September 18, 2024
The Russian fleet clustered around the warp point in the Moskva system immediately after transiting in from the solar system. The cruisers and destroyers sat right on the warp point with the jump ships of the fleet clustered in the center of the formation. Immediately after entering the system the Kara and a single Moskva class destroyer set out across the outer system towards a pre-set point at which they would turn inwards and head towards their target. Until they turned inwards the fleet would remain on the warp point at low power to ensure than no one from the Solar System interfered with their mission.
September 19, 2024
The Soviet Union receives multiple complaints from other governments about their unilateral action. The Reich and the Alliance both demand full details on the activities of the Russian Fleet. The Presidium denies all requests for information and says only that the activities of the Soviet Union are not the concern of any other nation.
The other nations, particularly the Reich, complain, loudly, but their complaints are toothless as the only other nation with jump ships is the Indian Republic, and they are not inclined to interfere with the Russians, who are nominally their allies.
September 24, 2024
The flotillas from the various nations clustered around the warp point that the Russians disappeared through begin to break up. The Indian flotilla leaves first, closely followed by the Reich and the Alliance. The Alliance leaves behind a single ship, a scout, positioned 500,000 kilometers from the area where the Russian ships disappeared. The three Japanese ships that followed the Russian fleet out of the inner system remain, but shortly thereafter the main Japanese Fleet, which had been deployed to Titan, sets out for Earth.
October 10, 2024
The two ship Russian group (designated as the Contact Group) arrives at their target point in the outer system, and turns inward. By traveling across the system and then turning inward, they should be able to disguise their entry point, a primary point of concern for the Presidium.
At nearly the same time the Main Assault Fleet begins moving as well. Two cruisers and a destroyer remain at the warp point, covering the freighters, colony ships, troop transports, and jump ships that remained huddled close to the route back to the home system. The rest of the fleet, eighteen cruisers, nine missile frigates, and twelve escort destroyers set out on a course that took them on a course across the outer system, in the opposite direction from the smaller group of ships. The Assault Fleet would end up in eight days at their staging point at the orbit of Moskva X, the system’s second most distant planet. The fleet is travelling at a reduced speed to decrease their thermal signature.
October 24, 2024
The Contact Group detects two alien ships closing on their position while they are still 465 million kilometers from Triumph. They immediately send a message identifying themselves in the Novaran language, and ask to be escorted to Novara for negotiations. After a brief wait for the Novarans to communicate with their base the two groups of ships continue on to Novara. The two Novaran ships are of the same class observed by the Kara during the last visit, a 7,850 ton class designated as the Salamander class cruiser.
October 28, 2024
The Contact Group arrives on Novara. The group’s passive sensors detect a total of six large 7,850 ton ships, six smaller 5,000 ton ships, and six 4,500 ton ships that appear to be freighters in orbit (this includes the two cruisers that escorted the Soviet ships into orbit). In addition, the Novaran planetary population has a thermal signature of 18,211, which is between that of the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire. A message is sent to the Main Assault Fleet at their assembly point informing them of the strength of the Novaran Fleet and the population readings. The Soviet negotiating group meets with a Novaran ambassadorial group on board one of the Novaran cruisers, and arranges for a meeting on Novara in one day.
October 29, 2024 1620 hours, in orbit over Novara
The Soviet destroyer accompanying the Kara begins active scans. The scans last for ten seconds and then ends. In that brief time the Soviets confirm details about the twelve warships in orbit over Novara, and they make the discovery they were hoping for – the active scans detect three more cruisers and ten destroyers in orbit over the inner moon of the same super jovian planet that Triumph orbits. The Kara immediately sends this information off to the Assault Fleet.
The Novaran authorities immediately protest the Soviet action, and order the Soviet ship to shut down its active sensors and to stand by for boarding. The Soviets have already complied with the order to deactivate their sensors, but state that any attempt to board their ships will be treated as an act of war. The Soviet commander explains that a maintenance failure in their escort ship’s sensor suite caused an accidental activation of their sensors. The Soviet commander apologizes profusely.
The Novarans surround the Soviet squadron with six of their smaller 5,000 ton warships, now designated by the Soviets as the Toad class. After a short period of time the Novarans demand that the Soviet ships relocate to the outermost moon of their super jovian parent planet while they decide what to do about the security breach.
The Soviets agree and move out, slowly, towards the outermost moon. While the Soviets relocate, the Novarans recall the warships they had secreted around the innermost moon. Unknown to the Soviets, they also send an alert message to the group of nine warships they had hidden near an asteroid nearly 185 million kilometers from their planet.
October 29, 2024 1806 hours, in orbit over Novara
Meanwhile, on board the flagship of the Assault Fleet, the Soviet mission commander received the message from the Contact Group one hour and forty three minutes later. She immediately ordered her fleet to set out for Triumph at 2,000 kps. Nine Novaran cruisers and sixteen destroyers would be no match for her fleet.
One hour and forty three minutes later their thermal signatures would reach Novara.
October 29, 2024 1950 hours, in orbit over Novara
It didn’t take the Novaran high command long to figure out the significance of thirty nine ships appearing on their scanners. The Council of CEO’s immediately ordered the five Toad class destroyers watching the Soviet ships orbiting the outermost moon to demand that the Soviets surrender, and authorized the use of lethal force if the Soviets refused.
The Soviet commander, Kapiyteyn Kostya Kruglov, had his orders. He immediately broadcast a refusal to the Novarans, an emergency message to the Assault Fleet, and then ordered his two ships to begin moving away from the Novaran ships.
The Novaran response is immediate and lethal. The three of the five Novaran ships spat three torpedoes each from their centerline tubes as soon as the Soviet ships began to move. The torpedoes raced across the intervening space in less than a second, their ravening fury a mere streak of light as they slammed into the two Soviet ships. The Moskva class escort ship was hit by three torpedoes, but they failed to penetrate the ship’s thick armor. The Kara wasn’t as lucky. The exploration ship wasn’t armored like its escort, and it was hit by torpedo after torpedo. The Novaran weapons ripped through the ship’s thin armor and wiped away engines and science instruments, staggering the Soviet ship. Kapiyteyn Kruglov was struggling to regain control of her ship when a fourth torpedo slammed into the ship and set off a secondary explosion in the Kara’s engines, causing a chain reaction that destroyed the ship and killed Kapiyteyn Kruglov and most of the crew.
Fifteen seconds later the fourth Novaran Toad launched its three torpedoes, all of which hit the Soviet destroyer. Once again, the tough little Soviet ship absorbed the torpedo’s fury without apparent effect.
Five seconds later the other four Toads launched a total of twelve torpedoes at the Soviet ship, all of which went unerringly to their target due to the point blank range. Once again the Soviet ship survived the pummeling without apparent damage.
Ten seconds later the one Novaran ship that was out of sync with the other four launched its torpedoes, and once again the torpedoes slammed into the Soviet ship but failed to penetrate its armor.
Five seconds later the other four launched again, and once again their entire salvo hit the target. This time the battered Soviet ship’s armor wasn’t up to the task. The first four torpedoes to hit washed across the armor without penetrating, but the other eight succeeded in cutting through the small ship’s armor. Amazingly, the tough little ship absorbed the damage and kept moving, albeit at a reduced rate of speed.
Ten seconds later it was over. The out of sync Novaran ship launched its torpedoes and the Soviet ship was finally battered into submission. Its engines destroyed and systems smashed, the ship’s commander ordered his remaining crew to abandon ship.
The battle gave both sides much to consider. The Novarans were shocked at how much damage the small Soviet ship managed to absorb before it was destroyed. The fact that neither enemy ship fired back was disturbing as well, and the only two theories that the analysts came up with were both disturbing. Either the humans had no weapons, in which case the Novarans had committed a grievous mistake in firing on unarmed ships, or they were keeping their weaponry a secret. In either case, the Novaran commanders were relieved that neither Soviet ship had moved faster than 2,000 kps, which was under the maximum speed of their own ships.
For her part, the Soviet commander, Podpolkhovnik Alexia Panin, was delighted. The loss of the two Soviet ships of the Contact Group was a light price to pay for first hand information about the enemy’s capabilities, and both ships had transmitted right up to the point where they were destroyed. The analysts were working on the data now, and their results would be invaluable while she and her staff prepared for the battle. Even better, the unprovoked destruction of the unarmed Soviet Contact Group gave the USSR a causus belli that would come in handy against the other nations back home.
The Soviet fleet would take ten days to reach Triumph. The Novaran squadron secreted in the asteroid belt was recalled by the Novaran high command. It set out at 300 kps, slow enough that the Novarans hoped that it would remain off of the Soviet scanners, but fast enough that it would reach Novara long before the Soviet fleet.
In the meantime, the Novaran ships orbiting the fourth moon rescued the one hundred and thirty seven survivors of the two Soviet ships.
The Novarans also began beaming messages to the approaching Soviet fleet, warning them to turn back. The Soviets ignored the messages and continued approaching.
November 10, 2024 0813 hours
The Soviet fleet had closed to just over 26 million kilometers from Novara. This was the moment that the Novaran defense forces had been waiting for. Four planetary defense centers, each buried deep within widely separated mountain ranges, began launching missiles. The missiles weren’t aimed at the Soviet ships but at a point in space in between Novara and the oncoming fleet. The PDC’s launched two salvoes in forty seconds, then fell silent for five minutes. After that new forty-missile salvoes roared into space every forty seconds.
0823 hours
The first two salvoes reached their target and began circling. Behind them stretched six more salvoes of planetary missiles, the Novaran’s entire stock of ready missiles. Additional PDC missiles existed, but it would take time to reload the PDC’s magazines.
After the first two salvoes joined into one large group of seventy missiles (one PDC was late to fire, meaning that the first salvo only had thirty missiles instead of forty), the Novarans activated the powerful scanners on several of their cruisers. The scanners had a twenty six million kilometer range and could detect a 2,000 ton ship at that range. Shortly after the scanners were activated, the PDC’s shifted their targeting systems from the empty patch of space to two Soviet cruisers in the center of the oncoming fleet. The seventy missiles circling ten million kilometers from Novara immediately streaked away towards the Soviet ships.
0836 hours
The Soviet fleet detected the incoming missiles at 590,000 kilometers. The missiles were speeding towards them at 16,500 kps, meaning that they would arrive in less than thirty-two seconds. Thirty-two seconds wasn’t much time, but the Soviet fleet was prepared for the threat of missile attack, and every gauss cannon and rail gun in the fleet was slaved to point defense fire control systems and ready to engage the incoming missiles.
Tensions skyrocketed throughout the Soviet fleet as the missiles closed. At the last second Soviet point defenses went into action, firing at the closest point of approach to get the best firing solution. Space around the Soviet fleet was filled with projectiles as the Soviet ships began spitting out defensive fire. Two hundred and fifty eight gauss cannons and thirty six rail guns fired nearly as one, causing the Soviet ships to buck and shake. The Novaran missiles streaked through the defensive fire and suddenly space in front of the Soviet fleet was spalled by explosions as the missiles were hit and their fuel was detonated. Fully thirty missiles were hit as they closed. Even as the Russian crews began to hope that the incoming missiles would be stopped the deadly planetary missiles broke free of the defensive fire and slammed into two cruisers in the heart of the fleet. Each cruiser took fifteen hits from the big missiles, and even their heavy armor wasn’t enough to prevent the explosions from penetrating. In the space of a few seconds one cruiser was engulfed in explosions and completely destroyed, while the second was left a cripple, limping away from the battle at a bare 300 kps.
The Novaran PDC’s shifted their targeting to a third cruiser and the remaining six missiles from the first group turned on the Soviet ship. Even with two cruisers destroyed, Soviet point defense was well able to deal with six missiles, even without the rail guns, which were recharging, and they were destroyed before they could reach their target.
Seeing the success of their initial salvo, the Novarans shifted their target to a point in space just ahead of the leading salvo.
After another eighty missiles had assembled on the designated target area, the Novaran PDC’s again shifted their aim towards the Soviet fleet and the missiles raced away.
Ninety seconds later the swarm of missiles appeared on the Russian ship’s sensor screens. Alarms rang anew as the eighty missiles raced inwards. As they approached, the missiles separated into three groups, each homing in on a Soviet cruiser. As before they raced through defensive fire and missiles began exploding as the Soviet projectiles began finding their mark. The Soviet cruiser’s heavy rail guns proved to be much more accurate than the lighter gauss cannons mounted in such profusion throughout the Russian fleet and they managed to knock down thirteen of the incoming missiles, while the more numerous gauss cannons only shot down eight, leaving fifty nine missiles to slam into the three hapless cruisers chosen by the Novarans as the targets of this salvo. Each ship absorbed about fifteen missiles before exploding, taking nearly their entire crews with them. The Novarans shifted their aim to a fourth cruiser for the five remaining missiles of this wave, but the quick charging Soviet gauss cannons were more than capable of taking out the missiles before they could reach their new target.
The Novarans were ready for the knockout punch. The PDC’s shifted their aiming point to a patch of space nearly one million kilometers in front of the Russian fleet and all four remaining salvos began closing on the aim point. One hundred and sixty seconds later the remaining one hundred and sixty missiles from the Novaran PDC’s were assembled and the bases sent the command that launched them towards their targets. Eight of the thirteen cruisers remaining to the Soviet fleet were now targeted by twenty Novaran missiles each.
Forty five seconds later it was all over. The Soviet point defense systems, already weakened by the loss of five cruisers, were completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of the huge missile salvo. Space was briefly pockmarked by furious explosions as missiles were hit and detonated early, or when they slammed into their targets. In the space of few brief seconds seven Soviet cruisers exploded when their armor was overwhelmed, and the back of the Soviet fleet was broken.
Podpolkhovnik Panin had been fearful of returning to the solar system without a victory, but even she could not order the fleet to continue with the bulk of their cruiser strength reduced to a thin scatter of atoms trailing the remainder of the fleet. In ponderous order, the Soviet fleet turned for open space and increased its speed to 2800 kps. Podpolkhovnik Panin ordered the commanders of the two damaged cruisers to scuttle their ships and detached several destroyers to pick up survivors. The Soviet attack was over. In all, the Soviet fleet lost thirteen cruisers to the planetary missile attack. Nineteen hundred and ninety six spacers and officers were rescued from their lifepods, meaning that the Soviets lost over four thousand, four hundred highly trained men and women.
Behind the Soviet fleet, on Novara, the planetary scanners observed the Soviet fleet make its turn. The Novaran high command dispatched the Fleet to intercept, but its maximum speed was 200 kps lower than that of the Soviet fleet. Still, they hoped to keep the Soviets in sight for as long as possible.
November 13, 2024, 1319 hours
For almost seventy-four hours the remaining ships of the Soviet fleet retreated across the system towards their rendezvous point at the ninth planet. As far as their sensors could tell, they weren’t being pursued; however, the fleet’s commanders weren’t all that sure. The fleet had never gotten closer than 22 million kilometers to Triumph, and the standard Soviet active scanners had a maximum range of sixteen million kilometers. It was entirely possible that the Novarans were pursuing and were just out of range. Still, there was no way the Novaran’s could know the maximum range of the Soviet sensors, so the commanders were hoping that that meant that the Novarans, who had had over seventy hours to close on the fleet, were slower than their ships.
After some debate, Podpolkhovnik Panin decided to wait at Novara IX for a day, to see if they were being pursued. Eight hours later the Novaran fleet appeared on the Soviet sensors, and Podpolkhovnik Panin saw a chance to get some revenge for the humiliation the Novarans had inflicted on the Soviets three days ago. She began issuing orders immediately, and for the next thirty five minutes the Soviet fleet watched as the Novaran ships closed on their position. Finally, when the Novarans were ten million kilometers away, missiles started spewing forth from the nine Sverdlov class missile ships escorting the fleet. Every ninety seconds each Sverdlov missile ship launched four more missiles, all of which were targeted on a point in space about million and a half kilometers towards the oncoming Novaran ships.
Twelve minutes later the missile ships had run through sixty percent of their magazine capacity and three hundred and eight missiles were in space and running towards the assembly point. During that period of time the Novarans had closed to seven point eight million kilometers from the Soviet fleet. Ninety seconds later, when most of the missiles were assembled at the target point, the Soviets sent the command and the missiles began heading for the oncoming fleet. Simultaneously, the missile ships began launching their remaining missiles as fast as they could. Podpolkhovnik Panin had wanted to wait for the entire stock missiles to be launched and assembled, but unfortunately the small missiles carried by the Sverdlov missile ships didn’t have enough endurance to wait for the rest of the missiles and still make it to their targets. They had to go now.
Five minutes and forty five seconds later the incoming missiles appeared on the Novaran sensors. The Novaran ships had all long since raised their shields, as the Novaran commanders had no idea of what the Russian’s missile capacity was, and they were taking no chances. Almost immediately, ninety two anti-missile missiles were launched from the Novaran ships, all targeted on the incoming missiles. The small missiles flashed away at twenty-four thousand kps. Ten seconds later another eighty four missiles flashed away from the Novaran ships towards the inbound missile salvo. Ten seconds later, even as a third salvo of AMM’s was launched, the first wave of anti-missiles slammed into the Soviet missile salvo. The combined closing speed of the missiles was over thirty-eight thousand kps, and as a result the Novaran missiles weren’t particularly accurate. Thirteen Russian missiles were swatted out of space, leaving two hundred and ninety five still targeted on the Novaran fleet. Five seconds later the second wave of Novaran anti-missiles hit the Soviet missile wave, killing seventeen additional Russian missiles.
Over the next ten seconds two more waves of anti-missiles slammed into the massive Russian missile wave, killing another thirty five missiles. Unfortunately for the Novarans there was no more time to launch anti-missiles, and there were still over two hundred and forty Russian missiles racing towards the Novaran ships. The Novaran commanders and crews of the nine cruisers targeted by the Soviet missiles thought that their time was up, but they hadn’t counted on the fact that the Soviet missiles weren’t very accurate. Half of the Soviet missiles exploded early or late, completely missing their targets. That still left one hundred and twenty two that were right on their targets, and the nine cruisers at the heart of the fleet were hidden from view as space around them flared intolerably bright with thermonuclear explosions. One of the nine cruisers was hit by only nine missiles, while another was hit by seventeen. The other seven were somewhere in between. All of the cruisers lost their shields, but only four suffered internal damage, none of it severe.
The Novarans weren’t able to relax, though. Even as the last missile of the first wave disappeared, a second, much smaller wave of missiles was approaching. The Novaran anti-missiles were more than capable of dealing with the eighteen Russian missiles and long before the attacking missiles were able to close they were swatted from space.
Seventy five seconds later a third salvo of thirty six missiles was detected, and again the anti-missiles raced away. Two and a half salvoes of anti-missiles (two new launches, plus the remainder from the earlier attacks) sufficed to destroy the incoming missiles. A second salvo of thirty six missiles arrived and was dispatched just as quickly, and then the missiles stopped arriving. Just as the Novarans were starting to think that they had seen the last missile form the Russians, ninety more missiles appeared on their scanners. By that time the Novaran fleet had launched additional anti-missiles, just in case the Russians weren’t finished. Yet again the anti-missiles raced away from the fleet. For thirty seconds the Novaran crews watched the Russian missiles close, but in the end three waves of Novaran anti-missiles were enough to completely destroy the medium sized Russian missile wave.
Five more minutes passed without missile attack, and the Novarans were becoming more and more certain that they had weathered the storm. While there was relief at surviving the attack, the Novarans were not totally optimistic about the upcoming battle, and even as they continued to close on Planet IX and the Russian fleet, a debate was going on among the commanders of the squadron. The Russians were known to have five cruisers and twenty one destroyers left. Their weaponry was unknown, and they were known to be faster than the Novaran fleet. On their side, four of the twelve Novaran cruisers had taken heavy damage to their armor and had moderate internal damage, and five additional cruisers had some armor damage. Worse, they had expended two thirds of their anti-missiles in repelling the Russian attack.
While the Novarans were debating their alternatives, the Russians were doing their own calculations. Some of the fleet’s commanders were in favor of an all-out attack on the Novaran fleet, now that some if its cruisers were damaged. Others wanted to continue the retreat so that they could save what they had left. In the end, Podpolkhovnik Panin decided that in spite of their losses, the Novarans were still too strong for them to attack. Now that the Sverdlov’s had expended their missiles, the only ships in her fleet with offensive weapons were her five surviving cruisers, and they would undoubtedly be needed back in the solar system. A minute later the fleet departed on a direct course for the warp point to Sol.
Even as the Russians made their decision, the Novarans decided as well. The nine cruisers that had been damaged were dispatched to Novara, after transferring their remaining anti-missiles to the undamaged cruisers. The undamaged ships would continue to follow the Russian fleet, but more carefully, just in case the Russians still had some missiles. The Novarans were no longer eager to catch the Russians, but they did want to ensure that they left their system.
The Novarans closed on the Russian force as it fled, temporarily, by cutting across its course as it headed out system. The Novarans were not able to get closer than 4.1 million kilometers, though, and then the Russians began opening the distance.
November 24, 2024, 1938 hours
For the last eleven days the Russian force had held its course across the system, steadily opening the range on the Novaran force. By now the two fleets were separated by nearly one hundred and sixty-four million kilometers and the pursuing Novarans were forced to rely on the big thermal sensors on Novara Prime to maintain contact with the Russian ships. Suddenly, and without warning, the Russian fleet disappeared from the Novaran sensors. Word was immediately sent to the Novaran pursuit force.
The Novaran force could do little to prepare, as their sensors were already scouring space in front of them. Their ETA to the area where the Russians disappeared was just over eighteen hours. Seventeen hours later, as they approached the area where Russians disappeared, the Novarans raised their shields, just in case the Russians were hiding rather than gone. When they finally closed on the spot, though, their sensors could see nothing. The Russians were gone. The Novaran fleet moved away from the spot, to put some space in between them and the area, and sent word back to Novara Prime.
On the far side of the warp point, the arrival of the Russian fleet was observed by every other nation, as the warp point was currently only seventy-one million kilometers from Earth. In particular, the Alliance was in a very good position to observe the arriving Russian ships as they had one of their scout class ships stationed just nine hundred thousand kilometers away.
None of the other nations missed the fact that there were ships missing from the Soviet fleet. Almost immediately the other nations began bombarding the Kremlin with queries about the location of the missing ships. The Kremlin’s only response was that they were engaged in the legitimate business of furthering the goals of the Soviet people, and that they were not inclined to discuss that business with nations opposed to those goals.
The other five nations ultimately come the obvious conclusion that the USSR has established an extra-solar colony and the missing ships were left to defend the colony. The fact that thirteen cruisers, the bulk of their offensive force, was left in the system with no escorting ships, doesn’t really make sense, but there are no other conclusions that really make sense.
After assembling on the warp point, the bulk of the Russian fleet set out for Earth. The seven cruisers that transited through with the rest of the ships remained close to the warp point, and the Kremlin warned the rest of the world that the USSR had claimed the system beyond the warp point, and that they would respond with deadly force if any other nation tried to transit through the warp point.
Eight hours later, after refueling and rearming, nine Russian missile frigates and five escort destroyers turned around and headed back to the warp point to join the cruisers hovering protectively over the gateway to the Soviet’s new colony. When the Soviet troop ships, freighters, and colony ships made orbit, they immediately landed, covered by the heaviest security the USSR could mount, including coverage from orbital surveillance. The other nations expected the ships to launch immediately after being reloaded, but they didn’t, to the confusion of all.
One day later, the most recently launched Soviet cruiser, which had remained in the Solar system when the rest of the fleet departed, joined the other cruisers on the warp point.
December 15, 2024
After Action Report
Brigadir Nikolsky
Eyes Only, Chairman of the Presidium
The losses suffered in battle against the Novarans can be directly attributed to the failure of the Fleet’s point defense systems, specifically the gauss cannons, to shoot down Novaran missiles in adequate numbers. In fact, the gauss cannons performed at a substantially worse level of accuracy than promised by the design team. In the aftermath of the Battle of Titan and the loss of the fleet, the Moscow Point Defense Design Team (MPDDT) promised significant improvements in overall performance if we replaced the older gauss cannon turrets with their hull mounted gauss cannons. The People’s Navy, which had been humiliated by its losses in the recent battle, was placed under significant political pressure to accept the MPDDT’s proposal, which promised a 20-30% improvement in overall interception rates, achieved primarily through an increase in volume of fire from the more numerous hull-mounts. Test runs bore out the promises of the MPDDT and ultimately the design proposal was accepted for implementation in the Mark II versions of the Moskva destroyers and Kirov cruisers.
Actual performance of the hull mount gauss cannons differed significantly from the promises of the MPDDT. In actual action against the Novaran missile waves, the hull mounted gauss cannons performed approximately 35% worse than the older turrets. Actual interception rates were around 1.7%, making the hull-mounted gauss cannons worse than useless. Our ships would have been better off devoting the tonnage to armor, or to additional rail guns, than to these weapons.
Immediately upon returning to the solar system, Podpolkhovnik Panin transmitted complete data on the performance of the various weapons systems, along with her report on the battle. An exhaustive analysis of the information by tactical specialists within the GRU has confirmed Panin’s claim that the gauss cannons failed to perform as promised. Acting on my own authority, I dispatched a GRU special action unit to the offices of the MPDDT to secure evidence and question the employees. The search resulted in the discovery of extensive evidence supporting the contention that the MPDDT falsified test results to make their weaponry appear more effective. In addition, the questioning of senior MPDDT employees revealed a link between the MPDDT and the KGB, which was the primary author of the political pressure for the People’s Navy to select the MPDDT’s design after the Battle of Titan. The evidence has been forwarded to your office for your decision as to how to proceed. The bulk of the upper management of the MPDDT has been sent to the GRU’s Siberian reeducation camps. The politically sensitive prisoners will await your decision.
The failure of the fleet to achieve its goals in the Novaran system is not the fault of Podpolkhovnik Panin, who performed creditably in returning with as much of the fleet as she did. In particular, the fact that the Novaran fleet suffered damage at all can be attributed to Panin’s courageous counter-attack while out-numbered and pursued by a superior force.
Immediate action must be taken to remedy the situation we are in. I continue to be confident that a show of force at the warp point is all that will be needed to prevent the other nations from transiting into the Moskva system, however, a show of force is not going to be enough to prevent an incursion from the Novarans into the solar system. I strongly feel that such an incursion is inevitable, and not because Panin led the Novarans to the warp point. While there is no reason to believe that the Novarans currently have jump technology, they are undoubtedly even now working to develop such a capability. Once they do, they will come looking for us. Current estimates are that they may have such a capability now, if they began working on developing the technology immediately after our first visit. It is more likely, though, that they will not have jump technology until sometime within the next year at the earliest. Before then we must be able to secure the warp point and then, ultimately, take the fight to them by developing missile defenses capable of defending our fleet from attacks from their planet-based missiles.
Our first priority should be to replace the ineffective gauss cannons on board our cruisers and destroyers with rail guns, which performed well in the anti-missile role during the battle. Fortunately, the rail gun improvement project was recently completed, and therefore this goal can be achieved with limited R&D support. By replacing the gauss cannons with the new rapid fire 10cm rail guns we will increase both the ship’s anti-missile capabilities and offensive capacity. The existing cruisers should remain in service guarding the warp point, and the new design should be reserved for new construction, at least until the current emergency is resolved.
Our second goal should be to transform our Moskva class destroyers into effective anti-missile platforms. Given their small size, I believe that their best role would be as dedicated anti-missile missile launch platforms. Anti-missiles and their launchers can be developed using off-the-shelf technology, and can therefore be deployed relatively quickly. I strongly recommend discontinuing construction of any old-style Moskva destroyers currently in the early stages of assembly to clear the yards to refit already completed Moskva’s to the new design.
In addition, R&D resources should be devoted towards developing improved gauss cannons and turret technology, which will ultimately be used in an advanced anti-missile escort design which will give our fleet a defense-in-depth against hostile missiles.
Finally, our current strategy of focusing on close-range combat to the detriment of long-range missile combat should be reviewed. The Sverdlov class missile frigates were developed in the aftermath of the disaster at Titan to give the fleet missile support as it closed to engagement range of a hostile fleet. The battles in the Moskva system have demonstrated that our fleet has to be able to engage an enemy at all ranges, and that missiles should not be relegated to a support role. I believe that our previous focus made sense for a fleet that was focused on combat in Earth-orbital space, however, the Battle of the Moskva system has demonstrated rather forcefully that the circumstances have changed, and we must adapt to the change.
December 28, 2024
The recommendations of the Brigadir were accepted almost across the board. The politically sensitive prisoners from the MPDDT were executed at the orders of the Chairman, and the KGB was humiliated. The GRU gained correspondingly, and the People’s Navy gained some additional independence as a consequence.
No one within the Soviet government knew how the Novarans were reacting to the invasion attempt, but everyone knew that they would react somehow.
Author’s Note: Caution should be used in drawing any conclusions about Aurora from this battle. I gravely overestimated the effectiveness of the Soviet gauss cannons in the point defense role, something that in real life they hopefully would have noticed before they got into a battle. On the other hand, the explanation offered above, of corruption and political maneuvering, isn’t that far out IMO.
At any rate, neither side used the best strategies or tactics in this battle. The Soviets came in one large mass, which I feel is commensurate with their mindset, and underestimated the Novaran defenses (again, mindset). The Novaran missile defense capabilities weren’t very good, in that they couldn’t even deal with Soviet missile capabilities, which aren’t much when compared with the other human governments.
