Author Topic: Terran Empire - Part Sixteen (November 15 2057-January 5-2059)  (Read 3004 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline OAM47 (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Sub-Lieutenant
  • *****
  • Posts: 142
(A/N:  If it's a bit lower quality this time, or had to follow, it's because I haven't played for about two months and lost track of some stuff myself)

November 15th 2057:  Command releases awards for the battle, many posthumorusly.  Of those still alive, Duke of Texas Delgrande gets a Gold Star.  The task group CO, Commodore Aquaviva, is forced to retire, especially after his track record is examined more closely.  Two silver stars and three bronze are awarded too, along with some service crosses.

November 16th 2057:  The contact in Sol passes 40m outside of Earth's active sensor range, making a target lock for the fighters impossible.  There's some outrage on Earth, but not as much as there could have been.  Rear Admiral Vogelsburg will be berated even more for having sent the fleet away, but command will be happy enough when appointing a new replacement for Schrodt.  Emotions are still high from the battle.

November 17th 2057:  The contact vanishes through the Barnard's star jump point, a dead end near Venus orbit.

November 18th 2057:  The new co-Admiral is chosen, Merrill Dollard.  While a militarist, he is prominent in the new circle that is growing in opposition to the old doctrine. He is the current CO of the Denver Fighter Base.

December 6th 2057:  The design for the M-AS-03A is completed.  There is a massive stockpile of the previous generations of missiles, though.  There may be a new Tritanium shortage if missiles are continually produced at this rate.

December 7th 2057:  A new scout from the wormhole aliens is detected heading towards the inner system from the Lacallie 8760 jump point.  This is especially worrying as the Empire has ships out that branch, and it is the current new expansion effort.  It is a totally new contact, not matching the signatures of any previous vessels.  Major efforts are drawn down towards those systems for the time being.

December 10th 2057: The new contact vanishes to Barnard's Star.  No effort is made to intercept as Earth is out of position on that path.

December 11th 2057: A design for a new carrier for the fighters is quickly drawn up from existing plans on a fighter transport.  The program is supported by a sub-faction within the militarists that is quickly gaining ground.

December 24th 2057:  The first ships arive back at Earth from the disastrous battle.  Preparations for repair are made, but Imperial shipyards were not ready for this kind of situation.

January 5th 2058:  Standard elections are held.  The Militarists' split starts to formalize.  Duchess Bellis is clearly leading the young blood, but Duke Stanforth is less clear on his loyalties.  The factionalism causes the Industrialists to make gains and get a majority.  Despite the increased polarization, enough common ground can be found between two factions at any given time to pass major legislation.

Council:        2 Militarists  -      1 Neo-Militarists -      3 Industrialists -  3 Apolitical
Senate:    840 Militarists   -   486 Neo-Militarists - 1418 Industrialists -  9 Apolitical (Industrialist +92)

January 8th 2058:  The neo-militarists successfully lobby to scrap the old ASMs.  Recycling allows a small run of even more modern missiles to proceed.

February 9th 2058:  One of the contacts returns through the Barnard's star jump point.  It heads for the Ross 248 jump point.  The picket force is readied for battle.  However, later estimates determine the contact is really headed for the jump point between these two.  Another ship follows it 12 hours later.  No interception attempt is made.

February 10th 2058:  A new jump point is found in EZ Aquarii, very close to the existing one.  It leads to Beta Hydri, a star slightly smaller then Sol, but otherwise similar.  It has some very large terrestrial worlds, too big for humans, but also one with terraforming potential.  Also, the system has rich gas giant systems, with one moon of the innermost being almost earth-like.

February 26th 2058:  A Naval shipyard expnasion program is begun, in preparation for design changes after the disastrous battle four months previous.

April 3rd 2058:  Corbomite is exhausted on Earth.  Fortunately, there's a large stockpile, and it is not in high demand.

April 12th 2058:  A survey ship is detected in the outer system.  It's course does not point to a logical strategic area it was scanning, though it a ship that was previously detected and then lost.  Eventually it seems to head for the same jump point the others left through after taking a weird, Z shaped pattern of a course.

June 19th 2058:  Two Hero Class ships are built, replenishing the fleet somewhat.

June 24th 2058:  Duchess Ruz presents a theory for naval level electronic warfare to the Emperor.  Plans are made immediately to develop systems to be put on retrofitted warships.

July 14th 2058:  An enemy thermal contact in Ross 248 is detected again from a different angle, on the far side of the system from the jump points.  It seems to be heading for the TECS Goblin, making a supply run to Raye.  A second contact is detected an hour later, near the jump points.  This contact heads for the TZ Arietis point.  It transits within three hours. The next day, as the Goblin contines on course, the enemy ship is projected to pass through it's former position on the way to TZ Arietis, meaning it was pure coincidence that the cargo ship was in that location at the time.

July 17th 2058:  Another contact in Ross 248.  It flits around before jumping back to Sol!  Because of interferance at long range from the tracking station on Raye, the picket is caught off guard and unable to fire before the ship goes out of range.  It heads for the Tau Ceti jump point.

August 22nd 2058:  Exploration of the Lacaille 8760 branch is resumed with full force, despite the ongoing threat, as resources start to get critical.  Command estimates at least two colonies in the branch will be needed by 2070 to sustain the Empire.

October 11th 2058:  A yong scientist named Gavin Verma conducts a resurvey of Earth's minerals, finding 100,000 extra tons of Boronide.  While this in no way solves the resource crisis, his methods are hoped to be transferable to other extraterrestrial bodies.  The team is dispatched to Mars next.  The Emperor is impressed.  Duke Stanforth also participated in the survey, showing more commitment to thinking outside of the box.

October 17th 2058:  A new jump point is found in EZ Aquarii as the branch survey continues.  It leads to EG 165, a White Dwarf that's considerably larger than most.  The system is mostly barren, but there is a large gas giant with one moon with remote mining prospects and suitable for a domed colony.

October 24th 2058:  The first two Revenge class carriers are laid down.  They will be completed around July of the next year.

November 1st 2058:  The gravitational survey of the barren Tau Ceti system finalized.  No more jump points are found.  The Sir Walter Raleigh returns to Earth for refuel and overhaul before heading to Ross 248.  A few survey locations have been unscanned, and due to recent enemy activity command suspects at least one jump point they have not.

November 10th 2058:  EZ Aquarii appears to be a hub system.  Two more jump points are found at one survey location.  The first leads to Gliese 257, a dual red dwarf system.  The system is tiny, but jammed packed with planets.  What's more, the first planet is so close to being habitable that estimates say only five years of terraforming effort would be required!  The planet is still exotic, though, being tidally locked and dead techtonically.  The John Young reports back to Earth and a military probe will be dispatched for a close pass.  Command is not taking any chances.

November 11th 2058:  Significant resources are discovered in Beta Hydri.  Command believes with these recent discovery full development efforts should resume along with the exploration expeditions.

November 19th 2058:  The probe of the other new jump point finds another Gliese system, 615, that is also a red dwarf pair.  It's unremarkable, full of tiny planets and planetoids.  However, there are four wrecks detected... two large, 14,000ish ton wrecks with a small 1000 ton wreck clustered together and another large wreck a good distance away.  The survey ship high tails it out of there, marking the system as dangerous.  It is not yet determined if the military expedition will probe here.  The issue will probably only be decided after elections.

November 24th 2058:  The Colonization, Exporation, Development (CED) Boost Act passes with large cross-factional support.  The nobles really helped to get it passed.  The stated goal of the act is to have a base in every system out to Ross 780 by 2070, with secondary objectives to have a bases in Beta Hydri and Gliese 257.

November 29th 2058:  The Imperial Navy has a new PD weapon.  An up and comming scientist named Raul Deets manages to perfect gauss weaponry and design a CIWS for future generations of warships.  While impressed, many do not think this is worthy of being made nobility.  The Emperor is on the lookout for new talent, though.  As a compromise, he is granted the title Count of San Diego, under Duchess Bellis.  Counts and Countesses will not have a seat on the council, but will still have much prestige.

December 1st 2058:  The Senate approves initial stages of Generation 3 warship design.  New advances in PD and ECM do not fit on revisions of past designs.

December 11th 2058: One more JP found in EZ Aquarii, bringing the total to seven.  It leads to P Eridani, a dual orange star system.  The primary doesn't have much going for it, but the secondary has a world like the one just found in Gliese 257.  In fact, once terraformed, it looks to be a much more hospitable place.  Two other planets will also be easy to colonize.  However, there's a wreck, like the last system.  It might have been an unfortunate ship that drifted into the secondary start, though.  The survey ship retreats and marks the system for the military probe.  The reward in this system definitely outweighs the reward.

December 13th 2058: A contact jumps in from TZ Arietis to Ross 248.  It heads away, towards the Gliese 625 jump point.  The aliens seem to be surveying this branch rather quick, which is worrying.

December 21st 2058: A new jump point is found in the inner system of Ross 780.  The chain is becoming much more expansive and pushing up development cost estimates.  It leads to Luyten 1305-10, a red dwarf with nothing orbiting it.

December 29th 2058: Another contact appears in Ross 248.  It heads for the Sol jump point.  The ships there are alerted.  They decide to intercept on the Ross side to avoid being caught unprepared like the last time. With a surplus of missiles, they are used again for a change.  The waves of 8 have limited success, with only 4 hits total before the contact closes the range.  About half of the lasers hit as the target passes the picket and jumps.  It isn't noticeably damaged.  The picket force is recalled to Earth for overhaul, having been on station for an overly long period now, but it was still one of the better showings against the scouts.  Duke Brule, commander of the task force, gets a lot of credit for a "job well done".

January 2nd 2059:  A second contact mirrors the actions of the earlier one.  The picket force does not bother to turn around.

January 5th 2059:  Elections see the numbers of senators even out quite a bit.  No majority is formed, though once again much common ground is found.  There is no trouble selecting a speaker, and the next session looks to be just as productive, if not more so than the last year.  However, the Council is starting to push for electoral reform as the Senate grows to unwieldy size.  It seems to be the major long term issue that the Senate will tackle in 2059...

Council:        2 Militarists  -      1 Neo-Militarists -      3 Industrialists -   3 Apolitical
Senate:    921 Militarists   -   929 Neo-Militarists - 1031 Industrialists -  12 Apolitical (No majority)