Author Topic: A History of the UEA - Chapter 7: The Calm Before the Storm (2127 - 2030)  (Read 3033 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Vortex421 (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Warrant Officer, Class 2
  • *****
  • V
  • Posts: 55
  • Thanked: 2 times
Starting Date:  15 May 2127

This is what the military community feared - encountering a hostile alien force with superior weapons and ships.  Over 350 crewmen have been lost among three vessels, and the enemy has emerged unscathed.  There are no guarantees that the destroyer and frigate forces picketing the jump point will be sufficient if the three Lal ships translate through.

At 0200 Sol time, the Global Congress declares that a state of war now exist between the UEA and the Lal.  They name Governor Faulkner to be the Governor of Earth Sector - a position that will oversee all planets in the solar system.  Governor Savage is reassigned from Mars to Earth, Callum Parsons from Venus to Mars, and Dong Cui Song is appointed to be governor of Venus.  

UEA scientists are quick to determine the deficiency that prevented their ships from being able to return fire at range, and scientist Kimio Minoru is assigned to handling that aspect of the situation.  Additional scientists are assigned to various weapons research projects, and the ship design teams go back to the drawing board to hone their designs.  

Any shipyards not doing construction began expanding slips or increasing tonnage.  The only yards that have no new activity in them are the commercial yards - of the six, two are building asteroid miners or freighters, a third is retooling for asteroid miners, and the rest are standing by to either produce colony ships or tankers - the latter may become important.

Over a week later there have still been no jumps into Sol from the Lalande jump point.  Scientists and Xenologists believe that the Lal either have no desire to jump through the gate, suggesting they may not be aggressive, or that they may not have the capacity to jump.  

Admiral Owens offers his resignation following the Barricade Affair, but it is rejected by Governor Faulkner and the Congress.  They emphasize that, despite the setbacks, the space navy is in it’s infancy and mistakes will be made.  They do caution Owens, however, to be more careful in the future.  The deaths of over 350 people will haunt Owens for a long time to come.

One of the issues determined in the wake of matters is that the fleet lacks a proper forward base from which to operate.  Transit times from Earth to the jump point can be upwards of 20 days.  A proposal is submitted to the Admiralty, and agreed upon by both Admiral Owens and Governor Faulkner, that designates asteroid 1993 RP as a forward fleet operating base.  1993 RP is only seven days’ transit from the Lalande jump point at current speeds.  

The Global Congress wishes to pursue all avenues, however, with the Lal.  The fleet is ordered to not enter Lalande for any reason, and attempts to communicate continue.  Additionally, a diplomatic team is created for the day that such a breakthrough in communications occur.  

Of detriment to the scientific community is the moratorium that has been placed on investigating the other two jump points.  Admiral Owens, and Governor Faulkner are both in agreement that they cannot afford to risk the possibility of being embroiled in two wars.  The Lal situation must be settled first before any further systems can be mapped.

There is still Procyon, however. Procyon-A I is not the most habitable planet - it’s atmosphere is 98% carbon dioxide and 2% nitrogen dioxide and it resides a mere 72 million km from the star.  It also has a surface temperature at 1,404 C that is just below the melting point of iron (1,535 C), and an atmospheric density some 74 times that of Earth.  (To contrast, Earth is 150 million km from the sun, with a surface temp of 14 C.  This planet is half the distance to it’s star and 100 times hotter than the Earth.  That it can be colonized at all, even at a modifier of 57, is a miracle)

Attempts to communicate with the Lal come to an end around the end of July, 2127.  There has been no progress on that front and the xenolinguists fear that there never will be.  The Global Congress resigns itself to either fighting to gain access to Lalande or avoiding the system all together.  A majority favor the latter option but there is a vocal minority who prefers the first option, believing that humanity is destined to become master of the universe.

Governor Faulkner and Admiral Owens agree with the majority view.  In their eyes, humanity is still an infant in outer space and the level of technology has great leaps and bounds still to go.  While our vessels were attacked without provocation in Lal space, technically we encroached upon their space to begin with.  And lastly, there are still two unexplored jump points.  

There is a heated discussion on this last point.  Commodore Phillips, who is the unofficial head of the science division of the fleet, is adamant that exploration should continue despite the setbacks.  There is, she argues, very low probabilities that other alien species will be waiting on the other points.  So long as the Lal make no covert or overt efforts to enter Sol space, there is no reason why the mapping should not continue.

Owens reluctantly accedes to the argument, but only so far as to give new orders for the Bastion to refuel and resupply at Earth.  With the rapid pace of technology he feels that it may be prudent to develop a new jump ship design.  However, by early October he concedes the matter and orders Bastion to the third jump point.

On October 28, 2127, Bastion transits the third jump point and enters Alpha Centauri.  At a glance there are no intra-system gates waiting within.  Sensors detect no ships near the point.  After two minutes, Bastion transits back to Sol. She returns to Earth to refuel then proceeds to the fourth jump point.  

Alpha Centauri holds great promise as well for Earth.  It is another binary system, with four planets orbiting the primary star and five orbiting the secondary.  The quick survey done while Bastion was in system suggests there are at least three potentially habitable planets and two moons.  Five moons and one planet are moderately habitable, and one moon is questionably habitable.  

Of particular interest is Alpha Centauri-B II.  It’s surface temperature is 41.7 C, and it has a weak (0.10) atmosphere, but it has a liquid hydrosphere (covering 92% of the planet) and a Nitrogen/Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide atmosphere.  

This serves, of course, as a dual-edged sword.  A glance at Lalande showed potentially (4+ colony cost) habitable planets.  Then a further glance showed the inhabitants of those planets, and a third glance showed that those inhabitants were at least two steps more advanced than humanity.  The planets in Alpha Centauri are far more inhabitable, which makes one wonder if more advanced inhabitants are waiting. The Bastion has been ordered not to investigate Alpha Centauri, so whatever mysteries are there will have to wait for another day.

On December 11, 2127, the final jump point in the Sol system is surveyed.  It leads to Ross 154, a star with nothing orbiting it at all - not even asteroids.  Bastion lingers for a moment, then returns home to Earth.

Meanwhile, Commodore Phillips and her grav survey team have been busy in the Procyon system.  They have already worked through ten of the possible point locations and have found a new jump point in system fairly close to the orbit of Procyon-B.  

February 2, 2128 arrives, and Jamie Horton, as expected, announces that the theory behind ion drive technology has become a reality.  Her team of 25 labs across the planet have worked hard over the past year to complete this research and it marks the end of the nuclear era for engine technology.  She looks healthy as she makes the announcement, making observers wonder if the rumors of her long-term illness are merely that - rumors.

It is the proverbial calm before the storm.  Scientists continue to work on advances in weaponry design at a breakneck pace.  Jamie Horton’s breakthrough in ion drive technology research results in advances in engine designs that will likely result in brand new ship designs as well.  The pace of discoveries is near breakneck - it seems that every other month a breakthrough is being made.  

It isn’t until 2130 that the speed of breakthroughs slows enough for the ship designers to finally start to get their designs underway.  One of the first mandated designs is for a jump scout that is capable of keeping a low profile yet having sufficiently powerful enough sensors so as to detect threats far enough out.  The Wolf-class jump cruiser is borne from these requirements:

Wolf-class Jump Cruiser

Size:  9,950 tons
Crew Compliment:  222
Top Speed:  5,427 km/sec
Range:  28.7 billion km
Intended Deployment Time:  6 mo.
Maintenance Life:  1.31 years
Fuel Capacity:  1 million liters

Thomas-Metcalfe J10000(3-50) Military Jump Drive    
Prokofiev-Krinov 120 EP Ion Drive (9)  

Luo Design Bureau Thermal Sensor TH10-60 (70%) (1)  Range:  60m km (sig strength 1000)
Young-Cook Limited EM Detection Sensor EM10-60 (1)  Range:  60m km (sig strength 1000)


The first of these is slated for deployment in April, with the other two in July and August due to equipment shortages.  (Namely:  The stock of 120 EP Ion Drives was only 10 to begin with.  Whoops)

Lalande will be the first test of this new design.  There had been debate about testing it at Alpha Centauri, but the cautious Admiral Owens does not want to risk a possible war on two fronts if it does turn out that the system is inhabited.  Additionally, intelligence on the Lal has been non-existent since the loss of the last task force to go in - anything they have is now several years old at best.  

The Hellcat leaves dock on April 14 under the command of Cmdr. Billy Lawson.  Lawson is a bit on the raw side - in the three years he’s been in the service he’s not been posted to command any of the naval vessels currently deployed.  But the general staff feels that he’s a very dynamic and results-oriented leader and feel that he’ll be best for the job.  Lawson is ordered to make for the Lalande jump point, proceed through, then begin picket duty.

On April 23, Hellcat crosses the jump point...
« Last Edit: March 19, 2015, 03:13:39 PM by Vortex421 »