March, 2089 – Sol System
The Federation Council holds meetings concerning the increasingly severe resource shortages. Representatives from the major mining conglomerates presented the following information:
Sol
Active Mining sites: 12
Mines: 272
Automated Mines: 545
Privately held mines: 131
Standard Units Mined Per Year: 62,932
Struve
Active Mining sites: 2
Mines: 62
Automated Mines: 80
Privately held mines: 0
Standard Units Mined Per Year: 9,156
Alpha Centauri
Active Mining sites: 6
Mines: 0
Automated Mines: 147
Privately held mines: 0
Standard Units Mined Per Year: 16,769
40 Eridani
Active Mining sites: 2
Mines: 551
Automated Mines: 10
Privately held mines: 8
Standard Units Mined Per Year: 90,348
Critical Resources:
Gallicite: Stocks very low, production-use is barely positive.
Sorium: Yearly usage is nearly 12,000 standard units more than production. Current stocks will be depleted within seven years at current usage rates.
Neutronium: Stocks are very low, and yearly production is barely positive.
The Council orders the Ministry of Industry and Mining to prioritize the construction of mines and automated mines, and the selection of sites that will produce the largest amounts of the three resources listed above.
July, 2089
The Council orders the 7th Civil Protection Group to the Struve system, to garrison the Terra Nova colony. The colony’s population has grown to 4.96 million and the Council has been receiving disturbing reports of separatist activity. The 7th’s commander, Brigadier General Yauch, is a Council favorite. She has been ordered to establish effective control of the colony and to crush any separatist groups she finds. The 7th is a newly formed group, and the Council is confident that under General Yauch’s leadership they will be able to resolve any problems they encounter.
August, 2089
The Council is increasingly focusing on worker shortages that are plaguing both Earth and Mars. Estimates are that industrial efficiency on Earth has dropped to 77% due to shortages, while on Mars efficiency is better, but still below normal at 90%. As a stopgap measure the Council orders BuReLoc to discontinue all colony transfers until the situation can be resolved. Unfortunately, there appear to be no easy short-term solutions. The Council’s original plan, to transfer all research labs to Luna, has stalled due to the important work being done in the labs remaining on Earth. Approximately half of the Federation’s labs have been transferred to Luna, and Luna has enough spare population to man half the labs remaining on Earth, but splitting up those labs would set back propulsion research that the Council is counting on.
On September 8th the troop transport Anzio unloaded the 7th CIG at Terra Nova. Brigadier General Yauch moved quickly and relieved the local government, jailing many of them for “unspecified crimes”. Executions were held the next day. For the next three weeks, as the Anzio headed out of the system, things were quiet. General Yauch, convinced that her decisive action had preempted any trouble, ordered the 7th to stand down from alert status. General Yauch holds daily meetings with civic leaders, lording her position over them and making lofty pronouncements. After hours, Yauch spends her time in a mansion seized from a local industrialist she accused of treason. Taking the lead from their commanders, the soldiers of the 7th ran rampant throughout the towns and the villages of the colony, treating the colonists as their chattel. Eighteen days after the 7th arrived the Anzio jumped out of the system. One day after that the colony rebelled. Three of the 7th’s four battalions were overrun in the initial attacks, giving the colonists enough equipment to field three weak infantry units equipped with modern weapons. The rebellion was a spontaneous thing, not planned or thought out. It was sparked by a random occurrence, a thoughtless act of a squad of the 7th’s soldiers, harassing a local woman in what they thought of as a little fun before a night of drinking. The fire brands that whipped up the rebellion in the early stages were almost all killed off in the early fighting, leaving older and wiser heads to take charge as the rebels moved forward.
In the next several weeks the rebels would set up several makeshift ground force training centers, trying desperately to train and equip as many men as they could. In the meantime, the forces that they had that were equipped with modern weaponry concentrated on isolating and then eliminating the one Civil Protection Group battalion left on the planet. The next freighter wasn’t due for months and the Navy had drastically scaled back patrols since the fuel shortage began, so the rebels would have some time.
On September 13th, with General Yauch and her forces isolated in a corner of the capital city, the rebels formally declare their independence and the establishment of a free republic on Terra Nova. The leaders of the New Republic delegated their best soldiers to lead the fight against the 7th while they worked on a plan for their inevitable discovery by the Federation.
Meanwhile, back in the Solar System, the Federation launches its first two 60,000 ton battleships, the Nimitz and the Yamato.
December, 2089
The Gertrude Bell completes its survey of the Kruger-60 system. No additional alien ships were detected during the survey, and no ruins were found on any of the planets or moons. Several of the system bodies were prime mining targets:
Kruger-60 A I (Super Jovian): Large deposits of sorium at moderate availability
Kruger-60 A III: Large amounts of neutronium at good availability, several other resources at low availability. This planet is a good terraforming candidate.
Kruger-60 A IV: Large amounts of two resources at excellent availability levels, three more resources at low availability levels. This planet is also a terraforming candidate, although it would be more difficult to terraform than III.
Kruger-60 B I: This venus-like planet contains all eleven TN resources, although some are present in low quantities. Still, six are present at high availability levels, including sorium and gallicite, the two resources the Federation is most starved for. This is the planet that the alien ships were orbiting, and there are signs that the aliens might have been conducting some sort of mining operations.
Kruger-60 B V: This gas giant has twenty five moons, four of which have TN resources present at moderate amounts and good availability levels.
The Bell sets its course for Ogema to refuel and report in, after which it will continue its survey of adjacent systems.
February 29th, 2090
The rebel forces on Terra Nova have finally managed to hunt down and capture the last remaining Federation forces on the colony. General Yauch, after having extorted her troops to fight to the last man and bullet surrenders without a fight. She is caught wearing civilian clothes, trying to slip away while her body guards surrendered to advancing rebel troops.
The leaders of the Free Republic know that their time is limited. The Federation will not allow them to go their own way, no matter what. While the people celebrate the final defeat of Federation forces on the planet, their leaders desperately search for a way out of the doom that they foresee ahead of them when the Federation inevitably learns of their rebellion.
General Yauch will eventually be sentenced to life in prison for her role in the execution of the leaders of the colony. The general public is disappointed in this result, but it is generally accepted.
March, 2090
The Terraforming group has arrived in orbit over Giclas A II. The Council has decided, due to continuing population shortages on Earth and Mars, to colonize Giclas A II with Ogema colonists. The planet is nearly perfect for them already, and just needs its temperature adjusted down to make it perfect.
April, 2090
The Gallicite shortage on Mars has become critical. Ships under construction in the orbital yards will be delayed if stocks aren’t built up. Freighters are dispatched to the various out-system mining colonies to transport the resources collected there to date, including a freighter to Terra Nova.
On May 8th the Federation Long Haul Mod 4 class freighter Mary’s Folly jumps into the Struve system. The long range detection system on the colony of Terra Nova warns the Free Republic’s leadership that the Federation has returned to the system shortly thereafter. The colony implements the deception plan worked out earlier, and with General Yauch’s help they keep the freighter’s crew in the dark about the true conditions on the colony. The republic’s leaders don’t trust Yauch, but she has proven cooperative enough as long as a gun is pointed at her, and the alternatives to cooperation are made clear.
May 16th, 2090
The Walter Raleigh jumps out of the Kruger 60 system through one of the two newly discovered jump points. The survey ship appears in the Eta Cassiopeiae system, a binary system with a G0-V primary and a K7-V secondary star. The primary is orbited by a gas giant with no less than four moons that are prime terraforming sites. One of the moons even has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere which, if it had a slight bit more oxygen, would be breathable. The secondary star is orbited by two additional planets that are prime sites and which would need only minor modifications. Both of these planets have oxygen nitrogen atmospheres as well. The Raleigh jumps out again. The system will be probed by military ships before survey efforts begin due to the existence of planets with oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres.
June 5th, 2090
The Mary’s Folly lands at the space port outside of the capital city of Terra Nova. The ship is taken without incident by Republican troopers disguised as ground crewmen. The Free Republic now takes what is quite possibly its last significant act. Thirty men and women board the freighter and after some necessary cargo is loaded on board the ship takes off again, bound for the Solar System.
June 15th, 2090
The construction battalions on Gliese 205 A II have completed their mission and fully exploited the ruins found there. They have unearthed the following items:
1xConstruction Factory
1xOrdnance Factory
3xMines
1xAutomated Mines
1xMass Driver
1xTerraforming Installation
1xResearch Lab
1xGenetic Modification Center
75xMagneto-Plasma drives of various types
The installations will be transported to Ogema.
July 23, 2090
The Mary’s Folly reaches Mars orbit. Up to now the freighter has behaved exactly as expected, but that is about to change. Shortly after reaching Mars-orbit the freighter is granted permission to land and begin unloading it’s desperately needed cargo of raw materials. At first the ship follows the assigned flight plan, but shortly after beginning descent the ship deviates from its assigned course. Simultaneously, the ship begins broadcasting an emergency distress call. Just as ground control contacts the crew the ship begins diving at a steep angle into the atmosphere. The video and audio feed is broken but the freighter’s commander manages to warn of multiple malfunctions. In the background, in spite of the degraded transmission, the bridge can be seen to be on fire in places, and it appears as if several explosions have damaged work stations and fouled the air. As the transmission cuts out the captain can be heard to be ordering the crew to abandon ship.
Seconds later the ship, now deep into Mars’ atmosphere, explodes messily. Sensors trained on the disaster show that the ship began breaking up before it exploded, and the many small and medium sized parts of the ship obscured the area, making it exceedingly difficult to see if any of the crew made it out.
Searches of the Martian regions directly below the explosion will turn up several empty life pods whose flight recording devices confirm were empty when launched. Subsequent investigations over the next week will reveal several inconsistencies in the sensor records and the broadcasts. Two weeks after the disaster Federation Security will complete a classified report to the Council stating that the disaster was not an accident and that it appeared to be sabotage.
July 26, 2090
The Federation Navy dispatches a squadron of warships built around the BCJ Josephus Daniels to escort the Gertrude Bell to the Eta Cassiopeiae system. Once there the warships will probe the planets with oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres while the Bell waits to begin its survey.
August 7, 2090
In response to the report from FedSec, the Council orders the fleet to send a probe force to the Struve system to determine the situation there. In the meantime the fleet and army are ordered to prepare for a major operation in the Struve system.
August 9, 2090
The Patrol Cruisers Berlin and Miami depart Earth for the Struve system. The two cruisers have each taken on board a special team from FedSec. The FedSec teams are in command of the overall mission, and their orders are to determine what is going on at the Terra Nova colony.
August 18, 2090
The Berlin and Miami arrive in the Struve system. At their entry point they are 8 billion kilometers from Terra Nova which orbits the secondary star. They remain at the jump point for now, their sensors probing the system. The ship’s arrival is noted on Terra Nova, as their emergence wake is easily visible, as is the emissions from their massive sensor suites. For now the Terra Novans act as if everything was normal.
Meanwhile, in the Giclas 99-49 system, the terraforming fleet has completed its work on the second planet. Federation Governor Rosenberger, the ruler of Ogema in all but name, names the planet New Ogema and colony ships are dispatched with the first Ogema colonists.
August 29th, 2090
The Berlin and Miami are now two days away from making orbit over Terra Nova. Up to now everything on the colony has appeared normal, except that the Federation authorities have not answered any queries from the FedSec teams on board the two cruisers. In fact, the colony has stubbornly refused to acknowledge the existence of the two navy ships in spite of repeated attempts by the cruisers to establish contact.
At 0839 hours, Federation standard time, the two cruisers received a transmission from the colony, in the clear. The transmission was an announcement by a man calling himself the “President of the Free Colony of Terra Nova”. Auguste Lebrun, as the “president” identified himself, made an impassioned plea to the crews of the two cruisers, claiming that they were forced into their actions by the illegal behavior of the Federation forces sent to control the colony. Further, President Lebrun claimed that the colony wanted to establish a peaceful relationship with the Federation. Finally, President Lebrun invited the cruisers to come to the colony and observe what they had done since declaring independence, and requested that they take General Yauch back to Earth for trial.
President Lebrun’s words resonated with Commander Sebastian, the CO of the Berlin and the squadron senior officer. He considered himself a good judge of character and President Lebrun seemed to him to be a good man desperately pleading for fair treatment. Unfortunately for the colony, FedSec was in charge of the mission. The FedSec commander ordered the group to return to the jump point and ordered that no further communications from the planet be received. The two ships turned away from the planet, leaving President Lebrun to plead hopelessly to deaf ears.
September 10, 2090
The Miami and Berlin jump back into the Solar System and the FedSec teams send their heavily encoded report as soon as the ship’s instruments recover. The Federation Council has been waiting for this report, and the news is worse than they feared. The fact that Terra Nova has rebelled is the worst possible outcome from their point of view, and they are desperate to keep the information isolated. The Berlin and the Miami are ordered to remain on station, and their FedSec teams are ordered to secure their communications equipment and ensure that no messages are dispatched without the proper authorization.
With the information more or less isolated, at least for now, the Council orders an immediate military mission to the Struve system. The naval force will be composed of fourteen warships, including the battleship Yamato, all under the command of Admiral Maurais. The ground force, which has already been loaded onto its transports, is composed of two marine expeditionary forces, the heaviest striking power available to the Federation. The entire force sets out for the Struve system within hours of the message being received on Luna.
Admiral Maurais and Major General Scurry were briefed on the true situation on Terra Nova, however, the rest of the crewers and soldiers would be told that the colony had fallen under control of alien influences. Admiral Maurais and General Scurry were ordered to crush the rebellion and were given specific orders to refuse all attempts at negotiation. The rebellion was to be crushed at all costs.
October 24, 2090
The Federation Intervention Force arrives in orbit over Terra Nova. The force has ignored all transmissions from Terra Nova during its approach, and of course the Terra Novans have no fleet to harass them. Once arriving, Admiral Maurais broadcasts a surrender demand and then begins landing the marines without waiting for a response. The Terra Novans, who have seen the fleet coming towards them for weeks, ceased their requests for negotiation when the fleet entered orbit, and didn’t respond to the surrender demand. Their leadership was pretty sure that the Federation force had no intention of accepting their surrender, and were merely making the demand to determine the mindset of the Terra Novan leadership. Their defensive forces, three understrength infantry battalions and four newly trained security battalions, hunkered down in their defensive positions and prepared for the worst.
The fighting began on the 25th when elements of the 105th Marine Battalion moved into contact with the 1st Novan Infantry Battalion in the outskirts of New Brussels, the capital city of the colony.
October 28th, 2090
The geo-survey ship Gertrude Bell completes its survey of Eta Cassiopeiae B-I, a sun-blasted rocky world orbiting close to the K7-V secondary star. The planet proves to be an incredible find, with ten of the eleven known TN resources present, most at high quantities. Best of all, the resources the Federation is shortest on is present in high quantity and high availability levels, making this planet a priority for exploitation.
The fighting rages on Terra Nova. The initial assaults by Federation marines have caused serious casualties amongst the rather ad hoc Terra Novan forces. The marines are the Federation’s elite and they bore the brunt of the fighting against the Ogema during that campaign. They believe the Terra Novans are under the influence of alien forces, and thus they believe they are fighting for humanity. The Terra Novan forces are putting up a spirited defense, though. Many of the Federation officers expected them to crumble at the sight of the massive fleet in orbit and the overwhelming force of marines dropped on their planet. The colonists have not only not crumbled, but have fought tenaciously from the first, making the marines pay for every advance.
November, 16th, 2090
While surveying Eta Cassiopeiae B III, a rocky planet with a thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and an average temperature of 21.2 degrees, the Gertrude Bell has found what appears to be an abandoned alien colony on the surface.
On Mars, the Federation has been forced to slow down production of new ships at the orbital yards due to chronic shortages of gallicite.
January 4, 2091
The Free Republic of Terra Nova surrenders to Federation forces. All surviving leaders are interned and the colony’s government is dismantled over the next several weeks. General Yauch and the remnants of her forces are rescued from imprisonment and immediately transferred to orbiting transports.
