will only get worse in the future.
Alliance
The Alliance, thanks to its new focus on population matters, has only seen its population decline by 24 million, a drastic change over the last few years. Even better, at least from the point of view of the major corporations, is the fact that the Alliance’s new focus on managing the worker population has resulted in surplus workers on three of the four major Alliance population centers. The only colony with heavy negatives is New London, in the Alpha Cephi system, and this is because it is a new colony, still in the process of being organized. These positive numbers are largely a result of the Alliance government’s mandate against constructing any new economic facilities that would require large numbers of skilled workers to man them. Instead, Alliance industry on Mars and Earth has been re-tasked to convert manned mining operations over to full automation, reducing the mining sector’s demand for skilled workers.
The Alliance currently has four population centers, Earth with 1.133 billion people, Mars with 389 million people, New Boston with 36.5 million people, and New London with 1.5 million people. Earth and Mars both have balanced economies, with mining and construction taking up the lion’s share of the skilled workers. New Boston’s economy is entirely focused on mining the planet’s rich trans-Newtonian resource deposits, while New London is focused on refining fuel for the Alliance fleet. Terraforming is underway on Nova Mexico, also located in Alpha Cephi, and the planet’s colony cost index is now 0.88 and dropping. The Alliance currently plans to make Nova Mexico its premier off-world research center, as currently all R&D is centralized on Earth. In addition to its colonies, the Alliance has three major mining outposts in the Solar System and the 58 Eridani system.
The Alliance is currently in the planning phase of the colonization effort for the Odin system. The Odin system, like the 58 Eridani system, is connected to Alpha Cephi. Odin is a quaternary system, with two pairs of binary stars. One of the two pairs of stars is very distant from the warp points that connect the system to the rest of the chain, and are considered inaccessible with the current technology. The pair of stars closest to the warp point, an F9-IV/G3-V pair, possesses several useful planets and moons, including the planet Seattle, so named by the exploration group that discovered the system. Seattle is a colony cost 2.0 world, as it has a relatively benign environment, lacking only oxygen to make it an ideal world for humanity. Seattle also possesses huge deposits of relatively accessible trans-Uranic minerals, making it the natural next step in Alliance expansion. Seattle has been scheduled to be the next stop for the Alliance’s terraforming fleet.
The Alliance is currently facing shortages of gallicite and duranium, but these shortages are predicted to be short-term in nature as the mines on New London and in the 58 Eridani system provide enough of both minerals to keep Alliance industry running at full strength. The situation should even improve as the colonization of the Odin system gets underway and the resources there are exploited for the benefit of Alliance industry.
Reich
Like the Alliance, the Reich government has had to change its focus and reorganize in order to deal with the chronic worker shortages that have been plaguing its economy for the last several years. The Reich has not been as successful at dealing with this situation as the Alliance, mostly because the government took longer to realize the scope of the situation and to re-task its industry to convert manned mining complexes to automation. The Reich’s economy on Earth is currently facing a moderate worker shortage of 3.56 million, but this has been steadily decreasing as mines are converted over to automation. The colonies on Venus, Nue Berlin, and Nue Paris all have small worker surpluses. The reorganization of the Reich’s government has resulted in a reduction of the population decrease rate, and the population decreased by only 26 million over the last two years.
The Reich has four population centers, Earth with 1.227 billion people, Venus with 379 million people, Nue Berlin with 56.5 million people, and Nue Paris with 2.7 million people. Both Earth and Venus have balanced economies which include construction, mining, and research and development, while Nue Berlin is completely focused on mining and Nue Paris is focused on refining fuel. The Reich also has one major mining outpost on a comet in the Hamburg system, and a mining framework set up in the Stuttgart system, just waiting for automated mines to be emplaced.
The Reich has had to put its colonization plans on hold to deal with its population problems, however, the government had planned on resuming colonization within the next two years. This has now changed in light of the situation with the Novarans. The Reich Raumarine has been lobbying for a major colonization effort in the Iota Piscum system to be undertaken immediately, in an effort to secure the system for the Reich before the Novarans take an interest in the system. The fleet’s interest in the Iota Piscum system can be explained by the huge network of Ancient cities found on the system’s habitable planet, Nue Duisberg. To date the Reich’s four cybernetic teams have recovered seventy-five maintenance facilities, sixteen construction factories, three ordnance factories, ten fighter factories, eight fuel refineries, fifty-nine mines, forty-seven automated mines, seven mass drivers, six terraforming installations, five research facilities, and over one hundred jump gate components. Even better, at least from the fleet’s point of view, is the technology recovered from the cities, which has allowed the fleet to improve several different critical systems. Even better, there is still a huge number of crypts waiting to be explored by the cybernetic teams, representing a vast and critical resource for the Reich. In addition, the Raumarine has established a forward base at Nue Duisberg, with large stockpiles of fuel and maintenance supplies. The fleet fears that the Novarans, who actually have a shorter distance to travel to the Iota Piscum system than the Reich, will seize the system and its riches once they become aware of its importance. The Kaiser and his administration have adopted a strict policy of non-confrontation with the Novarans, however, given the importance of the Iota Piscum system, the administration will likely have little choice about its colonization and the build-up of its defenses. Unfortunately, with current Reich drive technology, a round trip to the Iota Piscum system will take nearly half a year, meaning that any effort to colonize the system will mean a major investment in time and resources.
The Reich is currently facing serious shortages of duranium and gallicite. Reich duranium production barely equals demand, and the production of gallicite actually falls short of demand. Even as the colonization effort for Iota Piscum begins ramping up, the Reich has been forced to divert freighters to transport automated mines to the Stuttgart system to begin mining the extensive resource deposits in the system’s asteroid belt. The Reich government has committed itself to shifting nearly all of its mines off of Earth over the next several years in an effort to boost mining production to meet demand. So far the Reich has had to curtail the production of maintenance supplies on Venus, however, no other demand reduction measures have had to be enforced, at least not yet.
Imperial Japan
Unlike the two major powers, the Japanese government cares little for population losses outside the home islands. In fact, the hard-line government that came to power in the aftermath of the 3rd Sino-Soviet war has engaged in an all out suppression of the Empire’s non-clone, non-Japanese citizens that has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people. Thanks in large part to its clone population, the Empire has massive surpluses of trained workers, though, so it is not as sensitive to the problems associated with the lingering background radiation as the two major powers are. Over the last two years the population of the Empire declined by 98 million, largely confined to the Empire’s population centers in the Pacific Basin.
The Empire has established one out-system colony on the planet of Kobe in the Gliese-204 system. Kobe has a population of 9 million and is a colony cost 2.97 world (terraforming is underway). Prior to the 3rd Sino-Soviet war the Japanese government was focused on building up its military, and the Kobe colonization project had to be undertaken “on the cheap”. A Nagato class jump ship was stationed at the warp point to facilitate transport to the colony, and the government diverted as much construction capacity to building infrastructure for the 3.8 colony cost planet as it could. Colonization proved to be very expensive and slow, though, and after the failed war the government, painfully aware of the need to get at least some Japanese citizens off of Earth, changed its focus. Two Kamikaze class construction ships have been built and Japan’s first jump gate has been completed, and work is underway on the matching gate in the Gliese-204 system. As part of this new focus on colonization, the Empire has launched five Kuma class terraforming ships, and has re-tasked most of the IJN’s medium unit construction yards to produce the terraformers.
The Empire maintains three major mining outposts, one on Titan in the Solar System and two on moons in the Gliese-818 system. The Empire also maintains an archeological expedition on a planet in the Eta Leporis system, where a small Ancient outpost had been discovered. The ruins have since been exploited, and the Empire is planning on shutting the operation down and transferring the recovered economic facilities to the Kobe colony.
The Empire is currently suffering from severe resource shortages, particularly duranium and to a lesser extent, gallicite. The duranium shortage has forced the empire to halt production of maintenance supplies, delay construction of automated mines slated for the Gliese-818 system, and temporarily pause work on nine of ten terraformer class ships in the yards. The situation is serious, and the Empire is currently re-evaluating its options to increase duranium production. The Empire has access to several good mining sites. Titan, Kobe, and at least one of the sites in Gliese-818 all have large deposits of duranium at very high availability levels, so the Empire’s problem isn’t finding the resources, it is exploiting them. Expanding the Kobe colony so that manned mining complexes can be emplaced there, and converting the Empire’s manned complexes to automation so that they can be transported to Gliese-818 will become the Empire’s top priorities.
Indian Republic
Like the Japanese Empire, the Republic has a very large population and thus is not feeling the effects of the background radiation as seriously as the major powers. India’s population decreased by 53 million over the last two years, but it still has a large surplus of trained workers.
India has one out-system colony on the planet of Ludhiana in the Gliese-754 system. Ludhiana has a population of 16.75 million, and is now colony cost 0 thanks to Indian terraformers. In addition, India has two mining outposts on moons in the Gliese-754 system.
India has been slow to come to the realization that its problems with shortages aren’t isolated short term incidents but rather a symptom of the oncoming resource depletion of Earth. Instead of converting its mines to automation so that they could be shipped to its mining outposts in the Gliese-754 system, India has attempted to build more manned mining complexes on Earth in a short-sighted attempt to boost its duranium production, even as duranium availability levels were plummeting due to depletion. Duranium shortages have put an end to manned mine construction, and India has been forced to halt production of maintenance supplies, ground units, and nearly all ship construction. As Ludhiana has limited resource deposits, the Indian Republic will be reliant on resources mined from hostile environment outposts for some time. The Republic is currently reorganizing to convert its mining complexes to automation.
Indian negotiators have reached a trade agreement with the Novarans, and the Republic is putting together a trade plan for presentation to the Novarans. The Novarans have let it be known that they have large stockpiles of all trans-Newtonian minerals, and that they would be interested in trading for technology. The Indian government is trying to come to an agreement on what to present to the Novarans in exchange for as much duranium as the Novarans are willing to part with.
USSR
The USSR continues to be an enigma. Massive changes have taken place within the borders of the Soviet Union over the last several years. The USSR has completely withdrawn its population from its old borders to huge mega-complexes built deep within the old Soviet Union. All of the old towns and cities within 100 miles of the border have been razed and replaced by what appears to be undeveloped land. The areas within 100 miles of the old border appear to be heavily patrolled by the Soviet military, which is still behaving in strange ways. The USSR’s military displayed a frightening efficiency in fighting the Japanese, but in spite of that it continues to behave oddly at times, as it did in February, 2035, when a Russian armored border guard unit engaged a herd of reindeer with overwhelming fire. For ten minutes the armored unit poured everything it had into the area, including artillery and orbital fire support. Nothing was left of the border-crossing reindeer herd. Indeed, very little was left of the entire area. To date, none of these “incidents” have crossed the border, but the three human nations with borders adjacent to the USSR believe it is just a matter of time.
The attitude of the government of the USSR, if it still exists, towards the problems associated with the lingering background radiation is not known, but the USSR seems to be coping with the situation. Orbital surveillance shows little change in the overall activity levels within the USSR, perhaps indicating that their population levels are unchanged. There are indications that the USSR is facing severe worker shortages, and perhaps duranium shortages as well.
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