10th June 2327 The decision is reached regarding the aliens in ES – 13 GGGT3. The Commune First Gunboat Flotilla will enter the system and attempt communication. They will not enter any closer than two hundred million kilometers of ES 13 GGGT 13 C III, but if the aliens enter the weapon range without any attempt at communication, they will be ordered to open fire.
There is some worry that if the strike fails, the gunboats will be in trouble, as they have no anti-missile defenses, but they appear to be faster than the aliens and their small size means it's unlikely they can be targeted from long range.
The bigger problem will be leaving Wieliczka uncovered. While no aliens were found in ES – 11 GH3 there is still a slight chance that the colony may be attacked while the defenders are away. Unfortunately there is no additional support, as there are only fourteen more gunboats in Courland and they have not yet been assigned to a new formation. Worse, moving them would mean uncovering the home system.
While waiting until more ships are available is a possibility, the government wants to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
25th June 2327 All Commune habitats are now filled to capacity. The population of Wieliczka is only one and a half million.
26th June 2327 Several hours after jumping into the C subsystem, the Commune Eel class scout detects active sensors from two alien ships. The humans attempt communication, but there appears to be no response. An hour later two more vessels are detected.
So far everything is more or less as expected, but one item causes the human crews to worry. One of the alien ships is actually twice as fast as the others, moving at well over eight thousand kilometers per second. If it's armed, the gunboats may not be able to escape if the plan goes awry.
Two hours later the fast moving alien vessel enters the sensor range. Its mass is estimated at eighty three hundred tonnes. The Commune ships continue their attempts at communication, but they are still being ignored.
For fifteen more minutes the humans continue sending signals to the incoming vessel, but to no avail. As the range closes to fifty five million kilometers Rear Admiral Galang Pamungkas, commanding officer of the First Gunboat Flotilla orders one of his Piranhas to fire all twenty four of her missiles at the coming ship.
Eight out of twenty four missiles hit the target, while the rest misses. A very disappointing result. Even so the enemy vessel is damaged, as its speed drops to sixty two hundred kps, but there is no atmosphere loss. Even more importantly there is still no attempt at communication. Pamungkas orders another gunboat to fire.
This time ten missiles, each with a four megaton warhead, managed to intercept the target. This was still not enough to destroy it, although the enemy speed dropped to twenty four hundred kps. Even so there was no communication attempts and the alien was still closing in. The Rear Admiral ordered twelve more missiles to be fired at the target, now only thirty million kilometers distant. This finally proved to be enough.
While his staffers were congratulating themselves on a job well done, Pamungkas was worried. He used fifteen percent of his ordnance to destroy what was almost certainly an unarmed scout, but there were three more enemies coming. At least. One more has been detected previously but not appeared on sensors, and since the enemy was too far away to be detected by human active systems, there may be even more enemies running silent. Because of this he decided to stop his advance and wait for the aliens where he was to make sure he had clear, short run to the Lagrange point in case he needed to retreat.
As he surveyed the system during the alien advance, his staff completed a detailed analysis of all objects in range and concluded that one of the previously found wrecks is of the same class as one of the ships coming his way. Which means at least one enemy masses over sixteen thousand tonnes, which was a worrying prospect.
Finally, near midday, the humans knew exactly what they faced – two ships of sixteen thousand and six hundred tonnes and two of eighty three hundred tonnes.
When the enemies closed to fifty seven million kilometers, and as there was still no attempt at communication, Pamungkas gave order to fire. Two Piranhas were assigned to each of the smaller vessels and four to each of the larger ones. Fortunately the enemy was split into two groups of two ships, so their missile defenses, assuming they had any, will also be split.
The two hundred and eighty eight missiles closed in virtually unopposed, confronted only by a small number of energy weapon based defenses. In total a hundred and ninety one missiles managed to strike their targets, but all survived. Again, all of them showed signs of internal damage through their lower speed, but there was no atmosphere loss.
Unfortunately the human forces have practically spent themselves with only thirty six missiles remaining. The Admiral decided to use them all on one of the larger ships and then retreat.
The strike was successful, creating another wreck in the system after which the Commune gunboats begun to head home, their launchers empty. To make it more difficult for the enemy to track them, the active sensors were disengaged, as it was the most likely way the human vessels were tracked.
27th June 2327 The First Gunboat Flotilla arrives back in the A subsystem, sending their reports through Scandinavia to the jump gate network. The enormous distance between the various components of the system, which is equal to over two light-weeks, is proving to be problematic as far as communications are concerned.
The Commune government reacts quickly to the events. The recently formed Second Gunboat Flotilla is ordered to the alien system to take over the operations. First Flotilla is ordered home to rearm, as there are no missile stockpiles on Wieliczka. A tanker will be sent to restock the fuel on the colony, but this will take time, giving the enemy an opportunity to repair his ships.
The government has also another problem as many criticize its actions, pointing out that the Commune has for all instance and purposes started a war. The argument that the aliens did not respond to any attempts to communicate or that they may have been an automated defense system – which would explain the lack of atmosphere loss – falls on deaf ears. The critics flat out admit, that the only thing that would convince them the war was unavoidable was if the aliens fired first, even if that meant a loss of human lives.
Fortunately, while the critics are loud, the majority of the population appears to believe it's better to be safe than sorry where any alien species is concerned, but the opinion may change, which may paralyze further actions against the aliens.
22nd July 2327 The Second Gunboat Flotilla arrives at the Commune colony of Wieliczka, but there is not enough fuel to allow them to enter the enemy system. The tanker, which is still en route, won't arrive for another several months. For now the war is on hiatus, giving the enemy time to repair.
10th November 2327 With fuel delivered to Wieliczka, the Commune Second Gunboat Flotilla is ready to move out. However there is some worry as to whether or not the formation is up to the task as they did not have opportunity to train properly due to the haste with which they were deployed coupled with lack of fuel in the Sudets system. The crews on the other hand are confident in their abilities.
26th November 2327 The Second Gunboat Flotilla, still over two hundred million kilometers from the target planet, detects a single active sensor in orbit of ES – 13 GGTH3 C III. As this is where the initial wreck was found and as the aliens seem to be returning there after every fight, it must be where the enemy base is located.
A couple of hours later all three ships seen during the previous visit enter sensor range. Commodore Benedikte Istratescu waits until the aliens close to fifty seven million kilometers than gives the order to open fire.
As he is unsure whether or not the enemy is still damaged – although their speed indicates they are not – and knowing his opponent has limited missile defense, he decides to conserve his ammunition, using the same target assignments as First Flotilla did – two Piranhas for each smaller ship and four for the larger one for a total of one hundred and ninety two missiles.
A total of one hundred and thirty missiles managed to hit, damaging all targets. Istratescu ordered one more gunboat to fire at each enemy, hoping it will be enough to finish the job.
It wasn't. The larger ship was indeed destroyed, but the two smaller ones remained, albeit one was dead in space. The Commodore ordered one gunboat to fire eight missiles at it and the rest at the still moving one. Once again one of the smaller alien ships survived, but eight more missiles was enough to finish it, destroying the last known alien craft in the system.
However a new problem arose several minutes later, as the Second Gunboat flotilla brought the alien planet in range, for two new objects were detected. While they were of two different classes both were massing sixteen thousand two hundred and fifty tonnes. As all the other known enemies were closing on human forces, those two were probably bases, which meant they had heavier defenses than warships – and five gunboats were needed to destroy one of the larger ones. Unfortunately the Second Flotilla had only four gunboats worth of missiles and the enemy has shown surprising speed in making repairs. Regrettably Istratescu was forced to retreat.
The situation has put the government in a difficult position. While the Commune had suffered no loses and had thirty six hundred missiles in storage, the gunboats were eating more fuel during such operations than expected. For all instances and purposes the two flotillas were stuck were they were and it will be at least a year, possible longer, before new fuel harvesting bases will enter service. For all instances and purposes the war will have to be suspended, although fortunately it looks like the aliens are out of ships – at least for now.
6th December 2327 The government and the Commune Defense Force have completed their analysis of the recent conflict. Several important points emerged.
First and foremost was the fuel situation. At the moment the Commune had only three fuel harvesters producing a total of one million eight hundred thousand litres of fuel per year. While that was sufficient for commercial uses, such as exploration and colonization of Wieliczka, it was simply inadequate for war. Not only that but both commercial yards are busy expanding while producing freighters and colony ships which means it will be some time before first new harvesters can be laid down.
Second, should the enemy be faster and should the gunboats fail to destroy the enemy in the first strike, they would be defenseless as they had neither energy weapons nor anti-missile defenses. Both of those problems were already known however and were supposed to be dealt with when a reasonable number of Piranhas was already present, currently projected at five full flotillas, which adds to eighty units. However, as the Commune found itself in a war already, there is discussion about changing this plan.
Third, the aliens could have been completely destroyed, at least as far as their known forces are known, despite the fuel situation if a collier was present, as this would allow the First Flotilla to stay at Wieliczka. This can be easily, and relatively quickly, dealt with and the government plans to build a collier, maybe even several, as soon as their new Lindgren Heavy Industries yard reaches six thousand tonnes of capacity although it will take a couple of years at least.
Despite those problems the fact remains that CDF acquitted themselves well in their first conflict losing no ships and proving the gunboat doctrine. As such further units will be constructed and neither the government, nor the Central Command sees any reason to change their larger strategy.
24th January 2328 The Republican specialists have completed their survey and cataloging of alien ruin on Phoenix C III finding a hundred and thirty installations to be recovered.
21st March 2328 The Republic completes their first construction project since arriving in the system – a ground force training facility. As construction brigades require much less workforce than construction factories, the Republic plans on relying on army engineers, which will require large and numerous training facilities.
Their next project is a commercial shipyard.
19th December 2328 The first civilian mining colony has been established in the Phoenix system, which is an important news for the government. As the Republic simply does not have enough population to fund all Federal endeavors, additional sources of income will be needed. Several of the more enterprising citizens managed to refurbish some of the old freighters to usable state, establishing the first shipping line, but the populations of Germany and Seine are too small to sustain trade. The mining operations however will provide an immediate boost to the Federal income.
8th January 2329 Exploring a new jump point in ES – 11 GH3, the system where with alien wrecks were first located, the Commune survey ship Huygens arrives in a moderately large, but mostly useless system centered around a red dwarf. What makes the system unusual is the presence of an alien jump gate – but only on this side of the jump point.
This is the second of the jump points in the KH – 11 GH3 to be explored and the first one, despite having reasonable candidate for colonization, had no sign of alien presence. Huygens will perform flyby of some of the planets, but the crew expects to find nothing.
7th March 2329 Exploring the third , and last, of the jump points in the ES – 11 GH3 system, Huygens arrives near a red dwarf orbited by nine planets and nearly sixty moons, three of which are reasonable candidates for colonization. What is more important however is a presence of three wrecks orbiting the second planet, two of which belong to the alien race encountered in ES – 13 GGGTH3. The third wreck may also belong to them, although no vessel similar to the forty three thousand tonne derelict has been encountered yet.
Huygens jumps briefly back to ES – 11 GH3 and reports her findings to Jutland standing on Sudets jump point before moving to the inner system to check for additional signs of alien presence.
20th March 2329 Huygens detects active sensor emissions from a single alien vessel near the second planet, which the wrecks orbit. She turns about and heads towards Commune space immediately.
Thirty minutes later she is destroyed by a hail of anti-missiles in offensive mode.
24th May 2329 After Huygens failed to report, Jutland went to ES – 16 KH4 to investigate. After entering the system and finding the wreck of the Commune vessel, she headed back to sound the alarm.
The government received the news several days later, but other than declare the system off-limits and posting Jutland on the ES – 11 GH3 – Sudets jump point as an early warning, there is little they can do, as continued fuel shortages mean it's impossible to send gunboats to clear the system. New harvesters are already under construction but it will be some time before they can start making a difference.
25th June 2329 Five new fuel harvesters are launched from Curlands shipyards, each massing fifty thousand tonnes – twenty five percent more than the previous ones. They will bring the annual fuel production of the Commune to fifty six hundred thousand liters, three times more than before. Five more are laid down.
While it is hoped that those new harvesters will allow at least limited military operations, it will still require some time for them to produce enough fuel. Even so the government hopes to be able to clear the aliens from ES – 13 GGGTH next year, which would open the enormous system to safe colonization and exploitation. In fact due to the value of the system, and the lack of any alien presence in the primary component, a geological survey ship has been dispatched already, despite the risks. A jump gate is also under construction at the Sudets jump point, although a matching gate will not be built until all aliens have been eliminated.
5th July 2329 Two salvage vessels have been launched by the Commune. They were intended to salvage the two wrecks in ES – 11 GH3 system, but with enemies just jump point away and the Force inability to provide escort due to fuel shortages, they will stay where they are, at least for the time being.
15th September 2329 The Commune lays down their first collier, the Nagoiu class. The six thousand tonne vessel can carry enough armaments to rearm an entire gunboat flotilla, but is much slower, has rather thin armor and possesses neither defenses nor good sensors. Even so, as the gunboats require maintenance facilities to rearm, the collier is designed to operate within Commune territory, so lack of defenses should not be a problem. The construction will take fifteen months.
Negoiu class Collier 6 000 tons 90 Crew 800 BP TCS 120 TH 480 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 3-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.25 Years MSP 417 AFR 57% IFR 0.8% 1YR 37 5YR 556 Max Repair 240 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 1080
Hadisapoetro-Saleh Medium Magneto-plasma Drive (1) Power 480 Fuel Use 42% Signature 480 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 550 000 Litres Range 39.3 billion km (113 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes20th September 2329 The Hegemony completes its transition to TN industry. Despite the initial government plans to concentrate on manufacturing and rely on commercial mining, forty percent of their conventional installations have been converted to mining complexes and ten more percent to fuel refineries. Worse, from their perspective, their Ares colony has population of only thirty three million which is still insufficient to man all the mines.
Fortunately despite it being a slow process, the commercial mining has been expanding and by now has output equal to two hundred and ten government owned complexes. Even so the private installations are spread out among asteroids, most of which have only three or four out of the eleven TN elements.
18th November 2329 Galileo, a Copernicus class exploration ship makes an enormous discovery – a readily habitable planet four jumps from Baltic.
The planet is located in a newly discovered system of ES – 19 GGLH4, a trinary of two Sol-like objects accompanied by brown dwarf with a total of ten planets, almost eighty moons and nearly two hundred asteroids. Unfortunately two of those planets are, for all instances and purposes, out of reach as they orbit the very distant secondary component.
The Commune government and the general public are excited at the news, but it will be some time before the planet can be colonized as it will take three and a half years before a jump gate network is extended that far. Worse, the enormous distance means any development will be slow as there are only ten government owned colony ships and five private ones. Not only that but fuel shortages are still a problem and both commercial yards are busy building other vessels. An additional concern is that the route to the system leads through Sudets, which is under threat from aliens from two different directions, although so far the enemies have shown reluctance to venture away from their bases.
For the time being the most important thing is to check the system for any signs of life, so Galileo will perform flyby of both the readily habitable planet and another candidate for colonization present in that system.
ES – 19 GGLH4 A I general data:
Diameter: 12 600 kilometers
Gravity: 1.11g
Day-Night Cycle: 20 Hours
Length of year: 192 Earth days/ 230.4 local days
Axial tilt: 15 degrees
Water Coverage: 51%
Average Temperature: 32.2C
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.23 atm
Atmospheric Composition: Nitrogen (70%), Oxygen (23.4%), Argon (6.6%)
13th June 2330 Exploring a newly found jump point the Commune survey ship Galileo arrives in a most unusual system: an F class protostar surrounded by a nebula. The system would be mostly scientific curiosity if not for a presence of three alien wrecks orbiting the second planet.
The system is very problematic for the government and the CDF, as it does not lay beyond Sudetes. It's connected to Odin through ES – 03 KH1 and ES – 06 GGU2, neither of which is defended or even picketed. And while the latter can be safely lost without long term repercussions, ES – 03 KH1 is the only way to the Sudets systems and those beyond. Worse, the nebula makes missiles practically useless and so far the Commune has no beam armed warships.
However, the presence of wrecks does not automatically mean there are enemy units in the system and Galileo's task will be to check for that.
The system, designated ES – 21 FH3 has only two planets and no other accompanying objects save a few comets. Both of those however are a reasonable candidates for terraforming.
4th August 2330 Galileo completes her flyby of the two planets in ES – 21 FH3 finding no sign of activity.
20th December 2330 The Commune recalls all their Einstein and Copernicus class ships due to their age. As their small size means they require specialized supporting facilities, which are not available at the moment, all those ships will be scrapped. They will not be replaced for some time as the government wants to wait for a specialized support vessel.
By now twenty four systems have been discovered and while there is an ample room to expand, so far there is no reasonable candidate for colonization with high mineral deposits, although not all such planets have been surveyed yet.
20th March 2331 The Second Gunboat Flotilla, stationed at the Commune colony of Wieliczka, has been refueled and rearmed. However as there are now two possible directions of enemy attack the government does not wish to uncover the system and sends the First Flotilla to deal with the suspected enemy bases in the ES – 13 GGGTH3 system. The home system will be covered by the Third and Fourth Flotillas.
1st May 2331 The Commune First Gunboat Flotilla arrives fifty million kilometers from the alien bases and opens fire, splitting it equally between both contacts.
Despite previous experiences sixteen missiles are intercepted a million kilometers from their targets. The alien bases obviously have anti-missiles and their launchers are very advanced as they were firing every five seconds. Overall a hundred and fifty three missiles have been destroyed by enemy ordnance with twenty two more intercepted by point blank defenses. Unfortunately all those intercepted missiles were heading for one base, which means that while one of them was annihilated with fifty missiles self-destructing, the other one was merely damaged.
As the flotilla exhausted its ordnance, the ships begin to head back to Wieliczka to refuel and re-arm. They will be back for another strike, but judging by the previous battle the base will be fully functional, possibly even fully repaired by then.
4th June 2331 The First Gunboat Flotilla is back near the enemy planet and ready to launch. Unfortunately as the enemy anti-missiles intercepted a hundred and fifty missiles and a hundred was needed to destroy the other base, the Rear Admiral decides to fire full salvo at the lone enemy construct.
The single enemy base turned out to be beam armed, but it destroyed seventy two missiles, much more than previously. Even so, two hundred and forty had to self-destruct as they no longer had any targets.
The First Flotilla will perform flyby of the inner planets before heading home, while a geological survey ship will be called forward to check the subsystem.
9th June 2331 The Republican specialists have completed their initial survey and cataloging of ruins on Phoenix D III finding one hundred and nine installations waiting to be recovered.
22nd June 2331 With no sight of alien presence in the ES – 13 GGGTH3 system, the Commune government sends a salvage expedition there. Unfortunately it will take the two salvagers and seven freighters nine months to cover the distance.
16th August 2331 A ruined city has been found on the second moon of the gas giant previously protected by alien bases. A Commune xeonological team is dispatched.
8th September 2331 While there are still aliens present in ES – 16 KH4 system, the Commune needs to restock fuel on Wieliczka first. As such Second Gunboat Flotilla enters overhaul, making any strike doubtful while the formation is unavailable.
24th December 2331 The Republic completes their recovery operations on New Atlantis. Hundreds of installations have been recovered with the list given below:
Maintenance Facilities (inactive): 39
Construction Factories: 30
Ordnance Factories (inactive): 14
Fighter Factories (inactive): 10
Fuel Refineries (inactive): 20
Mines (inactive): 61
Automated Mines: 89
Mass Drivers: 4
Research Labs: 22
Genetic Modification Centers: 12
Terraforming Installations (moved to Germany): 9
In addition to those, technical specifications on several technologies have been recovered which included two levels of armor, thousands of tonnes of minerals, over sixty million liters of fuel and hundreds of ships components. Some of those have been disassembled for study leading to the development of shields and larger railguns, others has been scrapped for resources and some left for later use, such as fuel harvesting modules.
The recovery operations will now move to Germany, where a hundred and fifty nine installations await recovery.
3rd April 2332 Ruby, a Commune Amethyst class geological survey vessel, has been exploring ES – 19 GGLH4, the system with readily habitable planet for some time now, moving mainly around the brown dwarf component. Now she's heading towards the inner system, when she detects an alien EM sensor emission, similar to those encountered in other systems adjacent to Sudets. She turns about immediately.
Unfortunately, while she does have jump drives the construction ship currently working in system does not. It is also a mystery why Galileo failed to spot the aliens despite doing a flyby of the inner system planets.
This however becomes less of a concern for the crew, as the alien ship is pursuing the Ruby. From the strength and structure of the emissions, the Commune vessel should have been out of sensor range, which implies the aliens have picked up the human ship on some kind of passive sensors.
In a bid to protect the construction ship – which also means a good chance of warning the rest of the Commune of the danger – Ruby decides to change heading, so as to not draw the enemy to the jump point.
4th April 2332 After a day of stern chase, two more alien vessels have been detected by their thermal emissions. Soon after Ruby is ripped apart by a barrage of energy weapon impacts.
1st June 2332 The Commune completes salvaging the wrecks of the alien ships in ES – 13 GGGTH3 system, recovering several thousand tonnes of minerals and dozens of components as well as providing additional intelligence about the aliens. So far they are a mixed bag, with magneto-plasma drives and electronic warfare systems as good or worse as the Commune ones, but also with better sensors and missile related technologies.
The most interesting fact however is the lack of any biological residue, confirming that the ships are in fact fully automated. In addition as there was no attempt at communication it seems that whatever programming was given to those ships, fully self-aware AIs were not part of it. As such the ships almost certainly represent not a race, but an automated defense system of some kind.
3rd June 2332 The Republic completes their first commercial yard.
6th August 2332 With their overhaul done the Commune Second Gunboat Flotilla is sent to ES – 16 GH3 to clear the system of hostiles.
21st August 2332 The Second Gunboat Flotilla approaches the second planet without incident. They finally detect the alien forces, seemingly unaware, orbiting the target body consisting of two bases and two sixteen thousand and six hundred tonnes destroyers.
Before the Commune vessels can enter comfortable firing range, two alien ships move out. The commander checks his range and orders all his missiles targeted at the base believed to be equipped with anti-missiles as it is the most difficult one to kill and once it's out of the picture, a single flotilla should be enough to destroy all three remaining enemies.
Two hundred missiles have been destroyed by anti-missiles with twenty eight destroyed by point defense fire. Nearly a hundred were needed to destroy the base and forty eight have self destructed.
The flotilla heads back to Wieliczka to re-arm. A thousand missiles are still present at the colony and four thousand more are in Courland, allowing the Commune to afford such an expenditure.
21st September 2332 The Second Gunboat Flotilla is once again in the system, stopping at the edge of the missile range to keep the three enemies concentrated. Five vessels target each enemy warship and six Piranhas target the base.
Seventy two missiles were destroyed by point defense fire. Two hundred and eight hit causing several secondary explosions, including a massive ninety eight megaton one. Even so one of the ships survived, which will force a third strike.
6th October 2332 Hawkwing, the first support ship designed to improve gravitational survey capabilities of the Commune is ready, as are six Einstein and one Copernicus class vessels. Their first task will be to explore the last system adjacent to ES – 03 KH1. Another vessel of the class have been laid down, but it will be the last one.
Hawkwing class Support Vessel 10 000 tons 195 Crew 1054 BP TCS 200 TH 400 EM 0
2000 km/s Armour 1-41 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/110/0/0 Damage Control Rating 16 PPV 0
Maint Life 6.8 Years MSP 1054 AFR 50% IFR 0.7% 1YR 40 5YR 595 Max Repair 110 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 3500 tons
Feliciano & Bustamante High Power Commercial MPD (1) Power 400 Fuel Use 5.3% Signature 400 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1 250 000 Litres Range 424.5 billion km (2456 days at full power)
Bednarek Heavy Industries Medium EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 110 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 110m km
ECM 20
Strike Group
6x Einstain Gravitational Survey Vessel Speed: 2200 km/s Size: 10
1x Copernicus Exploration Ship Speed: 2211 km/s Size: 9.95
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes21st October 2332 The Commune Second Gunboat Flotilla is back in the enemy system, having what is believed to be the last enemy ship in their sights. Five Piranhas open fire, launching a total of one hundred and twenty missiles of which only four were shot down by point blank defenses. The rest obliterated the alien vessel.
With the second planet cleared, the Commune forces begin a sensor sweep of the inner system before heading home.
7th November 2332 The Second Gunboat Flotilla is back in Wieliczka. With all known alien strongholds cleared and no sign of any new vessels in the explored systems, the Commune has an opportunity to catch their breath, allowing them to overhaul and train their forces.
The Commune government also decided to perform a full scale evaluation of their strategic situation. In addition to that they decide to rename some of the systems for easier future recognition.
The biggest current problem for the humans is insufficient knowledge of nearby space. Systems four jumps out has been explored in the direction of Sudetes, but in other directions only two jumps out have been surveyed. Worse, gates have already been built giving potential aliens clear indication of habitation as well as route straight into Commune territory. Exploring new systems and establishing outposts, perhaps even full military bases, will be the top priority.
Another issue is the mineral wealth of nearby space. So far no candidate for colonization with reasonable mineral deposits have been found. Other than that the mineral availability is reasonable, but most bodies possess only three or four minerals out of eleven. Unless some incredible found is uncovered soon, the Commune may be forced to drastically shift their mining policies, from concentrated manned complexes to dispersed automated ones. Asteroid mining ships are planned in any case, but there is no design yet.
Below is the list of important systems.
Baltic – The home system of the Commune is quickly running out of resources, although there are still sufficient deposits and stockpiles to last for several years at least. Home Fleet will be based here, which will be the biggest naval formation during the peacetime as it will double as a strategic reserve. Currently all industry is concentrated here, but the lack of habitable objects means there will be no population expansion, limiting future industry.
Gateway (Formerly ES – 03 KH1) – This is the only system connected to Baltic with more than one additional jump point and connects directly to Sudetes, making it a critical transit system. There was some talks about establishing a fleet base there, but with substantial forces in both Baltic and Sudetes it is considered impractical. Currently there are no plans to settle either of the two candidates for colonization present.
Sudetes – The system connects to two previously alien occupied system chains as well as to the chain where ES – 19 GGLH4 system is located, which contains a readily habitable planet, making it a critical junction. The First and Second Gunboat Flotillas are already stationed there and the government plans to upgrade the colony to a full fleet base. In the future the Second Fleet will likely the the biggest naval formation short of the one located in the capital.
Dandanelles (Formerly ES – 11 GH3) – As the system was the site of the first contact with alien wrecks, it was named after a channel between Europe and Asia. There are currently no plans to settle the single reasonable planet.
Yggdrasil (Formerly ES – 13 GGGTH3) – The enormous system was the site of the first battles between humans and the automated defense systems left over by unknown aliens. Unfortunately all candidates for colonization (that can be reached) are devoid of minerals and the most interesting aspect of the system – alien ruins – is located on an uninhabitable planet, with too low gravity for humans. Some mineral resources have been found, many of which are on comets and asteroids, making them attractive target for mining, but it remains to be seen if this is enough to attract development. Before the discovery of the readily habitable planet in the ES – 19 GGLH4 system, Yggdrasil was considered to be the top target for settlement, but now it has been relegated to a secondary status. Gravitational survey has not yet been performed, so it's unknown if there are more enemies beyond it, but since the human victory no alien activity has been reported.
ES – 19 GGLH4 (Name still under debate) – The system contains the only readily habitable planet so far, making it prime target for development, but as the survey ship Ruby is out of communication, mineral resources are unknown at the present. The last jump gate in the chain will be completed in approximately three months, but the colony expedition is still being prepared and will not get underway until the end of the month.
ES – 16 KH4 – The system is the site of the recent battle with the ADS (Automated Defense Systems) and has not yet been surveyed. Several wrecks may be recovered, but the salvage group is on the return leg of their mission to Yggdrasil and will not be available for some time yet.
Malbork (Formerly ES – 04 KH1) – The only dead-end system connected directly to Baltic it possesses almost no TN elements and the only candidate for colonization is a small, airless world. However, as some point out, it's located as far as possible from any aliens and any visitor would have to come through the capital system, which will most likely be the most heavily defended one in the Commune, making Malbork the most secure location in the known space. However, due to the large costs associated with any colonization project, the government has currently no plans to develop the system, but it remains to be seen if it can stead fast against the growing pressure.
