Campaign Updates

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 122, Day 30, D’Bringi Expanses
The D’Bringi government announces that as a result of the T’Pau race’s valiant service during the war with the Humans and the Mintek, they have been granted partnership status within the D’Bringi nation.  The D’Bringi government notes that this is only the first set towards granting the T’Pau an equal position within the D’Bringi nation, and that as a result of this development, the T’Pau will no longer be required to pay tribute, and will have full access to D’Bringi territories for exploration and settlement purposes. 

Behind the scenes, this is an example of a change in direction in D’Bringi internal politics.  The recently concluded war with the Humans, and the ongoing war with the Mintek, have convinced the D’Bringi that they need to have a closer relationship with their allies, and can no longer depend on merely dominating other races.  In addition to this effort, the D’Bringi have agreed to increase cooperation with the Rehorish in hopes of improving the relationship between the two primary allies. 

Month 123, D’Bringi Expanses
The D’Bringi government announces that the occupation of Doraz Prime will be ending this month.  The newly reorganized Doraz government as agreed to accept a similar relationship with the D’Bringi as the T’Pau, beginning next month.  This development came after massive D’Bringi investment greatly increased the standard of living of the average Doraz citizen.  The Doraz government was impressed not only with the D’Bringi generosity in investing in their economy, but also by the adroit negotiation skills shown by the joint D’Bringi-Rehorish negotiation teams sent to the planet to manage improving their relationship with the D’Bringi

(Author’s note: I rolled a nat 100 on their political acceptance roll.  The Doraz love the D’Bringi now, perhaps as a result of their rebellion being so handily crushed.)

The Torqual have also accepted an improvement to their status, and now become associate members (trade & military alliance) of the D’Bringi Expanses.   

Month 123, Day 18, D’Bringi Expanses
A D’Bringi exploration probing a newly discovered system detects a new civilization inhabiting one of the system’s five habitable planets.  Only one of the planets is an ST planet, as the D’Bringi prefer, but the other three will be valuable to the T’Pau, and the newly discovered race, which appears to be low-tech, will be a valuable addition to the D’Bringi nation, once they are civilized.  The system is designated as the Nemor system. 

Month 124, Day 1, D’Bringi Expanses
A conquest expedition sets out for the Nemor system from D’Bringi Prime.  It will arrive on Day 15, Month 125. 

[Kurt (OP)]

State of Humanity in Month 125
After the fall of the Coalition and the USSR humanity has fragmented into several different states.  Perhaps because of the recent example of the rivalry between the Coalition and the USSR, all of these successor states have agreed in principle to cooperate together and work towards a common future under the auspices of a united fleet led by Admiral Ruston and General Semenov.  For now, this means that all of the major human states have signed trade and military treaties with each other, agreeing to the common defense, and to support the United Colonial Defense Fleet.  All of the human states have also agreed to a web of mutual aid and defense treaties that form the Colonial Union.  While more of a concept right now than anything concrete, the Colonial Union will provide a framework for growth and cooperation for the future. 

Eridani Confederation
The Eridani Confederation is centered on the New Plymouth colony in Epsilon Eridani.  New Plymouth was intended to be a regional capital by the Coalition; however, the funding had not yet been approved when the war happened on Earth.  As the one location in the Coalition’s colonies that had shipyards and system defenses, it was immediately identified by Coalition naval officers as the obvious fallback point when the yards over Earth were destroyed.  As the largest colony in the area, New Plymouth has become the natural leader for the surrounding colonies, and has become the resettlement site for many of the refugees from Earth. 

The Confederation started with the four colonies in the Epsilon Eridani warp chain which had naturally banded together for mutual defense when the invading Rehorish cut the area off from Earth, but has expanded to include the colonies in the Sigma Draconis system and the off-Earth colonies in the Solar System.  This expansion took place with the facilitation of Admiral Ruston, whose officers had taken over managing the two systems during the emergency, while the fleet was deployed to the Rehorish border. 

The Eridani Confederation currently has no indigenous naval units, as all Coalition units assigned to the area have been subsumed into the United Colonial Defense Fleet (UCDF).  The Confederation does maintain system defenses in the Epsilon Eridani system, as well as the orbital yards over New Plymouth and a group of mobile shipyards that fled to the system after war consumed Earth.  Much of the system’s fixed defenses were mothballed after the peace treaty with the D’Bringi Alliance was announced, in an attempt to free up resources that could be used to support the UCDF.

The Confederation is the human state most closely aligned with the Coalition portions of the UCDF, and is considered one of the two home ports for the UCDF, with the other being the Russian colony of Gagarin in Moskva.  The Russian Colonial Union, which is based on the Gagarin Colony, with the assistance of Admiral Ruston and General Semenov, have forged a closer relationship (Partnership) with the Confederation than the other human nations, agreeing to act in concert and support the UCDF, instead of building up their own navies. 

The Confederation also maintains the research outpost on the Tlatelolco home planet in the Redwing system, and continues to maintain close ties with the Tlatelolco’s Enlightened Union.  Due to its current dire economic situation, the Confederation has not been able to continue the Coalition’s economic and research assistance to the Tlatelolco, however, the Tlatelolco have been very understanding and have offered to send economic assistance to help support the UCDF, if necessary. 

Total Income: 5,444 MCr

Epsilon Eridani Fixed Defenses: 6xBS0
Epsilon Eridani Mothballs: 3xBS3, 3xBS0

Russian Colonial Union
The Union consists primarily of the Russian colonies in the Moskva (Sigma Draconis) system, the Solar system, and several of the colonies freed from Rehorish occupation.   The Union is based on the Gagarin colony, which is the first stop for Russian refugees from Earth, although many of the refugees are then sent on to the Tomsk Union, the Eridani Confederation, or the new Titov Free State.  The Union was the brainchild of General Semenov, who, before the fall of the USSR, recognized the need for an economic base to support his fleet.  When it had become clear that the USSR’s colonies were on their own, General Semenov acted to prevent the various colonies from falling into isolationism by bringing the heads of the major populations in the Solar System and Moskva together to discuss a union that would be able to deal with the refugees from Earth and support his fleet. 

The Union government is still new, untested, and unsure of itself.  For these reasons, and because of the unrest caused by the huge number of refugees that have flowed from Earth, they were willing to sign agreements with the other human states to ensure that they received the assistance they needed to deal with the refugees. 

The Union has no naval assets or fixed defenses under its control, and thus relies completely on the UCDF for its defense.  General Semenov has promised to turn over the mobile shipyards currently deployed to the Brezhnev system to reactivate and repair the Russian Home Fleet to the Union government for their use once their mission is complete, thus jumpstarting their naval construction capabilities.   The Union is the human state most closely aligned with the Russian portion of the UCDF, and the Gagarin colony is one of the UCDF’s two home ports.  The relationship between the Russian second in command of the UCDF and the Union’s political leadership is uneasy, as the USSR had a long history of military rule, and the civilian government of the Union is not yet convinced that General Semenov does not intend to take a more direct role in their government. 

Total Income: 5,284

Tomsk Union
 The Tomsk Union was created after the Russian colony in the Tomsk system, and the colonies in the surrounding systems, were isolated by the Rehorish advance into the Russian colonial territories.  The Tomsk Union managed to survive the Rehorish advance largely due to the presence of warships from the Bjering Consolidate, a former ally of the USSR and neighbor to the Tomsk system.  The Bjering’s warships had fallen back to the Tomsk system after the USSR’s fleet had retreated to the inner systems.  The Bjering met with advancing Rehorish forces and convinced them to avoid the Tomsk system during their advance towards Earth, claiming that the Tomsk system was part of the Bjering Consolidate.  The ploy worked, although it is not clear whether the Rehorish believed the Bjering statements that Tomsk was a Bjering colony, or whether they merely wished to avoid conflict with yet another race while fighting a major war with the humans.  In any case, the Tomsk Union is the only human multi-stellar organization that has existed for more than just a few months, having been on its own since the Russians retreated to the inner systems. 

The Tomsk Union consists of seven Russian colonies in six systems, and its capital is on the Tereshkova colony in the Tomsk System.  Tereshkova has been one of the primary refugee resettlement sites, and has seen its population swell as a result.  This boost in population has allowed the Tomsk Union to become more expansive, and colonization of the innermost asteroid belt of the Tomsk A planetary system has recently begun. 

The Tomsk Union maintains a small navy and some system defenses in the Tomsk system, and is the only human successor state to have launched its own survey ships.  In addition, the Tomsk Union has recently begun research and development on the next tech level, the only human state which has done so.  The Union has agreed to help support the UCDF, with its support primarily going to the Russian portion of the combined fleet. 

The Tomsk Union has a trade and military treaty with the Bjering Consolidate, and although the other human states have sent representatives to the Tomsk Union to interact with the Bjering, to date the Bjering have preferred to limit their contact with the other human states. 

The Tomsk Union sees itself as being on the frontier of human expansion, and is located squarely between two powerful alien races, the Rehorish and the Bjering.  Although it has no direct contact with the Rehorish, the people of the Tomsk Union are very aware of their proximity, given the facts of the creation of the Union, and for these reasons their support for the UCDF is unwavering. 

Total Income: 6,695

Home Fleet: 9xDD, 1xFGS, 16xES
Shipyards: 7xSYM
Survey Fleet: 10xEX
System Defenses: 2xCT(Automated Warfare), 200xDSB-L

Wunderland Association
The Wunderland Republic broke away from the Coalition almost immediately after the fall of Earth, largely driven by the threat posed by the Tarek in the Sligo system.  After failing to destroy, or even defeat the Tarek, the Wunderland Republic was overthrown and reorganized into the Wunderland Association, a multi-stellar organization of fifteen colonies in thirteen systems.  Unlike the Republic, which was a purely Wunderland centric organization, the Association is run by an executive board made up of representatives from every colony.  While Wunderland is its largest population center and its capital, the Association is far more representative of the disparate colonies that make up the organization. 

The Association has agreed to cooperate with the other human successor states, and has agreed to support the UCDF, and indeed its representatives were instrumental in making the recent Colonial Conference a success.  The Association maintains a small navy of former Coalition naval ships, and recently completed work on a new shipyard over Wunderland. 

Total Income: 8,397

Home Fleet: 3xDD, 2xFGS, 4xCT, 20xES, 3xEXS
Fortifications: 1xSY, 9xBS0

Consolidated Earth States
The Consolidated Earth States is the emerging global government centered on the Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia Alliance.  While not completely in control of the entire globe, the CES is on track to pacify and incorporate the remaining areas within the next several months, with the assistance of the UCDF. 

With the success of the CES, the refugee flow from Earth has dropped considerably, and will probably taper off in the next two months.  In an effort to divest itself of assets no longer considered critical to the success of its mission, and to assist the CES in its ongoing mission to reunite the Earth, the UCDF has formally transferred control of several military assets in the home system to the CES.  In addition, the last surviving Coalition PDC, and the six surviving Russian anti-missile PDC’s, all joined the CEF early in its efforts to unite Earth. 

The CES is almost totally focused on internal problems and political issues, and this is not likely to change at any point in the near to medium future.  The CES leadership has pledged to support the UCDF with any resources that are available beyond those required for recovery efforts. 

Total Income: 3,025 MC

Earth Planetary Defense: 1xOffensive PDC, 6xAnti-missile PDC
Sol WP Defense: 2xAst Fort, 4xTug, 6xBS0, 2xEXS
Mothballs: 6xBS3, 3xBS1, 3xBS0,1xDD(AW)

Enlightened Union
The Tlatelolco are steadfast allies to humanity, and are currently closest with the Eridani Confederation.  They are currently at IND-2 tech level, and are in the midst of developing systems that will allow them to begin developing HT-1 in the near future.  While not officially members of the Colonial Union, the Tlatelolco have expressed support for a united humanity, and have pledged to help to support the UCDF in the future. 

Total Income: 697 MC

United D’Bringi Soviets
The UDS is composed of former mine workers from the D’Bringi system of Chraough, which was conquered by the USSR and renamed the Brezhnev system.  The mine workers of the system, which had no habitable planets, quickly came to view the humans as their liberators, particularly when Soviet Special Warfare Groups began operating in the system.   The USSR viewed the D’Bringi of the system as uniquely valuable assets in their ongoing war with the D’Bringi, and hoped to convert the D’Bringi of the system to their side and create spies and special warfare groups capable of operating within D’Bringi territories.  The first part of this plan worked very well, as the oppressed miners latched on to communist theories with a will, using the collectivist ethos to improve their living conditions and overthrow the remaining clan overseers.  Unfortunately, the USSR never had the chance to implement the rest of their plan, when the D’Bringi offensive cut off the Brezhnev system.  When the Soviet Home Fleet was trapped in the system, the D’Bringi miners, now completely converted to a fairly pacifistic version of communism, proved to be invaluable to the trapped fleet, providing most of their food and resources to the trapped fleet to ensure its continued operation for as long as possible. 

After the relief of the system by General Semenov, the leader of the trapped fleet, General Lebedev, insisted that the D’Bringi miners be evacuated from the system before the fleet left.  As the plan was to abandon the entire warp chain, due to the near certainty of multiple closed warp points that led to the D’Bringi Expanses, General Semenov agreed and relocated the D’Bringi in the system several asteroid colonies in the Moskva system.  From there they were relocated to an ST planet in the Tomsk Union that was perfect for their new colony. 

The UDS has promised to support the UCDF and is a fervent supporter of the Russian side of the Colonial Union. 

Total Income: 258 MC

Titov Free State
The Titov Free State was created by the terms of the peace treaty between the USSR, the Coalition, and the D’Bringi Alliance.  The Titov Free State is intended to act as a buffer state between humanity and the Rehorish, and is independent, in theory, from both.  By terms of the treaty, both human governments and the Rehorish are required to sign trade and military treaties guaranteeing the independence of the Titov Free State, and both super-powers are allowed to station small forces of scouts in the Novosibirsk system to ensure that the other side has not violated the treaty. 

The Titov Free State consists of the Russian colony of Titov, located in the border system of Novosibirsk.  Free State’s government is currently a loose confederation of the colony’s primary cities, but the political situation is in flux as unrest from the influx of refugees combines with the uncertainty generated by the home system’s apparent willingness to cut them loose in treaty negotiations with hostile aliens. 

The citizens of the Free State do not yet know of the destruction of Earth.  Admiral Ruston imposed a complete blackout on information from the inner systems during his campaign to liberate the are from the Rehorish, and has maintained that blackout since then, to prevent the Rehorish from learning of the destruction of Earth and the crippling of humanity’s production.  While the information cannot be kept secret forever, Admiral Ruston hopes that it can be withheld long enough for the human colonies to become organized enough to present a united front to the Rehorish and D’Bringi alliance.  Certainly, as the influx of refugees grows, the secret will come out, but as of yet only a trickle of refugees have reached this distant system. 

The Free State was not asked to participate in the Colonial Conference, and has not been asked to support the UCDF, as it does not yet know of the fall of Earth.  In addition, by the treaty with the D’Bringi Alliance, the Free State must remain neutral with both sides.  The Free State has begun construction on a shipyard, which will be launched at the start of next month. 

Total Income: 1,995 MC

United Colonial Defense Fleet
The UCDF is the brainchild of Admiral Ruston and General Semenov, and was intended from the first as a way of combining the two fleets and protecting all of the human successor states.  The current fleet’s maintenance requirements, over 18,000 MCr’s, is far beyond what any single human successor state could provide, therefore, something like the Colonial Union, with pledges by every member to support the UCDF, is necessary to keep the fleet operating.  Both Admiral Ruston and General Semenov agree that the fleet will have to be reduced in size to reduce operating costs and the resulting burden on the successor states, but with the ongoing unrest throughout the colonies due to the refugee situation, the new and untested peace with the D’Bringi Alliance, and the recent trouble with the Tarek, no reductions in force have been made and none will be made in the next few months. 

The UCDF is primary deployed to the Solar System and the Moskva/Sigma Draconis systems as a peacekeeping and refugee assistance force, and to the Sligo system to watch the Tarek.  The other primary deployment is to the Kirov system in the Russian colonial territories, to watch the Titov Free State and the Rehorish. 

Commanding Officer: Admiral Ruston
Second in Command: General Semenov

UCDF: United Colonial Defense Fleet)
UCDF Squadron #1 (Epsilon Eridani): 7xBC, 7xCA, 1xCL, 4xDD, 7xFGS, 3xCT, 3xEXS – Home Fleet
UCDF Squadron #2 (Sigma Draconis/Moskva): 3xCA, 3xCL, 5xEXS – Peace Keeper Force
UCDF Squadron #3 (Sligo): 3xBC, 3xCA, 3xDD – Peace Keeper Force
UCDF Squadron #4 (Sol): 3xCL, 2xFGS, 6xCT, 3xEXS – Peace Keeper Force
UCDF Squadron #5 (Kirov): 6xCA, 6xDD, 4xFGS, 4xEXS – Rehorish Border Squadron
UCDF Squadron #6 (Moskva/Sigma Draconis): 18xCL – WP Assault Group
UCDF Squadron #7 (Kirov): 3xBC, 2xCL, 2xCT, 23xES, 1xEXS – Rehorish Border Squadron
UCDF Squadron #8 (Moskva/Sigma Draconis): 2xBC, 2xCA, 1xDDC, 14xES, 1xEXS – Home Fleet
UCDF Squadron #9 (Sol): 3xCL, 1xDD, 1xEXS – Peace Keeper Force
UCDF Squadron #10 (Brezhnev): 2xBC, 2xCA, 5xDD, 3xCT, 2xEXS – Under repair and reactivation

The UCDF has also inherited assets from the former Coalition and USSR for which no decisions as to their dispositions have been made.  These assets include the following:

Coalition Exploration Group #1 (Epsilon Eridani): 20xEX, 1xEXS
Coalition Exploration Group #2 (Epsilon Eridani): 20xEX, 1xEXS
Russian Mothball Site Alpha (Solar System): 3xCA
Russian Earth Shipyard Complex: 11xSY – (1xBB, 9xCL under construction, currently paused)

The CES is currently negotiating with the UCDF over the status of the shipyards in orbit over Earth.  The Coalition’s shipyards, and all of the ships under construction there, were destroyed during the war, but the USSR’s shipyards were never targeted and survived, along with the ships under construction.  In the immediate aftermath of the war, the shipyard’s staff paused all construction and most of them returned to Earth to search for their families.  Since then, some have returned and done work necessary to keep the ships under construction viable and ready for the re-initiation of construction. 

The yards have been a relatively low priority issue for both the CES and the UCDF, although now that the UCDF is getting on its feet and beginning to look towards the future the issue has become more of a priority, at least for them. 

The Russian mothball site in the Solar System was part of the Russian build up prior to the D’Bringi Alliance offensive.  Several times plans were made to reactivate the three cruisers stored there, but the need for warp point assault ships always derailed these plans.  Currently, the UCDF has tentative plans to sell these mothballed units to the CES, which will use them to form the backbone of their own navy. 

The two former Coalition exploration groups are somewhat controversial, and no decision has been made as to their disposition.  Both Admiral Ruston and General Semenov want to use them to begin expanding humanity’s borders again, however, they face serious opposition to this plan from various groups within the successor states.  Some of these groups want to reduce the financial burden upon their states, and while the exploration groups are not particularly expensive to support compared to the large number of warships in the UCDF, they are a significant expense.  The more serious opposition, though, comes from politically influential groups that fear the possibility of the exploration groups discovering more hostile alien races.  This possibility cannot be discounted, and it is possible that the exploration groups will be mothballed in the near future. 

[Kurt (OP)]

State of the D’Bringi-Rehorish-T’Pau Alliance in Month 125
D’Bringi Expanses
D’Bringi experiences with the recently concluded war with humanity, and with the Mintek, have convinced the D’Bringi Clan Chiefs that they must form closer relationships with their allies, and that they must fundamentally change their relationships with their subjugated races.  Between the failures to conquer both the Mintek and the humans, and the insight and guidance provided by the Rehorish, the senior clan leaders now believe that creating a strong alliance will benefit the D’Bringi the most.  These events have convinced the two remaining senior clan leaders, Skull Splitter and Burning Blade, that the D’Bringi can no longer rely solely on their own strength to succeed in the galaxy, but will instead need to have a strong alliance with as many alien races as possible, which the D’Bringi will, of course, lead.  To this end the D’Bringi government has changed its goals in conquering newly discovered alien races.  In the past, the D’Bringi clans merely intended to gain honor in the conquest, and then exploit the conquered alien races for all of the resources that they could provide, to build up the Clan’s fleets as much as possible.  This is now seen as inefficient and short-sighted, particularly in light of the reality that planets suitable for D’Bringi colonization (ST type planets) appear to be fairly rare. 

In the last several months, the D’Bringi have ended their occupations of the Doraz and the Torqual races, after signing mutual defense and trade agreements with both races.  In addition, the T’Pau, who served during the war with both humanity and the Mintek with distinction, have now been elevated to equals within the D’Bringi Alliance, and have been granted full independence and access to the D’Bringi territories for colonization purposes. 

The Clans recently authorized the expansion of the survey corps to two survey groups, and will likely authorize further expansions once the ongoing fleet modernization refits are completed.  These new survey groups are tasked with finding new ways into the Mintek territories, in the hopes of avoiding the massive fixed defenses they have placed around the warp point that constitutes their current point of contact. 

A small clan fleet has been dispatched to the Nemor system, to bring a newly discovered low-tech race into the fold.  The clan fleet is escorting a large ground force that will overwhelm the defenders and begin the process of civilizing the natives. 

Total Income: 13,535

Clan Home System Forces: 5xCT
Keeper Home Fleet: 2xBC, 7xCT
Conquest Fleet (bound for the Nemor System): 3xCA, 3xCT
Forward Fleet (Phyriseq): 3xBC, 22xCA, 2xDD, 1xCT (Combined Keeper and Clan forces)
Home system Defenses: 9xBS3
Doraz System Watch Force: 2xCA, 2xCT
Torqual System Watch Force: 4xCA, 6xCT
Survey Group #1: 25xEX
Survey Group #2: 25xEX

Rehorish Stellar Dominion
The Rehorish were the prime motivators behind the peace treaty with the humans, just as they were the prime motivators in launching the new offensive against the humans in Month 107.  Fleet actions against the Humans and the Mintek proved to the Rehorish high command that while their crews were equaled by none, their ships were outdated and a liability.  The Rehorish had the sheer numbers to match the other races, including their allies, but their tech was significantly behind all of the other races involved, with perhaps the exception of the T’Pau, and this had become a become a source of concern for the Rehorish government even before the Mintek invaded with massive warships and weapons that the Stellar Dominion couldn’t hope to match on a one-to-one basis.  The sad fact was that the bulk of the Rehorish ships serving on the front line with the D’Bringi fleets were significantly behind even the older D’Bringi cruisers, and were primitive compared to the latest D’Bringi cruisers rolling out of their yards.  And while efforts had been made to remedy this tech imbalance, including by buying tech advancements from the D’Bringi, the Rehorish had not been able to translate those new systems into newer and better ships on the front lines due to the need to keep their maximum strength concentrated at the point of the most imminent threat.  Therefore, when the Humans offered to negotiate, the Rehorish jumped on the chance to eliminate one active enemy, which would allow them to withdraw ships to their home yards for refit.  And while those refits wouldn’t make their cruisers the equal of the latest D’Bringi and Human ships, much less Mintek, the refits would make their ships much more effective, particularly in light of their superior crews. 

When the backward nature of their technology became clear to the Rehorish government as the war ground on, they began a number of projects to remedy this situation.  Several were direct attacks on the problem, such as buying tech from the D’Bringi, but others were efforts to remedy weaknesses in the D’Bringi Alliance that the Rehorish government felt could threaten their prospects for long term success.  Primary of these efforts was an outreach effort to the D’Bringi themselves to improve their relationship with their subject races.  The Rehorish government had no moral issue with the D’Bringi efforts to conquer newly contacted races, as such, but felt that the D’Bringi determination to us such races as resource banks was short sighted and inefficient.  Therefore, the Rehorish had been working with senior clan officials to advocate for a more enlightened treatment of the subject races, with an eye towards eventual voluntary incorporation of their races into the Alliance as equals (well, more or less as equals).  This effort met with more success than the Rehorish had anticipated, largely due to the T’Pau military’s bravery in battle, and the Mintek efforts to undermine D’Bringi rule on Doraz Prime and Torqual Prime.  With the D’Bringi now converted to the Rehorish mindset of voluntarily incorporating subject races as near equals, the Rehorish have begun advocating for a system of technological assistance to lower tech races, to help them reach the D’Bringi tech level.  The benefits of this are obvious, and the D’Bringi seem willing to help out with such a plan.  In addition, the Rehorish government has decided to pay the D’Bringi to emplace a communications network throughout the Rehorish Dominion.  The benefits of this are obvious, but giving access to Dominion space to the D’Bringi is a big step for the Rehorish, who have had issues trusting the other races in the past. 

The Rehorish Navy has stationed small squadrons at the two contact points they have with the humans, and a guard force in Phyriseq, and has withdrawn the rest of the Grand Fleet to the home system for refits with their latest technology, which should bring the fleet up to match the last generation of D’Bringi ships.  Once the Grand Fleet is refitted, it will be relocated to the Phyriseq system to replace the ships there so that they can be refitted. 

Total Income: 20,428 MCr

Border Defense Force, Kure: 3xCL, 6xDD, 3xCT
Border Defense Force, Sapporo: 3xCA, 6xCL, 6xDD, 1xCT
Mintek Guard Force, Phyriseq: 5xCA, 21xCL, 11xDD, 1xCT
Home Fleet: 1xBC, 25xCA, 6xCL, 22xDD, 3xFG(AW), 1xCT
Home System Defenses: 9xBS3, 1xBS1
Survey Group #1: 20xCT
Survey Group #2: 20xCT

T’Pau Syndicate
The T’Pau were the first race conquered by the D’Bringi, and had long ago resigned themselves to living in the shadow of their stronger, if less culturally advanced, neighbors.  The leadership and bravery demonstrated by Lt. General Morx in the campaign against the Mintek, though, changed many things.  The T’Pau agreement to provide ships for the D’Bringi campaign bought them access to a colony system unused by their D’Bringi masters, and the performance and bravery of their fleet has now given them a new freedom within the Alliance, and access to many of the type T planets discovered but unused by the D’Bringi. 

The T’Pau Syndicate is now in negotiations with the D’Bringi to receive technological assistance, and several colonization efforts are underway throughout the D’Bringi Expanses. 

Total Income: 8,615

Expeditionary Fleet (Phyriseq): 6xCA, 9xCL
Home Fleet: 3xCA, 2xCL
Survey Fleet: 15xEX

Doraz Contingency
The Doraz are militaristic, slug-like beings who were greatly impressed by the D’Bringi martial strength, and who have now agreed to join the Alliance as independent members.  They are currently working on launching two shipyards. 

Total Income: 2,764

Torqual Benignity
The Torqual are tall, grey humanoid beings who are, by nature, very peaceful.  They recently won their freedom by agreeing to participate in the Alliance, however, they cannot be said to be enthusiastic members.  The Torqual are participating more out of necessity than anything else, and although they prize peaceful pursuits above most other things, they are also pragmatic and understand that the D’Bringi will require their participation in the Alliance’s military forces.  They are currently building shipyards and expanding their colonies in their home system.   

Total Income: 6,275

Total D’Bringi Alliance Income: 51,617 (Includes trade)
Total D’Bringi Alliance Fleet Strength: 6xBC, 73xCA, 47xCL, 47xDD, 30xCT (8865)

Total Human Income: 29,800 (Not including Titov Free State)
Total Human Fleet Strength: 17xBC, 23xCA, 30xCL, 32xDD, 16xFGS, 18xCT, 73xES (6566)

Note: Both the D’Bringi Alliance and the assorted Human States have more ships than they can comfortably support.  The Human states desperately want to start mothballing ships to free up resources to begin colonization, research, and industrial expansion again.  The D’Bringi are rebuilding their fleets after the losses they’ve suffered, but the Rehorish are spending approximately 80% of their income supporting their fleet and have little left over for economic expansion.  Given this fact, both sides have a vested interest in maintaining the peace, and will likely start mothballing at least some ships soon. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 125, Day 15
The D’Bringi conquest expedition arrives over the inhabited planet in the Nemor system.  The Nemor system is of particular interest to the D’Bringi, as the system has five habitable planets, one of which is usable for the D’Bringi (type ST).  The second planet of the binary system’s primary yellow star is inhabited by a low tech (IND-2) race recently discovered by D’Bringi explorers.  The race below was just becoming aware that something was going on in their system when the D’Bringi troop transports began landing and disgorging hordes of clan troops.  The operation was covered by three clan cruisers in orbit, while a trio of corvettes picketed the warp point into the system. 

The native race called themselves the Chirq, although the D’Bringi didn’t know that yet.  The D’Bringi were taken aback by the fierce martial appearance of the Chirq in the beginning, as individually the Chirq were much larger than a D’Bringi warrior.  A human would have compared the Chirq to a centaur, as they had a large abdomen with four large legs, although that portion of their body appeared more like a spider than a traditional horse or centaur.  Their thorax was set forward on their abdomen, and had two large, strong arms for grasping and manipulating, and two additional smaller arms set below the main set of arms.  These smaller arms ended in vicious barbs, and appeared to be used mainly for spearing and impaling their food.  The Chirq head was a nightmare of multiple eyes and a large mouth that appeared quite capable of tearing apart live prey.  In spite of the formidable appearance of the Chirq, the D’Bringi clan warriors soon discovered that the Chirq had little interest in fighting pitched battles, and quite often tried to talk their way out of tight spots rather than fight to the end, in spite of the fact that the two races couldn’t understand each other. 

Even had the Chirq been as formidable as they appeared, it wouldn’t have made a difference.  The D’Bringi clan troops were equipped with power armor, cybernetic enhancements, gauss rifles and plasma support weapons, along with grav tanks and hypersonic interceptors.  The natives were equipped with effective weaponry, for their tech level, but assault rifles and tanks with ceramic-composite armor were no match for a D’Bringi infantryman, whose standard issue gauss rifle could penetrate the frontal armor of a Chirq tank at range.  The D’Bringi had learned their lesson in past conquests, and knew that sending an inadequate invasion force would only prolong the issue and end with more deaths, so the conquest force was specifically designed to overwhelm the defenders, and it did so with ease.  Large scale fighting was over in days, and mopping up operations, which would go on for some time, settled down into a routine in a matter of weeks. 

Month 126
The D’Bringi occupation forces eliminate the last holdouts on Chirq Prime, ending open resistance.  The Chirq have been pacified, but full communications have not yet been reached.  Much of the invasion force is disbanded in place, with most of the excess D’Bringi clan officers becoming subsumed into the newly conquered race’s new planetary government, while the former clan soldiers are put to work in their various former specialties across the planet to prepare them for expanding beyond their current limits. 

D’Bringi scientists and engineers begin assisting Alliance members with their R&D projects this month.  The Rehorish, Torqual, Doraz, and T’Pau all benefit from this assistance.  In addition, D’Bringi freighters begin placing communications and sensor buoys throughout Rehorish space.  The Rehorish government will be paying the D’Bringi for these buoys for several more months, but the network will be in place at the start of Month 128.   

Month 127
The UCDF takes ownership of the newly commissioned Kara, Humanity’s first battleship.  After the launch, ownership of the shipyards is officially transferred to The CES (Consolidated Earth States).  In addition, the UCDF transfers control of the three mothballed Russian heavy cruisers in the Solar System to the CES, which immediately tows them to the orbital yards to begin reactivating them. 

The UCDF begins mothballing combat units to reduce the strain on the colonial budgets.  The units that were mothballed are: 1xBC, 1xCA, 31xCL, 1xDD, 3xCT, and 14xES.  The bulk of the light cruisers that were mothballed were Russian assault designs. 

The Tomsk Union begins its first out-system colonization effort in a system discovered some time ago by explorers operated by the USSR.  The Pskov system is two jumps away from Tomsk, and was discovered in Month 109.  Tomsk’s new exploration fleet just finished the planetary survey, classifying the system’s habitable planet as type T, with a disappointing mineral rating of “poor”.   

Month 128
The Russians complete the reactivation and repair of the ships mothballed in the Brezhnev system, and begin their withdrawal from the system.  By the end of the month, the only human presence in either the Leningrad or the Brezhnev systems will be a scattering of scouts and a large number of sensor buoys, guarding against the return of the D’Bringi. 

The D’Bringi complete the Rehorish communications network, linking all Rehorish colonies and border stations with the Rehorish home world. 

The Rehorish begin mothballing some ships in an attempt to free up resources for economic expansion and tech advancement. 

The Torqual Benignity dispatches its first exploration group out of its home system.  The D’Bringi have transferred the information that they have on the systems adjacent to the Torqual home system, but only probed those systems and advanced no further.  The Torqual survey group will begin surveying the adjacent systems for warp points in the hopes of discovering more habitable planets. 

Month 129
The Wunderland Association launches its first colonization effort, sending colonists from Wunderland to a system discovered by Coalition explorers four jumps away from the Sligo System.  The system, like several others in the area, were scheduled for colonization but when war engulfed the home system the Coalition’s colonization effort halted due to the diversion of resources and the blockade of the Solar System. 

The T’Pau, with D’Bringi assistance, reach HT 6 this turn, and begin developing augmented shields and minefields.

The Consolidated Earth States reactivates the three mothballed heavy cruisers transferred to them from the Russians, forming their new patrol fleet.  The CES has no plans at the current time to build more warships. 

Month 130
The Keepers take possession of five additional destroyer-sized small craft carriers.  Clan Chiefs Burning Blade and Skull Splitter, growing alarmed at the amount of wealth the Keepers have devoted to this apparently useless project, demand explanations.  The Keeper-Cleric acquiesces, and demonstrates the Keeper’s latest development, the strike fighter.  The Clan Chiefs are unimpressed.  They are currently focused on completing refits on their heavy cruisers, which they consider to be the backbone of D’Bringi strength, and are exploring the possibility of eventually replacing their heavy cruisers with battlecruisers.  Neither the very large ships used by the Mintek, or the gnats the Keepers are playing with have impressed them. 

In addition to the six CVE’s now in service, the Keepers have also built two medium sized asteroid fortresses equipped with fighters for home system defense, and prefabbed six small fighter carrying bases for assembly in the Phyriseq system.  With HT 7 systems becoming available over the next several months, the Clan Chiefs are likely to monopolize shipyard space for their project to begin replacing the heavy cruiser fleet with battlecruisers, so it isn’t clear how many more fighter carriers the Keepers will be able to construct. 

The Rehorish reach HT 6 this turn, and begin developing minefields and targeting scanners.  The Rehorish do not plan to develop much more from this tech level, as most of the critical systems were already developed with the assistance of the D’Bringi. 

The Eridani Confederation transfers control of the United Colonies Defense Fleet Survey Group #1 to the Wunderland Association.  The Eridani Confederation has no open warp points to explore, and the Wunderland Association was paying the upkeep for the squadron anyway, so the transfer became inevitable when the starless nexus adjacent to the Tlatelolco home system being surveyed by the group proved to have no other warp points. 

The United Earth States announces that it will be ending support for the UCDF and will be neutral in all extra-solar affairs in the future.  This announcement causes little interest in the other human governments, as the CES had only been sending minimal support to the UCDF anyway, and this announcement is merely a formalization of a trend of isolationism that had been growing in Earth’s politics for some time. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 131
The governments of the Eridani Confederation and the Russian Colonial Union announce their intent to amalgamate.  This is the goal that General Semenov and Admiral Ruston have been working towards since the destruction of the Coalition and the USSR, and they have been essential to the process, largely working behind the scenes to bring the various colonial leaders together and demonstrate the advantages of cooperation over distrust and disunity.  At the joint request of both governments, General Semenov agrees to resign from the UCDF and help shepherd the amalgamation process.  Admiral Ruston will remain in overall command of the UCDF, with General Fedorov as his second in command.  The process of joining the two colonial associations will be complete in Month 137.

There is broad public support for this move in both the Russian Colonial Union and the Eridani Confederation.  Both governments are controlled by Unity parties that are primarily composed of politicians and supporters from the old colonial populations, and which were elected on the platform of unifying the disparate human nations.  In the Russian Colonial Union, the second most powerful political party is the newly emerged New Dawn Party, composed primarily of refugees from Earth.  This party is pro-military and anti-alien, and aggressively expansionist, and it also supported amalgamation, making it a foregone conclusion in the former Russian territories.  There is a similar movement in the Eridani Confederation, among Coalition refugees from Earth, but it has been unofficially suppressed by rules and regulations promulgated by the older colonial parties “in the interests of fairness and cultural advancement”, and its leaders have been regularly hounded by the press. 

Month 132
The Torqual Benignity, with the assistance of the D’Bringi Alliance, has completed research on HT 3. 
 
Month 133
The D’Bringi 1st Survey Group discovers a low-tech race in a newly discovered system two jumps from the Chruqua nexus.  Word is sent back to the nexus via courier drones, where it is picked up by the communications network and relayed to the home system.  A conquest fleet will be dispatched next month to bring the new race into the fold. 

The Doraz Contingency, which was given survey data on the nearest systems by the D’Bringi Alliance, along with authorization to begin colonization efforts, begins colonization of one of the two type T planets in one of the systems adjacent to their home system. 

The Russian New Dawn Party, in the Russian Colonial Union, has been devoting large amounts of money and effort towards establishing footholds in the Eridani Confederation as the political and economic barriers between the two nations come down as the amalgamation moves forward.  These efforts are largely low-profile efforts to establish offices in the primary cities of the various colonies, and education and out-reach towards population groups that might be interested.  These efforts are meeting opposition by the established parties in the Confederation, including the ruling Unity Party, which is using its contacts within the press and the various social organizations throughout the colonies to ridicule the New Dawn Party and to hinder their efforts. 

In the Solar colonies administered by the Eridani Confederation, the New Dawn Party’s efforts to establish a presence have run squarely into an anti-alien isolationism that is spreading from Earth.  While the New Dawn Party shares an anti-alien orientation with the sentiment being exported from Earth, the Solar attitudes are turning squarely towards isolationism and is in opposition to the expansionism espoused by the New Dawn Party. 

The Russian New Dawn Party has been making similar outreach efforts to establish a presence in the Tomsk Union, but has been much less successful.  The party’s anti-alien sentiments are finding much less acceptance in the Tomsk Union, which is closely aligned with the Bjering and credits them with their freedom from the Rehorish invasion. While the movement is not facing official government sanction or repression, it is only finding acceptance from those refugees that have been unable to integrate into Union society and are thus living on the fringes in marginal existences.   

Month 134
The Wunderland Association launches a BS3 into orbit over Wunderland.  This BS3 is a variant on the standard Coalition capital missile armed defense base, and this unit is intended to be the centerpiece of the defenses over Wunderland.  Construction on a second base is started, and a third base is planned for the future.   

The D’Bringi finally establish full communications with the Chirq, the race they conquered some time ago.  This will pave the way towards ending the occupation and brining the low-tech race into the Alliance. 

Riots happen in the Solar colonies of Europa and Io as New Dawn supporters clash with parties supporting isolationism and union with Earth.  The Eridani Confederation is forced to send increased police and military assets to the Solar colonies to suppress the violence. 

Violence begins to spread in the Tomsk Union as well, as the fringe groups that have accepted the New Dawn philosophy begin agitating against what they perceive as government repression of their beliefs.  As the movement in the Tomsk Union becomes more and more extremist, the official New Dawn Party in the emerging Colonial Union becomes alarmed and withdraws support, further alienating the extremist groups within the Tomsk Union. 

Month 135
The D’Bringi conquest fleet arrives over the inhabited world in the Pelor system on the 21st.   The inhabitants are at IND-1 level of technology, or early 20th Century, in human terms.  They are quite fearsome in appearance, with long snake-like bodies with four insect-like legs and two harpoon-like arms.  Their bodies are covered in thick leathery skin, and they boast large wings that appear to be remnants of an earlier, flight-capable, form.  For all of their fearsome appearance, though, the D’Bringi can find no evidence of an organized military from orbit. 

The first landings of clan troops go off without a hitch, and once the beachheads are established the follow-on troops begin flooding in.  Surprisingly, there is very little resistance.  The locals have no organized military, and seem to prefer talking over their differences rather than fighting.  When faced with the overwhelming D’Bringi invasion, the locals surrender almost immediately. 

On the Chirq home planet, the D’Bringi make a large investment in upgrading the native’s industrial plant, and begin improving their technology. 

Violence continues in the Tomsk Union, and worsens.  The Union government blames the New Dawn Party in the Russian Colonial Union, and issues a formal complaint the Russian government and to the newly forming Colonial Union.  The New Dawn Party completely repudiates the New Dawn movement in the Tomsk Union, and ultimately turns over all information it has on its outreach efforts in the Union to make it clear that it has disassociated itself from the extremists.  Initially, the New Dawnists in the Union had satisfied themselves with marches and protests in the larger cities, many of which had turned violent as they moved forward.  These had been poorly attended and were largely ridiculed by the general population and the press, and therefore the Dawnists, as they had become known, moved from protests and marches to attacks on Union governmental facilities and the governing Independence Party’s offices.  These attacks had started out as largely symbolic, but had been viewed as ineffective and so, by the end of the month, the Dawnists had begun setting bombs and burning enemy’s offices where they could.  The government, which had been initially dismissive of the Dawnists, has now become aware that it has a significant problem, and is martialing forces to respond. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 135 Update
Human Nations
Eridani Confederation & Russian Colonial Union
These two colonial states are well on their way to completing their amalgamation.  This result was expected, almost from the first, but still has made the other human states nervous.  The United Colonial Defense Fleet is primarily based in these two states, although it operates throughout the human territories, and the creation of this new combined state is seen as the work of Admiral Ruston and General Semenov, although they both have remained out of the limelight.  The UCDF contains the vast bulk of humanity’s military strength, and could crush any of the colonial states should it decide to take such a course of action.  The Tomsk Union has grown increasingly concerned about the spread of the anti-alien New Dawn Party in the emerging Colonial Union, resulting in a cooling of the relationship and the beginnings of a movement in the Tomsk Union to defund the UCDF.  The Wunderland Association, on the other hand, has been relatively positive about the coming amalgamation, and has promised increased support if the Tomsk Union reneges on its agreement to support the fleet.   

The Eridani Confederation and the Russian Colonial Union have been primarily focused on finding ways to continue supporting the UCDF, and have not had significant funds to divert to economic expansion.  In any case, the Eridani Confederation has no open warp points to exploit, and all of the habitable systems in its territory are colonized.  The Russian Colonial Union has been able to send out settlement expeditions to several worlds in the former Russian Colonial Territories, but has primarily been focused on building defenses for the Moskva system.  To date the Russian’s limited construction resources have only been able to build five BS0’s to station at the warp point to the Leningrad system, but it is a start and the Russians intend to continue this effort to secure this vulnerability.  The two state’s income has increased approximately 20%, and this is due to the Eridani Confederation’s heavy in-system colonization efforts in their primary system, and the Russian Colonial Union’s colonization and industrial expansion efforts. 

The D’Bringi miners saved by the Russian Fleet during the war were resettled on a type ST planet in the Tomsk Union’s territory, with the agreement of the Union.  The D’Bringi settlers have industriously worked to increase their limited income, and have, for the last six months, sent most of their income to support the UCDF.  While the total amount is small, every bit has helped to support the fleet, and the UCDF has stationed a small squadron in the D’Bringi colony’s system to ensure security. 

The Tlatelolco have continued their efforts to increase their technology, with the assistance of the Eridani Confederation.  The Tlatelolco have required continuing support from the Confederation, as their economy is not robust enough to support their research efforts, but the amount required is fairly small and the Confederation has agreed to continue providing this assistance for the foreseeable future. 

Combined Income (All Sources): 12,895 Mcr
Active UCDF: 1xBB, 16xBC, 22xCA, 8xCL, 19xDD, 13xFGS, 11xCT, 23xES, 16xEXS
Mothballs: 1xBC, 1xCA, 31xCL, 1xDD, 3xCT, 14xES, 3xBS3, 4xBS0

Consolidated Earth States
The CES has made significant progress during the last ten months.  Earth has largely been pacified and organized, and the large-scale die-offs of humans and other species has largely been ended.  The CES has launched its own patrol squadron, and made significant progress in enlarging its civilian shipping network.  Currently, transports built by the CES and leased to the civilian transport network are providing over ten percent of the CES’s base income, and that percentage will be increasing over the next few months.  The CES has currently has no access to colonization sites, and has no current interest in colonization, as it is focused on restoring Earth.  Therefore, the CES has been funding industrial expansion and using its large orbital shipyard to build freighters that can then be leased to the civilian network and increase resources available to the government.  The CES’s income has increased by approximately 34% over the last ten months. 

The rising isolationism on Earth has spread to the Solar colonies, and has caused significant unrest in those colonies and isolationists have begun clashing with Unity Party supporters and New Dawnists.  Several colony leaders, including those from the most affected colonies, have sent representatives to Earth to explore the possibility of joining the CES rather than the emerging Colonial Union. 

The CES has no plans to expand its military, and is currently debating placing much of the remaining fixed defenses in the Solar System into mothballs to reduce the strain on their economy.  The last offensive PDC on Earth is under repair, and will almost certainly be placed in mothballs once the repairs are complete.  The CES’s leadership currently believes that having the large offensive PDC on the surface of the Earth is inviting bombardment of the planet in any future conflict.  There are proposals to replace the Earth PDC with multiple emplacements on Earth’s Moon, but no decision has been made as of yet. 

Current Income (All Sources): 4,066 MCr
Defenses: 7xPDC (on Earth), 3xCA, 2xEXS, 2xAst, 6xBS0
Mothballs: 6xBS3, 6xBS0, 1xDD

Tomsk Union
The Tomsk Union is the oldest of the currently existing human governments, and although its production is second to the Wunderland Association, it has more spendable resources as the Wunderlanders have pledged a larger portion of their income to support the UCDF.  There is a lively debate going on amongst the public and within the halls of the Union’s government about the treaties the Union has with the newly forming Colonial Union, particularly in light of the growing xenophobia in the Colonial Union’s core worlds.   

The Tomsk Union has initiated extensive colonization efforts, taking advantage of many habitable planets discovered and surveyed by the USSR, and has completed an extensive in-system colonization effort in the Tomsk system.  In addition, the Union has been utilizing its shipyards to build government-owned transports that are leased to the civilian network once they are completed, providing additional funds for expansion.  The government owned transports currently provide approximately 5% of the nation’s income.  The Union’s income has expanded by 43% over the last ten months. 

The Union welcomed the settlement of the D’Bringi colonists in the Petropavlovsk system, and the newly resettled D’Bringi have forged close contacts with the Union government.  This pro-alien attitude has conflicted with the anti-alien sentiments of the growing New Dawn Party, and has resulting in unrest and instabilities within the Tomsk colony. 

The Tomsk Union is the only human successor state to have begun R&D after the fall of the Coalition and the USSR.  The Union was behind the rest of human space, as a result of being cut off, so currently it is playing catch-up, but it is the only human state with an active R&D effort.  In addition, the Union is the only human state to build and operate its own survey group, which is currently surveying systems discovered by the USSR to open them for colonization, before moving on to probing known unexplored warp points. 

The Union military mothballed its escort force, which was built immediately after the Tomsk system and its neighbors were cut off from the Soviet Union.  These ships were intended as a last-ditch defense force, and thus, when peace arrived, they were mothballed.  The government is currently debating additional force-reduction measures, in light of current efforts to expand fortifications in the Tomsk system.  These efforts are currently centered around the capital of Tomsk.  The Tomsk system shipyards were themselves a wartime emergency build, and they consist of seven mobile shipyards housed in FT4 hulls.  These were funded and built by the fledgling Tomsk government largely because they were an existing design inherited from the USSR, and because they could be built faster than full-sized shipyards.  Their reduced construction capacity has forced the Union to focus on smaller ships, and this has resulted in a move to expand the orbital yards with a locally designed space station with full-sized shipyards and enough armament to protect itself and the colony. 

Current Income (All Sources): 9,601 MCr’s
Current Military: 9xDD, 1xFG, 2xCT, 25xEX
Mothballs: 16xES

Wunderland Association
The Wunderland Association has the largest income of the successor states, but slightly less spendable income than the Tomsk Union because it has pledged a larger share of its income to support the UCDF.  This pledge was largely made in response to the UCDF’s intervention in the Association’s predecessor’s disastrous war with the Tarek.  The local New Dawn movement, which has grown increasingly powerful in the last few months, is squarely in support of the ruling Peace and Unity Party’s intent to support the amalgamation of the Russian Colonial Union and the Eridani Confederation, and in fact has been urging closer ties to the newly emerging Colonial Union.  The New Dawn Party has also supported the government’s military buildup, although it has different long-range goals than the current ruling party.  The Peace and Unity Party views the military buildup as a means to an end, with the goal of forcing the Tarek to negotiate a lasting peace with the eventual goal of bringing them into the larger human civilization.  The New Dawn Party views the military buildup as good in and of itself, and also as a means of dominating the Tarek should they become aggressive again.   

The Association has focused largely on building up its shipyards and sending colony expeditions to worlds discovered by the Coalition before its demise.  In addition, the Association has invested significant resources in expanding its industry, and has built a few of small freighters that have been leased to the civilian network to provide extra income.  Currently, that lease income only provides a small share of the national income, but it is increasing.  The Association currently has three shipyards in orbit over Wunderland, and a fourth is under construction.  The Association’s income has increased by 33% over the last ten months

Unlike the other human states, the Association has not chosen to mothball any of its fleet, as it is still distrustful of the Tarek.  Indeed, the Association has launched one capital-missile armed BS3 into Wunderland orbit, and is building two more to fill out its orbital defenses.  Once those are complete, and the orbital shipyards are built out, the Wunderlanders plan on building their own battlecruiser force, to ensure that their navy is strong enough to deal with the Tarek, should they become a problem again. 

The Tarek have been quiet since the UCDF destroyed their orbital defenses.  They have so far limited their movement around the Sligo system to unarmed survey ships and colony transports.  They have continued to expand their colonies throughout the system, and, encouragingly, have mothballed a small force of armed escorts they built in the immediate aftermath of the recent war, along with some of their planetary PDC’s.  The Wunderlanders have watched them like hawks, but so far, the Tarek have given them no reason to suspect that they intend to violate the cease fire or the restrictions that were placed on them by Admiral Ruston.  They have avoided further contact with the human inhabitants of the system, except for negotiating what amounts to a non-interference agreement that limits them to only unarmed shipping outside of the immediate area around the home planet. 

Current Income (All Sources): 11,180 MCr
Military: 3xDD, 2xFGS, 4xCT, 20xES, 3xESX, 1xBS3, 9xBS0

Total Human Income: 37,742
Total Active Human Fleet: 1xBB, 16xBC, 25xCA, 8xCL, 31xDD, 16xFGS, 17xCT, 23xES, 16xEXS

[Kurt (OP)]

D’Bringi Alliance
Both the Rehorish and the D’Bringi governments intended for the last ten months to be a mere pause in their war effort against the Mintek.  Both governments intended to use this time to reorganize and refit their fleets, and reorganize and strengthen their defenses and economies, before launching a new offensive against the Mintek.  However, while the refits and reorganization of their societies have progressed well, neither the D’Bringi clan fleets or the Rehorish navy have developed a viable assault plan against the defenses known to exist in the Mintek home system.  Therefore, both nations have shifted towards shoring up their defenses and exploring for a new way into Mintek space.  Indeed, the pressure in both nations to begin mothballing warships to relieve the pressure on their economies is reflective of a growing awareness that the current stalemate is likely to continue. 

The D’Bringi, in particular, are concerned about this growing acceptance of the stalemate, but the clan leaders also are aware that, if given time, their empire will be considerably strengthened by the course they have chosen of freeing their subjugated races and then voluntarily associating with them.  Launching an assault into the Mintek system now, without a proper plan or preparation, could threaten everything they’ve begun building.  A major defeat, with its concomitant weakening of their military, could encourage their newly independent ‘allies’ to strike out on their own, abandoning the D’Bringi Alliance in its time of need.  For their part, the Rehorish government is in favor of the current stalemate, and has no wish to waste its finally honed crews in a blunt-force attack into a heavily fortified warp point.  They know that even as the Alliance has been upgrading its navy, the Mintek almost certainly have been improving their fortifications, which were already formidable. 

Finally, there is a relatively small faction that has pushed for the renewal of the war against the humans, now that the war with the Mintek has stalled.  These are almost all either younger clan warriors eager for the glory of conquest, or particularly militaristic Rehorish that lament the way they were chased out of human territory.  Neither the Rehorish government nor the D’Bringi clans have entertained this possibility, as the peace with the humans is working out well, so far.  There is limited contact with the main human states in the human buffer state, the Titov Free State.  This contact will likely increase now that the Rehorish government has finally established trade relations with the Free State, and there have been no other unanticipated contacts so far. 

D’Bringi Expanses
The D’Bringi agreed with the Rehorish determination to make peace with the humans in order to give them time to reorganize their empire, refit and redeploy their fleet, and prepare for a new offensive against the Mintek.  The war against the humans revealed glaring weaknesses within the D’Bringi Expanses, and these weaknesses became critical when the Mintek intervened in D’Bringi internal affairs.  The need for a communications network that would bind their territory together, and improve communications with their allies had become apparent early on, but it was the rebellion of the subjugated races that brought home to the D’Bringi clan chiefs the weakness of their current system and their lack of foresight in not having a long-term plan for their conquests once they came under D’Bringi control. 

Meddling by the Mintek, and the subsequent rebellions, merely illustrated the fallacy of eternal occupation.  Not only were those races a potential threat if they rebelled, but their economies were not growing, and they were falling farther and farther behind in terms of technology.  Therefore, during negotiations with the Rehorish over the peace treaty with the humans, the D’Bringi clan chiefs suggested a unified approach to liberating the conquered races.  By bringing in Rehorish governance and negotiation teams, the D’Bringi would be able to defuse some of the long-standing resentment that had built up in the two subject races and make a fresh start.  This approach has worked brilliantly, and the Torqual and the Doraz are now valuable allies.  Both races are aggressively expanding their economies and performing R&D with D’Bringi assistance. 

Upgrades to the D’Bringi fleet are largely completed, although some refits for Keeper units continue.  The D’Bringi shipbuilding focus now has shifted to refitting the home system’s fixed defenses, improving and expanding the automated warfare force, and building up the defenses in the Phyriseq system.  There is some pressure to mothball at least some of the fleet to reduce the pressure on the economy.  Large amounts of industrial investments have had to be liquidated over the last few months to keep the economy on track and support the ongoing refits of the fleet and improvements to the newly conquered race’s economies.  It is not clear yet if the fleet strength will be reduced, as the clear and present danger of the Mintek looms large over the D’Bringi Expanses.  The economy has grown by around 18%, largely due to early industrial investments, technology advancement, and limited colonization. 

Current Income (All Sources): 16,020
Military: 5xBC, 31xCA, 26xCT, 50xEX, 6xCVE, 9xBS3, 1xBS0

Doraz Contingency
The Doraz are enjoying their newfound, if somewhat limited, freedom under D’Bringi ‘oversight’.  The D’Bringi have granted the Doraz the right to explore and colonize any worlds they discover along their warp chain.  The Doraz warp chain originates in the Chruqua nexus, and the D’Bringi have restricted the Doraz from sending ships to the nexus without prior authorization.  Along their warp chain, though, they are free to explore and expand. 

The Doraz were thrilled to find that the D’Bringi had discovered no less than four type T planets within two jumps of their home system, and have so far established colonies on one of the planets.  In addition, the Doraz have completed in-system colonization of their home system, and built four orbital shipyards.  Doraz income has increased by 27%. 

Although the Doraz are allowed a small military fleet under their treaty with the D’Bringi, they have focused on reactivating five frigate sized survey ships from a hidden cache of mothballs ships that survived from their days of independence prior to the D’Bringi conquest.  The D’Bringi have noted this effort, and have informed the Doraz government that they are unconcerned about the mothball stockpile, as long as the Doraz comply with the treaty limits for their fleet and fixed defenses. 

Current Income (All Sources): 3,503 MCr’s
Military: 5xFGX

Torqual Benignity
Like the Doraz, the Torqual are enjoying their newfound freedom.  The Torqual have been focused on building a new exploration fleet, as the systems granted to them by the D’Bringi, located along their warp chain, which originates in the Chruqua nexus, have no habitable planets.  The Torqual have built several shipyards in orbit over the home planet, and have succeeded in raising their tech level to HT-3, with the assistance of the D’Bringi.  Torqual income has increased by 18%.

Current Income (All Sources): 7,407 MCr’s
Military: 3xCTX, 22xEX

T’Pau Syndicate
The T’Pau have perhaps benefitted the most from the D’Bringi decision to change their relationship with their conquests.  They have been elevated to full members of the Alliance by the D‘Bringi and the Rehorish, and the D’Bringi have granted them full access to their Expanses for exploration and colonization.  This has been very beneficial to the T’Pau, as the D’Bringi had discovered and surveyed a fair number of type T planets that they could not use.  They have granted the T’Pau the right to colonize all of these planets, and the T’Pau have been busily doing just that.  The T’Pau have so far colonized seven worlds in six systems, and their efforts are ongoing.  In addition, the T’Pau have been investing heavily in industrial growth, and have been utilizing their shipyards to build freighters that can be leased to the civilian network for additional income.  The T’Pau focus on colonization and industrialization has caused their income to increase by nearly 30%.

The T’Pau recently increased their tech level to HT-6, with D’Bringi assistance, and are developing a number of new systems that will enhance their fleet.  The D’Bringi and the Rehorish, both of whom are looking at reducing their fleet’s due to the strain they are putting on their economies, are both pressuring the T’Pau to increase the size of their fleet and their military commitment to the Alliance.  The T’Pau have agreed to increase military building, but have stated that they want to complete development of new systems and incorporate those into the fleet before building new ships. 

Current Income (All Sources): 11,130 MCr
Military: 9xCA, 12xCL, 3xCTX, 22xEX

 Rehorish Stellar Dominion
The Rehorish have used the time since the peace treaty with the humans, and the stalemate of the war against the Mintek, to refit their fleet with the best technology available to them.  This program of refits is nearly complete, but it has been massively expensive.  With the refit program nearing completion, the Rehorish plan on turning their focus to their economy, and improving defenses along the human border.  This may require the downsizing of the fleet, as fleet maintenance plus research costs nearly exceed current income, making economic expansion plans problematic.  Indeed, the Rehorish government has found it necessary to liquidate large amounts of their industrial investments over the last few months to continue funding R&D, the refit program, and colonial expansion.  This focus on military expansion has meant that the Rehorish economy only expanded at a comparatively anemic 7%. 

Current Income (All Sources): 21,923 MCr’s
Military: 1xBC, 33xCA, 27xCL, 58xDD, 4xFG, 5xCT, 40xCTX, 9xBS3, 5xBS1

Total D’Bringi Alliance Income: 59,983 Mcr
Total Active Fleet Strength: 6xBC, 73xCA, 39xCL, 58xDD, 5xFG, 31xCT, 6xCVE

[Kurt (OP)]

In the new era of relative peace in the Cold War campaign, exploration fleets have become much more important as the various races attempt to find new routes to their enemies, and new planets to colonize.  There are a number of different approaches to survey fleets in the current game, and I thought I’d do an overview as I’m kind of curious how the different fleet’s stack up. 

Bjering Consolidate
The Bjering are a very militaristic race, and therefore believe in big combat-capable survey ships.  A standard Bjering survey fleet is composed of three Berserker class survey cruisers and a single Tyr class survey destroyer.  The Berserkers are equipped with three capital survey instruments and military engines, meaning that the group can perform a complete warp point survey of a system in three months.  These ships are relatively inefficient, as they are strategically slower than smaller survey ships or survey ships with commercial engines, but the Bjering believe that the combat capability that the Berserkers bring to the survey fleets more than compensates for this inefficiency.  Each second-generation Berserker mounts four advanced gun/missile launchers as its primary weaponry, and carries ADM’s on its external racks to discourage pursuit.  The second-generation Tyr class survey destroyers comprise the survey group’s planetary survey component.  The Tyr class, like the larger Berserkers, mounts military engines.  Its armament is limited to a single force beam.  For planetary survey’s, the Tyr class carries ten cutters and an assault shuttle, along with improved survey instruments.  The Tyr and its small craft can perform one segment of a detailed system body survey per month.  This means that if a system contains habitable planets, asteroids, and non-habitable worlds, the Tyr would take three months to complete the survey. 

Each Survey Fleet costs 7,113 MCr’s to build and 1,050 MCr’s to maintain.  With the current Bjering construction technology, it would take five months to build a Berserker class heavy cruiser. 

Advantages: Armed, all ships mount long-range scanners. 
Disadvantages: Very expensive, relatively inefficient.

Humanity
Currently, all existing human survey ships are Coalition designs, as the Russian survey ships were expended as rammers during the war with the Rehorish.  In any case, Russian and Coalition designs were substantially similar. 

A Coalition Survey Fleet is composed of twenty explorer class survey ships and one explorer class scout ship.  The explorer class ships are the smallest hulls capable of jumping through warp points, and the cheapest.  A Coalition survey ship mounts improved survey instruments and carries two cutters for planetary surveys.  The fleet can complete a rough and detailed warp point survey in two and a half months.  The fleet’s small craft can perform a planetary survey on an entire system in one month. 

Each Survey Fleet costs 3,489 MCr’s to build and 474 MCr’s to maintain.  Humanity’s current construction tech can build two of these small survey ships in a month, per shipyard module. 

Advantages: Cheap, efficient, fast
Disadvantages: Unarmed, only one ship has long-range scanners

D’Bringi Expanses
The D’Bringi clans care little for exploration except as a means of finding new planets to exploit, and new races to ‘civilize’.  Therefore, they have contracted out exploration to several medium sized clans that own and operate the actual survey ships.  At times the D’Bringi fleet has escorted the survey groups with warships, however, the exigencies of war have meant that warships could not be spared from other duties for the last several years.  The D’Bringi expanded their survey ships from one fleet to two just after the peace treaty with the humans was signed. 

As ships operated by smaller clans, the survey ships have been, by necessity, small and unarmed.  The D’Bringi use explorer class units for this role, as they are cheap and easily replaced.  The standard survey ship carries improved survey instruments and two cutters for planetary surveys.  Each survey group is composed of twenty-five survey ships.  A D’Bringi Survey Group can complete the rough and detailed warp point surveys in a system in two months, and its small craft, if properly deployed, can complete a planetary survey of both components of a binary system in one month. 

Each survey group costs 3,917 MCr’s to build and 527 MCr’s to maintain.  D’Bringi construction technology allows one shipyard module to build two of these small ships per month. 

Advantages: Cheap, efficient, fast
Disadvantages: Unarmed, no long-range scanners, cannot effectively or safely perform system probes of newly discovered systems. 

Rehorish Stellar Dominion
The standard Rehorish survey unit is a corvette class ship.  Each survey corvette is equipped with military engines, improved survey instruments, long-range scanners, and active and passive defenses.  Prior to the war with humanity, the Rehorish navy typically escorted its survey groups with a trio of destroyers, but these escorts were withdrawn at the start of the war to bolster the main fleets. 

The Rehorish currently have two survey fleets, each comprised of twenty survey corvettes.  There are no escorts assigned from the navy, although this may change as the navy emerges from the current refit schedule.  A Rehorish survey fleet can complete a rough and detailed warp point survey in two and a half months, and a complete system body survey of a system (habitable/non-habitable/asteroid) in two months.  Because the Rehorish survey corvette has no small craft, the group cannot perform warp point and planetary survey’s simultaneously. 

Each survey group costs 6,720 MCr’s to build and 1,008 MCr’s to maintain.  Rehorish construction technology allows Rehorish shipyards to build one of these ships in two months. 

Advantages: All units equipped with long-range scanners and defenses, fast. 
Disadvantages: No small craft, unarmed

Mintek Universal Union
The Mintek currently field two Exploration Squadrons composed of six version 2 light cruiser sized survey ships each.  Each version 2 light cruiser is equipped with commercial engines, two capital survey instruments, long-range scanners, and active and passive defenses.  In addition, each survey ship carries one armed pinnace and four cutters for planetary surveys and probing newly discovered warp points, and a fighter squadron for defense. 

The Mintek Exploration Squadron can complete a rough and detailed warp point survey under two months, and its small craft can completely survey a single-star system in two months. 

The Mintek Exploration Group costs 8,991 MCr’s to build and 1,158 MCr’s to maintain.  Mintek construction technology allows a shipyard module to build one survey light cruiser in three months. 

Advantages: Well-armed, every unit has long-range scanners.
Disadvantages: Costly

Overall Evaluation
A quick comparison shows that the most cost-efficient survey groups are those based on explorer class units.  For example, Humanity’s explorer-based survey fleets are faster surveyors than the Bjering survey fleets, and cost less than half as much to build and maintain.  The disparity is even greater between the Human survey groups and the Mintek, where the Mintek group is around two and a half times more expensive to build and maintain, although it is somewhat faster on warp point surveys.  Granted, the explorer class units are hideously vulnerable if not escorted, but their loss would be less painful than such a loss would be to either the Bjering or the Mintek.  On the other hand, the two races that use armed survey fleets, the Mintek and the Bjering, have less to worry about with their fleets, and they are more versatile and can assist the main fleets during war time without the need for heavy escorts. 

Interestingly, the Rehorish corvettes, while mounting some defenses and long-range scanners, are around twice as expensive to maintain as the explorer-based groups, but are unarmed and thus vulnerable. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 136
The Tlatelolco achieve HT-1 and immediately begin research on several systems, including military engines and shipyards.  The Eridani Confederation continues to assist the Tlatelolco, with the economic assistance of the Wunderland Association. 

The Tarek in the Sligo system have assembled two shipyards in orbit over their home planet, and have launched two freighters to enhance their civilian freight network. 

The Doraz, with D’Bringi assistance, increase their tech level to HT-5.

The Bir have settled into an uneasy relationship with their D’Bringi conquerors.  The Bir seem to have no concept of an organized military, or even of conquest, at least at the national level.  While they don’t understand the D’Bringi intent in conquering them, they are smart enough to understand its effects and the requirements the D’Bringi are laying upon them.  Both sides are now working towards deciphering the other’s language. 

In response to the amalgamation between the Russian and Coalition colonial governments, and the unrest caused by clashes between the New Dawn loyalists and the isolationists, the former Russian and Coalition colonies in the Solar System vote to join the CES, leaving the new Colonial Union.  The governments of the Tomsk Union and the Wunderland Association watch for the Colonial Union’s response with interest, but the Colonial Union’s new government, after a series of meetings with the representatives of the colonies, agrees to support this transfer. 

With Dawnist violence on the rise in the Tomsk Union as the amalgamation between the Russian Colonial Union and the Eridani Confederation approaches, the Tomsk government takes decisive action.  Heavy police forces, supported by the military, launch a series of raids this month that effectively dismantle the Dawnist movement in the Union.  Almost all of the leaders of the organization, and most of the key members are arrested over a three-day period.  While scattered violence will continue for some time, the movement’s momentum has been lost, and ultimately the remaining members will either be arrested or flee to other regions. 

The violence of the Dawnist movement has convinced the average citizen in the Tomsk Union that New Dawn is a dangerous fringe movement, and has turned public sentiment against the newly emerging Colonial Union in general.  There have been persistent rumors that the UCDF is riddled with New Dawn Party members, and that the UCDF assisted the Dawnist movement by funneling money and weapons to them, using its warships to get the supplies into the Tomsk Union.  The Tomsk government’s investigation turned up no such ties, and indeed the evidence found during the crackdown supports the Russian New Dawn Party’s statements that it cut ties with the Dawnists when they became violent.  This information has had little effect on the Tomsk public, which is calling for sanctions against the Colonial Union and a withdrawal of UCDF forces from Tomsk Union territories. 

Month 137
The Eridani Confederation and the Russian Colonial Union have completed their amalgamation, and will henceforward be called the Colonial Union.  The Colonial Union’s new government reassures the other human states that its treaties and agreements with them will continue to be honored under the new agreement, and the United Colonial Defense Force will continue the guard the borders and patrol the internal warp lines as it has in the past. 

The Tomsk Union, unnerved by this development, and its experiences with the Dawnists, states that it will be sending representatives to renegotiate its status with the new government, and threatens to withdraw support for the UCDF.  The Wunderland Association, which shares its home system with a potentially hostile race, confirms its current agreements with the Colonial Union and promises continued support. 

With the potential withdrawal of support from the Tomsk Union a possibility, and growing distrust for the Colonial Union among some of the colonial governments, the new Union Assembly votes to downsize the United Colonial Defense Fleet, beginning immediately.   This move serves several purposes.  First, the stated reason is to defuse the growing fear among the other governments.  In addition, there are some fears within the Colonial Union that the Navy is too powerful and influential, and this downsizing will go a long way towards convincing the people that the Navy is under the control of the government, not the other way around.  Finally, to be a viable defender of humanity, the Navy must be supported by a strong economy and growing tech base, and as things stand the Colonial Union has neither of those things.  The new government hopes that by mothballing a part of the fleet they can free up enough resources and trained people to jump-start their economy. 

The New Dawn Party opposes this fleet downsizing, and moves into official opposition of the government.  This is less important than it would have been just a month ago, as it has lost relative position in the new Colonial Union Senate, as it was relatively weak in the Eridani Confederation.  To remedy this situation, the New Dawn Party vastly increases its outreach and education efforts in the former Eridani Confederation’s colonies. 

Month 138
The Colonial Union hosts the annual “All Colonies” Summit in the Sigma Draconis system, on the colony world shared by the Russian and Coalition. 

The Summit begins against the backdrop of violent clashes between Unity Party supporters and New Dawn supporters on nearly every planet of the former Eridani Confederation.  These aren’t full-fledged riots or civil insurrections, but they are increasingly violent.  The Eridani Confederation’s press is fully on the Unity Party’s side and portrays the New Dawn Party’s outreach and education efforts as racist and violent, however, the New Dawn Party pushes back strongly, and the major media organs in the Russian Colonial Union had been embedded in the Party’s outreach efforts from the first, by invitation.  When footage of thugs wearing Unity Party emblems beating young and earnest looking New Dawn supporters and burning their offices begins appearing throughout the new Colonial Union, the Unity Party is forced on the defensive.  Eventually the coverage becomes so negative that the Unity Party is forced to apologize, and several prominent politicians are forced to resign.  This gives the New Dawn Party the space it needs to grow rapidly in the Confederation’s territory, where many who supported the movement felt oppressed and unable to express their opinions.   

The Tomsk Union completes R&D on HT-6, and completes construction on its first full-sized shipyard, which is also armed and equipped with significant defenses.   By the end of the month, the Tomsk Union will withdraw its support for the UCDF, in spite of attempts by the Colonial Union’s government to defuse the widening split between the two governments.   For now, the Tomsk Union agrees to continue to allow the UCDF to have access to their territory, in part because of the D’Bringi colonists that were settled in their territory by the Russians, and who are under the protection of the UCDF. 

Late in the month, the Bjering 2nd Survey Fleet, which has completed its rough warp point survey of the frontier system of Gunnar, probes the two newly discovered warp points.  A survey cruiser is dispatched through each warp point, and, following protocol, both return within sixty seconds to report on the system they have discovered.  One of the new systems has a type “T” planet, while the other has a type “ST” planet.  There is much excitement among the survey ship commanders at the discovery of the type T planet, as the Bjering have not had a lot of luck discovering habitable planets to date.  The two cruisers jump back to the new systems after sending their reports to the other survey ships in the system. 

In the system with the type T planet, the survey cruiser detects a high-tech population on the system’s sole type T planet as it moves inwards.  The cruiser’s sensors immediately identify the population as human, and following protocol the cruiser’s captain opens communications with the population.  They soon discover that the colony belongs to the Wunderland Association, and the colony’s leaders eagerly approach the cruiser’s captain about the possibility of trade.  The captain agrees to convey their interest back to his leaders and then heads back to Bjering space. 

The second Bjering Survey Cruiser probes the other newly discovered system, and it too discovers a high-tech population on the habitable planet.  Unlike the human colony system, this planet is home to a very large population, obviously a racial home-world.  As the warp point the survey ship entered the system through is in the outer system, there is little likelihood that the Bjering cruiser was detected, and so the captain follows protocol and withdraws.  A message is sent back to report the discovery of a new race. 

The D’Bringi launch their first clan battlecruiser.  The Fortress Breaker becomes the flagship of Clan T’Chau’s fleet.  Two more beam-armed battlecruisers are under construction for the other two clans.     

The D’Bringi occupation forces finally establish full communications with the Bir.  The occupation group, working with Rehorish specialists, immediately begin working to industrialize Bir Prime, and to lay the groundwork for improving their technology.  Many advanced technologies have already been brought in to help improve the lives of the Bir.  Overall, the Bir are bewildered.  The D’Bringi have taken much of the economic output of their planet, but given their low-tech level compared to the D’Bringi that economic wealth cannot compare to what the D’Bringi spent to conquer them and to improve their planet’s economy.  Still, the Bir elders have become resigned to the fact that while it might not make much sense, the D’Bringi are here and are not likely to leave. 

Month 139
The Tomsk Union begins construction on its first capital ship, a battlecruiser.  This ship was designed with the extensive assistance of the Bjering, and the start of construction is overseen by Bjering engineers and construction specialists.  This is part of an initiative to form a closer relationship between the two nations.   

The Tarek, in the Sligo system, send their small survey fleet to begin surveying their system for warp points.  The Colonial Union had offered them the coordinates of the warp points in the system, but the Tarek refused their assistance.  So far, the Tarek have acted within the limitations imposed on them by Admiral Ruston, and have not built any armed ships or bases.  In fact, they have mothballed three of their PDC’s, and have focused their economy on colonizing their binary system. 

With the amalgamation of the Colonial Union complete, the New Dawn Party in the Colonial Union has now had an opportunity to establish contact with the very similar New Dawn Party in the Wunderland Association.  The similarity between the parties has allowed them to establish strong ties, and the two parties have begun coordinating on a drive to bring the Wunderland Association into the Colonial Union. 

In the D’Bringi Alliance, the D’Bringi and the Rehorish, both feeling the pressure on their overstretched economies from the massive fleets they have been forced to maintain, have been pressuring the new members of the Alliance to increase their fleet sizes and contribute more to the common defense.  The Doraz have agreed to divert resources from building up their economy, and have begun work on bringing six old heavy cruisers out of their hidden mothball cache.  These ships will form the core of their new navy.   The Torqual also begin reactivating two squadrons of light cruisers from their hidden mothball cache.  These ships are less capable than frontline Rehorish and D’Bringi designs, but will be welcome additions to the combined fleet blockading the Mintek when they become available.   

Month 140
The flow of emigrants from Earth continues.  It has become clear that the Earth’s ability to support a large population has been extremely reduced as a result of the war, and this flow must be maintained to prevent the possibility of famine and collapse.  Through mutual agreement, the emigrants are nearly evenly divided between the three largest colonial powers, the Colonial Union, the Tomsk Union, and the Wunderland Association.  The cost of paying for this population relocation is heavy, but all three colonial governments have agreed to cover it to prevent horrible things from happening on Earth.  This population flow has had the benefit of greatly increasing the populations of the capitals of these nations, but at a cost.  This wave of emigrants is a boon to the New Dawn Party, as many of those leaving the Solar System share their pro-military and anti-alien views.   

The Bjering decide to dispatch one of their squadrons to establish contact with a race discovered several months ago.  Contact will be made early next month.   When the war between the humans and the D’Bringi alliance ended, the Bjering mothballed quite a bit of their fleet, in order to free up resources for economic expansion.  Now, with a first contact situation, and the previous incursion into the Hymir system by an unknown race, they are feeling the need to expand their fleet.  Hymir is of particular concern, as it is adjacent to the home system and the site of the oldest Bjering colony.  To this end, work is begun on activating three battlecruisers from the mothball reserves.   

The D’Bringi plans to establish contact with the Bjering are postponed until the refits of B’Regest ships are underway and some are available to participate. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Note to readers: I am usually writing 10-20 turns ahead of what I am posting.  The latest post was turns 136-140, and I am just finishing up writing turn 149, so I’m a little behind where I usually am in terms of having a queue of things ready for posting.  As I was looking this over to get ready to post it, I realized I had made a significant error in continuity.  This puts me in a difficult position. 

One of the D’Bringi Clan Chiefs died in the attack on the Mintek home system.   Fortress Breaker, chief of the T’Chau, died in the assault.  I knew I was going to have to replace him at some point subsequent to this event.  Also, the D’Bringi are undergoing a fairly large upheaval in the way they’ve always done things.  The Keepers have introduced fighters, the Rehorish have been pushing them to deal with the conquered races differently, and they have having to shift from an offensive mindset to more of a defensive stance.  I decided to put all of these together into a short story about the investiture of the new Clan Chief.  However, I discovered that I had made a mistake in the meantime.  The lost clan chief was from Clan T’Chau.  I wrote this story from that point of view.  However, moving forward, I forgot the clan making the changes was T’Chau.  In the stories moving forward the clan making changes is B’Regest.  Everything in SA, all of the new or refitted ships, belong to B’Regest.  If I was going to stick to strict continuity, I’d have to change everything I wrote after this story to reflect the correct clan, and make numerous changes in the database.  To be honest, that’s a lot of work, and I’d rather continue pushing the story forward.  Therefore, I changed the clan that lost its chief to the B’Regest in this story, which is much easier than changing everything else. 

I’m not sure anyone would have noticed anyway.  I have meant to flesh out D’Bringi society before this, including the clans, but it has only been relatively recently that the focus has shifted from primarily resting on the humans to a wider view, including the D’Bringi Alliance and some of the independents. 

Current D’Bringi Leaders
Clan Chief K’Rorin: Skull Splitter (Old Warrior, bluff and open, but wily)
Clan Chief T’Chau: Burning Blade (politician, prefers being behind the scenes)
The Cleric Keeper: Title only, no name (Dedicated to the welfare of the race, unknown other motives)

New
Clan Chief B’Regest: T’Qek (Young, ambitious, pushing change)

Month 139, Day 28, D’Bringi Prime
The meeting was being held, once again, at the Keeper’s fortress monastery, so that the three senior Clan Chiefs could be assured that one wasn’t being honored over the others.  As always, that also meant that they were uncomfortable, as the Keepers had been granted the least attractive areas of the planet as their own, as a reminder of their status.  The Keepers had taken that insult and made it the heart of their order, priding themselves on their hardiness, and missed no opportunities to give the high and mighty clans an opportunity to experience the harsh environment they lived in. 

The two elder Clan Chiefs, Skull Splitter of the K’Rorin, and Burning Blade of the T’Chau, had joined with the Cleric-Keeper to receive their newest member, the young heir of Fortress Breaker, who had been killed in the last assault on the Mintek.  That young worthy now was escorted into the room by a ceremonial guard of Keeper attendants.  The new leader of the B’Regest was physically imposing, but all of those present were struck by her piercing gaze, which seemed to linger on each of them as she approached the high table where the others stood. 

Skull Splitter nodded to himself.  Watching the young B’Regest noble approach the table confirmed his limited intelligence on the girl.  The B’Regest heir was relatively unknown, one of the former Clan Chief’s younger daughters, and apparently unaccomplished.  In spite of this she had risen over her siblings to take the old chief’s place, and without a costly bloodbath, as so commonly occurred when the top position in a clan became suddenly available.  This spoke volumes of her capability, and perhaps the capabilities of old Fortress Breaker as well, as succession to Clan Chief positions were hotly contested, commonly with blood, and for her to rise without copious amounts of blood to be spilled meant that the old leader almost certainly had selected her to be his heir, and prepared the way, at least to a certain extent. 

The B’Regest heir made her way to the high table, leaving behind her escorts, and then, as she confronted the other clan chiefs, she nodded to each in turn.  This was a meeting between equals, in theory, and she was not a supplicant, exactly.  Clan succession was purely an internal matter, something that the other clans were supposed to remain aloof from, and they had no place in approving or confirming her status.  However, they could reject her from this council.  It had happened in the past, rarely, and almost always lead to war between the clans.  That would not happen in this case, though.  Not only did the other clan chiefs have no interest in banning her from the council, but they all agreed that showing a united front to their allies was utterly necessary, especially when the race was surrounded by enemies. 

Skull Splitter, as the senior Clan Chief, began.  “B’Regest heir, be welcome here as the leader of your people.  What name have you chosen, for your rule?”

She looked carefully at the others.  “I will be known merely by my name.  I will rule as T’Qek.”

Skull Splitter was caught at a loss.  This was unprecedented.  Tradition dictated that the Clan Chief chose a rule-name from the history of his clan.  Skull Splitter’s name came from the earliest days of his clan, from the hero that first united the K’Rorin and began their rise to prominence.  Burning Blade’s name came from the leader that secured Clan T’Chau’s place at the high table, and his blade still hung in the palace, over his successors throne.  This was…not done.

Looking over at his fellow leaders, Skull Splitter saw that the Keeper Cleric was as caught out as he was, but that Burning Blade had a small smile dancing around his mouth.  Seeing the hesitation in the others, Burning Blade now stepped forward.  “T’Qek, I welcome you here, to the high table.  Perhaps you could explain your break with tradition, so that we may understand your thoughts?”

The young woman stepped forward.  “I mean no disrespect to you, who have proven yourself great war leaders, but I, along with many of my generation, feel that the old ways have dominated our thinking for too long.  I mean to bring changes to the B’Regest, to modernize our clan, as changes have been brought to the Alliance over the last year, through your enlightened leadership.”

The Keeper-Cleric scowled at this, as he had been against the changes that had led to the loosened controls on the conquered races, and thus their current strategy of bringing other races into the Alliance by conquest, then reordering their societies and releasing them as allies.  Skull Splitter saw the Keeper-Cleric’s reaction, and re-examined the new Clan Chief’s words.  They could be interpreted as criticism of the old leadership, but he detected no sarcasm in her tone.  He dipped his head towards her, inviting her to continue. 

“I do not seek revolutionary change, despite what some may think.”  She glanced at the Keeper-Cleric, but he remained silent and she continued.  “The younger generations believe that we must change, evolve, to meet the new demands of interstellar empire, and I intend to take the lessons we have learned and implement them, enhancing our ability to rule our empire and change with the times.  I will change what is not working, and keep the best of our ways, to ensure that we remain at the forefront of the interstellar nation we are building.”

The Keeper-Cleric was clearly not mollified, but he had no real vote here, just influence.  Skull Splitter could see that Burning Blade had expected this, and welcomed it, likely for his own reasons.  Coming to a decision as well, Skull Splitter moved aside.  “Welcome to the high table, T’Qek, Clan Chief of the B’Regest. We have much to discuss.”

The new clan chief moved past the older leaders and took her place at the table.  “Yes, we do.”  As the others sat down, she looked directly at the Keeper-Cleric.  “For example, when, exactly, were you planning on telling us that the Humans have destroyed their own home planet?”

Skull Splitter looked at the Keeper-Cleric in shock.  The leader of the Keepers, as befitting an old warrior adept at both physical combat and the political intrigue that swirled around the highest levels of the D’Bringi government, showed no reaction at all.  Skull Splitter, no novice at the game of politics, saw that the new leader’s jab was true, mostly by how the Keeper-Cleric didn’t react than by anything he did. 

After a few seconds, the Keeper-Cleric sighed.  “It is true.  My information is that the competing human states fought a war on their home planet that devastated much of the planet and killed much of its population.”

Burning Blade turned on the Keeper, his eyes blazing.  “And you kept this from us?”

The Keeper-Cleric didn’t flinch from the clan chief’s obvious anger.  “Yes.  The humans are absorbed with their internal problems and do not present a threat at the current time.  My information is that their internal war destroyed much of their planet’s defenses, but did not touch their fleet, which has rallied to defend the remaining human populations.  It is our analysis that the humans are not capable of offensive action at this time, but have maintained a credible defense force.  We could overwhelm them, but doing so would take most of our forces, and in the meantime how would we maintain the blockade of the Mintek?  It is our judgement that we much remain focused on the Mintek, as they are the primary threat to our race.”

Skull Splitter leaned forward.  “And so, you kept this information from us?  Out of fear of what?  That we would start another war with the humans, leaving the Mintek border unguarded?”

The Keeper-Cleric remained silent for a few seconds, considering the other leaders.  “Yes.  The clans are not known for their restraint.  We thought it best to monitor the situation in the human territories while we focus our real efforts against the Mintek.”

Skull Splitter sat back and turned his gaze to T’Qek.  She had obviously come across this information somehow, and had chosen to release it here.  For what purpose?  Simply to cause division?  Coming to a decision, he focused on the new leader.  “You have brought this information out for your own purposes, clearly.  What are you suggesting?  That we launch an assault on the Humans?  Because, while I don’t like the fact that he hid the information from us, the Keeper is right.  The Mintek are the true threat at the current time.  Attacking the humans, no matter how vulnerable they are, would be a diversion from the real threat.”

Clan Chief T’Qek shook her head in agreement.  “Of course.  I merely wanted to clear the air between us, so that we could make informed decisions.”  That last was said acidly, with a barely concealed glare at the Keeper-Cleric.  “But, having said that, we must make a decision about the course we will take in the future.  Our economy is strained to the limit supporting our fleet.  In fact, unless I am wrong in reading the briefing materials sent prior to this meeting, we have had to take loans from our ‘allies’ to keep our economy afloat for the last two months?  This cannot be supportable, and places us in an unenviable position with races that should be looking to us for support, rather than the other way around.”

Skull Splitter looked across the table at Burning Blade, who dipped his head and turned to the new clan chief.  “You are correct in all respects.  However, we find ourselves in a difficult position.  We must enforce the blockade of the Mintek in the Phyriseq system, and our Rehorish allies must invest their border with the humans.  Between us, this is absorbing every ship we have.  We have been encouraging our allies to enlarge their fleets, to take some of the burden off of us, allowing us to mothball some of our fleet and divert increased resources towards enlarging our economy, but this takes time.”

“And in the meantime, we cannot muster the force required to either attack the Mintek or the Humans.”  Clan Chief T’Qek grimaced.   “You all have admitted that the Mintek are the primary threat to our alliance, however, do we have a plan to assault the Mintek and eliminate the threat?  Or are we merely huddling behind our defenses?”

Skull Splitter jumped to his feet in anger.  “Do not question us as if we are novice warriors!  We have reached this situation by surviving all of the threats that have confronted us.”  He turned away from the table and began pacing, his extended claws scratching at the stone floor as he furiously walked back and forth.  “Our exploration fleets look for the Mintek even now, and we have modernized our fleet and improved the strength of the Alliance as a whole, all in preparation for attacking the Mintek wherever we find them.”  He stopped and turned, facing the other leaders.  “I was there, in the Phyriseq system, when our broken ships limped back through the warp point from Mintek.  Their defenses are too strong for a frontal assault.  Even if we could overwhelm them, our losses would be so catastrophic that we would be unlikely to survive the aftermath.”

T’Qek, who had not moved through the diatribe, now leaned forward and raised her arms in a gesture of placation.  “Peace, Skull Splitter.  I meant no criticism.  I am merely pointing out the unenviable situation we find ourselves in at this point in time.  Even now the Mintek are surely building up their forces, in preparation for an attack.”  She paused, and Skull-Splitter, partially mollified, sat down again.  “We must decide on a strategy for moving forward, though.  It is clear that the Council intended to take a temporary break from the war with the humans and with the Mintek to rearm and refit our fleet.  That has now been done, but in the time since we have fallen into a defensive mindset.  We must find a way to regain the offensive.  And I believe that we have that tool within our grasp.”  Once again, she turned to the Keeper-Cleric.  “Keeper, your fleet has deployed a new weapon, correct?”

The Keeper’s face was stone.  “Of what do you speak?”

Skull Splitter burst out in laughter.  “You joke!”  Seeing the look on determination on the Keeper’s face, he leaned forward.  “She is talking about your new toys.  Your ‘small-craft carriers’, I think you call them.”

At the mention of the Keeper’s new ships, Burning Blade’s gaze turned to the Keeper, and his attention sharpened.  “Yes, Keeper, tell us of your new toys.”

The Keeper-Cleric looked at the other three and then shook his head.  “We believe they may be useful in enhancing our blockade of the Mintek, and so we’ve deployed most of our new fleet there.”

“I think you understate their utility greatly, Keeper-Cleric.”  She turned to the other two Clan Chiefs.  “One of my first acts after assuming power was to ask for a complete review of our fleet, and our building and research efforts.  During that review, I first encountered the reports given to the Clans by the Keepers, on their new weapon.  It was clear to me that the Keepers, while they did not hide the basic data, were willfully obfuscating the utility of their new weapon, something my former shipmasters and builders abetted.  To be most efficient, these new small-craft require purpose-built hulls, something that my cruiser-captains assure me is counterproductive and worthless.  However, being curious, I commissioned a study of the new systems, and discovered something interesting.  The Keepers are understating the usefulness of their new weapon, dramatically.  These new small craft have the endurance to attack from beyond the range of any beam or even missile, and can carry useful loads of weapons in such an attack.  And while defenses can be built, as presently configured, our cruisers would have a difficult time defending against such an attack.”  He eyes swiveled to the Keeper-Cleric.  “You have attempted to keep this new weapon to yourself.”  Her tone was questioning, as if she was truly curious.  “This weapon could revolutionize our fleet, and its ability to deal with the Mintek, or the Humans.  And yet, you’ve kept it to yourself.  Why?”

The Keeper-Cleric had clearly thought this through.  “I have provided the basic information and tech data to the Clans, as required.  I am not required to force the Clans to see the utility of the weapon, if they chose to ignore it.”

Skull-Splitter suspected that the Keepers were perfectly happy to keep this development to themselves.  Whether the new small-craft were really as effective as T’Qek claimed was another thing.   Still, the Keeper’s actions seemed to indicate that they thought the small-craft would be effective in battle.  “And what do you intend to do with this information?”

“I have already done it.”  She transferred specifications for new warships to the other leaders, and then put them up on the table’s holo system.  A series of hulls appeared over the table, starting with several cruiser designs followed by a small corvette.  “These are the designs for the new B’Regest fleet. I will be scheduling refits, to begin next month.”

Burning Blade leaned closer to the holo displays, peering at the specifications below the holographic ships floating over the table.  Perplexed, he turned to the B’Regest clan chief.  “But you’ve reduced the weapons load on your new x-ray laser cruiser, and gutted the armament of the standard-missile equipped cruiser!  No one cares what you did to the corvette, but you’ve virtually destroyed the effectiveness of your cruisers!”

T’Qek stood and pointed at the holographic cruisers floating over the table.  “No!  I haven’t reduced their effectiveness, I’ve improved it!  By reducing the weapons load of the x-ray cruiser we’ve freed up enough space to install hangar systems to accommodate six of the new…what do you call them, Keeper-Cleric?”

“Fighters.”  The Keeper-Cleric responded sourly, but he knew he couldn’t fight what was going on. 

“Yes, fighters!  This hybrid cruiser-carrier isn’t optimal, but it gets fighters out to our fleets now!  And no one, not even our cruiser-commanders, likes the Knucklepuff missile design.  By gutting its armament and replacing it with fighter bays, we’ve allowed the cruiser to launch a strong attack on any target from well beyond that target’s own weapon’s range.  If the attack fails, the cruiser-carrier can retire to be reloaded with more fighters, which are relatively cheap and easy to replace.  Much cheaper than replacing cruisers, at any rate.  And as for the corvette, we have been trying to make those into effective warships for some time, but they are just too small to be really effective.  But yet my ship commanders insist that they are necessary.  I suspect that their insistence is rooted in their desire to have more warships that would need more commanders, who could then valiantly prove their worth in battle, rather than any belief that they could be effective in battle.  By replacing their weapons and most of their defenses with fighter bays and long-range scanners, we will create a scout that can defend itself or add to a fleet’s defensive and offensive capabilities.  And you all know that we desperately need scouts for our fleet’s, despite our commander’s insistence on ever increasing numbers of cruisers.”

Skull Splitter leaned back in thought, his eyes on the holographic ships over the table.  She wasn’t wrong in her statements about the domination of cruiser commanders throughout their fleets.  Her drastic plans to refit her fleet were perhaps not the correct response, but it was her fleet to do with as she chose.  Skull Splitter wasn’t entirely convinced that the new fighters were the wonder weapon she claimed, but he intended to have his own people study the information sent by the Keepers to determine if they were as effective as she claimed.  Still…  “More refits.  This will force us to remain on the strategic defensive for longer.”

“Yes, it will.  But at the end of the refits, we will have a fleet capable of rolling over the Humans, and maybe the Mintek too.  If these designs prove out, the B’Regest will build no more cruisers.  Instead, we will be transitioning to a carrier-only fleet concept, to maximize the utility of the new weapon system.”

Skull-Splitter was taken aback by the new clan chief’s intention to completely revamp her fleet.  This would have several implications.  First, it would almost certainly result in a number of very dissatisfied senior officers in the B’Regest fleet, as their beloved cruisers were pushed into what they would almost certainly perceive as a support role.  He would have to speak with his chief military officer about trying to recruit the better officers away from the B’regest.  Such things were rare, but they were not unknown, and if this eager young clan chief thought she could change so many things so quickly, she would find that there were consequences for such actions.  Also…  “Where will you find the yard space for your refits?  The yards are committed for some time, last I checked.”

T’Qek smiled at the Keeper-Cleric.  “I’m sure the Keepers will cede me their yard commitments, to make up for their hoarding of this vital information.”

The Keeper-Cleric looked like he was about to object, but then he saw the faces of the other two clan chiefs.  They might not agree with the young leader in her evaluation of the new technology, but they would support her against the Keepers out of reflex.  The Keeper-Cleric hesitated, then nodded grudgingly. 

“There is one more issue I would like to discuss.  Almost two years ago, in the waning days of the war against the humans, one of our survey groups discovered a system with a colony from a high-tech race.  The scout, following SOP, broke contact and retreated through the closed warp point they had entered through.  Subsequent analysis of the data gathered by the scout revealed that the colony was almost certainly from the Bjering, a race on the periphery of the human empires.  Given the challenges that faced us at the time, I understand the decision to avoid contacting them, or attacking.  Some in my fleet are pushing for a re-evaluation of this decision.  They wish to attack, once our new fleet is ready.  I have told my officers I would discuss it with the Council.  What are your thoughts?”

Burning Blade leaned forward, urgently.  “The same complications that apply to renewing the war with the humans applies to the Bjering.  Their strength is unknown, and they are allied to at least some of the humans.  If we attack and fail to immediately overwhelm them, then we face a drawn-out war that will drain our resources even as we try to maintain the blockade against the Mintek.  Worse, we may rouse the humans from their introspection and draw them into an alliance with the Bjering.”

T’Qek shook her head.  “I think you underestimate the capabilities of our new fleet.”  She held her hand up when Burning Blade made to reply.  “I understand your concerns, and agree with them.  We do not have the strength to blockade the Mintek, fight a new war, guard against the humans, and expand our economy.  We may not even be able to do three of those things, much less all four.  However, what if we establish peaceful contact with the Bjering, with the goal of opening up trade relations?  Such trade would be a welcome boost to our economy, at a time when we need it most.  And perhaps the Bjering will be interested in a closer relationship?  If we can woo them away from the humans, all the better!”

Burning Blade and Skull Splitter looked at each other for a few seconds, then turned to the new leader and nodded.  “Your idea has merit.  Let’s discuss it.” 

They discussed the merits of contacting the Bjering, as well as the claimed advantages of the new B’Regest carrier fleet.  The other two senior leaders were not convinced of the utility of the new fighters, but were very interested in opening relations with the Bjering. 

The meeting broke up shortly thereafter, with the two senior clan leaders determined to review the new weapons system and determine if it was worthy of implementation, while the Keeper-Cleric intended to initiation an internal investigation to determine where the new clan leader was getting her information.  A squadron would be sent to contact the Bjering next month.       

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 141, Bjering Consolidate
Trade relations are established between the Bjering and the Wunderland Association. 

Month 141, Day 5, Sigma Draconis System
Former General Semenov, now Senator Semenov of the Colonial Senate, watched curiously as his shuttle approached the Colonial Flagship.  The Kara rapidly went from being a small dot to a massive warship as the shuttle approached.  The shuttle’s pilot, with the concurrence of the battleship’s flight control officer, slowly moved around the big ship’s hull, giving the Senator time to see everything. 

Unlike the Coalition’s hulls, the Kara was a quintessential Russian design.  The ship’s hull was an elongated pyramid on its side, with the ship’s massive engines poking out of the base of the pyramid.  A heavily armored and blocky superstructure containing the ship’s bridge was on the ‘top’, while the ship’s numerous missile launchers were arrayed along the opposite face.  Overall, unlike some of the Coalition’s designs, the Kara was brutal and powerful looking, the exact opposite of elegant, which was how the Coalition battlecruisers were most often described.   Finally, Semenov waived to his pilot to dock with the flagship.  It was time.

The shuttle nosed into the Kara’s docking bay and settled into its landing frame as the bay doors closed behind it.  Senator Semenov had to wait a few minutes while the bay was pressurized and the greeting party assembled before he could debark. 

Admiral Ruston saluted as Senator Semenov left his shuttle.  The senior senator on the Senate’s Military Affairs committee, Senator Semenov was also an old friend and former commander of half of the UCDF.  He held the salute until Senator Semenov stopped in front of him and his command staff. 

“Relax, Admiral, relax!”  The big Russian tugged at his collar.  “The formality of these situations will be the death of me yet!”

Admiral Ruston grinned at his old friend.  “So you keep saying.  And yet somehow you keep ending up in these formal situations.”  He gestured for the Senator to accompany him, and the two set out for the auxiliary control center, which had been cleared out today for their use. 

Senator Semenov looked around interestedly as they walked through the ship’s long corridors.  “She looked big from the outside, but once you get inside you truly realize the scale.  On my old command ship, it took me ten seconds to get from my bunk to the flag deck.  Here?  It would take me forever to get anywhere!”

Admiral Ruston nodded.  “Well, she masses over three times as much as your old flagship.  Compared to our cruisers, she has more shields, armor, missile launchers, more everything.”

The two reached the aux con, and the marines following them set up outside as the two entered and the door slid shut behind them.  As soon as the door shut, Senator Semenov shook his head.  “My friend, you might as well stop trying to mothball this ship.  The Senate will not allow you to mothball the Colonial Union’s flagship.”

Admiral Ruston took one of the chairs arrayed around the central plot tank and waived the senator over to the others.  “You know why I’m doing it.  All they see is ‘big’ and they are ignoring all of the other factors.”

Senator Semenov shook his head.  “I understand.  The Kara is an albatross.  She is slower than our battlecruisers, which make up our battleline, and thus would either be left behind or slow them down.  She is more expensive to maintain, which I’m sure is nearly intolerable given the fact that you can’t deploy her with the fleet because of her slower speed.  And, we currently have no plans to build any more, which leaves her orphaned and without a proper squadron.”  Senator Semenov waited for the Admiral to nod before continuing.  “I understand your reasons.  The other Senators understand your reasoning.  But you are ignoring all of their reasons.   Humanity was shaken to the core by what happened on Earth, and we faced oblivion if the D’Bringi continued their war.  It was only through chance that the D’Bringi had another enemy that distracted them at just the right time, allowing you to negotiate a badly needed peace treaty.  After the death of our mother countries, everyone on the scattered colonies was feeling small and vulnerable.  Seeing the Kara, our first battleship, launched in the aftermath of the conflagration that engulfed the Earth, gave them something to rally around.  A point of pride.”

Admiral Ruston looked sour.  “Well, their point of pride is an albatross!”  Senator Semenov chuckled and Ruston grinned.  “So how many ships am I going to be left with at the end of the current round of down-sizing?”

“You’ll have the Kara, of course, along with twenty-one battlecruisers and heavy cruisers, sixteen destroyers, and twenty-eight scouts of various classes.”

Admiral Ruston sent a sharp look at his friend.  “How many battlecruisers am I keeping?”

“All of them.  You’ll keep two squadrons of heavy cruisers, but the rest will be your precious battlecruisers.”

Admiral Ruston looked at least slightly mollified.  “Well, that’s something, anyway.”

“It’s more than something, any you know it!”   

Admiral Ruston put his hands up in mock surrender.  “I understand how it is.  I’m just saying that with every ship that goes into mothballs my job gets harder.”

“I understand, believe me I do.”  Senator Semenov shook his head.  “You may as well prepare.  There will be more cuts to come.”

“More!”  Admiral Ruston leapt to his feet and began pacing.

Senator Semenov let his friend work off some energy before speaking again.  “You must understand, this round of cuts brings us down to where the maintenance for the fleet is barely supportable without crippling our economy.  That’s a big deal, because it means with the resources that are paid by the Wunderland Association defraying some of the costs of the fleet, we can invest in growing our economy.  And I know you’ll agree that a growing economy is necessary for a healthy fleet.”  He waited for the Admiral to nod before continuing.  “But we must look to the future.  The D’Bringi have always been ahead of us in technology, and right now that lead is widening.  The pressure for us to restart our R&D program is becoming intense.  But to do that we will almost certainly have to have another round of cuts.”

Admiral Ruston sighed and took his seat.  “I can’t argue with any of that.  We need R&D to keep up with the D’Bringi.  And my fleet is going to need refits.  Hell, most of my units don’t even have the latest shields, as you know.”

Senator Semenov nodded.  “Believe me, I know.  However, there is good news as well.  The Senate is finalizing an agreement with the Wunderland Association that will be the first step towards unifying our two states.  Once we add their resources to ours, cuts will no longer be necessary to pay for R&D and economic expansion.”

Admiral Ruston grunted.  “It’s about time.  The Wunderlander’s have been after me to station more ships in their system, even with their new buildup.  I guess this way they’ll get more of a say.”

“Yes, that’s true.  There is more, though.  As you know, our success in political relations with the Wunderlander’s have been offset by the concomitant worsening of our relations with the Tomsk Union.  Three months ago, they ended UCDF aide payments.”

Admiral Ruston nodded, and if anything, the sour look on his face worsened.  “That was offset by an increase in aide from the Wunderlanders.  I know.”

“What you don’t know is that the Tomsk Union has issued a demand for the withdrawal of the UCDF from their space, to begin in three months.”

Admiral Ruston shook his head.  “Not unexpected, but still disconcerting.  What about the D’Bringi in the Petropavlovsk system?  After the riots in the Tomsk system, Petropavlovsk is the only place we currently have warships stationed in Union territory.”

“That’s the stumbling point.  We have an agreement with the D’Bringi in that system, and we intend to honor it, but it won’t help them, or anyone else, if we have to go to war to enforce our access.  The Tomsk Union understands our issues, but to get to Petropavlovsk we have to go through the Tomsk System, and that’s giving their public fits right now.  The Prime Minister is negotiating with Union representatives, and we’ll come to an agreement at some point, but for now you are going to have to limit our transits through Tomsk territory.  Official notification will be coming down from the Prime Minister’s office today, but she wanted me to let you know before it goes public.”

“How is the New Dawn Party positioning itself in all of this?”

Senator Semenov frowned at the mention of the up-and-coming party.  “Officially they are against allowing the Tomsk Union to shut off our access to the Petropavlovsk system.  Unofficially, it’s not that simple.  One of the New Dawn Party’s core beliefs is unifying humanity.  Allowing the Tomsk Union to drift away and form a closer relationship with the Bjering goes against that belief.  Supporting the D’Bringi in the Petropavlovsk system goes against their general anti-alien stance as well, but the bulk of the New Dawn Party is still Russian and many Russians still have close ties with those D’Bringi for their role in saving the men and women of their Home Fleet.  In short, its complicated, and this has limited the New Dawn Party’s influence in this matter, at least for now.”

“That’s something, at least.”

“There’s more.  As you know, I haven’t joined any of the parties.  This allows me to move more freely and mediate between various groups that otherwise would have difficulty coming to a meeting of the minds.  It also allows me to see currents in the Senate more clearly than others, who generally have become coopted by their party’s stated position.  If the elections go the way I expect, the New Dawn Party will win enough seats to force the Unity Party to form a coalition government with the New Dawn Party as the junior partner.”

“But, most of the news outlets have been saying that the upcoming elections are going to go badly for the New Dawn Party, based on the unrest in the Tomsk Union.”

“Yes, they do say that.  Most of them are controlled in one way or another by the Unity Party, and they are desperately pushing a world-view that they wish existed, instead of what is.  The New Dawn Party is poised to become the second largest party in the Union, and while the Unity Party will still have a majority, it will lose its supra-majority.  To form a government after the elections, the Unity Party will need to either bring the New Dawn Party in as a junior partner, or will have to align itself with a coalition of the smaller parties, some of whom are even more radical than the New Dawn Party.”

“So, what is this going to mean for the UCDF?”

Senator Semenov shook his head.  “It is unclear at this time.  The New Dawn Party is very pro-military, so it is likely that, at least at first, their ascendance will lead to increased budgets for the military, particularly the navy.  However, the New Dawn is for aggressive expansion, to include a more aggressive stance towards non-Colonial Union humans and the D’Bringi Alliance in particular.  They very vocally espouse the unification of all humans under one government, to better face the alien threats to our existence.”

Admiral Ruston grunted.  “That doesn’t sound too bad, although taking an aggressive stance at this point isn’t maybe the smartest thing we could be doing.”

The Senator settled back, an unhappy look on his face.  “I predict that for now they will settle for an increased budget for the UCDF and a more aggressive foreign policy, however, should they take the majority, I fear that will change.  If they are serious in their plans to unify humanity, they will have to use force.  Probably against the Tomsk Union, almost certainly against the CES.  Will you lead the UCDF into that war?  Will they follow?”

“You know the answer to that!”  Admiral Ruston stood and walked to the far bulkhead, thinking furiously. 

“At that point, if this comes to pass, they will be the legitimate government.  Your options will be limited.”

“I will not lead the fleet against our own government.  Just as I will not lead it against other human states in a war of aggression.”

“Then, my friend, I’m afraid that you will not be leading the fleet at all.”

“Hopefully, it won’t come to that.  Was there anything else that you wanted to let me in on?”

Senator Semenov stood.  “I’m transferring to you a ‘suggestion’ from the committee that you prepare to transfer at least another cruiser group to Wunderland.  The official orders will be coming down shortly.”

“I could see that coming.  Where do you suggest I get the ships?  Anywhere I take them from, it’s going to hurt.”

“From Epsilon Eridani.”

“But that’s our reserve!”

Senator Semenov nodded.  “I know, but the Epsilon Eridani warp chain is closed, and there are no known threats in that area.”  Seeing how unhappy the Admiral was, the Senator continued.  “We now have twenty-one defensive bases on line in the Sigma Draconis (Moskva) system, along with over six hundred mines and laser buoys.  Once the Senate’s confidence in their defenses grows, we’ll be able to release some of the ships being held there for other duties.”

“It can’t happen soon enough.”

“I understand, old friend, I understand.”

Month 141, Rehorish Stellar Empire
The Rehorish achieve HT 7 this month, and immediately begin R&D on datalinked point defense. 

Month 141, D’Bringi Expanses
The Bir Meritocracy comes to terms with the D’Bringi, bringing the D’Bringi occupation to a close.  The Bir have agreed to become associate members of the D’Bringi Alliance on terms similar to the Torqual and the Doraz, although given their limited technology, IND-1, it will be some time before they can expand into space and contribute to the common defense. 

Month 142, Colonial Union
The Union’s first combined Colonial Senate elections are held this month, with one third of the Senate’s positions up for election.  The election goes smoothly, which is gratifying in the newly consolidated Union.  In an upset, the New Dawn Party erodes the Unity Party’s dominance of the Senate, reducing it to holding a mere majority instead of a supra-majority.  This is portrayed by the Unity Party as a victory, as they held on to a majority, but there is a grim atmosphere in the Unity Party’s HQ that evening, while the general attitude in the New Dawn Party’s HQ is one of jubilation.  The Prime Minister announces that the new government will be formed in a partnership with the New Dawn Party. 

Month 142, Bjering Consolidate, frontier
Gamma Fleet, consisting of a battlecruiser flagship, four combat corvettes, and two scout corvettes, jumped into the Outgard system on day 15.  Explorers had discovered a high-tech civilization in the system four months ago, and Gamma Fleet, and Gamma Admiral, were here to establish peaceful relations.  Gamma Admiral being the lowest ranked and least powerful of the five admirals that ruled the Consolidate, had no illusions about why she was here.  The ruling quorum wanted one of their number on scene to control the situation, but should the contact go wrong, they felt that it should be their most expendable member who was at risk.  She accepted her situation, understanding how the Quorum worked and she knew that she would have to take risks to move up its ranks.  This was one of those risks. 

Once in the system, Gamma Fleet, assumed a defensive position around the warp point and one of the corvette-scouts set out for the inner system, with Gamma Admiral aboard. 

Month 142, Day 19, Bjering Consolidate, Outgard System
The Gamma Fleet scout had been steadily approaching the inner system for the last four days.  The scout was now one hundred and twenty light minutes from the system primary, well out of detection range of anything in the inner system, but was only sixty light minutes from one of the outermost ice planets and its moons, well within long-range sensor detection range of any ships or outposts on the planet’s moons.  Gamma Admiral had chosen this course purposefully, to show the locals that she was not hiding, not sneaking up on their home planet.  It was at this point that a communication signal reached the scout.  The signal was audio only, and completely incomprehensible, as expected.  Gamma Admiral ordered her scout to halt in place, and began to prepare to meet the locals. 

Month 142, Day 22, Bjering Consolidate, Outgard System
Gamma Admiral watched as the alien ships approached her scout.  By the engine strength, the alien fleet consisted of two battlecruisers, three heavy cruisers, a light cruiser, and three destroyers.  A powerful force, but not overwhelming in terms of the overall fleet strength of the Bjering.  Of course, she was very aware that this force was the only one within detection range of her scout, which did not mean that it was the only fleet the aliens had.  But still, it was rather reassuring that the force the aliens had sent to meet her was not completely overwhelming.  That had been one of her fears, as she had waited in the dark for the aliens to approach.

The alien fleet stopped at fifteen light seconds, a respectful distance, and after a few seconds the light cruiser left the rest of the fleet and approached.  This too was a hopeful sign to Gamma Admiral.  Granted, the alien light cruiser was large enough to destroy her scout in short order, but she took the fact that they were not just charging in with their entire strength as a hopeful sign. 

As the light cruiser approached, Gamma Admiral ordered her comms section to begin transmitted first contact messages. The alien light cruiser approached to eight light seconds and came to a halt, and began transmitting their own signals, presumably their version of first contact protocols. 

Month 143, Colonial Union
The Colonial Union’s new Minister for Foreign Relations, Natasha Goncharov, reorients the Foreign Ministry to focus on clearing the way for amalgamating the Wunderland Association, and to improving the Union’s relationships with the CES and the Tomsk Union. 

Month 143, Day 25, D’Bringi Expanses
On this date, a D’Bringi force consisting of a battlecruiser, a heavy cruiser, a strike carrier, and three corvette-carriers, jumped into the Nedyn system.  The D’Bringi had discovered this system some time ago, along with its Bjering inhabitants.  The D’Bringi scout had immediately jumped out of the system, following SOP, as the D’Bringi Alliance was deeply involved in the war against the humans at the time, and they did not need any complications that might divert warships from the front lines.  They knew the scout had been detected entering the system, though, as it had appeared just 48 light minutes from the system primary, well within detection range of a population that later analysis identified as Bjering.  However, the warp point was an undetectable closed warp point, and so the scout withdrew, leaving the Bjering with a mystery. 

Now, the D’Bringi battlegroup jumped into the system, intent on contacting the Bjering.  Once in the system the battlegroup came to a halt, with a lone corvette continuing to advance a full light minute into the system, towards the colony.  Once it reached one light minute from the warp point, the scout-carrier came to a halt and began beaming contact messages at the Bjering. 
 
The Bjering response was immediate.  A force of seven ships left the colony and set their course for intercepting the scout-carrier.  While this force was approaching, the Bjering responded to the communications attempts with their own. 

Note: The Bjering had limited contact with the Rehorish during the Human-D’Bringi Alliance war, and but never established full comms and had a very negative view of them based on the Rehorish betrayal of their treaty with the Russians.

Meanwhile, the Chirq Cooperative agrees to D’Bringi terms and is released from occupation.  They are currently at IND-2 tech level, and it will be some time, even with D’Bringi assistance, before they can become contributing partners within the Alliance. 

The Doraz, an associate member of the D’Bringi Alliance, dispatches a force of six heavy cruisers to the Phyriseq system, to bolster the blockade force.  This leaves their home system unprotected, except for a small force of D’Bringi ships, but they are waiting to build orbital defenses until R&D on capital missiles is complete. 

Month 144
The Wunderland Association begins construction on its first capital ship, a completely new design capital-missile armed battlecruiser. 

The Torqual Benignity, under protest, dispatches six light cruisers to the Phyriseq system to reinforce the blockade.  The Benignity is decidedly pacifistic and was reluctant to deploy warships outside of its home system, however, the D’Bringi and the Rehorish brought significant pressure to bear and the Benignity’s leaders finally agreed. 

In the Sligo System, the recent elections give the New Dawn Party a significant majority in the planet’s legislature, and thus control of the Governorship.  Governor Whitmore, the head of the Wunderland Association, stands for re-election in two months.  She faces a strong challenge from the New Dawn Party, which has dominated politics on Wunderland, but Whitmore’s support is stronger on the other colonies that make up the Association, and the election appears to be a close-run event. 

Month 145, Colonial Union
The Colonial Union begins research once again.  This is a huge step forward, as basic research has languished since the fall of the Coalition and the USSR.  Restarting research has been a basic goal of both the Unity Party and the New Dawn Party, and both political groups take credit for the accomplishment. 

The emigration from Earth continues.  The emigrants are no longer refugees, exactly.  Earth’s environment continues to be fragile, and can only support a medium sized population.  As Earth’s population continues to grow, the environment becomes strained and the infrastructure that supports the population becomes overloaded.  Therefore, the Consolidated Earth States has made shipping the excess population out of the system one of its number one priority, otherwise draconian population controls would have to be enacted.  The three main colonial governments, the Colonial Union, the Wunderland Association, and the Tomsk Union, have agreed to accept this excess population, and in fact these people have been a boon to the economies of the successor states.  However, this has not come without a cost.  The cost of relocating these people is enormous, and while the colonial governments welcome the new workers (and tax payers), the cost of resettling them is undercutting their efforts to expand their economies.  Further, the New Dawn Party, and its lobbyists, have been speaking against the isolationism of the Solar System, implying that it is a betrayal of the rest of humanity.  Therefore, the representatives of the three colonial governments present the CES with an ultimatum this month.  The CES will be required to pay half of the resettlement costs, or the colonial governments will begin to refuse to accept the Earth’s excess population. 

The CES protests this ultimatum, but in the end, they have little choice but to comply.  The alternative is unthinkable. 

Month 145, Day 25, Surtr System, Bjering Consolidate
Five months ago, a survey group from the Bjering Consolidate discovered the Surtr system.  The system was a gold-mine, with three habitable type T planets, and the survey group immediately began work on surveying the system.  The survey confirmed the value of the system, with two of the planets rated at benign, one of which was rated ‘very rich’ in resources, while the other benign planet was ‘rich’.  For the Consolidate, which had struggled to find habitable planets for some time, this was an incredible find. 

The survey had been completed, but the effort to colonize the Surtr system had been put off while the colonization of another system was completed.  That system only contained one habitable planet, and it was rated ‘poor’ in resources, but colonization had already started when it became clear how valuable the Surtr system was, so it was decided to complete colonization efforts in Gerd before colonizing Surtr.  At the start of the month a massive colonization fleet departed Bjering Prime, bound for the benign very-rich planet in the Surtr system.  It would arrive at the end of the month. 

On Day 25, the colonization fleet jumped into the Surtr system and set out for the inner system and its intended target.  The colonization fleet consisted of just over sixty cruiser-sized CFN transports, and the leading transports streamed towards their colonization target in a disorderly gaggle even as more transports jumped into the system.  A single CFN transport dropped a communications buoy and a sensor buoy at the warp point back to the rest of the Consolidate, and then set out for the system’s second warp point to place a second pair of buoys at that location.  This meant that the system was now tied into the Consolidate’s new communications network.  Trouble came almost immediately when the newly emplaced sensor buoy detected a drive field twenty-four light minutes from the warp point.  There were no other Consolidate ships in the system, and the detection report panicked the transport captains.  Their ships were unarmed, and had no escorts.  The detection report had already been sent back towards the home system by the automated detection system, but the transport captains added their panicked cries for help to the contact report as they retreated to the warp point, abandoning their mission in the face of an alien incursion.  One quick thinking captain sent a CD towards the survey group in the next system outwards, pleading with them to return and assist the colonization group.  The survey group’s three heavy survey cruisers were armed, and were much closer to the colonization group than the home system. 

The T’Pau survey ships, which had been engaged in routine survey of the incredibly promising system, abandoned their mission as well, and sent CD’s back towards home reporting the contact with this new alien race.  Not wishing to give away the location of their entry point, which was a closed warp point, the T’Pau survey ships jumped out of the system after ensuring that none of the alien ships were close enough to see them. 

[Kurt (OP)]

I forgot a bit of stuff from Month 145.  Here it is:

Month 145, Colonial Union
The Enlightened Union of the Tlalelolco is ready to begin R&D for HT-2, and, pursuant to the agreement they had with first the Coalition and then the Eridani Confederation, they request financial aide to fund the research.  In the past this had been pro-forma, and such requests were quickly granted.  This time, however, the New Dawn Party opposes the request for funding on the basis that the Colonial Union’s budget is overstretched.  The Unity Party, which is for granting the funding, decides to table the motion for now as it does not want an open confrontation with the burgeoning New Dawn Party, which is poised to take control of the Senate if things continue as they have.  The Tlalelolco are on their own.   

Month 145, Day 6, D’Bringi Expanse
A small D’Bringi survey ship materialized in the outer system, one hundred and eight light minutes from the system primary.  The survey ship determined that this was a binary system, with a white star primary and a red dwarf secondary star.  While both stars had planetary systems, the primary star was orbited by a type T planet.  The small survey ship was only equipped with survey instruments, and so could not determine if the planet was inhabited at this range.  In fact, it would have to close to almost point-blank range to detect an outpost, and even if the planet had a very large population it couldn’t detect it at this range.  Further, the exploration ship determined that its entry point was a type fifteen closed warp point.  Following SOP, the explorer jumped back out and sent a CD back towards the inner planets, requesting a military expedition to probe the newly discovered system. 

On the system’s inhabited planet, the newly placed Mintek colonists went about their business, unaware that they had been discovered by the D’Bringi.   

Month 145, Day 14, D’Bringi Expanse
The courier drone from the explorer had to travel through three systems before it reached a link to the D’Bringi communications network, at which time the message was uploaded into the comm buoy and sent on its way. 

The message’s arrival on D’Bringi Prime caused a bit of a stir, although this happened on a semi-regular basis.  Clan B’Regest, spoiling for a chance to use its new fighter carriers, volunteered to dispatch a force of corvette-carriers to probe the system.   The other clans had no objections, and a group of six corvette-scouts, each carrying six fighters, set out for the frontier the next day.  It would take the group two months to reach their objective.   

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 145 Update
Humanity
Colonial Union
The Colonial Union has made strides in integrating its constituent colonies into a single nation.  The Colonial Union is composed of thirteen colonized systems, with two systems, Epsilon Eridani and Sigma Draconis, containing three colonies with medium populations.  All of the other systems contain colonies with populations rated as ‘small’ at the current time.   

The Union’s military has been reduced in size over the last twelve months, to allow the Union’s economy the excess funds its needs to grow, and to allow the Union to begin basic R&D.  The Union government has no plans to expand its navy at the current time, however, with the growing power of the New Dawn Party making itself felt, it is unlikely that there will be further cuts. 

While there has been little direct contact between the Colonial Union and the D’Bringi Alliance, the Union’s Foreign Ministry has stepped up diplomatic and intelligence efforts in the Titov Free State, which borders both nations.  The increased diplomatic efforts have been aimed at improving the relationship between the Free State and the Colonial Union, while the intelligence efforts, both overt and covert, have been aimed at gathering information about the D’Bringi Alliance’s activities and intentions. 

While the Colonial Union has been making attempts to improve its relations with the other human states, it has been neglecting its relationship with the Tlatelolco and the D’Bringi miners relocated in the Tomsk Union’s territory.  This has caused the United D’Bringi Soviets, as their state is called, to turn to the Tomsk Union as an alternative.  The Tlatelolco have no such alternative handy, as they are located in the Wunderland Association’s territory, and the Association has grown increasingly intolerant of alien influences over the last few months.  Therefore, the Tlatelolco have turned to reinforcing their ties to the Unity Party and its friendly politicians and ministers. 

Although the Union’s base income has increased over the last ten months, its overall income has barely increased due to the loss of the trade revenue between the Eridani Confederation and the Russian Colonial Union (the constituent states of the Colonial Union) after the amalgamation occurred. 

Income (All Sources): 13,189 MCr’s (2% increase)
Active Fleet: 1xBB, 15xBC, 6xCA, 16xDD, 12xFGS, 33xEXS

Consolidated Earth States
The CES has withdrawn from its mutual defense treaty with the Colonial Union, although it continues to allow trade with the other human governments.  This is part of a wave of isolationism that has moved through the population of Earth and the Solar colonies.  Having been through two nuclear wars, the population of Earth has decided that turning their backs on the rest of the universe is the best course of action while they try to put their society back together. 

The CES has avoided an increase in militarism, for now, and is concentrating on improving its economy and the environment on Earth.  That may change, as the recent decision by the major extra-solar governments to force the CES to pay for a substantial part of the relocation costs of the emigrant flow from Earth has forced economic hardship on the CES and threatened its plans to improve its economy. 

The CES has continued a vigorous shipbuilding regimen, and now has fourteen large, cruiser sized freighters built and leased to the civilian transport network.  The income from these freighters provides approximately 11% of the CES government’s budget.   

Income (All Sources): 5,449 MCr’s (+34%)
Active Fleet: 7xPDC (on Earth), 3xCA, 2xEXS, 2xAst, 6xBS0

Tomsk Union
The Tomsk Union has downgraded its relationship with the Colonial Union, cancelling the military treaty between the two states while maintaining, at least for now, the trade relationship.  In addition, the Tomsk Union has severely limited the UCDF’s freedom of travel in their territory, essentially limiting the UCDF to pre-planned transits to and from their base in the Petropavlovsk system. 

While their relationship with the Colonial Union has deteriorated, the Union’s relationship with the Bjering Consolidate has commensurately improved.  In fact, late in Month 145, the Tomsk Union offered a partnership agreement to the Bjering Consolidate.  The Consolidate, which is currently facing several potential threats, immediately accepted the Union’s proposal.  In addition, the Tomsk government offered the United D’Bringi Soviets a trade agreement, and as a result of the UDS’s increasing discomfort with the Colonial Union they have agreed. 

The Tomsk Union currently has fifty corvette-sized freighters in service, leased to the civilian transport network.  The income from these freighters provides approximately 4% of the government’s budget.  Construction of the freighters has ceased as the Union has been focusing on colonization and building its new capital ships.  The Union’s first battlecruiser will be launched next month, and its two squadron mates will be ready four months after that. 

Current Income (All Sources): 12,961 MCr’s (+35%)
Active Fleet: 9xDD, 1xFG

Wunderland Association
The Association continues to have the largest economy of the successor states, and continues to devote a significant portion of its productivity into growing its economy, either through colonization or industrial investments.  Up to now the Association has been focused on growing its shipyard capacity, and seven yard now orbit Wunderland, with two more under construction.  Once the currently building yards are completed, the Association plans on devoting more of its resources towards building up its fleet, both to deter the Tarek and to assist the UCDF in its peacekeeping missions. 

The Association’s government is currently focused on the election campaign for Governor, with Governor Whitmore favored to win reelection.  Relations with Colonial Union continue to be good, and talks between the two governments about the possibility of amalgamation continue. 

The Association Navy, along with the UCDF force stationed in the Sligo system, continue to monitor the Tarek World Republic closely.  They have begun surveying the Sligo system for warp points, and have scrupulously avoided any provocations or open violations of their agreement to demilitarize their space operations. 

Current Income (All Sources): 16,045 MCr’s (+43%)
Active Fleet: 3xDD, 2xFGS, 4xCT, 20xES, 3xEXS

Total Human Income: 47,644 MCr’s (+26%)
Total Active Human Fleet: 1xBB, 15xBC, 9xCA, 28xDD, 15xFGS, 4xCT, 20xES, 38xEXS   
Note: The measure for total human income and total human fleet strength is becoming less useful, given the growing division in between the Colonial Union/Wunderland Association alliance and the Tomsk Union.

[Kurt (OP)]

Independents
Bjering Consolidate
The Bjering Consolidate was not directly involved in the war between the D’Bringi Alliance and the human states, but was allied to the Tomsk Union, after that state was cut off from the rest of humanity during the Rehorish advance.  Due to the high possibility of war, the Consolidate decided to activate a portion of its mothballed reserves, which strained the economy and crippled efforts to grow the economy.  Once the war was over, the Bjering lost no time in mothballing a significant portion of their active fleet, and doubled the size of their survey corps.  In the time since the war the Bjering have been fairly successful in growing their economy, and now, with a first contact effort going forward on their frontier, and the appearance of a D’Bringi Alliance task force in one of their inner systems with the stated goal of establishing friendly relations, the D’Bringi are concerned that their military forces are inadequate to their current needs, and are thus in the process of reactivating some of their mothballed reserves again. 

The Bjering are HT-7, and are well on their way to reaching HT-8.  The active Bjering Fleet is equipped to HT-7 standards, but the reserves are not, and would require refits before they were deployed to the front lines. 

Total Income (All sources): 17,951 MCr’s
Active Fleet: 8xBC, 30xCT

Titov Free State
The Titov Free State was formed as a result of the peace treaty between the human states and the D’Bringi Alliance.  The Titov colony is located in the Novosibirsk system, on the border of the former Russian Colonial Territories and the Rehorish Stellar Empire.  The Rehorish, fearing human reprisals after the war, demanded the establishment of an independent buffer state on their border, and the human representatives, in a poor position after the destruction of the Coalition and the USSR on Earth, were forced to agree.  Thus, the Titov Free State was born.  The Titov colony had been occupied by the Rehorish since the start of the war, and had fared well during the occupation.  The Rehorish believed in minimal control of the conquered human colonies, and as long as resource requirements were met cared little how the humans ran their societies.  The colonists on Titov obediently supplied their conquerors with their surplus resources, and thus largely prospered until the end of the war.  The populace was distrustful of the Rehorish, but also resented the way the Soviet government apparently abandoned them, and then negotiated them away without even asking their opinion.  Thus, the new Titov Free State was born with a vague distrust of both the Rehorish and the human governments. 

The Titov Free State has trade and mutual defense treaties with both the Colonial Union and the Rehorish Stellar Empire.  The mutual defense treaties were not signed by choice, but were rather a requirement of the peace treaty between the human states and the Rehorish.  Both sides are obligated to come to the defense of the Titov Free State should they be attacked by anyone.  This was intended mostly as a ‘trip-wire’ to make it clear that should either side move into the Free State’s territory in force, it would trigger a war.  Both sides have the right to station scout groups in the Novosibirsk system as trip-wire forces, and, at times, both sides have had small groups of ships stationed in the system to watch the other side’s forces. 

The Novosibirsk system is a nexus of eight warp lines.  One of these warp lines leads back to the Colonial Union, while two lead to the Rehorish Stellar Empire.  The other five lead to systems discovered by the USSR.  Two of the five are starless regions, while the other three contain five habitable planets, four of which are rated either benign or harsh for human habitation.  Two of the four were colonized by the USSR prior to the war.  These systems have become a point of contention in between the Colonial Union and the Titov Free State.  The treaty that created the Free State granted the Titov colony sovereignty over only the Novosibirsk system, and the Russian representatives present for the creation of the treaty insisted that the surrounding colonies would not be considered part of the new Titov Free State, in spite of the fact that their only connection to the Russian territories would now run through the newly independent Free State.  As the colonists on Titov and the surrounding systems had no say in the treaty, this was not viewed as an issue at the time the treaty was signed, however, it has become a much larger issue, at least for the Free State, since its formation.  The treaty requires the Free State to grant free passage to Colonial Union transports and warships headed for any of these colonies, and prohibits the Free State from exploring or colonizing any of these systems.  This situation has become increasingly problematic for the Free State, which has no outlet for growth and expansion.  In addition, the surrounding colonies, largely cut off from the Colonial Union mainstream, have been feeling increasingly detached and unrepresented by the Union, especially in light of the increasingly anti-alien and militaristic stance of the Union.  They fear that the Colonial Union’s new aggressive political stance will reignite the war, and they have little interest in that. 

Therefore, representatives from the surrounding colonies have been meeting with the Free State, tentatively discussing the possibility of joining with them, while the Free State has been pushing the Colonial Union to modify the treaty that created their state, to give them access to at least some of the surrounding systems.  Under the previous government, the Colonial Union had little interest in modifying their treaty with the Free State, as their unofficial policy was to keep it weak and contained.  This is changing under the new regime in the CU’s Foreign Ministry, which as agreed to talks in Month 147 about this and other issues of interest to the Free State.  Representatives from the surrounding colonies have been invited to attend as well. 

The Titov Free State is HT-6, although its ships are designed to the HT-5 standards that were prevalent throughout the Soviet territories before the final war.  The Free State has recently begun R&D efforts on several HT-6 systems, such as improved shields, but has not begun R&D on the next HT level as that is currently considered to be too expensive. 

The Free State has received some of the flow of emigrants from Earth, although not to the same extent of the other human states.  With its expansion opportunities limited, the Free State has focused on colonizing the Novosibirsk system, and building freighters to expand its freight network.  At the current time, the Free State’s twenty-six destroyer sized freighters provide almost 13% of the government’s budget. 

Because of the increased tensions with the Colonial Union over the Free State’s desire to explore and colonize the surrounding systems, the Free State government has decided to build and deploy three additional destroyers to supplement the three it already has. 

Total Income (All sources): 4,409 MCr’s
Active Fleet: 3xDD 

[Kurt (OP)]

D’Bringi Alliance
The Alliance Council, made up of representatives from the D’Bringi, Rehorish, and T’Pau races, has decided that the Mintek will remain the primary focus of the Alliance for the foreseeable future.  Because the Mintek remain the primary threat to the Alliance, good relations will be maintained with the human states, and the D’Bringi will seek to form a positive relationship with the Bjering. 

D’Bringi Expanses (Founding Member, D’Bringi Alliance)
The B’Regest Clan has successfully converted its heavy cruisers to hybrid cruiser-carrier designs, and has bought many of the corvettes fielded by the other clans, and the Keepers, and plans to convert those to carrier-scout designs.  The other clans were thrilled to unload their corvettes, which were built during the war to get more armed hulls to the front lines, and plan to use the money to fund the construction of battlecruisers for their fleets. 

The D’Bringi have not mothballed any of their ships, in spite of the strain that this has placed on their economy.  The Clans insist that their current fleets are not big enough to cover their commitments, at least not until the other races in the Alliance increase their fleet contributions to Alliance commitments.  This has created a situation where the fleet’s maintenance and the R&D budget nearly exceed the total income of the D’Bringi state.  This leads directly to month shortfalls as clan colonization efforts are funded, in spite of the shortage of available funds.  To cover these shortfalls, the D’Bringi government has been taking payments from the junior Alliance members, who have yet to contribute significant fleet elements to the Alliance defense effort.  This has worked well up to now, however, the Torqual and Doraz states have both recently dispatched squadrons to reinforce the Mintek blockade fleet, and both states reasonable expect that their payments to the D’Bringi will be reduced or eliminated given their contributions.  The D’Bringi Clan Council has not yet decided on how to deal with their ongoing economic issues. 

Because the D’Bringi have not mothballed any ships, and because they have been liquidating industrial investments to fund R&D and limited colonization, their economy has grown at a very weak rate.  The Clan Council has become alarmed at this development, and plans are being developed to reduce fleet strength without mothballing ships, primarily by selling ships to the weaker states in the Alliance.   

The D’Bringi Clans are currently at HT-7, and are well on their way to reaching HT-8. 

Total Income (All sources): 16,281 MCr’s (+1.6%)
Active Fleet: 9xBC, 26xCA, 6xCAV, 1xCVS, 12xCVE, 6xCTV, 14xCT

Rehorish Stellar Dominion (Founding Member, D’Bringi Alliance)
Since their massive fleet refit project was completed, the Rehorish have focused on improving their economy and their technology.  Rehorish shipbuilding has fallen off to nearly nothing, with most new construction focused on pre-fabricating new frontier bases that will then be transported to either the Sapporo or the Kure systems, both of which connect to the Titov Free State.  The vast bulk of the Dominion’s resources are being devoted to R&D, colonization, and industrial expansion.  The Rehorish Stellar Dominion recently reached HT-7, and is developing several HT-7 systems at the current time. 

Total Income (All sources): 31,046 MCr’s (+41%)
Active Fleet: 1xBC, 33xCA, 18xCL, 36xDD, 3xCT

T’Pau Syndicate (Full Member)
The T’Pau Syndicate has been focusing most of their available resources into colonial and industrial expansion.  The D’Bringi have granted them full access to their territory for exploration and colonization, as the D’Bringi utilize type ST planets, and thus had discovered a fair number of type T planets that they could not use.  Since gaining access to those planets, the T’Pau have been busily colonizing every available planet, and thus have seen a dramatic increase in their income.  To date, the T’Pau have colonized twelve type T planets in seven systems across the D’Bringi Expanses.  In addition, with D’Bringi assistance, the T’Pau have recently reached Ht-6, and are in the final stages of developing several critical systems.  Once these systems are developed the T’Pau plan to refit their fleet with the latest technology, and, in addition, plan to dramatically increase the size of their fleet, at the urging of the D’Bringi and Rehorish.  In the meantime, the T’Pau have been building large numbers of freighters to lease to the civilian network.  To date they have launched twenty destroyer sized freighters, and eight additional freighters are currently under construction. 

Total Income (All Sources): 16,714 MCr’s (+50%)
Active Fleet: 9xCA, 12xCL

Bir Meritocracy (Associate Non-Voting Member)
The Bir are currently at IND-1 tech level, and have initiated R&D, with D’Bringi assistance, into IND-2.  The Bir have no naval forces at this time, and will not be able to field a fleet for some time. 

Total Income (All Sources): 451 MCr’s

Chirq Cooperative (Associate Non-Voting Member)
The Chirq are at IND-2 technology level, and are researching HT-1 with D’Bringi assistance.  The Chirq have no naval forces at this time, and will not be able to field a fleet for some time.  The Chirq system contains no less than five habitable planets, four of which are type T and one is type ST.  The Chirq occupy one of the type T planets, and the D’Bringi have colonized the type ST.  The T’Pau recently completed a colonization effort on the other three habitable planets in the system.  The Chirq were not given a choice in the matter. 

Total Income (All Sources): 976 MCr’s

Doraz Contingency (Associate Non-Voting Member)
The Doraz have reached HT-5, with D’Bringi assistance, and are finalizing R&D on improved armor, after which they will institute refits on their ships to improve their effectiveness.  The Doraz fleet currently consists of six heavy cruisers, all of which have been deployed to the Phyriseq system to support the Mintek Blockade.  In addition, the Doraz have launched three battlecruiser sized bases to defend their home system. 

The primary focus of the Doraz has been to improve their tech and grow their economy.  The Doraz only brought the heavy cruisers and bases out of mothballs at the insistence of the D’Bringi and Rehorish, and have no plans to launch more units at the current time. 

Total Income (All Sources): 5,851 MCr’s (+67%)
Active Fleet: 6xCA

Torqual Benignity
The Benignity has been focused on improving its technology and growing its economy, and has made great strides in this area.  It has finished development of most HT-3 systems, and started research on HT-4.  Two colonies have been planets on the two habitable planets of a nearby system, and mining outposts have been placed in several additional systems. 

The Benignity’s survey fleet has been recalled to be refitted with improved survey instruments, and six light cruisers have been brought out of mothballs and deployed to support the Mintek Blockade.  In addition, the Benignity is working towards a deal with the D’Bringi Keepers to buy several of their older missile-armed heavy cruisers, which will also be deployed to the Blockade. 

Total Income (All Sources): 10,036 MCr’s (+35%)
Active Fleet: 6xCL