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A Plague of Aliens, New and Old. (10)
« on: August 24, 2012, 06:13:00 AM »
WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS WITHIN!!

Tales of the Union.

 
A Plague of Aliens, New and Old. (10)

2nd November 87. Theta Sculptoris.
STG 8 had just begun a gravitational survey of Theta Sculptoris when the combat comp on all vessels suddenly announced that the ships sensors had detected thirty-four one-kiloton and one nine-kiloton detonations on a bearing of 218o from the system primary. . Somewhere in the inner system a war was being fought! Over the next twenty four hours hundreds of one, eight and nine-kiloton nuclear explosions were detected as Lieutenant Ravati Tupe, senior officer of STG 8, concentrated his squadron for an expedition deeper into the system. Then on the 3rd November a new wreck was detected deep in system, followed over the next few day by several more, these were positively identified as Destroyer warship or orbital base wrecks. Something had just taken all a powerful Destroyer squadron could throw at them and then beaten the crap out of them. Lieutenant Tupe wondered what he was taking his squadron in system to meet. New wrecks accompanied by the odd detonation were picked up as the squadron proceeded in.

25th November 87. HIP 117042.
Exploration of the newly discovered jump point in Gliese 16 by STG 3 revealed the already known system of HIP 117042 which had four jump points with two still unexplored, now that another led to Gliese 16. This was how the Lleida Hierarchy found the Union! If another jump point had been chosen the Hierarchy would have emerged in Xi Pegasi, an inhabited system and one jump from the sector capital of Zwickau – S.W. Burnham 157.

28th November 87. Theta Sculptoris.
The identity of the other side of the recent conflict was revealed, when the squadron detected a Horde mothership, Augalsil 004. Lieutenant Tupe ordered an immediate change of course to the jump point and out of the system.

4th December 87. Sigma Pegasi.
Survey Task Group 3 entered an unexplored jump point in HIP 117042 and emerged into the light of a binary system, Sigma Pegasi. It was an F7-IV and M3-V binary system, rich in planets and moons, the A component alone had 14 planets and dozens of moons. However none had HI’s in the accepted terraforming range.

9th December 87. Excalibur – Avalon-A IV.
Raptor Rampage Reaper,Ravage,Redemption,Razor,Rainbow,Rampart,Renaissance,Respite  (Relentless Mk IIB class) left the construction bays of the Union No. 2 ‘Yard in Excalibur - Avalon-A IV orbit and were assigned to  Training squadron – Avalon before forming the core of Task Force 8.

14th December 87. Alpha Trianguli.
Survey Task Group 2 was assigned to assist in the new survey effort out of XI Pegasi as the one based out of Phi-2 Ceti wound down. The group took the remaining jump point out of HIP 117042 and discovered the system of Alpha Trinaguli. This was an F6-IV star with six planets two of which had HI’s of 1.44 and 1.9 respectively. STG 2 began a gravitational survey.

30th December 87 15:31:22,Delta Aquilae.
Andúril and Hauteclere (Satellite Layer Mk I class) left the construction bays at the Dervaria Naval ‘Yard No. 2 in  Devaria - Delta Aquilae-A IV orbit and proceeded directly to Asran – Iota Piscium-A VII to pick up their load of surveillance satellites.  

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Satellite Layer Mk I class Jump Tender    8,800 tons     770 Crew     4731 BP      TCS 176  TH 184.8  EM 2400
13125 km/s    JR 6-1000     Armour 2-37     Shields 80-400     Sensors 54/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 34     PPV 14
Maint Life 3.27 Years     MSP 1344    AFR 154%    IFR 2.2%    1YR 190    5YR 2851    Max Repair 289 MSP
Magazine 854    

J8800(6-1000) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 8800 tons    Distance 1000k km     Squadron Size 6
MilSpec SCAD E2.75 (11)    Power 210    Fuel Use 27.5%    Signature 16.8    Armour 0    Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 295,000 Litres    Range 219.4 billion km   (193 days at full power)
Sigma R400/20 Shields (10)   Total Fuel Cost  200 Litres per day

Size 1 Missile Launcher (8)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Size 6 Missile Launcher (1)    Missile Size 6    Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC28-R1 (2)     Range 28.8m km    Resolution 1
Arrow IV (308)  Speed: 72,000 km/s   End: 4.2m    Range: 18m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 888 / 532 / 266
Sensor Buoy Mk I (91)  Speed: 0 km/s   End: 1800d    Range: 0m km   WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 0 / 0 / 0

Active Search Sensor MR19-R1 (1)     GPS 60     Range 19.2m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR230-R16 (1)     GPS 2880     Range 230.4m km    Resolution 16
Thermal Sensor TH3-54 (1)     Sensitivity 54     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  54m km

ECM 60

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

20th January 88. LHS 1247.
Task Force 5 reached the jump point to Theta Sculptoris. Rather than break into its individual task groups and make a combat transit Commodore Danneberg decided to make a standard transit, one of her rare miscalculations. The Horde had never picketed jump points in all the time the Corps had been fighting them. One or two of her task group commanders demurred but did not press the point. The jump cruiser Resurgence opened the jump point into Theta Sculptoris and the whole fleet transited as one. Thus her shock on hearing the thermal sensor at the scan station starting to iterate the list of hostile missiles in-bound was intense. Three size 24 and four groups of size 2 contacts were bearing down on the Task Force and they had not yet recovered from jump shock! Thinking quickly she ordered another of the jump cruisers to open the jump point back to LHS 1247, the whole Task Force then reversed course and exited Theta Sculptoris. This was achieved in a matter of seconds and the hostile missiles were left behind in Theta Sculptoris.

25th January 88. LHS 1247.
Commodore Danneberg decided to leave it a few days before re-entering Theta Sculptoris and this time it would be a combat transit. Five days later for the second time Task Force 5 jumped into Theta Sculptoris and once again seconds after arrival the threat board lit up with hostile missiles, three salvos of size 24 were approaching the task force before they had fully recovered from jump lag. Then it was realised that it was just the expended buses that were left. That did not stop the Task Force taking them out. However the ability of the Horde to lay mines was completely unexpected.
The Horde mother ship, Augalsil 004, was detected deep in system near Comet #4 and now was accompanied by the miners Gomaithil 017 and Gomaithil 018.  Task Force 5 laid in an intercept course.

27th January 88. Theta Sculptoris.
A Destroyer Tramontana class troop transport was detected on the other side of the system, confusing the issue of who actually laid the mines, was it the Destroyers or the Horde who could lay mines? All that was certain was they were not there when STG 8 arrived or left the system and thus they had been laid subsequent to that date.

1st February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
16:16. Task Force 5 finally reached engagement range and the missile boats from Task Group 5.4 loosed a deadly salvo. 315 Firestar IV missiles were launched at the alien mothership. , 70 weren’t needed. Unexpectedly there were no gunboats released on its death in the lithium deuteride fuelled thermonuclear pyre.  
18:44. Six Hellcat missiles were launched at each of the miners which disappeared in thermonuclear fireballs some thirty-four minutes later. The Task Force proceeded to check out the planets which might harbour life as the Union knew it.

3rd February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
As the Task Force passed close to Theta Sculptoris-A III a hostile ground forces contact was established with an estimated combat strength of 20. The indications were that it was a Destroyer base.

4th February 88. Sigma Pegasi.
STG 3 completed the gravitational survey of the Sigma Pegasi system. The system had a total of two jump points; all had been artificially opened from this end at least! A positive Indication that STG 2 was on the right track.

10th February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
The wreck of the Destroyer Cabo Fradera class orbital fort disappeared from sensors at Theta Sculptoris-A IV to be replaced with the signature of eight Horde Triththaas class gunboats apparently materialising out of the vacuum. This could not have come at a worse time for Task Force 5, it was in the process of encircling Tramontana 007 on the other side of the system and Cargo/Salvage Group 1 was inbound to the site of the wrecks while Galain III-003 had just arrived in system and began the opening of a jump portal. Fortunately Task Group 5.4 was on its way out of the system having been detached to rearm in Phi-2 Ceti and was only 1400 million klicks from the wrecks orbiting Theta Sculptoris-A VI. The Task Group was able to release the escort Yttrium which made all speed to Theta Sculptoris-A IV. The escort Nitrogen (TG 5.2) was dispatched to cover Galian III-003 while Neon (TG 5.1) was dispatched to provide a close escort to Cargo/Salvage task Group 1.But this pair were on the other side of the system and it was up to the Yttrium to kill the gunboats before they could cause any problems.

11th February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
The Yttrium (Captain Naomi O’Neil commanding)  got within three million klicks of the gunboats before the Horde gunboats moved to attack the vessel at which stage the Yttrium began to retrograde towards the jump point, Captain O’Neil was fully conscious of the fact that the gunboats were  600 k/s faster than the Yttrium. The gunboats entered laser range and the Yttrium began to fire on them. It was initially slow work until O’Neil ordered the Yttrium to slow to bring the gunboats further into the envelope of the 20cm advanced laser which improved accuracy and increased the damage with each hit. It took only eight minutes to eliminate the eight gunboats, although time stretched for the crew of the Yttrium, the compartments echoed to the dual crack of the capacitors as they discharged, powering the twin 20 cm advanced X-ray lasers every five seconds, interspersed with cheering from the crew every time a gunboat disappeared off the sensors.

12th February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
The Yttrium stationed itself approximately a million klicks off Theta Sculptoris-A IV to await the arrival of Cargo/Salvage Group 1. An exclamation from the scan console made O’Neil look up, the Scan officer continued “the wreck of the Mistral class base has disappeared! Oh-oh Horde gunboats have taken its place,” The mechanical voice of the combat comp woke to life as it began to iterate the threat, not eight gunboats this time but sixteen. O’Neil ordered “Crew to action stations, Pilot, retrograde towards the jump point as before, Comms alert the rest of the Task Force, Weapons target them as they come into range.” Yttrium prepared to repeat the same tactics as before. O’Neil allowed the range to close faster and it took just ten-and-a half minutes to destroy the Horde gunboats.

13th February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
Task Force 5 finally managed to bring Tramontana 007 to action and she was destroyed by eighteen Hellcat IIIB missiles from TG5.2, Commodore Danneburg’s own task group. The Task Force then made all speed to Theta Sculptoris- IV. This time Logistics and Procurement didn’t dare reprimand a hero of the Union, but still made their displeasure known.

15th February 88 11:43:06,Alpha Trianguli.
STG 2 Completed the Gravitational Survey of the Alpha Trianguli system. The system had a total of four jump points, and once again all had been stabilised to allow traffic without a jump drive.

20th February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
Task Force 5 was loitering a million klicks from Theta Sculptoris-A IV. Cargo/Salvage Group 1 was at work on one of the Destroyer Pizarro class wrecks when alarms on the Union vessels activated. Another twelve Horde gunboats emerged from a Pizarro class wreck at point blank range to the salvage group. But this time most of TG 5 was on top of them and it took but seconds for the Task Force to open fire. Two Hellcat IIIB missiles were targeted at each gunboat. The only down side was it took 35 seconds for the missiles to reach the gunboats and all that time they were firing on the freighter Argosy I-001, causing significant damage.  However at the end of the missiles run twenty-four cobalt enhanced thermonuclear fireballs marked the passing of the gunboats and while immobilised, Argosy I-001 was still there. A request was put in for a tug to tow her away for repair. Salvage started on the remaining wreck.

28th February 88. Theta Sculptoris.
Cargo/Salvage Group 1 completed the salvage of the remaining Pizarro class wreck. A number of strange alien larvae were discovered during the salvage operation. They appeared to be feeding on the wreckage and growing rapidly. All the larvae were terminated. (This was not quite accurate as they were “used” in attempts communications with this strange life form.) There was speculation as to whether a Horde gunboat could metamorphose into a mothership if given enough time and minerals; however nobody was terribly keen to pursue that experiment. Analysis of the very complex Horde genetic material revealed what could be interpreted as external manipulation of the genetic code which was unlike that seen in any other life form.  

2nd March 88. HIP 21482.
STG 2 chose one of the unexplored jump points in the Alpha Trianguli system and made transit. No sooner had the squadron made transit and jump lag worn off than a large alien population was detected on the fourth planet from the star. The new alien race had a thermal signature of 85,656, far larger than even Excalibur – Avalon-A IV at 54,363. This was something to make Star Corps HQ sit up and take notice, along with the 106 wrecks in the system. Who were they fighting, were they the aggressor, and if they lost why aren’t they radioactive dust?

7th March 88. Theta Sculptoris.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 01 completed Salvage of the Destroyer Neptuno class wreck. Again more strange alien larvae were discovered during the salvage operation, feeding on the wreckage and growing rapidly. All the larvae were terminated after failing to advance attempts at communication with the Horde.

9th March 88. Phi-2 Ceti.
The 338th Engineer Brigade disturbed an underground vault on Beaumaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II that contained hostile robotic soldiers. The 333rd Leviathan Brigade responded to the attack immediately the alert sounded, containing the cybernetic killers before they could do any damage, decimating the battalion of the aggressive automatons they engaged.

16th March 88. Delta Aquilae.
Gungnir, Aiglos and Kladenets (Satellite Layer Mk I class) completed in the orbital ‘Yard complex at Devaria - Delta Aquilae-A IV. These vessels were dispatched to Asran – Iota Piscium-A VII to pick up their surveillance satellite loads.

16th March 88. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
The 12th Leviathan Division was fully engaged with the mechanical monsters, containing the psychopathic mechanisms, pushing them back to the vault from which they emerged. Two formations of the destructive ‘droids had half their strength reduced to spare parts. Another lost a third as it attempted to take advantage of the fierce fighting in a flanking manoeuvre.  
It was sheer bad luck that the 186th Engineer Brigade disturbed yet another an underground vault on Beaumaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II that contained hostile ‘droid soldiers whilst the 12th Leviathan was already engaged. These fresh rogue AIs managed to escape the confines of the excavation and made a bee-line for the terraforming installations. Before a brigade from the 12th could be redeployed to stop them one terraforming facility was in flames, beyond rescue, fortunately no colonists were caught in the crossfire.

20th March 88. Theta Sculptoris.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 01 completed salvage operations on a Destroyer wreck of an unknown 21,500 ton class. Again a number of strange alien larvae were discovered during the salvage operation. Once more the larvae were terminated after they failed to advance communications with the Union contact team.

23rd March 88. Phi-2 Ceti.
In the confused fighting around the dig the 338th Engineer Brigade which had never fully withdrawn from the dig was overrun by one of the android battalions and suffered 48% casualties, flesh proving no match for the mechanical monsters. The 12th Leviathan was quick to avenge this lost and exterminated the last of the clockwork killers even before they had withdrawn to their bunkers.

28th March 88. 96 Aquarii.
STG 3 transited the unexplored jump point in the Sigma Pegasi system and discovered the system of 96 Aquarii. 96 Aquarii consisted of a single F3-IV star with an extensive planetary family, the moon of one of the gas giants was within the terraforming range. The conflict apparent in HIP 21482 had reached this system as two wrecks were discovered in the system. The squadron started a gravitational survey of the system.

30th March 88. Theta Sculptoris.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 1 completed Salvage of the wreck of Tramontana 007. It was a refreshing change not to have found alien larvae within the wreck. This confirmed as suspected that the larvae were deposited by the Horde mothership and not an intrinsic “infection” of this squadron of Destroyer warships.

17th April 88. HIP 21482.
“Population Detected! EM Signature 262571  Race ID: HIP 21482” squawked the sensor station as Venture B-003 closed the alien home world. Valuable intelligence was picked up as sensors reached into the planets orbital space to detect seven vessels designated the Phoenix Hawk class of 14,000 tons, seven vessels designated Anubis class also of 14,000 tons, four vessels designated Shadow Hawk class of 14,200 tons, one vessel designated the Regulator class of 7,100 tons and a 20,000 ton Shipyard contact in orbit of what was assumed to be the alien home world. Venture B-003 gave the planet a wide berth, not willing to give itchy trigger appendages an excuse to open fire.

9th May 88. Alpha Trinaguli.
STG 2 detected a population of the HIP 21482 aliens on Alpha Trianguli-A III, with a thermal signature of 215, an EM signature of 306 and a combat ground strength of 20. So the HIP 21482 aliens were an interstellar power.

11th May 88. Theta Sculptoris.
The Survey vessel Sunstone from STG 6(G) discovered a ruined alien city on Theta Sculptoris-A VI.

16th May 88. Excalibur – Avalon-A IV.
The fleet scout Invigilator (Super Scout Mk I class) completed at the Excalibur - Avalon-A IV ‘Yard complex and was assigned to Training Squadron Avalon before joining Task Force 9 whose construction was only just beginning.

17th May Alpha Trianguli.
A further HIP 21482 alien population was detected in the Alpha Trianuli system, on Alpha Trianguli-A IV - moon 5. Again there were ground forces present, this time with a combat strength estimated at 30.

23rd May 88. Theta Sculptoris.
The alien contact team believed the Horde was just too alien to open meaningful communication with and communication would never be established with such an alien life form, no further attempts would be made and in future any recovered larvae would be terminated.

13th June 88. Excalibur – Avalon-A IV.
Three R class missile cruisers, Remorseless, Retriever and Regent, left the ‘Yard complex in Excalibur - Avalon-A IV orbit destined for Task Force 8, TG 8.4, once they had worked up.
The government of the Union had changed over the decades. The top of the tree was the Sector Controllers; beneath them were the Planetary Coordinators. Most Planetary Coordinators have a Sector Controller above them, but there are a few independent Planetary Coordinators. The Planetary Coordinators were then divided into two classes, those who managed populated worlds and those who managed mining outposts.  The mining outposts (class 2 Planetary Coordinators) were directly responsible to the Sector Controller and had no further say in the affairs of the Union. However, the Sector Controllers and Class 1 Planetary Coordinators all met once a year in a great conclave chaired by the Director of the Union, historically the Sector Controller of the Avalon Sector, and measures were voted through, with every attendee having only one vote. But it was a poor Sector Controller who could not count on the support of his own sector’s Planetary Coordinators.  There were currently three sectors with a fourth under construction on Beaumaris Beta – Phi-2 Ceti-A IV. The Refuge Sector was still only a rump, any development put on hold during the current crises. The new Beaumaris sector looked to surpass it in importance once construction of the requisite command and control facilities was completed.  
Sector Fora met monthly chaired by the Sector Controller and dealt purely with local sector issues. If these proved intractable they were put on the agenda of the next Conclave for all to discuss. All deployments of the armed forces of the Union were the domain of the Star Corps. The Star Corps took its chain of command from the Sector Controllers; again the primus was the Director of the Union. However the Planetary Coordinators could appeal directly to Star Corps for support with or without the approval of their Sector Controller. Any deployment mandated by the Conclave was in effect a direct order and the Star Corps would have to provide very strong reasons if they ignored it.
Currently the Union had the problem of an alien race who knew were the Union was but the Union was ignorant of their location, there was the occupation of Adelson currently tying up three divisions on garrison duty and now another alien race of uncertain attitude had been found that had extra solar colonies and was engaged in or had recently engaged in an extended conflict. Added to that was the knowledge that there may be no front lines and an enemy could appear anywhere in Union space as the Lleida Hierarchy had. Thus defence spending was increased to provide the formation of at least two new task forces and the development of the escort cruiser concept, in effect an enlarged Argon class escort. Two light assault divisions were authorised with two more Assault divisions provided for. The Star Corps was also mandated to explore the feasibility of garrison divisions being formed and stationed on member worlds to allow the release of combat formations for active service. The finances of the Union, having built a healthy surplus were now running a deficit with no end in sight.

Avalon Sector : Gong Cai Wei (Director of the Union)
Planetary Coordinators
Excalibur – Avalon-A IV: Tom Hilton, Population: 2157.12m
Gram – Avalon-A II: Nii Peng Dong, Population: 1714.12m
Clarent – Avalon-A III: Wang Li Xue, Population: 564.87m
Devaria – Delta Aquilae-A IV: Taraka Kamei, Devarians Population: 2507.62m.
Kansas – Delta Aquilae-A III: Benjamin Moss, Population: 87.39m.
Stratham Kuiper 99-B III: Helene Gerrich, Population: 128.93m.
Ocean Kuiper 99-A II: Amber Allen, Population: 77.28m.
Wayland - SAO 89188-A IV – moon 8: Behula Dhar, Population: 72.9m.
Enterprise – HIP98505-A IV: Aiden Fletcher, Population: 69.93m.


Zwickau Sector: Frank Lindenbaum
Planetary Coordinators
Horse Delta Equulei-B II: Feng Qiau Cheng, Population: 4.02m.
Zwickau-S.W. Burnham 157-A II: Amitabha Datanal, Population: 178.41m.
Saginaw – XI Pegasi-A II- -moon 3: Lakshmi Ponarkaar, Population: 92.42m.
Burrow  – XI Pegasi-A III: Imogen Finch, Population: 0.76m.
Harvest  – XI Pegasi-A V: Kai Cunningham, Population: 0.58m.
Lawn  – XI Pegasi-B III: Xei Yaun Shan, Population: 0 In the process of terraforming.
Forest – 6 Ceti- A V: Joel Stevenson, Population: 0 In the process of terraforming.

Refuge Sector: Patrick Leach
Planetary Coordinator
Refuge HIP 96183-A IV: Jake Butcher, Population: 85.55m.

Beaumaris Sector (Not yet established)
Beaumaris Beta – Phi-2 Ceti-IV: Mahali Yadav, Population: 20.85m.
Beaumaris Alpha A II:Chou Lan Zhen, Population: 1.47m.
Adelson – Woolley 9388: Kunti Roa -  Aledsoni, Population: 3602.86m.
Asran – Iota Piscium-A VII: Shanti Raut/Roul -  Asrans, Population: 1779.55m.
Holden - Iota Piscium-A VI: Toby Harper, Population: 9.49m .

Independent Planets
Orchard - Mu Cygni-B V: Anna Wong, Population: 41.01m.
Meadow - Mu Cygni-B IV: Chao Tai Shu, Population: 1.74m.
Charter - Mu Cygni-B III: Zhao Mei Ting, Population: 0.9m.
Quarry - Mu Cygni-A IV – moon 4:  Englebert Kesselring, Population: 0.m.
Canyon 15 Sagittae-A II: Deng Lan Mei, Population: 26.49m.
Ostler 15 Sagittae-A III: ReistrReioubuinn Flokinson, Population: 17.04m.

24th June 88. Xi Pegasi.
The atmosphere of Lawn-Xi Pegasi-B III had just become breathable, but the temperature was still 119oK.

Avalon
The R class missile cruiser Reward left the orbital construction complex of the Union No. 2 ‘Yard in Excalibur - Avalon-A IV orbit and was assigned to Training Squadron – Avalon before joining Task Force 8.

2nd July 88. NSV 14784.
STG 2 entered the last unexplored jump point in Alpha Trianguli to discovered NSV 14784. This was a dim M0-V star with a collection of five planets, many moons and a couple of asteroid belts. NSV 14784-A III had an HI of 1.9

12th July 88. Theta Sculptoris.
The 14th Marine Division landed on Theta Sculptoris –A III and began their assault on the Destroyer outpost on the planet.

13th July 88. Theta Sculptoris-A III.
The marines quickly moved into the base proper where the fighting was fierce The ‘droid defenders stood little chance against the Marines, losing over half a battalion’s worth before the fighting had penetrated far into the base.

19th July 88. HIP 21482.
The aliens of HIP 21483 identified their polity as the Empire of Baneh.

Theta Sculptoris-A III.
The Marines of the 14th trapped the last of the clockwork killers and decommissioned them with prejudice, destroying the last two groups with ease.

24th July 88. Theta Sculptoris-A III.
The marines recovered 165 size 8 Attack class missiles. This was a weapon the Union was unaware of and had not seen in action. A DSTS was also recovered.

7th August 88. Avalon.
The decision of what to do with surplus escorts had been decided. Because these were the slowest vessels in the fleet the Argon class escorts would have their current drive units swopped out and newer SCAM drives installed. This should enable all task groups to attain a velocity in excess of 10,000 k/s. It would also delay the need to build a new escort class, the much touted escort cruiser. Chlorine was the first to undergo this service life extension refit to the Argon Mk VC3 class in the Excalibur - Avalon-A IV ‘Yard complex prior to forming part of Task Group 8.3.
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Argon Mk VC3 class Escort    8,500 tons     809 Crew     7875 BP      TCS 170  TH 168  EM 4320
12352 km/s     Armour 4-37     Shields 144-400     Sensors 54/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 34     PPV 49.5
Maint Life 4.3 Years     MSP 2606    AFR 128%    IFR 1.8%    1YR 226    5YR 3393    Max Repair 750 MSP

MilSpec SCAD E2.75 (10)    Power 210    Fuel Use 27.5%    Signature 16.8    Armour 0    Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 270,000 Litres    Range 207.9 billion km   (194 days at full power)
Sigma R400/20 Shields (18)   Total Fuel Cost  360 Litres per day

Advanced 20cm X-Ray Laser (2)    Range 800,000km     TS: 12500 km/s     Power 10-10     RM 7    ROF 5        12 12 12 12 12 12 12 10 9 8
Twin Gauss Cannon R5-50 Turret (5x10)    Range 50,000km     TS: 52500 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S04 400-12500 (2)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 12500 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Fire Control S01.4 34-50000 (5)    Max Range: 68,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     85 71 56 41 26 12 0 0 0 0
Gas-core Anti-matter Power Plant Technology PB-1 (2)     Total Power Output 20    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR76-R16 (1)     GPS 960     Range 76.8m km    Resolution 16
Active Search Sensor MR7-R1 (1)     GPS 24     Range 7.7m km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH3-54 (1)     Sensitivity 54     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  54m km

ECCM-6 (2)         ECM 70

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

22nd August 88. Avalon.
Cobalt refitted to the Argon Mk VC3 class in the Excalibur - Avalon-A IV ‘Yard complex. The vessel was detailed to join Task Group 8.4.

27th August 88. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
338th Engineer Brigade disturbed an underground vault on Beaumaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II that contained hostile ‘droid soldiers. Two battalions of the cybernetic soldiers emerged from their vault and engaged the engineer brigade.

2nd September 88. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
Once the 12th Leviathan Division entered the fray the clockwork killers found themselves outgunned and suffered massive casualties of between 60 – 75 %. However the 262nd Replacement Battalion suffered 12% losses when it was swept up in the fighting.

3rd September 88. NSV 14784.
While STG 2 was surveying NSV 14784 a population of the Lleida Hierarchy was detected with a thermal signature 55 and EM signature on NSV 14787-A III. There was also a ground forces contact, with an estimated combat strength of 40. The colony was very reminiscent of the Imperial Devarian ghost colonies. But at least it indicated the searchers  were on the right track.

7th September 88. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
The 12th Leviathan Division made short work of the remaining mechanical monsters, destroying them all without loss.

30th September 88. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
342th Engineer Brigade disturbed an underground vault on Beaumaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II that contained hostile ‘droid soldiers. But the 12th Leviathan was still deployed around the dig and tore into the hapless ‘droids, one battalion was half destroyed before it could deploy effectively.

Mu Cygni.
Addition of oxygen to the atmosphere of Quarry-Mu Cygni-A IV - Moon 4 resulted in the atmosphere becoming breathable without artificial aids and the planet was now within tolerances for Union citizens to inhabit without the recourse to TN infrastructure.

5th October 88. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
The 339th Engineer Brigade suffered 28% Casualties as the fighting swirled around the excavation site. The 12th Leviathan overran a battalion of cyber soldiers leaving nothing but scrap it its wake.  A third of the other battalion of mechanical monsters were reduced to so many spare parts.

13th October 88. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
The 12th Leviathan Division spent the week clearing out any ‘droids missed in the initial sweep through the excavations and secured any empty vaults.  The last few mechanical killers were dealt with.

HR 8853.
Exploration of the only unexplored jump point in the NSV 14784 system by STG 2 revealed the new system of HR 8853. This was a single F7-V star with a planetary family of six planets, a couple of dozen moons and a handful of comets. However, HR 8853-A II and HR 8853-A III both had HI’s of 1.9.

23rd October 88. 94 Aquarii.
Task Force 5, after an overhaul, was back on the hunt for hostiles. First target was 94 Aquarii. The separate task groups made a combat transit into 94 Aquarii and no sooner had the sensors stabilised than the three Las Palmas class missile ships previously detected by STG 7 were located 437million klicks distant as was the unmistakable signature of YM-2800-005 surveying the system some 4050 million klicks away. The low thermal signature, with a strength of 240 was obviously avoiding detection by the Destroyer listening posts. Commodore Danneberg wondered what this piece of information would have done to the survey effort out of Phi-2 Ceti before it was established the aliens actually originated somewhere near to the Zwickau – S.W. Burnham 157 sector.

24th October 88. 94 Aquarii.
06:47. The approaching Las Palmas class vessels finally crept within range of the standard Hellcat missiles and five R class missile cruisers opened fire, 18 Hellcat missiles per target.
07:08. The Las Palmas returned fire once they were in range of their fire controls which lacked the range of the Union models.
07:29. 47 Hellcats found their targets out of the 54 launched; turning space around the Destroyer Las Palmas class vessels incandescent with tritium fuelled thermonuclear fire. However, it was insufficient to kill the three Las Palmas class vessels, but two were obviously seriously hurt, their thermal signature was down and observed velocity reduced. Five seconds later thirty-six more missiles left the launchers of the R class missile cruisers.
08:06:16. The leading Destroyer vessel, Las Palmas 007, exploded as a dozen more Hellcats overwhelmed any point defence and burrowed deep within the already damaged hull. A secondary magazine explosion signalled her demise. The other two Las Palmas retired having expended their ordnance
08:06:36. Back at Task Force 5 two thermal strength 12 contacts were detected, incoming Hellcats! Thirty seconds later another salvo was picked up. As the third salvo entered the thermal imagers range the Vanguard loosed her Bugbear anti-missiles. The Bugbear missiles were proving far inferior to the Arrow IV, but they were adequate, free and there was no point in saving them.
08:08:21. A dozen Hellcats caught Las Palmas 009, tritium fuelled fusion warheads powered the plasma lances that burned into her vitals as she exploded in a series of secondary detonations.
08:08:31. The hostile thermal contacts abruptly disappeared off Task Force 5’s scan.  Relentless launched another salvo of a dozen Hellcats at Las Palmas 008.
08:50. It was all over as twelve Hellcats overwhelmed the remaining Las Palmas missile boat leaving nothing but wreckage. Task Force 5 moved in system, looking for the remaining six Dragonera attack craft known to be in system somewhere.

28th October 88. HIP 21482.
The wrecks in HIP 21482 were just too tempting an intelligence target. Thus Star Corps took the risk to send Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 into the alien held system of HIP 21482 to recover what she could from the over one hundred wrecks.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 had just completed salvage of an unknown class of 1000 tons. But apart from some wreckage that was refined for the TN minerals it contained nothing else was recovered from the first wreck salvaged, but it was early days and still many more wrecks to sift through.  

94 Aquarii.
Finally Task Force 5 located the missing six Dragoneras moving towards the 13 Ceti jump point. When they detected the EM emanations from Task Force 5 the Destroyer flotilla changed course to intercept the Union fleet.

29th October 88. 94 Aquarii.
09:50. The Dragoneras were allowed to close to 52.8 million klicks, then six R class missile cruisers opened fire allocating six basic Hellcats per craft.
10:07. Four of the attack craft disintegrated in a flurry of nuclear fireballs’, leaving just two. Relentless and Raider launched a further five Hellcat missiles at each of the surviving Dragoneras.
10:25. The two craft exploded in a nova storm of detonations. Commodore Danneberg noted pointedly in her log the relatively poor performance of the basic Hellcat missile.

HIP 21482.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 recovered their first bit of useful intelligence when a Size 6 Missile Launcher (33% Reduction) was salvaged from the wreck of what had once been a 1000 ton attack craft.

30th October 88. HIP 21482.
The site Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 had selected for salvage was almost directly between the alien home planet and unexplored jump point 3 in the system. The salvage vessel with the group had good military grade sensors and they detected vessels coming from the direction of jump point 3 towards the HIP 21482 alien’s home planet. Initially six ships designated the Longbow class, capable of 1790 k/s and massing 33,500 tons were picked up on sensors and it was soon apparent that this was an important route for what was assumed to be freighters. Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 also recovered their second piece of useful intelligence when a missile fire control FC47-R81 was salvaged from another 1000 ton wreck.

3rd November 88. 94 Aquarii.
STG 6(G) discovered a Destroyer outpost on 94 Aquarii –A V – moon 8. The 15th Light Assault Division recently raised on Gram – Avalon-A II and which had just arrived in system aboard Troop Transport Task Group 10 was called in.

5th November 88. 94 Aquarii.
The 385th Mobile Infantry Brigade of the 15th invested the Destroyer moon base on 94 Aquarii-A V – moon 8. The moon base proved to be unoccupied and a DSTS was recovered.

6th November 88. HIP 21482.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 completed the salvage of a 7450 ton wreck and recovered evidence to suggest this was an escort design using size 1 missiles. Equipment salvaged from the wreck included five size 1 missile launchers, a missile fire control FC17-R1, an EM Detection sensor EM1-6, a thermal sensor TH1-6 and two ion E8 engines. This gave a fairly complete picture of this class’s capability.

21st November 88. 94 Aquarii.
STG 6(G) discovered another Destroyer outpost with a strength 15 thermal signature on. 94 Aquarii-A VIII – moon 8.

24th November 88. HIP 21482.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 completed the salvage of a 7100 ton wreck and recovered an active search sensor MR47-R81.

26th November 88.  94 Aquarii.
The 408th MI Brigade of the 15th Light Assault unloaded on 94 Aquarii-A VIII - Moon 8 and occupied the Destroyer listening post unopposed. They recovered 28 Octlichny missiles and three DSTS.

29th November 88. HR 8853.
Venture B-004 of STG 2 discovered three Tramontana class troop transports lurking outside the orbit of the fourth planet from the star. The information was transmitted to Star Corps HQ via ansible.

2nd December 88. HR 8853.
STG 2 discovered a ruined alien settlement on HR 8853-A II.

94 Aquarii.
STG 6(G) located a further Destroyer outpost on 94 Aquarii-A X – moon 10.

4th December 88 23:09:11,Phi-2 Ceti.
52nd Engineer Brigade recovered an abandoned research facility and technical details of planetary sensor strength 1200 on Beaumaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II in the on-going exploitation of the alien ruins on this planet.

9th December 88. Avalon.
Rhenium (Argon Mk VB3 class) refitted on Excalibur - Avalon-A I
Code: [Select]
Argon Mk VB3 class Escort    8,500 tons     810 Crew     7820.8 BP      TCS 170  TH 168  EM 4560
12352 km/s     Armour 3-37     Shields 152-400     Sensors 54/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 34     PPV 49.5
Maint Life 4.25 Years     MSP 2588    AFR 128%    IFR 1.8%    1YR 230    5YR 3449    Max Repair 750 MSP

MilSpec SCAD E2.75 (10)    Power 210    Fuel Use 27.5%    Signature 16.8    Armour 0    Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 192.5 billion km   (180 days at full power)
Sigma R400/20 Shields (19)   Total Fuel Cost  380 Litres per day

Advanced 20cm X-Ray Laser (2)    Range 800,000km     TS: 12500 km/s     Power 10-10     RM 7    ROF 5        12 12 12 12 12 12 12 10 9 8
Twin Gauss Cannon R5-50 Turret (5x10)    Range 50,000km     TS: 52500 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S04 400-12500 (2)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 12500 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Fire Control S01.4 34-50000 (5)    Max Range: 68,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     85 71 56 41 26 12 0 0 0 0
Gas-core Anti-matter Power Plant Technology PB-1 (2)     Total Power Output 20    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR7-R1 (1)     GPS 24     Range 7.7m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR76-R16 (1)     GPS 960     Range 76.8m km    Resolution 16
Thermal Sensor TH3-54 (1)     Sensitivity 54     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  54m km

ECCM-6 (2)         ECM 60

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

10th December 88. 94 Aquarii-A X - Moon 10.
The 423rd Assault Brigade of the 15th Light Assault Division occupied the Destroyer outpost on 94 Aquarii-A X - Moon 10. The Destroyer base was found to be unoccupied and 180 Hellcat missiles recovered with a further three DSTS.

4th January 89 05:09:11,HIP 21482.
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 completed the salvage of the first group of wrecks, mostly 1000 ton attack craft and moved to jump point #1 and proceeded to salvage a 14,400ton wreck and recovered 1x thermal sensor TH1-11 and a magneto-plasma E7 drive.

12th January 89. HIP 21482.
A second 14,400 ton wreck provided further evidence for Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 in the form of a fire control S04 60-50000, an ECCM– 1 suite and five more magneto-plasma drive E7 units.  This was apparently a beam combatant.

17th January 89. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
The 340th Engineer Brigade disturbed a large underground vault on Beaumaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II that contained hostile ‘droid soldiers. Destroyer cybernetic soldiers erupted from the vault and managed to evade the duty battalion. A company of the mechanical murderers torched a residential block, killing 25,000 civilians and destroyed infrastructure.
When the 12th Leviathan Division did react it could only catch and destroy a third of the thousands of Destroyer ‘droids causing mayhem in the wider colony.

17th January 89 15:09:11,HIP 21482
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 completed the salvage of another 7,450 ton wreck but found a completely different set of remains to the first 7450 ton wrecked salvaged. They recovered a Missile Fire Control FC72-R70 and a Size 5 Missile Launcher

22nd January 89. Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
The cybernetic killers had escaped beyond the excavations into the wider colony. Two more residential blocks were burned to the ground killing half-a-million civilians and yet more infrastructure was destroyed. Units whose primary purpose was not combat were thrust into the front line with the inevitable consequences. The 339th Engineer Brigade received 23% casualties as it attempted to prevent the electronic executioners penetrating further into the colony. The brigades of the 12th finally got their act together and managed to destroy one ‘droid battalion and inflicted high losses on the three other formations, dismembering between 40 to 80% of the titanium terrorists. But even the leviathan brigades did not escape scot free; the 324th Heavy Assault Battalion had a quarter of its continental siege units decommissioned when the remnants of a ‘droid battalion turned on them unexpectedly.

26th January 89. HIP 21482,
Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08 completed the salvage of another 7450 ton wreck which appeared to be a type 1 escort class. An Ion Engine E8, EM Detection Sensor EM1-6, Thermal Sensor TH1-6, and five Size 1 Missile Launchers were salvaged from this wreck.

30th January 89. Beaumaris Alpha - Phi-2 Ceti-A II.
The 338th Engineer Brigade was still in contact with the enemy and suffered 35% casualties in the fierce fighting that was hand to mechanical appendage at times. The remnants of the Destroyer brigade was finally brought to account by the 12th Leviathan and exterminated. This was probably the worst incursion yet by these vermin.

5th February 89. HIP 21482.
Five size 1 missile launchers and one EM detection sensor EM1-6 were salvaged from the wreck of an unknown class of 7,100 tons by Cargo/Salvage Task Group 08

 
End of Part Ten.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2012, 07:51:27 AM by IanD »
IanD