26th August 2363 An ADS ship is detected in the ES – 82 AGKH5, a newly discovered system. Strangely the vessel is not orbiting any planet. Unfortunately the system is quite far and large, making fuel situation problematic. As such it's unlikely an expedition will be launched any time soon.
6th November 2363 Using a privately owned ship a small colony has been established on ES – 40 GGGH4 B II Moon 6. The huge, super terrestrial satellite is readily habitable for humans, but it has next to no water and the day night cycle is nearly ten days making it inconvenient. It's also located in a sparsely populated area of the galaxy, where Commune has little interest and no military assets. Even so the unique ecology of the planet coupled with recent jump point discoveries in the ES – 67 system made this world a promising prospect for some people. As this is the third colonized planet that lacks official name, the government has decided to finally assign new ones.
The system of ES – 54 is renamed Caucasus and the currently inhabited planet is renamed Tbilisi. The system of ES – 67, which has the largest number of known jump points is named Phoenicia after one of the oldest successful mercantile nations. The colonized planet is named Falsterbo after an important part of the old Hanseatic trade routes. The system of ES – 40 is named Caribbean while the inhabited moon is named New Trinidad.
As this is the tenth planet outside their home system and the population is almost one billion, the Administrator and the Oversight Committee decide to take a long, close look at the current situation to better make plans for the future. Currently the known space can be divided into five sectors.
The Capital Sector is located at the heart of the Commune, but the only inhabited systems are Baltic and Malbork. While it becomes less important as the time passes, mostly due to inability of the Valhallan habitats to expand, itss strategic and secure location make it the only shipbuilding site in the Commune. The inhabited objects are listed below.
Odin (100 million) – Capital of the Commune, large financial and manufacturing site, primary military training site and the only place where ground forces are trained.
Biskupin (75 million) – The primary research site.
Courland (60 million) – The largest naval base in the Commune and the location of the only naval yards in existence.
New Prague (60 million) – Once a mining location all mineral deposits have been exhausted. Currently a small R&D industry is present but may be moved.
Perun (60 milliion) – Once a mining location almost all mineral deposits have been exhausted. Currently the largest missile production site in the Commune
Thor (60 million) – Most of the population is working in numerous financial institutions.
Carpathia (40 million) – A mining location that is quickly running out of resources.
Peles (77 Million) – The fourth most heavily populated object in the known space is the only commercial shipbuilding site in the Commune. It has small manufacturing and financial sectors and mining companies from there has established small operations on some other objects in the system.
The Sudetes sector is the second most heavily populated and developed one, but it also promises to easily overshadow the Capital sector in the near future. Many alien ruins have been found there and many battles with ADS has been fought, but the sector has been quiet for a couple of decades now.
Wieliczka (158 million) – The first Commune colony outside the Baltic system it is the home of the Second Fleet and the administrative center for the sector. The industries present include mining, manufacturing and financing. Bjornoya, a gas giant in the same system, is the largest fuel supplier for the nation, while numerous private mining operations have been started among the many moons, asteroids and comets present in the system. However as the planet is small and tidally locked it's unlikely to see much more development than it already had.
Eden (196 million) – The most heavily populated planet in the Commune and the first readily habitable planet found, it is bristling with activity. The economy of Eden is very diversified and includes manufacturing, mining, financing and research. Several mining colonies, both private and state owned, has been established on various objects within the system and the planet is still being heavily supported by the government, mostly in the form of large fleet of colony ships making regular trips between Baltic and Athens. The planet will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
Prkos (37 million) – The planet begun as a small colony founded privately within recovered alien habitats but seen explosive development after the government has decided to move its missile and kinetic weapon R&D here. The terraforming is still ongoing.
The Knossos sector is relatively sparsely populated but it's expected to grow quite fast. Two planets has been colonized by people wanting to explore alien ruins and settling within recovered habitats. Those two, while still important for the Commune, have little strategic value and are unlikely to receive significant support. Knossos itself however is a different story and the only reason the sector is in any way important.
Knossos (42 million) – The near habitable planet is the home of the Third Fleet but most importantly it is site of one of the largest, most diversified and most accessible deposits of TN elements in the Commune space. Over two hundred mining complexes are already present and at least three hundred more are planned – nearly the entirety of Baltic manned mining operations will be moved here. Aside from those there are no other industries present yet, but the colony is still young.
Herinnering (15 million) – The colony has been founded inside recovered alien habitats and has grown to the present size entirely on its own without any support from the government. It holds little strategic value, but as the Commune faces occasional manpower shortages, the population may end up being utilized in some way in the future. For now there are no significant industries present, not even terraforming ones.
Tbilisi (800 thousand) – Another colony founded by inhabiting recovered alien installations, the planet has no strategic value.
The Phoenician Sector is one of the least important ones. There are no resources present that would make the government want to invest there heavily and all present colonists have come there on their own. However the huge number of jump points in Phoenicia means the region will likely end up being important if only because of the number of possible routes an enemy can take into the heart of the Commune. The list of inhabited planets is given below.
Ljomi (11 milllion)
Falsterbo (630 thousand)
New Trinidad (50 thousand)
The North-Eastern sector is completely uninhabited and it's also the one least explored, due to the presence of an alien race in ES – 38. However there is a site of alien ruins with an installation of great interest to the Commune so once the alien issue is resolved, the sector will likely see a significant development.
The Administrator has also compiled list of potential future targets for development.
ES – 10 FH2 III – The planet is nearly habitable and would be easy to terraform. It is also strategically placed and a perfect location for a fleet base. However, while the plans for colonization has existed for years, nothing has been done so far due to other projects and the lack of sufficient naval strength to establish a new base.
ES – 34 GH3 I – Another near habitable planet it is location of a vast alien manufacturing complex that would significantly increase Commune R&D into various industrial technologies. The planet will be colonized and developed as soon as sufficient naval strength can be gathered to protect it.
ES – 22 GU3 I – A Mercury like planet that seems completely useless, it is rich in mineral deposits. There is a lot of talk within the Oversight Committee of manufacturing terraforming installations elsewhere and merely assembling them on the planet, but it would be expensive and lengthy process. If successful however, it would open doors for colonization of many other similar bodies.
Gateway II and III – Peles, which has been very close to Baltic, has grown to its present size with very little government support. In fact the Administrator provided only small amount of initial infrastructure and TN industry, but the transport of colonists has been done entirely by private corporations. The Gateway planets are similarly close, making them a great potential location for quick development with minimal government involvement. And while the planets have no significant resources, their location would make them a very good trading locations. As the Commune is always strapped for money, this would be a significant incentive if not for a rather disappointing income from trade taxation. Even so, as only minimal government involvement would be needed, it is still an attractive option.
ES – 27 FGH5 AII Moon 9 – As the private mining operations begun to put more and more money into the budget through taxation, the government begun looking into ways to help those develop. As it happens there is little they can do, as for a private mining operation to be profitable, they have to operate from a reasonably inhabited body already present in the system. ES – 27 is reasonably large with numerous TN deposits and the selected moon would be relatively easy to terroform, allowing the Commune to test the validity of colonizing a system solely to support private mining operations.
Next on the agenda list is exploration. Currently there are eighty four systems known to the Commune, but the rate of exploration is slow. The two Hawkwing class ships have been in use for decades without changes or new vessels coming in, but over time, this has became fine with the Committee. The humans had all the space and resources they needed for development and venturing further increased the risks of being discovered by either the Destroyer or yet another bunch of hostile aliens. As such it's unlikely the survey policy will change.
The ground forces are the next topic. Historically those have been playing secondary role by far to the space fleet, as the Destroyer never tried to invade human planets. A small force has been established to help excavate ruins, build outposts and assault ADS installations and in those roles they have performed perfectly. There is some talk about providing garrisons for all planets, but it's unlikely to happen any time soon. Even so, despite their small role, the ground forces are bound to be expanded, even if slowly.
The largest topic of discussion however, was the state of the Commune Defense Force, or as some called it, their Space Navy. Due to the limited economy of the nation, the fleet has always been expanded in sporadic, deliberate “bursts”, such as establishment of the Third Fleet. Since then however not only has the economy expanded, but a healthy financial reserve has been established, allowing a potentially large naval expansion. Currently the core of the CDF is composed of seven gunboat flotillas and seven frigate squadrons divided between the Capital Fleet in Baltic, Second Fleet in Sudetes and Third Fleet in Peter's Crossing. There are also other military installations, such as PDCs or orbital weapon platforms, but those are purely secondary. The Administrator and the Oversight Committee has decided to put forth the following tasks.
First, two new fleets will be established in Phoenicia and ES – 10 from new construction. Second, the Capital Fleet will be increased to five gunboat flotillas, five frigate squadrons and four cruiser divisions, each of which will be comprised of a single jump cruiser and five cruisers. Other fleets will be increased to four gunboat flotillas, three frigate squadrons and one cruiser division. In total this will require construction of additional fourteen gunboat flotillas, ten frigate squadrons and eight cruiser divisions.
In addition a new naval base must be built in the Baltic system. The Home Fleet is supposed to not only guard the capitalsystem but also serve as a strategic reserve. Unfortunately due to significant distance at which Valhalla orbits, movements from the capital are problematic so say the least. Up until now nothing could be done as a fast enemy, like the Destroyer, could avoid any force located in the inner system, but the missile base on Valkyrie is progressing well with a Sorcerer class sensor outpost fully functional and four Malbork class missile bases already assembled. There is in fact talk about adding some Citadel stations, which despite having much shorter anti-missile ranges have offensive capabilities. But even if those will not be added, Valhalla is believed to be sufficiently secured to move at least some of the Home Fleet – especially once it's expanded – to the inner system, cutting on their response time. The new base will likely be very sparse, consisting of space stations for maintenance, fuel and ammunition stockpiles and maybe a small orbital habitat for supporting population and recreation, but it would be enough. Orbital and ground defenses may be added, but are not necessary.
The last task envisioned is to establish a secondary warship production site for special projects. The currently existing shipyards are all dedicated to a specific class which they build and refit, but it makes very difficult to build special duty, limited in numbers ships like colliers, orbital installations or survey vessels. As Baltic is the most secure system and its central location makes for easy deployments, the secondary site will likely be established on one of the habitats. This however has the lowest priority.
6th January 2364 A new system is discovered containing seven wrecks, some of which definitely belong to the ADS. First Frigate Squadron is dispatched to investigate.
26th January 2364 Over the past years numerous systems has been found that contained either wrecks or alien ruins but no active ADS warships. In addition it is common for Commune naval formation to use active sensors for better area awareness. Coupled with overconfidence born of technological superiority and easy victories over the aliens have led Rear Admiral Julia Jonker to make a serious mistake – she didn't check the location of the jump point in the system she was to scout and she emerged almost within sensor range of an ADS warship. While her technician believed the First Frigate Squadron was still outside said range, it was almost certain the aliens had her on passive, as her own active sensor emissions were quite powerful. This of course meant the ADS almost certainly managed to pinpoint the location of her entry jump point.
Of course, thanks to the recent upgrades, she also had a clear picture of what was in the system. Two customary ADS bases were orbiting the first planet, where most of the wrecks were located. Close to them six enemy frigates and one destroyer were already on the move. A single destroyer sized picket ship, the type that usually stays out of the fight has also been located as well in deep space but is a non-issue.
The Admiral observed the situation, which quickly clarified. A destroyer and three frigates were moving directly towards her. Two frigates were moving into seemingly random direction, while a frigate sized fast scout and a destroyer sized picket ship were moving directly away. Unfortunately, she had no gunboats to support her and while Commune engine and missile technologies were equal or superior to those of the ADS their railguns were likely similar or inferior.
She decided to turn about and head to the outer system, using her passives to monitor the situation. A message has been sent to Wieliczka summoning the gunboats, but if the aliens decide to picket the jump point, assault may be costly. That's why she intends to stay in the system – to clear the jump point if need arises.
28th January 2364 The ADS continued the pursuit likely using passive sensors to track human thermal emissions for two days. Suddenly two weak EM signatures has been detected a little over forty million kilometers form the First Frigate Squadron moving at eight thousand kps, forcing Jonker to active her own sensors. However the missile detection system was too short ranged and the longer ranged one, with poorer resolution, showed nothing. It would appear that the Commune has encountered ADS gunboats.
Thirty minutes later a wave of thirty missiles has been detected approaching the human force. Judging by their grouping it has been launched by a total of ten gunboats. This presents a serious problem for future Commune operations as ADS small craft are faster than anything in the human fleet. Not only that but the only ships that could target them from a reasonably long range will be the Piranhas III and the Elatha class cruisers, but it will be some time before first of those leave the yards and even then they will require a period of working up. Worse, if they don't have longer ranged fire control than the ADS gunboats – and they may not, as Piranhas will have sixty two million kilometers range while the cruisers will have at most forty million – than interception will become impossible.
Overall the small salvo size of the enemy ships means anything with reasonable point defense, like frigate squadrons, can safely operate in the system, but it may very well be impossible for the Commune to actually secure it in the near future. Because of this Jonker decides to withdraw, although that means she'll have to fight pretty much everything ADS have in the system.
While traveling towards the jump point an expected sustained attack comes in the form of waves of twenty missiles each. It is easily dealt with, but it was not the last such an attack to occur. And while the Commune defenses are good, they have only a finite number of missiles.
29th January 2364 The First Frigate Squadron jumps back to ES – 65 system, none the worse for the wear but low on ammunition. They will stay on the jump point to ensure ADS does not enter the system, but the Commune agrees to leave the ES – 84 alone for the time being, due to the alien gunboats. The Piranhas, still en route, are recalled back to Wieliczka.
5th February 2364 Three ADS frigates transit into ES – 65 system, in two different locations. The First Frigate Flotilla opens fire mere five seconds later ravaging two of the ships. Ten second later the fast firing anti-missile one hundred millimeters railguns finish them off. The human forces didn't even receive a single hit in return and now they turn towards the third and last vessel. It takes only ten more seconds to clear the space.
The First Frigate Squadrons moves back to the jump point. They were initially supposed to stay only a couple of weeks, but it would appear their stay will be extended.
28th April 2364 After extensive research on Prkos the Commune designs new generation of missiles. The Arrow III has seventy five percent more powerful warhead, ten million kilometers longer range, which will allow the newest Piranhas to use their fire control to the fullest, although it has slightly lower speed. The next generation anti-missile has the same speed and range but better interception chance. The Trebuchet II has slightly lower on-board sensor range but eighty percent heavier warhead.
Arrow III
Missile Size: 2 MSP (0.1 HS) Warhead: 7 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 42800 km/s Engine Endurance: 29 minutes Range: 75.2m km
Cost Per Missile: 2.82
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 428% 3k km/s 140% 5k km/s 85.6% 10k km/s 42.8%
Materials Required: 1.75x Tritanium 1.07x Gallicite Fuel x575 Spear II
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 23
Speed: 52000 km/s Engine Endurance: 7 minutes Range: 23.2m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.156
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1196% 3k km/s 391% 5k km/s 239.2% 10k km/s 119.6%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.906x Gallicite Fuel x125Trebuchet II
Missile Size: 4 MSP (0.2 HS) Warhead: 9 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 40000 km/s Engine Endurance: 82 minutes Range: 197.3m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.297 Sensitivity Modifier: 180%
Resolution: 160 Maximum Range vs 8000 ton object (or larger): 670 000 km
Cost Per Missile: 4.7246
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 400% 3k km/s 130% 5k km/s 80% 10k km/s 40%
Materials Required: 2.25x Tritanium 0.1776x Boronide 0.297x Uridium 2x Gallicite Fuel x1967.523rd June 2364 The first Republican naval yard arrives on Gniezno and begins expansion. For the past years the Phoenix military has been very small, reduced in fact only to its intelligence section. Now it's expanding again and after numerous, long arguments and debates is prepared to offer its opinions on the future Navy.
The first and foremost function of said Navy will be protection against the Destroyer. The information about the vessel is of course incomplete, but what is known is the following – it was large, it had strong shields, it was very fast moving at over twenty thousand kps and it relied on energy weapons, although it also had missiles. Those missiles however were only used against planetary targets in atmospheres dense enough to make lasers impractical which implies those were bombardment devices and not anti-ship munitions. This leads the Navy to the following conclusions.
First, there is no way for the Republic to build ships faster than the Destroyer in the near future. As such speed is immaterial for the human vessels, allowing them to turn weakness into strength and put more weapons into their ships at the cost of speed.
Second it is almost certain that the alien possessed more advanced energy weapons, which among other things it meant it had longer range. Ergo in any energy engagement now or in the near future the Destroy will be able to defeat any number of human vessels at no damage to itself. Ergo the Republican Navy has to be equipped with missiles.
Third the alien possessed powerful ECM. As such all human ships will need ECCM and it's recommended they also use over engineered fire controls to additionally compensate for the enemy electronic warfare capabilities.
Fourth due to the size associated with the above need to over engineer fire controls and need for additional systems connected to them, it's recommended to build few large vessels rather than numerous smaller ones.
Fifth, unless Phoenix wants to build a Navy centered around jump point defense – which would limit its usefulness and put all their ships within easy reach of the Destroyer – the large alien speed means long range missiles will be needed to increase chances of interception.
Sixth, as the Destroyer had very few launchers and most likely very limited number of large missiles, anti-missile defenses will be mostly a waste of space. Some will be needed, but building small, dedicated escorts in low numbers will probably be the best choice.
While very few people argue about points one through four the fifth and sixth have created a lot of controversy. It is accepted wisdom that defender's advantage is large during jump point assaults and it is pointed out that the Destroyer could potentially be annihilated before it could even fire. However the government does plan to leave the Phoenix system, potentially soon, which will make it difficult to mount strong jump point defense due to the number of potential entry points into the Republican space. In addition, while it is true that longer ranged missiles necessary for deep space combat will likely be less cost effective than short ranged missiles that could be used for jump point defense, those will also be much more flexible. Because of that the government takes the Navy's side. It disagrees with the sixth point however.
While it is true that the Destroyer is the primary concern of the Navy, the fact that one alien race exists means there may be more. As such creating a fleet designed entirely to counter one threat will leave it vulnerable to attack using other strategies, which is unacceptable. And while the government will likely agree to specialized designs, they want larger numbers of anti-missile escorts and they are pushing for additional vessels, such as specialized jump point pickets and energy combatants. Those two types however will have low priority, as a reasonable anti-Destroyer force has to be assembled first, which will take some time as the yards will have to be properly expanded before any production can begin.
17th September 2364 The Commune decides to build prefabricated terraforming installations on Odin and send them to the Mercury like planet of ES – 22 GU3 I. It will take three years just to build the necessary components, but the large resource deposits should be worth it.
19th September 2364 Fifty thousand Commune colonists settle in the recovered alien habitats on ES – 42 GH4 V.
11th October 2364 The Hegemony carrier Defiant has been officially launched, to the great ceremony on New Earth. Her complacent of fighters is full, as are her magazines. However, as there are no escorts and the Navy wants to evaluate the design, it will be some time before the next carrier is laid down.
9th November 2364 All alien installations on Iberia has been reactivated. The next target of Republican operations will be Phoenix B II which contains over fifteen hundred items of interest waiting to be recovered.
14th November 2364 Gniezno becomes habitable for unprotected humans, the last of currently colonized worlds in the Phoenix system to reach such status.
Three more planets are almost ready for colonization and they will of course need proper equipment to improve the climate, but the Republican colony ships are still busy. Not only that, but those planets will be settled by smaller nations, with only small number of people moving to each, which means they will be unable to utilize all the terraforming installations currently in use. Because of that the government has decided to move those installations to Seine and begin improving its climate, as so far all terraforming has been done to the bare minimum necessary to support human life, which means most of the inhabited worlds are actually not pleasant places to live with low oxygen content, extreme temperatures and low pressure.
5th February 2365 The first three Ra class destroyers leave the Hegemony yards above the New Earth joining the Defiant. While the government still does not consider this a proper carrier group, they feel confident enough to begin gravitational survey of their system. They will also explore new jump points and the stars beyond as soon as possible.
24th February 2365 The Commune First Frigate Squadron heads back home from its nearly a yearly long vigil on the ES – 84 jump point. No ADS warships entered the ES – 65 system since their incursion April last year.
18th March 2365 Thomas Edison, one of the Hegemony exploration ships, makes the first jump in the history of the nation and arrives near a Sol like star orbited by eleven planets and over a hundred moons. One of those is a reasonable candidate for colonization but it's far from perfect.
As the Hegemony claims to base its principles on the old United States and the core of the nation can trace their linage to that now long dead state, they have decided to name the systems after American cities. This one is named Washington and Edison will stay there for geological and gravitational survey.
6th July 2365 Knossos becomes the fifth planet in the Commune habitable for unprotected humans.
18th August 2365 The survey of the Hegemony home system of Sanctuary is now complete with four jump points found. Those lead to the following systems:
Washington – A large system notable for having four Venus like planets.
Los Angeles – A reasonable system centered around a Sol like star with nine planets, thirty moons and a reasonably dense asteroid belt. A single candidate for colonization is present.
New York – A binary of Sol like stars orbited by a staggering twenty one planets and over a hundred and sixty moons. Only one candidate for colonization is present.
San Francisco – A quaternary system with twenty five planets, a hundred and fifty five moons and four hundred asteroids of significance. Seven candidates for colonization are present.
Although geological surveys have not yet been completed – they have hardly begun in fact – the government has decided to go ahead with its “one hundred million” plan. The Hegemony intends to create colonies of a hundred million people – minimum – in each and every system to promote trade and private enterprises across all of human space. This is of great importance to the current administration, as they rely on private mining companies for TN resources and most of those have been exhausted in Sanctuary itself. However it will be almost a year before first colony can even be established as jump gates are still under construction.
7th April 2366 Two hundred thousand colonists land on Washington IV establishing the first Hegemony settlement outside their home system. The planet is named Columbia.
4th December 2366 The Federation Navy has completed design of their first vessels, but those have created a lot of controversy. In fact some begun pushing for waiting with construction and deployment.
When taking a casual glance at the Republic, the nation seems much more technologically advanced than the old human nations. Their economy is very efficient and their engine technology is two generations ahead of what was cutting edge when the Destroyer arrived. But until actual components were designs, most people forgot that military technology is somewhat behind. The Republic, due to their small size, had to increase efficiency of their industry and they poured enormous resources for that. The engine technology has been recovered from ancient ruins, as had many other advancements, but most of those were not military in nature. All of which led to the disappointment.
The Dreadnought class battleship follows the analysis performed and presented a couple of years ago. It is pure missile platform with limited passive and no active defenses, but it can fire eight hundred shipkillers at range of over half a billion kilometers. Unfortunately it is somewhat slower than hoped, the electronic systems take more space and the missiles are much slower than anyone expected. The sheer number of them, coupled with the fact that battleships will never operate on their own, means they should still be effective, but not to the expected degree.
The Flower class escort cruiser is similarly disappointing. The tracking speeds are low and the number of projectiles that can be fired at once is heavily limited. A design with anti-missiles was considered, but the Republican economy is not powerful enough to support both offensive and defensive missile armament. Because of this a twenty five thousand tonne warship will be able to intercept maybe fifty Catapults from a single salvo, which is disappointing result. Worse, even that much armament has cut down anti-ship lasers to a single spinal mounted one.
The Galileo class exploration vessel is less of a disappointment, but mostly because little was expected from it. It's relatively large, jump capable, equipped with powerful passive sensors and has very long range and endurance.
While the first exploration vessel and escort cruiser are laid down, the Federal economy begins to shift to support militarization. A naval yard is still expanding to actually accommodate the Dreadnought and the first supporting space stations haven't been completed yet, but there is still the issue of production.
Germany, the current manufacturing center, is suffering manpower shortages. To alleviate this the existing four hundred and seventy factories will be moved to Servii. This will still leave the planet with over a hundred construction brigades and fifteen ground force training facilities, making Germany a secondary construction site. The productivity will go mainly towards additional financial centers, as while the budget is healthy, it's unlikely to remain so for long with the shipbuilding planned.
Missile production on the other hand will be centered on Albion. While it's in the inner system and potentially much more vulnerable to attack, the large distance within Phoenix demand the ordnance manufacturing be located close to the shipyards.
Dreadnought class Battleship 62 500 tons 674 Crew 9919.6001 BP TCS 1250 TH 4500 EM 0
3600 km/s Armour 4-140 Shields 0-0 Sensors 33/42/0/0 Damage Control Rating 54 PPV 720
Maint Life 3.52 Years MSP 5357 AFR 578% IFR 8% 1YR 663 5YR 9940 Max Repair 588 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 2
Magazine 4800
Giarelli Techsystems Internal Fusion Drive (5) Power 900 Fuel Use 19.21% Signature 900 Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 3 000 000 Litres Range 45.0 billion km (144 days at full power)
van den Berg Manufacturing Catapult Box Launcher (800) Missile Size 6 Hangar Reload 45 minutes MF Reload 7.5 hours
Maurice Engineering Long Range Missile Fire Control (4) Range 1 176.0m km Resolution 100
Catapult (800) Speed: 31 200 km/s End: 278.1m Range: 520.7m km WH: 8 Size: 6 TH: 104/62/31
Maurice Engineering Long Range Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 58800 Range 823.2m km Resolution 100
Engels Electronics Industries Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 33 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33m km
Engels Electronics Industries EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
ECCM-2 (4) Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesFlower class Escort Cruiser 25 000 tons 664 Crew 4102.8 BP TCS 500 TH 1800 EM 0
3600 km/s Armour 4-76 Shields 0-0 Sensors 33/42/0/0 Damage Control Rating 21 PPV 267.12
Maint Life 2.54 Years MSP 2154 AFR 238% IFR 3.3% 1YR 468 5YR 7014 Max Repair 405 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 1
Giarelli Techsystems Internal Fusion Drive (2) Power 900 Fuel Use 19.21% Signature 900 Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 1 050 000 Litres Range 39.4 billion km (126 days at full power)
Rhodes Precision Arms 190mm Spinal NU Laser (1) Range 192 000km TS: 4000 km/s Power 9-5 RM 3 ROF 10 9 9 9 6 5 4 3 3 3 2
Quad Alarcon & Alva Gauss Cannon Turret (8x12) Range 30 000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 3 ROF 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Meneghin Techsystems Beam Fire Control (1) Max Range: 192 000 km TS: 16000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Meneghin Techsystems Point Defence Fire Control (2) Max Range: 48 000 km TS: 16000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lamarliere Aircraft Engine Co Tokamak Fusion Reactor (4) Total Power Output 32 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Alberoni Corporation Small Missile Detection System (1) GPS 56 Range 7.8m km MCR 854k km Resolution 1
Engels Electronics Industries Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 33 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33m km
Engels Electronics Industries EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
ECCM-2 (3) This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesGalileo class Exploration Ship 12 500 tons 360 Crew 2735 BP TCS 250 TH 900 EM 0
3600 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 3-47 Shields 0-0 Sensors 165/210/2/4 Damage Control Rating 18 PPV 16.8
Maint Life 6.18 Years MSP 2461 AFR 69% IFR 1% 1YR 111 5YR 1660 Max Repair 405 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months Spare Berths 0
Caccini & Aglio Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 12600 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Giarelli Techsystems Internal Fusion Drive (1) Power 900 Fuel Use 19.21% Signature 900 Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 2 100 000 Litres Range 157.4 billion km (506 days at full power)
Single Alarcon & Alva Gauss Cannon Turret (2x3) Range 30 000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 3 ROF 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Meneghin Techsystems Point Defence Fire Control (1) Max Range: 48 000 km TS: 16000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alberoni Corporation Small Missile Detection System (1) GPS 56 Range 7.8m km MCR 854k km Resolution 1
Brun-Baillon Aerospace Industries Large Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 165 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 165m km
Brun-Baillon Aerospace Industries Large EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 210 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 210m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
Improved Geological Sensors (2) 4 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesCatapult
Missile Size: 6 MSP (0.3 HS) Warhead: 8 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 31200 km/s Engine Endurance: 278 minutes Range: 520.7m km
Cost Per Missile: 4.3438
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 312% 3k km/s 100% 5k km/s 62.4% 10k km/s 31.2%
Materials Required: 2x Tritanium 2.3438x Gallicite Fuel x4750
14th February 2367 The fleet of Republican colony ships have completed their previous task, allowing smaller Phoenix nations to finally begin colonization. Four planets have been prepared and are listed below.
Phoenix B II – Awarded to Romania and renamed Bucharest it is estimated nearly five million people will emigrate there.
Phoenix C VI Moon 6 – Awarded to Netherlands and named Waddenzee it is estimated over four million people will emigrate there.
Phoenix D IV Moon 29 – Awarded to Greece and named Crete it is estimated over three million people will emigrate there.
Phoenix D IV Moon 25 – Awarded to Portugal and named Madeira it is estimated over three million people will emigrate there.
15th February 2367 The Defiant Carrier Group is officially formed in the skies above the Hegemony capital planet of New Earth. Aside from the carrier and i's hundred fighters it consists of six Ra class destroyers and six Enki class frigates. The Hegemony now begins to lay down warships for the next group, which will be centered around the carrier Vigilant.
The Vigilant is a larger design than the Defiant, massing one hundred and ten thousand tonnes. It has the same speed, armor depth, active defenses and electronic suite, but carries forty eight percent more fighters while still having magazines and fuel tanks large enough for three strikes. The government plans to build larger and larger carriers as situation permits, as their maintenance facilities are currently the most limiting factor. At the very least they want ships of two hundred thousand tonnes, but they may decide to build even larger vessels.
X-209 Vigilant class Carrier 110 000 tons 1811 Crew 12546.4 BP TCS 2200 TH 6600 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 4-204 Shields 0-0 Sensors 84/84/0/0 Damage Control Rating 85 PPV 20
Maint Life 1.26 Years MSP 6059 AFR 1138% IFR 15.8% 1YR 3966 5YR 59492 Max Repair 560 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 1
Hangar Deck Capacity 37000 tons Magazine 5132
Giesy Aero Engines Military Ion Drive (11) Power 600 Fuel Use 30% Signature 600 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 13 000 000 Litres Range 70.9 billion km (273 days at full power)
Hackmann-Schwabach Anti-Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Tsai-Luo Anti-Missile Fire Control (2) Range 11.8m km Resolution 1
Tomahawk (1184) Speed: 24 000 km/s End: 50.1m Range: 72.2m km WH: 8 Size: 4 TH: 80/48/24
Patriot (396) Speed: 31 200 km/s End: 2.5m Range: 4.6m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 197/118/59
Tsai-Luo Missile Detection System (1) GPS 84 Range 11.8m km MCR 1.3m km Resolution 1
Abdi Incorporated Battle Area Managment System (1) GPS 112000 Range 1 108.7m km Resolution 200
Drechsler & Hertwig Medium Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 84 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 84m km
Drechsler & Hertwig Medium EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 84 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 84m km
Strike Group
148x X-205 Falcon Fighter-bomber Speed: 4800 km/s Size: 5
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes8th March 2367 The Hegemony designs a new planetary defense center, which will become the first line of defense for the colonies.
While the missile bases on Old Earth have eventually slowed down the Destroyer, the Hegemony was dedicated to protecting all of humanity and the lack of mobility of ground based installations was considered too big a disadvantage to make them useful. However political analysis have shown that the various colonial populations will demand protection and dedicating scarce warships which are better spent staying in central location, ready to confront any threat from any direction, was a wasteful use for them. Ground bases were also much less maintenance intensive, reducing costs.
An additional problem was relative inefficiency of Hegemony sensors, making it very difficult to detect missiles at reasonable ranges. As planets can not move, any ground based installation would have only very limited engagement window, long enough for possibly five to ten salvos. However, a brilliant solution was found that also made the PDCs into ad-hoc and reasonably powerful short range offensive weapons – they put all the anti-missiles in single shot launchers. While not mass efficient, bases were nowhere near as strapped for space as starships were and this allowed enormous flexibility. Better yet it made public much more reassured than they normally would be, which was the whole point behind designing those constructs in the first place.
A collier has also been designed. Aside from the need to move anti-missiles to the colonies, the limit of three strikes on carriers had a lot of people worried. The X-211 Mount Kosciuszko has been built around a destroyers hull to keep up with the fleet, had anti-missile defenses just in case and a single one could transport enough Tomahawks for nearly two strikes of the Defiant fighter group. Three are planned, but the number may increase to six.
The last newly designed ship was a freighter. As the private companies refused to take responsibility for pieces of military hardware like per-fabricated components of the Defender, the government needed a modern transport. The two old, pre-war freighters were too small and too slow for the task. The Liberty Ship on the other hand should be able to transport a large number of installations and minerals all by herself.
X-210 Defender class Planetary Defence Centre 8 500 tons 31 Crew 1470.8 BP TCS 170 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 5-37 Sensors 1/84 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 150
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 3
Magazine 1000
Murthy-Barot Anti-Missile Silo (1000) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
Tsai-Luo Anti-Missile Fire Control (10) Range 11.8m km Resolution 1
Patriot (1000) Speed: 31 200 km/s End: 2.5m Range: 4.6m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 197/118/59
Tsai-Luo Missile Detection System (1) GPS 84 Range 11.8m km MCR 1.3m km Resolution 1
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 4 sections X-211 Mount Kosciuszko class Collier 20 000 tons 352 Crew 2758.4 BP TCS 400 TH 1200 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 4-65 Shields 0-0 Sensors 14/14/0/0 Damage Control Rating 11 PPV 35.4
Maint Life 1.74 Years MSP 948 AFR 290% IFR 4% 1YR 382 5YR 5733 Max Repair 300 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 2880
Giesy Aero Engines Military Ion Drive (2) Power 600 Fuel Use 30% Signature 600 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 150 000 Litres Range 34.5 billion km (133 days at full power)
Twin Liu-Liu Ordnance Point Defence Laser Turret (4x2) Range 80 000km TS: 20000 km/s Power 6-8 RM 3 ROF 5 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 0 0
Ga-Fen Point Defence Fire Control (1) Max Range: 80 000 km TS: 20000 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Woessner-Terwilliger Cybernetics Nuclear Reactor (7) Total Power Output 31.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Drechsler & Hertwig Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 16800 Range 235.2m km Resolution 100
Tsai-Luo Missile Detection System (1) GPS 84 Range 11.8m km MCR 1.3m km Resolution 1
Drechsler & Hertwig Small Thermal Sensorr (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 14m km
Drechsler & Hertwig Small EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 14m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesX-212 Liberty Ship class Freighter 120 000 tons 365 Crew 1550.8 BP TCS 2400 TH 3840 EM 0
1600 km/s Armour 1-216 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 8 Max Repair 48 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 2
Cargo 75000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 20
Weightman-Auch Commercial Ion Drive (16) Power 240 Fuel Use 3.04% Signature 240 Exp 4%
Fuel Capacity 2 800 000 Litres Range 138.2 billion km (999 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes25th August 2367 Alexander Graham Bell, a Hegemony exploration ship currently operating in the Boston system detects a transit by an unknown, potentially alien ship. The humans do not know if they have been detected, but they decide not to risk contact and set an oblique course for a jump point back to Washington.
30th August 2367 The Bell jumps back into Washington and sends message to the government in sanctuary through a jump gate. The vessel is ordered to move back to Boston and picket the jump point, while a gate is being constructed. Once done the Defiant Carrier Group will be dispatched to investigate the aliens.
2nd November 2367 A sparse ruins have been found on San Francisco B IV by a Hegemony orbital survey.
19th January 2368 With gate ready on the Washington side of the jump point, the Defiant Carrier Group escorts a construction ship into Boston, activating its massive sensor array shortly after. There is some danger to that as it will take nearly six months for the gate to be completed, but the rest of the Hegemony is covered by Vigilant and her fighters, although escorts are still under construction. A single ship massing a little over thirty thousand tonnes and moving at over twenty two hundred kps is detected. The vessel is heading seemingly nowhere, which means she's probably on her way to an unknown jump point.
It is unknown if the alien detected human warships, but the Defiant and her escorts begin pursuit hoping to find where the unknown is heading.
21st January 2368 Before Defiant can catch up to the unknown vessel, her sensors detect a gate ahead. That brings the number of known jump points in the Boston system to three. Rear Admiral Chen Hui Dong, commanding the Carrier Group decides to position himself between the two alien jump gates and wait until he can catch a ship and initiate communication.
26th January 2368 A new alien vessel jumps into the system. The Defiant and her escorts set course to intercept. They will await alien challenge, as this will mean they have been detected.
27th January 2368 The alien vessel begins to transmit, meaning the human force has almost certainly been detected. The Defiant begins to transmit on wide variety of frequencies and techniques, including radio, laser and light flashes. They also sent per-planned lengthy messages to allow the aliens get a grasp on their language.
To their surprise they get an answer very quickly in the form of standard radio waves. A clearly human voice, using heavily accented and somewhat archaic English informs them they are in a Commune system of ES – 30 LU3 and demands that the newcomers stop all their activities while the government is informed of the situation.
Despite the chain of jump gates, the lag is still significant, over a dozen hours. The Administrator and the Oversight Committee are stunned at the news but act quickly. The Third Fleet is the closest one to ES – 30 and is ordered to move in its entirety although it will still take them nearly three weeks to arrive. A significant force from the Home Fleet is also dispatched.
While the news that other humans survived are welcome, it's also somewhat problematic for the Commune, as they hid specifically because they were afraid of the response of other nations. Even so the Administrator doesn't considered lying for long as once caught it would likely serve to reinforce whatever prejudices the other nation would have. In addition and with the consent of the Oversight Committee, the AI allows the tanker in the ES – 30 system to share historical and general information, but nothing on the military, astrography or political situation of the Commune.
When the Hegemony officers hear about what the Commune is and how it come to be, they are stunned by the sheer stupidity of it. As far as they are concerned the treat of the Destroyer is still very real and the Commune is willingly diverting vital resources from military to social programmes that weaken not only it, but humanity in general. They send the information to their government, using Bell as a relay and receive orders to try and convince the other nation to join the Hegemony. Chen Hui Dong and his officers try to do exactly that, but the response is a cold refusal. Even so, they continue their attempts to convince the Commune to see the need of a more competitive and productive economic system and larger naval spending.
1st February 2368 The Commune government orders putting listening posts in every single explored system, regardless of its location. The appearance of the Hegemony in not only an explored system, but one that was part of a closed chain is considered an enormous danger.
The chain itself is next to useless except for the very last star, where a large Commune fuel mining and refining operation takes place. The system was chosen mostly because its supposedly secure location and by now produces a little over half of the Commune fuel. Worse, there are only nine tugs available, four of them old and slow, making it next to impossible to just move the operation. A naval base and a new fleet will be needed in the ES – 30 system, which will significantly delay other plans.
8th February 2368 The negotiations between the Commune and the Hegemony are going nowhere. The former are perfectly willing to sign a mutual defense treaty against the Destroyer or other hostile aliens, but are unwilling to exchange technology or any other important information until they get to know the Hegemony better and they are adamant that they will keep their political and economical system, including massive social spending at the expense of the military one, if need be. In addition while they are willing to trade and exchange ambassadors, using ES – 30 as a route, they are adamant that the system will remain completely under their control, complete with a fleet base and they demand withdrawal of all New Earth's forces.
The Hegemony on their side see the Commune as the next best thing to criminals, weakening the human race with their folly. For that matter the Hegemon and his government fully believes that humanity can only stand a chance against aliens if its fully united, and for him mutual defense pact is not enough. They push, almost demand that the Commune join the Hegemony and change its social policies to more competitive ones. While they would have full voting rights, the current Hegemony population is more than twice that of the Commune, which means New Earth would for all instances and purposes control the unified government, making the situation even more unacceptable for the Commune.
10th February 2368 Exploring a new jump point in the San Francisco system, a Hegemony vessel arrives near an M class red dwarf. What makes the system special is presence of three unknown wrecks orbiting the second planet.
Thanks to the Commune the Hegemony knows about the ADS and as such they decide to leave the system, named Seattle, alone. A jump gate will be built on San Francisco side and a carrier group will be dispatched to investigate, but until then no other vessels will enter the system.
Due to the increasing pressure on the Hegemony Navy, the Vigilant Carrier Group is activated earlier than planned. The carrier herself is ready and has full complacent of fighters, but there are only six frigates and three destroyers available as escorts. Even so it's a powerful formation.
15th February 2368 The Third Fleet, comprising two frigate squadrons and two gunboat flotillas, arrives at the ES-9 – ES-30 jump point, but the question remains what it should do.
The Commune has always feared contact with other human nations, but the Hegemony not only plays on this fear, but seems to believe itself the best hope for humanity's survival, making them seem like dangerous fanatics to the other nation. Coupled with the stiff, forceful and uncompromising diplomacy of the Hegemony, the Commune decides the negotiations are a lost cause.
The Third Fleet is ordered to enter ES – 30 and expel Defiant and her group by any means necessary.
As soon as the Commune vessels enter the contested system, Commodore Matylda Placzek gives the Defiant three days to leave the system. She is flatly refused, without any reason stated and the carrier group declared two hundred million kilometers exclusion zone around their vessels.
Her sensors also pick two new ships, one massing ten thousand and the other massing nearly eighty thousand tonnes, hanging together in a seemingly random point in space. She believes one of them is a jump gate construction ship working on the previously unknown point, through which the Hegemony entered the system.
16th February 2368 The Third Fleet parks itself three hundred million kilometers from the Hegemony force, well within sensor range of the frigate leaders. One ship of eighty thousand tonnes, six of twenty thousand tonnes and six of ten thousand tonnes are detected. Overall the enemy masses two hundred and sixty thousand tonnes to her force of one hundred and ninety four thousand. Fortunately, if her analysts are right, only one active sensor is currently in operation and it has very poor resolution. Her gunboats should be able to get into range undetected. Ten hours later the small ships are in position and there is no sign they were detected.
18th February 2368 The Commune ultimatums has expired, but there is no acknowledgement of this from the Hegemony forces. The negotiations are also going nowhere, with New Earth now demanding transit and basing rights in the ES – 30 system to act as a buffer for their colony in Washington. That is considered unacceptable.
As the Hegemony referred to the Defiant as a carrier, Placzek expects it to launch parasite vessels if given a chance. That also means the twelve smaller ships are probably escorts, at least partially. As her objective is to push the enemy out of the system, her best bet seems to take out their main offensive platform – the Defiant herself. In addition she has no idea how strong anti-missile defenses she'll encounter, so she orders her gunboats to fire everything they have onto that one ship.
The Hegemony force detects nearly eight hundred missiles at twelve hundred thousand kilometers bearing at them at thirty two thousand kps, faster than the Patriot anti-missiles. Chen Hui Dong reacts quickly ordering his vessels to move away, trying to extend the engagement time while ordering all his fighters to launch. As the ultimatum has drown to a close, he expected a Commune attack so he had his fighters standing by, but he never imagine they could launch from such a long range.
The Patriot anti-missiles do not fare well, with only nineteen percent chance of interception. Out of hundred and eighty eight fired in first salvo, only thirty four managed to score a hit.
A hundred and seventy of the incoming shipkillers were destroyed by anti-missiles and less than fifty by point blank defenses. Hundreds managed to hit, causing numerous secondary explosions and annihilating the carrier outright. Over three hundred and fifty Arrows had to self destruct, as they no longer had a target.
The overkill was regrettable, but Placzek couldn't see a way to avoid it. Her missiles did not have on board sensors and she didn't count on the sheer power of the secondary explosions, which dealt more damage than sixty arrows would. And while it still left twelve enemy vessels, she had reinforcements incoming. Five flotillas will arrive in less than two days, carrying Arrows II. While still not the newest munitions available, those are eight thousand kps faster, which will make them even harder for the enemy to kill.
The remaining Hegemony warships were stunned by the loss. Worse, they know the only potential reinforcement is the Vigilant carrier group, but that would not be enough and would require the Navy to completely uncover Sanctuary. And with the enemy being faster it was impossible to perform retaliatory strike, not even with fighters.
The government on New Earth was equally unhappy. The enemy vessels were over twice as fast as theirs and it was becoming obvious the Commune had significant technological advantage. Worse, while their military spending was most likely very low due to social policies, they were in space longer than the Hegemony, which meant they likely had larger force, at least for the time being. As such they saw no choice but to sue for peace.
The terms were brutally simple. Boston will be ceased completely to the Commune and as soon as a jump gate is ready, all Hegemony forces will withdraw. As the fighters had neither fuel nor life support to go back without the carrier, they will self destruct and their crews will be picked by other ships. There will be no trade or military treaties between the two nations and the only communication will be done via the jump gate transmission system.
Eight hundred and three Hegemony spacers died during the brief conflict.
