Jovian Republic
2/15/2125 The Vanguard is launched from the Titan yards after completing its refit. Captain North orders the Vanguard to Mars to refuel and to rendezvous with the other squadron ships, then back to Gliese-300 to complete the survey. The Admiralty, which has grown concerned about Captain North?s popularity with the public, and his apparent publicity seeking ways, attempts to transfer North off of the Vanguard and into a desk job. Captain North uses his contacts in the media to forestall the attempt to relieve him, but the Admiralty retaliates. Shortly after the attempt to transfer Captain North fails, Vice Admiral Patrick Yates is appointed to command of the Geo-Survey ship Cortez, and of the 1st Survey Group, reducing Captain North to second in command.
6/1/2125 The Montezuma enters the first of five newly discovered warp points in the Perseus-02 system. The system primary is a G2 giant with a scattering of asteroids and a rocky planet with a noxious atmosphere. The system is ID?d as Beta Hydri.
6/4/2125 The Montezuma jumps through the second of the Perseus-02 system?s warp points. The new system is a binary, with a G6 giant as the primary and a K2 secondary star. The system cannot immediately be identified, and so is given the designation of U-11. The secondary star orbits the primary a mere fifteen AU?s out. A huge asteroid belt orbits the primary outside of the secondary?s orbit, and a group of planets orbits inside. The secondary also has a planetary system. Four planets are easily colonizable, but one is particularly exciting. Planet A-VI has a breathable atmosphere and is the first of its kind ever found by the Jovian exploration corps. It is very cold, but is the most hospitable planet yet found.
Meanwhile, in the Gliese-300 system, the Vanguard has made an exciting discovery of its own. The Gl-300 system primary is a super giant M4 red star, and the system is very spread out, with the outermost planet orbiting over 4.7 trillion kilometers out. There had been some opposition to the 1st Survey Group returning to this system, as even the habitable planet in this system orbited ten billion kilometers out, but Captain North insisted on returning. Upon entering the system, Captain North sent the Group?s other geo-survey ship to complete the survey of the inner system while his own Vanguard proceeded to the habitable planet. The planet is a close match for Earth, with 87% Earth-normal gravity and an average temperature of 16 degrees. The planet?s atmosphere lacks oxygen, but is present at 75% of a standard atmosphere pressure. Soon after achieving orbit the crew of the Vanguard discovers that the planet is covered by extensive ruins. In addition, the Vanguard?s scanners reveal that the planet is home to extensive resource deposits, including seven trans-uranic minerals, four of which are present at high concentrations. The system?s inner planets also have deposits of resources, including a very valuable deposit of high-availability sorium. Captain North decides to return to Europa with the results of the survey.
6/7/2125 The Montezuma jumps into a new system with an A6-V central star. This glaring star, which is twice the mass of the sun and has over twenty times the sun?s luminosity, only has two planets, both radiation blasted cinders in close orbit. The Montezuma jumps back out after designating the system U-12.
6/10/2125 The Montezuma jumps into a K0-V system with no planets. The astrographic AI quickly identifies this system as Sigma Draconis, a mere 18.8 light years from Earth.
7/6/2125 The Montezuma jumps into a fairly uninteresting M-7V star system. The star has several planets but no habitable or easily colonized planets. The system is designated U-13.
8/2/2125 The 1st Survey Group returns to the solar system with the news of the find in the Gliese-300 system. The Council authorizes the immediate deployment of a major archeological effort, including the team led by Commander Graham to the Gliese-300 system.
8/13/2125 Instel FTL Systems of Callisto completes development work on a refinement of its standard jump drive. The corporation immediately begins work on two new jump drives, one to replace the standard J7500 drive, and a second J10000 model for the Navy?s new combat jump ships.
10/1/2125 The Archeological Team (AT) led by Commander Graham arrives at Gl-300 V and immediately begins work.
10/16/2125 The AT on Gl-300 V discovers an intact artifact that when examined appears to be some sort of automated mining machinery suited for deep-space work. Commander Graham believes that it is a mining module for a space craft capable of mining asteroids. The module is immediately crated for shipping and analysis back in the solar system.
11/3/2125 All construction work on Mars, New America, and Trans-Jovian Tech Systems Site #2 is brought to a halt due to a shortage of government funds. The Council goes into an emergency meeting but can find no resolution other than cutting back on expenditures until a reserve can be built up. Refitting and overhauls continue at the shipyards around Saturn, at least for now.
11/10/2125 The Montezuma discontinues its survey of the U-06 system due to a shortage of supplies and sets its course for the Rhea yards for refit and overhaul.
11/28/2125 The 1st Survey Group, currently located in the U-10 system, detects a ship in the inner system.
RSS Vanguard 11/28/2125 0515 hours
DE Amerind (WP/2.8 billion Km?s out)
GS Cortez (110 million km sunward)
As per standing orders, the RSS Vanguard immediately turns and retreats towards the warp point, while the Cortez, which is the closest vessel, changes course by 90 degrees to lead the contact away from the Vanguard and begins trying to establish contact. The DDE Amerind immediately leaves the warp point to rendezvous with the Vanguard.
1100 hours: The unknown contact is ignoring all attempts to hail it, and the Cortez is now 466 million km?s from the contact.
Captain North, on board the Vanguard, is growing concerned about the fact that the aliens have not acknowledged the signals from the Cortez, but is somewhat relieved by the fact that the contact has not moved. In spite of the distance between the two ships there has been enough time to exchange several messages, but there has been no response whatsoever from the aliens.
12/10/2125 2115 hours: The Cortez and the Amerind are sixty seven million km?s from Planet V when the unknown object finally reacts. It lifts out of orbit and accelerates to 5,650 kps on a course directly for the two Jovian ships. Rear Admiral Patrick Yates, aboard the RSS Cortez, orders the squadron to stop where it is and begins beaming out friendship messages in every known language. The object ignores all messages.
2215 hours: The object has closed to forty-seven million kilometers and is still ignoring all contact messages. Admiral Yates considers retreating, but the unknown ship has almost twice his speed and retreat has been futile from the first moment it moved. Instead he sets up a continuous data stream to the Vanguard so that all possible data will be sent back home, regardless of what happens.
2315 hours: Range is now twenty seven million kilometers. Still no contact. The estimated time to zero range is approximately 79 minutes.
2355 hours: Admiral Yates orders the Cortez and the Amerind to battle stations, although this doesn?t mean much for the Cortez, which doesn?t have shields or weapons.
12/11/2125 0005 hours: The unknown alien craft is now at ten million kilometers and closing. Admiral Yates issues orders to remain in position unless the alien fires upon either vessel, at which time both will charge the alien ship, with the Cortez acting as a decoy to allow the Amerind to get within range of its lasers.
0033 hours: The enemy reaches 1.2 million kilometer?s range and opens fire with missiles. The missile salvo consists of six size seven missiles, moving at an incredible 27,000 kps. The Amerind, with its three lasers, is going to have a hard time dealing with the salvo. Admiral Yates orders the squadron to full speed to close on the enemy.
The Amerind fails to destroy any of the incoming missiles, which are targeting the Cortez. Admiral Yates and 296 crew manage to make it to their life pods before the ship is destroyed.
The alien ship is now retreating in front of the Amerind, and firing as it goes. Twenty-five seconds after the first salvo was launched it launches another set of six missiles. Once again the Amerind?s lasers prove incapable of stopping the alien missiles and four of the six plunge into the Amerind amidships, breaking the destroyer in half and ending the engagement.
One hundred and fifty five minutes later, Captain North and the Vanguard receive the fateful news. The two ships have been destroyed. It will take forty-two days before they reach the solar system.
1/23/2126 The Vanguard transits into the solar system at 0634 Republic Universal Time and immediately broadcasts its information to Survey HQ on Europa. The message takes five hours and fifteen minutes to reach Europa.
Government Complex, Europa
Emergency Council Meeting, Europa, 1300 hours, 1/23/2126
The Republican Government Complex on Europa, like the rest of the Europan colony centers, was a technological marvel and a wonder of the solar system. There had been several proposals for the colony sites, ranging from floating on the dark, still waters beneath the globe-spanning icecap to building into the ice itself. Both of those ideas had foundered on the instability of the icecap itself, which was relatively young in comparison with other system body surfaces. Tests had discovered significant flaws within the icecap, and huge tensions ran through the ice because of Jupiter?s gigantic gravity well and the stresses it created. For quite some time it appeared that the moon could not be colonized, although its large reserves of liquid water meant that it would be the center of any colonization effect on any of Jupiter?s moons.
Ultimately the colony planners decided to build vast underwater colonies, cruising far beneath the icecap that covered the moon. The colonies were built using metals mined by large automated mines emplaced on the floor of Europa?s sea. Indeed it was Europa?s water and minerals that made the colonization efforts on Jupiter?s other moons a success. After the discovery of trans-uranic minerals Europa?s mines were refitted and transported to Mimas and Iapetus to harvest those moon?s bounty of trans-uranics.
Access to the surface from the underwater colonies was through shafts burned through the ice, terminating on each end in large port facilities serving the traffic of the busy colonies. Most of the mobile underwater cities cruised in close proximity to a terminal, depending on the needs imposed on them by their schedule and purpose. The Capitol Complex was currently cruising close to Europa?s major spaceport/transport terminal, and the light given off by the two huge installations brilliantly lighted the normally dark sea around them. The Europans though, largely ignored the majestic sights thus revealed, as they were old hat, considered fit only for tourists.
The Capitol building jutted far above the surface of the city, along with several dozen other towers that housed living complexes, businesses, and governmental offices. Industry was largely confined to blocky structures that protruded from the underside of the large construct. Unlike the bottom of the city, the top was domed with a duranium-composite alloy, giving the Europans an open space to simulate the surface of a more habitable world. Currently, the dome was set to show the actual outside view of the brilliantly lit harbor terminal and the surrounding crags of ice. The President?s offices were at the top of the Capitol building, overlooking the city and the spectacular view. None of the people that had been called to the room were looking at the view now, though. Everyone knew that something had gone wrong somewhere, although only three knew exactly what was wrong.
The President, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Defense were the three who knew, and they were also the three most subdued people in the room, which was making the others nervous. Finally the last Minister arrived and the guards closed the doors, sealing them in. As befitting the seriousness of the situation they all quickly found their seats and waited for the President, who moved to the slightly larger seat at the head of the table.
?Thank you all for coming on such short notice. As you may have surmised, there has been an?event?out-system, and I asked Prime Minister Harris to call you all together to brief you on the situation.?
Everyone looked at each other, wondering what was going on. Normally when a significant event occurred the basics were communicated to the ministry heads, who then gathered their respective staffs and devised an approach to solve whatever problems had arisen, and once the initial round of staff meetings had taken place, the Ministers would meet to discuss the situation. Things appeared to be different this time, though.
?Because he is closer to the situation, I?ll defer to Minister Burton at this time. Minister?? She gestured to the Defense Minister, who stood.
?Ladies and gentlemen, at approximately forty days ago, in the U-10 system, the 1st Survey Group detected an unknown ship orbiting the third planet. As per standing orders, Vice Admiral Yates dispatched the Vanguard, the only squadron ship capable of jumping out of the system, back to the warp point, and called the Destroyer Escort Amerind into the system to join his flagship. Once the Vanguard had reached the warp point, Vice Admiral Yates ordered his two ships to advance into the inner system. At the unknown contact accelerated out of orbit of the planet towards Vice Admiral Yates? two ships. At that point they were 67 million kilometers from the planet. The unknown contact accelerated to 5,650 kps, which was almost twice the top speed of Admiral Yates? flagship.?
There were several gasps as the significance of the unknown?s speed sunk in. More than anything else it had been their speed advantage that had allowed the Republic to beat the Earthers in the last conflict. Beyond on the wrong end of that advantage was unpleasant.
?At that point Vice Admiral Yates ordered his squadron to halt in space and await rendezvous with the unknown contacts. He also ordered both his ships to begin broadcasting contact messages in every known language, including several artificial mathematical ?language? devised by scientists for just this situation. The unknown ship did not respond to the messages in any way. At 0033 hours, on the eleventh of December, the unknown ship attacked the Amerind and Cortez with advanced missile weapons, destroying both. Captain North jumped out as soon as the omega messages from the two ships reached the warp point.?
There was dead silence in the room as the Ministers absorbed the information. Finally, Michael Scott, the Minister for Justice, spoke what had been pretty much everyone?s first thought. ?Was it the Earthers??
?We do not believe that it was the UNE.? This was announced by the Prime Minister in a flat tone indicating there was no uncertainty.
?How can you be sure? This could be the precursor for a major attack!?
The Prime Minister nodded at the Defense Minister, who fielded the question. ?The facts gathered so far do not point to the UNE. First, the Cortez? scopes captured several images of the unknown ship.? Minister Burton gestured and a slightly blurry holo appeared over the conference room table. The holo showed a spherical ship that had what appeared to be a large, boxy structure protruding from one hemisphere. ?As you can see, this ship has a completely different structure from known UNE designs.? The Minister gestured again, and a second holo, this one sharp and clear, appeared next to the first. ?This is a UNE destroyer, one of their assault ships. As you can see, it shares a basic configuration with ours, a long cylindrical hull with a cross section at the rear to house the engine arrays. Indeed, all human-designed ships tend to have this same hull design, which dates back to the early days of space-ship design.?
?Is it possible that the Earther?s built a non-standard design, perhaps to mislead us??
Minister Burton frowned in concentration. ?I asked our experts the same thing. While there is no technical reason that the UNE, or our navy, for that matter, couldn?t use a spherical design, it would require a non-trivial investment to develop the new configuration. Additionally, our best intelligence is that the UNE is far behind us in terms of founding and developing new colonies. Our Earth Watch program has confirmed that no such hulls have been built in Earth orbit, and Naval Intelligence is as certain as they can be that the UNE has not been able to build and man new shipyards out-system.? He gestured again, and the UNE ship disappeared. ?There is more. While we cannot determine scale from this image, the sensor records of the Amerind and the Cortez show that the unknown ship had shields approximately four times as powerful as those on one of our Agincourt class bombardment ships.? There were gasps around the room, and the Minister paused before continuing to let this fact sink in. ?If the UNE is capable of building ships that are both faster and with heavier shielding than our best, then we are in trouble.?
?Are you suggesting that this is an alien ship?? Again, there was a stir that ran around the room as the others exclaimed over the idea that they had finally met an alien race.
Prime Minister Harris nodded. ?That is certainly the most likely possibility at this point. However, we have more immediate concerns. I?ve asked Fleet Admiral Reynolds to brief us on the unknown ship?s capabilities.?
Admiral Reynolds stood and nodded to the assembled Ministers. As she stood, the holo of the unknown ship appeared over the table again. ?As the Defense Minister pointed out, this ship has shields that are much more powerful than those of our largest warship. This either indicates better shield equipment, or more of it. It is basically the same equation with the unknown?s speed. Its top speed either indicates drive technologies that we have not been able to develop yet, or that most of that ship is devoted to engines. Given the fact that the ship has heavy shielding and at least six missile launchers, our best estimate is that the technology that produced that ship is significantly more advanced than ours.? This pronouncement caused a stir as the Ministers reacted. ?The unknown?s missiles were also very advanced, and were superior to our missiles in almost every way, except perhaps range.?
Minister Scott spoke again, a troubled look on his face. ?Our primary advantage over the Earthers was our speed. Now these aliens, or whatever they are, have the same advantage over us, and it seems they have other advantages as well. Can the fleet stop them, if they prove to be both aggressive and expansionist??
Fleet Admiral Reynolds was prepared for this question, as it was the obvious concern. A pulse from her implant caused a holo map to appear over the table. The map showed the four warp links radiating out from the solar system and their branching chains. After a few seconds three of the chains disappeared, leaving one to expand to fill the area above the table. The map showed a warp chain running from the solar system to the U-02 system and from there to the 61 Virginis system, and finally to the U-10 system. The U-02 system had three additional warp points, while the 61 Virginis system had two. None of the systems were marked to indicate that they had active colonies. .
?As you can see, this chain has not been opened for colonization yet. The only activity to date is the archeological team on Gliese-300, A-V. This is good, as it means that the aliens would have to find us, and would have to look through many systems to do so. In addition, should we decide to oppose them before they reach the solar system, we have a significant amount of room to do so.? She paused, then frowned. ?Our ability to resist these aliens depends in large part on their strategy and their numbers. We know that they possess superior technology, which limits the strategies and tactics we can use against them. Given their superior speed, our best bet is to attempt to engage them at the warp point, at point blank range, with all of our ships, should they attempt to advance into our territory. By engaging them close to the warp point we should be able to inflict significant damage on them before they can open the range. It is our best chance, at any rate.?
Minister Scott had been frowning throughout the presentation, and now he shook his head. ?Are you saying that we should allow this outrage to go unpunished? That we just write off our ships??
Fleet Admiral Reynolds? face settled into immobility, her own anger tightly in check. ?Minister, we cannot risk an engagement against superior forces far from the solar system. Given the situation with the UNE, we could not risk sending more than a small portion of our overall force so far away, and against an enemy with superior speed, weapons, and shielding, sending such a force would be tantamount to throwing them away. I cannot in good conscience recommend such a course, no matter how much I want to avenge their deaths. Should the aliens advance on the solar system, though, we could engage them at the warp point with our full strength, and perhaps the strength of the UNE as well. After all, it is their solar system too.?
Several speculative looks passed between the Ministers, but before anyone could begin debating the merits of cooperating with the UNE Prime Minister Harris jumped in. ?In any case, there is something else you need to know before we begin looking at specific responses. Admiral??
?Thank you. When the 1st Survey Group first entered the system, they performed a long-range scan of the system, which included a visual survey of the fourth planet using all of the telescopes on all three ships, linked together in a distributed array and filtered through the Vanguard?s astro AI. This is what they found.?
Fleet Admiral Reynolds gestured, and a fairly standard Earth-like planet appeared over the table. The planet had rather small oceanic area compared to Earth, but otherwise appeared normal. The Ministers all looked at the planet for several minutes while the apparent magnification increased, without comprehension, then Minister Scott gasped. ?Am I seeing what I think I?m seeing??
?Yes, you are. Or at least, we think we see the same thing.? Another gesture and portions of the surface of the planet were highlighted. ?The planet is covered by extensive ruins that appear, after examination, to be functionally identical to those found in the Epsilon Eridani System and Gliese-300. Right down to the large craters in the center of most of the cities.?
?But?but?what does this mean? What the hell is going on out there?? This from Minister Ortega, the Minister for Science and Technology.
?We don?t know. All we have at this point is speculation and informed guesses. One possibility is that the unknown ship is an automated guardian, left over from whatever war or disaster that devastated the planet. Alternately, it may be something left by the race that destroyed the planet, to prevent the original inhabitants from returning.?
Minister Ortega frowned. ?We have dated the ruins in the Epsilon Eridani system to approximately five hundred years ago, and the age of the ruins that we?ve found in the Gliese-300 system is consistent with that figure. Of course, these ruins may be entirely different, but if they are from the same civilization then we are talking about a civilization that has been dead for over five hundred years. That is a long time for an automated ship left on its own to remain functional.?
?Yes, sir, it is. Our technology certainly couldn?t achieve such a feat, at least not easily. The other possibility is that the ship belongs to an alien race that has decided to picket the U-10 system for some reason, but this theory is disturbing for several reasons. The unknown ship is a very large and capable ship, and yet it is posted in the U-10 system, where the hypothetical alien race has no populations to defend. The implications of that are frightening. If the hypothetical alien race is so powerful that they could post a large, powerful warship outside of their populated territory, essentially on picket duty, then we face a very dangerous foe. A foe that we cannot hope to fight.?
The room was silent as they all considered the situation they were in. It was at this point that the President, who had remained silent throughout the briefing, spoke. ?Ladies and gentlemen, we face an unprecedented situation today. We must carefully consider our options and proceed wisely. Prime Minister Harris, what are your thoughts??
The Prime Minister spoke for several minutes, and then gave each of the Ministers a chance to air their concerns. After that they adjourned to consider the situation. Later that afternoon they all met again. By that time they had all had a chance to think the situation through. None of the Ministers suggested that they mount an offensive against the unknown ship in the U-10 system. Fleet Admiral Reynolds had been very persuasive. However, they did not take her advice to retreat from the entire chain, to deny the enemy any intelligence as to the home system?s location. Instead, the Ministers decided to send the Vanguard back to the system, accompanied by a scout ship. The Vanguard would remain at the warp point back to the system, while the scout would advance to the warp point to the U-10 system, where it would take up a picket position approximately 5 million kilometers from the warp point and power down its engines, to reduce its visibility. The two ships would remain on station until the Vanguard ran low on supplies.
In the mean time, the Council of Ministers decided to classify the entire event. For now, nothing would be released to the press or the public. The plan was to wait and release a carefully tailored account that wouldn?t panic the public or inflame public attitudes towards the UNE, which would be the natural scapegoat in the absence of other information.
2/11/2126 The Fleet Scout dispatched by the Admiralty meets up with the Vanguard at the warp point to U-02. The two ships transit out immediately, bound for 61 Virginis.
2/24/2126 The RSS Montezuma, the Republic?s only warp point survey ship, goes into the Rhea yards for a refit. The refit replaces the ship?s engines with the latest Rambaut design and enlarges the engine space by 14%, increasing the ship?s speed to 4,100 kps, replaces the jump drive with Instel?s latest, and adds defensive shielding.
2/28/2126 The Mori, a Tribal Class Destroyer, is launched from the Titan Yards after completing its refit to the Mk 2 standard. The Mori is the first Jovian Naval unit to be launched after refit with the new Rambaut Magneto-Plasma drives, and as a result it is the fastest Jovian unit in space with a maximum speed of over 4,100 kps. The Absolution, a Victory Class Cruiser, is detached from the Mars squadron to take the Mori?s place at the Titan yards.
3/2/2126 The Vanguard and the Elizabeth II arrive in 61 Virginis and split up. On orders from the Admiralty, the Vanguard is to remain on the warp point back to the U-02 system, which is the system closest to the solar system n the chain, while the QE II sets out for the warp point to U-10, where it will set up approximately 5,000,000 km?s from the warp point.
3/30/2126 Instel Drive Systems of Callisto completes its development work on the Instel J10000 Jump Drive. Instel Labs immediately begin research on a revolutionary new project to develop jump gate technology. Up to now the Republic?s government has been cool to the idea, given the security risks given the UNE?s presence in the system and their potential access to the gates, however, recent economic concerns have motivated the Council of Ministers to approve Instel?s proposal.
4/15/2126 The Anzio, and Agincourt class bombardment cruiser, is launched from the Titan yards after completing its refit to the Mk 2 standard.
5/11/2126 A Flower Class Tanker is laid down in the Titan Yards after a slipway is cleared when the refit of a Tribal Class DDE is completed. The Flower class is intended to shuttle from the Fuel Fleet, in orbit around Jupiter, to the various colonies in the solar system. The construction of a tanker will mean that the fuel ships will no longer have to leave Jupiter orbit and stop refining fuel every time one of the colonies runs short of fuel.
7/5/2126 This is a momentous day in the New Hope System. The three terraforming ships orbiting the planet have succeeded in giving the planet a breathable atmosphere. While the planet is still much hotter than Earth, with an average temperature of 58.4 degrees Celsius, the colonists no longer need much of the equipment that has been shipped to the planet. The colony ships alter their operation to begin cooling the planet by changing the planet?s green house effect.
Because large areas of New America are now habitable with minimal infrastructure, the Republic?s colony ships are tasked to begin shipping as many people from Mars to New America as possible.
7/12/2126 Republic monitoring stations on Mars detect a fleet of six Earth military vessels leaving Earth orbit, on a course that takes them in Mars? general direction. The Mars Squadron is put on alert, however, no other action is taken because the Earthers are within their own territory.
At 1430 hours the Earth squadron turns away from Mars, while still in their own territory.
7/15/2126 At 0230 hours, the Earth Squadron is observed to come to a halt just within the Neutral Zone. After a short time the Earth Squadron moves across the barrier into the Neutral Zone. The Mars Squadron CO, Rear Admiral Millie Parkes, aboard the Bombardment Cruiser Anzio, dispatches four ships, including her flagship, to intercept the Earthers. As per standing orders the squadron limits itself to 2,800 kps. Six hours after the squadron departs Mars the Earthers turn back and issue a formal apology for their ?navigation error?.
10/21/2126 Captain North, CO of the Vanguard and the 61 Virginis Picket Group, orders his ship home due to a pressing need for overhaul. He would prefer to pull out the scout stationed at the warp point to the U-10 system as well, as it will have no way of returning or reporting without a jump capable ship, but his orders preclude that option. The scout will remain on station until Montezuma is released from the yards, sometime in April of 2127.
Republic Research Programs (Current)
1. Hyperspace Gate Project. Projected completion date: November, 2128 (Initial Phase)
This project is a civilian program pushed by various corporate interests and is intended to accelerate the development of the various colonies.
2. NDSI (Naval Drive System Improvement) Project, Phase IV. Projected completion date: August, 2127
The project was authorized and funded by the Ministry of Defense, Department of the Navy. The NEI Project was intended to develop the next-generation engines for the Navy. Phase I was the development of fusion power systems. Phase II was the development of magneto-plasma engine systems. Phase III was to be the development of increased fuel efficiency for Naval drive systems, while Phase IV was the proto-typing and development of the actual M-P engine design. Due to concerns about UNE refits of its armed ships, the Admiralty moved the schedule for refit of Republican warships up, which required the early development of a proto-type M-P engine for the proposed refit. The decision was made at that time to go forward with the proto-type M-P engine once Phase II was complete, without the increased efficiency of Phase III. Phase III became the proto-type of the new engine, while R&D on increased efficiency was moved to Phase IV. Phase IV was retained, due to the perennial fuel shortages suffered by the Republic, and because of its tie in with the proposed IM Project (Improved Munitions). To date the Admiralty has not decided if they will proto-type a new engine with the newly developed efficiency factor once it becomes available. It is almost certain that even if the Admiralty does decide to authorize a Mk 1B version of the new M-P engines, they will only be included on new construction and on refits beginning after the development, and that none of the ships already refitted will be refitted again to include the newer, more efficient engines.
3. NPDI (New Planetary Defense Initiative). Projected Completion Date: Initial Feasibility Evaluation complete August, 2127. Project Completion: Uncertain
The NPDI was proposed by Jovian Armswerks of Io. JAW has designed and built most of the Republic?s missile designs, including its Catapult planetary defense missiles. Being intimately involved with the Republic?s planetary defense systems, JAW is one of the few organizations outside of the Republic?s highest governmental levels that has knowledge about the Republic?s Achilles heel. In spite of the Republic?s advanced technology, and in spite of the range advantage that most Republican weapons enjoy over their UNE counterparts, Jovian planetary defense systems as currently deployed actually fall short of full coverage of their areas of responsibility. Due to policy decisions and resource/construction limitations, planetary defenses for the populations of both the Jovian moon system and the Saturnian moon system are concentrated on the primary military bases of Europa and Rhea. While the missiles based on those two moons can cover the orbits of all of the populated moons of the two moon systems, it is entirely likely that the UNE would be able to approach to within their own range of one or more populations without being fired upon, if they did so when the populated moon in question was at its opposition position from the military bases on either Europa or Rhea. This fact has been very carefully concealed from the public, and hopefully from the UNE, however, the Republican government and JAW have been engaged in an intensive effort to remediate this situation, both by improvement of existing munitions (see the IM Project below), and by unconventional methods. The NPDI involves the development of short to medium range strike craft, somewhat similar to air-breathing strike craft still used on Earth by the UNE. These strike craft would be capable of independent deployment in a planetary defense roll throughout either the Jovian or Saturnian systems, and would be able to cover any and all moons of those systems. This is a long-term project, and is not projected to be completed within five years. Deployment, of course, will take even more time.
4. GFWI Project (Ground Force Weapons Improvement). Projected Completion Date: January, 2127
Republic Research Programs (Proposed Future Projects)
Naval Escort Improvement Project
This project will involve several sub-projects to improve tracking systems and weapons systems. Currently, the Admiralty anticipates that the New Naval Escort design that will result will replace the current Tribal class escort destroyers. The Admiralty anticipates that it will be too costly to upgrade the Tribal class to the new standard, so it is likely that the Tribals will be phased out once the new design becomes available.
Naval Sensor Project
This project involves a broad-based improvement in the standard sensors available to the Navy. Current thinking is that no ships except scout designs will be refitted to this standard.
Improved Munitions Project
This project involves the improvement of every sub-system of the current missile designs, including speed, range, and warhead strength.
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UNE
7/7/2114 The Explorer Incident, after which the UNE declares war
1/18/2115 The Battle of Mars.
2/18/2115 The UNE agrees to Jovian conditions for ending the war. The war is over.
2/13/2119 Harold Kingsley, CEO of the UNE during the war, dies of natural causes after stepping down from his office. He is succeeded by Elena Kutizova, head of the Global Progressive Party (GPP). CEO Kutizova authorizes a continuation of Kingsley?s military buildup, but imposes significant restrictions on the military?s independence, including the placement of commissar?s on major fleet units.
4/17/2122 The Global Progressive Party begins losing support at the grass-roots level. An increasing number of people resent Jovian dominance of space and the arrogance of the Republic in restricting Earth?s access to the solar system.
5/16/2122 The UNE Council approves the colonization of the Progress System in an attempt to distract the public from the Republic and their dissatisfaction with the UNE?s secondary status in the solar system. In addition, the UNE Council plans to use BuReLoc to ?relocate? undesirable political agitators.
7/7/2124 The Council?s failure to organize an effective colonization effort in the Progress system gives ammunition to its political enemies, especially when compared with the Republic?s extensive colonization efforts in several systems. Many of the lower level GPP organizers go independent in an effort to distance themselves from the perceived incompetence of the upper levels of the UNE management. On this date, the tenth anniversary of the destruction of the UNES Explorer by Jovian forces, there are widespread and apparently spontaneous protest marches in large cities. The marches are largely peaceful, and do not appear to be focused.
12/8/2124 Roll Royce completes development work on the new Ion drive. Work is immediately begun on a prototype engine design with 157% of the power of the old Nuclear Pulse drive, and is much more efficient as well. Tests on the prototype are expected to be complete in July of 2126.
2/18/2125 Large-scale protest marches organized by GPP opposition groups for the tenth anniversary of the peace treaty with the Jovians degenerate into riots in eight cities, resulting in significant property damage. The UNE government calls in troops to suppress the riots and restore order. The government uses the violence and disorder to discredit the opposition groups, however, one of the more politically adept groups, the Earth First Party, manages to turn the tables when it claims that the riots were instigated by government agents. Their claims are supported by videos of the initial stages of the riots that show that in all eight cases a small number of agitators attacked government forces, that were present in overwhelming numbers, and that the government forces then launched a massive counterattack on unarmed peaceful marchers, causing the destruction that is later blamed on the marchers. CEO Elena Kutizova personally promises to investigate the incidents.
UNE Security Council Meeting
Elena Kutisova was worried. And when Elena was worried other people worried, or they tended to get sent to the most distant and unpleasant posts that Elena could find. She grunted as the thought flickered through her mind. Normally a reminder of her power and authority cheered her up, but not today. Not with what was going on out on the streets of her cities. Against her wishes her eyes drifted to the monitors lining the walls of the conference room. Each showed a different city in flames as rioters clashed with police. The sight of the rioters sent her blood pressure through the roof. The ungrateful bastards! She had spent her whole life ensuring that the monsters of a previous age no longer rode on the backs of the common working person, and this was how they repaid her! They blamed her and her administration for the failure of the colony program and the defeat at the hands of the Jovians ten years ago. The very thought enraged her.
As the last few people entered the room she took a few deep breaths to clear her head. She had been a politician for a long time, too long to let something like this throw her off balance. She looked up and saw that Paul Olmert, her Chief of Staff was signaling that everyone was here. She nodded and stood.
?Thank you all for coming on such short notice.? She gestured at the screens that lined the walls of the room. ?I don?t think I have to tell you what this is about, do I?? Everyone present shook their head and/or grimaced, and she continued after taking another deep breath. ?We are going to have to do something about this, because they are right, right to call us to task.?
Everyone?s heads snapped up at the totally unexpected pronouncement. Elena wasn?t known for her forgiving nature. Not at all. ?Oh I don?t mean that we should coddle those anarchists. In fact, troops are already redeploying to the major cities to put an end to this nonsense as quickly as possible. Having said that, we have to admit that the opposition have tapped into a basic undercurrent of emotion in the general population. The people are mad. Mad at the Jovians for what they perceive to be an ungrateful attitude and unfair policies inflicted at the point of a gun. They are mad at us too, for letting them down during the last war, and for not rectifying the situation before now. We tried to deflect them with the colonization program, but we all know how that worked out.?
Everyone turned to glare at the head of BuReLoc, who hunched his shoulders and slid down in his chair, as if a lower profile would deflect some of the attention being directed his way. The Bureau of Relocation had been purged several times in the last several years, and while the general opinion in the Kutisova administration was that further purges would be counterproductive, selective personnel ?adjustments? still happened on a fairly regular basis. Elena didn?t join in with a glare of her own, but she didn?t discourage it either. BuReLoc had been her brainchild and its failure had nearly dragged her down as well. Disassociating herself from that fiasco had been one of the more difficult feats of her career.
?That?s in the past though, and we need a way forward now. The Jovians have been making us look bad for quite some time now, and we need to find a way to put a stop to that now.? She looked around challenging one of them to speak.
Finally, after a minute, the Minister for Planetary Defense spoke. As one of her oldest allies he felt the most secure in the current environment. ?Ma?am, the way I see it, we have only two options. If we devote all of our resources towards out-system exploitation and development, we can turn around a lot of the dissatisfaction that the people have towards our failures in that area. However, even with the additional resources, it will take time. We won?t have a jumpship capable of escorting our colony ships through warp points until , and there is very little we can do to change that fact.? The Minister?s pronouncement caused a stir around the table as the various Ministers and Bureau heads got their thoughts around the concept. ?The problem is, of course, that we would have to devote nearly our entire shipyard and construction capacity towards supporting this effort if we expect it to be successful, possibly leaving us unprepared to deal with Jovian aggression.?
?And what is your other suggestion??
?An abandonment of the extra-solar expansion program and a redirection of those resources towards a military buildup with the goal of confronting the Jovians either politically or militarily so as to show our citizens that we are not subservient to the Jovians, which is their real complaint about us.?
This pronouncement caused another stir around the table. For a few seconds the babble of voices threatened to overwhelm the room, but then Marisa Rehnquist, Minister for Education and Mental Hygiene, spoke in a voice that cut through the noise. ?Is the Minister suggesting that we take on the Jovians militarily? Can we match them when the beat us so handily before??
All eyes turned to the Planetary Defense Minister. He cleared his throat and paused, obviously considering his response. ?We are much stronger than we were before. We have our orbital defense network, and our fast assault ships. I feel that we are secure here, and that our ships can match them in deep space. The one area where we fall short is in planetary assault capability. We have little troop-lift capacity, and our current ship designs don?t have the capability to deal with Jovian planetary missile silos. We are currently rectifying this shortfall in our capabilities; however, it will take time. Once we have that capability, though, we will be ready to take the war to them.?
Minister Rehnquist wasn?t a fan of the military, and wasn?t ready to give up. ?The military said that they were ready and capable of dealing with the Jovians the last time around, and they were not only wrong, they were disastrously wrong. What is different this time around? How do you know that the Jovians haven?t developed yet another super weapon that will destroy our ships yet again??
Minister Garcia smiled at Rehnquist as though he appreciated her questions, although the sweat on his brow showed that he was feeling the pressure. The military had never been a favored branch of the government, and it was even less favored since the defeat and Kutisova?s assumption of power. ?We don?t know if they have developed new technology, which is why I would propose to undertake a number of tests of Jovian capabilities. These tests should demonstrate fairly well whether Jovian capabilities have advanced as ours have. In addition, we have a much better idea of Jovian strengths and weaknesses than we did before. I?ll be the first to admit that we went into the last war woefully unprepared. The Jovians are not all powerful, and in fact, in spite of their advanced technology they suffer under several disadvantages in any conflict with us, as we have the advantage of an interior position. They have three widely dispersed power centers here in the solar system, and they must defend all of them. We have only the Earth, and that is a definite advantage.?
Several of the Ministers fell to discussing the ramifications of Garcia?s statement and as they talked, Kutisova leaned back in her chair to consider the situation. The Jovians were a threat to the order and stability of the world state, and she wanted nothing more than to cap her career by incorporating the rebellious colonists of the outer system into the UNE, but the last defeat had taught her caution. The CEO of the time, , had been right, her disdain of the military had blinded her to the fact that her own fear and distrust of the military had created a military incapable of action. They had come a long way since then, but it wasn?t clear if they had come far enough, and she had no wish to enter into yet another disastrous war with the colonists. After spending a few minutes pondering the situation she abruptly came to a decision. ?This is what we will do.? The room quieted as the others waited to hear her pronouncement. ?For now, at least for the next year, we will split our efforts between economic and military expansion, just as we have in the past. The military is authorized to develop plans for a series of test of Jovian capabilities and response patterns, which will be reviewed by the Defense Minister and myself. In the mean time,? she swiveled to spear the head of the Bureau of ReLocation, we will do everything in our power to expedite the establishment of our first out-system colony, as a way of satisfying the public and deflecting them from our perceived failures in other areas. If, after a year, it appears that the military option is untenable, then we will discuss a full economic commitment. Agreed??
Not surprisingly, everyone nodded in agreement. Elena Kutisova valued team players.
5/25/2125 The UNE government releases a report that blames the riots on an overreaction by the police agencies involved. The opposition groups, led by Earth First, condemn the report as a cover up, causing GPP?s credibility to slip even further.
8/21/2125 The UNE?s first colony venture is launched when five colony ships and eighteen freighters join a Coontz class jump ship for the voyage to New Chicago in the Progress System. The projected round-trip time is 215 days, as the freighters and colony ships are limited to the 1,128 kps speed of the jump ship.
4/5/2126 The 1st Colony Fleet returns to Earth with a fanfare. The UNE declares April 5th a national holiday to celebrate the event. The ships of the fleet are refueled and serviced, then immediately set out again for New Chicago with a second load of colonists, infrastructure, and mining equipment.
5/25/2126 The UNE 1st Battle Squadron conducts exercises in the inner system. Initially, the squadron limits its speed to 2000 kps, however, after spending several days moving through the inner system the squadron drops its speed to 100 kps and crosses Earth?s orbit on a course for Mars. The UNE government is prepared to apologize for the ?mistake? but the Jovian Mars Squadron doesn?t react. Over the nest several days the 1st BS approaches to within 43 million miles of Mars before turning back.
7/5/2126 The UNE Research Directorate, in conjunction with Rolls Royce Propulsion Labs, completes development of the prototype Ion Engine. The UNE Navy plans a massive round of refits for the entire fleet. In the last several months there has been a significant amount of debate about the standard for the new refits. In the aftermath of the last war, the Navy set 4,000 kps as the standard for the Fleet Assault Ship design, in order to ensure that the Fleet would have a speed superiority over the Jovians. Many want to maintain that same standard in spite of the newer, more powerful engines, and use the resulting space on the ships for more defensive and offensive systems. Others want to increase the fleet?s designed speed in order to remain ahead of the Jovians. Ultimately, the Navy compromises. The Clinton class cruisers receive an upgrade that brings them up to 3,500 kps, while the redesign of the Assault Ship class gave them an outstanding maximum speed of 5,175 kps.
7/11/2126 The UNE 1st Battle Squadron begins a series of maneuvers throughout the inner system at 2,500 kps.
7/15/2126 The Jovian Mars squadron dispatches four ships to intercept the 1st BS shortly after it crosses the edge of the Neutral Zone. As planned, the 1st BS immediately turns back and the incident is blamed on a navigation error.
