History of the Knights Templar - Part II
On January 3rd, in the year of our Lord 1400, the Antioch class gravitational survey ship Seleucus, part of the Order of St Dominic and commanded by Squire Raymon La Giffarde, embarked on the first interstellar voyage in history. After entering the closest jump point to Earth. she arrived in a binary system comprising a K6-V orange star and an M7-VII red dwarf, with a collection of unremarkable planets and a sparse asteroid belt orbiting the primary. Although this new system did not meet the hopes of Grand Master Barbin and the senior Knights of the Order, it was nonetheless an historic day. The system was officially named Sainte-Vaubourg and a Clairvaux class geological survey ship was dispatched to begin the search for new sources of Trans-Baconion minerals.
Over the four weeks following the discovery of Sainte-Vaubourg, Seleucus and her sister ship Antioch entered the other five jump points in the Sol system, exploring the systems of Acquebouille, San Bevignate, Temple Cowton, Temple Dinsley and Tintagel. No immediately habitable planets were discovered, although Tintagel III, a high gravity world with a temperature of -14C, had some terraforming potential due to an oxygen content of 0.5 atm; too high for humans but it would be breathable if forty percent of the oxygen could be removed. Design schematics already existed for a terraforming vessel so Grand Master Barbin gave permission to begin building the 8350 ton Paris class ships as soon as the dual slipways of the Aleppo shipyard were increased to a sufficient size.
The first two Lance class Fast Attack Craft were built by the Caesarea shipyard in early May 1400. At this point in history, Earth had ten shipyard complexes ranging in size from 1000 to 10,000 ton capacity, with a total of twenty slipways between them. A third Lance class Fast Attack Craft was completed by the Caesarea shipyard on August 1st. After this date, the shipyard was retooled to build the Lance-B, which utilised the newly developed Ceramic Composite Armour to reduce the overall armour mass and free up internal space to double the size of the magazine, allowing ten salvos of Battleaxe anti-ship missiles instead of five.
Lance-B class Fast Attack Craft 1000 tons 112 Crew 200 BP TCS 20 TH 120 EM 0
6000 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 6
Magazine 120 Replacement Parts 1
Le Tavernier FAC Engine (1) Power 120 Efficiency 7.00 Signature 120 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 6.2 billion km (11 days at full power)
Talon M4-200 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 200
M400 Missile Fire Control (1) Range: 400k km
Battleaxe ASM (30) Speed: 18,000 km/s Endurance: 16 secs Range: 288k km Warhead: 4 Size: 4
N2 Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 120 Range 1.2m km Resolution 15During the first half of 1400, a survey of the Sainte-Vaubourg system failed to find any new jump points, which led to a small but vocal faction within the Order interpreting this as a sign from God that He did not look favourably on the Order?s encroachment into the heavens. Nevertheless Antioch and Seleucus moved on to Acquebouille to carry out a new survey, which they completed in December, revealing two new jump points that led to the systems of Arwad and Temple Ewell. Although the former was a binary with no distinguishing features, the latter was far more interesting. Temple Ewell comprised two G-type yellow stars twenty-seven billion kilometers apart with a total of thirteen planets between them, including four with nitrogen-oxygen atmospheres. The inner planet of the primary had a breathable atmosphere but with surface temperatures reaching 148C it would require substantial terraforming to be habitable. The second planet had only a very thin atmosphere, less than ten percent of Earth?s, and the temperature was in the other extreme, at minus 100C. While the fourth planet of the companion star had a much denser atmosphere, almost twice that of Earth, the oxygen content was less than two percent and the surface temperature was -66C. By far the most promising candidate was the third planet of the companion, which had a breathable atmosphere and liquid oceans covering two-thirds of its surface. The temperature was on the low side at -14C and the distance from the jump point would be a considerable problem but this was the first near-Earth world to be discovered and as such was a significant milestone on the path to the stars, not to mention a catalyst to ease some of the theological tensions within the Order.
Meanwhile, in the Sol system, the growth of the Navy was continuing. Three Antioch class survey ships, two Lance-B Fast Attack Craft and four Rhodes class freighters joined the Fleet between August 1400 and January 1401. The three newly constructed Antioch class ships, Apamea, Laodicea and Nicator, were formed into the Order of St. Elmo and dispatched to survey the system of Temple Cowton. Antioch and Seleucus, the only two members of the Order of St. Dominic, re-entered Sol after their exploration of Acquebouille and moved into Temple Dinsley.
A single new jump point was found by the survey of Temple Cowton, which was completed in May 1401. Squire Cassin Paste took the Laodicea into the system of La Couvertoirade and discovered six planets, including three Venusian worlds, an enormous super-jovian with thirty-five moons and two rocky worlds, one of which had a very thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere but was not really suitable for terraforming due to its -90C temperature. Thus far the survey of three systems had only resulted in the discovery of three jump points, leading some scholars within the Order to consider that Earth?s six jump points were something of a galactic oddity and that there was a danger of each jump chain petering out into a cul-de-sac.
Sir Pierrey des Mares, one of the most experienced ground force commanders of the Order, was killed in a joust on May 16th 1401. His training skills were legendary and many of the younger knights who had benefited from his tutelage were shocked into an awareness of their own mortality; for a time at least. Grand Master Barbin was saddened at the loss of the man and at the loss of the great training resource that he proven to be. Therefore, the Grand Master banned the use of the rocket-powered jousting sleds that had become popular around the dawn of the fifteenth century and insisted his Knights return to the traditional genetically-modified horses. Knight Commander Dimenche de Choisy replaced Sir Pierrey as the master of the Order of Saint Catherine.
June 1401 brought the discovery of two more unremarkable systems, Barbera and Sepulchre, resulting from the survey of Temple Dinsley by Antioch and Seleucus. With the survey ships of the Order of St. Elmo already in the Tintagel system, the two ships of the Order of St Dominic were left with San Bevignate as the only system adjacent to Sol without a gravitational survey. The San Bevignate binary had been ignored thus far as its massive A2-IV white sub-giant primary, accompanied by an A4-IV companion, meant that any jump point survey would require a considerable amount of effort. However with only a small number of jump points being found and with almost all systems proving of little or no value, it could be ignored no longer. Both ships headed for Earth to refuel before beginning their Herculean task.
On July 12th 1401, an eleventh shipyard complex was built around the ancient Mediterranean city of Alexandria. This new complex was intended to support the Caesarea Fast Attack Yard by building models other than the missile equipped Lance-B. Initially, it would produce the Dagger-B, an updated version of the original Dagger design using Ceramic Composite Armour and an the improved FAC-2 Fire Control System.
Dagger-B class Fast Attack Craft 1000 tons 102 Crew 192 BP TCS 20 TH 120 EM 0
6000 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 4
Replacement Parts 1
Le Tavernier FAC Engine (1) Power 120 Efficiency 7.00 Signature 120 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 6.2 billion km (11 days at full power)
15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 96,000km TS: 6000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 3 ROF 10 6 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2
FAC-2 Fire Control (1) Max Range: 96,000 km TS: 6400 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (1) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%
N2 Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 120 Range 1.2m km Resolution 15
Later the same month, Earth?s extensive research facilities completed a year-long enhancement of the Order?s shield technology, improving both the strength of each shield generator and the rate at which they recharged, The result was the Delta R300 Shield Generator, twenty-five percent stronger than the existing Gamma R400 Shield Generator, with a regeneration rate sixty percent higher. The new shield generator and ceramic composite armour were both incorporated into updated designs for the Solomon class missile cruiser, the Covenant class destroyer and the Shield class escort destroyer. Each benefited from at least a fifty percent increase in shield strength, partly from the improvement in generator technology and partly because the additional internal space made available by the armour upgrade was devoted to extra shield generators. The Haifa, Tripoli and Ascalon shipyards began retooling to handle the new technology and refits were scheduled for the existing ships of each class.
In November 1401, the survey of Tintagel revealed four new jump points. Unfortunately, despite the relatively large number of jump points, none led to any systems of significance. During the same month, two new Antioch class gravitational survey ships, Orontes and Xenarius emerged from the slipways of the Tyre shipyard and were sent to San Bevignate to join Antioch and Seleucus, increasing the strength of the Order of St Dominic to four vessels. An eighth Antioch, Tetrapolis, joined the Fleet in December and was assigned to the Order of St Elmo in the recently discovered Temple Manor system.
In February 1402, two Paris class terraformers arrived in orbit of Sainte-Vaubourg II, ready to begin the long task of making the planet habitable. At that point the planet had no atmosphere at all, but did have an ideal surface temperature of 22C and was within five billion kilometers of Earth due to its location at the far side of the Sol?s innermost jump point. Tintagel III was also considered as a possible terraforming site but it was much further away and a volume of oxygen equal to the entire amount in Earth?s atmosphere would have to be removed even before the temperature was tackled. Therefore starting from scratch with Sainte-Vaubourg II was deemed the better option, especially as infrastructure and population could be moved in relatively quickly and ground-based terraforming stations established to boost the ships in orbit.
On April 22nd 1402, the three Clairvaux class geological survey ships were surveying the inner planets of Temple Ewell-A, the primary of a binary system that included four planets with oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres, only one of which was even remotely habitable. As the survey ship Bernard approached the innermost planet, her thermal sensors picked up three strength-49 contacts in orbit. Realising that he had almost certainly encountered non-human ships, Her commander, Squire Guerinet Le Paige, quickly informed the senior officer in the system; Squire Henry Helyas on board the Clairvaux. Squire Henry, affectionately known by his English crew as ?Hell, Yes? Henry, due to a fortuitous combination of name and personality, immediately ordered Bernard and the third Clairvaux, Cistercian, to pull back to the Acquebouille jump point while he took his own ship to attempt contact with the aliens. Bernard pulled away at 4000 km/s and the three contacts remained in orbit, making no attempt to pursue. Unfortunately, the Clairvaux class was not equipped with active sensors so the only available information about the unknown ships was their tiny thermal signature, approximately a sixth that of the Templar survey ships. That was still enough to pinpoint their general location for a hail so Squire Henry sent greetings and an offer for parley, eager to discover the nature of the aliens. The response was completely unintelligible.
Cistercian was the first to reach the jump point so Squire Henry ordered her to make all speed for Earth to report the encounter. Squire Guerinet of the Bernard was ordered to hold his ship on the jump point, ready to relay any information that Squire Henry might glean from his attempted communication with the aliens. Thus far there was no sign of any planetary populations within the Ewell-A system so the best guess of Squire Henry was that the alien ships may also be some type of geological survey vessel.
On May 4th 1402, Cistercian emerged from the Sol ? Acquebouille jump point and reported the events in Temple Ewell. Grand Master Barbin immediately ordered the dispatch of an armed force with powerful sensors to provide backup for the remaining survey ships. On this date the strength of the Order of St Michael, the combat arm of the Order, was as follows:
2x Solomon class Missile Cruiser: Solomon, Jedidiah
3x Covenant-B Missile Destroyer: Covenant, Exodus, Moses
2x Shield-B Escort Destroyer: Shield, Scuta
12x Lance-B Fast Attack Craft
5x Dagger-B Fast Attack Craft
2x Temple Jump Cruiser (Unarmed but carrying two Dagger-B each): Temple, Moriah
2x Guisarme Jump Tender (Unarmed): Guisarme, Fauchard
A new formation, the Order of St George, was created, comprising the destroyers, Covenant, Moses and Shield and the Jump Tender Guisarme. Under the command of Squire Aubin de Merle, they departed Earth orbit with orders to determine the strength and intent of the aliens and to prevent any alien encroachment into the Acquebouille system. Many senior knights were pressing for an immediate Crusade to cleanse Temple Ewell of the alien presence and to seek out the lair of the alien abominations. Grand Master Barbin commended their enthusiasm but reminded his knights of the need for intelligence before any such campaign might be launched. So far, all the Order really knew was that three small thermal signatures were in Temple Ewell and communication attempts had made no progress. The capabilities, numbers and even appearance of the aliens was unknown. The pressure for a Crusade remained but its proponents were prepared to accept the need to learn more about their potential enemy.
Meanwhile in Temple Ewell, Squire Henry and his crew had been making rapid progress. Almost at the same time that warships were leaving Earth, the final breakthrough was made and full communication established. The aliens, who were humanoids with enormous squid-like heads bearing huge eye-pods on either side, introduced themselves as the Thetis Imperium and seemed eager to talk. Squire Henry?s crew was initially repulsed by the alien appearance and only their commander?s enthusiasm for this first human-alien encounter carried them through the first few hours of full contact. It quickly become apparent that the Thetis found humanity?s strange, tiny heads and limited visual capabilities to be equally horrifying but after a couple of days of contact both sides were concentrating more on the message than the messenger. The commander of the small Thetis squadron, Polemarch Hypernor, confirmed that his ships were on a geological survey mission but refused to discuss the location of his home planet until he received updated instructions from his government. Squire Henry found himself in a similar position, eager to gain the confidence of the Thetis but unable to reveal any significant information in case the aliens proved to be far less friendly than they initially appeared.
The gravitational survey forces of the Order continued their work, even as the historic events unfolded in Temple Ewell. By mid-May 1402, the Order of St Dominic had completed the survey of San Bevignate, finding three new jump points. The two inner jump points led to the unremarkable systems of Temple Balsall and Temple Bellwood, so Antioch, Orontes and Xenarius entered Temple Balsall to begin a new survey while Seleucus began the long journey to the distant outermost jump point. During the same period The Order of St Elmo had completed the survey of Temple Manor and two nearby systems with low-mass primaries, finding six systems in total, none of which had any habitable worlds.
On May 24th, the Order of St George arrived in Temple Ewell and Squire Henry immediately ordered Squire Guerinet in the Bernard to return to Sol with an updated report. Despite being asked to hold back by Squire Henry while he continued negotiation, Squire Aubin left the jump tender Guisarme on the jump point and set course for the location of the alien ships with his three destroyers, finally halting just one million kilometers away. Polemarch Hypernor also protested the approach of the new ships and requested their withdrawal to avoid unnecessarily raising tensions. Squire Aubin pompously stated that his orders from Grand Master Barbin overrode all objections, alien or otherwise, and engaged his active sensors. The three alien ships had a cross-section of 32, too small to be detected by Covenant?s primary Recherche-48 Search Sensor but close enough to be picked up by the secondary navigation sensor, giving them an estimated mass of 1600 tons.
The three small Thetis geosurvey ships began to pull away from the planet at 1562 km/s and were immediately pursued by the Templar destroyers, which held steady at one million kilometers. Polemarch Hypernor demanded that the Templar ships cease their pursuit. Instead, Squire Aubin began to close the range and demanded that the Thetis surrender their ships and prepared to be boarded. Polemarch Hypernor refused and insisted that the Order break off. Squire Henry was also strongly suggesting that Squire Aubin should back off and let things cool down but the young Squire Aubin assured Squire Henry that his orders from the Grand Master left him no other choice but to prevent the aliens from escaping. Before Squire Henry could register any further protest, the two Covenant class destroyers launched a salvo of twelve Halberd anti-ship missiles at the fleeing Thetis ships.
Squire Henry watch in horror as the Halberds, with a range of 900,000 kilometers and a speed of 12,000 km/s, swiftly overhauled their slow moving targets. From his continuing but calm insistence that the Templar ships should end their unwarranted harassment of his squadron, Polemarch Hypernor was obviously unaware of the approaching harbingers of death. Only in the last few seconds did his presumably limited sensors detect the incoming missiles. The Thetis commander screamed abuse at Squire Aubin, promising dire retribution if he did not halt his attack immediately but his threats were cut-off in mid word as one ship was blown to pieces and a second reduced to a battered wreck. A second volley twelve missiles was launched from the pursuing Templar destroyers, six of which obliterated the crippled survey ship and the rest implacably ran down the remaining undamaged Thetis vessel until it vanished in a sphere of white light.
Appalled at the turn of events, Squire Henry decided to head for home to report the destruction of the alien ships. Squire Aubin demanded he remain to aid his search for additional alien forces but Squire Henry was senior and Aubin had had no order from the Grand Master regarding the disposition of the Clairvaux. In the meantime, Squire Aubin took his destroyers toward the second planet of the primary, which had a thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and a temperature of -100C, just in case it was an alien occupied world. As Clairvaux left the system, Squire Aubin satisfied himself the planet was uninhabited and turned his ships back to the jump point, covering it against any new alien threat.
Clairvaux entered the Sol system on June 8th 1402 and reported news of the events in Temple Ewell. Grand Master Barbin was privately deeply troubled by the massacre of the alien survey ships, especially after there seemed such a strong possibility of peaceful relations. However, there was a very strong faction within the Order, led by Duke Galois Le Mire, the second highest ranking Knight of the Order, who favoured immediate eradication of all alien species. This faction believed that after the War in Heaven, when Lucifer led a third of all Angels in a failed revolt against God in protest at the Creation of Man, some of Lucifer?s allies escaped his fate and scattered to other worlds among the stars. All alien races were therefore the descendants of these fallen angels and implacable enemies of Man, capable of great deception and treachery in their efforts to destroy Mankind. While the Grand Master?s own allies, favouring a more even-handed approach and engaging in combat only where necessary, were the strongest faction, their advantage over the Eradication Faction was not solid enough to risk a schism over the loss of three small alien ships, especially as the loyalty of the some of the smaller factions, such as the Eden Faction, who favoured remaining within the Sol system, or the Missionary Faction, who favoured forced conversion of any alien races to Christianity, was not certain. Therefore, much to the dismay of Squire Henry, the Grand Master deemed the actions of Squire Aubin as acceptable in the circumstances, setting a dangerous precedent.
In the Grand Council of the Knights Templar, which consisted of the seven most senior Knights of the Order, Duke Galois Le Mire pressed for a reinforcement of the Order of St George and an immediate investigation of Temple Ewell-B, the distant binary component twenty-seven billion kilometers from the Acquebouille jump point. Duke Galois was generally regarded as the best ship commander in the Order and personally commanded the missile cruiser Solomon, flagship of the Templar Space Navy. Solomon was in refit but the task was close to completion so the Duke suggested that he command the expedition personally; a suggestion that was backed by Baron Fremin de Dicy, Chief Financier of the Order, and Knight Grand Commander Phelippot Le Faulconnier, commander of the ground forces of the Order of St Edward. Three other Council members argued for a more conciliatory approach, trying to learn more of the aliens while apologising for the incident in Temple Ewell. With the Council in deadlock, Grand Master Barbin had the casting vote, although even had the vote gone solidly for Duke Galois, the Grand Master could use his rarely exercised Veto over any Council decision. Concerned that a vote for conciliation after shots had been fired would make him appear weak, Grand Master Barbin voted to support the reinforcement of the Order of St George and a reconnaissance in force toward Temple Ewell-B, led by Duke Galois Le Mire.
to be continued...
Steve
