11th January 2055. Gliese 526.
The EDA Resource Commission reported the Sam Peacock geological survey team has found a new deposit of 100,000 tonnes (0.1) of Uridium on New Arabia. The planet is proving to have considerably more mineral deposits than indicated by the orbital survey, although most are at low accessibilities.

Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 86 civilian mining complexes.

16th January 2055. Gliese 526
The Ice sheet on New Arabia has melted increasing the temperature to -26.2^oC.

Sol.
The Maggart Corporation purchased a new port class freighter for its lucrative freight operations.

21January 2055. Sol
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 97 civilian mining complexes.

26th January 2055. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 98 civilian mining complexes.

27th January 2055. Wolf 1061.
Gravitational Survey Squadron 2 reported the finding of a New jump point in Wolf 1061 to Captain Vessell in the Téméraire.

3rd February 2055. Sol.
After several delays due to the Gallicite shortage the General Dynamics ‘Yard completed the final five Charles Upham Assault Transports, the Louis Cukela, Netrabahadur Thapa, John H. Pruitt, Robert Henry Cain and Ganju Lama. These vessels will form Assault Transport Group 2.

Ryzkhov Shipping Company added a new Port class freighter to its fleet. This is only its second freighter.

10th February 2055. Wolf 1061.
Gravitational Survey Squadron 2 reported finding a third jump point in Wolf 1061 to Battle Group Téméraire.

Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 87 civilian mining complexes.

19th February 2055. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 88 civilian mining complexes.

27th February 2055. Sol.
The Emily Davey energy weapons research group completed theoretical work on a 30cm focal aperture laser.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 99 civilian mining complexes.

29th February 2055. Wolf 1061
Fourth jump point found in Wolf 1061. Gravitational survey completed, Wolf 1061 has a total of four jump points.

30th February 2055. V1581 Cygni.
A new alien ship emerged from wormhole and avoided the 2nd Flotilla laying in wait; unfortunately it was closing on the Leif Ericsson when detected. It was given the reporting code name of the Rakshasa class and it had a thermal signature of 12800! The Ericsson retired to Sol, losing contact with the alien vessel. The 1st and 3rd flotillas were summonsed from Titan in case the Invader ship transited the jump point into Sol; there was no chance of the obsolete 2nd Flotilla catching it.
The 1st Flotilla consists of thirty Bird class FAC, each armed with ten of the Intruder Hammer size 5 missiles. 3rd Flotilla consists of twenty-four Gomati Mk IV missile boats each equipped with 37 SIM-21 Longbow missiles.

2nd March 2055. Wolf 1061.
While the Battle Group waited for the geological survey squadron to complete their task Captain Vessell decided there was no point in waiting, he would probe the three newly discovered jump points.
Battle Group Téméraire transited the first new JP out of Wolf 1061. Once sensors had stabilised, GJ 1156, an M5-V red dwarf was revealed. GJ1156 was 21.3 light-years from Earth, and also known as GL Virginis. The Star was surrounded by a host of asteroids and a couple of planets that might make terraformer targets, one with a colony cost of 2.47, the other with a cost of 6.44 with significant fluorine in the atmosphere

Sol.
The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed the CG Zhengzhou. The Gallicite Crisis is precluding laying down any further cruisers.

7th March 2055. V1581 Cygni.
1st and 3rd Flotillas entered V1581 Cygni, but there was nothing in range of their relatively short ranged (100 million kilometre) sensors. The Leif Ericsson then transited into V1581, and it too could not detect the alien vessel. There was nothing in range of her sensor that would pick up a 3,500 tonne vessel within a radius of over 4 billion kilometres! Contact with the alien ship was well and truly lost! The 2nd Flotilla had remained on station all this time with an active if short-ranged sensor but saw nothing throughout. The implication is clear the Aliens can have gone only two places, back through the wormhole or through Jump point 1. Since the 2nd Flotilla monitoring the wormhole did not see it retreat then it had most probably passed into the next system. The Admiralty began to consider an expedition into that system. 

Sol.
The Dai Yong Ju sensor research group completed research on extending the range of beam fire controls to 60,000 kilometres.

8th March 2055. Luyten Palomar-914-54-A.
Battle Group Téméraire emerged from Wolf 1061s second jump point into the vicinity of a cool red dwarf of magnitude M8V identified from its spectral characteristics as Luyten Palomar-914-54-A, which is 20.3 light-years from Sol. Some six planets, three-dozen or so moons and hundreds of asteroids orbited the star.  No alien ships or presence was detected.

12th March 2055. Sol.
The scrapping of the Alaska, Alabama, Montana and Ohio was completed at the Howakistwerke Naval ‘Yard.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 100 civilian mining complexes.

13th March 2055. 70 Ophiuchi
After the transit of the last unexplored jump point in Wolf 1061, Battle Group Téméraire found themselves in the double star system 70 Ophiuchi. 70 Ophiuchi is a binary star system located 16.6 light years from Earth. It is in the constellation Ophiuchus. The primary star is a yellow-orange main sequence dwarf BY Draconis variable of spectral type K1V, and the secondary star is an orange main sequence dwarf of spectral type K5V. The two stars orbit each other at an average distance of 23.2 AUs. The two stars have some eight planets, dozens of moons and a scattering of asteroids associated with them arranged in two planetary systems. Having explored three jump points and found three quite extensive solar systems Captain Vessell was compelled to release the Jump Cruiser Gilgamesh to return ask for more geological survey vessels to catalogue the planets in these systems. He counted on the greed of the politicians, so much potentially valuable real estate and a planet with a colony cost of 1.8, to release the idle geological survey squadrons. He would not be disappointed. The sensor tech on the fleet scout Observer failed to notice that a proportion of the 70 Ophiuchi-A system was just outside the range of the scout’s main MR4032-R70 sensor.

16th March 2055. Sol.
Rear Admiral Kuznetsov aboard the EDAV Foudroyant, senior officer of Battle Group Foudroyant received orders to investigate Jump point 1 in V1581, Geological Survey Squadron 1 and Gravitational Survey Squadron 1 to accompany the Battle Group.
Battle Group Foudroyant consisted of the CVs Foudroyant and Formidable, the CGs Essex, Kent, Crimea, Flanders and Devonshire, the CLEs Mount Rainier, Mount Rushmore, Ural, Rockies and Pyrenees, the fleet scout Sentinel, the AEs Right Whale and Humpback Whale and the AO/Ks Star Cluster and Star Race.

17th March 2055. Gliese 526.
The EDA Resource Commission the Sam Peacock geology survey team have made an astounding discovery of an undiscovered deposit of 100,000 tonnes of Gallicite, with an accessibility of 0.8 on New Arabia, increasing the importance of the colony dramatically.

22nd March 2055. V1581 Cygni.
As Battle Group Foudroyant moved towards the unexplored jump point 1, 285.6 million kilometres from Jump point 2 there was a sudden contact at the limit of detection of the MR4032-R70 sensor on the jump cruiser Hector. It appeared that the alien vessel had not moved out of the system after all but was lurking in the outer fringes of V1581 Cygni. The size of the vessel was an intimidating 64,000 tonnes, a veritable dreadnought. The Battle Groups tankers were detached. The Battle Group changed course to intercept the alien vessel.

24th March 2055. Sol.
Fleet HQ received the communication from Battle Group Téméraire. The discovery of 70 Ophiuchi was welcomed by the EDA Security Council. Deputy Director Digman wanted to reinforce the survey groups attached to Battle Group Téméraire immediately. It took some effort by Admiral Bogdanov to keep the expedition out of V1581 intact and on course and not recalled, but he had to send another jump cruiser and Geological survey Squadron 2 to assist the survey effort in 70 Ophiuchi.

26th March 2055. V1581 Cygni.
An active sensor was briefly detected emanating from the Invader vessel; it appeared to be an MR576-R100 search sensor.

28th March 2055. V1581 Cygni.
Battle Group Foudroyant was now 1356 million kilometres from the large alien ship Rear Admiral Kuznetsov was concerned at going closer since he had no real idea of its abilities. But he felt he had no choice but to press on, the radius of action of his Strike Wing was only 350 million kilometres.

30th March 2055. V1581 Cygni.
A thermal emission of 12800 was detected from the alien Rakashasa 001 dreadnought.

1st April 2055. V1581 Cygni.
Rear Admiral Kuznetsov had decided to make his first and hopefully only attack a purely strike fighter affair, holding back his cruisers in case they were required to cover his back should he need to retire. At 21:43 the Battle Group reached its launch position, 200 million kilometres from the alien dreadnought, the two squadrons launched towards the enemy as a single fighter wing. By 00:43 on the 2nd April, the Strike Group was passing the 100 million kilometres from target. Just over two hours later at 02:53 the fighters were 15 million kilometres from the alien, two of the E-2 Sentinels illuminated the target (although they were redundant due to the illumination provided by the fleet scout Sentinel) and the combined squadrons launched their birds. Or at least they tried to; the target ECM was so strong that they would now have to close to 8.29 million kilometres. There was no response from the alien ship; it was dead in space, asleep. At 03:20:46 the strike fighters had closed to 8.2 million kilometres, leaving the sensor craft behind, and opened fire, 23 fighters managed a synchronous launch of 161 Star Flash 7 AS missiles, leaving 13 to launch a second salvo of 91 missiles five seconds later. At 03:05:31 18 missiles were ripped out of space, the remaining 143 Star Flash missiles rent the space around the alien vessel, a nuclear inferno enveloped the ship, towards the end of the conflagration atmosphere was detected leaking from the alien dreadnought, the thermal signature dipped to 12480. As the second salvo screamed in 28 missiles were torn out of space, only 63 remained to impact the dreadnoughts shield, it leaked a little more atmosphere but there were no other visible signs of damage, the vessel had strength 50 shields seconds after the attack and its armour had been demonstrated to be in excess of level 3. It had been caught unawares, the Admiral had caught a tiger by the tail and now the tiger was awake and angry and looking for revenge! As the Typhoons leap away from the alien dreadnought it reached out and plucked a fighter out of space using some sort plasma torpedo in salvos of fifteen, strength 32, and began to pursue the fighters at 9500 k/s. The lost Typhoon belonged to the Fighter Wing Commander, Rear Admiral Thurman Gregson. Three minutes later another fighter fell to this alien avenging angel. Eight Typhoons in all fell to the dreadnought, it was perhaps fortunate that the ship did not possess functional multiplex tracking, or the entire wing would have been destroyed. At 03:35:31 the first of the slower E-2 Sentinels was destroyed. At 03:45 the last Sentinel was blown apart, but the Typhoons seemed to have moved out of range. It would take 22.5 minutes to rearm the Typhoons once they were back aboard the carriers, minutes the Battle Group might not be allowed.

At 08:05:51. The alien dreadnought increased its speed from 9500 to 9624 k/s as damage was repaired.  As the range wound down Rear Admiral Kuznetsov was sorely regretting his decision not to add the missile cruisers firepower to the fighters. It was beginning to look unlikely the fleet could survive the 22.5 minutes required to rearm the fighters. Rear Admiral Kuznetsov ordered the Battle Group to head towards the Sol jump point at the Groups maximum speed of 5000 k/s. At 08:22 the remaining fighters were recovered, with only 19% fuel remaining, the alien dreadnought was just 115.1 million kilometres distant and travelling at almost twice the velocity of Battle Group Foudroyant. Rear Admiral Kuznetsov released the CJ Hector and fleet scout Sentinel since they were faster than his carriers and might just escape, however he retained the Grey Whale and Humpback Whale so as to have access to their missile stocks.  At 08:36 the alien revealed another search sensor, estimated as an MR12-R4, the fighters would have to run the gamut of alien fire before they would be in a position to launch. The minutes dragged on, Kuznetsov had made his decision to combine the fire of the cruisers with that of the fighters, success would depend on how many fighters survived counter-fire before loosing their missiles and not allowing the cruisers to open fire too soon. Perhaps the Longbows would distract the alien from the fighters? His staff on the flag bridge were white and sweating, most believed their last minutes were ebbing away, and they might yet be right. It was 08:45, the fighters had rearmed; Kuznetsov had another throw of the dice. He waited as the range wound down. The alien dreadnought passed the 95 million kilometre mark, Kuznetsov ordered a test firing, to check the effect of the alien ECM. Five seconds after the order went out the CG Crimea reported that the maximum engagement range was reduced to 82.9 million kilometres. At 10:26 with the range down to 80 million kilometres, Kuznetsov launched his 28 remaining fighters.

At 11:06 the missile cruisers opened fire. The fighter group held its position 28 million kilometres ahead of the alien waiting for the cruisers missiles to stream past them. At 11:10 the missile cruisers magazines ran dry, then the Whale class munitions ships flanked by two or three Province class missile cruisers struggled against time to transfer the last five salvos per vessel to the cruisers. In record time the transfer was accomplished and the magazine transfer system within the cruisers rumbled into life once more, the launchers spitting defiance against their foe.  At 11:31 the first Typhoon exploded some 20 million kilometres from its target, at 11:34 the second Typhoon was obliterated by the impact of a plasma torpedo. The fighters’ missile fire control was still jammed as they charged into the teeth of the enemy fire. The first 50 longbows hit, 30 were blasted to atoms thousands of kilometres short of the alien vessel, one missed only 19 managed to detonate on target. Thirty seconds later the second salvo hit, losing another 30 missiles, but none missed 20 impacting the alien’s shield. Every thirty seconds thereafter fifty Longbow missiles attacked the dreadnought. The third salvo suffered the same fate as the second, fourth salvo again lost 30 missiles to the devastatingly effective Invader anti-missile fire, one missed, 19 hit, another Typhoon was blown away at 11:36, they were still 8.4 million kilometres from their target, their release point was another 200,000 kilometres further into the Invader’s engagement envelope. Then at 11:36:51 the Typhoons fire control squawked lock-on and the remaining 25 typhoons volleyed their missiles at the relentless enemy. All this time the Longbow salvos were continuing to impact the dreadnought, every salvo losing 30 of its number to defensive counter fire, only occasionally would a missile miss of the remaining twenty. On the twelfth salvo the targets thermal signature changed, there was a strength 20 secondary explosion, penetration had been achieved and the Star Flash had still to reach the target! Of the 175 Star Flash missiles that rained in on the alien 35 were intercepted, 91 hit, there was a strength 606 secondary explosion. When the nuclear fires abated there was the drifting wreck of the alien dreadnought. 49 Star Flash were still looking for a target and hundreds of Longbows were still inbound. There were once again no life pods from the great alien ship.
On Rear Admiral Kuznetsov’s flag bridge cheers rang out, all realising how close a call they had just had. While successful, Battle Group Foudroyant was a spent force, losing 30% of its fighter force, and having expended its entire complement of Longbow missiles. Rear Admiral Kuznetsov ordered the Battle Group to reassemble and recover the life pods from the destroyed Typhoons. The Battle Group would then lay in a course for the Sol jump point and return to Sol to rearm.

After battle analysis showed that the Alien dreadnought eliminated all the top brass of the fighter wing. The fighter of Rear Admiral Gregson already mentioned, plus those of five Commodores and two Captains were the first destroyed after the first attack, the Rear Admiral, two Commodores and a Captain were killed outright. In the second attack three fighters belonging to three Captains were hit, two of the Captains killed. Captain Xie Li Cui was the senior surviving officer of the Wing who participated in both actions. The dead officers were all posthumously awarded gallantry medals.

 

5th July 2050. V1581 Cygni
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A I: Duranium 2,986,568 (0.4),  Neutronium 7,689,529 (0.7), Corbomite 8,767,521(1), Mercassium 4,879,681 (0.1), Vendarite 6,682,225 (0.1), Sorium 1,493,284 (0.6), Uridium 141,376 (0.1) and Corundium 5,973,136 (0.1).
V1581 Cygni-A III – moon 3: Duranium 1 (0.1) and, Uridium 4 (1).

The EDA Resource Commission welcomed the report that vast new mineral deposits have been discovered in the system of V1581 Cygni, although most had low accessibility.

Sol.
Olympus Mons ‘Yard completed retooling for the Province Mk II CGs, Normandy, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Queensland and Victoria were laid down.

9th July 2050. V1581 Cygni.
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A VII – moon 14: Tritanium 1,681 (1)

07:52:36 Sol Jump Point, V1581 Cygni.
One of the alien vessels approached the Leif Ericsson’s position. The jump cruiser was now supported by both the 2nd and 3rd Flotillas, some 44 missile boats in total. The alien survey ship drew close to the EDA squadrons, appeared to single out the Leif Ericsson and made a deliberate attempt to ram her. Fortunately the drives on the Ericsson were hot and she easily avoided her assailant. The half of the 2nd Flotilla on watch at that time immediately launched their missiles at the alien vessel. The Ericsson was their only way home, no alien was going to mess with her and get away with it. The Bowfin, Barracuda, Batfish, Billfish, Catfish Cod, Conger, Cuttlefish, Darter and Devilfish opened fire immediately, 230 of the old SIM-5 Phoenix missiles (Warhead strength 10) bore in at the alien ship at just over 40,000 k/s. The Ericsson attempted to transit into Sol as a way to preserve the ship, Earth’s sole jump cruiser until the Magellan is completed.

07:52:14 Sol.
The Leif Ericsson successfully transited into Sol, escaping her attacker and made her report.

07:52:51 V1581 Cygni.
Missiles intercepted their target, some type of point defence fire destroyed 13, 45 hit, space boiling in the conflagration but ship was still there still there! The ship’s shield went through all the colours of the rainbow then turned black. More missiles detonated, an internal energy source blew and there was a flare just visible through the vessel’s shield, which abruptly vanished to reveal a radioactive wreck. No life pods were detected.
The Ericsson opened a portal, and after exchanging messages transited back into V1581 Cygni. The ten ships that fired on the alien returned to Titan to rearm, the remainder of the 2nd squadron was released to go alien hunting. The 3rd Flotilla was to stay on the jump point with orders to destroy any alien ship that approaches.

11th July 2050. V1581 Cygni.
A second alien ship approached an EDA gravitational survey vessel apparently to survey the same location, but its first action was to attempt to ram the George Ogden Abell, but again was unsuccessful, as the Abell was considerably faster than her attacker. However it did prove the first attempt was no accident and the aliens were actively hostile, even if it should cost them their own existence! There was already speculation within the fleet that due to the lack of life pods and the ramming attack that, like the Intruder vessels, they may be automated probes.

Sol.
The EDA Security Council convened an emergency meeting in the light of the alien attacks in V1581 Cygni. The evidence was examined and the conclusion drawn that the attacks were unprovoked and the aliens are hostile and thus the EDA should consider itself at war.  The decision to refit the troop transports will be allowed to stand but an upgrading of the colony and freighter fleet has been put on indefinite hold. The Star Gate project was a priority to allow the passage of carrier Battle Groups into other systems. A beam-armed vessel is to be looked at with some urgency. Mariner Shipbuilding would be contracted to build a new class of fast attack craft utilising the SIM-1 Longbow missiles, Earth offensive PDCs will be upgraded as time allows and new long-range missiles developed for them. The order to scrap the Gomati Mk II amd Mk III missile boats was rescinded and they will now remain in service as long as there are missiles with which to arm them. No new production of Phoenix missiles was authorised since they are considered obsolete.

The big concern was the alien’s mode of arrival in V1581 Cygni, via an artificial stable wormhole, which would appear to indicate that the aliens had access to technology considerably more advanced than the EDA’s. The velocity of the alien survey vessels at 8000 k/s was also considerably greater than the new Navy standard of 6400 k/s. The wormholes also means there would be no fronts in this war, the aliens could appear anywhere, even in Sol System itself! Work was to proceed on a jump cruiser capable of escorting vessels the size of an Illustrious class CV through a jump point.  The lack of this ability is hampering activities in V1581 Cygni as the EDA’s only jump cruiser was presently required to provide sensor cover in V1581 Cygni. With two more alien jump engines in storage on Earth, two more explorer class jump cruisers using the alien jump engines were authorised.

Professor Segovia gave evidence to the meeting and discussed the stable wormhole. In her opinion as the Earth’s foremost authority on gravity anomalies (or jump points) and jump engines, she noted that the energy required to open and maintain such a wormhole must be absolutely prodigious. This coupled with the fact that these invaders were carrying out a gravitational survey, it follows that if it was an inexpensive technology to operate they would always travel via wormhole and not bother with the normal jump points and thus would not bother with a survey.  The fact they do strongly suggests that the other end of the wormhole is a very great distance away. Again in her opinion it would only make sense to expend so much energy if the other end of the wormhole was somewhere extremely far away such as in another galaxy. Therefore in her opinion the aliens are most likely intergalactic invaders.

Professor Segovia’s remark calling the aliens invaders lead to the popular press designating them “The Invaders”, and thus they became to differentiate them from the Intruders of two-and-a-half decades ago. A new order to re-equip many of the older Illustrious class carriers and the original Forrestal class with the new Vengeance A3B fighter was placed, with the obsolete fighters to be based at planetary astrodromes and thus bolster planetary defences.  The production run intended for the new fast carrier group was diverted to the Illustrious Battle Group. The only fighter to be retained in a carrier borne role other than the A3B was the Typhoon F1 on the grounds of its missile load. The BEA Systems ‘Yard, the EDA’s principal carrier ‘Yard was to be expanded.
It was also decided to establish extra solar colonies as soon as possible to share the eggs around, should the worst come to the worst. A geological survey of Beta Canum should be completed as soon as possible. It was deemed so essential that a new squadron of geological survey vessels was authorised for this very task. When the meeting finally broke up the EDA was effectively put on a war footing.

Star Express, Star Knight, Star Alliance and Star Shadow were laid down at the Yokahama Dock Co. ‘Yard to provide support for the existing and future improved Forrestal fast carrier battle groups.

Mariner Ship Building began construction of the Mod 1 geological survey vessels Tanya Atwater, Scipione Breislak, Christian von Buch, Petr Cerný, Edward Drinker Cope, Waldemar Lindgren, Li Shizhen, Roger G. Walker, George Gaylord Simpson, Nicholas Shackleton.

Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding ‘Yard started construction of the Explorer class jump cruisers John Cabot and Pedro Alvares Cabral.

Mariner Ship Building ‘Yard began to retool for a new Patrol Vessel FAC. The design is not optimum using off the shelf components and does not really utilise the range of the SIM-1 Longbow. However, the Patrol Vessels would have twice the observed speed of the alien probes.

Patrol Vessel class Fast Attack Craft    1000 tons     56 Crew     345.4 BP      TCS 20  TH 112  EM 0
16000 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 9.6
Annual Failure Rate: 10%    IFR: 0.1%    Maint Capacity 162 MSP    Max Repair 140 MSP    Est Time: 4.17 Years
Magazine 64    

GB Inertial Confinement Fusion Drive E50 (1)    Power 320    Fuel Use 500%    Signature 112    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 85,000 Litres    Range 30.6 billion km   (22 days at full power)

Size 4 Box Launcher (16)    Missile Size 4    Hangar Reload 30 minutes    MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC55-R20 (1)     Range 55.3m km    Resolution 20
SIM-1 Longbow (16)  Speed: 31,200 km/s   End: 52.3m    Range: 97.9m km   WH: 9    Size: 4    TH: 270 / 162 / 81

Active Search Sensor MR61-R20 (1)     GPS 1920     Range 61.4m km    Resolution 20

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
18th July 2050. V1581 Cygni.
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A VII – moon 13: Corundium 176,144 (0.8 ).

09:27, 21st July 2050. V1581 Cygni.
The five ships of 1st Division 2nd Flotilla finally caught up with Orion #3 and salvoed their missiles at the enemy alien as it passed. They all launched within five seconds of receiving the order from Commander Lu, the Flotilla and Divisional Commander. The alien vessel code named Orion #3 changed course and charged down their throats, one minute later 12 missiles were destroyed by point defence fire, 28 missiles slammed into the alien vessel, causing massive damage, once again the aliens shield went through the colour spectrum before turning black and disappearing this time in an eye searing flash. Only 52 missiles were required to destroy the enemy vessel, the other three salvos were left orbiting aimlessly looking for a target lock. Once more there were no life pods.

Sol.
The Gandhari Jha Construction and Production research team completed design work on the SIM-3 Dart submuntion.  The SIM-3 Dart was intended for a space mine, but this work is now low priority and the missile effectively obsolete before its introduction in to service.

SIM-3 Dart Missile Size: 3 MSP  (0.15 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 40
Speed: 41700 km/s    Endurance: 5 minutes   Range: 12.0m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.27    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  270,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 5.3533
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1668%   3k km/s 520%   5k km/s 333.6%   10k km/s 166.8%
Materials Required:    2.25x Tritanium   0.27x Uridium   4.0733x Gallicite   Fuel x250

Development Cost for Project: 535RP
22nd July 2050. V1581 Cygni.
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A  Asteroid #122: Vendarite 207 (1).

23rd July 2050. V1581 Cygni.
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A  Asteroid #60: Sorium 615 (1) and Boronide 5,776 (1).

10:21, 25th July 2050. V1581 Cygni.
The Third Division, 2nd Flotilla finally caught up with their quarry, Orion #2. They closed within 6.06 million kilometres and loosed their missiles as the alien was in the act of surveying. Lieutenant Commander Dollinger, Divisional Commander, was gratified to see all five boats launch in a coordinated strike, all the training had paid off. As the missiles approached the alien ship it suddenly charged the missile boat division, a manoeuvre that was ultimately pointless. Only nine missiles were intercepted by the aliens point defence, 33 missiles caused a nuclear holocaust around it, the vessel’s shields flashed to black and vanished as the conflagration overloaded them and consumed the ship. The alien invaders in V1581 Cygni had for the moment at least been defeated. Yet again there were no life pods.

12th August 2050. V1581 Cygni.
The gravitational survey of V1581 has been completed. There were two jump points in the system. It is probable the aliens discovered both. It is not known whether they were able to transmit the knowledge to their base, but that possibility cannot be discounted.

17th August 2050. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 60 civilian mining complexes.

22nd August 2050. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 61 civilian mining complexes.

The Mao Wei Song industrial analysis research group has reorganised ship building methods and work flows, which has lead to an increase of 33.3% in the rate of shipbuilding.

25th September 2050. Sol.
The CG Northumberland left her construction bay at the Olympus Mons ‘Yard; she laid in a course to join Battle Group Forrestal. Construction of the CG Yucatan was started in the empty bay.

The Howakistwerke Naval ‘Yard began construction of the munitions supply vessels Pilot Whale and Sperm Whale for the second fast carrier group.

16th October 2050. Sol.
The Emily Davey energy weapons research group completed their project to develop soft X-ray lasers. This knowledge will form the basis of the armament for the Navy’s close action combatant.

Professor Segovia has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for the advancement of jump point theory and jump engine theory and application. She has also been awarded the medal for Services to Mankind, which is granted to those who through their endeavours achieve significant advancement for the Human Race by exploration or scientific research. Commander Atkinson was the first recipient of the award for captaining the first extra-solar expedition.

26th October 2050. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 62 civilian mining complexes.
 
16th December 2050. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 80 civilian mining complexes.

26th December.2050. Sol.
Battle Group Illustrious replaced its thirty-six Hurricane F2s and four Atlantique Sensor craft with forty A3B Vengeance strike fighters.
 

 
 
7th January 2051 V1581 Cygni.
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A Asteroid #272: Duranium 4,195 (1).

30th January 2051. Sol.
The Acharya Ghosh power systems research team completed work on designing an uprated capacitor intended for energy weapons. However, it still only managed to achieve a rate of fire of one shot every ten seconds with a prototype 20cm C8 soft X-ray laser. That was five seconds slower than hoped.

5th February 2051. V1581 Cygni.
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A Asteroid #13: Duranium 51,842 (1).

10th February 2051. V1581 Cygni.
Geological Survey Report.
V1581 Cygni-A Asteroid #104: Mercassium 2,725 (1).

Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 64 civilian mining complexes.

15th February 2051. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that all known deposits of Boronide have been exhausted on Mars, but the colony has some 280,000 tonnes in storage.

Mariner Ship Building ‘Yard finished building the first group of Geologist Mod 1 vessels just as survey in V1581 wrapped up and they are not required until the EDA returns to Beta Canum. The vessels completed were the Scipione Breislak, Christian von Buch, Nicholas Shackleton, Roger G. Walker and George Gaylord Simpson,

20th February 2051. Sol.
Mariner Ship Building completed the second group of Geologist Mod 1 vessels, the Tanya Atwater, Petr Cerný, Edward Drinker Cope, Waldemar Lindgren and Li Shizhen. This group plus the first five completed five days earlier will constitute Geological Survey Squadron 3. The construction of the first ten Patrol Vessels started.

29th February 2051. Sol.
The Dai Yong Ju sensor research group completed work on advanced geological sensors. This Group will now concentrate of improving Beam fire control range and tracking speed.

7th March 2051. Sol.
The EDA’s initial flirtation with the Stars drew to a close as the Leif Ericsson entered the Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding ‘Yard for a well-earned refit and overhaul. It will be December before the Ericsson completes her refit and February next year before the Magellan is completed.

Before the Leif Ericsson went for its refit it retrieved the tanker Plum Leaf and Geological Survey Squadron 1 from Gliese 526, which was now able to report the findings of the survey, the squadron having visited all 9 planets, 87 moons and 300 major asteroids in the system.

Gliese 526 Orbital Geological Survey Report.
Acquisition date:18th March 2050. Gliese 526-AIV Moon 27: Boronide 147,456 (0.9), Sorium 16,384 (0.9).
Acquisition date:18th March 2050. Gliese 526-AIV Moon 10: Vendarite 372 (1)
Acquisition date:18th April 2050. Gliese 526-AVI Moon 10: Duranium 986,608 (0.9), Tritanium 676 (1), Boronide 1,081,600 (0.8 )
Acquisition date: 23rd April 2050. Gliese 526-AIV Moon 8: Corundium 26,244 (0.9),
Acquisition date: 26th April 2050. Gliese 526-AIV Moon 6: Boronide 3,027,600 (0.5).
Acquisition date: 6th May 2050. Gliese 526-AIV Moon 9: Neutronium 36 (1).
Acquisition date: 8th June 2050. Gliese 526 Asteroid #290: Corbomite 2,460 (1), Gallicite 15,755 (0.9).
Acquisition date: 8th June 2050. Gliese 526 Asteroid #150: Duranium 832 (1), Tritanium 480 (1), Gallicite 253 (1).
Acquisition date: 9th June 2050. Gliese 526 Asteroid #199: Duranium 22 (1), Sorium 6 (1).
Acquisition date: 10th June 2050. Gliese 526 Asteroid #151: Uridium 49 (0.9).
Acquisition date: 11th June 2050. Gliese 526 Asteroid #186: Duranium 67 (1), Neutronium 5 (1), Boronide 144 (1).
Acquisition date: 15th June 2050. Gliese 526 Asteroid #65: Sorium 42,849 (1), Corundium 167,690 (0.9).
Acquisition date: 28th July 2050. Gliese 526-A Asteroid #292: Duranium 225,792 (0.9).
Acquisition date: 3rd August 2050. Gliese 526-A Asteroid #191: Duranium 2,178 (1), Vendarite 5,814 (1), Uridium 20,306 (1), Gallicite 11,990 (1).
Acquisition date: 7th September 2050. Gliese 526-A Asteroid #174: Boronide 4,516 (0.9), Tritanium 51,984 (0.9).

It is apparent from the report that Gliese 526 is relatively poor in TN minerals and may only be useful for mining selected bodies. Seven locations stand out. However, It did not escape the notice of the EDA Security Council that if Gliese 526-A II were terraformed it would be a good open internment camp for the EDA’s undesirables without much chance they could cause trouble later.  Of course a geological survey team may locate additional mineral deposits in the system.

24th March 2051. Sol.
The Maggart Corporation announce the acquisition of an Mk V Port class freighter to bolster it’s freighter fleet.

29th March 2051. Sol.
Yu Jian Qing sensor research group completed research that increased the maximum tracking time bonus v missiles to 40%.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 81 civilian mining complexes.

14th April 2051. Sol.
The Star Gate construction vessels Torii Gate, Sather Gate and Lion Gate have begun construction at the Deutsche Werfte commercial orbital ‘Yard.

The Olympus Mons ‘Yard completed a new construction bay and laid down the CG Surrey.

The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard also completed a new construction bay and started construction of the Annamite, a Mk II CLE.

4th May 2051. Sol.
The Shangri-La ‘Yard at Titan completed the first of the gravitational survey vessels, the Giorgio Abetti, Charles Greeley Abbot, Charles Hitchcock Adams, John Couch Adams and Walter Sydney Adams. The Agrippa, Eva Ahert-Rohlfs, Paul Oswald Ahert, Petrus Alphonsi and Saul Adelman have been laid down.

11th May 2051. Sol.
The Viktor Lenac ‘Yard completed the construction of the Perch, Cachalot, Narwhal, Permit, Pickeral, Tarpon Gomati Mk V missile boats They will now form the nascent 4th Flotilla. The construction of Plunger, Pollack, Pompano, Salmon, Seal and Skipjack were begun in the empty bays.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 65 civilian mining complexes.

21st May 2051. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 82 civilian mining complexes.

29th June 2051. Sol.
The first ten Patrol Vessels have been completed by the Mariner Ship Building ‘Yard.  They formed the 1st Patrol Group and are currently picketing jump point 3. The second patrol group has been laid down.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 83 civilian mining complexes.

14th July 2051. Sol.
Professor Gordon’s energy weapons research group completed work prototyping a 15cm C6 laser system. This weapon will form part of the armament of the close action combatant and turreted versions are now under development.

Professor Segovia completed work on the latest round of jump drive efficiencies and size reductions. This time the results are good, the size of the system is very close to the alien jump engines. An indigenous jump drive is to be developed.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 84 civilian mining complexes.

19th July 2051. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 66 civilian mining complexes.

12th August 2051. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 85 civilian mining complexes.

26th August 2051. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 68 civilian mining complexes.

1st September 2051. Sol.
Darr Trading has expanded its small freighter fleet in the hope that extra-solar contracts in the future will be sufficiently lucrative to justify the purchase.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 67 civilian mining complexes.

11th September 2051. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 69 civilian mining complexes.

16th September 2051. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard finished construction of the CLEs Zagros, Appalachian, Adamant Range and Cerros de Escazú. The ‘Yard laid down the Karakoram, Khibinsky, Akaishi, Owen Stanley and Berchtesgaden.

21st September 2051. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission announced that all known deposits of Tritanium on Mars had been exhausted. But the EDA holds sufficient stocks for now.

6th October 2051. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard completed construction of the CLEs Drakensberg and Prince Olav. The Sierra Madre and Sikhote-Alin were laid down in the vacated bays.

1st November 2051. Sol.
The BAE Systems ‘Yard finished building the improved Forrestal class CVs Eagle, Constellation, Kaga and Hornet.

Professor Segovia’s research group completed work on miniaturising a jump engine by 20%.

11th November 2051. Sol.
Professor Gordon’s energy weapons research group completed development work on a soft X-ray 25cm C8 laser system. The system falls short of the Navy’s requirement but may serve as an interim until a 30cm focal aperture laser is developed. Work is also scheduled to improve the capacitor to a C10, but this will take time.

16th November 2051. Sol.
The General Dynamics ‘Yard completed retooling for the Charles Upham class of Assault Transports. The Charles Upham, Noel Chavasse, Arthur Martin-Leake, Frank Baldwin and Smedley Butler were laid down.

Professor Segovia finished the design of the first indigenous jump engine which matches or even exceeds the performance of the alien units. The new jump engine is a J12500(4-250) unit which will make it possible for the Illustrious class CVs to operate outside Sol System.

21st November 2051. Sol.
The Northrop Grumman Naval ‘Yard completed the refit of the fleet scout Guardian. She joined Battle Group Constellation.

26th November 2051. Sol.
Balducci Colony Group commissioned a Port class freighter into its fleet. This is only its second freighter.

6th December 2051. Sol.
The Howakistwerke Naval ‘Yard finished building the munitions carriers (type designation AE), Sperm Whale and Pilot Whale.

11th December 2051. Sol.
The Yokahama Dock Co completed construction of the tanker/supply vessels Star Express, Star Alliance and Star Knight, The Star Flare and Star Field were laid down.

The CJ Leif Ericsson completed her refit. She was immediately given the mission to open a jump point into Beta Canum to allow the Third Geological Survey Squadron to carry out a survey.

16th December 2051. Sol.
Prof Segovia finished the design of a new J20000(4-250) jump engine intended for the jump cruisers that will escort the Forrestal class CVs beyond Sol. However, other details have yet to be worked out and the tenders are not expected to be placed for the vessels for at least two or three years.

27th December 2051. Sol.
The Astano ‘Yard completed the refit on the troop transports Wellington, Eisenhower and Guan Yu.

The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard completed a new construction bay and laid down the CLE.Jayawijaya.


 

7th January 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 70 civilian mining complexes.

12th January 2052. Sol
The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed a new construction bay and laid down the CG Sussex.

17th January 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 71 civilian mining complexes.

7th February 2052. Sol.
The Acharya Ghosh power systems research team completed research on an inertial confinement fusion drive for missiles. A new series of missiles will be designed once the Steven Letcher team completes work on improving missile agility.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 72 civilian mining complexes.

12th February 2052. Sol.
The Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding ‘Yard completed the CJ Ferdinand Magellan
The Yokahama Dock Co. completed the AO/K Star Shadow.
 
The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed construction of the CGs Victoria and Quebec. The Suffolk and Transvaal were laid down in their place.

The Ryzkhov Shipping Company acquired a Port class freighter to increase the frequency of their Titan freight service.

18th February 2052. HO Librae.
The CJ Ferdinand Magellan completed her transit of the fourth and final unexplored jump point  in Sol System to find herself in HO Librae, a dim M5-V red dwarf star around 20.4 light-years from Earth with a small planetary system surrounding it. There were no alien contacts. Gravitational and geological survey squadrons accompanied her and began their work as soon as the all clear was given.

22nd February 2052. HO Librae.
HO Librae Gravitational Survey report.
A new jump point has been discovered in HO Librae.

Sol.
The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed building the CGs Queensland, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Normandy. The ‘Yard is still working flat out and laid down the CGs Anhui, Hefei, Fujian and Fuzhou.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 73 civilian mining complexes.

7th March 2052. Sol.
The Dai Yong Ju sensor research group completed work on increasing beam fire control to 48,000 km.

12th March 2052. HO Librae.
Gravitational Survey report, HO Librae.
A second new jump point has been discovered in HO Librae

6th April 2052. Sol.
Professor Gordon’s energy weapons research group finished their work on prototyping the soft X-ray 15cm C6 laser triple turret.

A new shipping line, Norton Freight and Logistics has been listed on the stock exchange.

24th April 2052.  Sol.
The EDA Resource commission released the geological survey results from Beta Canum. It was obvious from the survey that there were millions of tonnes of readily available Neutronium, Uridium, Corundium and Gallicite, but it was the deposits of Duranium that stood out, a virtually inexhaustible supply at excellent availabilities, about 1.7 billion tonnes of it. The EDA Resource Commission confirmed there were plans to create several mining colonies in Beta Canum.

Beta Canum  Orbital Geological Survey Report.

Acquisition date: 27th December 2051. Beta Canum-A III: Duranium 9,469,951 (0.2), Neutronium 1,982,464 (0.2), Boronide 541,696 (0.1) Uridium 369,664 (0.1), Corundium 746,469 (1), Tritanium 5,607,424 (0.1).
Beta Canum-A III - moon 1: Neutronium 1 (1), Corbomite 44 (1), Vendarite 77 (1).
Acquisition date: 2nd January 2052. Beta Canum-A V: Duranium 12,350,450 (1), Neutronium 4,120,900 (0.7), Boronide 7,840,000 (0.1) Tritanium 8,850,625 (0.1), Uridium 4,264,225 (0.7), Corundium 746,469 (1), Gallicite 11,764,900 (0.1)
Acquisition date: 2nd January 2052 Beta Canum-A VII:  Mercassium 8,820,900 (0.1), Gallicite 32,148,900 (0.7)
Acquisition date: 2nd January 2052 Beta Canum-A XI: Gallicite 5,904,900 (0.1)
Acquisition date: 2nd January 2052 Beta Canum-A V moon I: Duranium 692 (1), Uridium 353 (1).
Acquisition date: 7th January 2052. Beta Canum-A II: Duranium 64,980,000 (0.7), Neutronium 10,240,000 (0.1), Corbomite 98,010,000 (0.4), Tritanium 24,010,000 (0.1), Boronide 37,210,000 (0.1) Mercassium 2,890,000 (0.1), Vendarite 360,000 (0.1), Corundium 20,250,000 (0.8 ).
Acquisition date: 7th January 2052. Beta Canum-A I: Duranium 90,316,800 (0.8 ), Corbomite 37,945,600 (0.4), Tritanium 61,465,600 (0.1), Boronide 2,822,400 (0.1), Mercassium 14,288,400 (0.1), Uridium 87,984,400 (0.4), Gallicite 15,366,400 (0.1)
Acquisition date: 7th January 2052. Beta Canum-AX: Duranium 1,361,250 (0.9), Vendarite 455,625 (0.6).
Acquisition date: 7th January 2052. Beta Canum-AX moon 9: Duranium 5,000 (1), Uridium 12 (1).
Acquisition date: 17th January 2052. Beta Canum-AXI moon 2: Corbomite 35,721(0.9)
Acquisition date: 27th January 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #69: Duranium 72 (1), Corbomite 18(1).
Acquisition date: 2nd February 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #72: Duranium 82 (1), Neutronium 1 (1).
Acquisition date: 12th February 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #206: Tritanium 2,621 (1), Boronide 538 (1).
Acquisition date: 22nd February 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #208: Neutronium 7,939 (1).
Acquisition date: 7th March 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #112: Neutronium 1,444 (1), Tritanium 9 (1), Sorium 812 (1).
Acquisition date: 19th March 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #53: Duranium 1,270 (1), Corundium 2,916 (1).
Acquisition date: 1st April 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #256: Tritanium 46,656 (0.9), Mercassium 2304 (0.9), Corundium 900 (0.9).
Acquisition date: 16th April 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #267: Uridium 6 (1), Corundium 17 (1).
Acquisition date: 19th April 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #179: Gallicite 86,436 (0.9), Corundium 19,881 (1).
Acquisition date: 24th April 2052. Beta Canum-A Asteroid #67: Gallicite 1 (1), Neutronium 7 (1).

The EDA Resource Commission reported that all known deposits of Boronide on Comet Burton have been exhausted.

The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed construction of the CG Yacatan.

The Viktor Lenac ‘Yard completed the construction of the Plunger, Pollack, Pompano, Salmon, Seal and Skipjack Gomati Mk V missile boats They will now join the 4th Flotilla. The construction of Snapper, Stingray, Sturgeon, Sargo, Saury and Spearfish was begun in the empty bays.

10th May 2052. Sol.
John Cabot and Pedro Alvares Cabral left the Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding ‘Yard. These are the final vessels of the class since they were dependant on the supply of alien jump engines. The John Cabot is to be kept in reserve while the Pedro Alvares Cabral is to return to V1581 Cygni and observe the alien wormhole.

The Steven Letcher missiles and kinetic weapons research team improved missile agility by 25% A new series of missiles has now been designed.

AMM-5 Spartan
Missile Size: 1 MSP  (0.05 HS)     Warhead: 1    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 69
Speed: 76000 km/s    Endurance: 1 minutes   Range: 6.2m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.036    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  36,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 3.0277
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 5244%   3k km/s 1725%   5k km/s 1048.8%   10k km/s 524.4%
Materials Required:    0.25x Tritanium   0.036x Uridium   2.4887x Gallicite   Fuel x42.5

Development Cost for Project: 303RP
Star Flash 8 AS
Missile Size: 3 MSP  (0.15 HS)     Warhead: 11    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 43
Speed: 58700 km/s    Endurance: 4 minutes   Range: 15.6m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.045    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  45,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 6.5533
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 2524.1%   3k km/s 817%   5k km/s 504.8%   10k km/s 252.4%
Materials Required:    2.75x Tritanium   0.045x Uridium   5.1633x Gallicite   Fuel x325

Development Cost for Project: 655RP
SIM-2 Longbow
Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 34
Speed: 40000 km/s    Endurance: 51 minutes   Range: 122.4m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.126    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  126,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 5.6427
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1360%   3k km/s 442%   5k km/s 272%   10k km/s 136%
Materials Required:    2.25x Tritanium   0.126x Uridium   4.8167x Gallicite   Fuel x3400

Development Cost for Project: 564RP
SIM-1 Odin
Missile Size: 15 MSP  (0.75 HS)     Warhead: 25    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 21
Speed: 64000 km/s    Endurance: 27 minutes   Range: 104.4m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 1.035    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  1,035,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 23.56
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1344%   3k km/s 441%   5k km/s 268.8%   10k km/s 134.4%
Materials Required:    6.25x Tritanium   1.035x Uridium   19.75x Gallicite   Fuel x10875

Development Cost for Project: 2356RP
24th May 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that all known deposits of Boronide on Iapetus have been exhausted.

4th June 2052. V1581 Cygni.
The CJ Pedro Alvares Cabral returned to V1581 Cygni. No alien ships appeared on sensors, but the wormhole had moved within the system, now 353 million km and 90^o from primary.

24th June 2052. Sol.
Darr Trading further enlarged its small freighter fleet, commissioning a new Port class freighter.

29th June 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 86 civilian mining complexes.

4th July 2052. Sol.
Professor Gordon’s energy weapons research group completed the prototype soft X-ray 15cm C6 laser twin turret.

14th July 2052. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard completed construction of the CLE Annamite, the CLE Strandzha was laid down.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that all known deposits of Uridium on Comet Burton have been exhausted.

7th August 2052. Sol.
The Yu Jian Qing sensor research group prototyped the new S12-192-15000 beam fire control system.

The Gandhari Jha missiles and kinetic weapons research team completed pre-production design work for the AMM-5 Spartan.

The star gate construction vessels Torii Gate, Sather Gate and Lion Gate have left the Deutsche Werfte commercial orbital ‘Yard were they were built enroute for their first assignment, construction of Star Gate pairs on the jump points for Beta Canum, Gliese 526 and HO Librae.

Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding ‘Yard began retooling for the Leander class CJ.

Leander class Jump Cruiser    12500 tons     1108 Crew     4891.9 BP      TCS 250  TH 616  EM 1920
7040 km/s    JR 4-250     Armour 7-47     Shields 64-300     Sensors 54/96/0/0     Damage Control Rating 24     PPV 40
Annual Failure Rate: 357%    IFR: 5%    Maint Capacity 1856 MSP    Max Repair 432 MSP    Est Time: 1.1 Years
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons    

J12500(4-250) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 12500 tons    Distance 250k km     Squadron Size 4
Rolls Royce Inertial Confinement Fusion Drive E5 (11)    Power 160    Fuel Use 50%    Signature 56    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 390,000 Litres    Range 112.3 billion km   (184 days at full power)
Theta R300/20 Shields (16)   Total Fuel Cost  320 Litres per day

Triple 15cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser Turret (2x3)    Range 360,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 18-18     RM 6    ROF 5        6 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 4 3
CIWS-160 (2x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 16000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S12 192-15000 (2)    Max Range: 384,000 km   TS: 15000 km/s     97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (15)     Total Power Output 36    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR614-R80 (1)     GPS 19200     Range 614.4m km    Resolution 80
Thermal Sensor TH3-54 (1)     Sensitivity 54     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  54m km
EM Detection Sensor EM3-96 (1)     Sensitivity 96     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  96m km

ECM 30

This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
19th August 2052. Sol.
Star Gates are now under construction at all jump points but that to V1581Cygni. The CJ Pedro Alvares Cabral is keeping that system under observation.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 74 civilian mining complexes.

23rd August 2052. V1581 Cygni.
CJ Pedro Alvares Cabral observed the wormhole in V1581 moving within the system. Some scientists speculate that is perhaps there is a problem synchronising the stellar movement of the V1581 Cygni system and the system from which it’s being generated and periodically it requires correction or over time may drift off target. This reinforced the concept that the origin of the wormhole is an intergalactic distance away.

3rd September 2052. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard completed a new construction bay, its tenth and final bay. The CLE Cherskiy was laid down.

The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 75 civilian mining complexes.

8th September 2052. Sol.
Professor Segovia’s power systems research group has completed work enabling the design of jump engines which can vary their exit point on completion of a jump point transit within a maximum radius of 500,000 kilometres of the jump point.

13th September 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that all known deposits of Boronide have been exhausted on Asteroid #81.

18th September 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 87 civilian mining complexes.

3rd October 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that all known deposits of Corundium have been exhausted on Comet Burton.

8th October 2052.Sol.
The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed its tenth and for now final construction bay. The CG Hampshire was laid down.

23rd October 2052. Sol.
The Gandhari Jha missiles and kinetic weapons research team completed pre-production prototyping and design work for the SIM-2 Longbow.

28th October 2052. Sol.
The Maggart Corporation added a new Port class Mk V freighter to its fleet.

Professor Segovia’s power systems research group has completed work enabling the design of jump engines with which the mounting ship can transit a jump point in company with four other vessels.

8th November 2052. Sol.
The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed the CG Surrey. The CG Guangdong was laid down in the vacated bay.

14th November 2052. V1581 Cygni.
An alien ship was observed transiting the wormhole.  It was assigned the code name Guillotine, 12,800 tonnes capable of 10,000 km/s. The alien made a beeline for the CJ Pedero Alvares Cabral, probably because she was actively scanning the system with her large MR4032-R60 sensor. Patrol Group 1 was providing the escort for the Pedero Alvares Cabral and was ordered to intercept the alien cruiser. The Patrol Group Commander, Lieutenant Commander Jerrod Hardage was under no apprehensions about the task his Patrol Group had been set. Put simply they were expendable. Could this cruiser-sized warship be humbled by a handful of FAC, could the SIM-1 Longbow missile perform effectively against the alien? How much better was it than the 6000 tonne scouts seen earlier? Hardage ordered his vessels to advance towards the enemy. It would be two days before they closed to combat range.

Sol.
Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding ‘Yard completed retooling for the Leander Class, the jump cruisers Leander, Hector and Gilgamesh were laid down.

16th November 2052. V1581 Cygni.
As the Patrol Group 1 reached 144 million kilometres from the alien an S144-R100 search sensor was picked up, hopefully the FACs were still invisible to the alien vessel.  Lieutenant Commander Hardage’s one solace was his squadron had a handy 6000 k/s advantage over the alien ship.
Finally at 09:46 on 16th November the alien entered the engagement envelope of Patrol Group 1 at 55 million kilometres. Lieutenant Commander Hardage ordered a synchronous launch as the Group reversed course and preceded the alien vessel, neither closing nor increasing the distance between the Patrol Group and the target. Due to a lack of training the synchronous launch was never more than an aspiration, so it was no surprise that half the ships of the Group were ready to launch before the others, only to find an unpleasant surprise, the Groups fire control could not lock onto the alien due to very effective enemy ECM and they had to close to 22m km or less to achieve a firing solution. Lieutenant Commander Hardage ordered the Patrol Group to come to a dead stop and await the alien moving into range. Then at 10:50 as the alien closed to 20million  kilometres it suddenly changed course and moved directly against the Group, as if seeing them for the first time. Lieutenant Commander Hardage once again ordered synchronous fire by the Patrol Group in an effort to overwhelm the alien’s point defence systems as the Patrol Group moved ahead of the alien at 10,000 k/s.
Five FACs each launched their 16 missiles, so much for synchronous fire by the whole Group. It was 35 seconds before the second five launched.  It was a consolation that the enemy had not yet fired on them. At 10:59 the first 80 missiles intercepted the alien, 9 were destroyed by point defence, 15 missed, 56 hit, bathing the alien ship in nuclear fire, to no obvious effect, but the alien’s shield was radiating enormous amounts of energy into space. The second salvo of 80 missiles bore in, 10 were ripped out of space by the point defence, six missed and 32 immolated themselves against the alien shield, this time it was different, The shield went black in places, some of which turned clear as though a burn through had occurred, this was followed by a secondary strength 6 power system explosion and a strength 150 explosion that may have had something to do with the alien’s shields.  The alien ship tore itself apart, the formerly constrained energies erupted into space. Two groups of 16 missiles still forlornly hunted for a target. There were no life pods detected. Either the loss of the vessel was so sudden as to preclude the escape of any of the crew or they are automated warships.

26th November 2052. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 76 civilian mining complexes.

15th December 2052. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard finished the CLEs Karakoram, Khibinsky, Akaishi, Owen Stanley and Berchtesgaden. The ‘Yard laid down the CLE Pennines. This vessel with current construction will provide an escort of two CLEs for the Explorer class jump cruisers. Supply of missiles for the recently completed escort cruisers is once again problematic, the Forrestal escort group and the Leif Ericsson escort are still awaiting delivery of their missiles, a backlog of some 5,000 missiles.

20th December 2052. Sol.
Darr Trading continues to expand its freight business and brought a new Port class freighter into service.

30th December 2052. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard finished building the CLEs Sierra Madre and Sikhote-Alin. Unfortunately the vessels joined the queue of those waiting for missiles to fill their magazines.

The Yu Jian Qing sensor research group completed the design and prototype of an S16 192-20000 fire control system.

 
 

5th January 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 77 civilian mining complexes.

10th January 2053. Sol.
Professor Gordon’s group completed prototype work on the Quad 15cm C6 soft X-ray laser turret.

The Gandhari Jha missiles and kinetic weapons research team completed development work for the Star Flash 8 AS missile.

20th January 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Iapetus has been increased to 78 civilian mining complexes.

25th January 2053. Sol.
Darr Trading continues to expand its freighter fleet adding another Port class freighter to its freight business.

1st February 2053. Sol.
Yu Jian Qing sensor research group completed MR107-R35 and an FC112-R35 sensors intended for an improved patrol vessel. Since the Patrol Vessels good showing against the alien cruiser it was decided to build more to an improved design, the original production run being halted after only twenty craft had left the slips. It was not lost on the Admiralty that these were the only warships that were faster than the alien cruiser.

Dark class Fast Attack Craft    1000 tons     56 Crew     349.4 BP      TCS 20  TH 112  EM 0
16000 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 9.6
Annual Failure Rate: 10%    IFR: 0.1%    Maint Capacity 164 MSP    Max Repair 140 MSP    Est Time: 4.2 Years
Magazine 64    

GB Inertial Confinement Fusion Drive E50 (1)    Power 320    Fuel Use 500%    Signature 112    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 80,000 Litres    Range 28.8 billion km   (20 days at full power)

Size 4 Box Launcher (16)    Missile Size 4    Hangar Reload 30 minutes    MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC112-R35 (1)     Range 112.9m km    Resolution 35
SIM-2 Longbow (16)  Speed: 40000 km/s   End: 51m    Range: 122.4m km   WH: 9    Size: 4    TH: 442 / 272 / 136

Active Search Sensor MR107-R35 (1)     GPS 3360     Range 107.5m km    Resolution 35

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
7th February 2053. Beta Canum.
The JCS Lion Gate has completed construction of the Star Gates into Beta Canum, opening the system for colonisation.

12th February 2053. Gliese 526.
JCS Torii Gate has completed construction of the Star Gates into Gliese 526, opening this system for colonisation.

16th February 2053. HO Librae.
JCS Sather Gate has completed construction of the final pair of Star Gates, this pair into HO Librae. There are no other Star Gates scheduled for construction until further exploration has been carried out.

18th February 2053. Sol.
The Mariner Ship Building ‘Yard laid down the first ten Dark class fast attack craft, the Dark Adventurer, Dark Aggressor, Dark Antagonist, Dark Archer, Dark Assailant, Dark Attacker, Dark Avenger, Dark Battler, Dark Bombardier and Dark Borderer.

Gliese 526.
The first Infrastructure was delivered to Gliese-A II, Earth’s first extra solar colony.

22nd February 2053. Beta Canum.
First colonists walk on the surface of Beta Canum-A V, all drawn from the Chinese Sector. This planet lays claim to being Earth’s first extra-solar colony, as it is the first to receive colonists. The dispute between Beta Canum-A V and Gliese 526-A II on which was the first extra-solar colony would drag on for the next few centuries!

28th February 2053. Sol.
Terraformer Group 2 began work at Gliese 526-A II to transform the atmosphere.

8th March 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 88 civilian mining complexes.

18th March 2053. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard completed construction of the CLE Jayawijaya.

The Dai Yong Ju sensor research group finished development work on fire control speed rating 6250 k/s

23rd March 2053. Sol.
The Emily Davey energy weapons research group completed research on turret tracking speed 10% gear 10, 000 k/s.

V1581 Cygni.
The wormhole in V1581 Cygni was observed to move.

3rd April 2053. Sol.
The Northrop Grumman Naval ‘Yard completed construction of the fleet scout Picket.

9th April 2053. Sol.
Yu Jian Qing sensor research group completed the prototype for an S08 192-20000 beam fire control.

The Viktor Lenac ‘Yard completed the construction of the Snapper, Stingray, Sturgeon, Sargo, Saury and Spearfish Gomati Mk V missile boats They will now join the 4th Flotilla. The construction of Sculpin, Sailfish, Swordfish, Seadragon, Sealion and Searaven were begun in the empty bays.

22nd April 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 89 civilian mining complexes.

12th May 2053. Sol.
The Yokahama Dock Co. ‘Yard completed building the AO/Ks Starfield and Star Flare.

22nd May 2053. Beta Canum.
Haimati Ghatge took over governorship of Beta Canum-A V. The Chinese colonists have named the planet Shon'jir. Governor Ghatge was formally the governor of the South American Sector of the EDA. That Sector is being finally dissolved, having no industry or population other than a few primitive Amazonian tribes who wish to stay that way. Any immigrants whose activities are visible from space are swiftly removed. Only authorised scientific expeditions are permitted under supervision as they study the attempted regeneration of the Amazonian rainforest that was devastated by the recent nuclear winters. It is hoped work here could aid the regeneration of the Earth’s biosphere.

Gliese 526
Byron Caruna has been appointed Governor of Gliese 526-A II. The planet has become known as New Arabia as it is the destination for the Venusian internees and many more involuntary colonists are being moved there from the former Islamic Block.

4th June 2053. Sol.
The General Dynamics ‘Yard completed construction of the Charles Upham class of Assault Transports, the  Charles Upham, Noel Chavasse, Arthur Martin-Leake, Frank Baldwin and Smedley Butler, which form the 1st Assault Transport Group.. The final group of five were laid down, the Louis Cukela, Netrabahadur Thapa, John H. Pruitt, Robert Henry Cain and Ganju Lama.

The Shangi-La ‘Yard finally completed building the gravitational survey vessels Agrippa, EvaAhert-Rohlfs, Paul Oswald Ahert, Petrus Alphonsi and Saul Adelman approximately a year late. No further orders are contemplated for the Titan ‘Yard.

28th June 2053. Sol.
The Mariner ‘Yard completed construction of the first ten Dark class fast attack craft, the Dark Adventurer, Dark Aggressor, Dark Antagonist, Dark Archer, Dark Assailant, Dark Attacker, Dark Avenger, Dark Battler, Dark Bombardier and Dark Borderer. The ‘Yard laid down Dark Bowman, Dark Bruiser, Dark Buccaneer, Dark Carabineer, Dark Cateran, Dark Cavalier, Dark Centurion, Dark Champion, Dark Charioteer, Dark Chaser.

4th July 2053. V1581 Cygni.
The wormhole within the system of V1581 Cygni was observed to move again.

12th July 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 90 civilian mining complexes.

The Elephant, Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus munitions supply vessels have been laid down at the Howakistwerke Naval ‘Yard. These vessels are specifically for the movement of missiles between colonies and not to be attached to Battle Groups. They will replace the obsolete State class munitions transports.

17th July 2053. V1581 Cygni.
Three alien Orion class survey ships appeared at the stable wormhole. 2nd Flotilla was released to destroy them.

23rd July 2053. Sol.
The Gandhari Jha missiles and kinetic weapons research team completed development and prototyping of the SIM-1 Odin missile.

Professor Gordon’s energy weapons research group completed research that would enable the design of a 15cm focal size meson beam.

23:46:51 27th July 2053. V1581 Cygni.
It took ten days for the obsolete Mk II and Mk III missile boats of the 2nd Flotilla to close on the alien vessels. Uncharacteristically the aliens had just drifted off the wormhole as though waiting for something; they were currently not under drive. The 2nd Flotilla had been reorganised into two divisions of ten ships each and the two divisions had approached from divergent directions.
The older Mk II vessels forming the Second Division had been given two of the three targets. Now 15 million kilometres from their targets it was time to launch. Two boats from each division illuminated up the targets. Commander Rhone was new to the Second Division, 2nd Flotilla and had been pleased how the Flotilla had worked together, but now her inexperience let her down. As the missiles leaped away from four boats of the first division, she suddenly realised that the enemy ECM had reduced the range of her Mk II boats to 6.4 million kilometres; she hurriedly issued orders to close to a newly calculated launch point. As the aliens detected the first missile launch they accelerated to 8000 k/s and moved on an intercept course for the first division. Commander Lu, the Flotilla’s Senior Officer, commed her to let her know he would want an explanation after the action!
104 missiles rushed towards Orion #7 the chosen target of the First Division, as Commander Lu tried to rescue the situation by moving towards the Second Division. Ten seconds later 104 missiles found their target, fortunately the aliens did not combine their point defence fire, (probably meaning it was similar in principal to the EDA’s CIWS), only ten missiles were clawed out of the firmament, 94 continued in, 42 ten-megaton warheads burst in close proximity to the alien, its shield flared and went down, revealing a disintegrating wreck with no survivors.
This left 52 missiles still hunting for a target. They selected Orion #9 and homed in, nine were rent asunder by the alien last ditch point defence, 43 turned the space around the alien vessel into a maelstrom of nuclear fire. Once more the alien shield failed and left a wreck in its wake. Commander Lu realised five minutes after commencing his manoeuvre that he would never reach Second Division before the alien ship reached him, so ordered Hammerhead and Hawksbill of the First Division to open fire and end the alien threat. Five seconds later the two ships dutifully spat out their missiles. At 00:00:00 on the 28th July the alien vessel was engulfed by 470 megatons of atomic destruction, it only managed to kill 5 incoming missiles, 47 others tore through the alien shield like it wasn’t there, cracking the hull open, naked to vacuum, its contents spilling out into space half melted.  
There was a brief conference over the laser coms, the Second Division would close the wormhole, bring it into range and lie quite, while the First Division returned to Titan to rearm.
Commander Lu was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for this action to compliment the Distinguished Service Medal he won back in 2050.

8th August 2053. Sol.
Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed building the CG Sussex. The Zhengzhou was laid down in the empty bay.

13th August 2053. V1581 Cygni.
Once more the wormhole was observed to move, however, movement of the wormhole does not appear to presage anything emerging from it. Second Division, 2nd Flotilla moved to keep it in range.

26th August 2053. Sol
The Bill Hardy power systems research team completed the development of a 56K commercial jump drive. This will form the basis of a jump freighter to escort standard freighters and salvage vessels into systems without Star Gates.

8th September 2053. Sol.
Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed construction of the CG Suffolk and Transvaal. The Xinjiang and Lhasa were laid down.

15th September 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 91 civilian mining complexes. The Commission noted that reserves of Gallicite are being drawn down far faster than anticipated due to ship and missile construction and unless measures are put in place to increase the supply of that mineral shortages will occur in the near future.

25th September 2053. Sol.
Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed building the CGs Anhui, Hefei, Fujian and Fuzhou.

6th October 2053. Sol.
The JaingYang Naval Orbital Shipyard completed construction of the CLE Strandzha. The construction program for this class is drawing to a close and no further vessels are to be laid down

12th October 2053. Sol.
Darr Trading continues to expand its successful freight business and has purchased a new Port class freighter for its fleet.

8th November 2053. Sol.
The Mariner Ship Building ‘Yard completed the construction of another ten Dark class fast attack craft, the Dark Bowman, Dark Bruiser,. Dark Buccaneer, Dark Carabineer, Dark Cateran, Dark Cavalier, Dark Centurion, Dark Champion, Dark Charioteer, Dark Chaser. The ‘Yard laid down Dark Chieftain, Dark Clipper, Dark Crusader, Dark Cuirassier Dark Defender, Dark Dragoon, Dark Fencer, Dark Fighter, Dark Forester and Dark Fusilier

The Emily Davey energy weapons research group completed research on an improved meson focusing technology.

13th November 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the civilian mining operation on Callisto has been increased to 92 civilian mining complexes.

Darr Trading has taken up an option for a further Port class freighter.

20th November 2053. Sol.
The Gandhari Jha missiles and kinetic weapons research team completed development of a  Size 15 PDC missile launcher.

The Olympus Mons Technologies ‘Yard completed construction of the CG California.

25th November 2053. Sol.
The EDA Resource Commission reported that the Sam Peacock geological survey team has found a deposit of 100,000 tonnes Vendarite (0.3) on New Arabia Gliese-A II. The Commission a