1st January 2040The last decade have seen much less development that could be expected due to duranium shortages. Most nations decided to suspend all shipyard operations to concentrate what remained on building more mines. Some navies – in particular Commonwealth and Russian ones – have seen almost no expansion in that time.
On the other hand Japan and Federation have laid down their first warships, which will be the biggest ones built so far.
But it was also period of growth for Mars. The bulk of manned mining operations is done there right now, with the population slightly exceeding seven hundred million. However, the state sponsored colonisation was now over, and the growth will be much slower now.
Titania have also become significant moon, with hundreds of automated mines being positioned there.
And there was of course the first extra-solar colony. However, the colony have seen very little growth so far, as the freight is inadequate to transport all the needed infrastructure. Which means that, for the time being, the colony is mostly a symbol and not an actual asset.
The interstellar colonisation should kick off however, once the gate network is complete.
Last but not least the civilian sector continues to growth, albeit slowly. By now fifteen private ships are being operated in the Sol system.
8th April 2036As a part of their new military expansion, the Japanese design a missile armed planetary defence fortress. Because of their very limited technology in the area of sensors and missiles, the fortress is designed with a MAD doctrine in mind. Their powerful, trans-newtonian missiles would be able to deal massive damage to any nation stupid enough to attack, and they can also reach enemies in orbit and further – although the low speed of those missiles does not guarantee a lot of success.
Five of those PDCs will be constructed. The entire project is expected to be completed within five years.
Meanwhile the Commonwealth regained their position as the very centre of scientific research and the Federation completed their work on Ion engines. The jump gate to Kapteyn's Star have also been completed.
Ise class Planetary Defence Centre 20,250 tons 1395 Crew 2193.2 BP TCS 405 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 11-66 Sensors 1/180 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 100
Troop Capacity: 2 Battalions Magazine 1600
PDC Size 10 Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 10 Rate of Fire 50
Missile Fire Control FC108-R100 (2) Range 108.0m km Resolution 100
TNM - BM - NPD (160) Speed: 4,000 km/s End: 281.2m Range: 67.5m km WH: 18 Size: 10 TH: 13 / 8 / 4
Planetary Wide-Area Small Objects Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 180 Range 10.8m km Resolution 1
Planetary Wide-Area Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 21600 Range 118.3m km Resolution 120
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 9 sections
7th May 2040The duranium crisis and now the need to construct jump survey ships have been a significant distractions for Russians, which made them unable to upgrade their forces. However, the Federation have been building a lot of ships lately and according to the Intelligence the Commonwealth was resuming their armament.
As a stop-gap measure the Empire designed a new missile armed PDC. It's purpose will be to provide deterrence but it should also be able to reach enemies in the vicinity of Earth. Three are planned.
Sovremenny class Planetary Defence Centre 20,600 tons 1140 Crew 1505.5 BP TCS 412 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 9-66 Sensors 1/72 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 90
Troop Capacity: 3 Battalions Magazine 1530
Size 3 Missile Launcher (30) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 45
Missile Fire Control FC38-R80 (1) Range 38.6m km Resolution 80
Active Search Sensor MR38-R80 (1) GPS 5760 Range 38.6m km Resolution 80
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 9 sections 12th August 2040The Commonwealth completed their survey of EG 290. Aside from Gliese 201 only two more systems were discovered, EG 45 and Gliese 686, both of which are planetless.
17th September 2040The terraforming of Mars if officially over. The pressure is three quarters that of Earth's and the temperature is nineteen degrees Celsius.
10th February 2041Confederation completes survey of Gliese 1. It is also a dead-end system.
18th July 2041The Commonwealth have completed the survey of Ross 619 system finding four new jump points. AD Leonis is a planetless star. Gliese 250 is a binary of two red dwarfs, with secondary component having planetary system, including one good terraforming prospect. However, it is too far away from primary to be easily developed. Chi(1) Orionis have several planets and an asteroid belt, but none of those are candidates for terraforming.
2nd December 2041The Japanese complete the survey of Procyon finding seven new jump points. This is the highest number encountered so far.
YZ Canis Minoris and Pi-3 Orionis, while possessing planetary systems have no terraforming prospects. All other systems – Gliese 408, Wolf 294, Luyten 674, QY Aurigae and FL Virgilis – have at least one terraforming potential, usually requiring at least as much work as Mars.
8th December 2041The Federation learns about new Russian PDC program. According to the best Intelligence analysis available it will be at most three months before the first one comes online. If it does, it will mean that any war with the Empire would be very costly one.
10th December 2041The Federation decides to attack Russia before their PDC is complete. The Empire have twenty one ships to Federation's fifteen, but those fifteen ships are bigger and newer. At 16:09 they fire their first salvoes at the Russian forces some three hundred and fifty thousand kilometres distant.
Thanks to the better sensors than those used previous war the Russians detect the missiles much sooner this time. They also no longer try to get permission to open fire from their government – they just do, while appraising them of the situation. Even so, due to poor training standards, it will take some time for them to actually launch.
Too much time. Only two ships managed to fire before the Federation's missiles struck. Of the three hundred missiles of the first salvo, only twenty miss, and the Russian ships are rocked with explosions. Thee ships suffer magazine explosions, one of them powerful enough to rip the ship apart, and the other two damaged badly enough to fall out of formation.
But even so, that's still twenty ships surviving.
The first Sovremenny PDC was actually operational, unbeknownst to the Federation, and was monitoring the events. It couldn't launch without authorization however. Their missiles weren't only to deal with space treats; they were also to deal with ground ones.
Another salvo struck Russian ships and this time five more ships have been destroyed, many other damaged. Worse, at least some missiles self-destructed because they had no fire controls giving them orders. The battle was going badly for the Empire, fast. The CO Soveremenny's PDC made decision to fire without authorization. With thirty launches, and twelve reloads the PDC was a force to be reckoned with.
That launch was a shock to the Federation government, who was monitoring the events. For a moment they feared that the Empire launched a desperate attack on their territory before they realised those missiles were fired at their ships. But they also realised that this war had enormous risks, risks that weren't acceptable. The Indian Prime Minister decided to contact the Emperor in hopes of negotiating cease fire. The liberation of Indian population was important, but it wasn't worth a nuclear war that could kill hundreds of millions of people.
It remained to be seen if he acted in time.
Before the first Russian salvo could arrive, more Asian missiles struck the enemy ships. The Imperial formation was literally dissolving, with eleven ships now dead. Only ten remained in the fight. Worse yet, by now nearly half of the Russian salvo self-destructed.
The Russian missiles begun to arrive, but differences in launching time and size – many of the missiles were those from the first war, big but slow – meant those were arriving sporadically, more of a stream than a salvo.
The battle continued. Sporadic Russian missiles managed to hit their targets, but there were too few of the and the damage was always absorbed by armour. Federation's missiles were arriving in salvoes, ravaging the ever dwindling ranks of Russian ships.
The newer Russian ships managed another salvo, although it was doubtful if it could arrive before their fire controls are cut off. The PDC also launched, although it's first salvo have yet to arrive.
It did arrive fifteen seconds later. Amazingly, of the thirty missiles, only fourteen scored a hit on the massive, fifteen thousand tonnes cruiser. The damage was completely absorbed by the ship's massive armour.
More missiles were detonating amongst the Asian formation now. Some ships have taken internal damage, but none have fallen out of formation yet, while still pouring fire at the enemy.
After the second PDC fired salvo arrived, one of the massive, fifteen thousand tonnes Federation cruisers finally fell out of formation. But it was still very much in action, with much of it armour intact.
After some more missile exchanges – although very few Russian missiles actually arrived – the Federation commander begun looking at the PDC, requesting from his government permission to fire. The Prime Minister was still trying to get hold of the Emperor, so he refused.
Fortunately it seemed that the Asians have caught a break. The panicked Russian CO of Sovremenny forgot to use his own active sensors, relying on those on Imperial warships. Which was why when the last of those sensors fell silent, the PDC missiles self-destructed. Less than a minute after that the last Russian warship was pounded into scrap.
Incapable of getting hold of Russian Emperor and fearing that now that his fleet is gone, he'll bombard the civilians, the Prime Minister authorised a strike by one hundred missiles against the PDC. Unbeknownst to him, the Emperor just given the feared order, although targeting Federation troops, not civilians per se. He also ordered his own ground forces to attack.
With Federation missiles still hundreds of thousand of kilometres from Earth, the Russian PDC managed to fire their first salvo against Earth. Dozens of Asian battalions suffered casualties despite precautions.
But they won't get another shot. Federation missiles will arrive before they can reload.
They did. A hundred and twenty radioactive mushrooms blossomed above the deep and heavily armour underground base.
But it survived. It's armour was breached in two places and it lost one missile launcher, but the base still stood, a testament to Russian engineers that built it. Another Asian salvo was on it's way, but it won't arrive soon enough.
Still more Federation battalions have taken damage from the second strike, but there were a lot of them. The Asian ground force was shaken, but not broken.
And seconds later the second missile strike obliterated the base for good. The Indian government sighted in relief.
And then the ten Russian ICBM bases have fired.
That wasn't unexpected. The Federation had a plan to deal with it, but so far it have bee only theoretical. Since the old ICBMs were very slow, very big targets, the idea was to use warship’s missiles in anti-missile role. Which, admittedly won't be easy, but it was their only hope. The Federation fleet, begun to close on Earth.
And seven minutes later, they had the ICBMs on their sensors. And seconds later all ICBMs have been annihilated.
At 16:21, twelve minutes after it started, the space battle war over. But the cost was incredibly high. Seventeen million Indians died in the bombardment and the Federation have lost a hundred and thirty one various industrial complexes. Manufactures, mines, laboratories – gone.
The Russian loses were even worse. Thirty seven million dead and over two hundred seventy installations gone. It was enormous blow to the Empire.
And of course, the dust and radiation begun to take their toll.
It was soon obvious that it wasn't the end. The Russians suffered too much, their only hope to regain their position was to gain new territory. Their forces crossed Federation border almost immediately after bombardment – an irony, considering they were the defenders.
11th December 2041The world is in shock over what happened. Alliance politicians are vocal in their blaming the Federation for the war. The Indians respond by asking if that means that Alliance governments would just leave their citizens to be gassed and shot en-masse should they ever be taken over by hostile nations. This cools them down a little – but only a little.
The winds also spread dust and radioactive fallout. The first can be dealt with relatively easily. It was middle of the winter, so food stockpiles were good, and the world – even the Confederation – was pretty well developed. Massive government projects begun to build hydroponics and greenhouses. Better yet, if all else fails, the Mars can be used to produce food needed by Earth.
The radiation was somewhat more problematic. It wasn't deadly per se, however, people that were already suffering illness would be affected much more heavily. Worse yet, for the foreseeable future, the costs of being a parent will increase. It will be very difficult to have a healthy child without genetic corrections, and that threat means much lower birth rate. In fact, many prognoses pointed that for years now population on Earth will actually dwindle instead of increasing.
15th December 2041The Russian offensive bogged down. The pre-war boarder was only twelve kilometres from New Delhi and they hoped to take over capital fast. However, they were stopped cold, and then pushed back into the Imperial territory. In the sought however, the Russians were advancing going as far sough as Bombai.
Over three hundred thousand people on both sides of the boarder have died in the fighting.
16th December 2041Over the last several days there was a massive demand for reopening state sponsored off-world colonisation. All governments – except for Russia – are preparing their colony ships once again. The current population on Mars is seven hundred seventy million.
22nd December 2041The front is stabilising – although front isn't really a good name. “Combat Area' would probably be better, as the forces shift around. Loses – both civilian and in material – continue on both sides.
24th December 2041The climate is stabilising, with temperature drop of nine degrees. Perhaps more importantly, the health problems caused by radiation interfere with smooth functioning of industry, lowering output by nine percent.
30th December 2041Exploring jump points in Gliese 229 Kopernik discovers system of WD 1142-645. While the system itself is uninteresting and planetless, there are three wrecks present.
23rd January 2042The stalemate on the front continues. Federation government considers using nuclear weapons against Russian troops.
However, a counter-attack will be tried first. The Russian troops were pushed back into their territory, but they are also stretched along the southern Indian coast, from Gujarat province, through Silvasa to Bombay. The Indian Army is to pierce the front to the city of Vadodara, cutting off Imperial troops.
6th February 2042Fearing that the continued stalemate will push the Federation into using more nuclear warheads, the Commonwealth and the Confederation join the fight.
The Indian advance caught the Russians unprepared and dozen battalions were cut off. However, the Asians didn't make sufficient allowances for the mobility offered by trans-newtonian technology, which allowed the Empire to supply their troops without any problems.
12th February 2042The Empire of Japan invades Siberia.
16th February 2042The Russia is proving to be extraordinarily resistant despite being attacked on several fronts by four powers. The Polish advance at St. Petersburg is bogged down, although souther front is faring somewhat better, with the Commonwealth taking whole of Caucasus.
22nd February 2042Despite great cost the Commonwealth have taken over St. Petersgrad is a risky, daring, all-out attack. However, for every casualty inflicted by the Poles, two of them have been killed. If not for how stretched thin the Empire is the Commonwealth forces would never made any progress.
8th March 2042The Imperial population on Mars rebels. The Uprising was a complete surprise for the government, as they were very well equipped. The main police forces – which in the Empire were heavily armed with a broad authority – were overrun at the very start.
Meanwhile the Confederate forces finally broke through Suez Channel and begun their advance north, to join Commonwealth forces in Turkey.
9th March 2042There was always some level of rebellion shimmering just below notice in the Empire, especially in the middle east, but now those rebellions gain strength interrupting supplies and communication. This is so bad, that Russia begins to evacuate their “cut-ff” forces in India.
19th March 2042The Confederation survey ship found an alien jump gate in system of Gliese 674. The system however have no planets. The ship turns back to inform it's government.
22nd March 2042The Mars Insurrection is gaining momentum. Several cities are now completely in rebel hands. Most of the Russian security forces have been recalled to protect mines and mass drivers, to support war effort.
Meanwhile, the Confederate and Commonwealth forces in Middle East managed to establish a unified front. They now begin pushing into Fertile Crescent.
9th April 2042Despite the best efforts of many farmers it is almost certain now that harvest will be poor. Despite that there should be no food shortages. Hydroponics and greenhouses are operational and Martian farmlands are already expanding for exports.
13th April 2042The Empire of Japan launched three of their Taiho class cruisers. Three more have been laid down.
15th April 2042The Federation managed to push the front far enough for Russians to be unable to make any raids on Indian territory. For the first time since the start of this war there were no Asian civilian casualties for the past week.
21st April 2042The Confederate government receives information about presumably alien gate. They censor the information immediately, albeit for much different reasons than the Commonwealth. They hope to gain advantage over their competitors, a necessity considering how far behind they are.
Meanwhile the Japanese are making great progress in Siberia, destroying three Russian division in less than a week.
25th April 2042Russia completes another PDC. Most of the government wants to use this as a leverage to end the war, but the Emperor points out, that if the enemy knows about it, and starts looking for it, they may find the PDC in which case they won't hesitate to use their own nuclear weapons. He orders the commander of the installation to fire immediately. He is supposed to cycle his launches against all the attackers starting with the Federation then continuing to Commonwealth, Japan and the Confederation.
At 23:23 it fired. Thirty nuclear warheads hit major cities including capitals of all the Federation members. Eighteen million people died in an instant, and the industrial damage was enormous.
Federation and Commonwealth AI systems set up just for this eventuality sent urgent calls for strike approval to the officers on the watch. It wasn't really efficient, but no one trusted AI to have total control of nuclear weapons, so the final release had to be done by humans. Fortunately, they reacted quickly. Unfortunately, there were always delays, including delays in carrying out orders.
But it proved to be fast enough. Before Russian PDC could be reloaded, two hundred missiles were fired. The base was completely obliterated.
But it was nothing to be happy about. The Fedeation lost hundred and forty industrial installation in addition to all those dead. Russia lost another twenty five million civilians and a hundred and eighty industrial installations.
It was time to end it. The Federation government authorised launch of forty nuclear warheads against Russian ground forces and ten against the known governmental shelters. They didn't even discuss this with anyone.
The strike proved to be devastating. Russian forces, already overextended and exhausted from the constant fighting on four fronts were for all instances and purposes annihilated. Their entire military communication collapsed and it was likely their government was dead. Another nine million civilians died and sixty six industrial facilities were destroyed. For all instances and purposes the organised war was over.
But, as the Commonwealth predicted during the first war, any attempt at reclaiming the Indian territories would be extremely costly – for everyone.
Note: Because there were four invading nations, Russia have been erased and their assets added to others instead of having “normal” occupation.
26th April 2042The forces of Commonwealth, Federation, Confederation and the Empire begun securing major locations of the late Russian Empire. Thanks to their mobility it wasn't that difficult now, that the organised resistance was over.
They were generally greeted as liberators. All citizens of the Empire – including Russians, although admittedly they had it much better than others – were heavily oppressed. That was one of the reasons why over sixty million of Russian lived in Common – they preferred to be a minority somewhere else than being oppressed in their homeland. Because of this the citizens generally accepted the new authority.
The zones of responsibility were already decided. Commonwealth will take most of the Russia itself alongside some Caucasian and middle-asian states. Confederation will take all Islam states – middle east up to the new Federation boarder east and Caucasus north. Federation will reclaim old Indian territories. Japan will take Siberia and some middle-asian states.
However, Russia was very uneven in development. Because of that negotiations started almost immediately on who gets what. If everyone simply got what was on their territory, the Commonealth would get a vast majority of industry.
Meantime, Mars Insurrection was pretty much victorious. With the devastation of their homeland, the loyalists were demoralised and were surrendering in droves. The Provisional Government was set up some time ago already, although it was the first time it was being taken seriously on international scene.
Republic of Mars is established. Due to coming from poorer parts of Russian society, they have ten percent penalty to production and wealth creation. They receive:
173 million people
780 Mines
10 Terraforming Installations
5 Mass Drivers
Ground Force Training Facility: 1
Naval Academy: 1
28th April 2042After two days of conferencing a decision have been reached how to divide the Russian industry. Most of the territory was already secured, so moving of the facilities can begin almost immediately.
The Commonwealth got the most industry of course and they were adamant at keeping Russian research laboratories. However, almost everything else was shared. Except with the Empire. Japanese did little, and while they were allowed to keep what they got – which was mostly minerals – they received nothing else.
Additional problem was Mars. Russia never cared if they separated families or friends and many who were left on Earth wished to join the Martian Republic – even if the Republic itself wasn't exactly stable yet. On the other hand, Mars was free from radiation, so their decision was probably understandable. To help the young nation, the victorious powers agreed to give up some of the conquered factories as well as the Russian civilian fleet, which was admittedly very much out of date. The breakdown of who received what is below:
Poland Receives:
241 million people
5 Research Laboratories
75 Construction Factories
12 Maintenance Facilities
2 Ground Force Training Facilities
1 Naval Academy
Resources: 0.75 million fuel, 50 000 wealth
India Receives:
425 million people
75 Construction Factories
12 Ordnance Factories,
11 Maintenance Facilities
Shipyards: 1 commercial (Kvichak Marine Industries, four fifty kT slips) 1 naval (Odense Steel Shipyard Inc. Ltd., three 13kT slips)
Resources: 0.75 million fuel, 50 000 wealth, 1333T duranium, 21kT neutronium, 12kT corbomite, 16kT tritanium, 11kT boronide, 12kT mercassium, 14kT venderite, 10kT sorium, 19kT uridium, 14kT corundium, 16kT gallicite
Confederation Receives:
619 million people
75 Construction Factories
25 Fuel Refineries
Shipyards:1 commercial (Eastern Shipbuilding Group, four 30kT slots)
Resources: 0.75 million fuel, 50k credits
Japan Receives:
27 million people
17 Automated Mines
1 Mine
4 Mass Drivers
Resources: 50k credits, 45kT neutronium, 25kT corbomite, 15kT tritanium, 45kT of boronide, mercassium, venderite, 35kT sorium, 45kT of uridium, corundium, gallicite
Mars Receives (on Earth, with provision that all of those have to be taken to Mars):
61 Construction Factories
100 million people
Resources: 0.75m fuel and 5kT of every mineral except for duranium
Russian Fleet: 28 Kresta class freighters and 15 Udaloy class colony ships.
2nd May 2042The Confederation discovered 70 Opiuchi. Aside from considerable number of planets – many of which can be terraformed – there is also an unknown wreck.
6th May 2042The first three Wisla class frigates are complete. Three more are laid down.
12th May 2042The survey of Gliese 229 is complete with five new systems discovered. WD 1142-645 and Luyten 302-89 are planetless stars. P Eridani have only a single planet that is a long-term terraforming potential. Gliese 190 is a system with only few planets and moons – and no asteroid belt – that also have few planets that could be turned Earth-like in the future.
The most interesting find is the system of Donner 91 having twelve planets, over fifty moons and an asteroid belt it would be pretty standard well-developed system if not for existence of it's fourth planet that already have breathable atmosphere and the temperature of minus forty Celsius. This is the closest match to Earth any nation have found yet.
Due to increasing distances the Commonwealth suspends survey for the time being due to ships needing overhaul. Also, due to ever increasing distances, the Commonwealth wants to turn Poniatowski into forward supply base. Some intelligence analysts in other nations wonder why they won't survey Gliese 205 – the system with alien wreck.
16th May 2042The Earth's climate is stabilising. The temperature have dropped by nearly fifteen degrees and lights burn across the planet even during a day, so little light is reaching the surface. Mass extinction event is considered unavoidable, although many private organisations – and some nations like Commonwealth – are doing what they can to save various Earth species by evacuating them to Mars and Poniatowski. It remains to be seen if they succeed.
The radiation also affects workers, reducing production by fifteen percent.
22nd May 2042The Republic took down some of their mines in hopes of using their components to make construction factories, which they are sorely lacking. They managed to turn 380 mining complexes into 190 construction factories.
26th May 2042The interstellar colonisation is practically on hold. While almost all jump gates are in place, all available colonisation assets are used to move the terrified Earth population to Mars.
25th June 2042The leaders of north-African, Islamic nations have announced, that they were negotiating with representatives of liberated Muslim populations in Asia regarding creation of a single nation for all of God's children. As of right now all north African and Asian Confederate territories secede.
There was an uproar in the Confederate government. Their people spilled blood to liberate those territories and now they will get nothing from them, as all of those will join the new state. Many have proposed denying that right, at least for the new Asian members, but it was quickly dismissed, as creating too much instability that could tear the Confederation apart.
It was interesting the the new nation didn't try to get any part of the fleet or shipyards. It was an obvious move to make the separation easier and less controversial, but it did leave the Theocracy somewhat limited and vulnerable. The only provision they did was that the Confederation will move some of their installations if needed.
Islamic Theocracy created. While African states are in pretty good shape, the new territories are not. They received twenty percent penalty to production and wealth creation. All they got is subtracted from Confederation.
Population: 1087 million on Earth and 28 million on Mars
Construction Factories: 250 (Earth)
Mines: 160 (150 on Mars and 10 on Earth)
Automated Mines: 30 (Earth)
Fuel Refineries: 25 (Earth)
Ground Force Training Facility: 1 (Earth)
Naval Academy: 1 (Earth, created at start)
Mass Drivers: 5 (4 on Earth and 1 on Mars)
Resources: 10 million litres of fuel, 200 000 wealth and 20 000 tonnes of all elements except for duranium.
All Confederate technologies are transferred to the new nation as well.
1st July 2042As per their agreement, the Confederation begun moving Islamic mines to Mars.
Meanwhile the Islamic president visits Republic of Mars in his first international state visit. Many of the current Martians were relocated from Middle East.
3rd July 2042While surveying Ross 47 the Japanese discover a jump point to Giclass 99-49, a system previously discovered by the Commonwealth. This is the first time a connection have been found between two “chains” starting at Sol.
There is some debate whether or not Japanese should announce that discovery. On the one hand, the system itself is pretty worthless. On the other hand it may prove to be useful back door to the Commonwealth territory in the future.
The Emperor decides to keep this quite for now.
18th July 2042The Confederation completes the survey of Gliese 674 finding three new jump points. Aside from 70 Opiuchi they discover Gliese 667 and Gliese 682. Both are barren, with very few planets and no prospects for colonisation.
Meanwhile a popular journalist in the Mars Republic have been assassinated. While the Republic was a democracy, their citizens had no democratic tradition and come from very oppressed nations. It was almost certain, that while the Republic is technically democracy it is turning into a de facto autocracy.
15th October 2042While surveying 70 Opiuchi, the Confederation discovers Epsilon Indi, a system previously discovered by the Commonwealth and connected to Sol via Proxima Centauri. Unlike the Japanese the Confederate government does inform the other nations of this discovery, so as far as anyone knows this is the first time a circle have been closed.
The Confederation is absolutely adamant that 70 Opiuchi belongs to them, and they are backed by both the Commonwealth and the Japanese. The Martian Republic, Federation and the Theocracy are willing to back their claim, but only after a detailed set of rules is created which systems belong to whom. The Alliance is opposed, on the grounds that if this can be accessed from international space and the system is closer to Sol via that territory instead of Confederate territory, the system should be considered international as well.
In the end however, it seems like 70 Opiuchi will belong to the Confederation while Epsilon Indi – and of course Proxima Centauri – will be considered international territory.
27th December 2042The Japanese complete survey of Ross 47, finding only that one new jump point leading to Giclas system.
11th May 2043The population of Mars surpassed one billion people.
4th June 2043While duranium shortages are still problem, they have lessened enough that major powers once again begin to build more ships and expand their yards. This was unavoidable however – the demand for colony ship berths is still high.
26th July 2043Three more of the Wisla class missile defence ships are complete, however the Commonwealth have trouble keeping up with missile demands. While all ships have full ammunition, there are only thirty three spare anti-missiles. More ordnance factories are already being produced, however even more may be necessary.
One more of those ships is in the slips and three more are laid down. Because they are much smaller than the ships they are going to be escorting at least twelve of Wisla class are planned, possibly more.
12th October 2043The Confederation completes the survey of 70 Opiuchi. Aside from Epsilon Indi they discover only Altair a system with a single Venus-like planet with two moons.
11th November 2043The Japanese complete survey of Luyten's Star finding three new jump points. WX Ursae Majoris and Teegarden's Star are useless systems – although the letter have enormous amount of asteroids, even more than in Sol system. Gliese 1061 on the other hand have several terraforming potentials, a total of nine planets, sixty moons and an asteroid belt.
While Luyten's Star doesn't have any planet that would be easy to terraform, it does have one long-term candidate and have a significant number of moons, which promises a lot of minerals. They intend to claim the system – and those beyond – which is met with protests from the Alliance and the Federation. At the same time, with all resources engaged in moving population from Earth to Mars, this will likely be a non-issue for the time being.
On the other hand, the number of people wanting to emigrate is dwindling. It couldn't be differently. There wasn't enough space on the ships, and those left behind had to adapt. Constant snowing, creation of glaciers in Canada and northern Europe is being countered by new buildings and enormous networks of underground trains to facilitate communication. The ever extending hydroponics and greenhouses produce more variety of food than before and Mars have clearly established itself as a major exporter of meat. While the birth rate is still low, it is by now mostly due to pessimism than any real problems. Many experts predict, that within another year the colonisation pressure will lessen to a point, where governments will have to suspend sponsored colonisation again.
The Earth's population is eleven billion four hundred and forty million.
8th May 2044The Commonwealth's construction ship have finished jump gate leading to the Gliese 205 – the system with alien wrecks. For now the ship will remain on station, while expedition is being prepared to secure that system.
25th May 2044The Republic of Mars lacks fuel for their colony ships and they don't have enough spare industry to build refineries. They trade two thousand tonnes of duranium to the Empire of Japan in exchange for five million litres of fuel.
9th July 2044Another three of the Stockholm class destroyers have entered service, bringing the total number to six.
There is a lot of pressure to use those ships to secure the Gliese 205 system. While many, including the King, would prefer to wait until they have more ships – in particular some vessel that can enable the warships to use jump point without the jump gate – in the end there is little choice.
The destroyers Helsinki, Ankara and Athens will be joined by escort frigates Odra, Dniepr, Elba and Newa forming Druga Dywizja Niszczycieli (Second Destroyer Division) and will be sent to secure the system. One of the geological survey vessels will accompany it as a courier.
Three more destroyers have been laid down.
26th September 2044The Druga Dywizja Niszczycieli enters Gliese 205 system and begins their survey.
3rd October 2044During their approach, at 8:55 the ships of Druga Dywizja Niszczycieli detects four unknown ships in the Gliese system. They initiate communication immediately, while also backing off.
Two of those ships – both massing sixty three hundred tonnes – begun closing on the Commonwealth force, at over six thousand kilometres per second – more than twice the Polish speed. The other two ships, both massing a little over twelve thousand tonnes, stayed at their position around the third planet, probably immobile bases. The planet was a gas giant, unless, but one of the moons was a good prospect for terraforming, with nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and temperature of minus forty Celsius. It wasn't habitable for humans – aside from the temperature, the oxygen content was too high – but it could harbour life.
An hour after initial detection, the ships were still closing. There was no electromagnetic radiation coming from the ships – no radio, no microwave, not even light signals. Not only that, but the armament of the ships seemed to be ready. Normally that would be an understandable precaution, but not when those ships were actually chasing the Commonwealth ships.
And then something hit the commanding officer.
Why are there starbases orbiting a planet without population?
The officer was torn. Every instinct screamed at him to open fire. On the other hand, communication with alien species was very problematic, perhaps almost impossible. He had to know they are hostile before starting a war – but the only way to be sure of that was to allow the aliens to open fire first. The speed of those unknowns clearly indicated a technological superiority over the Commonwealth, which would suggest greater missile ranges. But no fire was incoming.
Which meant the aliens weren't hostile – or they were beam armed and closing. And if they were beam armed, and technologically superior, then letting them get the first shot was probably suicidal.
Another hour passed, and the unknowns were still closing. The two bases – if that's what they were – were now beyond sensor range. The stress was grating at the people manning the Polish ships.
At 12:24 four missiles were detected less than a million kilometres from the Commonwealth force. The commanding officer ordered to return fire immediately while the escorts begun to fire anti-missiles, three for every incoming one.
Several seconds later, the sensors had enough data to measure the speed of the incoming ordnance. They were travelling at nearly forty thousand kilometres per second, only slightly slower than Polish Tarcza class anti-missiles.
Three missiles were intercepted, which left one. Fortunately, the Commonwealth ships had good enough reloas times to fire another salvo and destroy the one remaining incoming several dozen thousand kilometres from the division – but it was a very close call.
And then, forty five Commonwealth missiles were fired at one of the targets.
Another four missiles were incoming already. It made things easier for the crews. The aliens were clearly hostile, and now the officers and enlisted personnel of the human ships could do what they were trained for.
After the second forty five missile salvo left their launchers, the crews switched targets to the second enemy ship incoming.
And then one enemy missile from the second salvo managed to get through a total of eighteen AMs. A nine megaton flash blossomed at the hull of the Ankara, although it was fortunately absorbed by armour.
The commanding officer considered firing more missiles per incoming, but his escorts had only a thousand anti-missiles between them, and he didn't know how much enemy ordanance was already in flight, and the hit ratios looked very bad. And, when all was said and done, a destroyer's armour was pretty heavy. For now, they will take their chances with the current firing rates.
Another salvo was detected. It seemed that the enemy launchers had cycling speed of forty five seconds, which was almost two times longer than Commonwealth ones. However, the alien missiles were two times bigger.
After the fourth human salvo was fired, the commanding officer ordered the ships to cease offensive fire. A hundred and eighty missiles were speeding towards the two enemies, each smaller than the Polish destroyer. That should be enough.
Or maybe not. Three more explosions rocked the Ankara, breaching her armour and destroying a single missile launcher. Those were leakers from the third salvo – only one missile was destroyed. The CO ordered immediately to begin firing five anti-missiles for every incoming one and to fire one more salvo at each target.
It wasn't enough. Two missiles from the fourth salvo managed to evade all the escort ships could throw at them. Fortunately, all damage was absorbed by armour.
And then, fifth salvo was intercepted well short of the human force. It seemed that whether or not a missiles manages to hit a ship was a wild roulette.
More and more salvoes were now incoming. Sometimes a whole one was stopped. Sometimes as many as three missiles managed to get through the defence. Ankara was hit several more times, losing magazine and one of her engines, falling out of the formation
Then the fire switched to Helsinki. That was fortunate, as with any luck, the enemy will spread his fire too much, destroying no ships in the process.
But then Odra run out of ammunition, and Dniepr was below fifty percent, with Elba now taking over Odra's responsibilities. And yet, still more missiles were coming and getting through. Helsinki was hit several more times with armour breached at one place – and then the enemy switched to Athens.
Like in previous instances, the ship have been hit and then again, all damage absorbed by armour that was slowly grinded away.
And then, after total of twenty one salvoes, the fire ceased.
The division was incredibly lucky. Only thirty three of their crew perished. If the enemy continued firing at Ankara, the ship might have been destroyed. If the two twelve thousand tonnes constructs could join the fight, the entire force might have been wiped out. It was becoming obvious that the Commonwealth may not be ready to reach the stars
But hell if they won't try. Two hundred and sixty eight missiles were closing on the hostiles, already half the way through, and the division was changing course to follow them, to keep the enemy in the range of fire control and sensors.
But they hesitate when they see the aliens still closing in. After some thought the commanding officer orders to keep the range open.
At 12:50 the first Commonwealth missiles arrived at the enemy. Of the first salvo of forty five, only fifteen actually hit. Six were destroyed by point blank defensive fire, the other simply missed. Worse yet, no damage was observed. The second salvo fared much better. Again, fifteen missiles have bit but there was also a secondary explosion, that turned on of the hostiles into a wreck. It seemed, that the number of missiles fired by humans was overkill after all, with forty four missiles self-destructing due to lack of target.
It was now time for the second hostile. The cacophony of exploding missiles was drowned in the massive, seventeen megaton secondary explosion from inside the ship – but surprisingly it still lived. For exactly twenty five seconds that is.
The CO was about to order search and rescue efforts, when he realised that there were no enemy life pods.
The battle with what was now clearly a technologically superior enemy, went very well. Unfortunately, the number of missiles used was enormous. The escorts were down to half of their loadout, total, and the destroyers had even less than that, able to fire only five more salvoes. It was dubious that the force could take the two bases. On the other hand, the bases were immobile. Two salvoes were enough to take down ships half their size, and even then, between half and two thirds of missiles actually missed. And even if all that was disregarded, operational intelligence on those structures would be priceless.
Druga Dywizja Niszczycieli will advance in an attempt to eliminate the enemy.
The ships move to the distance of seventy one million kilometres and prepare to fire, but they can't lock on. The ECM of the bases limits the range to forty five million kilometres.
This presents a problem however. The best guess of the intelligence officers assigned to the force is that the enemy missiles have range of less than fifty million kilometres. By coming as close as is required, the division may find itself under fire again.
The Commanding officer is willing to accept that risk.
At 20:24 the division arrives at the necessary distance and launches two salvoes at each target. The last salvo will be held in reserve to finish any surviving installation.
Thirty six minutes later, the first missiles arrive and the officers watch in astonishment as they went in unopposed. All forty four missiles from the first salvo hit their target. The second salvo completely obliterates the enemy installation. Interestingly, there is twenty four megaton secondary explosion, which the analysts believe to be magazine detonation. That meant the installation had to have missiles, or anti-missiles.
The third salvo, targeting the second installation, is completely wiped out due to enemy point blank defensive fire. Why that capability was not used to defend the other installation is a mystery, although some in the intelligence point out for the concept of close-in weapon system as possible explanation.
The fourth salvo is annihilated as well.
With no way of getting through such a powerful defences, the Commonwealth division heads back to the jump point, ordering the survey ship stationed there to send report to Earth via jump gate network.
4th October 2044The Commonwealth governments receives the message about battle at Gliese 205. The first item on the agenda of some politicians is to blame the force's commanding officer for starting a war, but most of the government – and the king – have no time for such nonsense.
The first order of business is to order the Druga Dywizja Niszczycieli to hold position at the jump point leading to 40 Eridani, on the Gliese side. While it is obvious that this force cannot hope to fight another major battle, their sensors will be able to see if anyone tries to move through the jump point.
The second problem is overwhelming the enemy defences. Three destroyers weren't enough for that, and currently only six were in service. And the Commonwealth could hardly justify having all of them out-Sol, without going public about the aliens. Three more Stockholm class ships will be commissioned, but not until February 2046.
The possible answers are Grunwald class ships. Each have nine launchers, which means all six of them could put fifty four missiles in a single salvo. However, coordinating salvoes from two different types of missiles will be all but impossible, and the Commonwealth doesn't have enough modern missiles to try.
Someone points out, that the Stockholmes can be equipped with the old missiles. While less than optimal, this plan will likely have to be adopted.
For now however, the construction ship will enter Gliese and build jump gate there, so that the Commonwealth forces can return home. It will take about a year however, so in the end an attack by six destroyers may be possible.
11th October 2044The Japanese complete the survey of Gliese 1061. It is a dead end system.
10th December 2044The last of the ex-Russian citizens that wished to join the Republic of Mars have been transported to the Red Planet. The Martian population is now close to three hundred million.
Meanwhile the Commonwealth and the Confederation have duranium problems again.
