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Offline Haji (OP)

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From the ashes - part 5
« on: February 07, 2016, 07:22:48 AM »
25th December 2345

   Two tracking stations have been delivered to the second planet in ES – 52 KH5 system by Commune fast tranposrts but they find nothing. The system will now be opened to exploration and the First Frigate Flotilla will retreat to Wieliczka.

20th November 2346

   Albion has become habitable for unprotected humans, the fifth such planet in the Republican home system of Phoenix. This makes the government speed up their selection process for Phoenix D III.
   Due to the huge distances between the A and D components of the system, the colonization has slowed down as both freighters with infrastructure and colony ship with people had to spend much more time in transit. In fact the emigration to Albion is still very much ongoing. To make matters worse, all the best prospects for colonization has already been taken and the other planets will require more work and more initial infrastructure, which will slow down development even more.
   However the government feels there is enough support already in place on Phoenix D III and that there are enough new generation ships to begin the emigration process and move terraforming installations there. To the surprise of no one the planet is given to Ukraine.  It is estimated that nine and a half million people will emigrate there.

6th March 2347

   A new alien vessel is discovered in ES – 35 GH5 by the Commune. It's one of those which seem to just hang in deep space, running away from any ships, possibly a long-term scout. Fifth Gunboat Flotilla from the capital is dispatched.

8th April 2347

   Four gunboats open fire at the alien ship. It's not enough to destroy it, forcing three more Piranhas to fire, which is enough. The Commune forces head back home.

6th August 2347

   A partially intact colony has been found on ES – 52 KH5 II. While an archaeological team is being sent, the Administrator and the Oversight Committee review the current survey practices.
   While the current Commune designs have enormous endurance, they lack speed as exemplified here. Despite the last battle in the system being fought well over a year ago, gravitational survey has been completed only several months ago – with single new jump point found and no alien presence detected – and only now a geological survey ship has arrived.
   Aside from low speed another problem seen with the current survey practices is the lack of jump drives on the Hawkwing class vessels, limiting them to systems connected to jump network. Not only this limits systems available for survey, should a new alien race be found, such race would have easy access to the rest of the Commune.
   But the critical question being asked, which may very well force creation of new survey force, is how would those survey ships perform during a war against a normal, mobile enemy with industry producing new ships. And most likely those vessels would be too slow and cumbersome.
   There are of course countervailing considerations. Aside from their long endurance, the Commune vessels are small allowing them to avoid detection. That is the reason why the alien race beyond ES – 10 FH2 is not aware of humanity – they were detected by a human ship that did not give itself away.
   There are two options available, as seen by the government. First is to upgrade the existing designs. Not only all are using engines one generation out of date, but their speed could be increased at the cost of fuel efficiency. Unfortunately, the government currently does not want to explore the matter more fully, as they would have to design and develop new engines.
   A second option however, is much more interesting from their point of view. Using only existing components, they have ordered an advanced paper study of a new, large survey vessel. The result is shown below.


Code: [Select]
Advanced Survey Vessel class Exploration Ship    10 000 tons     266 Crew     1729 BP      TCS 200  TH 1232  EM 0
6160 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-41     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/44/1/1     Damage Control Rating 19     PPV 0
Maint Life 7.69 Years     MSP 2053    AFR 42%    IFR 0.6%    1YR 61    5YR 918    Max Repair 308 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months    Spare Berths 2   

Nutiu Engines Limited Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 10200 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Ungureanu-Tudor Medium Internal Fusion Drive (2)    Power 616    Fuel Use 54.83%    Signature 616    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 2 250 000 Litres    Range 73.9 billion km   (138 days at full power)

Saleh-Basuki Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 16800     Range 146.1m km    Resolution 160
Rael Technology Medium EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 44     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  44m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes



   The ship is very fast, jump capable, has very good endurance and reasonable range. Moreover a new, more fuel efficient engines can be designed or for that matter a new engine that would use less space, consume only fifty four percent as much fuel as the current ones and would still allow the ship to move at five thousand kilometers per second, faster than the known ADS ships. Unfortunately, such a ship would be much easier to detect, it would have no defenses and construction would require the yard space currently allocated to Stockholm class frigates. And of course, should the new engine be chosen, the development costs would be significant.
   The CDF proposes a somewhat different solution. As ADS is not aggressive by nature and ax the Commune has the territory they need to support their industry, they have little need for expansion and their immediate need is to industrialize and secure the space they already have. In addition, there are plans to build a large vessel equipped with jump engines and truly powerful and sensitive sensors. The first research complexes are on Eden already, working on improving the general technology before development of individual components begins. As such the officers propose to wait until those become available, which will allow them to build one, humongous vessel carrying new, improved versions of gravitational survey and exploration vessels as well as newly designed geological survey craft. While this will take significant amount of time, any solution presented so far is at least a medium term one anyway, and the economy is in a bad shape, making exploration not only difficult but also somewhat pointless, as any new stars cannot be colonized and developed anyway. In the meantime continuing the current shipbuilding practices will allow the CDF to grow, better protecting the Commune from any threats that may find them. They point out to the recent events in ES – 52 KH5 where the lack of immediately available missile defense ships has cost the Navy heavily. In fact, even now there are only two frigate squadrons with several more unassigned ships, and the Second Gunboat Flotilla is still rebuilding. The officers stress the need to build up the fleet.
   The government is disappointed that there are no quick and easy solutions, while the Administrator agrees that currently it is much more important to secure and develop existing space, rather than looking for trouble. Additional funds will be directed towards setting up additional listening posts, while the Navy will continue to grow.

15th August 2347

   A very small thermal signature is detected on ES – 52 KH5 I. It's most likely some kind of outpost. Unfortunately all Commune ground combat forces are either defensive in nature or are geared towards construction.
   Despite the risks the post will not be bombarded from orbit. While it will take several years the Commune plans to invade it.

19th November 2347

   Another small thermal signatures are detected by the Commune this time on two asteroids in the ES – 15 KU4 system. Those are slightly stronger than the one recently detected in the  ES - 52 system, but not by much.

17th January 2348

   The alien ruins on Seine has been exploited. The Republican recovery operations will now move to Phoenix B IV which has a hundred and sixty installations waiting to be recovered.

25th April 2348

   A small mining operation has been established on the eleventh moon of the gas giant Byornoya, which serves as the main, and for the moment only fuel source for the Commune. This is the first such enterprise but the government hopes it won't be the last, as they could certainly use additional income from taxation. The moon itself possesses over seventeen million of very easily accessible duranium, five million tonnes of moderately accessible corbomite and six million tonnes of barely accessible corundium.
   The mining company is also the latest sign of the growing significance of the Sudetes system, where the Wieliczka colony is located. The population of the colony is almost sixty four million, making it the third most populated object in the Commune, behind the Odin and Biskupin habitats which can not grow. In fact, despite many research facilities being moved to Eden, the planet still experiences manpower shortages, although it is by no means the only colony with such a problem.

5th June 2348

   The initial survey and cataloging of the alien ruins on ES – 52 KH5 II is complete. A total of two hundred and twenty five installations or other items of interest has been found, making it the largest known archaeological site by far. Commune rRecovery teams are dispatched, but they will be moving in the old, slow troop transports.

20th September 2348

   With the ongoing survey and gate building operations in and around ES – 35 GH5 running into no more aliens, the Commune government has decided to declare the system and the surrounding area secure for limited operations. A small group of asteroid mining vessels is allowed to enter the system, to set up operation on one of the comets and salvage operations will begin in the area.

22nd February 2349

   While exploring systems around Athens, a Copernicus class ship arrives in the vicinity of a blinding white A class star surrounded by a small number of planets, the third of which is orbited by four wrecks. Three of them has been positively identified as belonging to the ADS, while the fourth, while unknown, masses sixteen thousand and six hundred tonnes, consistent with other ADS destroyers.
   It is too early to tell whether or not are there any active enemies are in the system, but the Commune decides to take no chances. A tanker is dispatched to Eden to establish a fuel stockpile for future operations. Even if the exploration ship finds nothing, it is very likely that an expedition will be launched anyway.
   Additional reason for worry for the government is the location of this system. Up until recently, with the exception of the battle of Yggdrasil and a single ship in ES – 21 FH3 (the first known system to be located in a nebula) all known ADS presence was beyond the Dardanelles system, while the Athens area was peaceful and considered secure. Now a second alien infested system has been found in the vicinity of what is one of the most important human colonies. There are already two orbital weapon platforms in orbit of Eden, but recent events has made government consider dispatching additional forces to the area. Unfortunately, the need to preserve combat strength in Baltic and Sudetes makes this impractical. 

4th May 2349

   An Amethyst class geological survey vessel exploring ES – 44 GU5, two jumps from Yggdrasil, has been declared overdue some time ago. Now another Commune exploration craft enters the system to investigate, finding only a wreck.
   This is inconvenient for the CDF who were planning to send an expedition to the newly discovered system beyond Athens, but now they are faced with two threats. They decide to wait for information from the scout currently in ES – 58 AH6 before releasing their forces for operations.

5th June 2349

   The Commune flyby of the most interesting planets of the ES – 58 AH6 system is complete. There was no sign of active enemies and while this isn't conclusive, it makes the CDF to prioritize ES – 44 GU5.

23rd June 2349

   The Second Fleet arrives at the ES – 44 GU5 jump point and the frigate leader Maasvlakte begins to ferry warship into the system.
   The central Sol like star is orbited by only a single planet and a handful of comets. The body itself is very unremarkable, a rock eight thousand tonnes in diameter with no atmosphere, high temperature and too low gravity for human habitation. At the same time it is the only object of significance in the system, so the Commune warships set course for it.

24th June 2349

   Two ADS frigates belonging to a new, previously unseen class, are detected by the active sensor array on Maasvlakte. Not wanting to risk his gunboats, Rear Admiral Gonzalez decides to keep his force together, despite the fact that the Piranhas may have avoided detection altogether.
   Fortunately the enemy is more than willing to enter Commune missile range on his own. This, coupled with human inability to detect active sensors on any of those two ships, leads Gonzalez to conclude those are either anti-missile escorts, or beam armed attack vessels.
   He is not interested in finding out however and orders a total of eight gunboats to fire at the two ships.
   Unfortunately the Commune has proven to be overconfident and the enemy not as predictable as humans believed it to be. Expecting the ADS to continue towards the humans, Gonzalez ordered fire from extreme missile range, but the enemy turned about shorty after, making the one hundred and ninety two Arrows run out of fuel. Cursing his ineptitude, the Rear Admiral ordered pursuit of the aliens. With the enemy running directly away from him, his force has to close to less than fifty two million kilometers.
   Before the range can significantly drop, the large sensors aboard Maasvlakte detect a wave of twenty enemy missiles, grouped into two batches of ten. The Commune missile defenses will be tested in combat for the very first time.
   Acutely aware of his previous failings, Gonzalez decides to take no chances and orders his ships to head way from the enemy missiles, stretching the engagement window. He also gives all his ships permission to fire at will, but specifies that he wants at most two anti-missiles targeting each enemy shipkiller at any given time.
   The backbone of those defenses are six Vistuala class corvettes, each equipped with sixteen anti-missile launchers and three hundred and seventy six missiles in their magazines. Even if all of them were to fully engage they could sustain their maximum rate of fire for nearly four minutes.
   Five second later another, identical wave is detected. The speed of the enemy shipkillers is also calculated, making the tactical officers to stare in disbelief for the alien munitions move at only fourteen thousand and four hundred kps. Gonzlez immediately orders his corvettes to use only a single anti-missile for each incoming one.
   The first Spears begin to intercept their targets twenty seconds later. Despite huge difference in speed, the Commune defenses have only fifty eight percent chance of scoring a hit, but even so the Rear Admiral does not change his orders. His corvettes will have time for multiple launches and his frigates have large numbers of railguns, so he can afford to take some risks to conserve ammunition. On the other hand the enemy missiles are fifty percent larger than Arrows and much slower, so any hit will probably do much more damage than a Commune warhead would.
   The two enemy ships fired a over a dozen salvos, but not a single alien missile managed to get within two hundred thousand kilometers of the human ships and the corvettes had, on average, over eighty percent of their ammunition sill remaining. The Second Fleet, their morale heavily boosted by the recent success, resumed course towards the still running frigates.
   Interestingly the two alien vessels changed course towards the only planet in the system, allowing human ships to cut inside them and drop the range quicker. Two hours later they opened fire again, with four Piranhas targeting each enemy warship. This proved to be more than enough.

26th June 2349

   The Second Fleet enters the orbit of the only planet in the ES – 44 GU5 system. They do not find the half-expected enemy bases, but they do detect a very faint thermal emission, most likely a sensor outpost. Gonzalez decides to stay in orbit for several days, hoping it will bait any remaining ships – if there were any – into attacking.

9th July  2349

   With no sign of additional alien vessels, the Second Fleet heads home.

18th September 2349

   The First Frigate Squadron is sent to the ES – 58 AH6. Several wrecks have been found and why a flyby by a Copernicus class ship found nothing, the Commune government wants to be certain the system is safe before any exploration and exploitation can begin.

17th November 2349

   The First Frigate Squadron has completed their exploration of the ES – 58 AH6 system finding nothing.

20th January 2350

   Small alien ruins are found on ES – 58 AH6 III by the Commune, a near habitable planet orbited by four wrecks. Archaeological teams are dispatched.

3rd November 2350

   Six new Vistuala class corvettes leave the yards, bringing their number to thirty six. No new ships of this type will be laid down however, as the Commune government has decided that only five frigates squadrons will be commissioned. New frigates will have to be constructed, but once their number is brought to twenty, their manufacturing will stop as well. For all instances and purposes the CDF will cease to expand.
   This is part of the changing Commune direction from security towards expansion. Their economy is insufficient to fund all their endeavors and the Administrator has decided to trade short term risk for long term rewards. As shipbuilding consumes forty five percent of the budget, cutting down construction is the best way to quickly improve the financial situation.
   In the long term, improvement will come from increased population and large financial sector. The latter is already providing over forty percent of the government's income and is expanding steadily. But the true focus is on colonization.
   The Baltic habitats are filled to capacity, forcing strict population control. Many people – with some estimates approaching forty percent of the population – would love to leave to one of the colonies, but there is not enough lift. Civilian shipping lines aren't big enough and they concentrate on freighters, which are more profitable. Government shipping is limited and construction times long due to combination of insufficiently large economy and manpower shortages on Courland.
   To improve construction rates a number of changes is taking place. By now three yards, instead of one, are tooled to build colony ships, including the new Odyssey class which, while slightly slower than Oslo III, can carry twice the number of people. Moreover the yard tooled to build those huge vessels is en route to Peles. While the journey is long and it will still take over a year for it to arrive, the yard will be able to operate at full capacity. Better yet, moving it lessened manpower shortages on Courland, although it did not eliminate them.
   Even so everyone is very much aware that it will be years before economy will be able to sustain a new naval expansion, but the government sees little choice. The limited economy is slowing down research, expansion and even military standards becoming extremely dangerous. It has to be resolved, even if it means the Commune will enter a period of vulnerability.


Code: [Select]
Odyssey class Colony Ship    90 000 tons     465 Crew     3352.75 BP      TCS 1800  TH 5250  EM 0
2916 km/s     Armour 1-178     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 23    Max Repair 61.25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 3   
Cryogenic Berths 200000   

Segura Aerospace Industries Mid Range Commercial IF Drive (15)    Power 350    Fuel Use 2.18%    Signature 350    Exp 3%
Fuel Capacity 800 000 Litres    Range 73.4 billion km   (291 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

27th March 2351

   Due to ongoing manpower shortages on Wieliczka and Eden the Commune freight fleet ceases their operations. Seventy five ships orbit Valhalla uselessly. As such the Administrator decides to use them for a somewhat different task. Thanks to Wieliczka becoming habitable there is an enormous amount of infrastructure that could be moved to a new location. While at the moment the Commune has little reason to actively develop another planet – which is why the infrastructure has not been moved already – acting now will make development easier in the future. The only question is the location. There are several possibilities.
   ES – 35 GH II is a nearly habitable planet with huge amounts of easily accessible TN elements. In the future the planet is certain to become one of the most important mining locations in the Commune space. It will also be a very pleasant place to live once modifications are done, but the large water coverage – ninety eight percent – means there is space for only several hundred million people.
   Unfortunately there are several problems. First and foremost the planet is quite far from any fleet base. Despite being only two jumps from Baltic, Valhalla, where the First Fleet orbits, is very distant from the primary and the jump point. In addition, it's one of the furthest locations from Wieliczka where the infrastructure is located. Last, but not least, the currently ongoing mining operations within Commune are more than enough thanks to recovered alien technologies which significantly increased the output of mining installations. The fifty asteroid mining vessels in operation and five hundred mining complexes in Sudetes and Athens will be able to supply the nation for years to come.
   ES – 10 FH2 III is located only two jumps from Baltic in a generally unexplored direction. The planet, while requiring significant amount of infrastructure due to overabundance of oxygen, would be very easy to terraform and once that's done, it would be one of the most Earth like planets found so far. The planet has been considered for colonization for quite some time, as the system is adjacent to the one where a new alien race has been found, but never contacted and one day will serve as a fleet base protecting approaches to the capital.
   The planet is low on the list however. If it was to be settled, a significant force would have to be moved there immediately, but there are no formations available. In addition, this is the most distant location from Wieliczka under consideration, making the colonization and development process very difficult. There are also no mineral resources of note in the system.
   ES – 17 GH4 III is a site of already explored alien ruins. In fact the recovered facilities allowed establishment of a small colony, currently numbering eighteen hundred thousand people. It's located only a single jump from Wieliczka and two from Athens, but the most important feature is an ancient, enormous ammunition factory, the study of which would significantly aid the current Commune missile heavy doctrine.
   Unfortunately the systems around ES – 17 GH4 has not yet been fully explored, which means there may be enemy units present nearby. It's unlikely, as the jump gates have been constructed without a problem and all candidates for colonization has been scouted, but the danger remains. A larger problem, from an immediate, practical point of view, is the toxic atmosphere of the planet, which is thick with ammonia and methane. Removing those gases will take more work than it would take to establish a breathable atmosphere on an airless body, so any terraforming will be slow.
   ES – 21 FH3 II is another inhabited planet with population of two and a half million. Located in a nebula, in a different region of space than the rest of the colonies, it houses enormous ancient manufacturing complex which would increase research into civilian technologies conducted on the planet.
   However another planet, ES – 34 GH3 I, has similar artifact, but a better preserved one, which would make it easier to study. The difference is significant enough that the government would chose ES – 34 without reservations, if the system wasn't located near an alien space. In addition ES – 21 is somewhat distant from Wieliczka.
   There are of course several other possibilities, such as ES – 16 KH4 II which already has population of thirty three hundred thousand people, Gateway II and III which are close to both Baltic and Sudetes making it easy to colonize or the Yggdrasil system, which has several candidates for colonization and reasonable mineral deposits in asteroid belts and comets. However, aside from providing a lot of living space, those planets offer no special benefits.
   After a rather lengthy debate ES – 17 GH4 III has been chosen for further development. Missiles play enormous role in the Commune Defense Force and every year the human civilization avoids being discovered by the Destroyer makes them feel more nervous about being found. Quick improving of missiles may be the difference between life and death when the Destroyer finds them.
   In addition to those new orders, the government also decides to rename all inhabited systems and planets. As the ones still lacking names have been colonized by private citizens, they were never given official designation.
   The system ES – 16 KH4 is named Kvituchi Troyandy. It means 'blooming rose' in Ukrainian and it was the name of the colony ship destroyed in the system by ADS causing deaths of over fifty thousand people. The second planet, where the colony is located, is named Herinnering, which means 'Remembrance' in Dutch.
   The system of ES – 17 GH4 is named Adriatic and the colony, located on the third planet, is called Prkos, which means 'Defiance' in Croatian. As the planet will serve to develop weapons capable of protecting humanity against the Destroyer, who once annihilated almost entire human race, the name seemed the most appropriate.
   The system ES – 21 FH is named Ung Stjarna, which means 'Young Star' in Icelanding. As the system is centered around a recently formed protostar, the name seemed appropriate. The colony itself, located on the second planet, is named Ljomi, which means 'Glitter' in the same language. The name comes from spectacular ice caps covering thirty one percent of the planet, which will sadly melt when the terraforming begins.

7th June 2351

   A Hegemony civilian mining operation on one of the asteroids is being closed as all mineral deposits have been exhausted. As the government wants to have at least some military units before venturing into the stars again, and the research into needed technologies is still ongoing, it's unlikely new sources will be found any time soon. The review of the ongoing operations shows that more of them will have to close by the end of the decade, but several of them, including the government operations on Ares, are going strong and are in no danger of running out of resources. Stockpiles are also significant, with over seventy thousand tonnes of all eleven TN elements in reserve.

28th July 2351

   Due to the previous tugs inability to transport large yards in a reasonable time over interstellar distances, a new, larger one has been designed. Aside from being over twice as big, it also uses internal confinement fusion drives rather than magneto-plasma ones, giving it three times the engine power of it's predecessor.


Code: [Select]
Elephant class Tug    87 950 tons     820 Crew     4763 BP      TCS 1759  TH 16000  EM 0
9096 km/s     Armour 1-176     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 34    Max Repair 125 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1   
Tractor Beam     

Darmono Techsystems High Power Commercial IF Drive (32)    Power 500    Fuel Use 5.3%    Signature 500    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 5 250 000 Litres    Range 202.7 billion km   (257 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

25th March 2352

   Tomczak Dokyard and Engineering Works, one of the two largest commercial yards in the Commune is finally delivered to Peles. Five hulls of the Odyssey class colony ships are laid down immediately, with delivery expected in late June 2353.

12th August 2352

   Two new planets in the Republican home system Phoenix has been prepared for colonization. Phoenix B IV will be awarded to Poland and it will be renamed Gniezno. Phoenix B C II will be given to Spain and renamed Iberia. It is estimated that around ten million people will emigrate to each of those colonies.
   By now all major powers of the former European Union has been given their own planets. Four more objects in the Phoenix system could be colonized, but all of them are much more uninviting than those settled already and would require much more work.
   The Federal government however is more than willing to support colonization and development of those planets. The Republican economy is simply too small to support their endeavors and the best way to improve it is to increase the population. As it happens, the smaller the population of a planet, the higher the growth rate, as if humans were instinctively seeking to fill their habitats. For example New Atlantis with population of over a hundred and thirty five million has growth rate of five percent. Germany, the second most populous planet with forty two million people living on it, has growth rate of six point three percent. But Ukraine, the smallest of the current colonies with population of only seventeen million has growth rate of nearly nine percent. Such differences are too large to ignore.
   The problem however, will be the assignment of those planets. There are only four of them, but over two dozen smaller members, including nations that took part of the expedition but were not part of the European Union, such as Switzerland or Caucasian republics. The majority argues that the smaller nations should stake joined claims to those four planets, but the people in question point out an alternative. Sooner or later the Republic will expand out of the Pheonix system. Once that is done, there will be dozens, if not hundreds of new planets. The small nations have waited over thirty years since the landing to try and re-create their nations and they are willing to wait a little longer if that means getting an entire planet for themselves.
   This is problematic for the government, as little is known about local space. Due to data loss during the late stages of the exodus, much knowledge has been forgotten. Information on hundreds of systems has been stored, but the vast majority of them has been left behind decades ago. Survey data on only nine nearby systems is available, which means there may be a major enemy stronghold two weeks away and the Republic wouldn't know about it.
   But it's also true that those nine systems possess nine known reasonable candidates for colonization and more than a dozen planets of worse quality that could nonetheless be settled. It is also true that the Republic cannot stay in the system for long. On the other hand, Pheonix has large mineral deposits and it would be much easier to defend one system with a single jump point than an interstellar nation.
   The debate continues, but as there are no resources available to settle the planets in question yet, it will take some time for the issue to be resolved.

16th September 2353

   Ukraine is now habitable for unprotected humans. Iberia will be the next planet to be terraformed by the Republic.

27th May 2354

   Peles becomes habitable for unprotected humans, the third such planet in the Commune.

19th June 2354

   The alien ruins on ES – 52 KH5 II has been fully exploited by the Commune. Dozens of installations have been recovered, but of particular note are seven research facilities. Those will be transported to Prkos as soon as practical, although the colony does not yet have population large enough to support them.

6th August 2354

   All alien installations on Gniezno has been recovered. Republican operations will now move to Iberia, which has over a thousand items of interest waiting to be reactivated.

17th September 2354

   Two mobile infantry brigades of the Commune Ground Force land on ES – 52 KH5 I. When the system was secured several years ago, a small ADS outpost has been detected on the planet. As ADS usually do not conduct interstellar operations, the government felt no need to bombard it from space as it was unlikely any alien reinforcements would arrive to secure it. However, as the Commune had no offensive ground forces and troop transports were busy moving recovery teams to the second planet in the same system, it wasn't until now that an attack could be mounted.

21st December 2354

   The ground combat on ES – 52 KH5 I is finally over. The single installation, which was suspected to be some kind of observation post, has been thoroughly destroyed in the fighting due to collateral damage. An ammunition depot has been captured, containing over two hundred missiles and over four thousand anti-missiles, but those are built using older engine technology and follow different tactical thinking than the Commune one, making them useless. They will likely be scrapped for resources.

19th January 2355

   The Republican government begins to reconsider their decision to use as powerful engines as possible due to the distances in the Phoenix system. While it certainly shortened travel times, the fuel consumption proved to be much bigger issue than anticipated. Two dozen of the new, fast freighters are in operation alongside twenty one older ones, but the current fuel harvesting and refining fleet, numbering over a hundred vessels and producing over seventy million liters of fuel per year is insufficient to supply the current Federal fleet.
   An advanced paper study has proposed two ships. Wayfarer Mod 1 is about the same mass as the previous version, is much cheaper to produce, has speed only twenty five percent lower and consumes only thirty four percent as much fuel. The Mod 2 is much larger, bordering on seventy thousand tonnes, costs about as much as the base model, has approximately the same speed, but it will require shipyard expansion and consumes forty eight percent as much fuel.
   After a lengthy debate, the government decides to build Mod 2's as soon as possible and then retire the baseline models. While Mod 1 offers higher fuel savings, the huge distances within the Phoenix system means the Republic is unwilling to reduce the speed of their vessels.

27th February 2356

    A Commune construction ship is declared missing after being overdue two months from it's gate building operation in the ES – 60 GDLLH4 system on the jump point leading to ES – 55 GKH3. The latter system connects to ES – 35 GH5, which is only two jumps from Baltic and contains a near habitable planet with large mineral deposits. All stars mentioned has been at least scouted, in some cases surveyed, with no aliens found.
   As this is not the first such disappearance, and as all the previous ones has turned out to be the result of a hostile action, the government takes no chances. Two frigate squadrons and two gunboat flotillas are detached from the Home Fleet and directed to the jump point, where they will wait for further instructions. A tanker will also be sent to support operations.

26th April 2356


   Commune recovery teams, working on ES – 58 AH6 III found an abandoned research facility containing a new type of laser, using different focusing methods than the ones used by humans. While currently useless, if large sized version could be developed, they would likely be much more powerful than currently used energy weapons. However the Commune is using railguns for close range combat, which combined with the research possibilities offered by the alien installation on Prkos means it's unlikely they'll switch to lasers.

6th May 2356

   After several years of research the Commune Defense Force unveils three new designs for ground bases.
   The Sorcerer is a heavily armored sensor platform, capable of detecting any spacecraft from over three hundred million kilometers. It's true purpose however, is long range missile detection, a task it can accomplish from thirty five million kilometers. Those sensor platforms could in theory be put anywhere where the Commune wants active sensor coverage, but it was conceived from the beginning as a linchpin of Valhalla's defenses. Despite limited space, the moons of the gas giant are still the most heavily populated area in the known space, but even more importantly, they are the site of only naval yards and missile production facilities in the Commune, all of which warrants special protection.


Code: [Select]
Sorcerer class Planetary Surveillance Base    3 300 tons     105 Crew     1959 BP      TCS 66  TH 0  EM 0
Armour 10-19     Sensors 1/1800     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 2   

Long Range Small Object Detection System (1)     GPS 1800     Range 324.0m km    MCR 35.3m km    Resolution 1


This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 2 sections


   The Malbork class is a pure anti-missile platform with no other systems to bring the costs down. That means no active sensors, no additional armor and no close in defenses. Thanks to that it's relativity cheap, equipped with thirty launchers, magazines for seven hundred and fifty missiles and three fire controls with range of over thirty five million kilometers. Even more importantly perhaps, the ground based launchers are much more efficient than their space equivalents allowing them to fire very five seconds instead of ten.


Code: [Select]
Malbork class Planetary Defence Centre    5 450 tons     175 Crew     1609 BP      TCS 109  TH 0  EM 0
Armour 5-27     Sensors 1/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 30
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 750   

Korczak -Sobierajski  Ground Based Anti-Missile Launcher (30)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Stromberg Electronics Long Range Anti-Missile FC (3)     Range 194.4m km    Resolution 1
Spear (750)  Speed: 52 000 km/s   End: 7.4m    Range: 23.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 277/166/83

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s


This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 3 sections


   The Citadel class has been conceived as a cheap, comprehensive defense for a colony. Being a ground base it requires no maintenance, it costs less to build than a Stockholm class frigate and can be manufactured in factories. It possesses both active sensors and fire control, but both of them are shorter ranged than those of Sorcerer and Malbork, which is why the designers decided to increase the number of launchers, feeling the volume of fire is more important, than sustainability. In addition, two hundred box launchers for Arrow IIs has been added. While it will be impossible for the base to utilize their full range, the gunboat sized missiles were short ranged anyway. Their purpose will be to kill anyone who closes in on the planet, rather than trying to intercept a deep space force.


Code: [Select]
Citadel class Planetary Defence Centre    11 500 tons     305 Crew     2043 BP      TCS 230  TH 0  EM 0
Armour 5-45     Sensors 1/108     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 140
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 1560   

Korczak -Sobierajski  Ground Based Anti-Missile Launcher (80)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Pangratiu Systems Small Box Launcher (200)    Missile Size 2    Hangar Reload 15 minutes    MF Reload 2.5 hours
Cosmescu-Chitul Anti-Missile Fire Control (12)     Range 19.4m km    Resolution 1
Arrow II (200)  Speed: 40 000 km/s   End: 26m    Range: 62.5m km   WH: 4    Size: 2    TH: 133/80/40
Spear (490)  Speed: 52 000 km/s   End: 7.4m    Range: 23.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 277/166/83

Cosmescu-Chitul Short Range Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 108     Range 19.4m km    MCR 2.1m km    Resolution 1

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s


This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 5 sections


   With the designing process over, the question asked by everyone in the government is: should those bases be build at all? The Sorcerer and the Malbork were designed with long range interceptions in mind, to be put on the inner moon of Valhalla and protect all seven habitats. The process will be somewhat costly and the limited number of construction brigades will be problematic, but it's only a matter of resource allocation. The problem is that Baltic is not supposed to be attacked in the first place. Sudetes, where the Second Fleet is located, is supposed to act as a roadblock to anyone who would enter Commune space. Unfortunately, aside from whether or not the Second Fleet would actually be enough to stop a determined attack, there are also at least three other routes to the Commune capital – the ES – 35 system, beyond which a construction ship went missing, ES – 10 system, beyond which an alien race is present, but has not been yet contacted, and through Gateway system, which connects to Sudetes, but also four other systems, only one of which is a dead end. Overall at least three new naval bases – and fleets – would have to be constructed to truly safeguard the Baltic system, although in theory the Second Fleet could be relocated to the Gateway system.
   The strength of the First Fleet is also no guarantee of security. Right now, for example, two thirds of that fleet are three jumps away, guarding approaches to the Commune space while waiting for a tanker to investigate the disappearance of a ship. And with static defenses limited to orbital bases armed with gauss cannons, Valhalla is somewhat vulnerable. In the end, one Sorcerer and five Malborks will be constructed, but only once Odin – the only manufacturing site around Valhalla – completes its current projects which will take over two years.
   The question of the Citadel class, which could be built on every colony for defense, is much more controversial. The resources committed to that would not really be a problem, as the base is not that expensive, although manufacturing and moving missiles – with only a single collier in operation – would be problematic. The problem comes from another source – public opinion. A military base, one heavily armored and armed at that, would invite orbital bombardment, which could result in a serious collateral damage. That fear may make it impossible for the Commune to actually build the bases, although the debate is ongoing. It will probably take years before the public opinion solidifies one way or the other.

1st July 2356

   The elements of the Commune First Fleet are ready on the jump point. The gate into the ES – 60 systems is present, but the fact that the construction ship did not sent a distress call through the network means there is no return gate.
   The senior officer in the system is Rear Admiral Isaac Sanches Alfaro, who usually commands Fifth Frigate Squadron. He has two options as to how to cross the gate. He can send all his forces or a six ship scout mission.
   As the construction ship was likely destroyed on the jump point, it's very possible there is an ambush on the other side. So far the ADC has mounted such an ambush exactly once, but it is currently unknown if the ADC responsible for the destruction of the missing ship, despite everyone assuming this to be the case. The problem with this option is two fold. First it means the ship will require much more time for their systems to come back online. Second, with only two jump ships available there is a small, but very real possibility, that the entire force will be destroyed as only four ships could be sent back at once. 
   The second option is to use the two jump capable frigate leaders to mount a probe. Such probe would consists of only six ships, but they could get their systems back online much more quickly, which would allow them to jump back without taking too much punishment. The problem here is that with only six targets it is much more likely the entire scouting force will be annihilated outright which not only would mean the Commune would still be in he dark regarding the situation in ES – 60 system, but the First Fleet elements present would be left without jump ships, making future operations practically impossible.
   The problem of course was known for quite some time, and the staff back in Baltic, who ordered the mission, assumed mass transit from the beginning, but the Rear Admiral has second thoughts. Overconfidence within the CDF has already led to heavy losses in the ES – 52 system and he's keen to not fall into the same trap. The problem he's faced with is that a small scout force will almost certainly take damage, possibly loses and may be lost outright just to get information. A full scale assault will run risks of total destruction of forty percent of the entire Commune Defense Force, but it will have an opportunity to destroy the enemy and at the very least such a powerful force should be able to significantly weaken whoever is on the other side. And last but not least human forces always had speed advantage over their enemies, which means the First Fleet will not be in energy combat for long.
   In the end the Rear Admiral decides for a full scale assault.

   The jump is uneventful. There are no enemies, nor any wrecks on the other side. That in itself is a sign of something being wrong, as ADS have never been seen salvaging wrecks, nor have they tried to board any ships.
   The system, despite being composed of four stars, has only few planets orbiting the primary. All has been scouted. The Rear Admiral has active sensors on-line and decides to wait few days to see if the enemy won't come to him.

3rd July 2356

   Sixty small craft, massing seven hundred and fifty tonnes and moving at nearly eleven thousand kps are detected fourteen million kilometers from the human forces. The Rear Admiral orders his fleet to move away, extending the time it will take for the unknowns to reach his ships. He also tries to hail the unknowns.
   As the aliens close in the computers aboard First Fleet match the emissions of those vessels to those from ES – 38, which the commune decided not to contact in fear of sparking another conflict.
   As the aliens close to less than seven million kilometers, Alfaro decides he has no choice. The lack of response to communication, the disappearance of the construction ship and the alien massed charge all point to the same conclusion: the new race is hostile. The Rear Admiral orders his twelve corvettes to fire two salvos at each enemy ship. This will target a total of thirty two anti-missiles at each incoming vessel.
   Despite high interception chances approaching eighty percent, the first missile salvo did surprisingly little damage. One incoming vessel was destroyed and three more crippled. The other nine were damaged but were still closing in.
   Two very interesting facts have been observed about the alien ships. First, rather than streaming atmosphere they were streaming some kind of fluid. Second, there was no wreck left. This however will have to wait, as the second salvo bears down on the already damaged ships. Even so the alien gunboats must be very heavily armored for their size, as many survive. In total, of the twelve warships targeted, each by thirty two anti-missiles, six has been destroyed and five crippled. One still bears down on the human force.
   In the end, after all ordered salvos were fired, only three alien gunboats retained power. Twenty two were floating in space, seemingly helpless. Alfaro however preferred to take no chances and ordered another salvo at each and every surviving ship. That proves to be enough to annihilate all remaining targets.
   The first alien attack, or at least presumed one, was repelled with no loses and expenditure of over twenty three hundred anti-missiles. While six thousand more remain in storage, and other three formations are fully stocked, it's still equal to eighteen months of production. In addition, by not allowing enemy to close it is still unknown what kind of weapons is the enemy using, if any.
   As the alien ships are very small and difficult to detect, hunting for them is all but impossible. Following their course might have helped, but they were coming from deep space. The only object even remotely close to the direction from which they came is a comet, an unlikely base of enemy operations. As such the Rear Admiral decides to stay in place allowing the enemy to come to him.

24th July 2356

   A wreck of an alien gunboat has appeared near one of the comets. Now knowing what he'll face, Alfaro decides to keep his fleet together and makes way towards the wreck.
   After twelve hours an active sensor is detected from an alien installation or ship located near the target body.

26th July 2356

   A powerful shield signature is detected from the alien installation using the active sensor.

2th7 July 2356

   The alien object protected by shields and using active sensors turns out to be a ship. It now moves at one thousand kps towards the human vessels. Alfaro is fine letting it close as he intends to use gunboats to deal with the enemy.
   As the alien vessel enters sensor range its mass is calculated at sixty thousand tonnes. I's large size and powerful shields make some wonder whether or not it's the same race the Destroyer belonged to, but its low speed suggests otherwise. Even so, the alien will require a lot of firepower to take down. After several minutes, the enemy heads back to its original location.
   As the First Fleet closes on the comet ten more ships from the alien race are detected. They are fifty six hundred and fifty tonnes, but little more is known about them.
   As the range closes to fifty five million kilometers Alfaro orders his gunboats to open fire. He does not know the effectiveness of the alien anti-missile defenses nor the thickness of their armor, so he decides to take no chances and orders all thirty two of his Piranhas to open fire. Seven hundred and sixty eight missiles streak towards the huge alien.
   The enormous salvo has proven to be something of an overkill as over two hundred and sixty missiles had to self destruct. Even so the capabilities of the ship were unknown and it still required one and a half flotilla of gunboats to destroy the large enemy vessel. Heavier warheads will be needed if the Commune wants to bring that number down to a single flotilla.
   Only the ten corvette sized alien vessels remain, but the human forces have no offensive missiles remaining and their stocks of anti-missiles are below fifty percent. Alfaro feels this is the time to take his chances and he intends to close in with his frigates to finish the enemy with railgun fire. Even if the enemy responds in kind he can use his corvettes for support and he wants at least some ordnance left for the return trip, just in case.
   Before the fleet can bring the enemy into range, twenty more gunboats appear on sensors. The Rear Admiral orders a single salvo fired at each of them. With his ammunition low, he intends to destroy the enemy slowly and methodically, to make sure as little missiles are wasted as possible.
   Not a single enemy was destroyed by the first salvo and only four were crippled. The second strike is more successful leaving ten aliens remaining. The third strike cleared the sensors of the incoming enemies.
   As the First Fleet resumes the course towards the larger enemies, Alfaro begins to reconsider his attack plan. His assumption, which cannot be proven, was that the larger ships could not be as fast as gunboats, so there was a good chance the frigates could pull out of range of the enemies if need be. Coupled with their larger size and support from corvettes he should have the upper hand in any engagement. Unfortunately he still did not know what the enemy was equipped with. Commune energy weapons are, on average, quite primitive and the large speed of the aliens argues they have at least equal, and likely higher engine technology than the humans. If that is true, then they almost certainly have more advanced energy weapons as well.
   But the small size of the gunboats and their speed means there may be many more in the system and the anti-missiles has so far proven to be the best defense against them, despite the sheer amount of ordnance needed. In addition, considering the size of the enemy, if those ten ships are as heavily armored as the gunboats or the larger vessel encountered earlier, the anti-missiles will simply not suffice, not in the numbers he has left.
   He could break off, reload and use his gunboats for an attack, but it would take too long. His force could make the trip there and back in a couple of months, but they don't have enough fuel and the tanker is still underway to Sudetes to bring fuel necessary for a return trip alone. Waiting to get fuel for a second strike would take several months. And while the Commune has done that against the ADS, often leaving enemies at large for months if not years, that was against an enemy that rarely left the systems and in most of those cases only bases were left be, not warships. As this is a new alien race, Alfaro wants to do as much damage as quickly as possible.
   He decides to risk close engagement. Even if he takes damage, it would at least finally provide an answer as to what the enemy is equipped with. He'll close to one hundred thousand kilometers before opening fire.
   The ten aliens do not react to the approaching human ships. The first salvo destroyed three of them, with no return fire. In fact the enemy does not even try to flee. After two minutes it's all over.
   There is however a new, pressing question – why is there a wreck of a ship that does not leave any wrecks? Also, who destroyed it? It is possible that a third alien race, responsible for the act, has been destroyed by the large vessel found here when the humans arrived, but they may also still be at large in the system. As such Alfaro decides to wait several more days in place to see if anyone else is coming.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2016, 11:35:55 AM by Haji »