The Perfidious Hierarchy. (11)

[IanD (OP)]

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS WITHIN!!

Tales of the Union.

 

The Perfidious Hierarchy. Part 1.

6th February 89. Delta Velorum.
Task Force 5 entered Delta Velorum using combat transits and set course for the inner system of the B component.

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Task Force 5
Task Group 5.1 (Group Commander Lu Zhen Cui, SO.)
Jump Cruiser Vanguard, the Missile Cruisers Raider, Reliant, Relentless, Fleet Scout Farsight and the Escort Neon.
Task Group 5.2 (Commodore Elsa Dannenberg, Flag Officer)
Jump Cruiser Swiftsure, Missile Cruisers Renown, Resolution, Revenge, Fleet Scout Scanner and the Escort Nitrogen.
Task Group 5.3 (Captain Matthew Potter, SO.)
Jump Cruiser Resurgence, Missile Cruisers Rocket, Ranger, Rapid, Redoubtable and the Escort Indium.
Task Group 5.4 (Captain Ratna Srivastava, SO.)
Jump Destroyer Valheru, Missile Boats Bayard, Bicorne, Bunyip, Camoleopard and the Escort Yttrium.

The Beaumaris Expanse as of December 90.

7th February 89. Delta Velorum.
The Destroyer squadron was detected at the edge of the fleet scout Scanner’s search envelope. The Destroyer force still consisted of Neptuno 004, Reina Sofia 004, Reina Sofia 005, Reina Sofia 006, Hernan Cortez 002, Santa Maria 002, Santa Maria 003 and Santa Maria 004.

8th February 89. Delta Velorum.
As Task Force 5 penetrated deeper into the Delta Velorum system more evidence of the Destroyer occupation became apparent as a Mistral and Cabo Fradera orbital base were located in orbit of Delta Velorum-B V and a Tramontana class troop transport was detected in the orbit of Delta Velorum-B IV.


The Adversaries

9th February 89. HR8853.
Commodore Leonard had been tasked by Star Corps HO to eliminate the threat posed to the proposed new colony on HR8853-A II by the three Tramontana class transports discovered in the system by STG 2. With the discovery of a ruined settlement on HR 8853-A II it was hoped the system could be colonised and enough facilities salvaged to provide a base for naval operations which would extend Union influence into that jump chain once it was in place.
Commodore Leonard had at his disposal Task Force 3 based at Zwickau – S.W. Burnham 157. This force would be more than adequate to deal with this threat. His greatest challenge would be to encircle the enemy vessels and bring them to action.

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Task Force 3
 Task Group 3.1 (Commodore Bill Leonard, Flag Officer)
 Jump Ship Discovery, the Missile Frigates, Flute, Corrie and Edge, Fleet Scout Seeker and the Escort Zirconium.
Task Group 3.2 (Captain Gunnar Lessing, SO.)
Jump Destroyer Alma Lodaka, Missile Boats Efreet, Elf, Gargoyle, Ghoul, and the Escort Bromine.
Task Group 3.3 (Captain Kia George, SO.)
Jump Destroyer Cadal, Missile Boats Giant, Goblin, Unicorn, Werewolf and the Escort Hafnium.
Task Group 3.4 (Squadron Leader Hosvi  Vefastrson, SO.)
Jump Ship Eclipse, Missile Frigates Pinnacle, Slab, Saddle, Talus and the Escort Strontium.Task Force 3 duly entered HR 8853 and the long-range active sensor on the fleet scout Seeker immediately picked up the signature of the three Tramontana class troopships previously detected by STG 2. Commodore Leonard dispersed his command into its respective task groups and the encirclement began.

11 February 89. Delta Velorum.
Commodore Danneberg ordered a change of course to intercept the approaching Destroyer squadron. The range closed rapidly. Her instructions were to expend the basic Hellcats before engaging with the IIIB model.
15:35. Task Force 5 opened fire at a range of 110 million klicks. Twenty-four Hellcats targeted at each of the 6,700 ton vessels and fifty-four at each of the 13,400 ton ships.
16:15:21. The doubtful wisdom of a limited first strike was illustrated as for the first time the Destroyer AMM fire began to bite into the approaching waves of missiles. It was becoming obvious that the new classes of vessels with the Destroyer squadron were anti-missile escorts and very effective ones at that.
16:15:36. Before the Hellcats could detonate on their targets forty had been taken out by AMM fire and several lost terminal guidance. Of the ninety-six in the first wave only fifty-eight managed to hit their targets, venting their tritium fuelled thermonuclear spleen against the Destroyer shields and armour. But they were spread among the squadron. The only visible damage was a reduction in the thermal signature of the Hernan Cortez 002 and Santa Maria 002 where burn-throughs had damaged drive units
16:15:51. The second wave, again of ninety-six Hellcats fared better in that only twenty-four Hellcats were lost to AMM fire on approach, but only fifty-nine managed to hit their targets. However, this time there was obvious damage to the Destroyer ships now as the squadron was strung out like beads on a string, many having suffered drive unit failures due to damage inflicted by the Union missiles.
16:16:11. Of the smaller third wave of forty-eight Hellcats only ten made it through to hit their targets and at best only temporarily reduced shields or perhaps scored armour.
16:16:41. Two of Danneberg’s task group commanders opened a conference call by laser comm. Group Commander Lu Zhen Cui and Captain Ratna Srivastava suggested that a couple more waves would do the trick. Reluctantly Danneberg concurred and the missile cruisers belched their deadly loads towards the enemy once more.
16:16:46. The final fourth wave of forty-eight missiles of the first strike was a waste of ordnance; only six made it through the AMM gamut and did no observable damage what so ever. The first attack on the Destroyer squadron may have hurt them but it killed none.
16:44:31. The jump escort cruiser Vanguard detected the first of the enemy Hellcats inbound.
16:45:16. The jump escort cruisers Vanguard, Swiftsure and Resurgence all began launching AMMs, the Vanguard was using ex-Destroyer Bugbear missiles and the other two superior Union Arrow IVs.
16:46:06. Commodore Danneberg watched the debacle unfold and having reached a decision in her own mind, Danneberg ordered in a loud voice over the intership laser comm “Launch another two full salvos per target!” All the missile cruisers began to launch full salvos of missiles against their designated targets.
16:47: 56.  The Destroyer squadron was still strung out, Neptuno 004 and Reina Sofia 004 were leading followed by Reina Sofia 005, then Reina Sofia 006 and Hernan Cortez 002 at about one million klick intervals. Santa Maria 002, 003 and 004 all trailing well back from the rest depriving the lead units of their AMM cover. Twenty-four Hellcats attacked the two lead vessels, Neptuno 004 and Reina Sofia 004, and received no AMM fire in return. Nine hit each of the vessels after point defence had taken its toll, their thermal signature dropped but there were no other visible effects.
16:48:11. As the fifth wave progressed down the string, AMM fire finally picked up and began to take its toll. Of the dozen Hellcats targeted at Reina Sofia 005 ten hit reducing her thermal signature to 1200.
16:48:26. The fifth wave reached Reina Sofia 006 and Hernan Cortez. Each was rocked by eight thermonuclear devices detonating in contact with their hull. But another fourteen had been depleted from the attack by AMM fire. Gratifyingly the Hernan Cortez suffered internal explosions which would hopefully impair her efficiency.
16:49:06. The fifth wave travelled on and of the salvos targeted at Santa Maria 003 only one missile hit! The wave now consisted of only nine missiles; the remainder of the wave was destroyed by AMM and point defence fire, never to reach the furthest targets.
16:49:16. The jump escort cruiser Vanguard ran out of Bugbears, having expended nearly five hundred and switched to the more reliable Arrow IVs. However none of the Destroyer Hellcats had yet made it through the screen provided by the jump cruisers.
16:49:31. Santa Maria 004 received only two hits, barely enough to dent her shields. Only a single missile was now left to target Santa Maria 002!
16:50:26. the lone surviving Hellcat constituting the fifth wave was destroyed by AMM fire.
17:08. The Destroyer Squadron was observed to be retiring, presumably having shot their bolt, but Task Force 5 had a good margin of speed over the enemy and they could not escape unless allowed to. The hostiles were still strung out, with Neptune nearest Task Force 5 followed by Reina Sofia 004 and 005 at approximately one million klick intervals then there was a group of Reina Sofia 003, Hernan Cortez and Santa Maria 003, finally there was Santa Maria 004 and 002 four and five million klicks  respectively adrift of them. Santa Maria 002 had been seriously hurt and barely made 2000 k/s.
17:08:36. In the sixth wave, of eighteen Hellcats targeted at Neptuno 004, eleven made it through defensive fire to detonate close to the hull tearing great gashes in the armour allowing access into the soft internal spaces, the thermal signature dropped to 500, velocity reduced to 1864k/s. Once more there was no interfering AMM or PD fire.
17:09:01. The seventh wave approached their targets. Eighteen more Hellcats bore in on Neptuno 004, only a dozen were required to reduce it to a rapidly expanding debris field. Task Force 5 had finally achieved their first kill of the engagement.
17:09:11. Reina Sofia 004 was next in the string, in the absence of point defence fire sixteen of the eighteen Hellcats targeted against Reina Sofia 004 hit and it disintegrated into fragments as the tritium fuelled thermonuclear warheads detonated, making the follow up salvo superfluous.
17:09:26. Reina Sofia 005 was the next target to be hammered into oblivion, all eighteen Hellcats hit, briefly turning space into an imitation of the heart of a star. The follow-up salvos were not required.
17:10:16. AMM fire started up once more, tearing eighteen Hellcats from the firmament. But all eighteen Hellcats targeted at Reina Sofia 006 slammed into the vessel, brief magnetic fields directed plasma lances against shields, armour and then internal spaces, boiling exotic metals to a radioactive vapour in an instant. The shattered hull no longer held the semblance of life.  
17:10:51. Twenty more Hellcats were killed by the unrelenting AMM fire, but enough remained and many missiles destroyed were in the leading salvos and not the follow-up salvos which were more important for the survival of Santa Maria 003. The follow up salvos turned space around Santa Maria 003 incandescent and the vessel broke up.  
17:10:56. The Hernan Cortez, lagging behind Santa Maria 003 turned its attention to the second volley, taking out three, but would that be enough?
17:11:01. The answer was no! It only managed to kill one additional missile before the Hernan Cortez died in a maelstrom of thermonuclear explosions.
17:11:06. That however was as far as the leading salvos of this wave got; AMM fire from the surviving ships was still effective. All missiles targeted at Santa Maria 002 and 004 were destroyed.
17:12:01. . The Destroyer squadron had been reduced to Santa Maria 004 and Santa Maria 002. AMM fire recommenced as the now reduced follow-up salvos of the eighth wave came into range, proving that Santa Maria 002, however badly hurt, was still operational.
17:12:06. The missiles detonated, thermonuclear explosions tore into Santa Maria 004 smashing the hull open to vacuum, the hull failed and broke up. More missiles were taken out. Santa Maria 002 demonstrated it still had teeth and a 5 million klick range as it began to reduce the approaching Hellcats. Eleven missiles were left in the second wave, but their chances of getting through to Santa Maria 002 were looking slim.
17:14:16. The last missiles of the eighth wave perished. It was all down to the final salvos of two dozen Hellcats targeted against Santa Maria 002.
17:36:46. Santa Maria 002 finally appeared to have exhausted its supply of anti-missile missiles as no interceptions were detected. Twenty-four Hellcats detonated as one and seemed to rend space itself as they obliterated the final Destroyer warship.

12th February 89. HR8853.
Task Group 3.2 manoeuvred into range of the three Tramontana class transports and opened fire; Twenty-four Firestar IVs were launched at each of the transports. The majority hit, ten-kiloton warheads exploded, bringing down shields and tearing at armour, but they were insufficient to destroy the vessels. A dozen more Firestar IVs were fired off and at the end of their run one target exploded. But it took half-a-dozen more Firestar IVs before the remaining two mingled their wreckage with that of the first.

15th February 89. Delta Velorum.
Commodore Danneberg ordered the Task Force to close the Destroyer orbital forts at Delta Velorum-A V
13:54:26. Task Force 5 reached engagement range of the two orbital bases around Delta Velorum-A V. over the intership comm she ordered “Launch one trial salvo from each cruiser. Missile boats you are designated reserve.” In light of the experience with the mobile squadron she was expecting another difficult engagement. Ninety-six Hellcats leapt from their launchers. She was not to be disappointed.
14:36:11. Anti-missile fire began and in the first 30 seconds took down sixty-six of the approaching Hellcats. Point defence fire accounted for another sixteen. The Cabo Fradera 004 orbital base was engulfed by the explosions of eight Hellcat warheads, the Mistral 004 fort by just six. When the disturbance cleared from the sensors the orbital forts were still there, looking untouched.
14:26:31. Danneberg was heard to mutter by the bridge staff on the Renown “tell me what ordnance to use would they.” Then over the intership comm. “Expend the last of the damned Hellcats, empty the magazines of them!”
15:18:56.  The captains of the missile cruisers took Danneburg at her word, magazine hoists went into top gear supplying munitions to the launchers.  The new wave of missiles streaked towards their targets, they were split equally between the two orbital forts. Once more AMM fire was effective, but this time eighteen Hellcats hit the Cabo Fradera 004, thermonuclear fire danced along the hull and must have seriously damaged it. However the Mistral fort was untouched, all missiles targeted against it being lost.
18:19:16. Anti-missile fire slackened, Cabo Fradera 004 was hurt, twelve more Hellcats exploded around it plasma lances burned into the forts interior. One thermonuclear lance penetrated a magazine; the resultant secondary detonation tore the station apart to rain debris down on the planet below. All remaining Hellcats targeted at the Cabo Fradera self-destructed. For the second time six Hellcats penetrated the defences of Mistral class base and expended their fury against the orbital fort.
15:20:01. There was no AMM fire, it appeared the Cabo Fradera had been responsible for that, but nevertheless point defence fire took down half of the incoming salvo, so only twelve Hellcats hurled their thermonuclear lances against the luckless fort.
15:20:31. The last wave of sixteen Hellcats burned towards their target, no point defence fire greeted them, When the disruption caused by the detonation of the tritium fuelled warheads cleared another wreck littered the planetary orbitals.

16th February 89. Delta Valorum.
After a brief stand-down at Delta Velorum-A V to rest the crews Commodore Danneberg began the operation to clear Tramontana 011 from the system. As a prelude the Task Force split into its task groups and moved out.

17th February 89. Delta Velorum.
As Task Group 5.2 moved to trap Tramontana 011 it passed close to Delta Velorum-B I-moon 2 and detected a Destroyer base on the moon.

18th February 89. Delta Velorum.
05:46. Tramontana 011 finally came into range and Danneburg’s own ship, the Renown, fired eighteen Hellcat IIIBs at her.
06:33. All eighteen hit speckling space with diamond hard pinpoints of light. The directed lithium deuteride fuelled plasma lances cut through her shields and deep into the hull, but were insufficient to destroy the vessel. Raider fired six further missiles to deliver the coup de grâce. These broke the troop carrier into fragments adding another wreck to the constellation that orbited Delta Velorum prime.

22nd February 89. HIP 21482.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 completed the salvage of a 22,350 ton wreck and received a surprise.  Along with five primitive gas cooled fast reactors, a TH3-18 thermal sensor,(equal to current Union technology) and two E8 ion drive units was a 40 cm C10 far X-ray laser! This was more advanced than the Union’s own conventional lasers and a much bigger aperture than any union vessels mounted, although the Union had better capacitors in addition to advanced laser technology.

29th February 89. Gliese 201-A.
STG 2 returned to HIP 21482 to investigate the jump points in that system. Their first exploration through jump point #5 revealed the system of Gliese 201-A. This was a potential destination for the Empire of Baneh freighters seen leaving HIP 21482. But since there was no open jump portal on the other side the Baneh freighters destination was almost certainly jump portal #3.

2nd March 89. Phi-2 Ceti.
Commodore Elsa Danneberg, the most decorated officer of the Star Corps retired from the service. Her last act was to castigate Logistics and Procurement for daring to suggest to a combat officer the way they should employ the ordnance entrusted to them. She was loved by all who served under her and will be greatly missed by all of Task Force 5. Her place was taken by Commodore Xu Mei Jian, a distant figure, but one who in the past had demonstrated patience with his subordinates. In any case the Phi-2 Ceti sector would be much quieter in the future with the emphasis now placed on the Lleida Expanse.

4th March 89. HIP21482.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 was busy salvaging the latest target when the scan subofficer nearly fell off his seat as the sensor alert went off shaking him out of his daydream. It took him a few seconds to recognise what he was seeing, for in addition to the five almost routine Longbow, presumed freighter, contacts there were now an additional 47 contacts of a new class designated Blackjack, of 20,850 tons and capable of 2876 k/s apparently heading (or so he hoped) for the unexplored open jump portal #3. Nether these vessels or the Longbow class had been detected by the survey group as they surveyed the system. They were certainly slow enough that they could well have been out of the system during the time it took to survey the system and Baneh colonies had been detected in other systems. So the indications were that the Baneh were still actively colonising.

5th March 89. HIP 21482.
To the subofficer’s relief the alien fleet kept on course for the jump point and allowed Cargo/Survey Task Group 08 to complete the salvage of the 21,300 ton wreck from which it recovered one each of ECM-1 and ECCM-1 modules, a size 8 missile launcher, a TH 1-11 thermal sensor, an EM 2-22 sensor, an FC 285-R81, three capacity 109 magazines and five magneto-plasma E7 drive units.

18th March 89. HIP 21482.
Salvage/Cargo Task Group 08 completed the salvage of the 21,300 ton wreck from which it recovered one each of ECCM-1, a size 8 missile launcher, a TH 1-11 thermal sensor , an EM 2-22 sensor, a capacity 109 magazines and five magneto-plasma E7 drive units.

2nd April 89. HIP21482.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 salvaged another 22,350 wreck and recovered two 40cm far X-ray lasers, five gas cooled reactors and an ion E8 engine. With holds nearly full the group returned to Saginaw to unload their booty.

5th June 89. Delta Velorum.
The 15th Light Assault Division unloaded on Delta Velorum-B1 – moon 2 and set up camp prior to their assault on the Destroyer base located on the moon.

6th June 89. Delta Velorum.
The 15th Light Assault Division initiated their attack on the Destroyer base on Delta Velorum-B I – moon 2. The Division was still green and it showed in their execution of the initial assault which was ragged when compared to more experienced formations.

17th June 89. 71 Orionis.
STG 2 discovered 71 Orionis after entering an unexplored jump point in the Gliese 201 system. 71 Orionis was an F6-V star with an extensive planetary system although none were likely terraforming candidates.

17th June 89. Delta Velorum-B I.
The Destroyer garrison units had easily avoided contact with the green troops until the Union battalions were up against the base itself when the assault troops were finally able to carve a quarter of one the defending units into so much junk.  

18th June 89. Delta Velorum.
The geological survey vessel Sapphire from STG 4(G) discovered a ruined colony on Delta Velorum-B V.

24th June 89. Delta Velorum-B  I.
The 15th Light Assault Division was struggling to gain access into the Destroyer base proper. Light skirmishing continued, costing a Destroyer garrison unit 10% of its effectives.

29th June 89. Delta Velorum-B I.
Finally the 15th Light Assault gained access to the Destroyer base and in the process totally destroyed one of the defending ‘droid units as it fought its way in.
 
23rd July 89. Theta Sculptoris.
The ruins on Theta Sculptoris-A VI were fully surveyed by the Nicholas Porter Xenologist Team. The alien race which had inhabited the planet was identified as the Royal Khanate and their language and symbology was translated. The Khanate had achieved a level of technology commensurate with tech level 5 before its demise. 112 abandoned installations were found which might be recovered by an engineer regiment. The planet would be known as Khan in the future.

12th August 89. Avalon.
Gong Cai Wei retired from his position of Sector Controller, Avalon Sector, and the position of Director of the Star Union of Avalon, Controller Primus, aged 73. He is to be succeeded by Lakshmir Ponarkaar, formally Planetary Coordinator of Sagniaw – Xi Pegasi-A II – Moon 3. Lakshmir Ponarkaar was appointed by a free vote at a special conclave of Sector Controllers and Planetary Coordinators; such was the position of responsibility for the Union this post entailed.
Lakshmir Ponarkaar’s former post will be filled by Daniel Burrows, formerly Planetary Coordinator of a cometary mining colony in Avalon.  Burrows proved an efficient and effective Planetary Coordinator in previous post and many predict a long and successful career for the young administrator.

16th August 89. HD 24496.
STG 3 discovered the system of HD 24496 after entering an unexplored jump portal in HIP21482. The wrecks of twenty-four Baneh Longbows were detected deep in system. HD 24496 was an attractive system, a G0-V star orbited by ten planets dozens of moons and an asteroid belt. HD 24496-A I and A III had colony costs of 2.17 and 1.47 respectively.

HIP21482
Cargo/Salvage group 8 returned to HIP 21482 and continued in its salvage mission on the alien 7,100 ton wrecks. The latest wreck yielded an ECM - 1 unit, an EM1-11 detection sensor and three magneto-plasma E7 drive units.

30th August 89. Rho Puppis.
Exploration of a jump point in the Gliese 201 system by Survey Task Group 2 revealed the new system of Rho Puppis. This system consisted of a single F6-III star and ten planets with their associated moons and a handful of comets. Rho Puppis-A II had a colony cost of 2.47.

4th September 89. HIP 21482.
Cargo/Salvage Group 8 continued to recover items from the 7,100 ton wrecks in HIP 21842. The latest gave up an active search sensor MR126-R4, a TH1-11 thermal detection sensor, an ECCM- 1 and ECM – 1 unit.

5th September Refuge- 89 HIP – A III.
Civilian Administrator Feng Qiao Cheng, Planetary Coordinator of Refuge, retired from government service at the age of 72. He was replaced by Ameretat Barot, formally Governor of a mining asteroid in Avalon. His appointment was ratified by the Sector Controllers and three prominent Planetary Coordinators.

8th September 89. HIP 21482.
Salvage of a further 7,100 ton wreck by Cargo /Salvage Group 8 saw them recover a FC126-R4 missile fire control, and an EM1-11 detection sensor. This was the last of the 7,100 ton wrecks in the HIP 21482 system.

21st September 89. GJ 3021.
Survey Task Group 4 (G) entered an unexplored open jump portal in LHS 1908 and discovered the GJ 3021 system.  This was a calculated risk as this survey squadron was without jump capability. However the risk was well taken and an open jump portal was found on the other end of the wormhole.  GJ 3021 had a well endowed planetary system and a colony cost 1.9 world at GJ 1321-A IV.

22nd September 89. HIP 21482.
Cargo /Salvage Group 8 continued in its salvage efforts on one of the larger alien wrecks and was rewarded by further examples of 40cm C10 far X-ray lasers, gas-cooled reactors and E7 and E8 ion engines.

14th October 89. HD 24496.
STG 3 discovered a colony from the Baneh Empire on HD 24496-A II. It had a thermal signature of 4776, an EM signature of 7127 and an estimated ground force combat strength of 10.

21st October 89. HD 24496.
STG 3 discovered Gliese 140 after entering one of the remaining unexplored stabilised jump portals in HD 24496. Gliese 140 was a red dwarf trinary system, The A component was a M0-V star with a sizable planetary system. The B component had no planets while the C component had one planet and a few asteroids. There were no terraforming candidates in the system.

25th October 89. HD 24496.
Survey Task Group 5(G) found a Baneh Colony on HD 24496-A III with a thermal signature of 1200, an EM signature of 4776 and an estimated  ground force combat strength of 10. This planet had millions of tons of vendarite and boronide at good accessibilities.
 
11th November 89. HD 24496.
Survey Task Group 5(G) located another three Baneh colonies on HD 24496-A VII Moon 34, moon 22 and moon 24. All had a thermal signature of 5 and an estimated ground force strength of 10. These moons had substantial deposits of duranium with a 0.9 accessibility.

14th November 89. HD 24496.
A further Baneh colony was found on HD 24496-A IX - Moon 24 with a thermal signature of 5 and an estimated combat strength of 10. There was a small duranium deposit (1.0 accessibility) on the moon.

21st  November 89. HD 24496.
Yet another Baneh colony was found on HD 24496-A IX – moon 16 with a thermal signature of 5 and an estimated combat strength of 5. This moon had millions of tons of duranium, neutronium, boronide and gallicite all with an accessibility of 0.7 or better. HD 24496 was a mineral rich system and appeared heavily infested with Baneh colonies.

26th November 89. Phi-2 Ceti.
The Sector Command facility on Beaumaris Beta was completed. Amitabha Datanal, formerly Planetary Coordinator of Zwickau – S.W. Burnham 157-A II was appointed by a panel consisting of all current Sector Controllers, Marshal Preston of the Star Corps and The Planetary Coordinators of Excalibur, Gram and Beaumaris Beta. His former seat is to be taken by Sam Sullivan, formally Planetary Coordinator of a cometary mining colony in Kuiper 99.  

7th December 89. Woolley 9125.
Exploration of an unexplored jump point in the HD 24496 system by elements of STG 3 revealed the new system of Woolley 9125. Woolley 9125 was a G0-V star with a well-developed planetary system, but no suitable terraforming candidate was discovered.

14th December 89. 50 Persei.
Survey Task Group 5(G) had no intrinsic jump capability of its own but with the profusion of stabilised jump portals around and in the light of the success of Survey Task Group 4(G), took the chance to enter an unexplored jump portal in HD 24496. In any case STG 3 was scheduled to follow them through within the day so they would be guaranteed a way out if there was not an open portal in the new system. As luck would have it there was an open jump portal in the new system of 50 Persei and a way back to HD 24496. 50 Persei was a single F7-V star with a planetary system of nine planets and two asteroid belts. 50 Persei-A III had a colony cost of 1.90.

15th December 89. 50 Persei.
Elements of STG 3 entered the new system of 50 Persei and detected the wrecks of three Destroyer Cazadora class warships in the system, but encountered no live Destroyer vessels.

20th December 89. 50 Persei.
Survey Task Group 5 (G) located a substantial (12 million tons) deposit of neutronium on 50 Persei-A III along with a Baneh colony with a thermal and EM signature of1987 and 709 respectively and an estimated Ground force strength of 20.

23rd December 89. Woolley 9716.
Exploration of a jump point in the Gliese 201 system by Survey Task Group 2 revealed the new system of Woolley 9716. Woolley 9716 was a lone red dwarf M4-V star, with no companions.

24th December 89. 50 Persei.
A Baneh Population was discovered on 50 Persei-A VII - moon 6 with a thermal signature of 202 and EM signature of 714 and an estimated combat strength 20. The moon contained a few hundred thousand tons of duranium and corbamite.

8th February 90. 50 Persei.
STG 3 completed its gravitational survey of the 50 Persei system. The system was a dead end system and had only one jump point.

9th February 90. Penkala.
Penkala was a backwater system in the backwater that was the Imperial Arm. Since the advent of the appearance of the Lleida Hierarchy in the Beaumaris Sector, traffic down the Arm had virtually ceased. Not even the colonist transports passed that way anymore. But like other former Destroyer occupied systems there were a few outposts scattered amongst the orbiting bodies. These were linked to Star Corps HQ by ansible.
Gram- Avalon-A II.
Lieutenant O’Brien was lounging at her desk when a red light began to flash on part of her console she rarely visited. Her interest piqued she examined it more closely. It was one of the automated stations in a dull system in the Imperial Arm. She supposed a routine maintenance call had been misrouted. She keyed the report via audio prior to sending it on its way. The system responded not with the expected maintenance request but with ” New alien race detected in Penkala! A new ship of the Udaygiri class has been detected in Penkala. Our intelligence service has designated the new ship as the Udaygiri 002. Thermal contact strength 600.” A shocked Lieutenant O’Brien keyed her communicator “Switchboard. Priority message for Marshal Preston….”
Operations were soon examining ship dispositions and eventually orders were cut for Task Group 1.1, based at Refuge- HIP 96183-A IV. The Task Group was directed to investigate the contact. The star map was being examined for possible avenues of exploration. It was unthinkable that the contact would not be traced back to its home world. In the medium turn Penkala would be host to a Star Corps naval base. This would include the terraforming of Penkala-A II and the installation of several mining colonies.


Imperial Arm.

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Task Group 1.1 (Squadron Leader Alexander Hardy. Flag Officer)
Jump Ship Endurance, Missile Frigates Arête, Buttress, Crag and Spire, Fleet Scout Warden and Escort Osmium.
9th February 90. Mu Cygni.
The final additions of anti-greenhouse gas to the atmosphere of Quarry-Mu Cygni-A IV - Moon 4 were made. The planet was as near Gram normal as it was ever going to get. Half-a-million colonists were on their way to transform an open cast mine klicks deep into a home.

20th February 90. Delta Aquilae.
Onager and Pack Horse (Camel Mk IB class tugs) were completed at the Devaria - Delta Aquilae-A IV orbital ‘Yard complex.

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Camel Mk IB class Fleet Tug    33,250 tons     735 Crew     8229 BP      TCS 665  TH 1500  EM 0
18796 km/s     Armour 1-92     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 155    Max Repair 312 MSP
Tractor Beam    

Celesteon Commercial SCAM Drive E0.3 (25)    Power 500    Fuel Use 3%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 790,000 Litres    Range 1425.5 billion km   (877 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
21st February 89. 50 Persai.
A new ship class from the Empire of Baneh was detected in 50 Persei. It was designated the Achilles class of 2750 tons and 4363 k/s. It was probably a survey vessel.

28th February 89. Penkala.
Task Group 1.1 arrived in the Penkala system and discovered not one alien scout but seven. They were of 2,100 tons and capable of 14285 k/s, worryingly fast.  This put their tech level on a par with the Union’s.

3rd March 89. Avalon.
A new size 4 anti-ship missile the Firestar V entered production.

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Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 16    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 21
Speed: 62500 km/s    Endurance: 40 minutes   Range: 150.6m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.36    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  360,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 8.8017
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1312.5%   3k km/s 420%   5k km/s 262.5%   10k km/s 131.2%
Materials Required:    4x Tritanium   0.36x Uridium   5.0367x Gallicite   Fuel x2091.5

Development Cost for Project: 880RP
8th March 89. Beamaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
Once more the value of the excavations on Beaumaris Alpha were demonstrated when a research facility was recovered with the complete technical specification for plasma-core anti-matter power plants.

30th March 89. Excalibur – Avalon-A IV.
Lakshmir Ponarkaar, the recently appointed Director of the Star Union of Avalon and Avalon Sector Controller, was concerned at the reports reaching his desk. When Sector Controller Gong Cai Wei of the Chin had been appointed to the position of Sector Controller Primus (as Gong like to style himself) finally eclipsing the power of Clan Windwalker all had thought it a great step forward for the advancement of the Union and truth be told at the start of his tenure the Union had never been so prosperous or secure. But the situation had changed, unfortunately the ailing Gong Cai Wei had not noticed and carried on as before, increasing the wealth of the Union but at the cost of its strength. Director Ponarkaar set up a fact finding inquiry, with himself as its chairman.
First to be called before the inquiry was Marshal Preston to review the strength of the Star Corps. Ponarkaar was appalled at the rundown of the Corps capabilities. While there had been no wholesale scrapping of ships the duties of the Corps had expanded vastly, much more than doubled, which was what had happened to the strength of the Star Corps. In the past the Star Corps had four Task Forces of which two were available for immediate deployment, plus a strategic reserve of the three Carrier Groups. Now the Star Corps had seven Task Forces plus one completing soon with only one free for immediate deployment. The strategic reserve was unchanged, still the same three Carrier Groups; however, two were deployed away from Avalon to Iota Piscium and Woolley 9388. Now there were many more systems that needed a garrison and the potential threats had multiplied greatly.
Task Forces 1 through 4 relied on close-in laser and gauss anti-missile defence and had none of the longer ranged capability so effectively provided by the jump escort cruisers.  They were also slow compared to later Task Forces and relied on the obsolete CIWS-320 as point defence and could not be regarded as first line combat formations. As for ground forces entire front-line divisions were tied down on garrison duties instead of being ready to deploy to trouble spots immediately. The one bright spot was Survey Command which had obtained new ships and almost eliminated the routine loss of ships to the Destroyers or the Horde. But even here they were not using the latest technology and of the nine survey task groups only six had dual capability of gravitational and geological survey, the other three restricted to geological survey only, principally as a cost saving measure. The effects of the lacunae of the Interregnum had not entirely worn off.
There were currently three alien races known to the Star Union out there, only one for which had the Star Corps had located their probable home system. Based on the velocity of their survey vessels the latest of these aliens, the Penkala aliens, must possess a technology at least equal to the Union, if not superior. This was unprecedented; the Union was used to being technologically superior from the time of the Imperial Devarian incursion to the present day! The chief scientists were brought before the inquiry. They revealed that there were still bright young prospects coming out of the universities, but the number of research facilities had not increased for nigh on fifty years! In the meantime the Union had experienced an economic miracle, building up a surplus of some one point three trillion shillings, while defence and research spending as a percentage of the whole steadily fell.
Lakshmir Ponarkaar took the findings of the inquiry to the Sector Controllers; he proposed the immediate increasing of research facilities and an expansion in the fleet, especially ground forces which were now inadequate if a major campaign developed in the next three years. Garrison divisions would be raised for the major Star Union planets releasing combat formations for frontline service.
A forward base would be developed in Penkala able to maintain a carrier group as it was potentially the closest system to the aliens jump route. This would strain the Star Corps logistics arm as they were still trying to emplace a 150 million population on Phi-2 Ceti to enable the staffing of all the research facilities confiscated from the Adelsoni (Woolley 9833) while still exploiting other sites of alien ruins. In addition to the proposal to construct a base on Roadrunner – HR8853-A II was still on the table.
This would mean deficit spending, but the reserves were in very good shape thanks to former Director Gong Cai Wei so the Union could afford it. Unfortunately it would take time to rectify the inaction of the past.

Delta Aquilae.
Mountain Ass (Camel Mk II class) completed at the Devaria - Delta Aquilae-A IV ‘Yard complex. This class was very similar to the Mk IB variant, but had the addition of two CIWS 500 systems.

 23rd April 90. Woolley 9126.
Survey Task Group 8 discovered Woolley 9126 after entering an unexplored jump portal in HIP21482. Woolley 9126 was a K2-V star with a large planetary family, Woolley 9126-A II had a colony cost of 0.11.

 7th May 90. HIP 21482.
In a surprise diplomatic move the Empire of Baneh granted trade access to the Star Union.

13th May 90. HD 24496.
The third Longbow wreck salvaged by Cargo/Salvage Task Group 8 finally revealed that which the Union intelligence service had been searching for. The Longbow freighter wreck yielded two magneto-plasma drive units. Thus those wrecks from which Magneto-plasma drive units had been recovered could be assigned to the Baneh, those from which ion engines had been recovered to their enemies.

17th May 90. Gliese 140.
The Satellite Layers had been busy depositing surveillance satellites on every jump point they could reach including systems in and around the Baneh Empire. The first unusual reports were starting to come through. The transit of an unknown vessel was detected into Gliese 140 via jump point #2.  The surveillance satellites’ were finally paying off.

20th May 90. Gliese 123.
Exploration of an unexplored open jump portal in the Woolley 9125 system by Survey Task Group 3 revealed the new system of Gliese 123.  Gliese 123 was a dim M0-V star with a family of eleven planets orbiting it. None were potential terraforming candidates.

26th May 91. HD 24496.
The transit of an unknown vessel was detected from Gliese 140 into HIP 24496 by a satellite placed on the jump point.

End of Part 1 to be continued

[IanD (OP)]

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS WITHIN!!

Tales of the Union.

 

The Perfidious Hierarchy. Part 2.

 Gram – Avalon-A II
Star Corps HQ wanted a good look at the Baneh home system and was also curious with regards to all the unknown contacts beyond HIP 21482. However they did not wish to spook the Baneh so a limited deployment was authorised. Commodore Leonard was directed to take Task Group 3.1 out of Zwickau – S.W. Burnham 157-A II. This task group, part of Task Force 3, was the nearest one containing an invaluable fleet scout, the Seeker, with which to ferret out information on HIP 21482 and the unknowns in that Expanse. Commodore Leonard was given discretion to explore as far beyond Gliese 140 as seemed reasonable.  

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Task Group 3.1 (Commodore Bill Leonard, Flag Officer)
 Jump Ship Discovery, the Missile Frigates, Flute, Corrie and Edge, Fleet Scout Seeker and the Escort Zirconium.

Jump map of Baneh Space January 90.

Gliese 106.
Elements of STG 8 discovered Gliese 106 out of Woolley 9126. This system was a K4-V and K5-V binary system, with but a single planet orbiting each star. One planet was found to have significant deposits of duranium, the other neutronium. The planet orbiting the A component had a colony cost of 1.9 but was unlikely ever to be terraformed. Both however, would make good mining colonies

29th May 90. Woolley 9126.
A new class of ship belonging to the Lleida Hierarchy designated the Action IV class of 2,150 tons was detected in Woolley 9126 by vessels of by Survey Task Group 2. It was tentatively identified as a survey vessel.
 
1st June 90. Avalon.
Communications were established with the Empire of Caserta, formerly known as the Penkala aliens. These hairy aliens with prominent canines and leathery wings were still very much inscrutable.

5th June 90. Woolley 9126.
An Empire of Baneh colony was detected on Woolley 9126-A II (Thermal signature  631 , EM signature 1589, estimated combat strength 30 ) by the geological survey vessel Diamond. The body has tens of millions of tons of duranium with a 0.7 accessibility.

12th June HIP 21482.
A new class of Lleida Hierarchy vessel was detected in HIP 21482. It was designated the Consular class of 1750 tons. The previously unseen vessel transited out of HIP 24496. Its mass and movements would indicate it was probably a geological survey vessel.

20th June. HIP 21482.
Task Group 3.1 finally reached the first of the target systems. The large array sensor on Seeker detected eighteen new 31,500 ton contacts. These vessels were of a new class in orbit of HIP 21482-A II, designated Thug class.

3rd July 90. Phi-2 Ceti.
Beaumaris Alpha – Phi-2 Ceti-A II was still yielding its secrets. A research facility was recovered and found to contain complete technical details of Tau shield technology, which the Union was still researching.

4th July 90. HD 24496.
Task Group 3.1 entered Gliese 140 and once Seeker’s sensors had recovered from jump lag the scan officer on the Seeker received a shock, a major Lleida Hierarchy fleet was in the system.  There were a slew of new classes, large vessels at that, cruiser sized.  There were five Dauntless class, 14,900 tons, two Gamma class, 22,350 tons, one Lucehulk, 22,350 tons, six Dreadnaught class 7450 tons, nine CR-70, 7450 tons, three Acclamator class, 14,900 tons, one MC-80 class, 7450 tons, one YT-2000 class, 7450 tons, and two Providence class at 14,850 tons.  All looked to have recently entered system via jump portal #2. The Hierarchy fleet seemed to be headed for the jump point to HD 24496.  All were capable of 4026 k/s except the Providence class which were slightly faster at 4040 k/s. These classes bore a striking resemblance to the wrecks detected in orbit of the Baneh Empire home world. There was no doubt now whom had been the other side in the war with the Baneh Empire, although which was the aggressor was still very much unresolved.

5th July 90. Eta Cephei.
A destroyed outpost was located on Eta Cephei-A VI by Ashen Shugar II-004.

7th July Gliese 140.
Six Hierarchy Dreadnaught class vessels altered course to intercept Task Group 3.1. Commodore Leonard decided to bring Task Group 3.1 to a stop and allow the six Dreadnaughts to close. He had the distinct feeling that if he did so much as raise shields the Hierarchy ships would open fire. The Hierarchy squadron stopped 750 million klicks from the Union Task Group and there then followed a nine hour staring match, which ended as the Lleida Hierarchy fleets suddenly made off in the direction of theHD 24496 jump point.

11th July 90. Gliese 140.
The Hierarchy fleet appeared committed to the HD24496 jump point so Task Group 3.1 made for jump portal  #2, the unexplored jump point from which the Hierarchy fleet almost certainly had to have arrived in system by, and transited through.
Task Group 3.1 emerged into V491 Persei, a former battleground with some 203 wrecks of ships such as Shadowhawks, Dreadnoughts, CR-70s and many more unidentified. There were two colony cost 0 planets in the B component. A couple of open wormholes were also easily detectable. There were also many active contacts.
Dozens of Nebulon-B2 contacts of 33,450 tons and 1345 k/s were picked up, some just emerging from jump point #2. V491 Persei-B II had a population with a thermal signature of 85269, which was at least a third higher than Excalibur- Avalon-A IV. The Union now knew the location of at least one populous world of the Hierarchy, very possibly the home world to judge by the thermal signature.


Sensor Screen Shot of V491 Persei.

13th July 90. V491 Persei.
As Task Group 3.1 went deeper in system seventeen new contacts of 7450 tons and capable of 9663 k/s lit up the scan station’s display on an intercept course for the task group. This was an unexpected development; they were faster than Task Group 3.1. The navigator’s holotank was very crowded with the hundreds of contacts in the system. Ten vessels of the Recusant class, 31,100 tons, were also detected. There was also a new Dreadnaught class contact. Task Group 3.1 pressed on.

14th July 90. V491 Persei.
Task Group 3.1 finally got within sensor range of the Lleida Hierarchy home world, which revealed six more Recusant class, forty-six Nebulon-B2 class, twenty-three Liberator class (14,700 tons), three Sentinel class (4,850 tons) and an orbital shipyard of 80,000 tons. Commodore Bill Leonard decided enough intelligence had been gained, and as the approaching Strike class ships, assumed to be warships of some kind, were faster than his task group it was time to make tracks while they were several days from contact. He was uneasy and did not trust the Hierarchy at all.

23rd July 90. HD24496.
09:06. Task Group 3.1 had entered HD 24496 from Gliese 140 to find the Hierarchy fleet strung out in two groups ahead of them. Task Group 3.1 rapidly closed on the neutral vessels. Before long Task Group 3.1 was only a few thousands of klicks from six Dreadnaught class ships of the Hierarchy which formed the trailing group. Sensor operators watched their screens intently trying to detect any untoward action by the group of warships, Weapons officers were poised over their boards inputting targeting data as it came in, waiting to launch as soon as the command was given. The fleet scout Seeker, jump ship Discovery and escort Zirconium all had their sensors hot providing current targeting data to the rest of the group. Commodore Leonard still had a bad feeling about the Hierarchy; their actions just did not fit a race that wanted peaceful relationship with the Union. The threats of the Dreadnought squadron as the Task Group proceeded into V491 Persei and the even more overt threat of the intercepting squadron detected in V491 Persei were just not the actions of a non-aggressive race, especially when contrasted to the actions of the Empire of Baneh who’s vessels hadn’t even stirred from their planetary orbits when the Task Group 3.1 passed through HIP 21482.
09:11. A new active sensor was detected emanating from one of the Dreadnaughts. If it was possible the atmosphere on the bridge of the Discovery grew even tenser. The bridge staff looked to Commodore Leonard to give the word. But still he was impassive, shields down to give a non-threatening  posture as the two squadrons passed close enough to actually see the hull markings on the Hierarchy vessels, which did not appear be crafted to inspire confidence in the peaceful nature of the ships. Commodore Leonard did allow maximum cruising velocity. The last thing he wanted was a jump into HIP 21482 with the Hierarchy fleet waiting on the other side. So if anything was to happen, best it happened in HD 24496.

24th July 90. HD 24496.
01:36. Task Group 3.1 passed the Dreadnought squadron and they finally dropped off the thermal sensors. Crews around the squadron breathed a sigh of relief, one hurdle down, one to go. But that was an even more daunting one, consisting of the bulk of the Hierarchy fleet. The Task Group was now close enough to get clear readings of their thermal output. It was quite a quandary who was the other side in the local war? Intelligence was quite sure that some of the wrecks salvaged in HIP 21482 were Hierarchy vessels. Based on the salvage of a Longbow freighter wreck in HD 24496 which revealed it was powered by Magneto-plasma drives all wrecks found with these engines were assigned to the Empire of Baneh, while all those found with ion drives were assigned to their enemy, now without a doubt that enemy was the Lleida Hierarchy.
The War Book contained the outlines of three classes of warships. The details were sketchy but sufficient to give an idea of the Hierarchies capabilities. The Hierarchy fleet had a cruising velocity of just 4026 k/s, indicating that they were still probably using ion drives.

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Unknown Class     22,350 tons     ? Crew     / BP      TCS 447  TH ?  EM ?
? km/s     Armour ?     Shields ?     Sensors ?/?/0/0     Damage Control Rating ?     PPV ?
Maint Life? Years     MSP ?    AFR ?%    IFR ?%    1YR ?    5YR ?    Max Repair ? MSP

Ion Drive E7/E8 (5+?)    Power ?    Fuel Use ?%    Signature ?    Armour /    Exp ?%
Fuel Capacity ? Litres    Range ? billion km   (? days at full power)
? Shields (?)   Total Fuel Cost  ? Litres per day

40cm far X-ray laser (2)    Range 3,200,000km     TS: ? km/s     Power Requirement: 40    
RM  8    ROF 20   Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 10     Damage Output 40    
  
Gas cooled PB-1 fast reactors (5+?)     Total Power Output ?    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor? (?)     GPS 960     Range ?m km    Resolution ?
EM Detection Sensor ? (?)  Sensitivity ?     Detect Sig Strength ?:  ?m km
Thermal Sensor TH3-18 (?)     Sensitivity ?     Detect Sig Strength ?:  ?m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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Unknown Class Type 1   7,450 tons     ? Crew     / BP      TCS 142  TH ?  EM ?
? km/s     Armour ?     Shields ?     Sensors 54/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating ?     PPV ?
Maint Life? Years     MSP ?    AFR ?%    IFR ?%    1YR ?    5YR ?    Max Repair ? MSP

Ion Engine E8 (1+?)    Power ?    Fuel Use ?%    Signature ?    Armour /    Exp ?%
Fuel Capacity ? Litres    Range ? billion km   (? days at full power)
? Shields (?)   Total Fuel Cost  ? Litres per day

Size 5 Missile Launcher (?)
Missile Fire Control FC72-R70    Range: 72                  Resolution: 70

Active Search Sensor MR? (?)     GPS ?     Range ?m km    Resolution ?
EM Detection Sensor EM1-6 (?)  Sensitivity ?     Detect Sig Strength ?:  ?m km
Thermal Sensor TH1-6 (?)     Sensitivity ?     Detect Sig Strength ?:  ?m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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Unknown Class Type 2   7,450 tons     ? Crew     / BP      TCS 142  TH ?  EM ?
? km/s     Armour ?     Shields ?     Sensors 54/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating ?     PPV ?
Maint Life? Years     MSP ?    AFR ?%    IFR ?%    1YR ?    5YR ?    Max Repair ? MSP

Ion Engine E8 (2+?)    Power ?    Fuel Use ?%    Signature ?    Armour /    Exp ?%
Fuel Capacity ? Litres    Range ? billion km   (? days at full power)
? Shields (?)   Total Fuel Cost  ? Litres per day

Size 1 Missile Launcher (5+?)
Missile Fire Control FC17-R1    Range: 17                  Resolution: 1

Active Search Sensor ? (?)     GPS ?     Range ?m km    Resolution ?
EM Detection Sensor EM1-6 (?)  Sensitivity ?     Detect Sig Strength ?:  ?m km
Thermal Sensor TH1-6 (?)     Sensitivity ?     Detect Sig Strength ?:  ?m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
It was unfortunate that it was not possible to ascribe the War Book data to the classes of ship on the sensors.
 
01:48.21. The Union Task Group was 13.5 million klicks from the Hierarchy fleet and closing fast. The Sensor officer on the Discovery was lazily looking at his screen when several fast moving contacts began to appear on thermal sensors, his initial thought was a glitch and he set too trying to resolve the problem when the CIWS roared into life and the Weapons officer hit the action stations alarm. The sensor officer immediately reclassified the Hierarchy as hostile and the holotank was speckled with a red rash of incoming ordnance.
Because the Hierarchy were listed as neutral, a programming error had not classified the incoming missiles as hostile! Commodore Leonard immediately ordered shields up, but this was superfluous as the ships of the Task Group were already doing so, however his next order over the intership was much more satisfying.  “Target their missile cruisers, return fire!  The Task Group will change course to 198^o.” This would open the range between the Hierarchy fleet and the Task Group. “Comms report to Star Corps Command, the Lleida Hierarchy have commenced hostilities with the Star Union of Avalon.” The three frigates began the retaliation, but hopes were not high as there were at least eight and possibly as many as twelve anti-missile escorts. However it was hoped that the Firestar IVs travelling at 64,000 k/s, with a ten-kiloton warhead would cause them some problems.
The Flute was the next target of the fourteen size 5 missiles approaching in two salvos of seven approaching at 23,505 k/s, her CIWS took seven down, but it was thanks to the Zirconium that she escaped damage as the Zirconium’s gauss cannon ripped into the remaining missiles while the 20cm anti-ship lasers from the Zirconium and Discovery sniped at long range at the more distant incoming salvos. The task group’s shields were still in the process of coming up.
01:48:26. The Hierarchies target changed back to the Discovery, but the Hierarchies Herev anti-ship missile again failed to penetrate the alerted Task Group defences.
01:48:31. This bound of missiles were targeted at Edge, but all were shot down. The targets for successive waves were Discovery, Flute and Edge as the shields struggled into double figures. At 01:48:41 another wave of Firestars launched from the three frigates and would continue so every twenty-five seconds until their magazines were empty.  The incoming missiles were slow enough that the anti-shipping lasers were destroying missile salvos before they could enter the engagement range of the Zirconium’s gauss cannon.
01:49:11. The waves of fourteen Size 5 missiles appeared to stop, replaced by a new threat, twin salvos of fourteen slower size 7 missiles (18,303 k/s).
01:49:51. Flute, Edge and Corrie fired fifty missiles apiece at their initial targets,
01:51:26. Close to the Hierarchy fleet seventeen one-kiloton explosions were detected, better than half the first wave of Union missiles had been taken out.
01:51:31. Only one Firestar made it through to hit its target. Commodore Leonard decided a change was in order to try and thin out the putative AMM vessels. The three frigates began to target the CR-70 class.
01:51:46. Seventeen Firestars of the second wave were lost to anti-missile fire.
01:51:51. Point defence tore at the approaching Firestars killing six more missiles.
01:51:56. Again only one Firestar made it through the defences.
01:52:41. The next wave of salvos achieved four hits against Dauntless 004, causing it to stream atmosphere after the first two, so some internal damage hopefully! Unfortunately this was the last wave targeted at the big cruisers, follow on salvos were targeted at the smaller 7,450 ton CR-70 class.
01:53:36. The three frigates launched the last of their missiles. So far the results had not been spectacular, five hits in total out of 420 missiles expended!
01:53:56. Of the next wave of Firestars a single missile out of thirty hit CR-70 003.
01:53:41. Six Firestars make it through the Hierarchies defences and detonated on top of a CR-70, any shields are knocked down and armour plate evaporated under the lithium deuteride fuelled plasma lances directed at the vessel. Atmosphere spurted from hull ruptures.
01:54:56.Task Group 3.1 had finally got its shields up to full strength.
01:55:06. CR-70 006 was hit by five Firestars, its thermal signature was reduced from 600 to 480 and the vessel began streaming atmosphere. There were two more waves of thirty missiles targeted at CR-70 006! The effectiveness of the Hierarchy defences was faltering.
01:55:26. The last of the Hierarchies inbound missiles were picked off by the Zirconium’s and Discovery’s lasers.
01:55:31. Four more Firestars made it through the Hierarchy defences to slam into CR-70 006.
01:55:56. The next wave got ten more Firestars through, four detonated around the stricken CR-70 006. The ship could not take a further forty-kilotons of thermonuclear damage and broke up.
01:56:01. Of the six Firestars that were not required to destroy CR-70 one made it through yet more point defence fire to damage Dauntless 002.
01:56:16. Hierarchy AMM fire slackened, only four Firestars destroyed at the first interception point.
01:56:21. Another four firestars were lost at the next interception point.
01:56:26. Just five Firestars were required to reduce CR-70 005 to so much wreckage. The fate of the last thirty inbound Firestars would be interesting as they had been targeted at CR-70 005 as well. There were also eleven Firestars still looking for a target from the penultimate wave.
01:56:26. The lost missiles chose Dauntless 002 as their target and four hit, causing a plume of frozen atmosphere to be seen spewing from the damaged vessel.
01:56:46. The final wave of Firestars broke over the Hierarchy fleet, with no particular target locked in. Their tiny brains picked the hottest target, the 14,850 ton Providence 002 and ten made it through final defensive fire to explode with thermonuclear powered vengeance around the unfortunate vessel. Atmosphere was seen to spurt from rents in the hull. Commodore Leonard was well pleased with events so far. He had fought a far larger but technically inferior fleet to a standstill and inflicted real damage on it. All he had to do now was guide his squadron into HIP 21482 without coming in range of the Hierarchy AMMs of which they still seemed to have an adequate if not plentiful supply. Leonard ordered a change of course to 241^o. But he had to be careful that the Dreadnaught group did not close on the squadron from the other direction.
01:57:21. Just as Commodore Leonard was congratulating himself fourteen size 5 missiles were detected inbound. The Hierarchy had found more missiles from somewhere, or more likely the Task group had strayed back into range.
01:59:56. The last of three salvos of size 5 missiles came into range of the lasers and as they did so a thermal contact registered, approaching at 31,700 k/s, the Task Group had cut the corner to try and get round the Hierarchy fleet which was between Task Group 3.1 and the jump point to HIP 21482.
01:59:46. Another contact was picked up, a further two fourteen missile salvos of size 7 missiles inbound. Commodore Leonard ordered a course change to 182^o to try and move out of range of the closing Hierarchy fleet.
02:00:01. The strength 8 thermal contact resolved itself into eight size 5 missiles. The range to the hierarchy fleet had dropped to 11.6 million klicks.
02:01:06. There were now two streams of missiles approaching one of faster size 5 and one of slower size 7, If the Task Group was unlucky it could suffer an attack by both types of missiles simultaneously, however this still shouldn’t be  too dangerous.
02:02:16. The fast size 5 missiles stopped, to be replaced with the slow version.
02:21:41. Commodore Leonard ordered Task Group 3.1 to change to course to 198^o, taking them further away from the Hierarchy fleet, but also further away from the jump point.
02:49:31. Having almost succeeded in trapping the Union fleet in HD24496 the Hierarchy fleet split up, the Dauntless group stayed in place, a single Providence class vessel continued its pursuit of Task Group 3.1 while the rest fell back on the Dreadnaught group some 415 million klicks distant. A curious manoeuvre but one that still left the bulk of the enemy fleet between Task Group 3.1 and the jump point.
04:18:01. Commodore Leonard ordered yet another course change to 243^o. Providence 002 was still in pursuit.
07:38:01. Commodore Leonard ordered a final change of course to 306^o which set  Task Group 3.1 on a direct line for the jump point into HIP 21482, the nearest enemy contact was 148 million klicks away. Some of the Hierarchy units would close but not enough to threaten the squadron, apart from which the Dauntless group seemed more interested in investigating a Baneh Longbow freighter also heading for the HIP 21482 jump point.
10:52. Providence 002 gave up its fruitless pursuit.
Commodore Leonard’s last sight of HD 24496 was of six Dreadnaught class vessels on course to transit into HIP 21482, but they were some 428 million klicks astern.


The Battle in HD 24496

25th July 90. HIP 21482.
09:18. A Consular class Hierarchy survey ship was detected in HIP 21482 as Task Group 3.1 transited in from HD 24496, Zirconium was detached to try and run it down. The rest of Task Group 3.1 headed for the jump point to Alpha Trianguli but would not transit as the Seeker illuminated the target for Zirconium to home onto.

27th July 90. HIP 21482.
18:33. The transit of six Dreadnaught class vessels from HD 24496 into HIP 21482 was detected.
19:46. five, ten- kiloton explosions were detected close to the jump portal to HD 24496 and a Longbow freighter contact was replaced by a wreck marker on the long-range scan aboard Seeker. Hostilities between the Hierarchy and the Baneh Empire had recommenced, if they had ever ceased! The Hierarchy squadron was heading in system, towards what was assumed to be the Baneh Home world.

28th July HIP 21482.
Another Longbow freighter disappeared in a thermonuclear fireball as the Dreadnaught squadron passed close by.

29th July HIP 21482.
Zirconium brought Consular 002 into effective laser range and over the next thirty seconds poured fire into her, destroying the craft. Survivors were rescued. Zirconium then proceeded to rejoin Task Group 3.1.

30th July 90. HIP 21482.
Zirconium passed close to the Baneh home world and got a reading of the planet, which had an estimated ground combat strength of 1306.

2nd August 90. Gliese 140.
A sensor satellite on the jump portal to V491 Persei detected the entry of Dreadnaught 008 into the system.

3rd August 90. HIP 21482.
Zirconium rejoined Task Group 3.1 at the jump portal to Alpha Trianguli and at the same time Task Group 3.3 and 3.4 appeared at the jump point in company with a Stellar class replenishment vessel with over seven hundred Firestar IVs on board. Task Group 3.2 was away at Phi-2 Ceti replenishing their missile tubes, so this was all of Task Force 3 that would make it for the duration of the conflict.

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Task Force 3
Task Group 3.1(Commodore Bill Leonard, Flag Officer)
 Jump Ship Discovery, the Missile Frigates, Flute, Corrie and Edge, Fleet Scout Seeker and the Escort Zirconium.
Task Group 3.3 (Captain Kia George, SO.)
Jump Destroyer Cadal, Missile Boats Giant, Goblin, Unicorn, Werewolf and the Escort Hafnium.
Task Group 3.4 (Squadron Leader Hosvi  Vefastrson, SO.)
Jump Ship Eclipse, Missile Frigates Pinnacle, Slab, Saddle, Talus and the Escort Strontium.
4th August 90. HIP 21482.
The Lleida squadron of six Dreadnaught class vessels slid into close orbit of the Baneh home world. What happened next could only be surmised as at 12:21:26 a new Dreadnaught wreck appeared in the planet’s orbit, followed five seconds later by two ten-kiloton and eighty-eight one-kiloton explosions and a second Dreadnaught wreck. At 12:21:41 there were ninety, one- kiloton detonations and a third wreck appeared. Five seconds after that a fourth wreck littered the orbital space of the planet, like the first probably a victim of kinetic or beam weapons. Finally at 12:21:51 there were eighty-nine one-kiloton detonations and the last Dreadnaught was transformed into a wreck. It took twenty-five seconds for the Baneh defences to destroy the Hierarchy squadron, and they only succeeded in hitting with two missiles. The real mystery was why the squadron closed to point blank range in the first place. Any Union admiral trying such a stupid stunt against planetary defences would be instantly removed and court marshalled. Task Group 3.4 dispatched the escort Strontium to recover Hierarchy survivors for interrogation.  

5th August 90. HIP 21482.
Strontium recovered the survivors without incident and one grateful prisoner revealed information on the Lleida Hierarchy Bangalore class warship, which had not been seen by the Union.

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Bangalore class Destroyer    7,450 tons     901 Crew     3250 BP      TCS 149  TH 600  EM 0
4026 km/s     Armour 4-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 48
Maint Life 2.57 Years     MSP 1091    AFR 111%    IFR 1.5%    1YR 231    5YR 3464    Max Repair 505 MSP

Ion Engine E8 (10)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres    Range 45.3 billion km   (130 days at full power)

40cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser (4)    Range 480,000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 40-10     RM 8    ROF 20        40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 35 32
CIWS-320 (1x6)    Range 1000 km     TS: 32000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S04 240-8000 (1)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (9)     Total Power Output 40.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR96-R70 (1)     GPS 13440     Range 96.4m km    Resolution 70
Thermal Sensor TH1-6 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
6th August 90. Woolley 9388.
Carrier Group 2 was detailed to search for the Lleida scouts last seen in Woolley 9833. The Carrier Group entered an unexplored jump point in Woolley 9388 and discovered the already known system of 94 Aquari.

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Carrier Group 2
Task Group 2.1. (Squadron Leader Bill Norris , Flag Officer.) Jump Carrier Sand Dragon, Carriers Ameer and Empress, Fleet Scout Guardian, Replenishment Vessels Stellar Causeway and Stellar Span and 116 embarked Thunderhead attack shuttles.
Carrier Task Group 2.2. (Captain Gurtrud Rothmann, SO.) Jump destroyer Glamredhel, escorts Chromium, Dubnium, Molybdenum, Radium and Scandium.
HD 24496.
Task Group 3.1 in company with Task Groups 3.3 and  3.4 returned to HD 24496 and detected a large part of the Hierarchy fleet about to enter Gliese 140, which five vessels had already been detected entering by the surveillance satellite at the jump point. The fleet could be returning to V491 Persei or laying in ambush on the other side of the jump point in Gliese 140.

8th August 90. Luyten 431-25.
The exploration of an unexplored jump point in the 94 Aquarii system by Carrier Group 2 revealed the new system of Luyten 431-25. The wrecks of a Pizzaro class warship, a Fradera Cabo base plus the wreck of an unknown ship class were detected deep in system. Luyten 431-25-A II had a Colony Cost of 0.

Squadron Leader Bill Norris looked at his repeater screen, then into the Holotank. Once the sensors had recovered from jump lag there was a red rash around Luytens 431-25-A II, the most powerful Destroyer fleet yet located, with three new types of warships not seen before, including a vessel of the Medas class that massed 20,100 tons. The carriers were always regarded a strategic reserve and had never seen combat apart from the campaign against the Devarian Imperialist when the C V Emperor had delivered her fast attack squadron  to aid in the investiture of the Devarian orbitals. He was faced with a choice, leave them and retire or launch the first ever attack shuttle strike in the Union’s history. The former was not really an option. Squadron Leader Norris ordered the three carriers to launch their squadrons, No. 8 Squadron (CVJ Sand Dragon), No. 9 Squadron, (CV Ameer) and No. 10 Squadron (“Starfighters”, CV Empress).
The Destroyer battle group consisted of one Medas class 20,100 tons, two Pizarro class, 13,400 tons, one Delfin class, 13,400 tons, one Vencedora class, 6.700 tons, two Bergantin class 6,700 tons and one Hernan Cortez class, 6,700 tons. When the Destroyer squadron detected the presence of the Union Task Force it left the planet and headed for Carrier Group 2.

9th August 90. Luytens 431-25.
The attack squadrons reached their designated launch position. No 8 and No. 9 squadron were to deliver the main strike, while No. 10 acted as a reserve to finish off any cripples. At 51 million klicks from target squadron commanders switched on their fire controls, much as expected the Destroyer battle group has strength five ECM, reducing the effective range of the Sunsnake missiles from 59.8 million klicks to just 34.5 million.
The range shrank to 31.3 million klicks. The squadron commanders reported to the carriers, “strike package in place, condition green, going for launch.” Five seconds later 456 Sunsnake missiles made their combat debut. Seven minutes later the veritable tsunami of missiles broke over an unsuspecting squadron that hadn’t activated a single sensor. There was none of the expected AMM fire from the escorts and only a mere handful of Sunsnakes were hit by point defence on final approach. It was massive overkill. The lithium dueteride fuelled nine-kiloton thermonuclear warheads seemed to boil the very vacuum itself. As the squadrons retired to their carriers’ radiation alarms were triggered onboard the attack shuttles as the wave front passed over them, such was the intensity of the conflagration. A full 198 missiles were left without a target fruitlessly looking for something to home on.  No. 10 “Starfighter” squadron continued on to cleanse the planet of the orbital forts.
05:22’ Squadron commander of No. 10 Squadron reported in “Strike package in position, condition green, proceeding to launch” (and eventually received his acknowledgement some 50 minutes later from the carriers’ 896 million klicks distant, long after the forts were radioactive debris).  The strike commander had allocated forty-eight missiles to each fort in light of the inability of the mobile units to mount any sort of missile defence. The wave broke over the two bases, and once again the point defence was woeful accounting for only eight missiles. Magnetic fields existing for picoseconds directed the lances of lithium deuteride powered plasma fury against the structures, defences evaporated under the onslaught and the hulls were rent open spilling their half melted mechanisms into the void. There were only a dozen missiles which could not find a target due to overkill. It was likely there were mines in the planetary orbits which the Task Force was ill equipped to deal with so the carrier group recovered its attack shuttles and left the system.

15th August 90. NSV  14784.
The 16th Light Assault Division landed on NSV 14784-A III and began their attack on the Lleida Hierarchy colony on the planet. It was thought intelligence would be the principal benefit as it looked suspiciously like a ghost colony.

18th August 90. NSV 14784.
The light MI of the 16th advanced on the colony. Even before the outskirts were reached there was desultory skirmishing which went wrong for the Hierarchy when they mistook an assault infantry battalion for an MI battalion and as a result the attacking Hierarchy battalion had over a third of their effectives killed, wounded or captured.

19th August 90. Gliese 140.
Task Groups 3.1, 3.3 and 3.4 combat jumped into Gliese 140 then joined to form Task Force 3. After jump shock wore off a battle group of ten Hierarchy warships were detected.  The battle group consisted of the two cruisers of the Providence class (14,800 tons), a single cruiser of the Acclamator class (14,900 tons) four escorts of the CR-70 class (7,450 tons) and a single 7,450 ton vessel each of the Dreadnaught, YT-2000 and MC-80 classes.  Task Force 3 moved to engage.
03:34. Commodore Leonard studied the approaching Hierarchy fleet. As it entered standard sensor range (230 million klicks) he ordered “Task Force to defence stations,” although most captains already had their crews at defence stations well before this.
04:42. There was then a wait of over an hour before Leonard ordered over the intership “Task Force to action stations. Missile frigates set up firing solutions, missile boats stand-by.” He always intended that the missile boats would be his reserve as they could not reload anywhere short of Xi Pegasi and there were few missiles this side of Avalon itself.
05:27.  An hour forty-five minutes later with the range down to 118 million klicks Leonard gave the curt order ”commence fire plan alpha.” In this set-up the possible AMM platforms were targeted by two salvos’ of ten missiles each, then the cruisers were targeted by two frigates each for another salvo. Results were observed and the plan repeated as required. Thirty seconds later Leonard ordered cease fire before the cruisers could be fired on. He announced over the intership “let’s see how the first two salvos do, they still haven’t activated a search sensor and must be blind!”
05:56:16. Nine of the Hierarchy vessels were grouped together, trailing them was Providence 002, which Task Group 3.1 had hurt in the engagement in HD 24496, it had obviously not been able to rectify all of the damage. The Hierarchy battle group appeared to think they were on a peacetime cruise with still no detectable sensors active. The first wave of 70 missiles came as a complete surprise to the Hierarchy force, 45 ten- kiloton thermonuclear warheads found their targets, the two CR-70s and the YT-2000 were reduced in short order to so much debris without a shot in return. All other targets were streaming atmosphere. Only two salvos had been eliminated by point defence, a poor reflection on what they could or should have achieved.
05:56:31. The Hierarchy squadron at last came to life and AMMs descended upon the second wave accounting for thirteen of the onrushing Firestar IVs.
05:56:36. Another ten Firestar IVs were taken out by point defence fire. MC-80 was retiring; the rest of the Hierarchy squadron was strung out but still advancing on Task Force 3.
05:56:41. Ten more missiles were lost to point defence. But the fleeing MC-80 did not get far and exploded in a shower of bright sparks. The two remaining CR-70 class ships also succumbed to the onslaught, disintegrating as magazines detonated in sympathy. Only the Dreadnaught 008 of the first phase targets was untouched, being the beneficiary of the point defence fire. Acclamator 004 was not so lucky picking up all the missiles that had lost their targets after the first wave struck. Firestars exploded about the unfortunate vessel and a plume of leaking atmosphere was easily detected. The bad news for Acclamator 004 was there were still Firestars looking for targets!
05:59:46. The unlucky Acclamator 004 attracted the loose Firestars and while ten were destroyed by point defence the rest descended on her like the hammer of the gods. Lithium deuteride powered thermonuclear explosions opened the hull to vacuum, crew and contents alike spewed into the vacuum as the ships atmosphere blew away. The ship flew apart on the nuclear wind. Leonard observed the outcome of the task forces strike with considerable satisfaction. He then ordered “fire plan theta, go!” A fire plan no one thought they would ever use as it only targeted each cruiser with fifteen missiles and each escort sized vessel with five, observe results and repeat as necessary. But Leonard was conscious of his limited missile supply and decided to eke it out as long as possible.
05:56:51. The missiles left the frigates launchers on their way to their targets.
06:47:46. The Firestars faced no point defence fire as they exploded around their targets, overwhelming Providence 003 and Dreadnaught 008. Providence 002 took a further five missiles and then the battle of Gliese 140 was over. It was noticeable that this time the Hierarchy took the time to recover some of their life pods, not that it did them much good, but Commodore Leonard was frustrated in his search for additional intelligence on the Hierarchy.
11:14. The reason for the reluctance of the Hierarchy to allow its crews to be captured was explained as two disgruntled individuals who were transferred from survey to battle fleet duties against their wishes showed their disapproval of the Hierarchy by revealing a geological survey of Tau-6 Eridani and the gravitational survey results for Gliese 200 which they just happened to have on a data chip. Both these systems had only recently been discovered by the Union.

Beta Ophiuchi.
Exploration of a jump point in the HR 7683 system by Survey Task Group 9 revealed the new system of Beta Ophiuchi. Beta Ophiuchi-A was a K2-III star with a well developed solar system. Beta Ophiuchi-A IV had a colony cost of 2.71. The system would prove to be well endowed with TN minerals but off the main development route.

24th August 90. NSV 14784.
The 16th Light Assault tightened their grip on the countryside surrounding the Hierarchy colony, trying not to get too close to the prepared defences. All went well until 407th Mobile Infantry Battalion strayed into an ambush and had 38% of its effectives disable or killed. In return they were able to savage a Hierarchy garrison battalion, killing, disabling or capturing a quarter of its personnel.

Ross 769.
Exploration of a jump point in the V1396 Cygni system by Task Force 1 revealed the new system of Ross 769. Ross 769 was a M3-V star with two planets in company, Ross 769-A II had a colony cost of 1.90

28th August 90. Upsilon Eridani.
Carrier group 2 returned to 94 Aquarii and entered the final unexplored jump point which was found to lead to Upsilon Eridani. This was a large single star system centred on an F7-V star consisting of twelve planets, dozens of moons and hundreds of asteroids. Upsilon Aquarii-A IV and Upsilon Aquarii-A V both had colony costs of 1.90.
As Carrier Group 2 headed in system the scout Guardian picked up the signature of the Hierarchy scout YM 2000 006 on its sensors, unfortunately too far away to launch a strike immediately. Soon after a second Hierarchy survey ship (YM-2800 002) was detected.

29th August 90. NSV 14784.
The Ground Attack on the NSV 14784-A III Lleida Hierarchy colony reached a hiatus as the Union assault battalions prepared to assault the outskirts of the colony and the defenders dug in.

1st September 90. V491 Persei.
Task Force 3 entered V491 Persei and the holotank lit up with a rash of hostile contacts and wrecks. Most had been classified as transports but Commodore Leonard was looking for the seventeen Strike class vessels that challenged his last incursion into this system. It did not take long to filter out the extraneous contacts and reveal the approaching flotilla. This time Leonard would not be declining combat.

2nd September 90. V491 Persei.
Five Dauntless class missile cruisers were detected as they began their approach to the Task Force.

Upsilon Aquarii.
Contact was established with YM-2800 003, which meant three of the five known scouts had been located.

3rd September 90. V491 Persei.
A different kind of surprise was thrown at Commodore Leonard as a new alien race was detected on V491 Persei-B III.

Upsilon Aquarii.
A fourth Hierarchy scout, YM-2800 005, was located by Carrier Group 2. They only needed one more for the set.

4th September 90. V491 Persei.
Seventeen Strike class entered the engagement envelope of Task Force 3, that is if they had FIrestar Vs. in their magazines. Fire plan Alpha required that fifteen were to be engaged by twenty missiles each in the first wave. Alternate fire plans were also set up.
But at 06:35 the Strike battle group turned tail! Their velocity had dropped to 9410 k/s, and they had a proven capability of 9664 k/s. Perhaps they had a missile that out ranged the Firestar IV (range: 123. million klicks) and they had already launched them! At 06:55 with a bad feeling Bill Leonard ordered the Task Force to reverse course to the jump point.  The Strike Group also reversed course to keep Task Force 3 at the same range approximately 142 million klicks. Leonard was convinced incoming was not far off. In addition sixty 1000 ton Attack Craft were detected closing on the Task Force.
Two hours twenty minutes later there was no missile attack materialising. At 09:15 Leonard reconsidered the situation, were the Strike class vessels just waiting for the Attack Craft to arrive and launch a coordinated attack? Or had they run out of missiles? Leonard took a chance, detached his slow escorts and closed with the enemy at 10285 k/s compared to their 9663 k/s.

NSV 14784.
The mobile infantry began to invest the outlying districts of the colony. But the Hierarchy garrison was fighting from prepared positions and gave better than they got. The 464th Mobile Infantry Battalion suffered 33% casualties while only inflicting 20% casualties on the Hierarchy unit in return.  

5th September 90. V491 Persei.
05:58. The seventeen Strike class vessels were now just 90 million klicks from the Task Force and the sixty IPV-1 Attack Craft were 492 million klicks away. The attack craft were not a real threat as they travelled at only 6000 k/s. Commodore Leonard gave the order “Fire plan Alpha, shoot!”
06:23. the first wave of Firestars hurled themselves at their unsuspecting targets, seven dissolved riven by secondary power systems exploding, leaving wreckage and life pods in their wake. The second wave was no less ferocious, and more ships dropped off the scan reduced to fragments. Whatever the vessels were they were considerably more fragile than expected with no apparent means of defence. The forty missiles of the last wave made short work of the two final targets, leaving dozens of Firestars looking for targets.
Rescued Hierarchy crews revealed details on enhanced radiation warheads (33% yield, 3 x radiation), Summary data of the Nirghat and Udaygiri class Jump Destroyers and geological survey information on Gliese 106.

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Nirghat class Jump Destroyer    7,450 tons     667 Crew     1426.7 BP      TCS 149  TH 600  EM 0
4026 km/s    JR 3-100     Armour 3-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 10
Maint Life 2.63 Years     MSP 479    AFR 111%    IFR 1.5%    1YR 98    5YR 1467    Max Repair 288 MSP
Magazine 226    

J7500(3-100) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 7500 tons    Distance 100k km     Squadron Size 3
Ion Engine E8 (10)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 151.0 billion km   (434 days at full power)

CIWS-320 (1x6)    Range 1000 km     TS: 32000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Size 5 Missile Launcher (2)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC77-R20 (1)     Range 77.3m km    Resolution 20
Herev Anti-ship Missile (45)  Speed: 23,500 km/s   End: 56.8m    Range: 80m km   WH: 10    Size: 5    TH: 78 / 47 / 23

Active Search Sensor MR77-R20 (1)     GPS 5760     Range 77.3m km    Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH1-6 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km

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Udaygiri class Jump Destroyer    7,450 tons     1026 Crew     3659 BP      TCS 149  TH 600  EM 0
4026 km/s     Armour 2-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 12/6/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 60
Maint Life 2.54 Years     MSP 1228    AFR 111%    IFR 1.5%    1YR 265    5YR 3977    Max Repair 505 MSP

Ion Engine E8 (10)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 30.2 billion km   (86 days at full power)

40cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser (5)    Range 480,000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 40-10     RM 8    ROF 20        40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 35 32
Fire Control S04 240-8000 (1)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (12)     Total Power Output 54    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR96-R70 (1)     GPS 13440     Range 96.4m km    Resolution 70
Thermal Sensor TH2-12 (1)     Sensitivity 12     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  12m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-6 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
11:13. The three detached escorts rejoined the body of Task Force 3.
18:34. The sixty IPV-1 class Attack Craft entered the engagement range of Task Force 3. Leonard ordered “Fire plan Alpha two, shoot!” Two Firestars were targeted at each enemy vessel.
19:00. The first wave broke over the attack craft, pairs of missiles aimed at each craft. Two missiles were, much to Leonard’s relief, sufficient to destroy the first 22 targeted. Every twenty-five seconds another wave of missiles lashed the attack craft. In the excitement the weapons officer on Werewolf got so excited he left one fire control on standby, so for three rounds of firing he didn’t fire at three targets only two. One of Werewolf’s targets fell victim to a pair of missiles not required in the primary kill. But two remained to be picked off by Werewolf 16 minutes later. 25 seconds after that the formation ceased to exist and TF 3 started to recover survivors.  When survivors were recovered they revealed details of the Tikhonravov Anti-ship Missile (designed to fit in a mine) and geological survey data on Gliese 200. The Werewolf transferred four missiles to the missile frigate Corrie and then TG3.2 was detached to re-arm its missile boats, hopefully at Xi Pegasi.  Leonard retained the escort Hafnium that should have accompanied Task Group 3.2.

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Tikhonravov Missile Size: 2.5 MSP  (0.25 HS)     Warhead: 6    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 29300 km/s    Endurance: 1 minutes   Range: 1.8m km   Active Sensor Strength: 1.2  Cost Per Missile: 3.9205
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 97%   3k km/s 416%   5k km/s 58%   10k km/s 29%
6th September 90. V491 Persei.
The Hierarchy committed its fleet piecemeal. The next targets were two Gamma class cruisers which if ever allowed to get close could cause some damage as they were believed to be armed with 40cm far X-ray lasers, but they were never going to get that close.
22:39. Leonard engaged the two approaching Gamma class cruisers with 25 missiles apiece in an attempt to preserve his ammunition. But it took 55 Firestar IVs to kill them.  His seven frigates missile outfits were down to between 65 and 69 missiles each.

7th September  90. V491 Persei.
Task Force 3 recovered survivors from the two Gamma class cruisers. A grateful Hierarchy weapons tech gave technical details of 35cm focal aperture lasers.

8th September 90. V491 Persei.
Five Dauntless class ships accompanied by a Lucehulk class vessel fled the orbit of V491 Persei-B II as a much reduced Task Force 3 approached. These were classified as warships so their behaviour was unusual. All civilian shipping likewise left orbit and headed to the fringes of the system. The merchant marine on sensors included thirty-seven Nebulon-B2 class, six Recusant class and nine Nebulon-B.  Twenty-one Liberators, two Acclamators, three Sentinels, two YT-2000 and two Nebulon-B2 remained in orbit. The identification of Liberators as orbital forts was in some doubt as two were detected some 32 million klicks from the Hierarchy home planet.

Wolf 219.
STG 8 discovered Wolf 219 out of HIP 24496.  Wolf 219 was a lone white dwarf with a handful of comets.

NSV 14784.
Progress was slow as the assault troops and MI inched forward. The Hierarchy was making a fight of it and the 16th Light Assault Division lacked the heavy weapons of regular assault divisions. However they were still gaining ground and Hierarchy battalions were still taking casualties.

9th September 90. V491 Persei.
Two Nebulon-B vessels of 33,450 tons (classified as freighters) left orbit of the Hierarchy home planet. Initially they were assessed as being on an intercept course for the Task Force, but as time went on it was clear they were making for a jump point.
As Task Force 3 closed on the B component readings were obtained of the ground strength of the two occupied planets in the system. The second alien population in V491 Persei had its ground combat strength assessed at 169. Whereas Enemy ground forces on Leida – V491 Persei-B II were rated at 1340!
10:01. Task Force 3 closed to 50 million klicks from Leida – V491 Persei-B II. Leonard ordered fire plan Alpha executed.  Task Force 3 targeted the first two Liberator class orbital forts with 35 Firestars each, with each subsequent wave targeting two more forts until the missiles ran out.
10:14:26. Liberator 002 and 003 were the unfortunate recipients of the first two waves, twenty-eight salvos of five Firestars targeted at them. As the first few missiles burst over them and they writhed under the thermonuclear fury of the ten-kiloton warheads it was apparent that the strength of the forts had been overestimated. Both targets were rent by massive secondary magazine explosions. Untargeted Firestars picked their targets from the constellation before them untroubled by defensive fire. Five seconds later the errant missiles sought out the hottest heat sources, the mobile units in planetary orbit. YT-2000 003 and 004 were the first to fall, only sixteen missiles were required to eliminate both, then it was the turn of Acclamator 002 and 003 to be turned into radioactive wreckage by an average of another sixteen missiles apiece.
10:14:46. The second wave swept in, but having also been targeted at Liberator 002 and 003 they had to select new targets and they made free with two more Liberator bases and a Sentinel class fort which added to the orbital debris field and the wreckage raining down on the populous below. Finally another Sentinel class fort was left bleeding atmosphere. Ominously ten missiles were lost to point defence whereas the initial wave went in unopposed.
10:15:06. The third wave of missiles crashed over the planetary defence forts, but now the defenders were alert. Twenty missiles were lost to point defence fire. The only positive result was that Liberator 004 was left streaming atmosphere from hull punctures. Missiles targeted at Liberator 005 in the second wave began to look for a fresh target to hurl themselves against.
10:15:11. Anti-missile fire began to cut down swathes of incoming Firestars, nearly half being lost of the fourth wave while point defence accounted for another ten. The remaining missiles sought out Sentinel 003, which survived but was streaming plumes of frozen atmosphere.
10:15:31. The defenders had got into their stride and were now destroying missiles well before they could threaten the forts.  Any Firestars which made it through the anti-missile barrage were picked off by point defence. This was the pattern for subsequent waves.
10:16:46. By the time the last few salvos of Firestars approached the forts the Hierarchy had a watertight defence operating, the AMMs destroyed most Firestars millions of klicks from their targets, only a handful made it through to threaten the bases but fell to an unwavering point defence. Task Force 3 had shot its bolt; they were now dependent on the arrival of Task Force 7, a few days away, to resume offensive operations.

11th September 90. Upsilon Aquarii.
No 8 Squadron launched from Sand Dragon, split into its four sections of nine Thunderheads and moved to intercept the four Hierarchy scout vessels still on sensors.
03:31. No. 1 Section 1 was the first to move into a firing position, having been launched only a short distance from their target. Thunderhead 117 targeted YM-2800 006 at 41million klicks and launched six Sunsnake missiles.
03:42. Six nine-kiloton warheads made short work of the flimsy scout vessel. YM-2800 006 ceased to exist in the heart of a raging nuclear inferno. No. 1 Section returned to the Sand Dragon.
19:12:11. No. 2 Section was the next to acquire their target closing to a few million klicks but still did not elicit a response from the Hierarchy ship. Thunderhead 126 targeted YM-2800 002 with four Sunsnake missiles and fired on its unsuspecting target at a range of only 4.55 million klicks.
19:13. Four thermonuclear burst signalled the end of the Hierachy scout. The Thunderheads moved in to pick up survivors.

End of Part 2 to be continued

[IanD (OP)]

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS WITHIN!!

Tales of the Union.

 

The Perfidious Hierarchy. Part 3.

12th September 90. Upsilon Aquarii.
06:15:06. No. 4 Section closed on its designated prey and prepared for the kill as Thunderhead 144 targeted YM-2800 005 at 42 million klicks with four Sunsnake missiles.
06:25. YM-2800 005 was briefly the centre of the sudden appearance of four thermonuclear suns and a few instants after they appeared the unfortunate craft was reduced to most of its component parts.
06:55:11. Alien survivors from the YM-2800 005 life pods were rescued by Thunderhead 152 and they provided summary information on the Chakra class missile destroyer that was previously identified by Union Intelligence as the Dreadnaught class.

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Chakra class Missile Destroyer    7,450 tons     676 Crew     1267.4 BP      TCS 149  TH 600  EM 0
4026 km/s     Armour 4-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 12/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 25
Maint Life 4.29 Years     MSP 425    AFR 111%    IFR 1.5%    1YR 37    5YR 557    Max Repair 144 MSP
Magazine 457   

Ion Engine E8 (10)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 650,000 Litres    Range 196.3 billion km   (564 days at full power)

CIWS-320 (1x6)    Range 1000 km     TS: 32000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Size 5 Missile Launcher (5)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC72-R70 (1)     Range 72.3m km    Resolution 70
Herev Anti-ship Missile (91)  Speed: 23,500 km/s   End: 56.8m    Range: 80m km   WH: 10    Size: 5    TH: 78 / 47 / 23

Active Search Sensor MR72-R70 (1)     GPS 10080     Range 72.3m km    Resolution 70
Thermal Sensor TH2-12 (1)     Sensitivity 12     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  12m km

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 Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
22:20. No. 3 Section reached point blank range of YM-2800 003 and demanded its surrender. There was no response after the stated time and the Section commander had no option but to order Thunderhead 135 to engage the scout vessel. Four Sunsnake missiles streaked across the short gap separating the craft and detonated with a blinding flash seconds later. When sensors cleared YM-2800 003 was just a debris field orbiting the system primary. The attack shuttles moved in to pick up survivors.

Struve 2173.
Exploration of a jump point in the Gliese 720 system by Task Force 1 revealed the new system of Struve 2173. Struve 2173 was a binary system of a couple of G8-IV stars. Struve 2173-A V and Struve 2173-B IV both had a Colony Cost of 1.90.

NSV 14784.
The campaign on NSV 14784 was progressing slowly when the Hierachy commander got too confident and exposed two of his battalions to a flanking attack by the Union assault brigades. One Hierarchy garrison battalion lost two thirds of its men and equipment before it could withdraw to the relative safety of the inner colony, while another battalion was decimated trying to avoid the same fate.

V491 Persei.
03:20:21. Task Force 3 moved closer to the Hierarchy home world. As it did so Commodore Leonard observed that the five Dauntless class vessels which had previously fled moved first to the Lleida home planet then laid in an intercept course for the Union Task Force. A new Active Sensor (MR134-R70) was detected emanating from one of the Dauntless class vessels.
03:27. Seven minutes later the alarms on the Union forces were activated as two salvos of hostile missiles registered on the escorts’ sensors as the missiles closed on the Task Force. Lasers, Gauss cannon and CIWS roared in to action and destroyed all the incoming missiles. The Hierarchy squadron once more retreated to the edges of the system. Commodore Leonard watched thoughtfully, he was beginning to think that the Hierarchy might be suffering a TN mineral crash and may not any missiles left with which to arm its warships. This would explain the dearth of anti-missile missile fire in the battle in Gliese 140. 
Life pods from the destroyed forts curiously did not land on the planet below but left orbit and were ignored by surviving Hierarchy forces, even their merchant marine. The Eclipse made a mercy dash as they cleared 30 million klicks from the planet and picked up the life pods. The survivors from the destroyed orbital forts were recovered and provided useful information such as gravitational survey data for the Wolf 219 system, summary information on the Kora class, (This class was previously identified by Intelligence as the Consular class) and the previously unknown systems named GJ 1069 and Aitken 2329.

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Kora class Geosurvey Ship    1,750 tons     166 Crew     446 BP      TCS 35  TH 120  EM 0
3428 km/s     Armour 1-12     Shields 0-0     Sensors 12/6/0/3     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.34 Years     MSP 159    AFR 24%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 14    5YR 204    Max Repair 100 MSP

Ion Engine E8 (2)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 128.6 billion km   (434 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH2-12 (1)     Sensitivity 12     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  12m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-6 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
17th September 90. V491 Persei.
16:44. Task Force 7 finally reached Commodore Leonard and as he was the senior officer in the system,  awaited his orders which were swift in coming. Fire plans were transmitted and seconds later the cruisers belched their lethal loads of missiles at the orbital forts, but only one wave. Then they waited.
16:56. The Hierarchy orbital defences were totally unprepared for the storm of thermonuclear destruction that fell upon them.   Liberator 004, 006, 008, 009, 010, 012, 013, 014, 015 and Sentinel 003 were destroyed while Liberator 011 and Sentinel 002 were seen to stream atmosphere
22:56:36. Task Force 7 launched a second wave of missiles.
23:08:36. The Hierarchy crews appeared to have a short attention span and went back to sleep soon after witnessing the destruction of half their force. This was a lesson they would not get a chance to learn from twice. The missile wave crashed down on the remaining defences with inevitable consequences. Liberator 011, 016, 017, 018, 020, 019, 021, 022 and Sentinel 002 were destroyed clearing the orbital for Union occupation.

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Task Force 7
Task Group 7.1 (Squadron Leader Kyle Jennings, Flag Officer) consisted of the Jump Cruiser Superb, the Missile Cruisers Broadsword, Claymore, Cutlass, Fleet Scout Challenger and the Escort Ruthenium.
Task Group 7.2 (Squadron Leader Ashley Holden, SO.) consisted of the Jump Cruiser Glory, Missile Cruisers Jian, Kilij, Pulwar, Fleet Scout Surveyor and the Escort Terbium.
Task Group 7.3 (Squadron Leader Dominic Hussain, SO.) consisted of the Jump Cruiser Zealous, Missile Cruisers Shmshir, Sidesword, Spatha, Zhanmadao, and the Escort Thallium.
Task Group 7.4 (Captain Ryhs Wallis, SO.) consisted of the Jump Destroyer Midkemia, Missile Boats Catoblepas, Chichevache, Yale, Yeti and the Escort Hydrogen.
18th September 90. V491 Persei.
The combined fleet of Task Force 3 and Task Force 7 reached the Hierarchy home planet. Their first task was to rescue life pods which were still circling the planet. Survivors provided a wealth of information, such as summary information on the Shardul and Dehli classes,  Technical details of Reduced-size Laser 0.75 Size / 4x Recharge and of the Albardão Anti-ship Missile previously unknown, knowledge of the  systems known as GJ 1102  and LHS 3939 and geological survey data for the Gliese 200 and V491 Persei systems

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Albardão Anti-ship Missile
Missile Size: 7 MSP       Warhead: 11     Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 18100 km/s    Endurance: 103 minutes   Range: 112.3 m km
Cost Per Missile: 4.865

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Shardul class Battlecruiser    22,350 tons     2792 Crew     9883 BP      TCS 447  TH 1800  EM 0
4026 km/s     Armour 6-70     Shields 0-0     Sensors 18/12/0/0     Damage Control Rating 12     PPV 156
Maint Life 2.5 Years     MSP 3316    AFR 333%    IFR 4.6%    1YR 738    5YR 11077    Max Repair 505 MSP

Ion Engine E8 (30)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres    Range 30.2 billion km   (86 days at full power)

40cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser (13)    Range 480,000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 40-10     RM 8    ROF 20        40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 35 32
CIWS-320 (2x6)    Range 1000 km     TS: 32000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S04 240-8000 (2)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (29)     Total Power Output 130.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR120-R70 (1)     GPS 16800     Range 120.5m km    Resolution 70
Active Search Sensor MR77-R20 (1)     GPS 5760     Range 77.3m km    Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH3-18 (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km
EM Detection Sensor EM2-12 (1)     Sensitivity 12     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  12m km

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Dehli class Heavy Cruiser    14,900 tons     1924 Crew     7001 BP      TCS 298  TH 1200  EM 0
4026 km/s     Armour 4-53     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/6/0/0     Damage Control Rating 8     PPV 108
Maint Life 2.55 Years     MSP 2349    AFR 222%    IFR 3.1%    1YR 506    5YR 7592    Max Repair 505 MSP

Ion Engine E8 (20)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 30.2 billion km   (86 days at full power)

40cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser (9)    Range 480,000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 40-10     RM 8    ROF 20        40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 35 32
CIWS-320 (1x6)    Range 1000 km     TS: 32000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S04 240-8000 (2)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (20)     Total Power Output 90    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR96-R70 (1)     GPS 13440     Range 96.4m km    Resolution 70
Active Search Sensor MR77-R20 (1)     GPS 5760     Range 77.3m km    Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH1-6 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-6 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Leonard looked at the atmospheric data for Lleida – V491 Persei with a gleam in his eye. “Right” he said to the crowded conference room aboard the jump ship Discovery, “the poor beggars have an atmospheric pressure of only 0.84 atmospheres, Squadron Leader Jennings, we won’t need your remaining stocks of Firestars but I will use your escorts, Super Scouts and your jump destroyer.” Jennings interjected “it will be good for them to get some action at last” as Leonard continued “In conjunction with the escorts of Task Force 3 they will burn the ground forces out of existence! The fourth and fifth Troop Transport Task Groups arrive in approximately 21 hours, the troops will go in as soon as they are in orbit, at the same time the combined beam group will take out any ground based opposition, it should be a cake walk, and there won’t be any of that whingeing we had at Adelson in Woolley 9833 about a little radiation poisoning. Return to your ships and prepare for victory.” The ships captains’ conference of the two task forces broke up as captains hurried back to their vessels.

NSV 14784
Before the Union brigades could enter the colony proper there was a strong defensive line to be crossed. But the Hierarchy commander had not figured on the presence of assault troops who were able to breach the outer defences while the mobile infantry dropped behind the line and took it from the rear. This cost the Hierarchy defenders dear as one battalion was shattered and lost as it tried to hold the line while a further battalion was savaged as it withdrew straight into the mobile infantry, leaving half its order of battle strewn across the field of combat as it withdrew into the heart of the colony.

19th September 90. V491 Persei.
14:45. The invasion was delayed by the confusion in orbit as three divisions of the Army of the Star Union marshalled themselves for the assault on the planet. But finally all was ready. At the appointed hour the Super Scouts Challenger and Surveyor, jump ships Discovery and Eclipse, jump destroyer Midkemia, Argon MkVC3 escorts Hydrogen and Ruthenium, Argon MkVB2 escorts Hafnium, Strontium and Zirconium and Argon Mk VI escorts Terbium and Thallium opened fire with a mix of advanced 20cm and 15cm X-ray lasers.
The Invisible beams of the X-ray lasers descended on the planet, becoming visible as they superheated the air then flashed any moisture into instant steam; their passage was marked by shattered buildings, stores, vehicles and men. There was no defence against the terrible beams as they strode about the landscape leaving molten rock in their wake scoured clean of any military concentrations. The planet was dotted with vapour clouds above wherever the deadly beams struck, obscuring visible light wavelengths but having little effect on the X-ray lasers as they carved into the Hierarchy ground forces. Storm centres began to grow around the site of repeated multiple strikes, lightning flashed between the vapour clouds and the ground.
The 9th and 14th Marine Divisions began their mad drop in their assault shuttles to secure the landing zone through the disturbed atmosphere, while the lighters bearing the continental siege units of the 5th Leviathan Division followed at a slightly more sedate pace. It was a complex orbital dance as the assaulting marines cocooned in their assault shuttles moved behind and around the deadly beams.  As the shuttles entered the atmosphere they were buffeted by the storm winds created by the lasers. It was dawn at the chosen landing site and the shuttles swooped low over the empty wilderness before setting down. Marines piled out to secure the drop zone perimeter. 
In less than five minutes, before more than the advance guard of marines had set foot on planet anything that looked remotely like a military installation had been vaporised. Some hours into the unloading of the Union Marine divisions the 4th Sky & Light made orbit and began disembarkation.

20th September 90. V491 Persei.
Commodore Leonard for the first time took to his bunk instead of catnapping in his command couch but he wasn’t destined to get full night’s sleep. Just before 05:00 hours his flag lieutenant woke him with the news that the group of five Dauntless class warships were approaching the fleet once more.  Leonard dressed quickly throwing on yesterdays uniform and unshaven, headed for the command deck. He observed the situation for half an hour then opened a channel to Squadron Leader Jennings, Senior Officer of Task Force7, with a request to engage the enemy formation at his earliest convenience as Task Force 3 had empty magazines.

21st September 90. V491 Persei.
07:15. The five Dauntless class vessels were still heading for Lleida and the combined Task Forces.
09:16. As the five Hierarchy vessels entered the engagement envelope of the Union fleet Squadron Leader Jennings ordered his missile cruisers to engage the enemy using fire plan gamma (which was each cruiser would fire a single salvo and await instructions before further missile launches). 
09:48. Jennings observed the results of the first wave for a few minutes as miniature suns burned themselves out in fractions of a second. All the Hierarchy vessels were trailing plumes of frozen gases and debris, but none had been destroyed, however they were at least temporarily halted. Jennings reviewed the situation an hour later. The Hierarchy vessels had apparently made their repairs and were once more proceeded in. Jennings opened his intership comms “Repeat fire plan gamma, execute.”
11:41. The wave of Firestars smashed into the Dauntless class cruisers, a thermonuclear firestorm enveloped the squadron, temporarily blinding sensors. When it cleared the little flotilla had been utterly annihilated.
Task Force 3 sallied forth to recovered survivors and obtained geological survey data for the V491 Persei , Gliese 106 and Tau-6 Eridani systems, knowledge of the previously unknown system of Gliese 181, and technical data on the Terrible A/S missile.
06:08. Two Liberator class orbital forts presumably abandoned by their tugs and left adrift in space refused to surrender. Task Force 7 reduced them in short order.
Stellar Ferry arrived with a hold full of Firestar IVs to replenish Task Force 3. As soon as Task Force 3 was rearmed it set out to recover survivors of the two misplaced orbital forts and chase down Lucehulk 002.
 

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Terrible Anti-ship Missile
Missile Size: 5 MSP       Warhead: 14    Armour: 0     
Manoeuvre Rating: 10      Speed: 31700 km/s    Endurance: 14 minutes   Range: 27m km
Cost Per Missile: 6.14
NSV 14784.
An espionage team on NSV 14784-A III obtained gravitational survey data on the V491 Persei system.

24th September 90. V491 Persei.
 05:41. Commodore Leonard was woken early once more with the welcome news that Lleida-V491 Persei-B II had capitulated and Union forces were now in control of the world.  Reparations to the value of 408 shillings had been offered and accepted and technical details of Far X-Ray Laser, 40cm Laser Focal aperture, Reduced-size Laser 0.5 Size / 20x Recharge, Size 24 mine and Herev Anti-ship Missile had been disclosed. The merchant marine refused to kowtow to the Union and was prepared to sit it out until liberated. Union Intelligence believed there may be significant out system colonies. The occupying ground forces also received the distinct impression that there were several undiscovered Hierarchy colonies out there somewhere which the general populous believed would relieve the planet someday. It was revealed that the Hierarchy had indeed been in the grip of a TN mineral crash, neutronium and gallicite being the elements it was principally lacking for its war machine, restricting both warship and missile production.

Commodore Leonard and the Survey Task Group commanders present in system decided to follow the path of least resistance in trying to trace Hierarchy hold out colonies by following leads were there were already open jump portals, leaving closed jump points for the second round of exploration.

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Herev Anti-ship Missile:
 Size 5, Speed 23500 km/s, Warhead 10, Range 80.041m km
Missile Size: 5 MSP       Warhead 10,     Armour: 0     
Manoeuvre Rating: 10     Speed: 23,500 km/s    Endurance: 56.2 minutes   Range 80.041m km   
Chance to Hit: 3k km/s 78%   5k km/s 47%   10k km/s 23%
Cost Per Missile: 4.4595
NSV 14784.
The Union assault brigades pressed their attack and completely destroyed a second Hierarchy battalion and another lost more than a quarter of its strength as it tried unsuccessfully to relieve the first battalion. The Union brigades suffered not a scratch in return. The writing was on the wall but the Hierarchy troops were determined to doggedly hang on for as long as possible, as though they expected to be relieved sometime soon.

26th September 90. V491 Persei.
Task Force 3 recovered survivors from the shattered orbital forts left out of position. Those rescued provided data on the Akshay class jump escort cruiser.

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Akshay class Jump Escort Cruiser    14,900 tons     1673 Crew     6029 BP      TCS 298  TH 1200  EM 0
4026 km/s     Armour 2-53     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 8     PPV 93.84
Maint Life 3.37 Years     MSP 2023    AFR 222%    IFR 3.1%    1YR 270    5YR 4052    Max Repair 288 MSP

Ion Engine E8 (20)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres    Range 60.4 billion km   (173 days at full power)

Twin 10cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser Turret (12x2)    Range 120,000km     TS: 32000 km/s     Power 6-20     RM 8    ROF 5        3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2
Fire Control S04 60-32000 (2)    Max Range: 120,000 km   TS: 32000 km/s     92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (54)     Total Power Output 243    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Holon Anti-missile Missile (0)  Speed: 35,100 km/s   End: 9.6m    Range: 20.3m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 351 / 210 / 105

Active Search Sensor MR17-R1 (1)     GPS 288     Range 17.3m km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1-6 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km

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 Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
29th September 90. NSV 14784.
The fighting was confined to the inner colony and by now the Hierarchy troops were suffering from casualties and a shortage of ammunition. The Union assault brigades took down the outer defences to the Governor’s mansion, destroying one garrison battalion completely, leaving only the Governor’s mansion itself to be subdued.

3rd October 90. NSV 14784.
The final Hierarchy battalion took their besiegers by surprise and broke out overnight, losing a tenth of their number in the attempt. But the rest scattered successfully in to the ruin that was now all that remained of the colony.

8th October 90. NSV 14842-A III.
There was a frantic pursuit of the remnants of the remaining Hierarchy battalion through the ruins of the colony and out into the wilds beyond before effective resistance was ended on the planet.

13th October 90. NSV 14784.
The Hierarchy colony formally surrendered to Union forces. It was difficult to find an officer to represent the colony, but eventually a major was located amongst the prisoners and persuaded to take part in the ceremony. This was indeed a ghost colony, no population present, just a little infrastructure.

20th October 90. Menkalinan.
Union ground forces landed on Menkalinan Comet #1 and the attack on the Hierarchy mining colony begun.

28th October 90. V491 Persei.
Communications was established with the House of Togwotee, the inhabitants of V491 Peresei-B III.

End of Part Eleven.

[Beersatron]

Yet another fantastic read!

What were the stats of the Hierarchy's homeworld?

[IanD (OP)]

Yet another fantastic read!

What were the stats of the Hierarchy's homeworld?

Thanks for your kind words.

Lleida Hierarchy Home world as of March 94, three-and-a-half years after conquest
Population. 4135 million
Annual Wealth: 137195 (as a Candidate Population, 80% of actual)
Military Academy: Level 9
Deep Space Tracking Stations: Level 14 (originally 19)
Maintenance Facility Max ship size: 40,800 tons
Mass Driver: 5000 tons per Year
Shipyards/slipways: originally 24/75, three yards now moved to Xi Pegasi. (Commercial 90k to 160k, Naval 7k to 24k)
Maintenance facilities: 204
Construction Facilities: 2138
Ordnance Facilities: 540
Fuel Refineries: 1482
Mines: 3322
Automated Mines: 260
Mass Drivers: 1
Research Labs: 74
Ground Force Training Facilities: 24


Automated Mines are misleading, I have been building them to deploy off world, there were only approximately 75 when I captured the planet. I found another 386 in various out system colonies and probably destroyed at least that again in invading half-a-dozen colonies from which I recovered the odd mass driver, DSTS or nothing, but were prime mining colony sites.
Like the Adelsoni (Woolley 9833) they will not be allowed off planet and will forfeit their research facilities, as soon as I have sufficient lift capacity to move them, same for their ordnance facilities, but I still haven’t moved all the ordnance facilities off Adelson! I am refitting the Hierarchy freighters with new engines as it’s quicker than building new freighters. But that has to be done at Xi Pegasi, due to the shortage of gallicite in V491 Persei. I am also repatriating a few million out system colonists.

The Hierarchy was suffering a neutronium crunch, probably because all but three of their shipyards were adding new slipways.  They were also very short of gallicite and could not manufacture missiles fast enough to equip their surviving fleet. This was not withstanding the fact there was half-a-million tons of neutronium (0.7 accessibility) on V491 Persei-A II and 50,000 tons of gallicite on Comet #5 which they hadn’t touched. To be fair their mining colony in Algol had 300,000 tons of 1.0 accessibility gallicite that appeared to be shipped to the home planet, but it was two jumps out and home world stocks of gallicite were a couple of thousand tons or less.

Ian